Fellowship is a vital aspect of the Christian life, following baptism and continuing in the Apostles' doctrine. True fellowship is defined not by mere proximity, but by a shared joy in a common object: Jesus Christ. This divine connection, rooted in Christ's sacrifice and resurrection, calls believers into a profound relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It also extends to a shared commitment to the gospel, expressed through mutual support and the advancement of God's kingdom. Ultimately, this fellowship is a sacred privilege, a unique bond that sets believers apart from the world and provides enduring joy and purpose.
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Now, shall we turn in our Bible to the tenth chapter of Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians? Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians chapter ten. And we'll read from verse sixteen. First Corinthians ten, verse sixteen. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? the bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread.
Behold, Israel after the flesh, are not they which eat the sacrifices at the sacrifice partakers of the altar? What say I then, that the idol is anything, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is anything? But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I would not that he should have fellowship with demons. He cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. He cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and the table of demons. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?
Are we stronger than he? All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth. Whatsoever is sold in the shambles that eat, asking no questions for conscience's sake. For the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. If any man of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and he be disposed to go, whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake. But if any man say unto you, this is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that showed it, and for conscience sake, for the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof.
Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other. for why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience? For if I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks? Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Give none offense neither to the Jews nor to the Gentiles nor to the Church of God. Even as I please all men in all things not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many that they may be saved. May God bless to us the reading of his own precious word.
Shall we seek its face again, please? Blessed God our Father, we thank thee thou hast not left us in this world without a guide and a guide book. Thou hast given us the Holy Spirit, and thou hast given us thy holy word, the Bible. and the Holy Spirit interprets thy word to us. We pray that tonight he might take these things and reveal them to our hearts. We thank you for this book, the Bible. So wonderful, Lord. It shows us the way to go. It shows us what to do. It shows us thy will for us. It shows us thy future for us. It shows us thine eternal plans and thy plans for this world.
We thank thee for it. And we thank you for revealing to our hearts something of the wonder of this precious word. Open it up again tonight we pray thee. We ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Now I announced that our subject tonight would be after baptism. Last Sunday night we spoke on the subject after baptism. And... Last Sunday afternoon we baptized, I think it was eight people, and so baptism is very much upon our minds just now, and I would like, in the will of the Lord, to continue this subject for two or three more times, if possible, as and when opportunity comes.
But we referred last week to a verse in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter two, and verse forty-two. Acts two, forty-two. You see, in the forty-first chapter, forty-first verse of the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, there were a number of people about, the scripture says about three thousand, who accepted the Lord Jesus. These were Jews, I believe, who had rejected him. The Apostle Peter, clearly blames them.
In verse twenty-two of that chapter he says, Ye men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, you Jews have taken him, And by wicked hands, that's Gentile hands, because they wouldn't defile their clean hands, those Jews, ye have taken him, and by Gentile hands have crucified and slain, whom God raised up. This was the point.
And the apostles preached, in all their preaching, this, the resurrection. Whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should beholden of it. And he accused them of the murder of the Son of God. And when they heard this, verse thirty-seven, when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Here they were. The Holy Spirit had brought their guilt home to them.
And I think one of the greatest moments you can find in a man's life is when God brings him to his knees and he cries out, What shall I do? When a man realizes he's lost, you can't be saved if you're not lost. To me it would be absolute folly. to dive off a bridge and try and save some fellow that's swimming in the river. That'd be ridiculous. He doesn't want saving. But if the man is crying out, save me, I'm going down. That's the time to dive in and get him out. And it's when a man realizes he's lost and he cries, what must I do to be saved? That God comes in and saves us.
The trouble is today we don't get people realizing the guilt of sin. We live in an age when sin is glossed over. We live in an age when men think lightly of that which God calls sin. They just call it disease. When I was a boy, a drunkard was a drunkard. Today, poor fellow, he's just got a sickness, you know. He's just got a sickness. But God's word hadn't changed. When I was a boy, immorality was immorality. But today, men have changed their standards.
