One Lord, Faith and Baptism

And starting in verse 1 of chapter 4, please stand for the reading of God's word.

Hear ye this morning the word of the Lord. I therefore, a prisoner for the

Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.

There is one body and one spirit. Just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one

Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all.

You may be seated. Precious Father in heaven, we thank you that this morning, we can gather under the one

Lordship of Jesus Christ, to whom belongs all the glory, for by means of his self -humiliation and his incarnation,

God the Son stepped into eternity, or stepped from eternity into the finite, into this world that he created in the fashion of his own hands.

And by means of his obedience, even as so far as death on a cross, he purchased for God a people from every nation, tribe, tongue and language, and by means of his suffering and therefore consequently his glorification, he is indeed lifted high and exalted, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, every tongue confess.

And we confess this morning, your Lordship, your sovereignty, your goodness, your mercy and your grace.

We thank you Lord for the one faith and the one baptism that we've entered. We pray God that today would be edified, instructed and encouraged by your word.

In Jesus name we do pray, amen. Well, beloved again, today's message is one

Lord, one faith, one baptism. Today we're gonna observe a glorious occasion with two individuals coming forward to receive baptism by full immersion in accordance with the scriptures, in accordance with the confession of faith that they have declared in Jesus Christ.

By God's providence, today's text in our series in Ephesians happens to touch ever so slightly on the topic of baptism.

If you're following along in today's teaching and the insert that you've received, we're gonna focus first on verse one, where Paul identifies his struggle.

In the last three chapters, Paul's been setting up this entire treatise on the grace of God, God's sovereignty,

God's power, God's manifold wisdom being revealed in this space in time.

And God has declared through his word to the apostle Paul his great mystery.

His mystery that was concealed for long age but has now been revealed by means of his apostles and prophets.

And it's this, that God is making for himself a special possession of people of all nations, not simply just the

Jewish covenant people. Instead, God's covenant of grace now extends to all of humanity, to all sons and daughters of Adam from all tribes and nations and tongues.

And here, as we see this transition after Paul prays for spiritual strength for the people of God, he now begins his plea by saying this in verse one of Ephesians four.

He says, I therefore, therefore meaning as a result of, because of,

I therefore a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.

Paul, as he writes this letter, is a prisoner on account, not because of tax fraud, not because of violence, not because of some nefarious reason, but because of faith and his witnessing of the

Lord Jesus Christ. And he's urging the brothers, he's urging the church to walk, therefore, in a manner worthy of the calling.

If you're going to follow along with today's insert, please write in the words. Paul, a prisoner, exhorts believers to walk worthy of the calling.

There's a worthiness associated with our walk. Now, this may seem contradictory because just earlier in the book of Ephesians, we learned that it is by grace you have been saved by faith.

This is not of yourselves so that no one may boast. It is the gift of God. And so how do we square this?

On one hand, it says that salvation cannot be earned. It cannot be worked for.

It is solely the work of God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ. But on the other hand, it's telling us to walk worthy.

Remember, in Revelation, we see this vision where there's only one who is worthy. And John, before he receives that revelation of the worthy one, he weeps.

He weeps because he found there to be no one that was worthy.

And yet, in that scene, we see in Revelation, the Lamb of God comes forward and all of creation worships him as the worthy one.

Yet there is a worthiness, I would contend with you this morning, that God has called you to, not as a result of you earning it by means of your works, but a worthiness that's bestowed upon you by the beloved, by Christ our

Lord. And it's a worthiness that is expressed through the Spirit's work of sanctification.

God, who began a good work in you, will bring it to completion.

We have this hope and this firm foundation, brothers and sisters, that if God's at work, he's gonna bring that work to full fruition, blessing, and to the fullness of what he's intended for you and me.

So God is calling us to walk worthy of the calling. Now, what's the call?

The call is the call of God's election for his people, the call to eternal life through Jesus Christ.

When a person believes on Christ, repent of their sins, they have been called effectually by the grace of God.

