Unified in Belief

Take your Bibles if you would please and turn to the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 3 is where we're at today and as just a little bit of a ramp to build up to the text I would like to reiterate some of the themes from the book of Ephesians to help us to really have a place to put today's truth in. In Ephesians chapters 1 through 3 they're really building up to what we have now in faith. Chapters 1 through 3 are going to help us to understand thematically or theologically how to understand what we believe, and now we're going to live out through behaviors. So in chapter 4 verses 1 through 3 you have almost a reiteration on how to live these truths out.

Read with me the first three verses in chapter 4 and we will review last Sunday's message briefly. "Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called with all humility and gentleness and patience and showing tolerance for one another in love." And so Paul is a prisoner of the Lord like Jeremiah was a prisoner of the Lord as is attested in Jeremiah chapter 32 and 37. He was imprisoned for being a proclaimer of the truth and Paul said, have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? And the same with John the Baptist. He was imprisoned for telling the truth. He said to King Herod it's not right for you to do what you're doing relationally and so he was imprisoned and beheaded. But nevertheless Paul here is pleading with the church. I'm a prisoner of the Lord and like with the Corinthian church and like with Timothy you say do not be ashamed of my chains.

And so when we are persecuted because of Christ Jesus — in His first sermon, get this — one of the first lessons that He believes to be is that blessed are ye when you're persecuted for what? My name's sake. When you are identified with Christ as a Christian and you are persecuted because of that you're blessed. And not only that you're in the same lineup as Jesus's disciples, the faithful disciples. You're in the same lineup as Christendom through the centuries. You're in the same lineup of the prophets and you're in the same lineup as the reformers, the ones who kept the pureness of the gospel going through the ages through the Protestant Reformation.

We know America needs another Reformation. We need the gospel. We need revival to permeate our country. Where are the George Whitefields going up and down the East Coast preaching the gospel? Where are the Jonathan Edwardses who are proclaiming sound doctrine? They're out there and may they continue to preach God's Word and articulate what the truth of the Bible really is. And in doing so perhaps God would revive this country. But if it is not God's will, are you going to be okay with that? What if it's God's will for this country to continue to get worse and worse and get to the point to where it persecutes Christians as a means to spread the gospel and make disciples? We know that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. And so oftentimes through Christian persecution like Paul here imprisoned because of his willingness to share the truth of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ dying on the cross and being resurrected for those of you who would repent and believe the gospel.

So Paul's a prisoner of the Lord. He's not just a prisoner of Rome. He's a prisoner of Christ. He is captivated by Christ. He's chained to Christ. He is a prisoner. He is within God's grasp. He is not outside of God's will. Something is not happening to him that was not planned by God. This imprisonment was planned by God as a means for all of what Paul accomplished — or God accomplished through Paul in prison — to happen. Look at what has happened because of this particular imprisonment. You have all of what's called the prison epistles. We would not have a majority of the New Testament had Paul not gone through this season of being set aside, persecuted, and having time to write. So the Holy Spirit of God penned the prison epistles through this tragic season but God worked terrifically through it.

And so therefore I, a prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of your calling — that is the calling to come to Christ — with which you have been called. Now here's how you walk: in humility, with gentleness, and with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. That is how you preserve the unity in your marriage, in your family, in your house, and in your church family. You act humbly and you are gentle and you are patient and you're very willing to work with one another. You're forbearing, you're tolerant with one another, the Bible says. It kind of sounds like the fruits of the Holy Spirit, doesn't it? And so a byproduct of being faithful to Christ is being filled with God, being filled with His Holy Spirit, and from the overflow of that you have the fruits of the Holy Spirit. You're acting in love and joy, you're peaceable and you're patient and you're gentle and you're kind and you're self-controlled, and that preserves the unity.

And now as we get to verse 4, Ephesians chapter 4 verse 4: "There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God who is over all and through all and in all." The title for today's message is "Unified in Belief." All of these beliefs that I've just mentioned are what we are unified in. Last week were the behaviors of those who would preserve the unity. Today are the beliefs which keep us unified. Verses 4 through 6 are the beliefs, verses 1 through 3 are the behaviors, and so thus far the foundational themes to build our foundation of faith have been in chapter 1, chapter 2, and chapter 3.

We are now at the halfway point of the book of Ephesians, and so the first half of Ephesians is doctrinal. We've been learning what we believe. The last half is practical — how to actually practice what we believe. And so in chapter 1, the theme of that is salvation. God is sovereign in salvation. Chapter 2 is union in Christ. Chapter 3 is intercessory prayer. Chapter 4 is preserving unity. Chapter 5 is pleasing God, and chapter 6 will be standing firm.

