Amen, take your word of copy of the Word of God and turn with me to Psalm 133. Good to be here today. Good to see each one. I'm thankful for this opportunity to share from the Word of God with you this morning. Of course, Brother Jeff is in Choctaw this morning at the church plant preaching there, so let's pray for him. Well, you all stocked up on bread and milk, right? You never drink milk, you never eat bread, but now you have it, right? Amen. We'll see what the Lord has in store for us this afternoon and through the evening about this snow business. Amen. How many of you love the snow and want it to snow? Wow. How many of you, no, we do not want it to snow? Okay. Well, you lost. Amen. I desire to preach this morning on the topic, the place of commanded blessing. The place of commanded blessing. There is a place where the Lord will command a blessing. He will command that there be a blessing on that place or in that place. We're all trekking on our way to glory. And in that place, when we get there, it will be the true place of continual blessing and life forevermore. What a day. But on our way, there's a place that we can abide. There's a place that we can dwell, that the Lord will pour out blessings. Yea, He will command that there be a blessing in that place. Now, I want to live there. This place is a place of love, peace, harmony, joy, exceeding gladness, even when we're surrounded by that which is the opposite. Now, Pastor Danny, last week, preached to us about things we need to do in 2024. What a message it was. He told us from Psalm 37 that we must not fret. He told us to trust in the Lord. This drawing from the passage there. To delight in the Lord. To commit our ways unto the Lord. He told us from the text that we are rest in the Lord in 2024. We receive some great encouragement and promises that He relayed to us from the psalm. And if you remember, it was in the context of evil men seeming to be winning the day. That evil men were triumphing. Evil men were plotting their schemes against the Lord. And it seems like that, They're going to take advantage, they're going to win. But in the text there, you remember what it said? It said the Lord laughs at their schemes. And in fact, the Lord is even using all of that which they're doing to work out his great purposes for all of the ages. So while they think they're working against They're actually doing all that needs to be done for God's plans to come to pass. So, as we encounter this, as it's going on all around us, is there a place of solace? Is there a place of retreat? that will bring us needed fever, needed zeal, needed energy to keep us keeping on in our walk as children of the Most High God. I want to take you to this place, or at least describe it, so that we can cause this place to be in our midst. And in fact, it can only be in our midst as by His grace and blessing, He brings it about. I believe to a great extent we have this. But we can increase it. We can advance it. We can endeavor to keep it. So okay, that which I'm speaking of is what we're going to see from the text in Psalm 133. And it's a place of unity. A place of unity. Do you see it there? It says, Behold, how good and how pleasant it is. for brethren to dwell together, where? In unity. It's like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard that went down to the skirts of his garments. As the dew of Hermon. And as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion. And here it is. For there, the Lord commanded the blessing. Even life. Forevermore. We really don't know the context from which David is writing this particular song. There's some speculation. Some believe that it was after he had become king, after a time when things were at peace and things were at ease, that he looked and he saw that this is something remarkable, that there's no strife. There's no turmoil that we can see. There's no activity of war. There's no unrest. This is unity. But from the Scripture, God has given us something. He's telling us about this place called unity. Now, I know some churches that their name is Unity Baptist Church, Unity Blank Church, Unity this and so in their name is unity but I've discovered that a lot of times they're a split out of another church. I tried to find the author of this quote. I think I've probably used it before. I couldn't find out who it is attributed to, so we'll just say it's attributed to Mr. Unknown. And he said this, to dwell above with those we love, well, that will be a glory. But to dwell below with those we know, well, that's a different story. There seems to be a hindrance down here to unity. And the reason for that rub, for that disunity, is opinions, right? Preferences. As long as we're in this flesh, we're going to encounter differences. We're going to have disagreements. But can something be done down here that can bring about an atmosphere like up there. I believe Psalm 133 holds the key for us. Notice again that last part. For there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore. Where is there? There is in this place called unity. That's the context of which he's speaking and talking about. It is a place to dwell, where brothers dwell together. Then following there are the descriptions of what unity is like. He said, it is like. So, let's take and break this up and look at a few things. First of all, unity is a place to dwell, unity is something to behold, and unity is like. And we'll see that, and then we'll follow up with what are the signs of unity, what hinders unity, and then what advances unity. So, unity is a place to dwell. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. A place to dwell. What is that? It means to inhabit. It means to sit. It means to abide. It means to remain. To tarry. It's a place where we can be. It's a place where we can be. It's a place to dwell. But see how it started out. He says. Behold. What's that mean? Take a look at this, right? Look. Look at this. This is something to gaze upon. This is something to take a minute, take a few minutes, take an hour, meditate upon this. It's good and it's pleasant. It's not just good, and it's not just pleasant, but it's good and pleasant. He uses these two words to emphasize that this is a place. Look! Look! How good! And how pleasant it is! for us to dwell together in unity. Then he describes what it's like in two illustrations. One, it's like precious ointment. Now, it's not just the ointment, but it's the ointment that is on the head. And not just on the head, but running down the head. Even down the beard, Aaron's beard. Even to his garments. So, this anointing, this ointment, where we see in the Bible so many times, is described as where the Spirit is. The anointing of the Spirit. Where the Spirit comes down. It's where the Spirit of the Lord is. It's a beautiful thought to think of the Spirit that flows upon us as we dwell together in unity. Another thing that the ointment would render would be a fragrance, an aroma, a smell that would fill the air. What a sweet aroma when we are together in unity. when we are abiding, resting, sitting in unity together. There's an aroma that we sense, but there's also an aroma that arises to the Father. And He smells the unity. And He commands the blessing. Here's mentioned Aaron. As when he was anointed as priest, the oil was poured on his head and it ran down the beard to the garment. It is a full and true anointing. To have the full and true presence of the Spirit, there must be unity. And there is the illustration in a similar way of the dew. So the dew that comes upon the mountains of Israel is a picture of the grace of God flowing down upon the people unified in the Spirit of God. Notice that both the pouring of the oil and the falling of the dew come from above, right? Unity is a heaven-wrought commodity. It is the dew of the mountains that water and nourish the ground on and around the mountains that cause, what? Growth. Fruit to bear. Much fruit can be produced in the dwelling place of unity. I want my family in this place. Right? I want my children, I want my grandchildren in this place. Hey, let's invite our neighbors to this place called unity. May it be here in greater depths at Grace Bible Church. Amen? Let it ever so be more. So, let us now look at what are the signs of Spirit-wrought unity. What are some signs? We'll see what hinders it and then what advances it. What are the signs? First and foremost, love. Love. Love. Is this not the greatest commandment? That we should love the Lord our God with all our hearts. with all our soul, with all our strength, with all of our might. It is love. Then what's the second? Love your neighbor as yourself. To love one another. We could have a lot of good things. We could do a lot of good things. But without love undergirding and carrying it along, what is it? What is it? It's nothing. It's a sounding brass and a tingling cymbal. Love must be the force that's pushing us. And it's the love of God that abides within us. John Owen says, I do verily believe that God shall accomplish unity. It will be the effect of love and not the cause of it. It will proceed from love before it brings forth love. He's saying that love causes unity, not the opposite. Unity doesn't cause love. Love causes unity. Do you see that? Love It's where unity is. What else do we see in this place called unity? Follow and listen. Joy. Joy. Peace. Don't you like peace? When things are peaceful, when things are at rest. Long suffering. Kindness. Kindness. Faithfulness. Gentleness. self-control. What did I just give you? What's there? The fruit of the Spirit. It's the fruit of the Spirit. These are the signs of unity and they are vibrant. and growing in the place of unity. Because there the Lord commands the blessing. For there the Spirit of the Lord is being poured out. For there the Spirit of the Lord is active within us. And we're bearing these fruit. Brotherly love, communion, koinonia, fellowship, forgiveness, and so much more that we can see surrounds, abides, is in this place called unity. And all these things as well advance unity. But before we look at what advances it, let's see what hinders it. Now this is kind of easy here, right? We know what hinders unity. The bitterness. Isn't bitterness the poison that we drink, hoping it'll affect others? Something like that? Gossip. Gossip. We don't know what that is, do we? Gossip. Unforgiveness. Being disgruntled. cantankerous. That hinders unity. Some people thrive on being cantankerous. Now there's a cantankerous that's fun and joy, you know, jolly, you know, people can be cantankerous and it'd be fun. But some people are cantankerous just because they're mean, right? Always negative. always disgruntled, always finding the worst in everything. My question to that person would be, are you even Christian? Right? Where's the joy of the Lord? Where's the fruit of the Spirit in your life? You're so negative. fault-finding, elevating my desires and secondary issues and making them primary, always speaking negative about whatever's happening, or about so-and-so, or about this and about that. Just, ugh! Stop! We can all be tempted at times to, huh, right? to enter in some of this sometimes. Let it not be so, brothers and sisters. We must be villagent, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. So, what advances? Now, this is where we want to get. What advances spirit, raw unity? What can press it on? What can cause it to happen? What are the things that advance spirit, raw unity? Let's turn a few, let's chase some scripture, okay? Turn with me first to Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians 4. What advances spirit-wrought unity? Ephesians 4, verses 1 through 3. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called. Walk worthy to your calling. With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, for bearing one another in love. That will advance unity. Endeavoring. It's endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. So walk worthy of your calling with lowliness, humility, meekness, with longsuffering, long-suffering and forbearing one another in love. What is forbearing one another? It's like this, but putting up with one another. You know there's some people you just have to put up with? Or some people that you just put up with? Maybe, I know not in a church, I'm not talking about in a church. I'm talking about out in the workforce, you know? out there in the world. There's just some of those people that you have to put up with. But what was the, what was the addition there? In love. In love. That's the way we do it in here. Forbearing one another in love. Yeah? Maybe, maybe, maybe they're the sandpaper in my life. maybe there's some rough spots that they need to get off of me, right? You ever thought about it that way? Okay, maybe what I'm seeing in that person is actually something that's in me that I need to deal with, right? That ever been true for you? Are therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another and endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bondage." What does that sound like? Sounds like work, don't it? Sounds like work, something we must be active in, something we must toil in, something we must engage in, that we must do our part in, in keeping the unity intact, keeping it advancing, keeping it growing. Let's dwell in unity together. Now, I love this next point. Turn with me to John 17. John 17. So, what advances spirit-raw unity? That we are working, that we are engaged in doing these things. Walking worthy of our calling. Loving one another. Forbearing one another. Being humble, meek. Forbearing one another in love. Now in John 17, What advances spirit-wrought unity? Listen. Knowing that Jesus Himself prayed for us to have it. That Jesus prayed for us that we would have unity. That's powerful. Look at John 17, 20. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word, that they all may be one. That's unity. 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's big. And the glory which You gave Me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as We are one. That they may be made perfect, complete in one. And that the world may know that you have sent me. And you have loved them as you have loved me. So we see what advances unity is this work that we put into it. but then knowing, resting in the fact that Jesus prayed it for us. Do you see what happens when we are unified? When we are unified in here, something happens out there. Did you catch that in his prayer? Therefore, if this is not in here, they're not going to know that. The world is not going to know that there is a Savior The world is not going to know the gospel if we do not dwell together in unity. It hinders it. Oh, the damage. Oh, the chaos that has been caused by churches who did not dwell together in unity. Devastating are the effects of bad churches with bad pastors and bad people. Woe unto them! That is spoken from experience. Because I was the bad pastor. Listen to this. Francis Schaeffer on this particular text writes this. In John 13, the point was that if an individual Christian does not show love toward other Christians, the world has a right to judge that they are not a Christian. Here in John 17, 21, Jesus is stating something else which is much more cutting, much more profound. We cannot expect the world to believe that the Father sent the Son, that Jesus' claims are true, and that Christianity is true, unless the world sees some reality of the oneness of true Christians. There is so much riding on this. What advances spirit-wrought unity? Ephesians 4, 1-3. Endeavoring to keep the unity of the faith. Knowing, believing, realizing, trusting in the fact that Jesus prayed it for us. Edifying one another. Romans 14, 19. Let us follow after the things which make for peace. The things which with one may edify another. Seeing the best in others. Bearing with and forbearing one another. We pointed that out in Ephesians. It's also in Colossians 3. The similar thing. Let's look at that. Colossians. Colossians 3.13 Colossians 3.13 Forbearing one another, forgiving one another, if any have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do you. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God Rule in your hearts, to the which also you were called in one body, and be thankful." Be a peaceable person. James 3. James 3. Let's turn over there. What advances unity? Endeavoring to keep the unity. Knowing that Jesus prayed the very thing for us. Edifying one another. Bearing with and forgiving one another. Putting on love. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts. Be a peaceable person. Pray for wisdom. James 3, 17. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits without partiality, without hypocrisy. But the fruit of righteous. Is sown in peace of them that make peace. Don't you like peacemakers? You got any peacemakers in your life? I mean, you go to them with a problem and they just need somehow seem to speak peace over the whole situation. I mean, you're all bent out of shape. You're about to come unglued and they start speaking. And it's like just speaking truth, just speaking the word to you. And it ministers to your soul and it helps you and it grows you. You know, there's some people I'm looking at one right now, can be laying up in the hospital and you go to the hospital to cheer her up and the opposite happens. You know, you're supposed to be there to cheer up Miss Leona and all of a sudden she's praising the Lord and she's, woo, we're having a revival. I mean, my goodness. Be a peaceable person. When we set aside our petty and sometimes important differences to us, but not worth breaking unity over, there are some things, we can set that aside, right? I mean, it may be a big deal to me, but in the grand scheme of things, it's just a secondary issue. It's just my preference. And I can set that aside so that we can be in unity and we can fellowship. There are some things we cannot budge on, right? The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The fundamentals of the faith we cannot waver on. But it is these fundamentals of the glorious Gospel that does what? That brings us together. It's the truth that brings us together. And it's this truth and these fundamentals and the gospel that we are not going to set aside so that we can get along with other people or with one another. J.C. Ryle, Danny, J.C. Ryle said, unity without the gospel is worthless unity. It is the very unity of hell. Wow. The Spirit leads into all truth. The Spirit leads us into truth. And it's the Spirit that's unifying us. And as we come together in unity and faith and are willing to forgive and love and let our secondary issues take their place and remain secondary, we can dwell below with those we know. And it be sweet. This great unity, as God gives His grace to unite us, as He gives and leads us by His Spirit, let us endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of priests. Why? Ultimately, why? Because Christ is worthy. He's worthy. He's worthy. There may be some here this morning that are on the outside of unity. You're not in this place. You don't know of this place. Because things aren't the way you want them to be. He didn't even shake my hand this morning. I can assure you that No one here is going to intentionally try to be disrespectful or be crude or rude toward you. Now, someone may pass you without saying something, but it may be because they're oblivious. No one's intentionally doing anything to harm you. So you could be outside of unity because you're just not right with a brother or sister. You can get that right, right? You can work through that. You could be outside of unity because you're not right with God. You just got a sin you need to confess. There's something going on. Or you could be outside of unity because you're not converted. You're not born again. You're not a child of God. If you're always at odds with others, always at odds with everything, you are at odds with God. Are you bearing fruit? that is conducive to repentance? Are you repenting? It is only Christ who unifies us. That which He prayed in John 17, He is the focus of our unity. He is the causer of our unity. And as we come together in Him, we can be unified one with another. Let me give you some finishing thoughts. Unity, as we've seen here in the text, unity is like the anointing oil. It consecrates us, sets us apart for holy service. It sets us apart from the world. The world doesn't have what we have when we're unified before the Lord. He comes and commands the blessing in this place. The world may have a form of unity, they may have a form of love, but they don't have true love. They don't have true unity. It's like the dew. It moistens the soil of our hearts, makes them ready to receive the good seed. Here the Lord commands the blessing. We grow in the grace and the knowledge of Him. It is a place from which springs well up. and flows the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in that place, there will be blessings and life forevermore. Do you see what I'm saying? Do you see what the Lord is saying to us this morning? That as we are unified together, we come in. We see it every Sunday. We'll see it after this service. I don't know if it's snowing yet or not. Even though the snow is coming, Somebody will have to run some of you out of here. Because you want to stay in fellowship and commune together. That is healthy. That is unity. And so, we have that in so many ways. So let's encourage it among us as brothers and sisters in Christ. You see, because when the world hears of that, When your friends and your neighbors hear of that, when they come in here and they sense that, they experience that, they feel that, that's doing something to the soil of their heart. So when the Word is sung, the Word is prayed, the Word is read, the Word is preached, the Lord can command a blessing. And what is the blessing? Even life forevermore. Souls being saved. Lives being changed. Let's pray. Father, help us to endeavor, to strive, yea, to fight to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Father, Your Son is worthy. Christ is worthy of us not making it about ourselves, our point, our opinion, but that we say yes to You, O Lord. Help us evermore press into and onward in the unity of the Spirit. All for Your glory. All for the glory of Christ. And in while doing, the Lamb is receiving the reward of His suffering. In His name we pray.