tonight on verse twelve he pointed out how that eighteen times in this chapter you have the body referred to and thirteen times the members of that body verse twelve so as the body is one and have many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body so also is Christ For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bonds of three, and have been all made to drink into one spirit. For the body is not one member, but many, that the foot shall say, because I am not the hand, I am not of the body. Is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not of the eye, I am not of the body. Is it, therefore, not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, can you imagine anything more horrible than that for the whole body to be one great big eye? That's what he's talking about. If the whole were an eye, where were the hearing? If you saw a body and it was just one great big ear... It was very practice or appealing. And if the whole we are hearing, where was the smelling? It could have a nose that day. But now have God set the members, every one of them, in the body as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members? Yep, but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee, nor again the head, to the feet, I have no need of thee, nor you. Nay, much more, those members of the body which seem to be more people, are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, upon these who is of so more abundant honor, and our uncommonly parts have more abundant homiliness. For our calmly parts have no need, but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked it. That there should be no chisels in the body, but that the members should have the same care, one for another. Whether one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. Or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. We will stop there. So this morning we were speaking about the fact, and behind the fact, of the material, physical body, there is a mysterious essence using that material to make what? To make the most marvelous organism in the world. God needed... He took the dust of the earth. He made a form out of it. Why did he do it? We don't know. God should have spoken the word, and Adam would have stood there. But God used material. He used the dust of the earth, and he made a form. And then he breathed into that nostril, his nostril, the breath of life. And Adam became a living soul. Now the other... organism is that of the church. He's using a physical body as a type, an illustration of the church. And so God has to have material. He has to have physical material, human body, that he can use. But he's got to have physical material to form the church, that wonderful organism known as the body of Christ. And the master member of that body is the brain as it is, and Christ is the head of the church. Very remarkable in mentioning the faith, that which is public. Eye, ears, nose, spoke of that this morning, and it's remarkable how the brain gets its signal from those three members. The brain gets its signal from the eye, what the eye sees, and what the ear hears. I want the teeth to feel. I want the nose smell. So the brain gets these signals from our various members, and thus we know something of what course to take. For instance, I started reading this about why in Bartomere, there he was sitting outside the genital gate, a blind man. But his ear caught something. A multitude. That was unusual. Furthermore, he heard the people talking. He'd everly heard about the man Christ Jesus and the miracles that he had before. And he cried out, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. He didn't see the cloud. He heard it. And so he asked what it meant, and he was told, Jesus, the master's disciples of God. And he cried out, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And you know the result. How the Lord restored him as eyesight. If it hadn't been through his hearing, he wouldn't have got eyesight. And so he heard, and he used his voice, he called out. The Lord responded, he received his sight and followed Jesus in the way. And how just about everything in life is related to it, it must relate to our eyesight, our hearing, our intelligence, our smelling, our tasting. So the head is very important. And so Christ is the head of the body, and our head is the head of our physical body. And our physical body will benefit a lot if we use our head now, and again as to what we eat and how much we use. So it's tied right in, one with the other. And when it comes to the spiritual aspect, the local church, how necessary there be intelligence of the head of that group. So the members of that group or that assembly or church can benefit from the wisdom of the head, those who are looked upon as the leaders or elders in the assembly. So these are the things we want to try and pick up tonight. So we have this living organism, and the Lord Jesus referred to this when he said in the sixteenth of John, upon this rock I will build my church. He had in mind a living organism. They knew nothing of this in the Old Testament. This is something that pugeth. Upon this rock I will build my church, and that's the first reference we have relative to the organism known as the church. When you start to think of this, how wonderful it is that the Lord should have had