How the Unity of the Spirit Can Be Broken

Introduction: The Sadness of Spiritual Decline and the Grieving of the Spirit

0:05 The following message was delivered on Sunday morning, March 15, 1992, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now again this morning, may I urge you to turn with me please to Ephesians 4 and verse 30, and I shall read verses 30 through 32. Ephesians 4 and verse 30, and I shall read verses 30 through 32.

1:09 Ephesians 4 and verse 30, and I shall read verses 30 through 32. It's a cause of sadness to read the account of Adam and Eve banished from Eden, clothing themselves with shame and crippled with forfeited integrity. It's a cause of sadness to read the account of God looking down on the ancient world and pained at his own heart that he ever made man and saying, I'll start all over again, and he blots out the entire race. With the exception of one man in his family called Noah. That's sad.

2:22 It's sad to read the account of a man after God's own heart named David, given such privilege and raised to such heights of usefulness, cut off at the knees in midlife because he lusted with his eyes, committed adultery and plotted murder, and lived in hypocrisy and duplicity. And even after he was brought...

2:47 And even after he was brought to repentance, went to his grave as a man awkwardly trying to walk on the remaining stumps of his spiritual legs. It's sad. The Bible is full of sad things. But among the many real events with real people which cause real sadness, few are more tragically sad than those which cluster around the life of Samson.

3:19 Samson... Samson, that puzzling figure who served as one of the judges of ancient Israel.

3:26 That which makes Samson's life so sad is that it was a life which was marked at one time by great usefulness, only to become a life marked by weakness, impotence, and shame. The sad reality of Samson is captured in its essence in the words of Judges 6. Judges 6, verse 16 and verse 20, where it is written of him, And he awoke out of his sleep and said, I will go out as at other times and shake myself free. But he knew not that Jehovah had departed from him.

4:13 Now you say, Pastor Martin, that's all true. But what in the world does that have to do with the present series of studies entitled, A Manifesto of Trinity Baptist Church? A series of studies in which we're attempting to bring into focus the major biblical perspectives and convictions which have regulated our life as a church for the first 25 years of our life together. Well, my answer to that question is this.

4:45 We are presently considering the eighth affirmation in that manifesto, namely, that we are determined to maintain the presence of an ungrieved Holy Spirit in the totality of our life and ministry. And the relevance of the tragedy of Samson is that what happened to him as an individual when he grieved away the Spirit, he went from a posture of great usefulness to one of weakness, impotence, and shame, and the呵는 ____ can happen to churches when they grieve the Holy Spirit. Churches can go from places of blessing and youthfulness to a horrible posture of weakness, impotence, shame, and sometimes even into nonexistence. And it is our concern that whatever measure of blessing, we have known by the Spirit's presence in the past 25 years may not only be maintained, but by the grace of God increased and multiplied even until the coming of the Lord Jesus. And if that is to be true,

6:12 then there must be in all of our hearts a corporate determination to maintain the presence of an ungrieved Holy Spirit in the totality of our life and ministry. And having demonstrated from this text and a parallel text in Isaiah 63 that there is both an individual and a corporate grieving of the Spirit, we have been concentrating our attention upon those ways in which the Holy Spirit is grieved in the corporate life of any church of Christ. He is grieved when Jesus Christ is refused His rightful place of unrivaled preeminence. He is grieved when corporate holiness is not maintained when necessary by corrective discipline. He is grieved where the Scriptures are not given their rightful supremacy. He is grieved where the person, presence, and power of the Holy Spirit are not esteemed as indispensable.

The Fifth Way the Holy Spirit is Grieved: Failure to Maintain the Unity of the Spirit

7:24 Now, this morning we'll address the fifth and final way in which the Holy Spirit is grieved in the corporate life of the church. And I've chosen to express it in this way. The Holy Spirit is grieved when the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace is not consciously and diligently maintained. The Holy Spirit is grieved when the unity of the Spirit when the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace is not consciously and diligently maintained.

8:05 Now, in opening up this strand of our subject, consider with me first of all the pivotal text which addresses this issue. Already that text has come to the minds of some of you. It's found in the earlier part of chapter four in Ephesians.

8:25 The pivotal text which addresses this issue.

Expounding the Pivotal Text: Ephesians 4:1-3

8:31 Those of you familiar with this letter will remember that the first three chapters contain one of the most comprehensive statements of the grandeur of God's salvation to hell-deserving sinners in the person and work of the Lord Jesus. And as that salvation is applied by the Spirit and as it produces living temptation in the minds of the poor and in the minds of the disabled and in the minds of the baptized and recently made known to many there are also other examples made up of Jew and Gentile who now constitute the one people of God. And having set forth those marvelous aspects of the privileges of all who are called into a state of grace by the operation of the triune God. Paul then says, with ye were called. And if that statement were found in isolation, it would be nothing less than something parallel to Romans 12, 1 and 2. It would be a general call that in the totality of the Christian life, our walk before God should somehow resonate with the realities of the magnitude

9:51 of our salvation in Christ. But this is not a general call to walk worthily of our being called into a state of grace, but you will notice that there is a particular focus in view. We are to walk worthily of the calling wherewith we were called with, and then several graces are highlighted with all lowliness and meekness. With long suffering, and then two activities are highlighted, forbearing one another in love, giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And having landed on the note of giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, the apostle stays on that note, and then in the next verses, It shows the basis of that unity, he shows the outworking of that unity, the maturation and the growth of the Malaysia of Christ. And so this call to walk worthily of our calling is not a generic

11:11 called to an overview of the Christian life, but it is a call to walk worthily of God's gracious dealings with us who loved, loved, loved. And we rinse our eyes before Christ. That's what we're a calling to do within each day of this week. And when you look at the issue, you will notice that by the number ofAMAZE Gary Christopher Debenoso who showed us the Greek word ben хотите, some of his, most wearable lines.

