Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vols. 13–63

Verse 31. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, If you continue in My word, you are My disciples indeed. For there were many, in Christ's day, coming to Him for a while and then going away from Him—professing to believe and then stumbling when Christ proclaimed some Doctrine of God which struck them as being strange and hard to receive. Our Lord Jesus tells them that constancy is necessary to true discipleship. It is of no use to start running in the race unless we continue in the course till the prize is won. We are not true pilgrims to Heaven merely because we cross the threshold of our door—we must keep on, and on, and on till we reach the golden streets of the New Jerusalem!

32. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. That is the result of being a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. With Christ, who is the Truth of God, to be our Teacher, and the Holy Spirit to bless His Words, we come to know the Truth—and the operation of the Truth upon the heart is to deliver us from the bondage of sin and of error.

33. They answered Him, We are Abraham's seed and were never in bondage to any man: how can You say, You shall be made free? What a lie this was! They were at that very time in bondage to the Romans! They had been subdued and conquered and, a little while after, they, themselves, confessed that they had no king but Caesar. Men are not very selective about telling lies when they wish to resist Christ—they will do anything rather than believe on Him.

34. Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whoever commits sin is the servant of sin. The man who habitually lives in sin is not a free man, for he is still a slave to sin. If he finds pleasure and delight in disobeying God, he has no right to talk about being a free man. His chains are rattling on his wrists—what can he know about freedom?

35. And the servant abides not in the house forever; but the son abides always. A servant may be dismissed from the household, but a son may not. If we were only servants of God, we might fall from Grace and perish. But if we are the sons of God, we never shall. If we ever did, in truth, call God, "Father," we shall always be able to use that blessed title, for the relationship of fatherhood is not a temporary one and cannot come to an end.

36. If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, you shall be free, indeed. If you have the freedom of sonship, you are free, indeed. There are none so free in our Father's house as His children!

37-39. I know that you are Abraham's seed, but you seek to kill Me because My word has no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with My Father: and you do that which you have seen with your father They answered and said unto Him, Abraham is our father Jesus said unto them, If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. The real descendants of "the father of the faithful" are, themselves, faithful—that is, Believers. The father of Believers has Believers for his children. "If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham." Our Lord had admitted that these Jews were Abraham's seed according to the flesh, but He proved that they were not Abraham's Seed in the high and spiritual sense, since they were not like he whom they claimed for a father.

40, 41. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man that has told you the truth, which I have heard of God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father. He had not told them who that father was, but as it is a standing rule that men do the deeds of their father, the genuineness of the descent which they claimed could be tested by their likeness to their father.

41, 42. Then said they to Him, We are not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, you would love Me. Any man who is born of God must love Jesus Christ. The purity of His motives, the loveliness of His Character, the charms of His Person would all be sure to win the heart of a man who was truly born of God.

42, 43. For I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I ofMyself but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Even because you cannot hear My word. "You are dull of comprehension. You are hardened in heart. You are proud in spirit. You are just the opposite of everything that is good and, therefore, you cannot hear My word," said Christ. "And this is proof positive that you do not love God and that you are not the children of God."

44. You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. Remember from whose lips these words fell, even from the lips of the gentle Jesus! Honest speech is the surest token of a loving heart, but, nowadays, if a man preaches the Truth of God plainly and faithfully, men say that he is hard and unkind. But if a man glosses over the Truth of God and alters it according to his own idea of what will please men, then they say, "He is a kindly-disposed and large-hearted man." I would be disposed to doubt whether he has any heart at all, if he will sooner see sinners damned than offend them by proclaiming the Truth! I thank God that some of us care little about offending those who offend God! If men will not yield themselves to the Lord, we want not their friendship, but we will strive to make them uneasy in their rebellion—and if they resolve to be lost, we will at least be clear of their blood.

44. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own, for he is a liar, and the father of it. Falsehood is his natural element. When Satan deceives, he only acts according to his nature which is blackened through and through with lies.