this in mind when he said except the corn of wheat. fall into the ground and die, it abides at the loath. But if it dies, it bringeth forth much truth. What's he talking about? Well, he says, if I don't go to the cross, if this horn of wheat doesn't fall into the ground and die, it'll abide alone. I'll have no church. I'll have no companions. I'll have no associates. I'll have no body. To share my love and my glory forever, I'll be alone. In eternity it becomes, I had been with the power of an eternity past. But he will not have a companion, someone known as the church or his bride. So he says that born of the wheat must fall into the ground. It must die, but it must rise again. And died, and he rose, and it brings forth much fruit. And there you have the church. How wonderful the church is striking unto a party, or the loaf you have it Sunday morning, it comes with great bread. The corn of wheat. And you throw that one corn of wheat, you get many stalks of wheat, and finally you get enough, and you can grind it into flour. And then you can bake the loaf of bread out, says the fruit. And the result of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, and his resurrection... Now we have a loaf, we have a body. That body is his mystical body, the church. How remarkable when the Lord made that statement that he had this in mind. He had the body known as the church. You'll remember before he went back to heaven, he said this to his disciples, in Acts one five, and these are the words. For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. She was referring to the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the commencement of the church at Pentecost. Not many days hence. Pentecost has not yet taken place. It couldn't take place until he dies. It couldn't take place until he rose again. But he said, it's in a few days, not many days hence, you're all going to be baptized with the Holy Spirit into one body. But that body's got to have a head. And that body can't exist until I go to heaven. And the baptistry for the infant church was the upper room, where the Spirit of God baptized a hundred and twenty members into one organism, Christ being the head, that was the beginning of the party, the mystical party of Christ. It's remarkable when you go over some of these scriptures, relative to the baptism, and a lot of people get quite confused. In fact, I was only a few weeks ago, a couple of weeks ago, I talked to a young man, and she refers to fire. with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Oh, there's got to be the fire there. There's got to be the fire there. The fire accompanies the filling of the Holy Spirit. Well, I took time this week to go through these scriptures, and I want you to go through the wither. Turn over to Matthew chapter three. We're all in a row. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And we'll see what it says. Matthew chapter three and verse seven. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, John's baptism, he said unto them, O generation of Vipers, now notice who he speaking to, Pharisees, Padducees, a generation of Vipers. Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? It is judgment he thought unto us. Bring forth therefore fruit meets for repentance. And take not the stay within yourselves, if we have Abraham to our father, for I say unto you, that God is able or be shown to raise up children unto Abraham. Now also the axe is laid unto the root of the tree. Therefore every tree which bringeth forth not forth good fruit is shuned down and cast into the fire. That's judgment. The fire there refers to that tree that's been cut down, fueled for the fire, refers to these tribes, these Pharisees, these hypocrites, and this is a fire of judgment. This has no connection with the Holy Spirit at all. Now notice verse eleven. I indeed that priestly was water, says John, unto the defendant. But he that cometh after me is mighty of an eye. To choose I am not worthy to bear, he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. And who is the fire for? The strides and the Pharisees. This is Douglass. Whose sand is in his hand, and he will clearly purge his floor and gather his sweet into the gardener. Now there will be Christus. But he will burn up the calf with an untenable fire. Well, you have the baptism of the Spirit referring to Pentecost, but the baptism of Christ is judgment, turning up the tree, and those tribes and Pharisees, those hypocrites, those generations of life. I alluded, Mark. Mark chapter one. And verse seven. Here's John again, and preach, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latter of whose shoes I am not worthy to shoot down on Luke. I indeed have baptized you with water, but he, Christ, shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. No mention of fire at all. Notice Luke. Luke chapter three and verse seven. Luke three and seven. Then said he to the multitudes, and he's not talking to the disciples here, that came forth to be baptized in him, old generation of vicers. Who have warned you to flee from the wrath to come, the judgment to come, he's bringing forth? Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of repentance a billion, not to say within yourselves, we of Abraham to our father. But I say unto you that God is able of these souls to raise up children of Abraham. And now also the act is laid unto the roots of the trees. Every tree therefore would bringeth not forth good fruit as hewn down and cast into the fire. Verse fifteen. And as the people were in expectation, and all men knew in their hearts of John whether he were the Christ or not, John answered saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water, but one might, dear, then I come of the latter of whose shoes I am not worthy to unmute. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire. Now the expert, whose hand is in his hands, and he will thoroughly baptize his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner, but the chaff he will burn with fire unclenchable. We have judgment there again. Now John, what is John saying? John's Gospel one, thirty-two and thirty-three. John will baptize thirty-two. And John bear record saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and an abode upon him, and I knew not that he said how that sentment was baptized with waters. The same said unto me, upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the slave is he which baptizes with the Holy Ghost. No mention of fire there. In the two occasions, no mention of the fire. Just the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But the other two occasions, where he brings in the unquenchable fire of judgment, if the fire brought in because that's the fire of judgment. That's not the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost at all. And also the text we've already read over in Acts one five, you'll notice what he says there. For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. No mention of fire. The fire in these two verses has nothing to do with Pentecost. The fire he referred to, you mean the one that's going to baptize the church into one body, he's the one who's going to execute judgment upon the undemodable, unprincipled body. And it's strange how these can be so mixed up that people just spoken to relative to the fire referred to in the church. I think you have another remarkable illustration of this one loaf, the baptism of the fire connected with the peace. of Jehovah. Over in Leviticus, chapter twenty-three, you have the Feast of the Passover, the fourteenth day of the month of April. There you have the Feast of the Passover. Then you have, beginning on the sixteenth day, the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Then the third Feast is the Feast of the Way Feast. Now that's a remarkable text that has, the Way Feast. I think you have a text right here. I'll read it to you in Leviticus twenty-three and fifteen. And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath from the day that ye brought the sheath of the wave offering. Seventh Sabbath shall be complete, ye complete. Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days. and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord. Ye shall bring out of your habitation two wave loaves of two tenths of yield. They shall be of fine flour. They shall be baked with leaven. They are the first fruit unto the Lord. Now this is remarkable when you consider these things. Here you have the wave seen. What does that speak of? That speaks of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Passover, and then the feast of unleavened bread, and then the one sheep. What did the one sheep be brought? The one sheep speak of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. One of those farmers, he brought one sheep. He picked the best one. And he brought it, and he waved it before the Lord. As much as I say, this is the best sheep, but it's only assembled. a symbol of a great harvest that is yet to come. Then the next two is what? The Feast of Pentacles, fifty days after the resurrection. And each time you write in those verses we read, the chapter count fifty days from the way, feet, unto the feet of the loaves. And there's the loaves speaking of the body of Christ. And that flower that was dropped baked in the oven, there you have Christ's identity with the body, with that local dead. And fifty days exactly from the resurrection of Jesus Christ until Tentacus, told us back here in Leviticus twenty-three. And fifty, Tentacus means fifty. That's the meaning of the word Tentacus. And the Spirit of God came on schedule. Exactly fifty days after Christ rose from the dead, the Spirit of God came down on the day of Pentecost and baptized over a hundred and twenty believers into the body of Christ. That's an amazing thing. And here it is for us in the Word of God. But there's something that shows you how the Word of God can be trampled here. I ran across it early in my Christian experience. It's known today as Bollinger Rhythm. Have you ever heard it? Dear Father, this man, Bollinger, because you have two grave loaves over here in Leviticus twenty three, he said there are two churches, two bodies. And you know how he tries to back that up? He said the Spirit came on the day of Pentecost and baptized all two. But he said in the tent for that, the Spirit came again and baptized all Gentiles. So we have a Hebrew church and a Gentile church. You see how a man can take a scripture like that and build an erroneous doctrine, doing away with the unity of the body or the gillis of the verse says, you need a Jew or Gentile bond of youth. But