But God hasn't changed a bit. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. The unchanging God looks down just the same today as He ever did. And because of men's new standards, and because of these wonderful psychiatrists that we have in the world today, they're trying to change the whole outlook of things. And they make the word of God of none effect. But the word of God stands just the same. And sin is sin. And all that we can see men convicted by the Holy Spirit and broken down and pleading to God for mercy. When they heard this, they were pricked in their heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
And Peter said unto them, Repent. what they had to do. Repent and confess what they had done. Murdered the Son of God. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin. And ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for the promises unto you and to your children and to all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourself from this untoward generation. I like that word, untoward. A generation that's going away from the Lord.
Untoward. Not going towards God, but the other way. Untoward generation. A generation of men that had turned from God. Save yourself from it. Then they that gladly received his word, about three thousand, when they that gladly received his word were baptized. And we've been saying week after week now that this was the New Testament practice. When a person believed that person was baptized by immersion in water. That's what we did here last week. Now we were talking about after baptism, so let's read on. Verse forty-one, They that gladly received His Word were baptized.
Then it says there were about three thousand. And they continued steadfastly in four things. They continued steadfastly in four things. And this is a basic practice for the New Testament. We find all through the New Testament this is what they did, but this was the first time, and this was basic and fundamental. They continued steadfastly in four things. The Apostles' doctrine, breaking of bread, no, the Apostles' doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, prayers. Now, at that time, the Apostles' were the oracles of God.
God had endured special powers upon the apostles. The early church, amongst the gifts that God gave to the early church were apostles. We don't have them today, not in the same sense. An apostle, it says, must be one who's seen the Lord. Paul says, Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen the Lord? One Corinthians fifteen. That was one of the marks of an apostle. He'd seen the Lord. Because Paul didn't see the Lord in the flesh. but the Lord revealed himself to Saul of Tartus and he says, I have seen the Lord. He was an apostle. And to these men God gave special gifts and gave them special understanding of the scripture.
So that, and we'll come back to this presently, Paul says that he had a special revelation from God concerning God's mystery, God's eternal plans for his church. especially revealed to the Apostle Paul. And these men, to whom God revealed these things, they preached them. That was the Apostle's doctrine. They hadn't got a New Testament. They couldn't turn and read Tenth Chapter, First Corinthians, like I did just now, because First Corinthians was not yet written. They couldn't even read John's Gospel. John's Gospel was probably the last book in the New Testament to be written.
They couldn't read that. They hadn't got it. They only had the Old Testament. Thank God we have the Apostle's doctrine written for us in the Epistle. The Apostle's doctrine is written in the Epistle. So then we continue after baptism. That's to say, after we're saved and after we have confessed the Lord as our Savior, which we do in baptism, then what do we do? continue. I love the word, continue. It's a great joy to find people that continue. Who gave me sorrow when I was home in England last month to ask, we're so and so.
We never see him again. We're so and so. Well, we haven't seen him for years. They don't continue. I don't say they're not saved. I believe some of these young people I knew years ago were just as much saved as I was. But they have not continued in the things of God. They've got tired. And they've taken life very easily. And some of them have made lots of money and got big positions. And all right, that's filled their minds and lives and hearts. And they have not continued in the Apostles' doctrines. continued in the Apostles' Doctrine. That's the daily study and reading of the Word of God and the reading particularly of the New Testament teaching in the Epistles, the Apostles' Doctrine.
That's what establishes us and tells us what God wants us to do. Tells us about the New Testament church. Tells us how to act in connection with the world around us and how to wait for His Son from Heaven. That's the Apostles' Doctrine. Now, last week we just chose one chapter only, Colossians chapter three, because it says in Colossians chapter twelve, verse two, that we were baptized. Let me read it exactly. Colossians chapter two, verse twelve. It says that we were buried with him in baptism, wherein also we are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God.
That's baptism, buried with him in baptism and risen through faith of the operation of God. Chapter three, if ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above. And last week we talked about this wonderful third chapter of Colossians, the things which God expects from those who have been baptized into his death and risen again into his resurrection and life. We talked about my new position, risen with him and hidden in Christ, my glorious future. When he shall appear, we shall appear with him in glory. We talked about our old nature, mortify therefore the deeds of the flesh, put off the old nature and put on the new nature.
We talked about that wonderful peace that God has given us and the word of Christ dwelling in it. And we talked about that new life we have, whether it be masters or servants or children or fathers or husband or wife. God tells us in that wonderful third chapter of Colossians the details of how we should act. And he sums it all up and says, whatsoever ye do therefore in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. So they continued in the Apostle's doctrine. And I thought I would take these four things for it week by week. So tonight then the next subject would be fellowship. They continued in the Apostles' doctrine and in fellowship.