11:22 when He effectually called us out of darkness into light, conferred this marvelous salvation upon us, incorporated us into His church, it is a call to walk worthily of that calling, particularly with reference to this matter of the maintenance of the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. So He highlights the graces essential to the maintenance of that unity, lowliness and meekness with long-suffering, and then the two manifestations forbearing one another in love, giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And it is that final statement that is the climactic statement in the passage, and I trust I've demonstrated that that is the climactic statement in the passage, that that is the climactic statement in the passage, to the conviction of your own judgment, since He then launches into the reality of the one body, the one Spirit, etc. But let's spend just a few moments on this pivotal text. Notice what we are to do.

12:37 We are to give diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit. And the word used here in a participle form is that word that we have become very familiar with in the Bible, in conjunction with two other texts. When Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2.15, study or do thine utmost or give diligence to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, handling aright the word of truth, this is the word that he used, spoudazo.

13:14 And what is a man to do who is to be a competent, able, unashamed workman in handling the word of truth? Well, he must not just occasionally bring this word into contact with his mind, and in the preparation to bring it to others, he must not in a half hour just flip through and find a text here and a text there that have some affinity of apparent word similarity and give it out as sermon. No, he must study. He must give diligence.

13:49 He must marshal all of his... all of his faculties and all of his energies, and he must bring them to a burning focal point of desire that in handling the word of God, he would do so in such a way that as a workman under the eye of God, he knows that God will not frown upon him that he has mishandled his own holy and infallible word.

14:15 Do thine utmost. Give diligence. That's the word. Giving diligence.

14:21 To keep the unity of the Spirit. And then another text that is familiar to many of us, in 2 Peter 1.10, where Peter says, Give diligence to make your calling and election sure. Now, how much spiritual energy should we all exert to make certain that we are truly in a state of grace?

14:45 Well, you see, there is no question of more vital, crucial, personal importance. Am I? Am I? Am I in the favor of the wrath of God?

14:53 Or am I in the favor of God? Am I on my way to hell? Or on my way to heaven? Does hell stand yawning to consume me?

15:06 Or the Lord Jesus stand ready to receive me? That's a vital question. And Peter says, Give diligence to make your calling and election sure. In other words, focus all of your spiritual energy, energies, and faculties upon making a proper assessment of whether or not you're in a state of grace.

15:30 That's our same word again. So when he says, Giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit, this is indeed a conscious and diligent activity. Now, he says, Giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit. And that word, to keep, rendered in various ways in the New Testament, to guard, to retain, to preserve, and all of those ideas confluence in this passage.

16:04 We are to give diligence. That is, we are to consciously and with spiritual endeavor apply ourselves to the guarding, to the preserving, to the retaining, to the keeping, to the keeping, to the keeping, to the keeping, to the keeping, to the keeping, of a certain commodity. And what is it called? It is called the unity of the Spirit.

16:32 It is the unity of which the Spirit is the author. The unity that the Holy Spirit has effected when by His own activity He united us to Christ, He baptized us into the one body, He incorporated us into the same living temple, He brought us into living life relationship with the same spiritual organic head, the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit, has done all of those things truly to make us one. So it is a unity effected by the operation of the Holy Spirit in the heart of every true believer. So it is a unity effected by the operation of the Holy Spirit in the heart of every true believer. So it is a unity effected by the operation of the Holy Spirit in the heart of every true believer. And it is called the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

17:30 So it is a unity of which the Spirit is the author and the bond of which is peace. Peace, the absence of hostility, enmity, alienation and ill will, the presence of amity, tranquility, fraternity, sympathy, it is a unity effected by the Spirit and the bond of that unity is this glorious reality of peace. Charles Hodge in his commentary wonderfully summarizes the thrust of this passage in these words. The only interpretation of these words in accordance with the ordinary usage of the words and with the context is that which makes the phrase in question, that unity of which the Spirit is the author. Everywhere the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is said to be the principle of unity in the body of Christ. This unity may be promoted or disturbed.

18:43 The exhortation is that the greatest zeal should be exercised in its preservation. And the means by which it is to be preserved is the bond of peace. That is, that bond which consists of peace. The peace which results from love, humility, meekness and mutual forbearance is essential to the union and communion of the members of Christ's body which is the fruit and evidence of the spirit's presence.