If you have your sermon notes on the back of your bulletin today, you'll see some building blocks there, and there are six blocks, and that is a visual image that you could have for the entire book of Ephesians. The first three chapters are doctrinal, and that helps to set a foundation of our faith, and if you would like to fill those blocks in, if you have a bulletin, you can simply write in salvation in the bottom left-hand corner. In the bottom left-hand corner on the back of your bulletin, those building blocks there in a pyramid style — the foundational blocks in the very bottom represent the first three chapters in the book of Ephesians.

Chapter 1: salvation. Chapter 2: union. The key word would be union. Your union with Christ. Those who have been saved by God's grace are now in union with Christ. Chapter 2 explains what it is for both the Jews and the Gentiles to have been saved by God's sovereign grace — those who have repented and believed in the gospel, those who have repented of their sin, turned from sin, confessed and believed in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ on behalf of the payment for their sin. Now they are unified with Christ. Christ is in you as the hope of glory. So chapter 2 is union. Chapter 3 would be prayer. Paul pauses to pray for the Ephesian church to be able to live out and comprehend what he has just established in chapter 2. And so as he gives us what it is to be saved and to be united with Christ, he prays for that dear congregation to understand those two. Those two concepts are huge.

Now based upon that theology or that system of beliefs, he builds upon that, and if you would like to fill in the next two building blocks, unity would be chapter 4. Unity, preserving unity, which is where we're at now. And we are not only learning what it is to believe in biblical doctrines and how to live that out in union with Christ, but as a byproduct of these foundational establishments, we now act in this way and it preserves the unity of the church. And so chapter 4 is about preserving unity.

Chapter 5 would be about pleasing God. I can't wait to get to chapter 5. In chapter 5 verse 10, it says, "Trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord." Isn't that what we're doing? I mean, every single time we open the Bible, I'm just trying to learn. Trying to learn more about God. I want to know Him more. And by doing that, we're trying to learn about who He is and that is pleasing unto Him and that we live that out. And that is so pleasing to the Lord.

And if you want to cap it off with chapter 6, the summation of what do we do with all of this? You stand. Standing firm is chapter 6. Standing firm. How do you do that? Most people know chapter 6 in Ephesians as the armor of God and it starts in verse 10. And we're going to get there. Maybe next year, but we're going to get there. And as we continue to go verse by verse by verse through this great epistle, we're going to see what it is now to take all of this information and to stand firm in our faith. Standing firm against the devil. Chapter 6 verse 11.

And so think of Ephesians thematically, chapter by chapter, with this visual image — which is again: chapter 1 salvation, chapter 2 union, chapter 3 prayer, chapter 4 unity, chapter 5 pleasing God, chapter 6 standing firm.

Now in chapter 4 in Ephesians, Paul is not only explaining, but he is expecting Christians to live out their calling unto salvation by preserving the unity in verse 3. I'll read it again: "Being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit." How important is this? Well, Jesus in the book of John talks about the unity within the Trinity is what we should be displaying as a church. It is a good reason to come to church. A good reason to come to church is to preserve the unity in the church. You see, you matter, especially when you would see perhaps one of the sheep falling away. You can see the drift and go over there and love them back into the center of Christ as well. You matter. To preserve the unity of the church, it matters that you are here. So if there is perhaps a little schism or a little disagreement, you can aid in that. And the Holy Spirit working through you to preserve the unity of the church — being a mediator, one who can help to unify — humbly work with one another. And as we do this, it preserves the unity of the church.

You matter. Every soul matters, especially when it comes to worshiping God together. And when we are in the Bible study and the Bible is being taught, we refine one another. We add more wood to the fire. We brighten what is being portrayed, the truth of the Scriptures. And so we should be preserving unity by our relational characteristics that we learned last week in the text — that of humility and gentleness and patience and tolerance. Those who are most mature in their faith demonstrate this the greatest.

It is easy to do the opposite of these. It's easy not to be humble, but to be prideful. It's easy to be rough and not gentle. It's easy not to be patient, and it's easy to be intolerant. But it is a disciplined characteristic of true born-again believers who deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Christ and live out humble lives with patience and gentleness. It's more difficult to be disciplined. That's the reason why discipline is in there. In 1 Timothy 4:7, it says, "Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness." And those who are the most godly display these attributes the best, and that preserves unity.

