One God and Father of all - THERE'S NO "I" IN ONE, part 7 (Eph 4:6)

TWELVE 5 CHURCH

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and well in the 64th chapter and 8th verse of Isaiah the prophet proclaimed but now

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Lord you are our father we are the clay and you are our

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Potter we are all the work of your hand we come to worship him this morning don't we welcome welcome to church we're glad that you're here glad that you've chosen to be obedient to the

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Lord to gather with the Saints and encourage one another as we wait as we wait for the coming of our

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Lord Jesus and bringing us into glory and so we are so grateful for all of your faces

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I myself as I was watching many of you come in I've got to have conversations with a number of you and I can't tell you how encouraged

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I am when I get to see you here when I when I get to just speak with you just for a moment even if it's just about our week that there's a there's a camaraderie there's a beauty there as we are encouraging one another so even in just a an initial reaction just a conversation together

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I've been encouraged and I pray that you have too and our prayer is this morning that we will all grow in the knowledge and fear of the

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Lord the triune God Father Son Holy Spirit amen amen well let's pray for a local church this morning we would like to pray for a person that we know well here he does a lot of things online with Pastor Jeremiah Trey Fisher in Calhoun Louisiana the parish of the

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Redeemer we've prayed for them before we just want to lift them up in prayer this morning I spoke with Trey a couple of weeks ago and they're getting so close to their new building they are a church plant that I believe is about five years old six years old a couple years older than than we are as a church plant and and so they they are finally building a location it's just taking longer than expected and so we want to pray for them as they make that transition there that they could reach that community so bow your heads with me let's pray dear

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Heavenly Father we come to you this morning and we thank you for bringing us together but we also want to pray for our brothers and sisters at the parish of the

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Redeemer God as they gather this morning to worship you in spirit and truth

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I pray that that you would be with their leadership God I pray that you would give them wisdom or give them discernment as they speak truth from your word

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Lord I pray for Trey and the other pastors there I pray that that you would just unite their hearts together and unite the hearts of the people

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Lord we pray that you would do a mighty work there Father we pray for their new location

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Lord we know buildings are not what make a church but a church needs a place to meet and and they are getting so close

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God and it is in your timing and we ask that that that location be a be a light be a city set on a hill that the community around them would be constantly reminded of the gospel of Jesus Christ just at the very presence and and and sight of this location and that your name would be proclaimed greatly over the years over the decades and prayerfully over the centuries until you return that that church would be a beacon would be a place for the

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Saints to come and gather and worship you in spirit and truth we thank you in Christ's name amen amen well are y 'all ready to worship you ready you sound like it all right well before we go into our call to worship

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I want us to pray a prayer of adoration if you'd please stand I want to pray a prayer from the valley of vision this is a compilation of Puritan prayers that I've been pondering on this week and and so I ask that as you bow your heads and pray with me that that you would pray these great truths in your heart to God along with me let's bow our head

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Heavenly Father blessed Son eternal

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Spirit we adore you as one being one essence one

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God and three distinct persons for bringing sinners to the knowledge of you and to your kingdom oh father you have loved us and sent

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Jesus to redeem us oh Jesus you have loved us and assumed our nature shed your own blood to wash away our sins brought righteousness to cover our unworthiness

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Oh Holy Spirit you have loved us and entered our hearts and planted their eternal life revealed to us the glories of Jesus three persons and one

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God we bless and praise you for love so unmerited so unspeakable so wondrous so mighty to save the lost and raise us to glory oh father we thank you that in fullness of grace you have given us to Jesus to be his sheep to be his jewel his portion oh

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Jesus we thank you that in fullness of grace you have accepted espoused and bound us

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Oh Holy Spirit we thank you that in fullness of grace you have exhibited

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Jesus as our salvation and planted faith within us subdued our stubborn hearts and made us one with him forever well father you are enthroned to hear my prayers

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Oh Jesus your hand is outstretched to take our petitions the

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Holy Spirit you are willing to help our sickness to show us our need to supply words to pray within us to strengthen us that we faint not in supplication

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Oh try you God who commands the universe you have commanded us to ask for those things that concern your kingdom and our souls