45, 46. And because I tell you the truth, you believe Me not. Which of you convicts Me of sin? What a grand challenge! None of us can speak like that except in a very modified sense—but Christ, standing before His enemies, who gnashed their teeth at Him and would have given their eyes to be able to fix some fault upon Him—boldly says to them, "Which of you convicts Me of sin?"

46-51. And if I say the truth, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God hears God's words: you, therefore, hear them not, because you are not of God. Then answered the Jews, and said unto Him, Say we not well that you are a Samaritan, and have a devil? Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. And I seek not My own glory: there is One who seeks and judges. Verily, verily, I say unto you, If anyone keeps My sayings, he shall never see death. This statement quite staggered them! Yet it is true. To Believers—

"It is not death to die,"

they simply pass out of this world into a larger and yet more glorious life! They descend not to death, but they rise to immortality!

52, 53. Then said the Jews to Him, Now we know that You have a devil. Abraham is dead and the Prophets; and You say, If anyone keeps My sayings, he shall never taste of death. Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead?And the Prophets are dead. Who do You make Yourself out to be?' 'Who do You make Yourself out to be? Someone greater than Abraham and the Prophets?"

54-56. Jesus answered, If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing: it is My Father that honors Me; of whom you say, that He is our God: yet you have not known Him; but Iknow Him: and if I should say, I know Him not, I shall be a liar like you: but I know Him and keep His saying. Your father Abraham—"As you call him."

56, 57. Rejoiced to see My day: and he saw it and was glad. Then said the Jews unto Him, you are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?They allowed a wide margin in speaking of our Savior's age, for He was only 33 years old. It may be true that the sorrows of His life had so marred His Countenance that He looked more like a man of 50 than one of thirty-three. I cannot tell, nor do I know whether that is what they meant. But it is amazing that they should have said to Him, "You are not yet 50 years old."

58. Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM. They had asked Him, "Who do You make Yourself out to be?" And now they have His answer! "Before Abraham was, I AM," said Christ. It is the very name by which God revealed Himself to Moses at the burning bush, "I AM." Yet Jesus takes this title to Himself! "Before Abraham was"—not, "I was." Notice that. But, "I AM," as if His life was one continued present existence, as indeed it is, for with God there is no past or future, but all things are ever-present to His infinite mind! When Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I AM," He claimed the Godhead—He declared that He was certainly God, self-existent from all eternity!

59. Then took they up stones to cast at Him. They counted Him a blasphemer and so He was if He was not all He claimed to be. I have heard of some who reverence Christ, but do not believe Him to be God—but how can that be? He evidently made Himself out to be God and this was the great charge the Jews brought against Him. For this, indeed, they put Him to death, because He made Himself equal with God. If He were not equal with God—if He were not really God—He led men to thinkthat He was. And if this were false, it was a great sin not consistent with the holy Character of Christ. If He was not God, He was the grossest impostor who ever visited this world! But He isGod and nothing less! Yet because He claimed this, the Jews took up stones to cast at Him.

59. But Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the Temple, going through the midst of them, andso passed by. Glory be to His holy name forever and ever!

"The head, even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, makes increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." Ephesians 4:15,16.

IF I had to preach fully and accurately upon all that is taught in this text, I would certainly need to deliver a course of sermons, say five or six at least! There is such a wonderful depth of meaning in these Inspired Words that I might keep on expounding them and all the while be as one who takes water out of the sea—always wondering that there is so much more left than I can possibly draw from it. One writer says that the sense of this passage is as "compacted" as the joints of which it speaks, and that remark is a very true one, for here we have thought compressed as by hydraulic pressure! There is any quantity of it packed into the smallest possible space.

Our translation of the words here used by the Apostle is not, in every point, absolutely accurate. I wonder whether one could be made that would be so? We would need a paraphrase rather than an exact rendering of the original, for such is the fullness of meaning that no one translation into our poor tongue could really convey all that the Holy Spirit intended to teach by the Greek words. They seem to totter and tremble beneath the burden of the massive thought they are meant to carry. I am, therefore, only going to preach a plain, simple sermon upon the passage as it appears in our Authorized Version, which, though it is not strictly and literally correct in this case, is, at any rate, quite according to the analogy of the faith—and can be abundantly supported by other passages of Scripture of similar import.