So unity is a huge theme in the book of Ephesians. We're not only united to Christ, as chapter 2 establishes, but we are in unity with the church. We're in unity with one another. And the illustration that is used for this wonderful sense of unity between you and Christ is you and your spouse. Isn't that beautiful? So marriage is a huge illustration of how we are to be unified with our spouse and then united as a family. Ephesians chapter 6 will get to how we are united as an immediate family, like as in your own household. Children obeying their parents and parents teaching their children. That brings unity in Christ. When we have a standard to live by — that being the Word of God — you are unified in that.

And we all kind of go astray once in a while. We have wild ideas, we want to do this or do that. And our wives bring us back into account with the Word of God. And sometimes we get a little bit astray on this side or this side, and sometimes even our children remind us of what we should do. I'm surprised at how well my daughter knows traffic laws and reminds me regularly on how not to break them. And I have to remind myself all the time, it's never right to do wrong. Don't make that illegal U-turn. It's never right to do wrong. Aren't we all conforming to Christ? I mean, we're growing. We need to have mercy and love and walk in humility and obey the traffic laws the best that we can.

Chapter 4 verse 4 starts the list of these emphatic theological statements that preserve unity in the church. One body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God. These are emphatic, non-negotiables. So point number one, I want you to see this in the text. Unity in the Trinity. This is incredible when you see it. Within what Paul is taking a shotgun approach here — bang, bang, bang, bang, bang — I mean he's just firing off these truths and he lays them down. And the whole Bible speaks to these solid foundational, non-negotiable truths.

There is one body, the church universal. There is one Holy Spirit. There is one hope in Christ. There's one Lord Jesus Christ. There's one faith, one set of beliefs. There's one baptism when you were saved and there's one God. When he sets these down, he now expects us to be unified in that, but within these you see the doctrine of the Trinity. Let's look in chapter 4 verses 4 to 6 and I want to read it to you as you listen with a keen ear for the representation of the Trinity. Chapter 4 verse 4: "There is one body and one Spirit just as also you are called in one hope of your calling and one Lord." That is a direct reference to Jesus Christ. He's Lord of the church. "One faith, one baptism, and then one God and Father."

And so you see the Trinity within the Bible. Who said the Trinity was not in the Bible? Well, the point is in the text. I want to point out the differences in the roles within the Trinity, but also the unity in the Trinity — that's the reason why this is in here. And so the unity and the relationships between Jesus and the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit and Jesus, between the Holy Spirit and the Father and the Father and the Holy Spirit and Christ and the Father and the Father and Christ, the unity — that is the point of having this in the text. And so we are Trinitarian, non-negotiable. It's not something we can veer away from. To be Christian is to be Trinitarian. To be Trinitarian is to be a Christian. To be a Christian we must believe in all three points of the Godhead.

And so we are Trinitarian in salvation. Most importantly, turn to Ephesians chapter 1, and I want to show you how Paul doesn't haphazardly bring up the Trinity here in chapter 4. He's already established a basis for the doctrine of the Trinity. Ephesians chapter 1 verses 3–6 talk about God the Father. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Ephesians 1:3 talks about the Father. Now in verse 7, "In Him we have redemption through His blood." Who's that talking about? Through His blood, Jesus Christ. And so now you have both God the Father and God the Son mentioned in chapter 1. And now in verse 13, chapter 1 verse 13, "In Him you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you are sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise." And so Paul is Trinitarian in salvation. He believes that all three parts of the Godhead are involved in the salvation of a soul.

And so we're Trinitarian in salvation. We believe that all parts of the Trinity are co-equal and co-eternal and completely united. But not only are we Trinitarian in salvation, we are also Trinitarian in regards to our commission. Do you remember that the Great Commission includes all three parts of the Godhead? It does. "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." Matthew 28:19 is very clear. And so we're Trinitarian not only in salvation, but we're also Trinitarian by way of being commissioned. We're commissioned to go and to evangelize and disciple and baptize and teach all that God has commanded. And we baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

But not only that, we're Trinitarian not only in salvation and in commission, but we're also Trinitarian prayer warriors. Look in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 17. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 17 is a wonderful start of a prayer here by the Apostle Paul, the first prayer in Ephesians. In verse 17 it says, "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation and the knowledge of Him." Right in one sentence, Paul expresses a Trinitarian belief in his prayer. I'll read it to you again: "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a Spirit of wisdom and of revelation and knowledge of Him," a direct reference to Jesus. And so we are Trinitarian prayer warriors. This is extremely wonderful and clear.