God is calling them, and through the finished work of Jesus Christ, God applies that sacrifice of Christ onto that individual, and they are now sons or daughters of the

Most High God. God has called believers into his one and only

Christ. He has called them to be one body. We do well to examine ourselves this morning, brothers and sisters.

As we have two baptisms, we're reminded of faith in Jesus Christ and what it means to be obedient to the call.

And I think part of the worthiness that Paul is urging Christians to follow in, it's the worthiness of obedience to walk in Jesus, to be rooted and established in him.

You see, ours is not a hyper -graced faith, where we say, by grace you've been saved, and therefore you can just sin so that sin and grace may abound.

That's not our faith. Rather, ours is a faith that recognizes how detrimental sin is to the

Christian character, to the Christian development, to the holiness that God has called you to. Therefore, Paul's urging the brothers and sisters to walk worthy, to allow that their walk matches the faith that they declare publicly.

And indeed, this is why here at Silicon Reform Baptist Church, we have a membership process.

And several weeks ago, we heard the testimony of two confessing believers, and we gathered together as saints.

We affirmed their testimony. And as a result of the affirmation, we now welcomed them into church membership and bringing them into the waters of baptism.

And today, they'll be able to partake of the Lord's Supper alongside the family of God. There's a worthiness that God is calling you to.

Therefore, allow that which you confess of your mouth to be not just a mere fleeting confession, but rather let it be the foundation with which you build your life on.

That your mouth and your feet are in line, so that what you confess of your mouth is that same principle in which you walk.

God is calling us again to walk. In the New Testament, the word walk is usually a reference to daily conduct, to a daily conduct of life.

And so day -to -day life. And so what Paul's reminding us is that we're to be worthy, walk worthy of the calling, are in our day -to -day life.

Now, does this mean that we ought to be perfect? By no means, we're not perfect. We're gonna fall short.

If we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.

But that in as so far as it depends on me, as so far as we can, as so far as God is working in me and through me, that we walk in a way that does not misalign our

Lord, that does not bring reproach upon our Savior, but instead that indeed we are walking in a way that would glorify him.

Think of that imagery for a moment. Walking with God. Now, there are a few people in scripture who have been, who it's written of them that they walked with God.

Noah walked with God. Enoch walked with God. There are others who walked with God.

Think of what that looks like. You know, when I was a teenager, believe it or not, I used to dress a little different.

My pants were a little baggy. I'd have the nice backwards hat on, the, you know, wife beater and the chain on, and I looked a little different.

And one of the things that struck me as a young person, when I was maybe 16 years old, is someone brought up to me this question.

Would you walk with God down the street with the way that you're dressed? And someone said, pick up your pants, son.

So, so brothers and sisters, I say this to you in a metaphorical way.

Is the way that you're walking today in life, is the way that you're conducting yourselves in your day -to -day walk, is that a way that if others saw of God, if God saw, if people saw you walking with God, would it honor him?

Would it glorify him? Walk in a way that's worthy. The calling. Walk in a way that it honors, brings glory to our father.

Because we do live in a watching world, don't we? The world is watching. And the world is waiting for scandals to break out in the church, and for divisions, and for all these things, so they can point to the church and say, look at the church, you're no better than we are.

And in some regard, that's true. We're no better than the average person, other than the fact that we've been saved by grace.

And God has called us into a new life, into a new way of walking, into a new life of living.

And so we walk worthy of the calling when our daily living corresponds with our calling and election as blood -bought children of God.

The calling here is God's sovereign and effectual call to salvation. And therein, we find our sanctification, the means by which we can walk worthy of the calling that we've received.

And so as a result of this, if you've been called, you will be changed. Praise God.

If God is coming to your life, and he's called you, and he purchased you from eternity past, through the blood of Jesus, the

Bible teaches us that he who began a good work with what, will finish it, will bring it to completion.

He will not fail, not even with one of his sheep. All those to whom he has called, he will change and transform through the gospel.