Turning to the text, we find that the Apostle was very anxious that the saints at Ephesus should be knit together, like the different parts of one body. Unity is not an easy thing to attain. Have you found it so in your own family? In many large families and even in small ones, there are sometimes most unfortunate jars and disagreements—and it is a happy household, indeed, that is wholly joined together as one body. Look at the world in general, in its various corporations, societies and associations, and see what disunion and discord are manifested everywhere! Half the newspapers are occupied with reports of the squabbles in the different vestries, or in the big vestry that meets in the House of Commons—or the other one that assembles in the House of Lords. I suppose we would scarcely be men if we always agreed on all points. Certainly, there is plenty of division among us. We seem to remember the Tower of Babel and the dispersion, for our tongues are still confounded and we misunderstand one another! And what is more criminal, we often misrepresent one another and we are all too apt to forget our Lord's Words, "It must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!"

Paul was most anxious to have the Ephesian Church thoroughly knit together. And the chapter from which our text is taken is all about unity and how to maintain it. With his manacled hands, the prisoner of the Lord writes to beseech them to be truly one—to walk worthy of the vocation by which they were all called by the one Spirit of God. He entreats them, with all lowliness, meekness and long-suffering, to bear and to forbear with one another in love. He most touch-ingly and tenderly pleads his own imprisonment as an argument with them to endeavor "to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." "By the remembrance of my bonds," he seems to say, "put yourselves into the blessed bonds of brotherly love." And then he adds, "There is one body and one Spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling; one

Lord, one faith, one baptism." Both in the inward creed and the outward confession of it they were all one—they were not divided on these points—so he begged them to be divided in nothing, especially as he was able to assure them that they had one God and Father, above all, through all and in all—and one Christ, the Savior of all!

When he reminded them that He who ascended up on high is the same Jesus who descended first into the lower parts of the earth, I think he intended to remind them of the continuity of the work of Christ—that it was the same Christ who both descended and ascended. There was no change in the Worker, for the one work was worked by the one Person, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Why, then, should we split up, divide and hold a hundred opinions as if Christ were divided? Paul tells us that when He ascended on high, He gave all sorts of officers that were necessary for His Church— Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists and so on—all for this purpose—"for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." It is this that the Apostle aimed at—that the saints should be one in Christ Jesus and then, remembering that one very frequent cause of division is the instability of many minds, he urged them to "be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine."

But that they might know what they believed and not be driven away from it with every puff of wind. That they might not be misled and deceived by the sleight of men, by cleverness, by magicians who spirit the Truth of God away— as so many religious tricksters are continually doing nowadays, establishing lies and overthrowing the Truth by their magical deception—Paul seems to allude to the casting of dice when he speaks of "the sleight of men." And I am afraid that there are many people whose religion comes to them according to what they call, "luck." They happened to be born on a certain street and their parents attended a particular place of worship, so they believed what was taught there. But if the dice had fallen in some other way, they might have been Muslims, or Mormons, or Roman Catholics, or God knows what, for they have not any solid reasons for believing what they are supposed to believe! They hold it, as it were, by a kind of chance and they are quite ready to let it go if "chance" should so arrange.

The Apostle beseeches us to guard against this evil and to hold fast the faith, to be established in it and to know why we believe it, so that, "speaking the truth in love," we may grow up in all things into Christ, who is the one and only Head of the Church and to whom every living member is vitally joined. Every man who is indeed, saved, is a part of Christ's mystical body and he is to develop in harmony with the growth of the entire body until he and every other one joined with him in the living structure shall attain to the stature of a perfect man—the whole Church with its Head, Christ Jesus, becoming God's mystic, "perfect man" to be glorified forever and ever!

You see, dear Friends, that even when I am only trying to introduce this great subject to you, I am overwhelmed with the vastness of it! There is a mint of meaning. There are masses of un-coined bullion in the heavenly treasury to which the Apostle brings us! It is impossible for me to set forth all the spiritual wealth which is revealed here, but I shall endeavor to point out four things which are brought to our notice in the text. First, our union to Christ the Head. Secondly, our individuality—"every joint"—"every part." Thirdly, our relationship to each other—"joined together"— "that which every joint supplies." And, lastly, our compact unity in the one Church of Jesus Christ "makes increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love."

