Unity: The Marks of the Spirit Filled Life
By Pastor Matt Black
22
August 2007
Midweek Service
Ephesians 4:3
Introduction: Open your Bibles to the book of Ephesians 4. The title of this evening’s message is “Unity: The Marks of the Spirit filled Life”. This is Part 3 in our Union in the Spirit Series.
Once you’ve found Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, let’s stand out before our great and awesome God as we read His Word this evening. It’s not my word or my ideas I’m giving you this morning.
Now if you are visiting with us, we are going through the book of Ephesians. We generally go through entire books of the Bible verse by verse. We take God’s Word very seriously. It is the Word of the King of kings.
Let’s read Ephesians 4:3, “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”.
We are also going to read about someone who was swept into union with the Spirit of God, and we read about it in Isaiah 6. There we find Five Marks of Union with the Spirit.
Isaiah 6, “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 ¶ Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. 6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
9 ¶ And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. 10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. 11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, 12 And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. 13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof”.
[Prayer for Guidance]
On Sunday we talked about our Walk.
I. Our Walk. Verse 1, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called”. If you are going to be united, you are going to need to walk worthy! Walk—daily obedience to the Lord.
But as we walk, it takes work!!
II. Our Work (Endeavor) Verse 3, “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”.
The idea is to “labor to the point of utter exhaustion”:
Constantly working against the current of this world. Discipline, discipline, discipline!
We are told “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12), all the while knowing that it is “God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure”.
Yes, God is working in you. Certainly we can say that “he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). But it is your personal responsibility to grow and change.
There are times here and there when you will need to seek out a counselor in the church, but the vast majority of the time in the Christian life, you are to go directly to God. He is our “Wonderful Counselor” (Isaiah 9:6). You and I serve the same God. The God of Solomon is your God. Solomon wasn’t wise until God made Him wise. You’ll not be wise until God makes you wise. If you need an answer, you need to make it your habit to go to God first.
So we’ve seen our Walk and our Work! There’s activity. There’s hard work. But you can’t be idle. You need to watch.
III. Our Watch (Keep, guard, maintain the unity of the Spirit. Essentially we are to guard our coporate union with the Spirit by guarding our personal union or walk with the Spirit. As Verse 3 says, “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”.
You need to make every effort—working to the point of exhaustion to keep the union with the Spirit of God. “Keep” means to be on the lookout, like a watchman.
How is your bond to the Spirit? Turn to Isaiah 6, and let’s find out.
Here we see five marks of a strong union to the Spirit. Now we should all be seeking this together, because it is the “unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”. This seeking of revival and Christian maturity or Christlikeness is what binds us together. It is the “tie that binds”. To be like Jesus! There are five marks of a strong union with the Spirit. Look at Isaiah 6.
1. Isaiah saw the presence of God!
Isaiah said in verse 1, “I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.”
Verse 3, he says, “the whole earth is full of his glory”
He says in verse 5, “mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts”.
Everything you see now is different. It results in a carefulness of life.
We walk as Ephesians 5:15 says, “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise”. He goes on to say in verse 18, “be filled with the Spirit”.
When God begins to move your sight is affected!!
2. Isaiah Heard the presence of God. When God begins to move your hearing is affected!! He heard angels, seraphim shouting, verse 3, “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory”.
Are your eyes and ears affected by the presence of God? Do you see the wickedness of sin and the holiness of God always colliding in this world? Do you pray, “Even so come quickly Lord Jesus”. Do you groan with all creation under the heavy load of sinfulness of this present evil world?
That brings us to our next point.
How can we be sure if the Spirit is working? You are tender of conscience and aware to sin!
We say with David in Psalm 25:11, “For thy name’s sake, O LORD, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.”
This is unmistakable evidence that the Spirit of God is present. You see, when the Spirit of God comes, “when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (John 16:8). If one can remain comfortable with sin, the Spirit is not there, no matter how dramatic the preaching or how “powerful” the program.
1. There is an Awakening to sin. Isaiah said in verse 5, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips”.
We read in Ephesians 4:30, “grieve not the holy Spirit of God”. The slightest hypocrisy must be discarded. God says to Israel of old in Isaiah 43:24, “thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities.”
Like a leg that has fallen asleep, we need to awaken ourselves daily in the broad daylight of God’s presence.
2. There is also a brokenness to sin! In awakening sin becomes exceeding sinful. We awake, and Christ sheds light on all our sin. Ephesians 5:14, “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.”
Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
When was the last time you WEPT in the presence of God? I believe Isaiah was probably sobbing in the presence of God! I believe he was totally broken and melted in God’s presence.
Now today we cannot offer a lamb or a bull or a goat before the Lord, but we can offer something else.
Psalm 51:17, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise”
3. There is an urgency in this awakening to sin. This is all a part of repentance. It is a fleeing from the filthiness of sin.
URGENCY!!: Absolutely nothing is more important than that you get sin away from you! It is like having red ants crawling all over you, and you just want to get into the water.
Daily we must battle against coldness and hardness of heart. Only a radical surrender can begin to penetrate the apathy in our heart. I use a word like “radical” because it shows urgency. Be urgent about your union with the Spirit! Be radical about the Spirit’s filling and working in your life. Endeavor—work to the point of exhaustion—to maintain it.
“If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell” (Matthew 5:30).
Deep awareness of what things are sinful and how sinful we are is the third feature of revival that calls for notice.
*****No matter how exciting things are in the church, if there is no profound sense of sin at its heart, then it is not a manifestation of the Spirit. Nothing can lift a Christian’s spirits to heaven except getting rid of sin in his life.