The Necessity of Human Effort in Maintaining Unity

19:17 Has hatred, pride and contention among Christians caused the Spirit to withdraw from them, from them, so love and peace secures his presence. And as his presence is the condition and source of all good, and his absence the source of all evil, the importance of the duty enjoined cannot be overestimated. And so this brief exposition is not novel. I stand behind the most responsible commentators that I've consulted in trying to briefly open up this pivotal text, which brings front and center in the very emphasis of the Apostle Paul the fact that as the people of God, we are consciously and diligently to labor at the maintenance of the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And failure to do so is a failure to do so will inevitably result in grieving the Holy Spirit. And you ask, well, Pastor, if the unity is effected by the Holy Spirit, can't he sustain it without our effort? And I answer that is not his method of working. Because that unity of the Spirit in the bond

20:45 of peace which he has effected is effected in people in whom there is still remaining sin. And remaining sin in people in whom there is still remaining sin. And remaining sin in people in whom there is still remaining sin. And remaining sin in people in whom there is still remaining sin. And remaining sin in people in whom there is still remaining sin. And remaining sin in people in whom there is still remaining sin. And remaining sin is like bacteria in a piece of meat that has been cut from a freshly slain animal. If you take that piece of meat and immediately put it into the refrigerator or freezer to bring down the temperature where the activity of the bacteria is reduced, if not actually brought to cessation, then you can take it out of the freezer in three months and eat meat.

21:25 That will not be putrid. But if you take that piece of meat and stick it out on a hot summer day in August and leave it sit for ten hours, the bacteria will multiply without any external element touching it until that meat will be putrid, sickening to the smell and sickening to the stomach. And that's exactly the way any church is if left to itself. The bacteria of remaining sin is always seeking to multiply itself. And unless we give unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, the bacteria of envy and jealousy and suspicion and ill will and a host of other things will so multiply that a church can become nothing but a putrid gathering. That has. A horrible likeness to that stinking piece of meat.

Three Primary Ways Unity is Not Maintained

22:39 So the pivotal text here in Ephesians 4, I believe, warrants the language, the Holy Spirit is grieved when the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace is not consciously and diligently maintained. Now, having looked at the pivotal text which addresses the subject, now, secondly, what are the primary reasons? What are the primary ways in which the unity of the Spirit is not consciously and diligently maintained? What are the primary ways in which the unity of the Spirit is not consciously and diligently maintained?

23:23 And as I have labored to try and reduce these things to some natural, I trust they are natural and not artificial headings. It seems to me according to my present light. that there are three primary ways in which the unity of the Spirit is not consciously and diligently maintained ways that are addressed again and again in the Scriptures. The first is by indulging in the sins which will inevitably rupture the unity of the Spirit.

23:56 The second is by failure to cultivate the graces which are essential to promote the unity of the Spirit. And the third is by refusing to engage in the directions given to heal any breaches in the unity of the Spirit. And I believe under those three headings can be arranged all of the major texts which address this subject in the Word of God. We're going to take up only the first this morning and, God willing, the next two in our study next Lord's Day.

24:32 The primary ways. In which the Spirit is not consciously, the unity of the Spirit is not consciously and diligently maintained. The first by indulging in the sins which will inevitably rupture the unity of the Spirit. When the Apostle says, you are to give diligence.

24:56 You are to exert conscious, constant, deliberate effort to guard, to maintain. To preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. He is calling us not to indulge in those sins which would inevitably rupture the unity of the Spirit. And if we've indulged in them, not to remain in them, but to seek the straightest course to repentance and cleansing and reformation of heart and disposition.

Sin 1: Sowing Discord (Gossip, Evil Speaking, Suspicion)

25:32 Let me set before you six specific ways. Six specific sins that, according to the Scripture witness, are often prevalent when the unity of the Spirit has been ruptured. Sins which will in and of themselves, any one of them, if indulged, rupture that unity. And at the head of the list is what Solomon calls in Proverbs chapter 6, the sowing of discord.

26:03 Proverbs chapter 6. Proverbs chapter 6, verse 16. There are six things which Jehovah hates. Yea, seven which are an abomination unto him.

26:23 Things towards which God has something more than a fleeting emotion of displeasure. He has a deep, settled, holy aversion. And love. Loathing to these things.

26:40 What are they? Haughty eyes. A lying tongue. Hands that shed innocent blood.

26:49 A heart that deviseth wicked purposes. Feet that are swift in running to mischief. A false witness that breathes out lies. And he that soweth discord among brethren.

27:07 Amen. Amen. Amen, brethren. Only if we are commanded, give diligence, labor consciously and deliberately and constantly to guard, preserve, maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, then any indulgence in any sin that in any way sows discord is flying into the face of this solemn injunction.

27:37 He that sows discord. It is classed along with the proud, with the heart that devises wicked purposes, with murderers of innocent people, and with blatant, perpetual, chronic liars, they are those whom God's soul loathes. What must he think of one of his own children upon whom he has expended such redemptive energy? To bring him into the unity of the Spirit within the people of God, the bond of that unity which is peace, what must it be in the mind and heart of God when such a one would indulge in the sin of sowing discord? You say, Pastor, how is that done? Well, it's done primarily by gossip. Evil speaking, raising suspicions about others, gossip, Proverbs 26, 20 and 21, Proverbs chapter 26, verses 20 and 21,

28:54 For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, contention ceases. As coals are to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to inflame stripes. A gossip is defined as a person who chatters and repeats idle talk and rumors, especially about the private affairs of others. Did you hear that?

29:23 Did you know that? Were you aware of that? Speech that has no good end in view, but only that which will fill the minds of others with thoughts, true or false, that will cause a fracturing of the unity of the Spirit. God says He hates those who sow discord among the brethren.