I. First, then, Beloved, I have to speak to you concerning OUR UNION TO CHRIST. We cannot do better than begin with this great Truth of God—that Christ is the Head of His Church.

Hence, we learn, first, that union with Christ is essential to the life of His Church. Men sometimes lose a foot, or a leg, or an arm, or an eye, or an ear. It is very remarkable how a man may continue to exist after he has lost several of his limbs, but he cannot live if his headis taken away. Cut that off and the decapitated body is dead in an instant! So, Brothers and Sisters, the Church of God lives because Christ lives and its life is entirely derived from Him. If there were no Christ, there would be no Church. And if there is, anywhere, a body of professors without vital union to Christ, they are nota church! They may have the name of a church, but they are assuredly dead! The Spirit of God flows through Christ into the whole of His true Church, permeating every part of His wonderful mystical body. But the Spirit of God is first on the Head and in the Head—and then from Him the gracious unction of the Holy One descends to the entire body. Ask yourselves, dear Friends, whether you are joined to Christ. Do you belong to that Church which is really one in Christ— the true Catholic and Apostolic Church? By Catholic, of course, I mean universal—the one and only Church of the living

God! All who are in Christ belong to His Church, but those who are out of Christ are outside the pale of His Church and if there is a church that is not in Him, it is not Christ's Church at all! So you see that union with Christ is essential to the life of His Church.

Next, union with Christ is essential to the growth of His Church. Christ's Church must grow. We, as a Church, must seek continually to increase. A living Church is not like the building in which it meets—the material structure may never be enlarged—but if the Church is a living one, it keeps on growing. The true Church of Christ in the world is always advancing and multiplying. As the Apostle says, in our text, it "makes increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." But, Beloved, there is no edification except that which comes from Christ! He is the Church's true Teacher. He is the great Master Builder and it is by Him that the whole spiritual building is fitly joined together. We try to preach those Truths of God which are the nutriment of men's souls, but they do not nourish them because they come from us— they only nourish them as they come from Christ! If you want to grow in Divine Grace, you must get from Christ all that is necessary for your growth. Do not think that Christ begins the great work and then leaves you to finish it. Oh, no! He makes us alive and He keeps us alive. He strengthens and develops the life that He has given—all its force and power must come from Him. Need I remind you of this? Yes, for I find it necessary to remind myselfand, therefore, I judge that I must also stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance. Not a step heavenward, not in the least likeness to God, not to the smallest degree of holiness can you proceed apart from Jesus Christ your Head! Never forget this fact, simple though it is.

Further, union to Christ our Head is also essential to our perfection. Will a time ever come when a saint will be perfect in himself, apart from Christ? Never, for we are only perfect in Christ Jesus, or, as the Apostle puts it, "You are complete in Him." Shall I ever get to be so holy that I can stand before God without my Mediator? Shall I ever have a spiritual beauty of my own which shall render the imputed righteousness of Christ unnecessary for me? Never! For even in our highest estate in Heaven, we shall still need to have our vital union with Christ perpetually maintained. He is the Head of the Church triumphant as well as of the Church militant! He will forever be the Head of the Church made perfect as surely as He is the Head of His poor, weak, feeble, but ever-growing Church on earth!

Remember one more point, dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, and that is that union to Christ the Head is essential to every member of His Church—not only is it essential to the body as a whole, but to every member of that body in detail. It is no use for my little finger to have unity with my hand and my arm if that arm is not united to my body, and my body is not united to my head. So each Believer must be personally joined to Christ. Whether he is only comparable to a little finger, or is like the strong bone of the leg, he must equally be joined to the Head—the smallest member of the mystical body of Christ cannot live apart from the Head, nor can the largest member. All alike, both great and small, comely and uncomely, manifest or concealed, must draw their life from Christ the Head! You must do so, my Brother or my Sister in Jesus, and so must I—let us always keep this great Truth of God in memory—a church that is only united in itself, but not united to Christ, is no living church at all.