And you were called, even when you were unworthy. The Bible puts it this way in Romans 5, that while we were yet sinners,

Christ died for the ungodly. Not while you were precious, innocent, not while you were doing everything right, not while you were worthy, but when you were unworthy,

Christ came and died for you. He died for you. While you were still a sinner, that demonstrates his loving kindness.

It demonstrates his love. It demonstrates his mercy and his goodness.

Therefore that goodness of God, that grace that we've seen in our own salvation ought to move us, motivate us, to walk indeed worthy of the calling, because it is a great calling.

God has called you out of the world, out of darkness, out of the dominion of Satan and into his marvelous light.

Praise God. Look at what he's called you from and where he's calling you to.

God is at work. Therefore, brothers and sisters, live worthy. Live worthy.

Not to say that you have to live perfect and that if you sin that you have to do this penance, but indeed that if we do sin again, we have an advocate.

But our aim should be not to fight sin, but to run from it.

Not to try to win the war of sin in our own flesh, but to know that sin has been defeated already in the cross of Jesus.

And so the strength that is required of us to walk worthy is not from ourselves, but is indeed from God.

It comes from heaven. It comes from the inner working of the Holy Spirit, the work of sanctification.

And so again, when you were unworthy and in his effectual calling, he makes you worthy through faith in Jesus and enabling the

Spirit to work out our salvation. So this is in no way contradicting

Ephesians 2 verses 8 -10 where it says, by grace you've been saved, by faith it is not of yourselves, it's a gift of God.

Verse 10 says, because you were saved for good works which God prepared beforehand that you should walk in.

And here Paul's just urging you to walk in the grace that has set you free.

Walk in the grace that will empower you to live holy, dignified, godly lives in Christ Jesus.

We see in Ephesians chapter four, verse two now, he says, we've been called to this holy calling with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing of one another in love.

There are four qualities of the Christian character and of the

Christian faith. First one, I want you to write these down, is humility.

God has called us to a lifestyle of humility. Again, these qualities we are to possess and strengthen in our walk.

These are similar to the fruit of the Spirit, the indwelling of the Spirit that we see in Galatians five. This is the work of regeneration, sanctification.

But notice this. Humility literally means to think or judge with lowliness.

To think or judge with lowliness. To have humility means to be humble.

The word humble brings a connotation of being low while others or something else is over you.

God's call to the Christian is one of humility and humility begins with proper self -awareness.

Proper self -awareness. Not judging yourselves higher or more lofty than you actually are.

Now most people in this world overestimate their worth or their looks or their charisma or their abilities.

We live in a culture, a social media generation, where I like to call the selfie generation where it's all about me and it's selfie.

It's about me. It's about me being the center of all things and if you ask the average person even a very vain question like if you were to rate your looks, what would you rate yourself?

And most people say, I'm a 10. I'm a 10. I'm a 10 out of 10. How's your personality? Oh, that's a 10 too.

People are way overestimating themselves in the social media generation that we live in.

And part of being a Christian is a call to humility, is estimating ourselves rightly as God perceives the truth and reality of the situation.

And therefore, the first thing in which we need in order to have proper humility in the Christian life is this true, genuine self -awareness that in reality,

I am a sinner. In reality, I am a son and daughter of Adam, creature of the dirt and of the dust and that I do not deserve anything from the good and bountiful hand of God.

It's similar to the prayer of the sinner that we see in the gospel of Luke where you have the

Pharisee in one hand who praises lofty prayer and says, God, thank you so much that I'm not like those other people, those sinners, those tax collectors, those prostitutes.

And yet the prayer of the sinner is, God, I'm a sinner, forgive me.

And with that broken and contrite heart, God does not cast out. So having a right estimation of oneself, but also a right estimation and a right awareness of Christ.

Those are the two keys of living and understanding humility.

Understanding oneself and who Christ is in relation to the self.