If it wasn't clear enough, one more point in regards to how we are Trinitarian — not only in belief and how we're saved, not only in commission, and not only as prayer warriors, but also as gospel proclaimers. We are Trinitarian. Chapter 2 verses 17 and 18. See how in proclaiming the gospel, we project the Trinity. Naturally, it's just what the Bible oozes. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Chapter 2 verse 17: "And He came and He preached" — okay, this is preaching publicly — "peace" — which is peace with God, which is salvation — "to you who were far away," being a reference to the Gentiles, "and peace to those who were near," that's being a reference to Israel who were near, "for through Him," that's Jesus, "we both have our access in one Spirit," being the Holy Spirit, "to the Father."

So when we proclaim the gospel, we proclaim the gospel as Trinitarians, uncompromisingly Trinitarian. There are non-Trinitarians out there that reject the biblical doctrine of three in one. There's a lot of them. The false beliefs of non-Trinitarians or anti-Trinitarians are, for example, just a few: oneness Pentecostals, the Latter-day Saints, the Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Scientists, the Church of God, and the prosperity gospel. You cannot be a Trinitarian and achieve what these, perhaps, cults would be achieving. In order to preach and proclaim the prosperity gospel, you've got to unravel a lot of the Scriptures and manipulate the Holy Spirit's role.

In order to get all of this done, you say, "Why would so many — those who would call themselves Christians — be anti-Trinitarian?" The answer I've already said is that you must unravel much of the Bible to be able to achieve your own means. The Bible is unified, and it's complete, and especially in its Trinitarian doctrine, and the achievement or the goal of the Scriptures heads towards a goal. And if you want a different goal, if you want to use the Bible for your own profit, if you want to use the Scriptures for your own means, then you've got to change the goal. And if you change the goal, you have to unravel the plan. And so you have to be anti-Scripture as well. You have to break down the authority of Scripture in order to achieve your own means. And so you have to reject and twist Scripture and then live however you want to live.

And that is just simply a copy and paste from Genesis chapter 3. Satan is not creative. He has this old, old heresy, this old, old scheme that is his game plan. He knows how to wage war against Christians, and he's going to cause doubt in your mind. He's going to twist the Scriptures and convince you to live in sin. And that slow degradation there — falling away from Christ — is his game plan every time, whether it's in a false religion where he doesn't believe in the Trinitarian doctrine, or whether it's just simply embracing all kinds of horrible heresies.

Ephesians chapter 5 verse 10 says, "Learn what is pleasing to the Lord, and do not participate in the deeds of darkness. Instead, expose them. Expose them." One of the greatest strategies in street preaching is simply to throw out something that needs to be exposed, and then give them a scriptural answer. Throw out what needs to be exposed, and give them a scriptural answer. You know, you just throw it out there. Do you believe everybody goes to heaven? Give them the answer. You know, throw out there, do you believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and Jesus? Right? Most people kind of lump all of those mystical figures together if they're agnostic. Throw it out there and then give them a biblical solution.

And so we need to be ones who are not only learning how to please the Lord by way of doctrine, but we need to be able to refute those who contradict it. And I should — forgive me for belaboring a concept — act out of the behaviors that were established from last week's text, in humility, and in kindness, and in gentleness, okay? Jesus was very meek and very mild, and we need not to be hateful in regards to spreading the gospel.

And so the doctrine of the Trinity is very interconnected throughout all of Scripture, and nobody can abuse Scripture without unraveling the doctrine of the Trinity, especially when it comes to the fact of Jesus being God. One of the main attacks against the Bible today is the claim that perhaps Jesus never claimed to be God, but that's not true because in John chapter 10 verse 30, He said, "I and the Father are," what? "One." And so Jesus is God. And that was prophesied by Isaiah in chapter 7 verse 14 — that a child would be called Emmanuel, which means what? God with us. You see, Jesus, the child, He is God with us. And that was fulfilled in Matthew chapter 1 verse 23: "His name will be called Emmanuel, which is translated God with us." It's very clear. The whole Bible is unified in this Trinitarian doctrine.

Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6 says, "For a child will be born to us, and He will be called Mighty God, Eternal Father." And so this prophesied child, the Messiah to come, He's God, and He is Father. Well, guess what our text says today in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 5? One Lord, one God, one Father. Jesus is God.

Jesus made it very, very clear that you will die in your sin if you do not believe that He is God. In John chapter 8 verse 24, "You will die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am, you will die."