Now what is fellowship? You know what the Irishman said when they asked the Irishman what is fellowship? He says three fellows in a ship. Three fellows in a ship. fellowship they've got a very small circumference they're all together and sharing the thing together but when Mr. I remember when Mr. I've loved Mr. T. Ernest Wilson was here you know he referred to the he's an Irishman and he referred to these fellows in a ship there but he said in World War I there was a ship torpedoed out in the Indian Ocean and there were only two survivors And they were on a raft.
And when they finally found them, I think they found them. One was sitting one end of the raft, and one the other, and they weren't even speaking to one another. Two fellows in the ship, that's no fellowship. And we don't talk to one another. So that's not too good an illustration. These fellows in the ship. And then the Scotchman, they asked him what's fellowship? Well, he said it's four feet on a fender. Now, what's that mean? Four feet on a fender. You see, over there in Scotland, over in the old country, that's going out now, but they had the old fireplace, you know, and the living room where they spend most of the time, there's a fire. It's the only room in the house with a fire, the only room in the house with heat.
Upstairs it's like a refrigerator, but that's how we used to live. And, you know, on Friday night the housewife used to polish the fender. The fender is a... kind of a guard that's around there to keep the fire from coming out. Not one of these close up to the fire, but it's outside, some distance outside. There's the hearth, and then there's the fender around, and you know, it's usually at a piece of steel, and she polished it with a piece of emery cloth, and a fire's all shining and bright, and the fire is reflected in it. And this fellow said, this is fellowship, four of us gather together and sit around the fire. And as we talk together we get closer and closer and put our feet on the fender and all this fender she's polished up is now getting muddy and dirty but never mind this is fellowship getting your feet together by the fireside.
Fellowship's getting together you see. But you know somebody asked William Kelly a wonderful teacher of last century why he thought of fellowship and he said it's having a common joy in a common object which we share with one another. Having a common joy in a common object, you put a capital O for that object if you like, having a common joy in a common object which we share together. The object we share, may the Lord forgive me for saying an object, the person whom we share.
is the eternal Son of God, a common joy in a common person, the Lord Jesus, which we share together. That's fellowship. Now, I don't know too much about the Greek language. Mr. Lemaître might put me right if I go wrong, but if I remember from the days I was in Greece, we used to have two words for fellowship. We had a word kinonian, kinonian. It's having things in common, you know. Partnership, a sharing in things in common. Let me see if I can describe that now.
We lived in a district of Athens, while outside of Athens about seven miles out, a place called Old Falyron, or as they said it, Pallion Falyron. And they had the Kenotitus to Pallio Falyru. That means the Kenonian, or the Fellowship of Old Falyron. But that was the name of the governing body of that part of the world. We are all, shall I say, citizens, not citizens, but members of Keystone Heights, and there's a kind of a governing body there.
There should be a local mayor and all that goes to make up the local government, and we're members of that. Meaning of this word connotes our fellowship. But there's another word, Metocross. And I like Metocross. It means partner. Let me give you a scripture. Luke chapter five. Luke chapter five. Luke chapter five. It says the people pressed upon the Lord to hear the word of God, and he stood at the lake of Gennesaret and saw two ships standing by the lake.
The fishermen were gone out of them. And he entered into one of them and thrust out and taught the people. When he left speaking, verse four, he said to Simon, launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draft. And Simon... answering, said unto him, Master, we've taught all night and taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word we let down the net. And note the lack of faith here on the part of Peter, because the Lord said, let down your net. That's plural. He said, nevertheless at thy word we let down the net. He let down one. The Lord told him to let down many. He let down one.
We let down the net. And when they had done this, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes. and their net break. And they beckoned on to their partners, and this word in Greek is Metacost. They beckoned on to their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. So Metacost is a partner, something that you share in common. It's like being in a business, you know, to be a shareholder. in some business and to have some interest in it, financial interest in it, a metacross.