That Christ is indeed the only one, as we mentioned earlier in the book of Revelation, is the one who is found to be worthy.

Only Jesus is that perfect, 10 out of 10. Jesus alone is righteous and holy and good.

The next one is this, of the qualities that ought to abound in us, so we may walk worthy of the calling, is gentleness, gentleness.

See, gentleness is the product of humility, which is meekness or strength under control.

Now, gentleness is not the absence of strength. Sometimes we, in our culture, you're either a alpha or a beta if you're a guy.

And that means if people perceive if you're a beta is if you're gentle and lowly. But in truth and in reality, gentleness is a great strength.

Gentleness is strength under control. It's not the absence of strength.

It's not the absence of power. It's having those things rightly controlled.

It is the gift, in fact, of self -control. To be gentle means that you are self -controlled, that you're able to rightly measure things and divide things.

Again, gentleness is the product of humility, and it's strength under control. It isn't the absence of strength, but it's the ability to keep it under control, indeed self -control.

The next quality that we ought to have and should be abounding in us is the gift and the attribute of patience.

Now, I'll be honest with you. I sometimes lack this one. I am sometimes not a patient man.

I'm sometimes quick and eager to get things done or to see things done fast, efficiently, productively, and I get frustrated when things aren't so.

We live in this generation now. Another euphemism I would use is the drive -thru generation, where if we're in a drive -thru of McDonald's or some fast food restaurant, if it takes more than 90 seconds, we're wondering to ourselves, what's taking this so long?

I mean, they just put the cheese on top and the bun on, and it should be good to go. Like, what's taking so long? And we lose patience over trivial things, over little things.

Brothers and sisters, the call to be worthy, the call in Christ is to be patient, is to be lowly, humble, gentle, and patient.

And patient, more importantly, in the aspects of life that matter most, in our relationships, in our marriages, with our children, with the brothers and sisters in the church, we ought to be patient with one another.

Being patient, clearly, most of you know what that means. Patience means to be long -tempered or long -suffering.

Some translate this word patience here as long -suffering. And think of what that word means, long -suffering.

It means the ability to suffer even over an extended period of time.

Long -suffering, to long -suffer. It means to be able to bear up. That requires strength, requires discipline, requires self -control, requires humility and gentleness.

And the last one, and the most important, of these traits that we see in the text of Scripture this morning, is bearing with one another in love.

Love. Now this is the agape love that God has called us to.

The Greek word agape meaning a love that is sacrificial.

A sacrificial love. Notice what that means. To have this love means to love someone unconditionally who does not always meet the conditions.

Now beloved, in our relationships, in our marriages, in our discussion in relationship with our children, coworkers,

God is calling us to love. To bear up with one another in love. That means again to love even when people are being unlovable.

To love even when they hurt you. To love even when it's hard and it's not easy.

One of the reasons why in this nation 50 % of marriages end up in divorce is because we have now made marriage and love conditional upon the way that this person provides for me, makes me feel.

And if they don't meet these conditions, that is righteous reason for me to dissolve the marriage.

But indeed that is not what God has called us to. Part of being worthy of the calling to be under the

Lordship of Jesus, of the one faith and be under the one baptism, is that we love. And that's a conscious choice and decision that we have to make every single day.

To love even when it's tough. To love even when they don't meet my conditions. And in doing so, we see and display the love of Christ.

Because Christ loves you even when you don't meet the conditions.

Even when you're not worthy. Even when you've fallen straight down on your face and you've got the manure of sin all over you and the stench of death.

He loves you. He loves you. Therefore we ought to love as well.

Love empowers us to see ourselves as we truly are. To see Christ for who he truly is and to bear for one another the burdens and the plights of this world.

We as Christians work toward the obedience in love to our one

Lord along with faith and unity in the brotherhood. That means even if a brother sins against you in the church, we ought to love.

And we work things out biblically, ethically, morally, spiritually. But we bear with one another with all humility, gentleness, patience, and love.