You may attain to the unity of the frost-bound earth in which men and women are frozen together with the cold proprieties of aristocracy, but it is not the unity of life! Or you may get the union of mere worldly enthusiasm in which men are fused together like molten metal, but the fire, if it is not of God, though it creates a certain sort of unity, creates not that living union which God designs and effects. The one all-important question for each of us is, Do I love the Lord Jesus Christ? If so, there is between my soul and my Savior a living, loving, lasting union. And if we all love Him, then Christ loves all of us, and we are living in Christ and Christ is living in us—and this is that marvelous miracle of union between the Divine and the human which, when men see it, are astonished! They cannot see the union itself, but they can behold its effects, as our Lord said, "By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love, one to another." This was Christ's prayer for us, for in that great intercessory supplication of His, He pleaded, first, for His immediate followers and then He added, "Neither pray I for these, alone, but for them, also, who shall believe on Me through their word; that they all may be one; as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they, also, may be one in Us; that the world may believe that You have sent Me."

That is the first point in the text, and a very essential one, our union to Christ the Head.

II. From that I want to lead you, Beloved, as best I can, to the consideration of the second point, which is OUR INDIVIDUALITY.

The Apostle speaks of "every joint" and "every part." We are many as well as one and it is a great Grace of God when men and women merge their individuality in the community of which they form a part. Remember, dear Friends, that you, by yourselves, are not the Church and you must not always keep on saying, "we," if you are not doing anything at all in connection with it! You are yourself and you must look upon yourself as a distinct individual—your first care, in the sight of God—must be concerning yourself. The body is made up of many bones, sinews, muscles, veins, arteries and so on, and each one has its special place and function. And each of you has a particular position and office in the corporate body which is called by the name of the Church.

Think of your individuality and think of it thus. See that you are really united to the body. It does not matter how beautiful a member may be if it is not in the body, for it is not where it ought to be—and it is not where it will be of any service. There is an eye which has just been taken from a dead body. It lies on the operating table—what will you give for it? It is worth nothing and it must be put out of sight, for it is of no use. There is a finely-formed ankle, but it is useless apart from the rest of the body. How beautiful that leg is! Yes, but as it is not joined to a body, you must bury it out of sight. Now mark particularly what I am going to say and if any of you are wicked enough to misrepresent my words, on you will be the responsibility. This is what I say—Nobody can possibly have spiritual life unless he is joined to the Church. "Oh," somebody says, "Mr. Spurgeon said that people had no spiritual life unless they were members of his church." He did notsay anything of the kind and he never thought anything of the sort! "But he means that they must be members of the Baptist Church." He does not mean anything of the sort! "Oh, but he means that they must be members of some visible church!" Well, we would have to talk a little while about thatmatter, but I did notsay that and I did not mean it!

I believe that every Christian ought to be joined to some visible Church—that is his plain duty according to the Scriptures. God's people are not dogs, otherwise they might go about one by one. They are sheep and, therefore, they should be in flocks. If I meet a man all by himself, snapping at everybody—I may be called uncharitable, but, I should hardly think that he was a sheep—I would be afraid that he was a dog. But when I see a man who consorts with his fellow men, feeds with them, takes delight in their company and with them draws near to the Great Shepherd of Souls, I say to myself, "I think he must be one of the sheep, for that is the way in which that animal always acts." So, Beloved, you should go in flocks or companies—that is to say, you should be joined to some Christian Church.

But I was speaking just now of the Church. There is a Church which is the Church of Christ. I see it not, but it is visible to Him who bought it with His precious blood. The members of thatChurch are scattered up and down throughout all the world. Some are in this Church, some are in other churches, but Christ is causing that Church to grow up for Himself from the girlhood state, in which she now is, till she shall come to the measure of the perfect stature of what God designs her to be when she is ready to become "the bride, the Lamb's wife." This Church, chosen before all worlds, redeemed upon the Cross, quickened, fashioned and called out by degrees by the Holy Spirit and united to Christ, is the one of which you and I must be members, or else we shall be lost forever! See to it, then, dear Friends, that you are vitally joined to Christ's Church and specially that you are united to Him who is the Head of it.