But you know, there's another definition I like to, I like of this word metacross. Let me read you in Hebrews three. Same word here. Hebrews three in verse one. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling. partakers of the heavenly calling. Now, some translations, some translators, put another word in here, and they call it fellows, fellows of the heavenly calling. Now, I don't know whether here in the United States of America we fully realize the meaning of this word fellow, but I'll tell you something, over in Great Britain, they do.
Over there, they'll make you a fellow of some great big society. He's a fellow of the order of the Knight of the Guardian, a fellow. He's a partaker. He's got membership, membership in this great order. And, you know, men would give all they've got in life just to become a member, a fellow of some of these great societies, they've got always. This society in that, this order and that order. When I was in Greece, I don't know whether this reminded me of this, when I was in Greece, I did some work there for a number of years for the Greek ministry, and one day I had surprising news that the King of Greece was going to give me a decoration.
And the King of Greece gave me a beautiful golden medal, a cross, beautiful cross. And I became a fellow of the Royal Order of the Phoenix of Greece. I've still got that. Most who got the piece of paper written in Greek and signed with the actual signature of King George II of Greece. And I became a fellow of the Royal Order of the Phoenix. Just exactly what it meant, I never did know, but it was some honor they gave upon people. But they think a lot of becoming a fellow, becoming a member. These Christians that were baptized continued in fellowship. this common sharing in the things of God, this high honor of becoming a fellow, a partaker of the heavenly calling, that fellowship.
Now let's think about it for a little bit. God saves us as individuals, and then he introduces us into a wonderful fellowship. He saves us one by one, You can't go to heaven in a group, you know. We will, by and by, when the Lord comes, we'll all go up together. But we get saved one by one. God saves this one here and that one there. And just as we're preaching now, God is saving many women. I love to think of that. Just at this moment, somewhere in the world, there are people accepting Christ one by one. They can go half a dozen together to a big gospel service to make fun.
And five of them can go out unsaved, but God speaks to one, and he saves that one, individually. A man and his wife can go and hear the gospel preach, and he saves the wife, and not the man, and he saves the man and not the wife. One by one, they're saved, and then later on the woman wins the man, and the man wins the woman. But one by one, every one of us have to make an individual, have to individually accept the Lord Jesus as our personal Savior. He saves us individually. But once we're saved, Then he puts us together in a wonderful fellowship. First Corinthians chapter one. First Corinthians chapter one.
Verse nine. God is faithful by whom ye were called unto The fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Have you ever sat down and think about that now? Did I, a poor lost sinner who's accepted the Lord Jesus as my Savior, he's now called me unto the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord? What a dignity. I said last week we should go around with our chins high, you know, because God has brought us into these wonderful things and saved us.
And He's brought us into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. We're in the same society, you know. And if it's an honor to be an order of the night of the garden, what an honor it is. to be a member of the order of the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ. Everyone else, you know, we're noblemen. God has saved us and brought us into a wonderful, wonderful fellowship. Into our high dignity and order and position in Christ. We are called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ.
John's epistle in chapter one. John's epistle chapter one. Verse three. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us. John is speaking now to these Christians, and he says, I want you to have fellowship with us apostles, that which we have seen and heard. He tells us in the previous verses that the wonder of it. It's just amazing these first verses. It says that the word, that which was from the beginning, which we've heard, which we've seen with our eyes, we've looked upon, our hands have handled of the word of life.
He's talking about the Son of God. He says, I actually gazed upon the Son of God. My hands have touched him. That which was from the beginning, I gazed upon him. For he says that life was manifested and we've seen it. We bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us. John says, we've had a tremendous privilege. We apostles. We actually touched the Son of God. John leaned upon his bosom. I used to hear dear old Walter Scott say so many times. He leaned upon the bosom of the Son of God, and he felt a throbbing of eternal love. John said, that's what I think.
But he said, I want you to have fellowship and share this. That which we have seen and heard declare unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We've been called unto the fellowship of his Son, but now John says our fellowship is not only a fellowship of the Son, it's a fellowship of the Father. We've been called unto the, our fellowship is truly with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. Go to the last verse of Second Corinthians, the last verse of Corinthians and see what he says there. He says, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and communion, and it's the same word here, fellowship, the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.