Now listen to me. When we project the gospel, your tone matters in how you say, "You will die." If someone's going to hell and we're evangelizing, we should say that with a broken heart. You will die. Having compassion for someone in empathy and saying, "If you do not believe Jesus is God, you will die in your sin" — Jesus said that.

In John 8:58, Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I am." He made it very clear. He was speaking the Jews' language when they knew that Yahweh claimed to be the great I Am to Moses beside the burning bush. And Jesus said, "I am." We can't hear Jesus say what's recorded in the Bible, but I guarantee you with all of this preacher's integrity that Jesus placed verbal emphasis on "I am." Perhaps a pause before the words "I am." He may not have said it in the tone of Voddie Baucham at the Creation Museum. If you've ever gone there, you hear the deep, resounding, thundering voice from the clouds. But I just seem to be able to say to you, I'm guaranteeing to you that the Jews heard Jesus loud and clear that He was claiming to be the great I Am.

In Exodus chapter 3 verse 14, God said to Moses, "I am who I am. Say to Israel, 'I am has sent you.'" And so now to continue in our text in Ephesians chapter 4 and go through rapid fire with these doctrines that we believe and we cherish.

There is in verse 4 one body. And so anyone throughout all of time who has repented of their sin, placed faith and trust in Jesus Christ and Him alone, is part of this one body. And so Paul's primary metaphor to establish unity in the church is the human body. And you may be an arm, you may be a leg, you may be the backbone, you may be the feet, hands. Whatever part of the body, the body is not healthy without all of its parts working. Even down to your pinky toe. And you know that's true because when you get up in the middle of the night and go to the bathroom or get a glass of milk and you stub that pinky toe, it disturbs the whole of you.

Point well noted, one body. And so those who are Christians, who are saved, they're in the body. 1 Corinthians 12:14 says, "For the body is not one member, but many." And so the body together, working together in harmony with one another — the left hand can't do something opposed to the right hand, otherwise it just isn't unified. And so the body pictures unity.

But also it mentions in the text, not only that there is one body but also one Spirit. And so there's one Spirit. And so inwardly all Christians possess the Holy Spirit, the person of the Holy Spirit. So this inner unifying force that is within the church is powerful. And we are to grow in this. The Spirit manifests the presence and the teachings of Jesus among believers. God's Spirit not only seals the believer when they get saved, but the Spirit of God teaches the believers sound doctrine, teaches them the Scriptures, illuminates the truth of the Scriptures. God's Spirit teaches us the Word according to John chapter 14 verse 26.

It's the Holy Spirit's role to teach you the Word. And if we were to spend an accurate amount of time on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit alone, we'd be here for six months and you'd fire me — just kidding. The doctrine of the Holy Spirit is beautiful, but if there's one thing that I could press emphasis upon, it is that the Spirit's job is to illuminate the text to you and teach you the truth. And you need not to be codependent on commentaries. You need not to be codependent upon even a preacher or a teacher. You need to be dependent upon Christ and sit at the feet of the Holy Spirit in your own Bible and learn what the Word says. And have an inseparable relationship, a communion with Christ that is way beyond anything you could ever possess and own in this world. The fellowship with Jesus, the fellowship through the Holy Spirit, is inseparable to the believer. That matters the most in a Christian's life. A true Christian knows, unless I am made right by the Holy Spirit of God inwardly, I can't be right for my spouse or my children.

The Christian man knows that he is fallible unless he submits to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit sets him right every single day. We need to be set right by God and His Word. We need God. And this living document is not only the expression of who God is, but it is what sets you right with Christ so that you can live out these behaviors that we talked about last week. It is so important that the body pictures unity in how its members work together and are unified in the authority of Scripture for its goals.

The Holy Spirit also teaches unity. So there is one Spirit that teaches unity. We are growing in this and the words that are so beautiful about us working together are the words "fitted" or "knitted together."

So we're growing. Not only that, but as a holy temple. Not only the body and not only the Spirit, but also one hope. One hope secures unity. And in this the passage says that we have one hope. Not many different hopes, but one hope. Those who remember their life before Christ know that they were much different B.C. — before Christ — than they are now. And this hope, this transforming, life-renewing hope of Christ in you, the hope of glory, this one hope unites the church. This is what unites us. This is why you come.

You don't go to some different social club atmosphere like the Moose Lodge or whatever — you don't go there because they're not unified around the Holy Spirit. The Bible says not to be drunk with wine, but be filled with what? The Holy Spirit. The unity that is here among us is this one hope in Christ, in the Spirit.