And in doing so, Christ our Lord in the faith that he promotes is greatly magnified and glorified in the life of holy living.

Verse three of Ephesians four says, eager, there's an eagerness here that Paul is invoking in us to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.

There's a bond of peace that he has called us to. If you're following along, again, today's teaching, we keep the unity,

I want you to write that in there, the unity of the spirit by being like Jesus.

By being like Jesus. I want you to know today that we are one family in Christ.

When you see the brotherhood, you see the brothers and sisters, you see the believers, we are indeed one body.

One family. And we keep the unity of the spirit.

Since we have all partaken of the same spirit by adoption, which makes us sons and daughters of God.

And members of the same household of God. And we build and maintain unity in the faith by being under the supreme lordship of Jesus as we are conformed by the one spirit to be like our one lord to the glory of the only father.

This is the call to unity. You see the traits that we just went over, the traits that we looked at, humility, gentleness, patience, love, is to produce in us a

Christian unity that is unlike the world. Now, what does it say about the church?

When the church is often more disunited than the nations of the world.

Granted, we live in very dis or ununited times in the

United States of America. In my lifetime, I've never seen this country so poorly united.

And yet there's a call upon us, beloved. And the call is that while the world is disunited, we are to be united.

While the world's in chaos, we are to be orderly. While the world is loveless, we are to love.

While the world is patientless, we are to be patient. While the world is high and lofty and braggadocious, we are humble, bringing forward the gospel of life and of hope to a dying world.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, we keep the unity of the faith and it's a work of the holy trinity.

The work of the unity of God's people truly stems from the fullness of God in his

Trinitarian nature. It says again in verse three, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.

We see again the work of the Christian unity in the Trinitarian work.

For in the body of Christ, we have many members which are unique and different.

Even if we look at our small church here at Silicon Valley Reformed Baptist Church, many nations are represented, age groups, socioeconomic backgrounds.

We are a diverse body to the glory of God. And in the same way, just as Christ's body has many members, it's unique and distinct.

We see this unity in the midst of diversity. But we find unity in diversity even in the first cause,

God himself being the first cause and God being Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, distinction in persons, distinction in different callings of salvation unto his people and works.

And yet, they share one nature, one being of God.

You have unity in the midst of diversity in the members of the Holy Trinity.

And in the same way, brothers and sisters, we being a diverse people called out of many tribe, nations, and tongues are indeed a united people, but also a diverse people.

And we resemble in that small, faint way the glory and the majesty of the unity and diversity of the

Holy Trinity. Praise God for the Godhead. God's word then continues to instruct us in verse four of Ephesians four.

There is one body, there is one body and one spirit.

You see that the Trinitarian language that is coming up in the text, just as you recall to one hope that belongs to your call, there is one body.

Brothers and sisters, I want you to put this in there. There is a singular body here. Obviously the word body here is a representation of the church of Christ, the body of Christ, Christ himself being the head of the body.

This is a reference to the church. There is a singular body that we've been called to by the spirit.

How does one enter into this one faith? How does one come under the one baptism and one lordship of Jesus Christ?

It is a work of the spirit of God. The spirit of God being the third person of the triune

God, the third person of the Holy Trinity. He is not a active force. He is not a powerful, nameless figure.

He's not a mystical power like electricity, but instead he is the third person of the triune

God of which the scripture affirms and says he is a person, uses a personal pronoun he in reference to him in John chapter 14 and chapter 16, when

Jesus speaks of the comforter, he will come. The spirit can be grieved, it can be sinned against.

And the spirit is the one who draws us to Christ. It's the spirit of God that brings forth the initial work of regeneration in the believer that they may believe on Christ and receive everlasting life.

You've been called into the church by the spirit into one hope.

We, beloved, have one hope. We have one common future, one glorious destiny together through faith in Jesus Christ and by the call of the spirit on the believer.

This work is a magnificent one, the work of the spirit and bringing forth not only the bond of peace, but bringing us into union with the

Holy Trinity itself. And this is why the scripture says, therefore there is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to one hope that belongs to your call.

