He says, I didn't just save your life. I brought you into the king's palace and made you my wife. And you played the harlot. See, Israel was not thankful. She didn't consider what God had done for her. And so she became a harlot. And Paul is saying, remember what God has done for you. He says in verse two, with all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering, for bearing one another in love. If we are mindful, if the Ephesians are mindful of what they were, which he describes in verse two, and what they've become by his grace, which he describes in chapter two and three, then they're going to walk in humility because the Lord took me, I was nothing. And he made me something, not just something. Children of the living God, fellow citizens in the commonwealth of Israel, He took us, we were in the field in our blood, and he cleaned us up, and he nurtured us, and we grew in strength and power and beauty. And then he adorned us with all the blessings that one could ever imagine, and he espoused it to himself. And that's what he did with Israel, and she committed adultery. And by the way, just for a little heads up, and so when she committed adultery, according to the Old Testament law, she would have to die. The Lord would kill her. In Old Testament Israel, Old Testament prophets, you see God judges Israel and destroys her and divorces her. But then it says, he marries her again. You can't marry someone who's dead. Well, Israel's rebirth, which is what you see in Ezekiel, right? The dry bones come together. Those dry bones come together. In the Ekklesia, the body of Christ, that's Israel brought back from the dead. And guess what? He's married us. And the mystery is that he wasn't done with Israel. He's fulfilling the prophecies of the rebirth of Israel, not by a Zionist, Marxist state that's anti-Christian, but the body of Christ. So Ezekiel 16 served wonderfully to get Paul's point across. And we discovered that the proper motivation for godly living is a thankful spirit, one that causes us to remember how we were nothing and then what he did for us and that'll cause us that remembrance, that acknowledgement. will cause us to walk with all lowliness and meekness and long-suffering, which when we walk with those, that frame of mind, it tend towards peace and unity amongst the brethren, because we're walking with all lowliness and meekness with long-suffering for bearing one another in love. So the Lord's saying don't be like old covenant Israel, forgetful, haughty, proud, unthankful, which by the way is just like Romans 1. That's Romans 1, which is the making of a reprobate. That's why old covenant Israel became reprobate. They were killed, brethren. And as the prophecies say, never to rise again. Yet the prophecies also say that Israel will be blessed and restored under the new covenant, brethren, not under the old. The dispensationalist thinks somehow it's going to be restored under a quasi-old millennium, and they're going to have a temple and sacrifices. It's beyond me to fathom how people go for that. But I suppose it's the only thing you're ever taught. You just get into that groove of thinking. It's the only thing you know, right? Walk worthy, Paul says, of the blessings the Father has shown to you. Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. Now, Paul's saying that to the Ephesians, but let me, I know, he's writing this to the Ephesians. Looking at a first century parrhesia, we are very mindful of audience relevance, right? Whereas Christians are completely oblivious, it seems, until they realize that doctrine. Then once you realize it, you become very sensitive to it. So I know Paul's saying this to the Ephesians, but I mean, it is recorded for our benefit in instruction. So let me ask you a question. Should we do any differently? And I think, in part, that's why it's recorded, because we should not do differently. Why? It's a moral principle. Look at the grace of God. Look how wicked and evil and unbelieving we were in the midst of our sins. He saved us. Should we do anything differently than what Paul's telling the Ephesians to do? Of course not. That's why they should do the same thing Israel should have done, but they didn't do. So therefore, Paul, in verses two through six, enjoins upon the Ephesians a universal brotherhood, that amongst God's people, the elect, the believers in Ephesus, there should be a unity amongst them as the children of God, and that unity should exist in light of the benevolence God has shown you in this mystery. Because verse two is talking about meekness and long-suffering, but that's within the broader context of verses two to six, which is all about the oneness and unity of the faith and should be of his children. So in light of God, the Father's blessing, and we who were not children, he has made the children of God. And in light of how he's blessed us and provided for us in a most excellent way that we didn't deserve, we ought to be good children. We are to bless our father and we don't bless our father by rebelling against him and we don't bless him by being at each other's throats as brothers and sisters and children of our father, no father wants to see that. Now unity amongst God's people, fellow brethren, of course speaks of peace. In verse three, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And by the way, if you walk with all lowliness, meekness, and longsuffering, and you forbear one another, you're gonna have that peace, and you're gonna experience that unity