We're on page number 145 in our study book here, ABCs of Christian Growth. We're part two here of unity, study letter U for unity. And so far concerning unity, we've talked about man's attempts at unity, man's first attempt and man's final attempt. Then now what we're going to look at is we're going to look at true unity versus false unity. And that may complete the whole lesson on unity, or we may have one more. We'll see how far we get. But we're on page 145. And I haven't even asked you guys if we have the same page numbers. If you're on page 145, the top of the page should say true unity versus false unity. Okay, so we have the same. The gym's at your stomach back there gurgling. I'm just kidding. It's a coffee maker. Coffee makers making noise. All right. Letter A here says to turn your Bible to Ephesians chapter four, which you've already done. And we have the verses that we're going to deal with in Ephesians chapter four here on the wall. And if you're at home, you'll just have to turn there because you can't see them on the wall. But you can click the link at the bottom of the study. It's not on this one. Go to one of the old ones. and it'll be on there, and I'll update this one eventually, and it'll be on there. It says that this is the unity chapter of the Word of God and deals with true unity as opposed to the false unity proposed by Satan. Letter B here says, We hear so much in religious circles today about the need for a spirit of unity in marked contrast. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 3, says, let's see here, it commands us to keep the unity of the spirit. So we're not to have a spirit of unity, but keep the unity of the spirit. That's a sharp contrast. Instead of having a spirit of unity, which is a different spirit, we have unity of the All right, so before we look at this chapter in some detail, let's reestablish some Bible principles of separation that relate to unity. It's interesting that when you're studying the study or when you're having a study on the topic of unity, the topic of separation applies to unity. Why? Well, because pure unity requires separation from certain things to be able to unify on others. So Amos chapter 3 verse 3 says, can two walk together except they be agreed? What's the answer to that question? No, two can't walk together if they're not agreed. Until they come to an agreement on that matter, they're going to have a hard time walking together. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 11 says, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. And the rest of the verse says, but rather recruit them. Second Corinthians chapter 6 verse 14 says, be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness? For not to be unequally yoked. Letters C here, many churches, in quotes, and religious groups are affiliated with, or are affiliated or in some other way associated with the World Council of Churches or the National council of churches, or other faith-based groups and or local or citywide unity groups. The chart below contrasts the differences between true Bible-based unity and these unscriptural associations. All right, now this is a fun part to try to deal with this contrast here. So true unity versus false unity. You guys see the chart there? The chart kind of like goes down page 145 at the bottom, and then 146, and then 147, a good portion of that. So we're gonna look at true unity versus false unity. So in Ephesians chapter four, verse four, it says that there is one body. According to Colossians one, verse 18, this body is the New Testament church. Very good, there is only one kind of church New Testament kind. So, this is the true unity. Now, false unity says the ecumenical movement embraces all major Protestant denominations and Eastern Orthodox groups and engages in active dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church and most other major world non-Christian religions. Many Baptists have fallen for the unscriptural idea of the mystical or mythical, uh, invisible universal body of Christ church concept, which teaches that there are up to three churches. And the Bible says in Ephesians chapter four, there's one body. That one body is one church because it's the new Testament church. Uh, that's not saying that there is only one universal churches, one church, one kind of church. Um, further in chapter 4 verse 4 says that there is one spirit. This refers to, in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 8, it refers to the Holy Spirit. Let's see here. Okay, it's down there. Okay, for some reason I put the verse for the other side before that one. So, yeah, 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 8 says He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us this, or his Holy Spirit. So he's also referred to in John 16, 13 and John 14, 6 as the Spirit of Truth. Very good. John 16, 13 says, how be it when he, the Spirit of Truth has come, he will guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come." And then 1 John 4, 6 says, We are of God. He that knoweth God, heareth us. He that is not of God, heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. So, contrast with that, the false unity, what they do is they depart from the Word of God and give heed to seducing spirits. 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 1 says, Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. Babylon will be the hold of every foul spirit. Revelation 18 verse 2 says, And he cried mightily, with a strong voice saying Babylon, the greatest fallen is fallen and has become the habitation of devils and the hold of every foul spirit and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird. Today, today's great ecumenical spirit is the charismatic movement. I skipped another thing. There says, believe not every spirit. Correct. First John four one beloved. Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God. because many false prophets are gone out into the world. The ecumenical spirit is not only the charismatic movement, but it is in the charismatic movement. Ephesians chapter four, verse four, again, there is one hope, one hope, not one pope, one hope. There's no hope in the pope. The one hope for the believer, and this world is the glorious appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. Titus 2.13 says, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. So the World Council of Churches espouses its mission of preaching the social gospel. It seeks to bring about the utopian dream society through liberation, theology, and Marxist revolution. I was just reading a book this week and one of the topics was the social gospel and how actually many Baptists of the 20th century embraced the social gospel because they had a false doctrine concerning eschatology or the end times thinking. So they thought that they had this this doctrine called post millennialism when they believe that that you know as the New Testament in the book of Revelation the Bible teaches that in Revelation chapter 19 that Jesus is going to return at the end of the tribulation he's going to return and set foot on the Mount of Olives and when he does he's going to enter or he's going to cast out all of his enemies and and Satan will be cast into the into the bottomless pit and bound and the false prophet and all that into hell. Well, so it says that for a thousand years to be bound, but then also for a thousand years, Christ will reign. That's the millennial kingdom, as we call it. Well, there are some who believe in what they call post-millennialism, and they spiritualize all of Revelation, and they make the millennial kingdom having already happened. They say, well, the kingdom has already happened or the kingdom is now they spiritualize it. They say that we're living in the kingdom of God and it is our responsibility with our social gospel is our responsibility to enhance the world morally to usher in our King Jesus Christ who will come and rule forever. So their concept is that if we can, uh, And this concept is a very similar concept to what Augustine taught, what Calvin taught, what Luther taught, what Zwingli taught, and what many of the reformers taught. This concept is a concept of church-state marriage. It's what the Catholics taught all through the, from 300s all the way to even now. And the idea is that they feel as though if they can have control of the world and they can enforce morality and cause the world to become good enough, then the kingdom will come, or the Lord will come. There's post-millennial thought, and then there's amillennial thought. Amillennial thought is that there's no millennium at all. There's no return of Christ like we see it, it's simply that he controls the world from heaven and through people on earth. We believe in pre-millennial doctrine, meaning that we are currently before the millennium. And we don't mean before the millennium, like the year 2000. We mean we are before that thousand year rule of Christ on earth. So that was just a basic real quick rundown of pre, post, and amillennial theology. Does that make sense to you guys? I'm just kind of throwing out this stuff. These doctrines make a difference politically, they make a difference socially, and it is that postmillennial doctrine and that amillennial doctrine that is going to cause the one world government, the one world religion, all of that that happens during the tribulation, it all happens based upon a thought process of responsibility of man to purify the earth. Make sense? As you think about that, let it sink in a little bit. It really kind of opens up like, oh, wow, that's why they're doing that. You start thinking about some of the things that's going on in the world. And a lot of things begin to make sense. Well, they make sense, but they don't make sense. if you know what I mean. Makes sense why they're doing it, but it doesn't make sense that they're doing it, because they're doing it based on false premises. So the World Council of Churches seeks to fulfill Revelation 21.1, which says, and I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. They are seeking to fulfill this through their own agencies, through their own doing. In Ephesians 4, 5 says, we're talking again now about true, that was false unity. Then now again, true unity, there is one Lord. Now this refers in Philippians 2, 11, it refers to Jesus Christ. It says that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. So we have this one Lord and the opposition, or the verses here, false unity, the Church of Rome still seeks to unite Christendom under the Lordship of one Pope. Most Protestant leaders acknowledge the Pope as a great world leader. You guys remember the Pope came a few weeks ago to America, and everybody was like, I mean, they lost their minds. Did you guys notice that? Like, everybody lost their minds. Well, you guys were dealing with the baby in the hospital and all that stuff, but yeah, he came to, well, no, that was right before, but you're probably gearing up for it, and you're like, I don't care about what's going on in the news. It was right after we got back from the tour, I think, or maybe right as we were there or something, but anyways, everybody was going crazy, Just, I mean, it's crazy. Even the Protestants were going crazy and some so-called Baptists were going crazy about this whole Pope thing. What's that? He came to America and he spoke to the, I don't know who he spoke to. I think he spoke to the UN and to Congress. He came to America and he basically came to America like a politician speaking on political issues. And anyways, um, like it was like the whole country, well, not the whole country, but you know what I mean? Like all the news and everybody's like, Oh, the Holy father's coming and we gotta, you know, do this and this. And wouldn't it be so exciting to meet him and all this kind of stuff. And even that the lady down in Kentucky supposedly went and met with him or something. I'm like, Yeah. I think so. Yeah. Yep. Crazy. So the