And so before hope, did you know that Paul speaks of that in chapter 2 verse 12? "Remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope without God in the world." This one verse for you street preachers — listen to what lost people feel. Five things lost people feel in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 12. They feel that they are separated from Christ. They feel this. It's like everybody else has this religious hope or whatnot. I don't understand this. Everyone has it. They know God. I don't have this. I don't know what this is. They're separate. They feel this — that they are at times separate from Christ.

And they're excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants. They truly feel that they are strangers from the covenants of Israel. Let me interpret that for you. The covenants are pointing to the promise of Christ fulfilling all the Old Testament. And this covenant, this promise, this ultimate salvation is something that they know that they are missing. They are strangers to being saved. And so they're not only separate from Christ, but they're strangers to salvation. And they have no hope. So they're separate. They're strangers. And they have no hope. They are truly insecure about their future.

Lost people feel insecure about their future. They don't know the meaning of life. And they don't have an eternal security that believers have by being sealed by the Holy Spirit. Five things lost people feel — not only separate from Christ and strangers to salvation, having no hope and insecure about the future, but they're also without God. And one of the main things that God provides in Himself is that He is God. He's sovereign. He's in control. It produces security. Lost people feel insecure. They don't have someone as powerful as God dominating and ruling and leading them. They are their own god. And they know their limitations. And so they're insecure because they know that they can't control things, but they're trying.

And not only that, they are in the world. The text says they're without God, but they're also in the world — like they're lost at sea, like they're trapped in their sin. They're in the world, the worldliness of the world, the sins that they are trapped in. They feel that. Five things lost people feel in regards to having no hope.

But the one hope that we have provides security. Your calling and your repentance and the salvation — repentance and belief in the salvation — has provided for you security. And so we are unified like Colossians chapter 1 verse 27 says, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." We have this hope. We are secure in Christ. We know God exists. The very essence of being God is to be sovereign, to be in control. This world is not spinning out of control. Everything that is happening is according to His foreordained plan.

If you're worried about the future, get back in the Bible. If you are insecure, get back close to the Holy Spirit. If you have any of these things that you are feeling — that lost people feel — the answer is Jesus. The Sunday school answer: Jesus. Get back in the Word of God. And you will find yourself rebounding in one body, one Spirit, one hope. And this hope secures unity.

But also there's one Lord. Oh, this is an awesome throwback. One Lord is a throwback, an echo of the Jewish Shema. Keep in mind, Paul is preaching or writing to both Jews and Gentiles. And he kind of goes after the Jews in one way of saying things. And he goes after the Gentiles or pagans by saying other things. And he uses these phrases, these catchphrases that they would hear like trigger words. And when Paul said, "One Lord," a good Jewish man who had the Torah memorized would have gone back to the Shema and heard it say, "Lord our God is one." Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God. The Lord is one." And as Paul said, "One Lord" — and he's talking about in context Christ and Christ alone — they would have either agreed or disagreed. In Ephesians chapter 4 verse 5, Paul echoes the Jewish Shema in that Yahweh is one. God is one. Jesus is clearly Yahweh.

And so, so far we have said according to the Scriptures that one body pictures unity, and one Spirit teaches unity, and one hope secures unity.

Now this one Lord — if there's anything that I could press home about this one Lord, one God — it's Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning God created." So one Lord is our Creator. And if we are united in this one God, in His ability to create not only the world but to create these invisible things in which we cherish so much — by the way, the invisible things are most valuable. The visible things are nowhere near as valuable as the invisible things of life. The things that you love, that attribute of love, the things that you consider beautiful, like salvation, like eternity with Christ.

These invisible things are so much more valuable. God created those. And you're made in the image of God. And when you live and dwell with God, you appreciate these things more, and more, and more as you get older and wiser.

Next in the text, it is one faith. And this restricts unity. So in regards to one Lord, this creates unity. God created all these beautiful things. He created the subject of unity. And so one Lord created unity. But now, one faith restricts unity. And why I say the word "restricts" is because the word "faith" here in the text refers to a committed set of scriptural beliefs that we're all unified in. And the Great Commission is to teach them obedience to all that I've commanded, right? So you go and you evangelize them, and you baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and then you go forth and disciple them, and you teach them to be obedient to the faith. The faith. The faith that we have is a set core, a set of doctrinal beliefs that we are all unified in. You could say it like this: "The Bible." Right? And then now we need to articulate that.

