I almost missed it. Well, amen. We're going to start over. So, in Ephesians 4, starting in verse 1, the message today is entitled, The Perfecting of the Saints. Verse 1, I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit and 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 sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Father God, Lord, I thank you for this night to come together, Lord, to worship you, God. I thank you for the singing, and I thank you for your word that you preserved for us, God, in these last days in your King James Bible. And I pray, God, that you would help us open our ears to your word, Father, and that you would be with me as I preach, God. Keep me from error, Father, and be with my lips, Lord. And I just pray you would open our ears, God, to hear what you have to say to us tonight. So in Jesus' name I pray, amen. So we went over the first part of this chapter last week, and we discussed the unity of the Spirit that Paul said we should endeavor to keep in the bond of peace, how we should try to get along with fellow believers as best we can, overlooking differences that we might have whenever possible, because we are all called in one hope to become part of one body, the body of Christ. Paul goes on to mention several things that should unify us, that we have one Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, that His blood was the propitiation for our sins, one baptism, one God and Father of us all. So for the sake of keeping this unity, He asks that we walk worthy of our Christian calling, and that we have charity for bearing one another, He says, with all lowliness and meekness and longsuffering. He says there is one body and one spirit, even as you 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 has given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Every one of us as believers is given grace. We're given the forgiveness of our sins freely by grace. And I'm sure that God overlooks many things in us after having been saved that we should rightly be chastised for He is long-suffering towards us and forbears with us. Romans 2, verse 4 says, Verse 8, Paul says, Paul is probably referring to the Psalmist David in verse 8 when he says, He's quoting Psalm 68 where it says, It does sound like David is foretelling of the ascension of Christ after His crucifixion. The phrase, Thou hast led captivity captive, I think speaks of His victory over sin and death. The very things that had made captives of us were now subject unto Him. Revelation 118 says, I am He that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell and of death. There are many who believe that this also speaks of Christ perhaps leading those souls who were in the grave out and up to heaven. The next verses in Ephesians tell us, 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. Jesus went into the earth when He died. His body was buried in a tomb, and His spirit, I think clearly, was in hell. Not that Jesus was tormented or suffering in hell. That is a false teaching. The suffering that He did was in His body on the cross. And when He died, the payment was complete for our sins. And Jesus did not go to hell to suffer any more punishment for us. 1 Peter 3, verse 18 says, For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a-preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water, the like figure, whereinto even baptism doth also now save us, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of the good conscience toward God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him. Jesus went and preached to spirits who were in prison while He was in the heart of the earth. But then He was resurrected and He's now gone into heaven. And many people believe that these spirits were taken to be with Him in heaven. And there are certainly reasons to believe that that is the case. We read how that when Jesus was crucified, there were two thieves who were crucified with Him. and the one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. He told the thief that he would be with Jesus in Paradise that day. We know that Jesus was in the heart of the earth, that He descended into the lower part, so presumably Paradise was in the earth. We have Jesus' parable of the rich man and a beggar named Lazarus where the rich man dies and it says he opens his eyes in hell and sees Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you, there is a great gulf fixed, so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that would come from thence. So you can see how it would seem that there was a place in the heart of the earth, next to hell, or another part of hell, where the righteous dead might be kept, and where they would be comforted, and that place was separated from the part of hell where the wicked might find themselves when they died, where there was fire and torment. It's not a far leap to presume that this is the paradise that Jesus spoke of to the thief. It is a parable, but it seems unlikely to me that Jesus would make up this place where Abraham appears to be waiting for the resurrection. Then later, after Jesus ascended into heaven, Paul tells of a vision that he has of being caught up to heaven and says that he was caught up to paradise. In 2 Corinthians, I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, whether in the body I cannot tell, or whether out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth, such a one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth, how that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which is not lawful for a man to utter. So you can see how it would make sense that paradise was at one time in the heart of the earth, and then was taken out and brought up to heaven when Christ ascended. Whether that is to be understood from the phrase, he led captivity captive, is hard to say. I wouldn't argue with anyone about it at this point. But Paul does put that parenthetical in the passage for a reason. So perhaps that is what he is referring to. But Paul goes on to talk about the gifts that he says Christ gave unto men. Wherefore, he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. In verse 11 it says, 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. These gifts, which are for the benefit of the church, are the ministers that God has called and placed in the church. The apostles and prophets, which Paul said were the foundation of the church, We kind of understand what apostles are, being those who were selected by the Lord to carry the gospel and were given signs to perform to confirm the Word as they went. Prophets, similarly, were those who spoke the Word of God by revelation, particularly in the Old Testament. But there were also prophets in the New Testament, like John the Baptist. And there was Agabus who prophesied to Paul in Acts that he would be bound by the Jews in Jerusalem and delivered to the Gentiles. Then we see evangelists, which is something that doesn't have many examples in the Scripture. 