These are tremendous things. You think of this wonder of it, that you and I have been called into fellowship with the Son, into fellowship with the Father, into fellowship with the Holy Spirit, the three persons of the Godhead, And now we share with them, fellowship is sharing. We share with them the wonders of God's love, and we share with them the person of God's beloved Son. We have been called into fellowship with the Father. He finds his delight in his Son, and with fellowship with the Father we find our delight in God's Son. What a position God has brought us into.
He says they continued in this fellowship. Philippines I, chapter five. Philippines I, chapter five. He says in Philippines chapter one, verse five, I meant to say, I'm sorry. Chapter one, verse five, verse four, verse three, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making requests with joy for your fellowship in the gospel.
Paul talks about these that had fellowship in the gospel. I believe these early Christians when they continued in fellowship, this is what they continued in, the fellowship of the gospel. They went everywhere preaching the gospel. The gospel is not left just for the preachers only, it's for every one of us, it's our business to have fellowship in the gospel, get the gospel out. Whether it means in the actual speaking of the gospel or the support of the gospel, we have to have fellowship. These wonderful missionaries that come here and tell us of the work they're doing. We have to have fellowship with them.
And you know, there's one thing I'm, as I say, proud about, if I can use that word. And yet, yeah, I think I can, because Paul, he boasted, he boasted about the people in Macedonia, but the way they gave, you know, to the things that he boasted about. And you know one of the things I'm proud about, of this group here, Park of the Pounds, church, our little fellowship, this assembly here. We give to missionaries. Do you know that? Some of you here perhaps don't know tonight, but of the offerings that come in here, twenty-five percent go to the missionaries on the foreign field.
Twenty-five percent. Now we have many expenses. We have many responsibilities. We have not yet paid for the chapel. We have lots of money to pay, but we're meeting our obligations as the days go by. But we give twenty-five percent to the foreign missionaries, and we give fifteen percent to the home missionaries. And my experience through life is that the church that gives to the foreign missionaries is the church that God is going to bless. My experience is that the preacher the full-time worker for God that gives freely to the things of God, God gives freely to him. I've met some full-time workers that always talk foremost, you know, never got any money.
But I've made this observation in life. I won't make any accusation, but an observation I have made. I have found out that the full-time worker that gives to God, he never talks foremost, never. There's one man I love very much now in heaven, my beloved brother Harold Hopper, and he was bold enough to talk about Christian giving, and I like that. He was bold enough to talk about Christian giving. In some circles, you know, where I have been, they mustn't talk about giving. Let not thy right hand know what the left hand do. Don't talk about it. But he did. And do you know what he said?
For many years I have given God fifty percent of all he gives me. He was a full-time worker, depending entirely upon God for his living. And for many years I have given God fifty fifty percent of all that he gave me. I remember once he and I were sharing a conference at a place called Curly Hill in Philadelphia. I hadn't been in this country long, and we were sharing, speaking together at this conference, and sharing a bedroom. And he handed me ten dollars. I said, Brother Harper, you're a full-time worker, why give me ten dollars? He said, God gives me so much I don't know what to do with it. Why?
Because he gave God too much. That's why. That's why. He never heard him talking about being a poor evangelist. And we have fellowship in the gospel. It means we give our money now. Give to the things of God that the gospel might go out. We may not be able to go at our age, very few of us, to go to the foreign field. But thank God we can send to the foreign field. I don't know whether I'd be stepping out of line if I said this. That yesterday we had a wonderful women's conference here, missionary conference, and these ladies always hand me the money and ask me to write out the checks.
Perhaps I'm betraying a trust, I don't know. But you know how much was put in the collection yesterday morning here? Four hundred and five dollars from this little group of ladies that were here. To me that's tremendous. This is fellowship in the gospel. Fellowship in the gospel. They continued in fellowship. Fellowship of the gospel. Now let's go back to the chapter we read. First Corinthians chapter ten, verse sixteen, the cup of blessing which we bless. Is it not the communion? Here's the same word.
Is it not the fellowship having something in common? Is it not the fellowship of the blood of Christ, the bread which we break? Is it not the fellowship, the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers. This is Metacross again. This is the Greek word for fellowship. We are partakers of that one bread. The fellowship of the blood of Christ. What does that mean? The blessed Son of God went to the place called Calvary and shed his precious blood for you and me.