that'll make our Heavenly Father, which has blessed us in a way we didn't deserve, happy. I don't wanna grieve the Father, do you? I think as Christians, no Christian really wants to do that. And so Paul has called us this unity that he's calling the Ephesians to. This peace that he's calling the Ephesians to will only be achieved by obedience to his command in verse two. Lowliness, meekness, it's hard to argue with your brethren and to be at each other's throats if you're lowly and meek and long suffering and forbearing. I mean, it just all about becomes impossible. That's why he's talking about that. I mean, the ultimate, the broader picture is unity. Verse two is the mechanics of how to get to that. Unity and peace through humility. Now I've got to say something a little off to the side here, but very much attached to it. Humility and meekness, this humility and meekness that Paul is calling the Ephesians to and you and I to, That humility and meekness should never be thought of as having a weak and passive spirit. I know passive might sound partly right but not in conjunction with weakness. This meekness that the Lord is talking about through the Apostle Paul is not the kind that so many times you see in organized religion and even in born again circles. which is oftentimes there's a put on meekness. There's a religious form of humility and meekness that sometimes the Lord's people can put on like a garment. And it's really meant to be a mask that covers their low level of conviction. and is passed off as a godly trait of humility and meekness. It's such a deceptive thing, and you see it all the time. Now, we are called to humility, but I don't want you to get the wrong idea about it. Humility and meekness is not walking around with a low level of conviction and just like, you know, I'm just a meek and lonely. Let me ask you a question. Was John the Baptist a humble man? John the Baptist was a humble man. John said, Speaking of Christ says, whose shoe latches, I'm not even unworthy to loosen. I'm not even worthy to take his shoes off. John also said, he must increase and I must decrease. When I turn on TV and see TV ministers, it doesn't seem like that's what, I don't think they're thinking the same thing. John was an extremely humble man. But I think we all know full well, without giving examples, that John is one of the most fiery preachers in the whole Bible, Old and New Testament. I mean, John knew how to let them have it, right? But yet, so see, these things aren't mutually exclusive. And think of Jesus himself. He is meek and lowly in heart, and he was the Prince of Peace. Well, you can watch the Prince of Peace in action in Matthew 23. He says they're snakes. He says they're hypocrites. You make them two-fold the child of hell, more than yourself. How can you escape the damnation of hell? Well, look, that's not a contradiction. That's obvious. So we have to be on guard against false meekness, put on meekness, false piety, which is, again, just a cover for weak convictions. Either weak convictions or, well, yeah, weak convictions, which is sometimes really just that stems from a lack of faith. Because sometimes it's not popular to believe the things the Bible is saying. And so you pretend to be meek. Oh, it's a complicated subject. I have my opinion, but oh, I could be wrong. You know full well you're not wrong. You know what you read. Now, there are times that it ought to be the attitude, particularly in eschatology, which everybody is so sure of themselves. The only thing I can be sure of is when the Lord says, surely. I know that's sure. because he says so, you know? But there are certain things, right? You gotta leave a little wiggle room. But there are all sorts of things that these false, this false humility that oftentimes Christians put on, it's just a mask for, I'm unwilling to be zealous and to stand for the truth, because it isn't that popular, and I won't be popular, and I don't wanna be in one of these little small groups, and people love numbers. There's safety in numbers. And this, what is passed off as a humble and pious spirit is rebellion. You know, an alpha male does not have to be filled with pride. Probably most are, and they learn it by becoming sports fanatics. One of the great damning thing about sports is it inflames the passions for pride. And you learn it early on when you're young because you watch the guys on TV. And it's gotten worse through the years. Sportsmanship diminishes and it's all about I'm the greatest. It's not healthy. So many alpha males have the problem of pride. But you can be an alpha male and not be plagued with that sin. I mean, we all struggle with it. I mean, there's no one that doesn't some way, somehow, some degree. By the same token, you can also be a soft-spoken introvert and not really be humble. You say, how can that be? You're always deferring to other people. You don't speak your mind and let them do it. So that's humility. It's not necessarily humility. It's your personality. You don't like speaking up. You don't like being the center of attention. But just because you're soft-spoken and you're an introvert doesn't mean you're humble, right? I mean, there's a lot of very quiet, introverted Non-aggressive people who become mass murderers, right? They always say, look out for the guy, the quiet ones, you know? And you're like, I got a proposition for you. If you slaughter people on a massive scale, that's not humility, okay? You've decided they all should die. That's not