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Oh let us live and pray as those baptized into the three fold name father son and Holy Spirit in Christ's name we pray our call to worship this morning is the 29th

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Psalm this is one of my favorite calls of worship it incites worship in my own heart as we declare as the psalmist declared a scribe to the

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Lord Oh heavenly beings a scribe to the

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Lord the glory do his name the voice of the

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Lord is over the waters the God of glory thunders the voice of the

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Lord is powerful now the voice of the

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Lord flashes forth flames of fire and his temple all cry the

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Lord sets enthroned over the flood may the

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Lord give strength to his people lift up your voices join with the heavens to clearing the waters the

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Savior the sons and the daughters are loved at a price

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Oh, we are the beatings

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Oh, we are, we are downgradings

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The ransoms and the fame

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Giving life at such a price Oh, this is love

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Oh, this is love And when the Father calls us home

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And we see Him on the throne Hear the voices sing as one

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Oh, this is love Oh, this is love

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Oh, we are the people of God with the freedom

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The hope in our hearts, how great is

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The love of the Father One more time

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Oh, we are the people of God with the freedom

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The hope in our hearts, how great is

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The love of the

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Father Lift up your voice and let us sing Oh, praise

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Him in me

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Oh, fill my room with softer glee Oh, praise

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Him, oh, praise Him Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

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We take the pain of the past And we nurture it in our faith

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Praise, praise the

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Father, praise the Son And praise the

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Spirit through Him Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

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We take the pain of the past And we nurture it in our faith

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Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia We take the pain of the past And we nurture it in our faith

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Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

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We take the pain of the past And we nurture it in our faith Holy among the starless

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It was my sin that held Him there

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Until it was accomplished

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His dying breath has brought me nigh

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This day I will not boast in anything

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In this world I know it is not so strong But I will boast in Jesus' resurrection

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Why should I came from His people?

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I can't say

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But this I know with all my heart

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I've paid my ransom Why should

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I came from His people? I cannot give an answer

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But this I know with all my heart

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I've paid my ransom But this

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I know with all my heart

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I've paid my ransom

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He always saved that poor sleeping guy

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Without any dreadful sign

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But ever still vision over me

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My vision, oh Father, we thank you for this time of worship that you've given us.

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God, as we continue to worship you through a time of offering and giving, we just pray that you are honored in this time,

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God. That you prepare our hearts for the word that you have prepared for us this morning, God.

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We thank you, Lord. Praise you, God. In Jesus' name. We'll go ahead and open up your copy of God's Word.

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Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4, as we continue our study through this

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This rich letter from the Apostle Paul to the church in Ephesus and the surrounding cities in that area and ultimately to us today, right?

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Right? For all scripture is for the saints.

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Paul says in Ephesians chapter 4, starting there in verse 1, I therefore, a prisoner for the

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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 and the bond of peace.

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

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

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This is the reading of God's Word. Let's go to Him once again in prayer and ask that we could understand these great truths.

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Dear Heavenly Father, God, you have given us your Word so that we would have everything that we need for life, for godliness.

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God, you teach us of who you are. God, you teach us of who we were and of what you have done to make us what we are today.

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New creations, adopted children, heirs of glory, a people who now have the promised

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Holy Spirit illuminating your truth to our minds.

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God, we know that you are doing a sanctifying work in our hearts and minds and you're doing it at this very moment.

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You are molding us more and more into the image of our glorious Savior, the head of this body.

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You are driving us to obedience to Him. We pray that as we continue to look at the unity that you've called us to guard, that we would be doers of the

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Word, not hearers only, Father. May we be a people that live in, a people that maintain that glorious, perfect unity.

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And this is the unity of a triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That unity that you have brought us into through the blood of Christ and now share with one another.

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Oh, Father, may we honor you in the preaching of the Word today. In Christ's name, amen.

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Well, today we come to the seventh and final part of our sermon titled, There Is No I In One, where we have been looking intently at each of the seven ones there in verses four through six.

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As the Apostle Paul, he builds upon the blessed hope of our foundation.

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This glorious unity of the Spirit that Paul has told us to guard back in verse three.

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That's been the purpose. And it's grounded in one body. The body of Christ, all of the people, all of the church essentially, every saint that's ever been and every saint that ever will be.

