One Hope - THERE'S NO "I" IN ONE, part 3 (Eph 4:4c)

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One Lord - THERE'S NO "I" IN ONE, part 4 (Eph 4:5a)

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Well guys everybody out in the back will come on let's make your way in here and find a seat It's good morning.

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Welcome to church. This is this is what the church has historically done

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They've they've gathered together on the first day of the week To give that day to the Lord To give that day to the to the gathering of the

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Saints as the writer of Hebrews as we mentioned each week Wrote he says not to neglect that gathering that coming together as a people and for the purpose

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Encouraging all each other Encouraging the Saints all the more as we wait for the day of Christ and his return and so I Love this day.

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I hope you do too. I hope you see the great benefit of coming together as a people Everybody feel a little dead this morning

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Everybody awake yet. I take it. I take it. Not everybody's made their way by the coffee cart yet.

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All right Come on this is a glorious time. This is a time of celebration

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Did you did you use up all your celebration for your team yesterday? Oh That was a low blow wasn't it

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No, this is a celebration This is us coming together and I just want to say thank you for being here and welcome to all of you first First I want to welcome all of our covenant members.

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Thank you for all that you do thank you for being a part of this this body of Believers and bringing your gifts and abilities to us and and and as I said last week

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You are loved and and appreciated for for being a part of this body

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But I also want to say welcome to those of you that are guests. Thank you for being with us I hope you're encouraged by this.

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I hope that that you are challenged and edified just as we are each week

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And and also we have a connection card and I would love the chance to be able to pray for you and answer any questions that you may have

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So, please fill one of those out if you don't mind but our prayer is that all of us would grow in the knowledge and love of the

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Triune God and who is that father son and Holy Spirit? Three and one that's who we're here to worship this morning.

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Amen Amen. Well before we start our service this morning, we are going to pray for a local representation of this wonderful body a local body that is gathering this morning as a matter of fact that has

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Borrowed one of our very own today This is goes all the way to Syracuse, Indiana Pastor Jeremiah Has been speaking at a conference there this weekend and they asked him to fill in in the pulpit at their church this morning and Proclaim the

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Word of God to their people and so we thought man What a what a great time for us to pray for these brothers and sisters that are there the pastor that is there

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Tim Bouchon has a Believe he speaks on Eschatology matters,

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I believe that's his YouTube channel and that's how pastor Jeremiah got in touch with him

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But but let's pray for them this morning. Let's pray for their ministry. Let's pray for their elders Let's pray for their people and and also pray for pastor

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Jeremiah as he is there opening the Word of God for them dear Heavenly Father We thank you.

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Thank you for bringing us together this morning Thank you for your grace in our lives and more we we thank you for Churches like Syracuse Baptist Church.

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We thank you for their ministry we thank you for their people those brothers and sisters that we have those those those believers that we are in perfect union with through the indwelling

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Holy Spirit and being in Christ together and and we just we we want them to to know and experience and The great love that we have for them because of your great love for them

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And so we lift them up we pray that you do great things in their midst We pray that that you would use them as salt and light in their community there in Syracuse, Indiana I pray for their pastors

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Their their leaders their elders there. I pray you give them wisdom and the Lord give them encouragement

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God I pray that they would feed the flock. I pray that they would encourage And edify those believers not by their own power and will but by Your word that your word would do the work in the midst of that people and in their hearts

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God I pray for pastor Jeremiah this morning. We miss him greatly This as we are gathering

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He's usually here in our midst, but but you have you have a providentially placed him there today and God We pray that you would speak

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Through your word as he as he lays it out for them. I pray that you would Guard his speech from error or we pray that you would use that that word to go forward and and Renew the minds of your people there

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Grow them as you mold them more and more into the image of your son In Christ's name.