humility, okay? So we get mesmerized by personality types and we don't really interpret the scriptures the way they're intended to be interpreted. And sometimes I think that's intentional in certain circles. So if we are, as Paul says in verse three, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace, if we are to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace, that will require of us that we obey what the apostles commanded in verse two. A lowliness of spirit, which does not mean weakness of conviction. A meekness, which does not mean you don't fulfill your job as a soldier when you're called to be a soldier, because I'm full of meekness. But there is a lowliness and meekness that all Christians should have, a long suffering, and an ability to forbear with one another, in love and if we do these things, if we practice them, then we will achieve that unity and peace that Paul talks about in verse three and in a sense expounds upon more broadly in verses four through six. I was never so embarrassed, I've told this story before, but it just works so perfectly for me and it's at the forefront of my mind when I think of these things. Sometimes the lessons you learned early on in life are the ones your mind goes to, because that's when you first learned it. And then you've seen it repeated a thousand times. You forget the thousand times in between. It's that first time you learned it, which makes the biggest impression. I'm not sure this is the first time you learn it, but sometimes the first time you learn it in a profound way, that's the one that sticks. But I was never so embarrassed and so ashamed. And if I go back in my memory, and it's an easy thing to do in this instance, I was, I don't know, 18, I'm guessing. But if I go back and remember, I was embarrassed and ashamed on God's behalf. Not that anything we can do can actually diminish the standing of God, we can't do that. But we're ashamed on God's behalf, I suppose, and we've dishonored him. And I've never felt that way more than when I was in an assembly at the time that was very divided over certain issues. There's lots of arguing and division. It's kind of like in politics today. They're games they're playing. They have the business meeting and they're going to have a very contentious vote on an issue that's splitting the church. And so guys that hadn't been in the church for like a year show up for the meeting because the people are getting on the horns saying, we've got to defeat these narrow-minded conservatives. And sure enough, they show up like fleas on You Can Only Imagine. And I watched that play out and said, this is terrible. And so I had a friend I was witnessing to who grew up Roman Catholic. It's the only thing he knew. And I kept trying to tell him about the gospel. And we were talking. I remember one time we were at Burger King. I'm talking about it. It got very serious. And he didn't know what to do, you know. And he goes, well, then how does one become a Christian if that's true? I was explaining, you know. And you have to believe in what Christ has done, not what someone else has done for you or what you're doing, but what he did in the cross and ask him to forgive you and to make you his child. He does it. And, you know, I quote him scripture. And he called me up, or I saw him, I forget now, but the next time I talked to him, he said, I did it, and I did it. And I said, what did you do? And he said, well, I prayed that prayer. I became a Christian. I'm like, oh, great. And I was all excited, so I asked him to come to our church. And he had only been there, I think, for like a week or two is my memory. I mean, I could be wrong. It was a long time ago, but it was very early on. He was there just a very short amount of time, and we had So he goes, oh, they're having a business meeting. He goes, oh, I'll come too, right? I can come. Yeah, you can come. And I was like, oh, I didn't even think of that. And we went to the business meeting, and I had my fingers crossed. It was the most caustic and wicked business meeting I personally had ever been to. I was ashamed to be there. But more than that, I was embarrassed to tears that my friend, who, well, at least supposedly came to Christ. I have serious questions of whether it was the real thing then or not. But supposedly came to Christ. But there he is, and he's saying, so this is how the true Christians work. And I was, I wish I'd never brought him. But the main thing that I thought was how dishonoring to the Lord for him, my friend, who doesn't know much, to have to see this. Well that's what it is, in the end it's dishonoring the Lord. So brethren, Paul's saying in light of his goodness and mercy that he has shown us and forgiven us of our sins and we didn't deserve it. In light of his mercy and grace in opening our understandings to that which was hidden in ages past like he did to the Ephesians, he's done it for us. And we can see these things. We don't have to hevitate to embrace them because of what we learned at Dallas Theological Seminary. We don't have that baggage. So now we can just, yeah, that's right. And we can just embrace it in light of God's mercy of putting us in this position to receive this mystery of the gospel and giving us this citizenship when we were without hope, without God in the world. And strangers from the covenants of promise. He's given us all of these things. In light of all these things, then we need to do What Micah told Israel they ought to do. And I did a whole sermon on