Next, we must be careful to find and keep our true position in that body. I call your attention to a point which may not seem to be as important as it really is. A body owes its beauty, comfort, healthfulness, happiness—perhaps its very life—to the position of the different members of which it is composed. Any book on anatomy will teach you that this is the case. There is no other place where our eyes could be but just where God has fixed them. Try whether you can find another position where your eyes could be so fitted for their work as where they now are. Our feet, with which we walk, are the best members to walk with and they are put in the proper place for that purpose. Suppose they were attached to our shoulders and we had to walk with them? I do not know how we would manage it. And if our hands were where our feet now are, it would be exceedingly awkward and difficult for us to use them. We would, indeed, be monstrosities rather than men if any part of us should be shifted from its present position! When men write romances about mythical beings, they describe hideous creatures whose heads are under their arms, or like the fabled Cyclops, with one eye in the middle of his forehead—but Christ's Church is not a monstrosity! Mind that you do not act as though you thought that she was.

Try, dear Friends, to be in the body of Christ what you were meant to be. I have known some men who were very eager to preach. They have had wonderful gifts of dispersion, but no power to gather or hold a congregation together.

They have fomented a quarrel within a month and split up the church into fragments in order to purge it from some fancied evil—and they have purged it till there is nobody left in it! They think that it is the wickedness of men which makes hearers unwilling to listen to them, whereas it is only their own folly. They, who might have been useful as ears, listening to somebody else, are altogether useless as a tongue! Do not get out of your position, Brother, if you are already in it. But if not, get into your right place as soon as you can and do there what the Lord would have you do. Some persons have a very great gift of finding fault with other people, but I do not know any place that God has arranged in the body for that particular faculty! It is a kind of disease or, rather, an evil spirit which needs to be cast out! If you who are thus afflicted would try to do something, yourselves, you would perhaps discover that while it is exceedingly easy to complain of others, it is more difficult to do your own work in such a way that people cannot justly find fault with you! Do, dear Friends, seek to have every joint and every part in their right place. Let every ligament and tendon of the body be just where it should be. If we were to put the doors of our houses where the windows now are—and to put the roof where the foundation stones are, we should have very strange houses—and you will not find a true Church of Christ unless every part of it is in its right place according to God's order and arrangement.

A third thing about our individuality is that every part of the body should be careful of its own health. If I happen to be only like a little finger in the body of the Church, it is a great pity that I should be ill, for the whole body will be affected. If my little finger is full of some evil complaint, it may cause great inconvenience to my whole system. Did you ever have a splinter in your hand and yet the rest of your body did not know that anything was the matter? Instead of that being the case, your finger has been of greater consequence to you than all the other parts of your body when it has once begun to smart and to be full of pain—and to swell and fester! Now, you little members, you can do any quantity of mischief if you like. It is possible for a Christian to have so little Grace, and so much sin, that he may cause pain to the entire Church of God. for people will point to the most obscure of you if you do wrong! They will say, "That is one of the people that go to the Tabernacle and no doubt they are all alike."

It is very unjust to say that we are all like the worst person we have among us. If we have one especially godly and gracious member, the world never says, "They are all like he." No, no! They say, "Ah, he is quite an exception! If they were all like he, then we would go there, too." But they take as their standard and test the most sickly and unhealthy in the whole flock. Therefore, I pray you, dear members of this Church, ask God to make each one of you healthy in spiritual things. Do not think you are of no importance. Never belittle yourself by saying, "It does not matter whether I pray, or whether I live near to God." It doesmatter, Brothers and Sisters, for it may give some of us the greatest pain if we see you behaving unworthily or living inconsistently with your profession. Therefore let your individuality lead you to see, first, that you are in the Church. Next, that you are in your right position in the Church. And then, that you are a healthy member of the Church, which is Christ's body.