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Amen. Well, we have something special before we start our service we do this

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Fairly regularly around here. I would like to ask Nathan to come on up you guys

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Probably recognize Nathan from being around here for the past few weeks As a matter of fact just what was it two weeks ago get baptized two weeks ago

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We just baptized him right over here. And man, what a what a great time We've been able to get to know each other and he's gone through the whole four -week process of new member class and I see so much fruit in his life a hunger for God's Word a desire for truth and He has he's come and shared the desire to to covenant with us as a people

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And and tie himself and his gifts and his his passion and his love

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To us and in that process as I've mentioned in the new member class is is we are covenanting with him

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To tie our gifts and our abilities and our passions and our love into his life for encouragement and mutual edification and And so you still want to join us, right?

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You haven't changed your mind. All right You haven't changed your mind. Well as we do every time when we come to this process

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If every member of 12 five every covenant member of 12 five if you affirm

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Nathan Being a part of this family and this and this body, please stand in affirmation

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Amen Well, nobody stood in your way. So that's a good sign. You may be seated man,

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Nathan We're we're so excited to see how God uses you. I I know that he's gifted you with very unique giftings that are specific and needed for this particular body and and I am so encouraged to be able to come alongside you and find out what those are and See how

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God uses you in this midst and and just know that we're here with you. We're here for you, right?

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This is a family You just now committed yourself to a pretty hardcore family and if you try and run away from us, we chase you down So don't we?

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Well as we do with every single covenant member is We we commission you with with this.

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This is this I say this every time this is not a gift, right? This is not a gift

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This is a commissioning as if as if you're joining the military and someone's handing you your rifle

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You were being commissioned in to this this this this unit and this is what we're about Here we're about God's Word What does

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God's Word say we commit to it? Amen. And so I know you have a Bible, but this is a beautiful picture

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This is an ESV study Bible It's the exact same one that that we commission every single family and every single member with in this church

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Hold it dear learn it immerse yourself in it That is where you will grow and you're gifting and know how to function in this body.

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Amen It's good to have you on board brother Oh Well, that's always a good time in it it's always encouraging to see family growing

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God bringing people here Specifically even all across the board we have we have people who are retired

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We have people that are right in the midst of their young children and their family and we have college students like Nathan Joining this body

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You know that God's at work when you see that None of us come from the same demographic.

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None of us come from the same background None of us come from the same age group.

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None of us come from the same cultures But all of us come together and our souls rejoice because we're with brothers and sisters because of the indwelling

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Holy Spirit. Amen Amen, well, let's stand for our call to worship as we start off today Our call to worship this morning comes from Jeremiah 14 22 and as I mentioned last week on the screen it is split where The section that I read and then the response of the people

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But it says are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain?

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Or can the heavens give showers? We set our hope on you

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You my God has saved my soul I am yours forever more.

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I won't be moved of this. I'm sure You my

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God has saved my soul When you came in by the end and you are

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Oh By your grace Of your love for me,

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I am free You my

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God You You give to me

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You brought me God has saved my soul.

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I am yours forever More I won't be moved of this.

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I'm sure You my God have saved my soul Amen God has saved our soul.

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Let's go to that saving God The one the only one that can save let's go to him in a prayer of adoration this morning dear

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Heavenly Father We come before you humbly Knowing that you and you alone save God you

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You are the creator of all things that that had a rebellious creature

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And your response to your your plan your purpose was to redeem that creature you had set your love upon us your children before you'd even created this earth and And you had in your counsel and your counsel alone had had planned to save those very people your son

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Carried out that plan by living the life that we could not live Jesus Christ died the death that we deserved

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Purchasing us and then ultimately defeating death His resurrection.

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Oh Now we we stand before you in his righteousness it is imputed to us and dwelt by the

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Holy Spirit the third person of the Godhead in us working in us and when we don't know what to pray when we don't know how to worship you when we

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When our worship falls so short that he is he is Uttering these prayers these these truths this worship that we can't even comprehend

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Yeah, we long to worship you this morning for who you are because you are a great God who saves

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You are the only one worthy of worship Nothing nothing that we bring nothing that we have nothing that we do

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Nothing that we have to offer Nothing that we are But it is you and your glory and your majesty and your your grace and your mercy and your justice and your wrath

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You father you God in totality the triune God and we and we pray all of this and In the glorious person of Jesus Christ because of his righteousness

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Jesus Christ Oh Oh Oh Oh Rock I stand

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And cast a wishful eye to gain its fair share.