ecumenical denominations, uh, only pay lip service to Jesus Christ calling him Lord, but denying, uh, the reality when they do not the things which he says, right. There's several passages that, that, uh, deal with that. He says, why call you me Lord, Lord in Luke, uh, six 46 and do not the things which I say. John chapter 14 verse 15 says if you love me keep my commandments and then Matthew 7 21 through 23 says Not everyone that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter Into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my father which is in heaven many will say to me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful works and Then will I profess unto them. I never knew you depart from me that work iniquity." So there's one Lord and those that pay lip service to him today but do not the things that he says, they have a false sense of unity and their lordship and their alliances and their allegiance is to the wrong Lord. And here are the last one on this page. In Ephesians 4, 5, there's one faith. Jude, verse 3, tells us this faith was once delivered unto the saints. It is the complete body of doctrine taught in the Word of God. That is that one faith. In opposition here, in contrast, the official statement of faith of the World Council of Churches is short and very general. It's a short and very general it has to be because in order to accommodate You know all the various different beliefs Held by the various denominational constituents. They have to have that very general and short statement of faith and Anyways, they're Often they will preach a doctrine against doctrine. I had a young man I ate lunch with one time made the statement. He said, Oh, this is this doctrine stuff. I want to stay away from doctrine. I'm like, well, who taught you that? What strange doctrine is this that you want to stay away from doctrine? Doctrine is nothing more than simply teachings. And, uh, you know, When if you have scriptural doctrine, you go to the Word of God for your doctrine, for your teachings. That's great. What many people misunderstand is they think, well, this this group has this teaching and that group has that teaching. Well, it doesn't matter what the teaching of the Baptists is. It doesn't matter what the teaching of the Catholics is. It doesn't matter what the teaching of the Pentecostals is. It doesn't matter what teaching various groups hold to. What matters is what the Bible says and what the teaching of the Bible is. And the Bible, the Bible says that the word of God is profitable for doctrine. And so that's important not to to misunderstand that and throw that out. You know, people say doctrine divides, and that's absolutely right. It divides, but it also unifies, you know, because when you when you have a doctrine that people agree with, then those people unify under the banner of that doctrine. And this world council of churches or this false unity, they unify under this doctrine of a spirit of unity. So because this organization rejects the Bible as its absolute final authority in all matters of faith, we can understand why this is the case. So here, the second to last one here, there is one One baptism, Matthew 28, 19 says, Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Ghost. This is the immersion of the believer in water to be set forth symbolically, or to set forth symbolically the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, an ordinance given to the Lord's churches to keep. In contrast, there is a great variety of baptisms being practiced among the denominations of the ecumenical community. And in case you didn't get the, we didn't really give a definition of ecumenical. Ecumenical has to do with embracing various different groups. So they have sprinkling, they have pouring, they have immersions, they do so on infants and adults, believers, unbelievers, for salvation, with salvation, after salvation, all these different things. This reality represents one of the great stumbling blocks to achieving the desired unity. Many, quote, Baptists are falling, are failing, sorry, to hold the line by accepting unscripturally baptized people into their membership. This is why if someone comes to us and they say, well, I was baptized in such and such, you know, place, uh, you know, down the street at the, the local Church of God or Church of Christ or Church of the Pentecostals or whatever, you know, and we require that they get baptized scripturally with Baptist principles. The reason that we do that is because we want to make sure that they properly understand what that baptism was for. If they got baptized in the local Church of Christ, they were baptized for their salvation. That's what they teach. is that if you don't get baptized, you go to hell. That's what they teach. And so, scripturally speaking, if you don't get saved, you go to hell. If you don't get baptized, you're in disobedience to God, but you don't go to hell. Baptism is a picture of Christ. It's a picture of the gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And it is a public testimony of your faith in Christ. And it also is there to add you to that church. And so to transfer someone from another church that is not of like faith, first of all, it supports a false concept of unity because it's saying that we unify with that church that has different teachings than we do. Just the same, if somebody were to go over here to St. Patrick's, don't. Don't you do it. If a member from this church were to say, you know what? I want to become a Catholic. And they go over there to St. Patrick's over there. And they tell them, I want to become a Catholic. I'm telling you what? They're going to tell you. What's that? $3,000. No. They're going to take you through. You've got to go through the catechisms. And you've got to go through all the different things. And one of those things is you have to be baptized into the Catholic faith. and that is by sprinkling, but they have a ceremony, a public thing where you have to submit