that. That one verse in Micah. Where Micah says, he hath showed thee. Israel pretended, oh, we don't know what God's will is. And Micah's saying, look, you don't have to go across the ocean to go find God's word and what his will for your life is. He has showed thee, oh man. What is good? In other words, you know. Stop pretending you don't know. And I've been dealing with that subject a lot. I've been thinking about it a lot. When the Christians say, we just want to know how to live like Christians, like as if they don't know. What does the Lord require of thee? But to love mercy, Micah said. Well, mercy goes along with long-suffering, and forbearance, doesn't it? Long-suffering and forbearance, its practical application is the exhibition of mercy and forgiveness. To do justly, to do what is right and honorable, and what is good and what is expected of you. Christians ought to walk in an honorable way. In everything they do, in everything they say, and even if they get off the mark and they're messing up, and they've left it a mess, they ought to go back and fix the issue. And almost no Christian that has ever been disciplined in an assembly that I've ever seen has ever done it, that I remember. Well, actually, I can think of one person that did it. Maybe I could think of a second one, but I can think of a whole bunch very easily that didn't. Just leave it undone. Micah says, what does the Lord expect of thee? What does the Lord require of thee to do justly? To do what is right because it's right, not because it's easy to do. Sometimes it's hard. To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God. That's what Micah said, which is what Paul's saying right here. to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God. If we do that, then that unity that Paul is calling us to, that peace that passes all understanding that should exist amongst the Lord's people, will be had. And this is not a mystery. It's not across the other side of the sea. You don't have to go to the ends of the heavens, as Micah talked about. Paul exhorts us to walk in a manner that's worthy, that is commensurate with the high blessings that God has given us. To live in a godly manner, to live like a Christian. and in a way that is pleasing to our Heavenly Father. And when we do that, as He's exhorting us obviously with the mechanics of verse 2, then we're going to achieve verse 3, we're going to have and keep that unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. In other words, we'll please our Heavenly Father. This is the beginning of how to please the Heavenly Father. A father wants to see obedient children, and he wants to see his sons and daughters love each other, not be at each other's throats. It's the worst thing a father can say. Now, I think the overall point we've made, we've underscored it, we've looked at it in different ways, but it still is deserving of a closer analysis in the mechanics of it here. Look at verse three. Endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. First of all, when he says endeavoring, you can just read into that or make the substitution striving. And I say that because Strong defines the Greek word translated here endeavoring. He defines the Greek word to hasten, be eager, be zealous. Now, if you're going to be zealous and eager and you're going to hasten to keep the unity, that means you're zealous. You want that to happen. You're going to fight to make it happen. And that's what Paul's saying. It's a strong word. So that we should strive, if I may make that substitution, we may strive to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Which by the way, I should say, therefore, those who are contentious, Those who are censorious with their brethren and short-tempered, they're not walking worthy of the vocation wherein they've been called. Not by doing that, they're not. If you just follow through the logic. Hotheads, troublemakers, proud know-it-alls just aren't walking worthy and they're really just doing nothing more than antagonizing the body to war with each other. Maybe just to lift up their pride because they feel they have a strong argument and just to look good. You'll hurt others. That's not how we operate. Now, when we look at this, verse three, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. You know, I'm going to go back to this argument. The Christians, so often times, they say, see, doctrine divides. How are we going to have this unity and peace knowing we're made of flesh? As soon as you get into deep doctrine, and we've talked about this before, I'm going to show you another argument here that what Paul does, really. How can we have this unity and peace? Because in our flesh, we do struggle with pride. So as soon as you start getting involved with detailed doctrine, there begins to be divisions amongst people, and then arguments begin to develop, and it's just impossible. And that's why evangelicals for years have said, look, doctrine divides. That was the call of the promise keepers. Doctrine divides. And it's the call of Ann Graham Lodge, right? Don't give me doctrine, just give me Jesus, she says. And how can we achieve this? I mean, look, we've got to minimize doctrine so that we can walk in this peace and unity so we keep our Father happy. Wrong! How many different ways can I say this? Well, I'm experimenting with how many different ways. No, that's absolutely wrong. And I say that because of this one little phrase, the unity of the Spirit. He says, Paul says, and he writes under