that's how the word of God can be handled. Now you'll notice that way, she, there was no leaven. in that scene, because that had reference to the Lord Jesus Christ, the resurrection. No leaven there in Leaven streets of evil. When it comes to the two loaves, there is leaven. They call it there's leaven in the church. When a group of believers meet together to remember the Lord Jesus Christ in Christ, there is no leaven. And in our new nature, there is no leaven. But we still have the only the leaven is there, and it will erupt if they get to the opportunity. But here are the remarkable truths of the Word of God. When we come together, we come together as those in Christ, only the Spirit of God through the new life can engage in work. These are lovely truths, and I trust will all benefit from them. Now I must enter the upper room. how the Spirit of God came down and baptized those hundred and twenty churches. It makes you wonder what kind of an experience it was. It came down like clothing and tongues. I remember a preacher one time he said he was arguing with a man who differed about this subject of baptism of the Holy Spirit. And he was trying to say that He didn't see how they could be baptized in the upper room into one body. Well, this brother I'm talking about or thinking about, he said, well, now, suppose when we convert that to water, a hundred and twenty men and women in one room, and it says the Holy Spirit came and the room was filled. Now, he said, if that room was full of lips or water, would those people do that? It was in little water. The place was filled with the Holy Spirit, and in some miraculous way, just like when God breathed into that form of dust, the breath of life, a man became a living soul. So the Spirit of God on the day of Pentecost came down to a hundred and twenty people, and breathed upon them, and they became an organism. Just like Adam became an organism, the most, the best of God was dreamed into his life. So on the day of Pentecost, here you have the first organization or organism relative to the church. The Spirit of God did it. He merged all those people into one unit to function together as a living organism. The same light that's in the head is in every member of that body. So these are some of the wonders of God's word relative to the baptism of the Holy Spirit. There are three things that you'll find in your body, and that is prophetic forecast of an event. It's in the actual historic event itself. And then the doctrine relative to that event. For instance, in the Old Testament, We read about Christ coming, prophesying of his death like a twenty-second song. Prophecy telling us of the coming of Christ and the death of Christ, the sacrifice of Christ. That event predicted, prophesied. But then the history, history of that event, the historic application of that. It is actually when the Lord Jesus died on the cross, he was buried, he was raised again. That's a historical account. But then what about the doctrine? We have today the doctrine that we have to go by. The doctrine of the death, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have the doctrine. It's not prophecy to us now. Prophecy is something that was predicted. We know it happened because historical events justified. But now we go by the doctrine. of the death, peril, and resurrection of Christ, we go by the doctrine of Pentecost. And what is that doctrine? And where is that doctrine? Just one verse gives us the doctrine of Pentecost, and that verse thirteen of chapter three. This is the doctrine that God wanted for perpetuates for his people. Verse thirteen, for by one spirit, are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one spirit. There's the gospel of Pentecost. You have the prophetic forecast of it, by John, the Baptist, and by the Lord himself. Then the historical event... when Jesus Christ went through the experience of death, burial, resurrection. Both of those are passed. The historical event of one baptism, one Pentateuch, now we have the doctrine. And the doctrine is supported by prophecy and by historic events. Today the doctrine of Pentateuch is embraced in that one verse. All members. baptized into one body. All of this. By one spirit are we all? He's talking about Christians. We're all baptized into one body. Whether we be Jew, Gentile, Gentile, born, wealthy, man or woman. Brother said one time, he was notified that a Jewish Christian was coming and he'd like to have a meeting. So he got it with word got around among Christians, and they arranged a meeting for this brother. So he came, and it was the responsibility of the brother I'm referring to to get up and introduce this Jewish Christian. So he introduced to me, said, friends, I'm glad to present to you our dear Hebrew brother, our dear Hebrew sister. Nothing was said, but on the way home, the Hebrew brother and this creatures were riding together, the old people chisking as he was about, put his hand on his knee and he says, Brother, I'm not a people chisking, I'm in the body. There's neither Jew, no Greek, there's neither bond, nor three. We're all one in Christ. Don't make a difference between the Jew and the giant cows. Christ broke down that middle wall of position between us. are made of the praise of one new man. And how see that is. So here we have the truth, the