29:49 In some it is not by gossip, but by downright evil speaking and backbiting. James 4 and verse 11, We are commanded here in the word of God, speak not evil one of another. James 4 and verse 11, Speak not one against another, brethren. He that speaketh against a brother, or judges his brother, speaks against the law, and judges the law.

30:19 When we take the posture of speaking evilly of our brethren, it is not a case where they have wronged us, and we are responsible to go and rebuke them. But we speak evil concerning them, out of a disposition of heart that is something other than love. We engage in backbiting. Very graphic word that someone has nipped at our heels, and we are going to nip back at theirs.

30:48 And one of Paul's great concerns with the Corinthian church was he feared that if they had not dealt thoroughly with the sins addressed in his previous letters, he says in 2 Corinthians 12, 20, I fear, lest by any means when I come, I should find you not such as I would, and should myself, be found of you such as ye would not, lest by any means, now look at the things he fears, there should be strife, jealousy, rats, factions, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults. You see the area of his concern? He says, I fear when I come, I will not find a patent demonstration of the unity of the Spirit, in the bond of God, in the bond of peace that I will find the outcropping of those sins which are the product of discord being sown and taking root and flourishing among you, evil speaking and backbiting. And it can be done by raising suspicions where a man or woman in his own walk before his brethren has not raised suspicions about his integrity, but by dropping a seed here and a seed there, you can sow discord. That's why the Scripture says in Proverbs 16, 28,

32:17 it is the whisperer who separates chief friends. The whisperer. It's Iago saying to Othello, what about your wife Desdemona's handkerchief?

32:31 Until just sowing a little seed of doubt about a handkerchief, Shakespeare has captured the end result of this kind of sin. Desdemona, who was as pure as the new-fallen snow, as a wife utterly locked up in her affections and interactions to her husband Othello ends up being murdered by the man consumed with unfounded suspicion all based on a whisperer. A whisperer. A whisperer.

33:05 Dear people of God, these are not innocent sins. These are not innocent sins. These are not little failings and little foibles. God says he abominates those who sow discord.

33:21 Why? Because the one who sows discord is undermining the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. And when that unity has been undermined and no longer is peace the bond that holds the people together, the spirit of God is grieved and relieved. Then there is also a second sin that contributes to this rupture of peace.

Sin 2: Nursing Grudges and Resentments

33:50 The rupturing of the unity of the spirit. I didn't know what else to call it but the nursing of grudges and resentments. The nursing of grudges and resentments. Where is this addressed in the scriptures?

34:02 Proverbs chapter 20 and verse 22. Here is the language of a grudge-filled, grudge-permeated spirit. You've heard about a grudge match. You've heard about a grudge war among street gangs.

34:19 We've been wronged, and now we're letting it burn, and we're letting it stew, and we're letting it percolate in the depths of our own spirits until we can do what? Until we can get even. Proverbs 20 and verse 22 addresses this very issue. Say not thou, I will recompense evil, I'll get even.

34:47 Wait for the Lord. And he will save thee. Do not say, I will recompense. I will allow the spirit of grudging determination to get back.

35:01 Don't allow it to take root in your heart. Proverbs 24 and verse 29, similar exhortation. Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me. I will render to the man according to his work.

35:17 It's humorous. And in this young lad, it may have been excusable, but I tell you it's not humorous in adults. One of the families was telling me a few weeks ago of an incident in which the youngest member of the household felt he was wronged by an older member of the household. And all day long he complained about the horrible injustice of what this older member of the household had done to him.

35:45 He was really presenting a case to have the whole household have a pity party for him. Well, toward the end of the day, come to find out that he had already taken vengeance into his own hands. And he had given a tit for tat. He had done back to the older member of the household exactly what the older member had done to him.

36:03 And when the parent involved took him in hand and was about to show him the wrong of his action, he spoke with great authority and said, There is a verse in the Psalms that says, Do unto others as they have done to you. And he said it with all the authority of a preacher. There's a verse in the Psalms that says, Do unto others as they have done unto you. Well, obviously this parent knew his or her Bible better than to let that perversion of the word of God go unnoticed, even though the young member spoke it like a little preacher.

36:38 Well, I say it's laughable and excusable perhaps in a little kid. But what a tragedy when adults live by such a rule. Do unto others as they have done to you. That's the spirit of a grad.

36:55 And God says it is not to enter into the orbit of those who are spoudazo, striving diligently to keep the unity of the spirit. It's emphasized in the New Testament as well, 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 15. Very simply, the apostle puts it in this language, See that none render unto anyone evil for evil, but always follow after that which is good, one toward another and toward all. Nursing grudges and resentments is to nurse the disposition that says, When I can I will get even, and if I can't I would if I could, and still maintain my credibility as a Christian. It's a disposition of the heart. And may I exhort you, in a congregation like this it would be so easy, for grudges and resentments to grow out of shattered romantic interests. There's a young man who cast his eyes upon a young woman.

38:07 Something seems to be going and then it comes to naught. And a few weeks later the young man shows an interest in another young woman. What is the one who's left with perhaps if not a broken heart, a semi-shattered heart? What is she to do?

38:28 Is she going to nurse a grudge and resentment, even if the way she was set down was less than gracious and kind? It's these kinds of things that can grieve and quench the Holy Spirit. Nursing grudges and resentments is often the fruit of failing to do what Jesus said in Matthew 18.35.