There's the religious script that I grew up in, the Jehovah's Witnesses. I grew up as one of JWs. And the

Jehovah's Witnesses have this very unique, but erroneous view of salvation.

They believe there's two tiers or two classes of Christians. There's one class, you've maybe heard of them, the 144 ,000, they're the only ones who go to heaven.

And they're the anointed class. They have a heavenly hope. And then there's the rest of the seven million

Jehovah's Witnesses. They call themselves the other sheep. And they will be the ones who live forever on the earth.

And so there's two tiers. There's a heavenly hope and there's an earthly hope. And yet the word of God says there's only but one hope to which we've been called.

When Christians or groups or cults or denominations try to separate the degree of our salvation by saying, well, even the

Mormon church does this as well. You have the celestial, the highest, the third heavens, likened unto the stars.

And then you have the mid -tier heaven. And then you've got the terrestrial heaven. And all three are heavens, but they're separated by degrees of glory.

Brothers, you and I have been called to one hope. And it's the upward call in Christ Jesus.

There is one hope, not two, not three, not four, one hope. Showing that the people of God have indeed one shared destiny, one shared inheritance through faith in Jesus Christ.

The word of God continues in verse five. Paul now brings our attention to one

Lord, one faith, one baptism, one

Lord. If you're following along in the insert, please put in those three. Our unity as Christians is in our sharing of our one

Lord, faith, and baptism. Let's break down what that means for a moment.

What does the apostle Paul mean when he says we have and share but one

Lord? Brothers and sisters, the call is clear. There is only one

Lord for the Christian, and his name is Jesus. For the

Christian, there's only one master, one sovereign, one King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and it's the person of Jesus Christ, the second person of the

Godhead who has come in the fullness of time, born of the Virgin, lived the life that you and I could not live.

He was holy and blameless, so much so that even when John the Baptist saw him, he said, behold, the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world.

He was perfect, never sinned, and yet he was brought forth before Pontius Pilate, tried as a criminal, treated as such, spat on, disparaged, beat on, and then he was hoisted upon a cross overlooking the holy city.

And on that holy hill, Christ bled and died for you and for me.

And by means of his sacrifice on that cross, he has made a way for people of all nations to come forward and receive this gospel hope, this gospel call to be under the one

Lord, one faith and one baptism of God's people. And that by means of his death, you and I could have life, but he didn't stay dead.

This Christ was put in a tomb, buried, and on the third day, on that glorious Lord's day, he rose again.

This message is not just an Easter message, it's a Sunday message because it's Sunday, which means that the

Lord is risen, he is risen indeed. And we get to celebrate new life even today as we see two members step into the waters of baptism, signifying the fact that they are now joined to Christ in his death, but also into his glorious resurrection from the dead.

You see, when we baptize individuals into the one faith that God has called us to, the waters of baptism,

I was thinking to myself earlier, we had the pool overflowing, but the baptismal font that we have in this church almost looks like a coffin.

And indeed, it kind of is. It is a coffin. Because the waters of baptism, if you recognize the truth in Romans six, represents a grave.

When people come to the waters of baptism, they're stepping into the grave, they're stepping into the burial of Christ.

And as they go down, they are joining with Christ symbolically into his resurrection or his death.

They're being buried with Christ. And as they come forward out of that water, they are sharing in the resurrection life of Jesus.

What a marvelous thing. What a beautiful thing. And today we get to be witnesses of that great joy of seeing those who have confessed

Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, have come forward for church membership, have come forward now to join us in the waters of baptism, to join the

Lord Jesus Christ by obedience into his death, burial, and resurrection. This is indeed good news.

And this good news is not simply for those who are being baptized today, it is for you as well.

If you've been baptized, it is a joy to see others follow Christ in that same manner.

And here as a Baptist church, I like to say we do it the right way, by full immersion, by bringing them fully into the waters of baptism, showing that they have indeed been buried with Christ and will be raised again to the newness of life.