yourself to the doctrine of the Catholic Church or the Catholic institution in order to become a member of that institution. So we don't do that because they do that. In fact, they do that because we do it and because they learned it from us about 1700 years ago when they broke from the Baptists or the Baptistic believing churches in In the European area there they had they already had the Waldensys and they already had some of the other Baptistic Teaching people there called various different things well the Waldensys and the Monsonists and Donatists and all of that, but they They wanted their church and state married together, and they left the faith that was once delivered unto the saints to have that power of the civil government. So, they also left the baptism thing too. That was a long bunny trail there. Had to do with, it did have to do with baptism. Amen. Wasn't really a bunny trail, I guess. I'm trying to conclude it. I'm losing why I went down that trail. The idea is not accepting unscripturally baptized people into membership. If someone wants to come in, we don't reject them. We just have the right process to bring them in. We say, OK, we are more than willing to accept you into our membership. You just need to have scriptural baptism. And so we will perform that for you, no problem. So, the last one here. One God, Ephesians 4, 6. There's one Lord, one faith, one baptism. Verse 6 says, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. This is the Lord God of the Bible, the Lord God Almighty of the Bible, who manifests himself as three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Deuteronomy 6, 4 says, Hear O Israel the Lord your God our God is one Lord in 1st John chapter 5 verse 7 says for these three I'm sorry for there are three that bear record in heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one So this one God although he is a Trinity he is one God and Just as you and I are triune persons, we have body, soul, and spirit, we are still one person. And even in the home, you have the husband and the wife that are one flesh. But just the same way that that can be, so can God be three in one. So a whole lot of people involved in the ecumenical unity believe in a different God than the God of the Bible. He is the God of their own imagination, as Romans chapter 1, verse 21 denotes. And there are atheists roosting in the ecumenical tree, those who actually deny the reality of God. There are Unitarians, those who deny that Jesus is God. There are Universalists, those who believe God is the Father of all men. Actually, let me back up for a second. Some Unitarians look at God, the Father, as God, and then Jesus is not God to them. And then there's other Unitarians that look at Jesus as God, and the Father and the Holy Spirit are symbols of who Jesus is, and it's called the oneness doctrine, and there's oneness Pentecostals that believe that Jesus is God and that's it. and there's no Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, it's just Jesus as God. What that does, it causes them to consider the Holy Spirit as a force of God, rather than a person of God, or rather than the person of God, the Spirit of God. But anyways, that's another type of Unitarian. Then there's Universalists, those who believe God is the Father of all men, saved and unsaved and, uh, and that all will be saved anyways. And there's, there's also, there's so many different, so many different views of God out there that, that are, that, that are recognized in this concept. You know, there's, there's the pantheist, uh, concept of those that believe that God is, God is not only is God everywhere, but he is everything. And that, You know, you've got to be careful not to destroy something because that thing is God. And, you know, even the little bugs and the animals that are running across the road in front of you, all of that has some, it's all part of God, that all material is part of the immaterial. It's a crazy concept, not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches a concept of God being in all things, but not that he is all things, that he has something to do with. Obviously, God created all things, and so he's left his mark on everything. But don't be fooled by their religious talk and terminology. 2 Corinthians 11, verses 4-15 here talks about those who preach another Jesus. If he that cometh preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if ye have received another spirit which you have not received, or another gospel which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him. And it goes on, but the idea here is he tells us, hey, don't listen to those people who are preaching another Jesus, who are teaching another doctrine. You need to base your faith and base your trust and base all of your understanding upon the word of God. So someone said, once said, there is a difference between church union and church unity. You can tie a dog's tail and a cat's tail together, then toss them over a clothesline. You may have union, but you certainly don't have unity. You guys picture that, a dog and a cat. They're attached. What's that? They'd be fighting, right? They're attached to one another. You have union, but no unity. Spurgeon said, Unity at the expense of truth is treason. And Criswell said ecumenicity is another name for death to our Baptist faith. I am going to mark a line here, and we're going to just deal with this, the unity we need to be concerned about next week, Lord willing. Any questions or comments on true and false unity. Anybody have anything that you think might have been missed there? That was a really quick summary, summation of this, of that concept, true and false unity. There's a whole lot more that could be said on that topic, but hopefully that was a good enough kind of jolt in there. There are some things that are just flat out said in that that could use a whole lot more explanation, but we'll save that for another time. No questions, no comments? All right, well, let's pray.