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It's grounded in the one Spirit, the Holy Spirit that is the soul of that body that indwells each one of us.

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The one hope, that one hope of glory that each of us share. The one Lord, Jesus Christ the

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King, that He is the head of that body. One faith, that body of truth, this body of doctrine that He's given us in His Word that we rally around, that we get our life and godliness from.

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One baptism, the fact that we have been brought into a spiritual baptism, made new, washed clean.

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And this crescendo of ones, I need to explain that maybe. The musicians in the room get what

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I mean when I use the word crescendo, don't you? It's a musical term. When you're playing a piece of music, you have a piece of music in front of you and you see a crescendo, you gradually begin to play that instrument with greater intensity.

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It begins to build. You start off by playing lightly. We do it in here on Sundays. You hear the song starts off lightly and then the music calls for it to build and it builds and it builds and it builds and each musician begins to play more aggressively and play louder and louder until it reaches this volume and intensity of where it's meant to go.

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And this is a crescendo. And this is essentially what Paul is doing here. It has been building to the climax of these ones all the way here to verse 6.

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One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

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Do you see it? Do you see it building to this point? Paul starts with the

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Holy Spirit, doesn't he? He starts with the Holy Spirit and what has the Holy Spirit done? The Holy Spirit has then led us to the

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Son. The Holy Spirit has revealed the Son to us. And then what has the Son done? He goes directly to the

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Son. The Son has led us to... Who has He led us to? The Father.

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He's led us to the Father. This has been the ultimate goal. This is the foundation of our unity.

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Bringing us into unity with the Triune God and the work that each person of that Trinity is carrying out in our lives, leading us ultimately to the

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Father. Paul reminds us of this unity as he makes his way into chapter 4 and will later go on to tell us how to practically maintain the unity.

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Yet here, before he goes into any of that, before he begins to tell us how to live, what does he do?

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He doesn't start with us. He doesn't start with us. He starts with the objective truth of how a

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Triune God has brought us into this unity. And saints, today, if you are going, oh yeah, pastor,

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I mean, we know this. You've been saying this for weeks now. Maybe we can just kind of move on to maybe some of the more practical things.

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Then you don't know it yet. If that's what you're thinking, then you do not understand what

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Paul is doing here. You do not yet understand in its fullness what

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Paul is trying to build as a foundation because your heart should rejoice at every single stanza of this glorious truth.

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Like the most beautiful song ever composed reaching its crescendo and moving your very soul to rejoice, right?

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When you hear of the Triune God that has brought you into this unity, it awakens you.

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It drives you to worship. This is why we spent seven weeks here.

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And if you truly understand this, you would be gloriously delighted to spend 1 ,000 weeks here.

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There's no reason to move on from here. But we do. So today will be the last of the seven weeks,

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I promise. But it's a matter of the heart. Looking at how the Father thought our salvation, how the

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Son bought it, and how the Spirit wrought it. I gotta be honest, when I was writing that in the notes,

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I felt like a Southern Baptist preacher. That being said, I've got five things

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I want us to see in this text today. And the first one is there is only one

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God and that God is one. There's only one God and that God is one.

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Paul is not only teaching that there is only one God, but he is also emphasizing the fact that God is one, right?

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Many of these Christians in Ephesus that he's writing to in the surrounding areas, they come out of a

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Greek and Roman culture where there's just a plethora of gods. Isn't there? There's a

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God for this. There's a God for that. There's a God to sacrifice and pray to about the weather.

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Another one for war. Another one for crops and agriculture. There's a God for wine.

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There's a God for love. And the list just goes on and on and on. It's funny to me. It's like they don't realize that their gods are so weak they can only handle one thing at a time, right?

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Well, actually they can't handle any of them. That's the problem. That's why they only gave them one task because they weren't able to accomplish any of the others.

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But before we look at this and are tempted to think, well, those stupid backwards archaic people worshipping fake gods, worshipping at the altar of false deities, which, let's be honest, we kind of think that at times, don't we?

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We're educated now. We've moved on from gods. Have we?

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Our modern day culture, I believe, does the exact same thing. I mean, it's in the heart of man to worship, isn't it?

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It's in the very heart of each created man to worship. Man is made in the image of God, and he is a worshipper.