And in that wonderful plan of God, which we'll never fathom or understand, The blood of Jesus Christ has cleansed us from all things. Have we had fellowship in that blood? It's tremendous thought. Fellowship in the blood of Christ. And all our blessings are derived from the blood of Christ which was shed for us. And then he says, we have fellowship. The bread which we break, is it not the communion, the fellowship of the body of Christ? Of course, the bread which we break is a type, a picture of the body of Christ. That's right. But it's a bigger picture than that, too. It tells me that I have fellowship in that body of Christ that was broken.
For me, it's a place called Calvary. And in God's tremendous plan that we'll never know. The sufferings of Christ. Christ bore my sin in its sufferings upon the cross, and I have fellowship in that thing which he did. And then he takes it and put it all together, and he says, We being many are one body. That's like that loaf is one. We're one body. For we are all partakers. We have fellowship in one bread. Beloved, when God saved you and me that moment, He made us members of the body of Christ.
Man down through the ages has split up the Church of God. The Church of God is called in the Ephesian epistle by three names. It's called the body of Christ. It's called the building of God. and it's called the bride of Christ, not in those words, but it says that Christ loved the church and gave himself for it as his bride. So it's the body of Christ, the building of Christ, the temple of the Holy Ghost, and the bride of Christ. And when God saved us, he put us in the body of Christ, which is the church, the only church.
And as I said, man down through the ages, split it up, you know. One great man comes up and he has his own ideas about some of the scriptures and rightly or wrongly he goes along and then a lot of people follow him and his name can be, what shall I say, Wesley if you like, a wonderful man of God, Wesley. Then they form a Wesleyan church. You don't hear about that in this country, you do in the old country. The Wesleyan church. Can't read about it when you just thank God for it. Wesley, thank God for Wesley. But God never intended it to be a Wesleyan church or a church by any other name.
And I won't mention names. You think about it yourself. He didn't intend it to be denominational names. God's planned, and of course there should be one church. And that church is called the Body of Christ. And every true believer in the Lord Jesus is a member of the Body of Christ. Now you might have been born in this denomination and that denomination and be saved in this denomination or that denomination, but that doesn't matter the fact that when you were saved, God put you into the body of Christ. And there is one body. And he says, For we being many are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread.
What a fellowship. And when are we seeing what a fellowship, what a joy, divine, when God brought us into these wonderful truths. Now there's one fellowship I didn't mention in Ephesians chapter three, and this is amazing, Ephesians chapter three. Paul there is telling us, as I said earlier this evening, that God had given him a special revelation concerning the church. I'll read it. Ephesians chapter three. He says in verse two, You've heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given to me.
How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery. What mystery? which in other ages, a mystery which was not made known unto the sons of men, but is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel. Who would have thought, what Jew would ever think that a Gentile could come in and be a partaker in fellowship with him? Impossible that the Gentile was a dog outside to the Jew. And Paul says, God made a revelation to me special. To tell me about a mystery.
In the New Testament a mystery is something that used to be hidden but is now revealed. One of those things which God kept hidden down through the ages and is now revealed to the sons of men. So he says a mystery which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men but is now revealed by the Holy Spirit. Now then, verse nine, to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God, who created all things in Christ Jesus, to the intent that now unto principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus.
Way, way back in eternal ages before the world was made. God had an eternal planet. That he was former church. Nobody ever knew about it. I don't think Abraham knew about it. He looked ahead and saw lots of things, but I don't think he saw this. I don't think Moses saw this. It was a mystery hidden. All they looked for was an earthly kingdom. with the Messiah reigning and ruling over them. But here's something altogether different. A church, a called out people from all, as I read in the tenth chapter, the Jew, the Gentile, which become the church of God, calling out from all nations a people for himself, his church.
And he said, this is a mystery. And Paul said, we are called into the fellowship of this great mystery which God has kept hidden down through the age. What a position God has brought us into. Now one final word, back to our first Corinthians chapter ten again, and one final word. I must stop. I was told last week I preached too loud, so tonight I want to be good. Verse twenty of first Corinthians ten. But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God.
And I would not that he should have fellowship with demons. I would not that he should have fellowship with demons. He cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. He cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and the table of demons. Paul's talking about separation here. If I'm called into this wonderful fellowship of his son and the father and the spirit and the fellowship of the gospel and the fellowship of the blood of Christ and the fellowship of the body of Christ, I've got to break all other fellowships. I can't have fellowship with the things of this world.