And, once more, be careful of your growth for the sake of the whole body. "Oh," you say, "I do not know that I need to grow I have believed in Christ and I am saved—that is enough for me." But, my dear Friend, you must grow because the whole Church of Christ is to grow! Suppose that, when I was a lad, one of the bones of my arm had persisted in not growing. If all the rest of my body had been properly developed—what would happen if that particular bone did not grow? Why, I would have a short arm! Suppose that one of the bones of your leg had said to itself, "I am in the body and that is enough for me! I do not mean to grow any more." You would have had to go hopping through the world with one short leg all your life—and that would have been a very uncomfortable thing for you—you would probably have had great pain as well as inconvenience. So, if one Christian in the Church does not grow, he will give trouble to others, for the next Brother to him is growing and it makes matters very awkward when some advance and others do not. I would like to have a Church composed of effective soldiers—but I suppose that I shall never have that. Usually we have a certain number of lame folk among us.

We cannot leave them behind, yet they cannot fight in our ranks. We cannot do as Gideon did with his followers— send the faint-hearted ones home. No, they will stay with us and their inefficiency cuts off a certain number of those who would be good for fighting, for they are so ill that they need somebody to wait upon them and, perhaps, a third of the Church has to be employed in driving the ambulances and attending to the invalids. Then, when the battle begins to get hot and we need all our regiments to the front, there is a certain number of soldiers who cannot stand fire—they turn their backs and so bring shame upon the Church. I wish it were not so, yet it often is because all are not of one heart and one soul—there is not the living unity that there ought to be, for then all would grow at the same rate and the body, growing harmoniously, would be strong and beautiful—and in the day of conflict it would be able to vanquish the foe. Look, then, to this matter, each one of you. Laggards, come on! You that have been slothful, quicken your pace! You that have been sick and weary, may God restore and refresh you, so that the whole body may be healthy and vigorous. So much, then, about our union to Christ and our individuality.

III. Now for a few words about OUR RELATIONSHIP TO EACH OTHER.

The Apostle says a good deal here about joints—"That which every joint supplies." That expression conveys the idea of relationship and teaches us that we are, in our desire and spirit, to be fitted to work with others. This bone is so wisely constructed at this end that it fits into the next one and thus both work together. Our joints are very amazing things. This wrist joint is, perhaps, the most wonderful piece of mechanism in the world! The bones fit into each other so beautifully and work together so harmoniously. I know some Brothers who would make splendid men if all the rest of the people were dead, for they are very loving and amiable to themselves. They would be just the sort of folk to become hermits—shut them up in a cave with a bucket of water and a loaf of bread—and all their virtues would shine out! They have taken the motto which our Scotch friends link with the thistle and which I might freely translate—"Nobody shall touch me without catching it." Whoever comes near them, they are always upon their guard. They are sure that person means them no good, so they repel his advances at once.

When we get such people as that into a Christian Church, it is very awkward for the rest of the members. It is as if we had bones in our body without any joints to them—they grate against each other and constantly wear each other away when they come into contact. Now, dear Friend, if you are in a Church, try to make yourself a bearable person as far as you can. Keep your own peculiarities, if they are worth retaining, yet do not display them so as to make yourself obnoxious! And do not let everybody, or even anybody, if you can help it, be obnoxious to you. Perhaps you have some bone joints outside of you—if so, then pray God to make those joints fit into the persons that happen to be near you. In this wondrously complex body of Christ, we need to be jointed all over so that we may, in our various relationships, be to others just what Christ would have us to be!

Next, notice that the Apostle says that there is something "which every joint supplies." So there is. Every joint supplies oil and if there were not any, it might be very awkward for the rest of the system. In the Church of Christ, which is His body, we need the joint oil of love. If you are traveling by railway, you will see, when an express train pulls up, that a man goes round and puts fresh grease into the box to keep the wheels from firing. What a wonderful machine our body is, for it puts the grease into its own box and keeps all the joints right without friction by supplying them with its own oil! There are some Brothers and Sisters, with whom I come in contact, who expect me to find all the joint oil for them, but even then they are often very trying. Yet I must not lose my temper, or be at all hard with them! Well, I can supply the oil for my own joints, but you must put the oil into yours, or else we cannot work well together.