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And in our unrighteousness, we suppress the truth and we worship the creature rather than the creator.

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But we worship something. So instead of the goddess

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Diana or Iris and one of the plethora of gods for each little thing in life that these people worship before Christ, we worship gods like money and liberty, comfort and identity.

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You say, well, Pastor, that's not really the same thing. I get it's idolatry, but it's not really the same thing as worshipping at the altar of some of these other gods.

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Oh, yeah? The proof's in the pudding.

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We even sacrifice our own children at the altar of these gods. Don't we?

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We think about abortion, right? What's the purpose of abortion? Comfort, financial reasons, selfish reasons.

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And I don't even mean just abortion. Look at our culture.

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Most people's children are being raised by others while they sacrifice their own time to those gods.

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And Paul reminds us, as he reminded them, those gods are not God at all. Even though we make sacrifice to the gods of our culture and our time, just as they did, they're no

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God at all, for there is only one God. He is the only one with the power to unite.

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That's the whole purpose of this, right? That's why Paul's pointing this out, isn't it? One God unites, just as one

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God is united. Those other gods create disunity and chaos. While all other cultures worshipped false gods, the people of God have always worshipped the one true

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God. Back in Deuteronomy 6, this is what all of the people of God declared before Christ even came.

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Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. While all of these other nations are worshipping different gods, we worship one true

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God. Turn in your Bibles with me to 1 Corinthians 8. I want us to see the apostle

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Paul pointing this truth out. 1 Corinthians 8, we're going to look at verses 5 and 6.

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See, in this passage, Paul is talking about eating meat offered to idols. This is a dilemma in the church because there's meat that gets offered at the altar of some of these other gods, and then they take that meat that got offered, and then they sell it in the marketplace for much, much cheaper.

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And so some of the Christians are like, oh, man, cheap meat. I'm going to go buy cheap meat. Those gods aren't even real. And then weaker

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Christians are like, oh, no, you can't eat that. That's meat offered to idols. And so their conscience is pricked.

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Paul's talking about this. But in verse 5, he says, For although there may be so -called gods in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords.

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What's he referring to? Well, I think he's referring to, one, whatever we worship. But, two, there are spiritual beings at work here that are trying to undermine the

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Creator. I mean, that's what Satan did, isn't it? Satan wanted to be God himself, and he seeks to undermine

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God. That's what all of these spiritual enemies are doing. But it's anything.

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There are many gods and many lords. Verse 6, Yet for us there is one

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God, the Father, from whom are all things, and for whom we exist.

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Oh, but remember, Paul's not just reminding us and telling us that there is one

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God, but he's also reminding us of the fact that God is one.

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Look at the next part of verse 6. And one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

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What's he saying about Jesus there? He's God. He's saying Jesus is

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God. He's declaring God is one. There is one God. There are many gods and many lords all around that we have the ability to worship and sacrifice at the altar of, but none of them are real.

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None of them can fulfill. None of them are the one true God. But the one true God is also one.

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When Paul says that there is one God, he's obviously referring to the fact that there is one God in three persons.

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God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. You see, when he referred to one spirit early on in our study here in Ephesians, he was referring to God, isn't he?

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The third person of the Godhead. He is referring to God right there. One body, one spirit, the

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Holy Spirit, God. When he referred to one Lord, when there's one

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Lord, one faith, who is he referring to? Jesus. God.

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He's referring to the second person of the Godhead. He's referring to the one God. God is one.

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And though each of the persons of the Godhead have a very distinct role, there's still only one

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God, and that God is one. This may seem fundamental and foundational for you, and it is.

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And it's something we must continue to remind ourselves of, that this is a glorious truth because we worship one

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God. So back in Deuteronomy, when the Israelites were declaring there is one God, what was the meaning there?

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There is a one triune God. One God, three persons.

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The second thing I want us to see in this text is there is one Father of all, but not of all.

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One Father of all, but not of all. Confusing, right? We talked about this at the beginning of our study of this letter, but I think it's important for us to address it again here.

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Many people have misused this passage to espouse this heretical view that God is the

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Father of all people. That God is the Father of all of creation.

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And of course we know that is not true. In one sense, God is the creator.