38:54 He said, So shall my heavenly Father do to you if you forgive not every man his brother from the heart. When forgiveness is from the heart, all desire to retain anything that even borders on a grudge or resentment is gone. Because we are then fulfilling what we read earlier today, we are to be tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God in Christ has forgiven us. When God forgives, all of His complaints against us are gone.

Sin 3: Chronic Self-Preoccupation

39:31 And we are to forgive as He forgives. No nursing of grudges, and resentment that would grieve and drive away the Spirit. There is a third sin that will very, very quickly and tragically and inevitably rupture the unity of the Spirit, in addition to the sowing of discord, to the nursing of grudges and resentments, what I call chronic self-preoccupation. Chronic preoccupation!

40:03 Where the unity of the Spirit prevails, each of the parts, within that unified body, is primarily concerned for two things, for others within the body, and for the well-being of the body as a whole. But let chronic self-preoccupation erupt in which everything is viewed with respect to me, how it affects me, touches me, how it impinges on my interests and my feelings and my desires, and my wishes, and the unity is immediately fractured. This is why in Philippians chapter 2, in one of the most powerful passages, appealing for this unity, along with our key passage in Ephesians 4, notice how the Apostle brings this issue into center stage. Philippians chapter 2, he is pleading that the Philippians would make his joy full by maintaining love and unity. Verse 2, Make full my joy, that you be of the same mind, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. You see the emphasis on unity?

41:29 And if it's to be attained, notice what he says, verse 4, not looking each of you to his own things. There will never be this true expression, of one accord, of one mind, of the sameness of perspective, as long as our gaze is upon ourselves. Each of you not looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others. There are certain basketball teams that according to the computers, when they feed in, and it's amazing what they can do with modern day technology and analyzing athletic abilities, and all the rest, and fed into computers, there are certain basketball teams, certain hockey teams, teams engaged in sports that are not only team sports, but where intimate team chemistry is crucial, even more crucial, than in baseball and in football, where on paper, that team ought to be a championship team, but they never make it. To the championship level. And when people analyze it, you know what the root problem is almost always traced to? They say you have too many individual stars

42:58 who do not have a commitment to the whole team and the well-being and success of the team. You've got the man who's earned the reputation for being an excellent outside shooter, and he likes that reputation, he's earned it, he's paid a price to attain it, but he can't give it up. And so when they double team and triple team him, he's still determined to shoot over two or three oak trees standing in front of him, and he hits three for 13. Whereas the team that makes it to the championship has got a man like a Michael Jordan, who though he's top scorer in the NBA year after year, on the night when they triple team him, he'll feed off to Scottie Pippen, and he doesn't care who's top scorer then. NBA champions, why? You've got to have a group of men, each one looking to the things of the other and concerned about the well-being of the whole. They do it to attain a corruptible crown.

44:07 God have mercy upon a church that for the glory of Christ and the advancement of his kingdom, what big man of the world can a championship ring? Not looking to his own thing, but to the things of another. Chronic self-preoccupation will fracture the unity of the Spirit in this place or any other place, perhaps more quickly than any other sin. But then there is a fourth sin, which if indulged, will inevitably rupture the unity of the Spirit. And dear people, I take no pleasure in naming these sins. God knows how reluctant I was to preach this stuff. But the Bible addresses it.

Sin 4: Jealousy and Envy

45:02 And the Bible tells us we must endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit. Endeavor enough to identify and deal even with these horrible sins. And the fourth category of sin is that of jealousy and envy. Turn to Romans 13 and verse 13.

45:24 The sins of jealousy and envy. In Romans 13 and in verse 13. Let us walk becomingly as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness. We'd say Christians falling into sins of reveling and drunkenness.

45:52 Apparently the Apostle Paul thought it possible he wouldn't warn them not to do it. Not in chambering and wantonness. You say what's chambering and wantonness? Well, the Greek words could be literally rendered bedding down and sensual orgies.

46:12 That's what it's talking about. Sleeping around. Christians? Yes.

46:21 In the society of Rome where sexual promiscuity was very much parallel to our own American society at present. He had to warn Christians. Walk becomingly as children of the light and children of the day. On your way to the dawning of the great day when the Lord Jesus will return.

46:43 And that means you will avoid reveling and drunkenness. Bedding down and sensual orgies. Now notice the next couplet. Not in strife and jealousy.

46:57 What horrible companions strife and jealousy have. But isn't it amazing? Many a church that wouldn't tolerate any kind of proliferation of reveling and drunkenness. And bedding down and sensual orgies.

47:15 Will tolerate strife and jealousy. But dear people, strife and jealousy. Jealousy and envy. Horrible sins.

47:30 God puts them in terrible company. Galatians 5, 25 and 26. Again, writing to Christians. Who in union with Christ have known the dethronement of the reign of sin.

47:46 Verse 24. They that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof. Sin's dominion has been destroyed in virtue of our union with Christ. We share in the virtue of His death for sin and to sin.

48:05 We have risen with Him to newness of life. If we live by the Spirit. That is, if we have received such a life by the agency of the Holy Spirit. By the Spirit let us also walk.

48:20 And what does it mean to walk in the Spirit? Well, among other things it will mean this. Let us not become vain, glorious, provoking or challenging one another. Envying one another.