Titus chapter 2 verse 1 says, "Speak the things fitting of sound doctrine." So sound doctrine, doctrines of the Bible — especially like the doctrine of the Trinity, the doctrine of the virgin birth, the doctrine of Christ and Christ alone, Jesus is God. All these wonderful doctrines, the doctrine of God, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, all these different doctrines — especially that which we are learning on Wednesday nights. If at all possible, be here Wednesday nights and sit underneath the preaching and teaching of theology. Systematic theology and how we teach these things. These are what unite us. So one faith refers to these things that unite us.

Titus chapter 2 verse 15 says, "These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority." And so Christ in the Great Commission says, "All authority has been given unto Me." And now He gives that authority to believers to speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. 2 Timothy 1:13 says, "Retain the standard of sound words." Retain it, keep it, pass it down to the next generation. Deuteronomy 4:2: "You shall not add to the word or take away from it."

2 Timothy 4:3: "A time will come when many will not endure sound doctrine." What do you do with that? Well, the Bible is very clear in what we are to do. Jude chapter 1 verse 3 says, "Contend for the faith." And so this set of core beliefs — the faith here in Ephesians chapter 4 that's being talked about — is such that we are to contend for it, or to evangelize with it. We are to disciple with it. We are to teach it in our Bible study groups and in preaching and on Wednesday nights. We are to have fathers who are passing down the set core belief system to their wives and children and children's children. This is beautiful. And so our beliefs, they are not unrestricted.

It's not a thing of like anything goes. The true church is not an atmosphere where it's to each their own — whatever you believe about baptism, whatever you believe about the Holy Spirit, whatever you believe about God and about Jesus. No! One faith! And we contend for that faith. We articulate that faith and we lead people to know who God is in this one faith. And so our beliefs are not unrestricted. One faith restricts our unity. We are unified within these restricted bounds of true unity. And we are constantly bringing one another into true unity.

And one baptism — one baptism is the next one. This could be referred to water baptism, but in many areas of the Bible you can interpret it on this side or on that side.

We prefer, according to our constitution and bylaws, to ascribe the title of deacon to men because it's an office and that's what our doctrinal statement says. But there are very good preachers and teachers and churches who ascribe the word "deacon" to deaconesses as well, which is very biblical. And so whether you lean this way or you lean that way, choose and be unified in that. Well, this point of baptism is not a point of contention, but there are two different opinions of this one baptism. Is this referring to water baptism? Well, it could be, but it feels kind of strange to make a doctrinal statement that there is only one baptism — which I believe you should be baptized one time after you're saved. But I think the sister epistle carries the same essence of this text. The sister epistle to Ephesians is the book of Colossians. And in Colossians chapter 2 verse 12, it also mentions this. Turn there with me. I want you to see it for yourself.

In Colossians chapter 2 verse 12, it's not talking about water baptism. And let me back up to verse 11 because it helps to set the context. Chapter 2 verse 11: "And in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands." So Paul again is using a trigger word like "circumcision" to catch the attention of the Jews. But is he talking about physical circumcision in the text here? No, he's talking about the circumcision of the heart, the fact that your heart has been cut back and conformed to Christ. "And so you have been circumcised with a circumcision made without hands in the removal of the body of flesh by the circumcision of Christ." This is spiritual.

In verse 12, "Having been buried with Him in baptism" — this is spiritual — "in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead." This is talking about the day of your salvation, not physical baptism. And so I'm leaning on this side of saying that back in Ephesians chapter 4, this is talking about salvation. This one baptism marks the moment of your salvation when you became dead to your sins and your trespasses and were raised up in newness of life, when you were saved, when you were baptized into Christ and the Holy Spirit. I think this is most likely the accurate interpretation.

I'm simply being faithful to you to articulate to the best of my ability where there are some little points of ambiguity, and perhaps this would spur you on to be able to study God's Word yourself and to rightly divide it. So when you were united to Christ in the likeness of His death, according to Romans chapter 6 verse 4, then you were made alive in the likeness of His resurrection. Another picture of baptism, which is you being inwardly saved. So the rite of physical baptism — water baptism — means that you have already been spiritually baptized inwardly, that you've already been saved. And so water baptism testifies that you have already been baptized into Christ. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 31 says, "I die daily."

Now, this is a picture of you going down, of you humbling yourself. It's a means by which we live godly.