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Well, we know God is the creator, so in one sense, He is the one that gave us life. He is the potter.

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We are the clay, just as we read earlier on at the beginning of the service. But Jesus said in John chapter 8,

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He said, If God were your Father, you would love me. If God were your

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Father, you would love me. Does everyone love Jesus? I think there's a lot of people out there that would say that they do love

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Jesus, but they've made up some Jesus in their mind that they can love. And that's not the

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Jesus of the Bible. That's not the Jesus that Jesus himself said that he was, otherwise they would not have killed him.

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He would have just been a nice guy that everybody likes because he becomes whatever they want. But that wasn't the case.

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Writer and theologian J .I. Packer said, Father is the

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Christian name of God. You notice that? That's how Jesus refers to him in his earthly ministry.

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And that's one of the reasons that the religious leaders hated him so, right?

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They hated the fact that he would be so sacrilegious to call God his father.

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And then even teaching people how to pray, our Father who art in heaven.

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You can imagine how enraged they were because they knew God was something separate.

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At least they knew that much about God. God is separate from them. And to be honest with you, those that didn't understand who

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Christ was, God wasn't their Father, so it was right for them not to call him Father because he is not Father of all.

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So how is it that we as Christians refer to God as Father?

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Look back with me in Ephesians. Go back to Ephesians and to chapter 1. Let's build on what

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Paul has been saying up to this point. Ephesians chapter 1, starting in verse 3, it says,

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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

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In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons.

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What does it mean to be adopted? To be brought in.

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To be made a son. You weren't a son. He was not your father.

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And now he has made you his son and he is now your father. And how is this accomplished?

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Look at what Paul says. Adopted to himself as sons through Jesus Christ. That's how you were adopted.

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Those who are not in Christ are not children of God. They are enemies of God. They are not able to call him father.

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He may be their creator. He may be their judge. But he is not their father. Because they are in sin.

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And they are under the wrath of God. Look at verse 7. In him we have redemption through his blood.

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Through the blood of Christ we have redemption because we were sinners. Because God was our judge, our creator, we stood guilty before him because of our sin.

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But through the blood of Jesus, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him.

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Things in heaven and things on earth. Notice the all. What does he mean by all things? We talked about it when we got to that text, but it's been a bit.

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I get it. But what is he referring to by all things? Because we see this all here. God is the father of all, but not of all.

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And here he says to unite all things to himself. Does this mean that he's uniting everyone to himself? Does this mean that he has adopted every single created person that has ever existed?

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Is that what Paul's getting at here? Because he says all. All means all, right?

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Of course not. He's only referring to those who come to Christ in faith.

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That's it. That's the all. That's the context, isn't it? You know, what's another word for Christian?

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We see it. I'm going to give you a hint. Paul mentions it right at the greeting of this letter. Saint. To the saints who are in Ephesus.

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Who are faithful in Christ Jesus. So who are the saints? The ones that are faithful in Christ Jesus.

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The ones that have been adopted and brought in as sons and heirs that can call him father. This is why

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Paul's writing this letter, and this is who he's writing the letter to, isn't it? He's not writing to unbelievers.

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Paul, none of Ephesians is to an unbeliever. Other than for further condemnation.

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The letter is written to saints, to those who are in Christ Jesus. So when he says all, to unite all things to him, when he says that he is the father of all, who is he talking about?

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Saints. You see, when we see this word all, we have to understand it in context, don't we?

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As Pastor Jeremiah says, context is king. Not key, but king.

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Context is king. You see, the Greek word for all is pos. There in the

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Greek, this word can be referring to all individuals. It can. And sometimes it does, but more often than not, this word also can be referring to groups of individuals collectively.

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Essentially, some types of all. So a group of us in here, if we are all in Christ, it's the all.

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Does that mean everyone in town? No. This is the all. Not to mention, in the

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Septuagint, it's been made clear at the end of this very verse. We don't see it in our English translation, but there's a

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Greek word, who mean? It's you. It means you at the end, reading all you at the very end of the text.

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Through all and in all, you. Who's the you? The saints.

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So when we remember that Paul is writing to the Jew and Gentile Christians, to the saints, the context is that we are united.

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All of us. All of us are united. Not Jewish Christians over here and Gentile Christians over here.