48:35 You see, to walk under the control of the Spirit is to walk in a realm where my heart will never be a resting place for the horrible sin of envy. If envy rises up, it will not be welcomed and given an open door and brought in to be my companion. Jealousy and envy. Another text that addresses these sins.

49:00 James 3 and verse 16. James 3 and verse 16. True wisdom will always have moral qualities about it. And James says in verse 14, But if you have bitter jealousy and faction in your heart, glory not, and lie not against the truth.

49:24 This wisdom is not a wisdom that cometh from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish, or literally, demonical. For where jealousy and faction are, there is confusion in every vile deed. And my friends, where there is confusion in every vile deed, I will tell you one thing, the Holy Ghost won't be present. He has long since been grieved away.

49:48 Oh dear people, if you want to cherish the presence and power and ministry of the Spirit, do not grieve Him. Do not grieve Him by entertaining those sins which would rupture that unity. The sins of jealousy and envy. Vine in his well-known, oft-used work, used by preachers anyway on the synonyms in the New Testament, suggests that envy is that feeling of displeasure produced by witnessing or hearing of the advantages or prosperity of others.

50:26 That's what envy is. That feeling of displeasure when I hear that someone else has succeeded, someone else is being blessed. It says that for envy, Pilate knew that for envy they had delivered up Jesus. The chief priests and the scribes saw the multitudes following our Lord.

50:45 They saw the success of His grip over the masses. They were losing their grip over the masses. They envied Him. What did they have in their hearts?

50:55 A feeling of displeasure produced by and witnessing His prosperity. Vine suggests that jealousy is the passion of coveting for myself what another has. Of course, one of the classic examples is Saul and David. God's hand come upon young David.

51:17 But at the same time, his hand is being removed from Saul. Saul cannot stand it. He burns with jealousy until that jealousy causes him to pick up his javelin and seek to nail David to the wall on more than one occasion. And that spirit quiets down and David acts nobly and Saul goes through some crocodile tears and says, Oh, you're more righteous than I.

51:45 I'll never trouble you again. And a few days later, he's trying to nail him to the wall or track him down over the Judean hills. Horrible sin of jealousy. Oh, dear people, what horrible possibilities there are in a congregation like this.

52:02 Some of you yearn to have children. You see some of your sisters here in this congregation. Every time you turn around, they're dandling a new baby on the knee. Can you really rejoice with them while your own heart weeps for your own barrenness?

52:25 And it will, and it's not wrong that it does. God did not chide the mother of Samuel for her tears wrung out of the pain of her barrenness. But can you rejoice when God gives fruitful wounds to others? Or do you feel a burning spirit of envy?

52:50 God blesses her womb. Why not mine? And the test is this. If you draw back from that woman when her tummy begins to swell and you cannot rejoice with her while she speaks glowingly of the anticipation of the birth of her little one, if God's blessing on her womb puts distance between you, it's a good sign envy has taken root in your heart.

53:17 You've prayed that God would give you a godly wife, a godly husband. You've prayed that for some of your other single brothers and sisters, and one by one, they begin to get paired off and married, and you're always the bridesmaid and never the bride. Always the best man and the usher but never the groom. Do you rejoice at God's prosperity upon your brothers and sisters or is there envy in your heart, a feeling of displeasure produced by witnessing the prosperity and blessing of God in that area upon others?

54:01 Jealousy, the passion of coveting for yourself what another has? Many of you are struggling to get together that down payment and you've been working at it for ten years and along comes some young buck just barely dry behind the ears and in five years he's been so blessed he's got the money to put the thing down and he's in his house and every time you think of it instead of rejoicing and saying, Lord, as you blessed my brother so in due course you'll bless me. Down underneath there's a spirit of envy and a spirit of jealousy. Dear people, we're to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and if we would then do not indulge these sins that are nothing less according to the Scripture than Christ murdering sins. Pilate knew that for any they had Christ murdering sin. It is a spirit grieving and then false doctrine. I'll touch briefly upon it and this struck me in doing the word studies on these things.

Sin 5: False Doctrine

55:16 Ephesians 4, turn back to it. Paul moves from this entreaty to give diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace to speaking in this same chapter verse 13 till we all attain unto the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a full grown man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Unity of the Spirit merges into unity of the faith and unity of knowledge. You see the connection?

55:58 As we saw in a previous study the Spirit is the Spirit of truth and wherever He is present and ungrieved He is bringing that congregation more and more to an understanding and a heart commitment to the truth and the closer we are drawn to the truth the closer we stand to one another. True spiritual unity is found in the realm of the unity of the faith the body of revealed truth the unity of knowledge. This is why Paul could say in dealing with the fractured church at Corinth I want you 1 Corinthians 1 in verse 10 I want you all to speak the same thing to be of the same mind and of the same judgment. And 1 Timothy 6 indicates that the cause of fracturing unity is false teaching in some cases. Look at chapter 6 of 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 3 If any man teaches a different doctrine consents not to sound words even to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which is according to godliness he is puffed up knowing nothing doting about questionings and disputes of words.

57:24 Whereof comes what? Envy strife and railings. Here's a direct line between envy strife railing and the introduction of false teaching into the church. This notion love unites doctrine fractures is nonsense.