Perhaps someone says that there is no love in the Church. Quite right, Brother. You mean that there is none in you! Your bones have no joint oil. But if you had your own measure of holy, hearty love to your Brothers and Sisters, I believe that you would find that some oil would exude out of them, for there are none of the bones of Christ's body that are quite dry. There is some oil in them all, although you may not know how to get at it. And some bodies that are called strange are so reckoned because, perhaps, they are better than we are. But if we could get at them in the right way, we would find them to be full of love and we would rejoice that we knew them. Do let every joint, therefore, take care to supply its oil when it comes into contact with the next bone.

In this way, we would aid the compactness of the body. That is the expression in our text—"compacted by that which every joint supplies." When all the bones work well together, they greatly assist the compactness of the body, for the muscles, tendons and so forth bind the whole together. The bones of the body are its strength and give it compactness—and so strengthen certain other parts of the system that are soft and would give way if left to themselves. So, in every Church, when there is bad doctrine preached, there are certain pieces of flesh that seem to give way under the heretical touch. Yes, but you who are like the sturdy, stiff old bones that do not give way, you must just stand firm and steadfast in the faith, whatever is preached! Stand fast by the Truth of God under all opposition, for so you will give compactness and stability to the entire Church! I pray that we may always have, in this Christian community, a number of godly men and matrons who know what they know, so that when the younger sort are a little perplexed, they may go to them and say, "Tell us, dear Brothers and Sisters, are we right or wrong on these matters?" And they will say, "We have tasted and handled the good old Doctrines of Grace and we are afraid that you will go quite off the right lines if you accept these new notions. Therefore, cleave to the Truth which you have received." That is the way that the Church is made strong, by all the joints ministering the oil which holds it together, or helps to the harmonious working of all— the bones being themselves confirmed while strengthening others.

Besides that, let every member offer his own services to the Church. Let each one be doing what he or she can. No one minister, no 20 ministers, no elders, if there were a hundred, no deacons, if there were a thousand, could ever fulfill all the ministries of the Church! God has given Apostles, Evangelists, pastors, teachers and so forth to bring the Bread of Life to us. That is the outward feeding of the flock, but, then, each living person must take the food into himself—the Church must edify itself. There must go on, within the Church, the proper processes of digestion and assimilation of the Truth of God, the reception of and yielding to the Spirit of God by which the Church is built up by itself, as well as by all the external influences which God has prepared for its strengthening and increase.

IV. Now I must close, for our time has gone, by only a few sentences concerning OUR COMPACT UNITY AS A

The Church of God should be one, but not piled into one heap. It should be one in Christ Jesus by a living union. May I ask each one of you whether it is so? Is the life of God in you, dear Brother, dear Sister? If it is and you feel that it is the same life which is in the other members, then you have a unity of the most indestructible kind—one which never can be broken! This union must be a growingunion. We ought so to grow continually as to love each other better and bear with each other more and more. It is often my prayer for this Church, when I am anxiously thinking of the great work here, that nothing may ever arise to divide us in spirit and in love to each other. It is, to my mind, a standing miracle that all these years [Almost 30 years.—EO.] we have been bound together in the unity of the Spirit and in the bonds of peace. But, for the years that are yet to come, shall we quarrel with one another? Shall there be a root of bitterness to spring up and trouble us? I see no trace or sign of it at present, but before it does appear, I beg of you, by the years in which we have worked together, by the blessings we have been made to see, by the benefits which God has given to thousands of souls by this Church, let us not tear this garment of Christ, let us not do anything in any way by which our union may be marred. But let us be "compacted by that which every joint supplies."

I may be speaking to some friends who are a little out of temper with a Brother or Sister. Go and settle the difficulty at once. Resolve in your heart that you will settle it tonight if possible. If you have any disagreements, if there is any coldness at all between you, before you come to this Table, bury it all! Get closer to Christ and then get closer to one another—and may our blessed Lord, when He comes, find us all one in Him! We ask it for His dear name's sake. Amen.