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All the saints is the entire context of what Paul is saying here. This allows us to understand who that all is that Paul is referring to.

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He is not the father of all mankind. He is the father of the new mankind.

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Those whom he's adopted. Those who he had set his love on before the foundations of the world.

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And redeemed through the Son and sealed by the Spirit.

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And I think that is why Paul writes it in this way. One God and father of all.

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It's as if he's reminding us that we are twice bought. That we as saints are twice bought.

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He didn't have to create us, but he did. The one God of all of creation created you and I from dust.

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He breathed life into us. He gives us life and that's where it ends for most people, isn't it?

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Most people end there. They get the pleasures of this life or whatever this life has to offer with eternal judgment afterwards.

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Oh, but for us, for all of us, we have been twice bought.

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He created us and then he purchased us as children. As sons and heirs of glory.

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For there is one Father of all, but not of all. Only all the saints is who

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Paul is referring to. The third thing I want us to see is there is one

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God over us. There is one God over us.

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Look at the text there in chapter 4. One God, a Father of all, who is over all.

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As God is over all of creation, not a single molecule out of place.

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But remember the context. What is Paul getting at here? He's giving us a foundation of this glorious unity that we are to maintain.

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That we are to guard. Some will read this as the Father over all.

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But I believe that Paul is referring to the triune God as a whole here.

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Look at the entirety of verses 4 on through 6 with me. I want to read it together so you kind of see this.

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

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One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. And now,

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I think Paul is making a switch here. Because he has spoken about the Spirit. He's spoken about the

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Son. And now he's spoken about the Father. And now we come into this new triad. Over all, through all, and in all.

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And I believe this is a reference to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit work as one. Each one has a unique role in this work of redemption.

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In purchasing us, and sealing us, choosing us.

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And we see the sovereignty of God in this. The fact that he is over all is pointing to the sovereign hand of that triune

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God as a whole. This is no longer just speaking of the Father. This is speaking of a triune

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God here. He is over all. Because otherwise, we have

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Jesus and the Holy Spirit being subordinate to the

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Father. And that's just not the case here. We see Jesus in his earthly ministry.

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And now he sits at the right hand of the Father. And he is the king and the ruler over all. So, this must be speaking of a triune

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God. And we see a sovereign hand of God over all. If God is sovereign over all things, and all of the earth, which we know he is.

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How much more is his sovereign hand over all of us, his people? If we've been brought into unity with him.

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If we've been brought into his very body, the body of Christ, as a people for himself.

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If we are a temple being built up into him. A dwelling place for him. How much more is his sovereign hand over each of us?

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And how does that work out practically in our lives? You say, Pastor, okay, I get that theologically.

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But what does that mean for unity? Like, what's the purpose here? Well, think about it.

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When you're wronged by a brother or sister. Which, that's usually what causes disunity, right?

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There's either a perceived wrong or an actual wrong. And it causes us not to maintain the unity of the spirit.

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That's what the purpose of this is, remember? So, if God is over all, if he is sovereign over all.

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Now, we are wronged by a brother or sister. The seed of disunity begins to set in in our hearts.

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In our midst. And we begin to talk about it. And we begin to build sides. And we begin to divide as a church.

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But now we go back to this foundation. The God that unites us is sovereign over even this.

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Oh, wait a second. The God that is sovereign over every molecule of the universe.

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Is sovereign even over this situation. God allowed that to happen to you.

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That just hit hard, didn't it? Have you ever thought of it that way?

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When wrong is done to you, God allowed it. God is not passive, sitting there going,

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I didn't see that one coming. Man, that's going to cause a lot of disunity. I'm going to have to divide churches.

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We'll have two separate churches here. Because they can't be unified anymore. Because I didn't foresee them doing that to them.

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It didn't work like that. God didn't make them wrong you. But God allowed them to wrong you.

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And he could have stopped them at any moment. Because he's sovereign over all. So now, how does this change how we see things?

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If God is the one God over all. And he's over all of us. His children, his people, his body, his building.

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That's being built up as a household of faith for him. A dwelling place for him.

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Who am I, when I am wronged by a brother or sister. Who am I to water and fertilize that seed of disunity.