doctrine of Pentecost, when the Spirit came down and all were baptized into one body. When you start to think of the truth of the body, how wonderful it is. If anything, I am amazed at and thrilled over, is to see a good athlete. I think all of us remember the Olympics not too long ago, and there was one young girl, and she was termed by those who are skilled in athletics and the human body, body, and fidelity. She was termed five times to be perfect, one hundred, one hundred, one hundred. Not ninety-nine, one hundred. And she was referred to as a machine. I don't know how many times that was played back. And to see that German that you saw, I thought several times on the news. It was just like a machine. And her body had been so trained. She had so disciplined her body. But it was just like a machine. It didn't make a mistake. just like a little machine, a watch, or some other machine. Every little heel and skin, that little spring, and everything in its place, doing its job, learning it with its feet, not a machine. A human organism, and it's just like a machine, with great precision. That's the way she went about it. Apparently you decided to get me to get on there and do what that girl did. I'd have had a broken neck and a broken leg and a broken arm, and I don't know what else I'd have had. Because there's more legs and arms flying around that auditorium where there he is. My body couldn't take it. But there's that girl's decency. That body was trained. It was disciplined. And you know this. If you're going to be used as the Lord, you've got to be trained disciplined seriously. remember in that one organist. Sometimes it only takes one small member to have set the balance of a wonderful organist. Another one of my flappy drives will have taken. Walking down flappy drives the other day thinking about this, I thought of this indeed. And I was from Winston-Salem forty years ago. All you could hear of Winston-Salem, because Winston-Salem twins were one of the fine subs of the familiar times. Pasted all over were the Dean brothers. Yes, that's the first time I heard of this news. Well, over the years I've heard about him. But at one of the All-Star games a few years ago, he was sitting in a certain fold. And it will number right six by a line dry. Lizzie Dean was never the same match. He lost his balance, and he stayed the game. That's strange and grunted truth on that bond. Wonderful athlete. He lost his balance. He was never the same again. Yes, we can lose our balance. an assembly camp by one small member that got injured out of place. It's not functioning like that. And so every member is important. God wants us to remember this remarkable fact. How an assembly is to function. All subject to the head. You can't do it unless you're subject to the head. God's not sending down contradictory messages to the church. Lord Jesus, the head of the church, is not telling some people, you can get baptized by immersion. You can't. You can't get baptized by addiction or spiritual. That's all right. He doesn't tell one member you can believe in being saved internally, and another one you can believe in being saved and lost again and saved again. He doesn't send down those contradictions. He sends the same message to every member. Some people haven't got the message yet because they haven't read the body and studied it. The only way you're going to get the message that the brain has for the body is to study this book. That's the only way you're going to get the message. And that's what he wants the body to do, to study and see what this Bible says. has to say about the organism known as the church, that wonderful organism. He takes on a Sunday morning, and I say this with pride, when you can sit in a worship meeting that's not planned or prearranged, and one brother contributes to him, another brother contributes a passage of scripture, another brother gets up and goes, and there's something that connects to who he is. That's the head of work. That's the head of work. Telling this brother to do this, telling that brother to that. There's the unity of the head and the body, don't you? Here, four times in my life, like I remember in two occasions, a sister said, you know, I was sitting there, oh, she said there was a hymn, and it was just burgeoning my heart, and I just longed for that hymn to be given up. But I knew it wasn't my place. He said, but I just took my, I said, Lord, leave one brother, give up. That is, he said, he'll give right up and give it up. There is the signal from the head. And this is what an assembly is. When a group can come together and be subject to the head, it's a wonderful thing to see an assembly not one, to not be raised as the spirit is. These are wonderful things. I thought, You'll appreciate these. You'll notice that word set is used twice in verse eighteen and verse twenty eight. He has set these members in the body. Verse eighteen, but now have God set the members, every one of them in the body as it has pleased him. Not as it pleases me. Maybe I think I'd function better than another place. Or in another position of God. Maybe I'm not satisfied with the gifts God gave me. I might have a gift like so and so. No, I haven't got one ounce of envy or jealousy in my body. I can say that before God. I'm so happy that God saved a poor sinner like me