2 Timothy 4 says, "...but watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry." Timothy, it seems, was the bishop of the church in Ephesus, where at the end it says, "...the second epistle unto Timotheus, ordained the first bishop of the church of the Ephesians, was written from Rome, and Paul was brought before Nero the second time." And we see Philip, who was one of the seven men chosen in Acts to be what we presume are deacons, those who were to minister to the carnal needs of the church. It was Philip that the Lord sent to the Ethiopian eunuch who was reading Isaiah in Acts 8. He explained how the scriptures he was reading were speaking of Jesus, and that eunuch believed and got baptized in Acts 8. Verse 39 says, When they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, but the eunuch saw him no more, and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was founded at Zotus, and passing through he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea. And the next day we that were of Paul's company departed and came unto Caesarea, and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven, and abode with him. I think I skipped a... Did I skip a page? I don't think I did. I'm missing a note here. That's a different chapter. Anyway, so we see that Philip is a pattern that we have for understanding what an evangelist is. Webster's tells us an evangelist is a writer of the history or doctrines, precepts, actions, life, and death of our blessed Savior, Jesus Christ, as the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, that also gives the definition of a preacher or publisher of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Licensed to preach, but not having charge of a particular church. Not that we think you need to have a license to preach. But Philip seems to be a preacher that was ordained by God to go and preach the gospel wherever he went. Then we have some pastors and teachers. Possibly all these different offices or ministries might fall under the label of bishop, generally. They seem to be listed in order of rank, perhaps. being the higher authorities in the church, and pastors and teachers being subject to them, with evangelists in the middle somewhere. But they are all given for the same reasons. In verse 12 it says, "...for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." The body of Christ Paul had likened to a building, with the apostles and prophets as the foundation, and Jesus Christ the chief cornerstone. The edifying of the body of Christ would be the building up of that building. That's what edifying means. It means building up, in this case in Christian knowledge, instructing, improving the mind. But it's from the same root where the word edifice comes from, which means a building, a structure, a fabric, but appropriately a large or splendid building. The word is not applied to a mean building, but to temples, churches, or elegant mansion houses, and to other great structures. Ephesians 2 verse 20 says, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are builted together for a habitation of God through the Spirit. The apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers are given to edify this holy temple, to help frame the building by the perfecting of the saints, I think is meant to bring them to spiritual maturity through the preaching of the Word with purity of doctrine and when necessary correcting errors. Verse 13 says, 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 and wait to deceive." The object of this ministry, the perfecting of the saints, is that the Church would be unified in the faith and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, at which point it would be the mature body, a perfect man in representation of Christ. Probably this ideal is something that could only ultimately be fulfilled when Christ Himself is returned. As individuals, we all will be growing at our own pace, and some will go on ahead of us, and some will lag behind. And new believers are born every day, but the goal is to raise them up quickly out of the childhood of the faith, and we ourselves to become mature Christians who are grounded and settled in our faith, and not easily blown about by new doctrines that often sweep through the church by design. We should have faith like a child, but not be childish in our reason and understanding of the Scriptures. We have to be wary of those who Paul says are lying in wait to deceive. 