God separates me from it. How can a Christian be a member of this thing belongs to the world or that thing belongs to the world? How can he do it? I've known some men that have lost their jobs and their positions and everything, rather than be in any organization in the world. God separated us from him. Our fellowship is with his Son. And I can't have fetish been something where the Son of God is not honored and reverenced and worshiped. Can't have anything to do with it. I tell you, it's a solemn step you took last week when you were baptized. And when you declare to all around that now you have a new Lord and a new master, and that you're saved, it means you have to live a different life.
And men look at you and they're saying something different because you belong to the Lord Jesus. And you won't find your pleasure where they find their pleasure. And you won't find their joy where they find their joy. You'll find your joy with God's people and in this wonderful fellowship to which he's called. I thank God as I look back on life that early in life he taught me some of these lessons. And early in life I found my joy in meeting with the Lord's people. I remember when I was a boy only perhaps twelve years of age, I was always at that prayer meeting in the middle of the week, or rather we used to have our prayer meetings on Monday.
And then on Wednesday we used to have our Bible study meeting, but I was always there. You see, twelve years, twelve years of age, I started at ten years of age, and I was always there. And I went there every night. And later on I had to leave school when I was fifteen, you know, that's how we did in the old country, go to work. And so to get my study, because I didn't go to college, I had to go and study, in evening classes and I went to the University of Bristol, evening classes. But I always cut out the class that was on a Wednesday night. I wouldn't take a course that came on a Wednesday night. Because Wednesday night was that Bible reading and that's where I wanted to be.
And I found my joy and my fellowship with the people of God. And I was hoping so hard I was going to get a degree and I was studying so much for an engineering degree. And they said to me, You'll have to come on a Wednesday night. And I got going on my knees and I said, Lord, I want that degree very badly. But I'm going to get to the Bible reading on Wednesday night and I never got the degree. But I'll tell you something that I've gone through life. I've had many, many men with degrees working for me. And God has looked after me and brought me all the way through. I found joy in the fellowship of God's people.
these early believers that were baptized, they continued in the Apostles' doctrine, fellowship, breaking of prayers and prayers. Well, let's make up our minds tonight that we're going to continue in this wonderful, wonderful fellowship. And I'll say this as I've gone through life, and I look back over sixty years since the Lord saved me, and as I look back over tremendous fellowship, the days in Greece were wonderful days. We went there not knowing one soul, but I think the fellowship in Greece was something tremendous, tremendous. As we got to know the Greek language well enough to talk to these dear people and enjoy the fellowship of Christ.
And then the war came, and we had to escape from Greece in a great hurry, and I found myself in a British Royal Air Force in Egypt. with all unsaved men and women around us. Tell you what, I found one of the greatest fellowships I've ever known in all my life, in a service. I found a Christian boy here, a Christian boy here, a Christian fellow there, and we got together. And we had the most wonderful fellowship. I look back upon it with joy. That's how I look upon World War II. With joy. Tremendous fellowship with men who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Their fellowship with his son. But of all the fellowships I've known, I don't think there's anything that can beat the fellowship of part of the problems.
I don't know what you think, but to me, this is just superb. This last week, like all this missionary work going on here, it's been a thrill to me, the last weekend. And day by day, as we live together, we have a unique opportunity to love. We've left the world behind. Most of us retired and left the world and all the ties and pools of the world behind. And here at Parker the Clowns, in this quiet, tranquil atmosphere, we can enjoy the fellowship of the children of God. May God lead us day by day and make it more and more precious as we continue in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship. I hope next time I talk on this subject, we talk about the next steps It's the breaking of bread.
Shall we pray? Blessed God, our Father, we thank thee for this wonderful fellowship into which thou hast brought us, the wonderful joy of knowing one another, brothers and sisters in Christ, this eternal link which is stronger than earthly ties. We find more joy in meeting thine own people than we do in meeting some of our old kids and kin, especially if they're not saved. We thank thee. We have a common joy in a common object, thy beloved Son. Oh, make it real to us day by day. Make it more precious and help us, Lord, to continue in the fellowship.
into which thou hast called us. We ask it in the precious name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.