4. When awakening comes, the conscience becomes tender and a profound humbling takes place. The perverseness, ugliness, uncleanness, and guilt of sin are seen and felt with new vividness.
Look at Acts 2:37, the Scripture says that those at Pentecost were “pricked [PIERCED] in their heart”. This literally means to inflict with a violent blow, a vivid image of an agonizingly painful experience.
People filled with the Spirit are shattered by their sin!
Peter showed them the way of repentance, faith, and discipleship through Jesus Christ, and three thousand of them took it (Acts 2:37-41). They continued steadfast in the apostle’s doctrine and prayers and breaking of bread.
When the awakening comes, there a deep love for Jesus. The cross becomes the BLAZING CENTER OF GOD’S GLORY because it is the only place for sinners to find shelter and rest and consoling forgiveness. The cross becomes more precious than diamonds and gold. God loves ME? Me!? God is soooooooo good!
J I Packer says, “Under revival conditions consciences are so quickened that conviction of each person's own sinfulness becomes strong agonizing and unbearable, bringing on agonies of mind that are beyond imagining till they happen. The Gospel’s love and forgiveness as seen in Christ's cross comes to be loved as never before, as people see their need of it so much more clearly.”
Isaiah says in one place, “comfort ye my people”. Let me comfort you. Come to the cross and confess your sins and God will cleanse you completely. All you need for holy living is a humble heart. God will turn your brokenness into zeal for holy living.
Revival always includes a profound awareness of one's own sinfulness, leading to deep repentance and heartfelt embrace of the glorified, loving, pardoning Christ.
In this awakening we want to be holy as God is holy. We want cleanness of life. We want wholeness of spirit. We find deep happiness and rich joy in the depth of the soul when we are walking with Jesus. There’s nothing to hide. It is total liberty. It is total love.
There is no better knowledge than to have a clean and pure conscience.
I was reading Psalm 26 this morning. Turn over there a page. I think it gives a good picture of a life of holiness.
Psalm 26, let’s look through verse 8.
1. Verse 1 we have an outward obedience. “Judge me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall not slide.
2. Verse 2, we have an inward examination, “Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.
3. Verse 3, we have an upward consolation, “For thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes: and I have walked in thy truth.
4. Verses 4-5 we have an onward separation, “I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers. 5 I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked.
5. Verse 6 we have an onward sanctification, “I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O LORD:
6. Verse 7 we have a thankful proclamation, “That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works.
7. Verse 8 we have an overcoming affection, “LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth.
The angel flew over to Isaiah with coals from off the altar of burnt offering where the lamb would have been offered.
Now this is not some cold response, but a burning of the heart for the truth of the Lord.
Remember what the two on the road to Emmaus said after Jesus had departed from them in Luke 24:32, “they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?”
Spirit filled living is based on a hearty and vigorous response to God’s truth. Not our voice, but God’s voice. Not our plan. Our ultimate authority is God’s Word. This is the truth for us. But it is not just knowing truth, but responding to it. The sense of God's presence imparts new authority to His truth. The Bible, which previously was making only a superficial impact, if that, now searches its hearers and readers to the depth of their being. The statement that “the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12) is authenticated over and over again in the life of an awakened believer. The word of God authenticates itself to revived consciences, and there is no room for half way lukewarm responses. It’s all radical forceful obedience to His Word
II. Our Well-being (Bond of Peace).
Bond is to be tied together. A revived church is full of the life, joy and power of the Holy Spirit. With the Spirit's coming, fellowship with Christ is brought right to the center of our worship and devotion; the glorified Christ is shown, known, loved, served, and exalted. Love and generosity, unity and joy, assurance and boldness, a spirit of praise and prayer, and a passion to reach out to win others are recurring marks of a people experiencing revival. So is divine power in their preachers, a power which has nothing to do with natural eloquence.
Listen the result of regeneration (chapters 1-3) and revival (the working and watching) is peace with your brethren. But remember all the world is at war against you. And there may be fold who come into our assembly who are not walking in the Spirit, who are not watching and working each day to please the Spirit of God. Jesus said, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). There are those who oppose the work of revival. There are those who will mock and call you strict and legalistic because you oppose sin. So be it. Let us be holy as God is holy. Let us join ourselves together in holy covenant. We are bound together by the cords of peace. The tie that binds is our love for Christ and our love for one another. There may be much strife coming at the Body. Always the world will oppose us—always we are at war with the enemies of our Lord. But let us “work to the point of exhaustion” “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”.
Conclusion: Why Must we Work So Hard to Maintain this Unity?
Two reasons:
You see here there are always two sides to the Christian life. God elects us. He draws us to Himself. We have that high and weighty calling. But
When I speak of personal revival, I mean a daily renewing of your mind, a recommitting of yourself to the Lordship of Christ. I urge you daily to take remembrance of what Christ has done for you and what His claim on your life is.
The truth of this that we’ll be looking at this morning is found in verse 3, “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”. As we said last week, this word “endeavoring” means to spare no effort—it has the idea of urgency, passion, and diligence. Are you bound to the Spirit in perfect harmony? Are you obeying the unction and leading of the Spirit in your life?
Of course in short order, Paul is going to tell us why unity is so important. He’s going to tell us that we are to “do the work of the ministry”. We are to be the hands and feet of Jesus in this world, and in order to accomplish His will, we must be passionately, diligently, and urgently connected to Him and His will and heartbeat for our lives.
Essentially, we all need to maintain the life of the Spirit in our personal lives and in our interactions one with another in the church.
Closing Hymn: 333 Open Our Eyes Lord
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