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Until it sprouts up into division. Who am I? God had purpose in it.

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God has a reason for it. See, that changes things. That makes it to where when

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I'm wronged. I don't have to blame that person. I do not have to look at that person in bitterness.

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I do not have to hold on to it. I can go, God is sovereign over all things. And he allowed this.

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And why did he allow it? For my good and his glory. Because all things work together for the good of those that love him.

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And are called according to his purposes. Wow. How unifying is that?

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That brother or sister may have meant evil for you. It could have been a misunderstanding. But they may have meant evil for you.

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Because we're wicked people, aren't we? I've wronged people in this room. And I meant evil in it.

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Unfortunately, because of my wicked heart and so have you. But God means good with it.

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And he was sovereign over allowing that to happen. That changes things. If God is the

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God, the one God over all, then he is allowing it. Fourth thing

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I want us to see. There's one God through us. There's one

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God over us. There is one God through us. Look at the text. One God and Father of all who is over all and through all.

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Remember, who's the all? All you, saints. He's through us. Is God working through every circumstance in all of the world at this very moment?

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Yes, he is. But Paul is speaking specifically to saints here. How is he working through us?

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He's working through all of us. He's not just working through some of us. He's not just working through the ones that are having their quiet time this week.

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He's working through even those of us that are running from him at the moment. He's still working through us.

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Paul said in Romans, For from him and through him and to him are all things. We are the church, the very body of Christ here on earth and in heaven.

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His great work is being seen through us. He is omniscient, meaning that he can do all things.

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This goes back to the same thing that we said about over all. If God is sovereign, if God is over all things, he is working through all of those things.

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He's working through all of us. That means he can work out that unity that you and I feel is impossible to maintain.

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So when you say, Okay, I get it. God is sovereign. That brother or sister wronged me, or they said something about me.

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This disunity is built and built and built, and it's causing a divide, and I just don't think I can get past it, and I don't think

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I can get over it. Well, guess what? The very power of God is working through you, and he will not allow you to be tempted more than you can handle.

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That doesn't mean he won't give you things that you can't handle more than you can handle. He won't tempt you. He won't allow temptation to come to you.

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He doesn't tempt you, but he won't allow temptation in your life more than you can handle. So that means that you have the power to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace because he's working through us, all of us, not just some of us, all of us.

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This is beautiful, right? This is foundational truth that we can't move past. We have to keep going back to and saying, this is how we carry out the practical.

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We have to know God. We have to know what God is doing, and he's working over us, and he's working through us.

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And lastly, there is one God in us. Look at the text once again.

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One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

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Jesus said in John 14, if anyone loves me, he will keep my words, and my father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

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We will come to him and make our home with him.

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That sovereign God, his omniscient, is in us. He's made a dwelling place within us.

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After all, remember what Paul said about what we, the church, are.

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Flip back to Ephesians 2. I just want you to see it. I want you to be reminded. What are we as a people?

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Ephesians 2, verses 21 and 22. In whom, speaking of us,

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Jew, Gentile, all saints, the whole structure, the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the

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Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God, by the

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Spirit. When you begin to see the church as what it truly is, oh, now the church is something more magnificent than we had ever fathomed.

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The church, and people say, well, the church isn't a building. They're right, it is in a building. It's the people of God being built into a building.

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We are the very dwelling place of God. It's no longer in the temple in Jerusalem where everybody has to travel to go once a year to be in the presence of God.

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No, it's in us, the people of God. The triune God is in us, his people.

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We corporately are a dwelling place, that beautiful temple. And so when we are tempted to not guard, to not maintain the unity of the

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Spirit and the bond of peace, this is where we go back to. We go back to the fact that there is only one

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God and that God is one, a triune God that can carry out all of these perfect things that he has worked out in us.

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There is one Father, but not the Father of all. He made us as children and he is our

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Father. That he is working over us. He's one God over us, through us, and in us as a people.

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This is the foundation. Before we ever move on to all the practical ways we can maintain unity, that's what we go back to, continually.

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This is the power of God in us. This is the foundation of our unity. Amen? Amen. In light of that, let's prepare our hearts to go to the

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Lord's table. As the ordinance of the Lord's Supper has been given to us, as a beautiful...