inspiration, that the Ephesians were to endeavor and to strive to keep the unity of the Spirit. What is the unity of the Spirit? Well, the unity of the Spirit is nothing more than the unity that is the byproduct of the indwelling and presence of God's Spirit within His people. This unity only comes through God's grace. And God's grace is dispensed through the indwelling of God's spirit. So what Paul is really referring to when he says the unity of the spirit, he's saying the unity that is authored by the Holy Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit changes us, makes us new creatures, gives us new hearts. When we're told we're given new hearts, we're given hearts that, well, kind of conform to verse two, which promotes verse three. Right? So the unity of the Spirit is the unity that is authored by the Holy Spirit, the unity that is made possible by the indwelling of God's Spirit in his people. That's the only kind of real unity that exists, that comes from the Spirit of God. So when God's Spirit indwells the believers, it should make them of one mind, which would be the mind of Christ. This same spirit, the Holy Spirit, that gives us one mind and brings about unity, inspired every author of the Bible and thus is responsible for the penning of every doctrine that exists in the Bible. In other words, the Holy Spirit being God, is the author of every doctrine that exists. The big ones, the little ones, and all the others in between. Every single true Bible doctrine comes from the Holy Spirit. Okay, well, that being true, let's reason this out. If all doctrine is authored by the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is the author of Christian unity, then all doctrine of the Holy Spirit should only tend towards Christian unity, because it's bringing us all together in all that he has said, and he's all about unity of the body of Christ. So that's a very curious observation, because it causes me to ask some questions. How could God-given doctrine divide God's children? That doesn't make sense, because they say doctrine divides. Do the doctrines given by God's Spirit destroy the unity that's given by God's Spirit? Because that's what they're saying. They don't say it in those words. They say doctrine divides. Well, yeah, I guess it does. I remember the annual business meeting. Guess what? We were arguing that annual business meeting. We were arguing about a doctrinal point. And I saw all sorts of division. Hey, it didn't come from the doctrine, brethren. That's ultimately the point. Oh, we are placing our own sin on the Holy Spirit, on God's Word. We're taking our sins and putting them on God's Word. If you want the unity of the Spirit, you mean we're supposed to ignore what the Spirit says in order to achieve that unity? The Spirit's teachings are subversive of the Spirit's unity. This is what we are to believe. If you want to keep the unity of the Spirit, then you're just going to have to ignore what he says. Brethren, there's a thousand different ways to put this. And they help us to put into focus where the real problem lies. We are the destroyers of Christian unity. I say we, humans, us believers. We are the destroyers of unity, not the Spirit of God, not what the Holy Spirit teaches us and is there for our instruction. The idea that we should back off on that so that we can be at peace, that's pure, unadulterated garbage. It's our fault. Flip Wilson said, the devil made me do it. The evangelicals said, the Holy Spirit made me do it. He's the one who taught all these in-depth things. And that's where you run into problems, really. It's the Spirit's fault. Now, see, they never say it that way. But am I not accurately portraying logically where their thought pattern necessarily leads them if they follow it through? We do that as human beings. We are responsible for the disunity, and we're responsible by not portraying and living out the commandment of verse two. So we must, in lowliness of heart and meekness of spirit, exercise forbearance and long-suffering, particularly with our brothers that are walking immaturely, because they're the ones who most easily and probably most frequently offend, saying, So in the presence of immature brethren in their immature actions or in the presence of brethren who are holding to mistaken notions. These are the areas where you actually have to more profoundly exercise forbearance and long-suffering. We just tend to think of it as, you know, they did something bad to me, you know. He stole my chewing gum. He stole my chewing gum. He's supposed to be a Christian. Oh, I can't believe he did that. That was my chewing gum. He knew what it was. He just took it and put it in his mouth, you know. So we can learn to do forbearance. We find it harder to show forbearance when it comes to spiritual immaturity and matters of bad thinking and doctrine. Somehow then we become more censorious. I'm trying to illustrate this. Let's say I go up to a Christian and he's not tutored in what we've been talking about at Clay for the last few years. And I said, did you know that Christ and his apostles taught that he would come in a lifetime of the people that he was ministering to then, that he would come in the first century? And I believe he did. Now, you say that to the average uninitiated Christian and you're pretty much going to get like, what in the world are you talking about? No, yeah, I believe that. You say, you believe the Lord came in the first century? Yes, I do. And they shake their heads