So one baptism in the text in Ephesians is our mark of unity. Those of you who have been truly saved — that is what we are unified in. The theme of chapter 4 is unifying us into one God.

And now, one God is the last subject. And let's read the text together, Ephesians chapter 4 verses 4 through 6: "There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism," and verse 6, wow, this is a great one — it's a big one — "one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all." You're going to have to come back for that one. I hope you do.

It's been a joy to continue in the faith here. I'll continue after I come back from vacation, after you get an opportunity to hear from your eldership — our fellow eldership, our united eldership here — preach God's Word. In the upcoming weeks, our family will be on vacation and I pray that you will continue to be faithful to this local congregation and to hear the hearts of our eldership as they preach the gospel to you. And I pray as well that if you have never repented of your sin and placed your faith and trust in Jesus — if you haven't recognized that your good works add up to nothing, you can't earn your salvation nor do you deserve it — but if you have never repented and believed in the death and burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ on behalf of your sin, sin's wages: for the wages of sin is what? Death. Do you work and earn a wage? Well, your dirty deeds from the time you were born, adding up all of these sins, have a consequence, and the wages — the payment for all of those sins — is death and separation from God in an eternal hell that is literal and real.

And so if you have not comprehended that before — that you have wages to be given to you, for the wages of sin is death, your deserved wages that you have earned is eternal punishment in hell — aren't you glad for the phrase in the Bible that says, "But God." Right? But God. While you were yet sinners, Christ died for you. So the death that you've earned, the wages of sin that you've earned, Christ stood in your place, took on that death on the cross, beaten, battered, and bruised for you, if you would repent of your sin and get away from those wages and take on the benevolent love of God because He is wonderful. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son."

I pray, Lord, I pray that if you have not received Christ as your Lord and Savior, that today would be the day of salvation. Don't wait. Repent and believe. Let's pray together.

Father, we do love You. We ask for Your continual blessings, Your blessings of the Holy Spirit working in our lives internally. First of all, if any have not repented and believed, that they would be brought unto the sorrowful disposition of recognizing that their dirty deeds, their sins have been done against You and You alone. And yet while they were in such a distasteful, sinful disposition in life — while they were sinners enjoying their sin — You died for them. You paid the price. You took on their wages. You endured the cross. And so, Father, may that sorrow lead them to repentance, to repent of all the things that they've ever done and confess You as Lord and Savior. I pray, Lord, for those who have not been saved, that they would be saved. I pray as well, Lord, for the saved to be sanctified, to continue to grow in their faith, that they may understand the deep doctrines of the Bible.

Lord, You have rattled off many doctrines through the Apostle Paul, for which we could easily take one sermon each Sunday to discuss, and it still would not be enough. But I pray, Lord, through the feeble attempt to preach Your Word, that the saints would be edified and You would be pleased with us doing our absolute best just to continue in Your Word. God, we come before You humbly and say, "Teach us. Reprove us. Correct us. Lead us. God, help us, we pray. Help us to grow in our faith. Help us to be pleasing unto You. Help us to be humble before one another." And we just ask You for help, dear Jesus. We want to be pleasing unto You, and oftentimes our own blind spots are such that keep us from pleasing You. Help us to recognize those prideful blind spots and to repent and return to You the best that we can.

Thank You for loving us and being patient with us, dear God, as we grow in our faith. And, dear Jesus, for being a loving Father who is always there — who is always, always there — to help us to come back into Your loving arms. Father, we ask that You would continue not only to save souls and to sanctify souls here at the Beulah Baptist Church and through the saints, but also, Lord, that You would lead them to be ones who join this dear congregation and learn how to continue to study the Bible and make disciples. I pray, Father, that You would birth evangelists and disciple makers and missionaries and homeschool mothers and fathers who lead spiritually at this congregation. God, I pray that You would continue to develop this family discipleship model which You've laid on our hearts to pursue and to continue to work on. Father, we're going to be becoming more in Your image until You come again. And this is our commitment to remain faithful unto death, as Revelation chapter 2 verse 10 says, and I pray, God, that You would help us in all of these things.

And now, as we sing one final song, a time of reflection for each believer to reflect upon the things that they have heard today, whether in Bible study group or through the preaching or even through the message of song. I pray, Lord, You just give us a moment through this song to reflect and to pray and to commit to the things that You would have each of us commit. God, I pray by the power of Your Holy Spirit that You would minister to Your saints during this next song, align them with You so they can be pleasing with You. Align us all, dear Jesus, as we grow in our faith, we pray. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.