2 Peter 2 says, And many shall follow their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you, whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not." Peter says that these false teachers will make merchandise of you through covetousness. Through their covetousness? No doubt, they are seeking after worldly gain, writing books upon books to sell to the flocks, each promising some new insight into the secrets of reaping blessings from God. They bring in damnable heresies, which those pastors and teachers and evangelists must contend with. But they are cunning and crafty, and they make themselves to seem to be sincere teachers of truth to those who also covet after the things that they offer. And so it says, many shall follow their ways. We have to be firmly grounded to that foundation when those winds of doctrine begin to blow about. We've seen what happens to a building that is not properly edified when the winds blow. The building falls. So it's the responsibility of the ministers to guard against these doctrines, to call them out when they appear and preach against them. Verse 15 says, 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. Speaking the truth in love, we know, isn't always going to be perceived as loving. Especially if it's dealing with a doctrine that someone has integrated into their faith and thinks is making their relationship with God stronger. When you speak against something like that, people tend to see it as an attack on their faith and on themselves personally. Sometimes it won't be received. But when the fruit of such a doctrine is poisonous to the body, it has to be dealt with, or these things spread through like leaven. I think back on some of the things that cropped up in our own church that should have been spoken against, but for whatever reason they were allowed to fester and grow in the dark. The biggest one I can think of was polygamy. We had people in our church that were actively looking to add a young wife to their household, and they were apparently discussing the issue somewhat openly, at least with some members it was known, including our pastor at the time, but there was no mention of it ever from the pulpit that I can recall. I was totally taken by surprise when it finally came to the surface, and its disgusting fruit was exposed in the light. And we saw a family devastated when that wicked couple absconded with their daughter. And now, they appear to me to have lost the joy that they had in the Lord, the hope they had for the kingdom of God, their zeal for the ministry. They've just fallen by the wayside. They could have had a warning long before that there was something wrong with that couple. that they should be wary of letting their daughter have anything to do with them. They should have had a warning. The pastor knew that they had this interest in polygamy, but he wanted to deal with them quietly. There are times when that is appropriate. I'm not saying that everything that happens in a church needs to be laid out on the table for everyone to see. But the doctrines of polygamy should have been rebuked publicly. And if that couple wanted to practice such a lifestyle, they should have known that our church was not the church for them. But maybe there were reasons why this didn't happen. Ultimately, I know that God is in control, but for what reason would a pastor allow something like that to happen? Did he see something in it for him? Was it covetousness that caused him to overlook this false teaching that they brought into our church? Other people seemed to be caught up in it as well. I remember a couple of men who seemed to have more than a passing interest in it when it all came out. For whatever the reason, the outcome was tragic and avoidable. If the aim was to avoid controversy and spare some people's feelings, that didn't work out real well for everyone. Proverbs 27 5 says, Open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Some things need to be rebuked openly for the benefit of everyone in the body. All the members of the body work together to edify the body according to the gifts that God has given but He gave some for the perfecting of the saints, and that is their responsibility, to keep those things from becoming snares to those who are not as mature in the faith, so that they have the opportunity to grow in Christ and not be offended and lost. I'm just an interim pastor, and I know that I'm a poor substitute for a seasoned pastor who has been preaching for many years and has polished his craft, and I want you all to know that I love you all as a brother in Christ. You are all dear to me, and I can't stand the thought of losing any more families to bad doctrines sown by bad people. So if I'm missing something that needs to be addressed in this small body, I apologize for my lack of vision. God has a lot left to teach all of us, myself maybe most of all, but if I do preach on something and it hits close to home, it's only because I'm trying to do what God has called me to do as faithfully as I know how because of my love for you guys. And I know that I'm going to make mistakes and have made mistakes, and I thank you all for your patience with me and your love as well. I know that if we are going to grow as a church, it is going to take the gifts of all of us together in unity and in love for one another. Ephesians 4, 16 says, 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. That's quite a sentence. That which every joint supplieth. That's every member. Each of us has a role to play in the growth of the church and edifying the church. Each of us has gifts that God has given to make increase of the body, to build us up as a church, and to bring in new members. We have a long road ahead of us unless the Lord comes back soon, and He might, but we can't be slack about His business, all the more so if He might return at any moment. We should be making ourselves ready for Him. So let's build up each other and help one another, not forgetting to do what Paul said earlier in the chapter. He said, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. We want to do what we can to reverse the trend of losing members. Let's get some folks one to Christ, if we can, and bring them up with us 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. Father God, Lord, I thank you again for bringing us together tonight, Lord, and I thank you for those that are here to listen to your word, God, and I just pray that something I said would just be a blessing to somebody, God, and I pray, Lord, that you would help us, Father, to seek to do your work, God, in these last days, Lord, that you would help us to be busy, Father, doing what we can, Lord, wherever we can, Father. Help us not to be lazy, God. Help us to get busy. Lord, I thank you so much for your son, Jesus, who died for us, and thank you for that free gift of salvation through faith in his blood. Lord, we ask that you just bless the rest of our night, be with our fellowship. In Jesus' name, amen.