and they'll just, you'll be incredible to them. They'll say, look, Jesus, I don't know where you're getting all this from, but Jesus and his apostles never taught that they were coming in the first century. First of all, how could that be? It didn't happen. And there's no way that Jesus or his apostles would ever teach something that wasn't true. So your whole premise has got to be wrong because it never happened. So you're crazy. Now, they're not being that kind with you by talking that way, but you understand their frame of mind. So I think a proper way to respond might be, OK, hey, look, brother, I appreciate your last statement, and I agree with you. Jesus and his disciples would never say anything that wasn't true. But they did say it. So my belief is it has to be true. They say, well, but he never said that, though. And they'll say that with conviction. because there's an ignorance, right? They haven't seen all this stuff. But let's say, and by the way, if you said my first foray here, hey, did you know Jesus and his disciples said they were gonna come back in the first century? I believe they did. I believe it happened. That was his parousia. And they say, oh, he never said that. You're crazy. Now, the guy's wrong, right? But you don't respond to him. Now, what I said as an example is a good way to respond, but you don't say something like, well, you're just stubborn, you're unwilling to believe the Bible. You call yourself a Bible believer, you're not much of a Bible believer because you won't believe the Bible. Now, everything that I just said about this imaginary guy may be true, but you don't know it's true the way you said it. You shouldn't respond that way. And I say that because how do you know You're talking like he's aware of all these passages. He might not be. He maybe has read the Bible as much or maybe more than you, and he could still be unaware of all these passages. Can't you just go back, say, an imaginary 10 years? Did you have any idea of how utterly thorough this teaching is throughout the whole New Testament? You say, but I did read it. I know, but what happens when you read it? You read it and you say, well, that can't be. I'm understanding that. I'm just not understanding it right. You know, someone smarter than me knows and you can just move along. And as a matter of faith, you gloss it over because the Lord can't be wrong. There's not actually any malice in that. Right? And we've all done that. And when you keep doing that with all these little passages, the at-hands and things like that, you say, oh, you know. And so they don't stick in your mind because you're dismissing them by faith. It can't be. I believe the Bible doesn't contradict itself. And because you're dismissing it so quickly, you've read it, but you dismiss it so quickly, it doesn't stick in your mind. I think, really, for most Christians, you have, the ones that stick in your mind is Matthew 24, 34. This generation will not pass till all these things be fulfilled. I think every Christian remembers that one. Boy, that one sometimes, what in the world? And then the preacher preaches a sermon, and he's very, in a fiery way, says, well, that he's talking about the generation that will see these signs, which obviously is still in the future. So when that generation sees it, it'll all be fulfilled. Oh, yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, that's what he's talking about. Have to be. It can't not be, right? And so they're aware of that one, but they've got an excuse, see, that was given to them. And they might be aware of the Matthew 16, 28 one, not that they'd have it memorized, but they go, oh yeah, they probably struggle with it when they're reading through the Bible in the year, and they come to Matthew 16, 28, and they say, this generation will not pass till all these things, well, there'll be some standing here which will not taste of death till you see the son of man coming in his kingdom. I'm sure that's made every Christian, whoa, stop in his tracks like, oh, you're going to faint. And you get a Christian book or a minister gets up there and he says, and he very boldly and very confidently, that goes a long way with a lot of people, very confidently, he says, have you ever noticed this is mentioned in the other gospels? In every instance where Jesus says this, that those standing here will not taste of death till they see the Son of Man come, in every instance where that's mentioned, the very next thing recorded, they raise their voice because that somehow makes you forget any other argument you have, the very next thing that's recorded, is the transfiguration. That is a portrait of the coming of Christ. How could it be that in every instance it follows? Because no one says, because it was six days later. It was the next thing that happened. That's why it's in every instance, you know? But they're like, oh, yeah, because it can't be. I mean, he didn't come then. So it's a transfiguration. And they don't ever think deeply about it. Just he has to say that with confidence. And that's good, because there's no way the Bible can be wrong. And a lot of their Their missing out is coming from a combination of ignorance, forgetfulness of all the other passages, because you just dismiss them. It's a combination of forgetfulness and faith. Look, brethren, your faith can be sincere as the day is long, but if you walk in ignorance of God's word, then you're going to come to false conclusions. And faith ought to drive us to God's word. When