57:50 John says my children whom I love in the realm of the truth and I love for the truth sake even the truth that is with you. There is no no dichotomy in the mentality of the New Testament and in the entirety of the word of God between that love which unites and that truth which is the orbit within which biblical love operates and is fostered. Why must we be jealous to maintain doctrinal integrity in this place without it will fracture our unity. The unity of the spirit is a unity in the truth. How are we going to fulfill that beautiful exhortation with reference to what we would call unity and the spirit of unity manifesting itself in united choral response to God's goodness. Romans 15 and verses 5 and 6 the God of patience and comfort grant you to be of the same mind one with another according to Christ Jesus. Be of the same mind according to Christ as every mind is subject to Christ speaking in his word speaking through his word

59:17 speaking objective truth. You may he said be of the same mind one with another according to Christ according to Christ Jesus in order that with one accord you may with one mouth what a beautiful picture the church has become so united that it has only one mouth one mouth glorify the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. How can you do that if there is doctrinal disunity? Trying to illustrate it I thought well suppose we went into Carnegie Hall next Christmas time when they have a big celebration and they have a big celebration of the Messiah every year and when everyone two hundred voices are all singing worthy is the land that was slain to receive blessing and glory and honor and power you got a tenor over here and an alto over there and a bass there and a soprano there singing a section out of the Hallelujah Chorus and sit there and say what's happened to this crazy bunch? Marvelous text from Revelation worthy is the land that was slain in my preparation I couldn't help but sing it out loud and I said Lord I'll resist the temptation to do it in the pulpit but you can hear it can't you? worthy is the land that was slain somebody's over here da da da da da da da da

Sin 6: Prejudice and Carnal Stereotyping

60:47 what a shambles and that's what happens when three or four people begin to break off and think their own thoughts about truth there is no longer with one mouth glorifying the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and the unity of the Spirit is fractured ruptured when there is the entertainment of false doctrine and then finally and God knows again I'd rather not address this but it has to be addressed when prejudice and carnal stereotyping ever takes root in our hearts the unity of the Spirit will be gone prejudice and carnal stereotyping of others prejudice is defined as suspicion intolerance or irrational hatred of other races regions occupations or nationalities carnal stereotyping is projecting notions of a given group and treating them according to the notions and not reality and brethren we don't have to look far in the New Testament to see this problem there was the prejudice of the Jew to the Gentile so deep was that prejudice that God had them knock it out of Peter initially by giving him a vision three times and get him to go sit down and eat

62:15 in the house of the Gentile in order to preach the gospel but even then it didn't all get knocked out of him later on Paul had to withstand him to his face according to Galatians chapter 2 because he was sitting there having meals with the Gentiles and having a grand old time until some of these legalistic Judaizers came up from Jerusalem and the minute Peter saw them come through the door boom he split went over there and sat in the corner with the Jews and would have nothing to do with social interaction with the Gentiles Paul said in doing this he's denying the gospel by his actions he's denying the gospel the gospel has made the one new man in Christ in which there is neither Jew nor Greek bond nor free male nor female he said I was stood into his face and even Barnabas son of consolation marvelous man seemed to be so free of prejudice went up from Jerusalem up to Antioch into that Gentile city and saw the hand of God there and the grace of God at work in forming a primarily Gentile church something entirely new and Barnabas was glad when he saw the grace of God and he exhorted them read it in Romans 11 he seemed to be blissfully free from it he backslid he said even Barnabas was carried away with Peter's dissimulation I tell you prejudice is an awfully deep seated thing and so are carnal stereotypes and brethren if we ever allow them to take root here

63:43 or if they are deep rooted if we refuse to plead with God for the work of the spirit to excise them we will fracture that unity which God says is to be our portion for example Titus 1.12 says that the Cretans had a well earned reputation for being lazy for being liars and for being gluttons now that's not a carnal stereotyping that Paul says is a true witness but here comes a man into your church there at Ephesus and you say where are you from well I'm on a business trip where do you oh I'm from the isle of Crete and immediately everyone grabs their purses and sticks them under their seats and a word goes around don't believe anything that comes out of this guy's mouth he's a Cretan they're all a bunch of liars don't invite him to your home he'll pick your cupboard bare they're gluttons what a terrible thing it would be that would be a carnal stereotyping not giving this man a chance to show that yes my fellow countrymen have earned the reputation for being liars and gluttons yes but I'm a new man in Christ I speak the truth and my appetites are under control at least give me a chance to get into your home and prove it my friend listen I'm going to speak bluntly almost every all of us

65:13 were brought up in situations where prejudice and carnal stereotyping were inbred into us I remember that place in Connecticut where I was reared where we had our little Italy our little Poland our little Ireland our little Scotland our little Italy all the rest and it was amazing the Polish people they had their derogatory terms for the Irish and the Italians and some of us who are Heinz 57 varieties and then the Irish they had their derogatory terms for the Irish and the Italians every group has its derogatory terms of all the other groups and I've moved enough around the world to know that even within ethnic groups light blacks have their names for black blacks and darker black blacks have their names for light blacks and pure Hispanics with Cuban blood have their prejudice to those fellow Cubans who are black black black black black black black black black black black black black black black black black black black black black black black black black black black black black

66:42 black black black black black black black black black black black 7. Simple command, but oh, not simple to obey. Wherefore, receive ye one another, even as Christ received you to the glory of God. Christ received me in one identity only, a hell-deserving son of Adam. That's it. And once he received me, he put me into one identity, fundamentally one identity only, a forgiven, heaven-bound, redeemed sinner. For my Bible says, in Christ Jesus there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, born nor free, ye are all one man in Christ Jesus. And therefore, I plead with you, face your prejudices, face your carnal stereotypes, and say, oh God, help me to put them to death. You know the best way to do it?