and sent me out to preach the gospel. I get a kick out of faith in me. A fifth! I wouldn't be any other brother I have a chance. I'm so happy I'm doing what I'm doing. But have the good with you. I shouldn't have been saved at all. But to think that God should have saved me and put me in my little mouth. That's what I want. You. He set me in that proper place. Don't be disappointed and dissatisfied with your position. If God put me there, view the exercise and you'll develop your gifts. God wants us, Paul said, the gift of God that is in us. In other words, develop what you've got. So you start again. And you take these up, Lord willing, in the meetings ahead. I want to leave this one text to you. It's in Ephesians four and fifty. But seeking the truth in love, may go up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole building, body, triply joined together and compacted by that with every joint supplier, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, making increase of the body under the edifying of itself in love. You would think he was talking about a precision machine. Not remarkable. From whom the whole body shippily joined together and compacted by that with every joint. I tell you a lot of human beings are not going to join them, a lot of trouble. They're going to rage. They're going to. They've got arthritis in the joint, a crippling disease. My strength, every joint is supplying something, not groan, supplying energy. This is what he's talking about. Every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, making increase of the body under the edifying of itself. And I got a little joint here, but I got a big joint in my knee and in my hip. It's a little joint for me that this is well as a big one. It's everyone doing his part. We're not going to get into something that is a nice job, indeed. Show the difference in the baptism of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost when the church came into existence. And seven scriptures that refer to the individual being filled with the Holy Spirit. The baptism of the Holy Spirit took place once. at Pentecost. After that, there were many fillings, and today the Cincinnati fill will be, but the baptism took place once, as we mentioned before, when this country was born two hundred years ago, and there the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution, it united these nations, thirteen states, the first, and ever since then, millions of people, have become American. He didn't have to go through all the drawing up of the Constitution as he did two hundred years ago. It was drawn up then. Takes you a political part. The other day you have this relationship. Well, a lot of them Democrats. I don't know when they started the Democrats and how their first platform was. People call themselves Democrats. That's their body politics. That's an organization. And in some respects, you can see an organism too. This last one worked very smoothly. And this country had one birthday. The church had one birthday. That was Pentecost. And the political party had a birthday. The other day, since that election, one man has got the attention. All people are thinking about that one man. what are you going to do? Many are praising us, many are civilitaries. Remember, many a man and many a woman are two of us, unknown to us, unintelligent to us, with him behind that curtain and past his voice. He elects me to get no more recognition now than he did before, but his man got in. He may be just as pure, unnoticed. Friend, it's nice to know that our man got in the Lord Jesus Christ. You may be poor, uneducated, unnoticed, but I'll tell you one thing, the Lord Jesus Christ knows you. He knows you're a member of his body, and there's no change in the head every four years. This head of this body I'm talking about, that head's been there for two thousand years, and he'll be our head forever. And you're just as important to him as the largest member he's got. You're just as important to the head. Every American who voted me, that would be very much important to the next church in the United States. In reference to the Lord Jesus Christ, every member of his body caught him in the flood. And that's the only time in my life I ever voted. when I was nineteen. I voted for the man Christ Jesus, and he's still in office. He's going to be in office forever. I cast the right ballot in that. He are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones, and he made it more empty. This is a sheltered bond, and husband and wife, father and child, for king and servant, because this bond is so good, If you take off the head from the body of God's death, that can never happen to a child of God. We'll end that place this day. You've got a spot to use. Find that, be exercised about it, and use that use for the end of the case of all those locally and those of God. Shall we pray? Our Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, You can enter thy presence here as thy blessing upon thy word. Be thanked thee for these truths, hidden in thy words, because they'll be of health to us. For a mine of wealth we have in this history. May you know what it is to study this precious book. It will yield its store with riches to all be good. Let thy words each one take our thanks again together in the Savior's name. Grocerra.