we feel like we're entertaining a contradiction, we're to say, oh, I've got to resolve that. I've got to study more, not like, oh, I don't want to hear about that. And sometimes we do that. We've got to catch ourselves and say, we can't do that. But brethren, so when they're in their ignorance, you treat them gently. You can remember being there, OK? However. Let's say you say, and they say, ah, Jesus never taught that he'd come back in the first century. And neither did any of his disciples. That's crazy. So I'll tell you what. I've got a book here. It just happened in my top pocket. It's James Stuart Russell, The Parousia. It's in my top pocket. And you say, here, read this. And I said, you don't even have to care too much about his opinions. It's just he's going to organize the Bible verses for you by the books of the New Testament. And all he's going to do, the strength of James Stewart Russell is he just says, oh, see this verse? And you say, oh, yeah, I see it. But oh, and pay attention to this word and that word. He's just saying, look at it, focus it on it, and think about it, and tell me what it's saying. And doesn't it match this verse over here? I'm not going to tell you what it means. Just think about it. Look at it. Look at this word. He's saying us. Who's us? Who's he talking to? And what is it saying? Oh, and go over here. He just, in the book, is this thick of that. It's really Bible verses, really. That's the way I look at it. But his reasoning is impeccable. His reasoning is just saying, pay attention, listen, watch. What does that pronoun mean? That's all he does. They say, you don't have to read the whole book. Just go to the first 100 pages. So the guy goes through the first 100 pages. You say, well, brother, so let's pick up our discussion where we left off. Jesus must have, his parousia must have been in that generation that he promised, right? No, Jesus never said any such thing. And his apostles never talked that. You're crazy. Obviously, that didn't happen. That can't be. Now, after having that brought to his attention, he responds that way. And he's been made aware. I'm not so sure that denial can be said in ignorance, because it's not a complicated thing. The complicated thing would be, okay, it's saying that. The complicated thing for that guy would be, well, how can that be true? That's a different question. I'm just trying to ask people. That's what was powerful about that ad we put in with the 50 verses. It didn't assert hardly anything. It just says, hey, look at all these verses. Can we believe them or not? And that's what got the two biggest churches in the state of Rhode Island so angry they went down and threatened the newspaper if they continued to run our ads. We didn't hardly say a thing. Once they begin to see all the at-hands, the soon, the shortlies, the entire cornucopia of this unified, ever-present truth that saturates the New Testament comes alive. And at that point, you're responsible for dealing with it. It doesn't mean you have the answer right away, but you gotta be willing to say, yes, Lord, now teach me. That's a matter of faith, because it's gonna feel like there's no answer for that. If I admit that he said it, then the Bible contradicts itself and I have no faith. Well, you're already expressing faithlessness in the Bible. If it says it, it's got to be true somehow. In a way, you have no idea. Start there. You know, say, well, that's scary. Well, the Lord said, take up your cross and follow me. Do you think it's a comfortable thing to walk up the hill to Golgotha? I don't think so. So that brings me to one last question. Why is there not more unity? in the area of doctrine in the body of Christ? Why is there not more unity? You know, I don't have the time to discuss it the way I want to. I'll have to make it next time. But it's a good question. Because my point has been, and I'm extracting it from Paul, Paul said we had to endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit What is the unity of the Spirit? That has to be, we're unified, not in ignoring what the Holy Spirit says, we're unified in what He has said. We're supposed to be unified in the truth, not in some neutral non-truth, as long as I can say Jesus, you know? You can get a little finger puppet, Jesus, I must be okay. The unity of the Spirit is unity. If we have unity of and in the Spirit, it must revel in that which the Spirit has revealed and is given as instruction for our enhancement and benefit. The thing is, Because there's a depth to God's word, there's the secret of the Lord, which means it wasn't written in, as Moses says in Numbers chapter 12, it wasn't written in apparent language. He spoke in visions and dreams and in dark speeches and not apparently. With Moses, he spoke face to face, but with the prophets, so look, if you understand that principle, instead of everything the Bible says is always filled literally, you gotta be kidding. It's like you never read the Old Testament once. But they did. They probably read it more than I have. But they glossed it over. No, it can't be. I believe God's word. And that dogmatism comes from faith. I mean, I think it's many real faith, but it's faith mixed with ignorance. But if I'm saying that doctrine unites, Instead of divides, we're left flat-footed saying, well, why is there so much division in the body of Christ? I guess when we come back next time, we'll talk about that. But I can tell you this, it isn't his fault. It's ours. Let's bow our heads in prayer.