67:51 You were brought up believing such and such about all Italians, or such and such about all blacks, or such and such about all whites. Tell some of the people in that category, look, God's put us into one body, and I'm taking seriously the exhortation to strive, to endeavor, to do my utmost to guard, preserve the unity of the Spirit. And I've got a prejudice against Swedes, or I've got a prejudice against Italians, or I've got a prejudice against blacks, or I've got a prejudice. And I've asked God to kill it, and I'm going to use the means. Will you come to my house for dinner, and we're going to sit down, and I'm going to tell you what my prejudices are, and I want you to help me to get over them. You come to that place, they're 98% gone.

68:36 It's when you hold them, won't face them, and when you do, you justify them. And then you look for every evidence to confirm that prejudice. You might read five pages on a newspaper, where people of that ethnic or racial group did something noble, but find one little article on page two. And you're going to see that people of that ethnic or racial group did something noble. And when you look at page 17 over in the corner where they did something rotten, you say, see, they're all alike. That's what's in your heart. That's what's in my heart. That's what's in all of our hearts by nature. But when God said endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit, He was not making demands upon the remnants of our own sinful flesh, but He was making demands upon His own grace to us in Christ. And so I urge you this morning, grieve not the Holy Spirit. Spirit of God. Do not grieve Him by fracturing the unity of the Spirit, by the indulgence of these sins that will inevitably rupture that unity, sowing discord, nursing grudges and resentments, chronic self-preoccupation, jealousy and envy, false doctrine or prejudice and carnal stereotyping.

Call to Repentance and Empowerment

69:56 You say, Pastor, I've been nailed on three of those this morning. I've been nailed on two. I've been nailed on all six. What do I do? Go to the cross and go right now and go before your Lord Jesus and say, Oh, Lord Jesus, I've been found out. But my Bible says you died for sins, these sins. You bore my sins in your body up to the tree. Lord Jesus, your word says that your blood cleanses from all sin. Lord, I bring the sin of so discord and seek his forgiveness the sin of nursing grudges of chronic self-preoccupation of jealousy and envy false doctrine prejudice and carnal stereotyping every one of them can be cleansed in the blood of christ go to the cross visit the cross and there repent and see in the groans and in the shrouded heavens and in the cry of dereliction god's judgment upon those sins and hate them and loathe them and turn from them confess them and believe that you are forgiven and cleansed but then stay at the cross looking up again say lord jesus you not only died for

71:14 these sins but in union with you i died to these sins i died to their mastery they were judged upon the cross lord jesus may the virtue of your death enter the deepest recesses of my heart you and there bring death to my envy and my jealousy and my self-preoccupation enable me to reckon myself to have died unto sins dominion and power even these sins that would grieve the spirit and then from the cross go to the throne where jesus sits to send forth his spirit in ever increasing and copious measures upon his people and say oh lord jesus from your place of exaltation and power fill me with your spirit not to speak in tongues and dance in an aisle but oh lord that i may by the spirit mortify these sins that would fracture the unity of the spirit for if ye by the spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh you shall live visit the cross visit the throne and there are some of you sitting here in whom these sins are not the remnants of remission of the cross and there are some of you sitting here in whom these sins are our partie in which we are things that have coming dissapearing of fucking our own than and they are the evidence of the reign of sin and these sins

72:40 my friend listen whatever sings there's only one answer and that is the one who said if the sunholmes you make you free you shall be free indeed it's a wonderful thing to be able to look every man in the island scheme look we stand on the level charisma created it we stand on the humbling ground of corporate sinfulness in Adam as we move over to that tree of the knowledge of good and evil and say when he took the fruit my hand was with him and in him I sinned and we stand on level ground before Golgotha behold the immolated suffering son of God and my friend when we have stood and seen our dignity in original created image bearing capacity in Eden we have felt the shame of our fallenness in our first father Adam and in our wretchedness we have stood naked and undone and helpless at Calvary there's no room now for prejudice no room for envy no room for jealousy no room for carnal stereotyping

74:04 it's as those truths are kept on the ground alive in our hearts and for you who are outside of Christ there's only one way for you to know the blessedness of this unity of the spirit and that's to take your posture where we've had to take it lost, helpless, undone that's my fundamental identity but in Christ forgiven, cleansed, restored to fellowship with God that's my fundamental identity if I become a Christian everything else is cosmetic and I'm not a Christian I'm a Christian and incidental may God grant that as a congregation we will strive, endeavor give conscious, constant, deliberate effort to maintain the unity of the spirit by refusing to indulge and to retain any sins that would fracture that unity let us pray our father we thank you for your word that it is a lamp unto our feet and a light to our path and we pray that that word preached this morning would find its mark in all of our hearts and that we as a church may be kept from these sins that would fracture

75:31 the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace may we hate and loathe these sins of the heart these sins of the tongue may we seek forgiveness at the only place it can be found and seek enablement to overcome in the only place where it can be found seal your word to our hearts we pray in Jesus name Amen