This work of baptism is an inward or an outward expression of an inward change.

God has already done the work of salvation in these two believers who are coming forward today.

God has already saved them by grace through faith. They do not come here as a means to earn their salvation, but instead they're demonstrating that they are to walk worthy of the calling to which they've been called.

What a joy it is then to recognize this truth, that there is again one singular body, the church, and we've been called into one spirit, into one hope, and we have the unity of the same

Lord, the sovereign one, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was raised from the dead, who is the one who reigns over history itself.

And we now have received the one faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, for by grace you've been saved through faith, not of yourselves.

And we now demonstrate this magnificent work of baptism this morning and afternoon.

In the last few verses here, in verse five and six, I'll read that again in Ephesians four.

Again, one Lord, one faith, one baptism. Verse six, one God and father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

I want you to write this in the last part of the insert this morning. The blessed Trinity is the foundation of our salvation and unity as Christians.

As you can see in the text of Ephesians four, this is what the scholars would call proto -Trinitarian language.

This is codified confessional language within the text of scripture itself, demonstrating the work of salvation by means of the

Holy Trinity. Again, look at verse four. There is one body and one spirit.

Verse five, one Lord. Verse six, one God and father of all.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This proto -Trinitarian language is all throughout scripture, but very plainly here in Ephesians four, where we see that the

Holy Trinity is the one that is involved in the salvation of every believer and also involved in our regeneration, sanctification, and by the grace of God, our future glorification.

Well, one day we shall see Him face -to -face and we will be like Him, changed from glory to glory.

Praise God, praise God. I wanna leave you with this text of scripture from Matthew chapter 28, as we see another clearly

Trinitarian text of God's word. And with this, we will go and transition into our time of baptism.

In Matthew chapter 28, I wanna give you this word because this word is being fulfilled before your very eyes today.

Jesus says in verse 18, "'All authority in heaven and on earth "'has been given to me.'"

This is the resurrected Lord before His ascension. And He says, and He gives this marching orders to His people, to the church.

He says, "'Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, "'baptizing them in the name of the

Father and of the Son "'and of the Holy Spirit, "'teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

"'And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.'"

Brothers and sisters, we see this clear mandate in God's word to make disciples.

One of the challenges and one of the great joys that lay before us as a church is to partake and continue to partake in this great commission work, not by sitting in our pews, hearing a message once a week, and then going home and forgetting about what we just learned, but instead by walking worthy of the call to which you have been called.

And part of the worthiness that we've been called to is to go and make disciples of all nations.

And when we make disciples, learners, pupils of Jesus, we then baptize them in the singular name, notice what the text says, in the name, singular, of the

Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. So today when we bring forward the candidates for baptism, we will baptize them in the

Trinitarian formula of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And verse 20 is true even now as I speak, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

Part of what we do together in the Lord's day is the teaching, the observing of God's commandments, of God's law, of God's decree, and of God's word.

And the promise is yours and it's mine, and it's for all those who believe even today on the

Lord Jesus Christ, that I am with you always, even until the end of the age.

Let me pray. Blessed, magnificent Father, Son, and Spirit, we thank you,

God, for your goodness, that today we can receive instruction from thy word and receive the truth of our one and blessed

Lord, even Jesus Christ, to whom belongs all the glory, who alone is worthy, but who is calling us into a life of worthiness.

We thank you, Lord Jesus, for that work that you've done on the cross, opening the door for us to have everlasting life and assurance of our salvation.

We thank you, O blessed Spirit, for bringing into us this work of regeneration, making us new, making us children of God, and bringing us forward into full adoption.

And Father, we thank you for being the fount and head of all things, and that in eternity past, you've found it your good pleasure and will to set aside a people for your own possession, for your own glory, for the praise of your glorious grace.

God, I pray that this afternoon, we would all marvel and magnify your name for all that you have done and will continue to do in the life of your saints.