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In happy land possessions dine.

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All those wide -expanded plains Shine one eternal day.

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And dark the sun forever reigns

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And scattered night away. By and by and by it slays.

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By and by and by it slays.

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The winds will reach that hell -born shore.

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And sickness, sorrow, pain, and woe

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Are dealt when fear proclaims.

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I am a king forever.

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Thou shalt see my father's face

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And hear his birds of prey. We are bound, we are bound

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For the promised land. We are bound, we are bound

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We are bound for the promised land.

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This morning, scripture reading is going to be from 1 Peter 1, 3 -39.

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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy,

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He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, unfaithful, kept in heaven for you who by God's power and being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

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In this you rejoice, though now for a little while if necessary you have been grieved by various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire may be bound to be a result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

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Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. Though you do not know Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

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I could never ask

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Him for help for my love was poor my

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Savior loves me so He says

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I am fine Christ will hold me fast precious in His own sight

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He will not let my soul fall

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I'm His child bought by Him at such a cost

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He will hold me fast my

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Savior loves me so He will hold me fast

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I swore justice has been satisfied

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He will raise with Him to endless life

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He will hold me fast till I lose

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His sight He will hold me fast

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He will hold me fast for my

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Savior loves me so Praise you

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God that that promise is true. God as we continue this time of worship and giving and offering

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I just pray that you would accept this offering of praise as well

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God. Lord thank you for each family you brought here to worship your name. God I just pray that you are honored in this time together.

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In your name we pray. Y 'all ready to look at God's word?

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Alright, well go ahead and open your copy. Open your copy of God's word to Ephesians chapter 4.

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Ephesians chapter 4 is as we continue to look at each one of these seven unifying declarations of oneness within our seven part sermon entitled

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There is no I in One. Today being part three of this this sermon of oneness.

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Let's read in Ephesians chapter 4 starting in verse 1. The apostle

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Paul says 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

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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 perfect, holy, inspired word.

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Let's go to him now and pray that he would help us understand it. Dear Heavenly Father we come to you once again and we thank you.

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Thank you for your word. We thank you that it is clear. We thank you that we can trust in that word because we can trust in you and you are a

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God who does not lie. God, and you've given us everything that we need for life and godliness right here in these texts breathed out by you inspired by the

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Holy Spirit. My God, we distort them at times. We misunderstand them in our frailty and in our flesh.

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So God, I ask this morning that you be gracious to us in allowing us to see it clearly. God, I pray that these words would penetrate the minds and hearts of us, your children today.

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Lord, that they would be used to mold us more into the image of our Savior.

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As we pray each week that we would leave this place not being hearers of the word only but doers of the word.

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We thank you in Christ's name. Amen. Well, over the past two weeks we've been able to see just how how unified we truly are as Christians, right?

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That it's already here. We're already unified because we're brought into unity with the triune

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God. And Paul had told us there in verse 3 that we just read to maintain, to guard, to protect, to strive for that unity that is already ours.

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The unity of the Spirit. And Paul followed that by telling us that there is but one body.

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One organic, glorious body. With Christ Jesus as the head of that body.

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And what is that body? The church. The church that is us.

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Every saint of all time. All brought together in oneness in this beautiful, singular one body.

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And he follows that by telling us that there is one Spirit. The third person of the

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Godhead. The Holy Spirit. Who is essentially, as we saw last week, the soul of that body.

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And dwelling in each one of us. The one who dwells in each believer unifying that body.

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Unifying the church. Not under a common goal as all other created entities in the universe are.

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Not a common theme or a common purpose. That's not what we're unified under.

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But we're unified in this body, the church, by a person. The Holy Spirit.

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In whom there is only one. Singular.

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And he's tying us together. He's working in us. He's working through us. Together. There's no individualism here, right?

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There's no I and one. We're brought together for a unified, singular purpose.

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You see the distinction? Our goal isn't the purpose. We're being unified by a person. By the person of the

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Holy Spirit for his purpose. For the purpose of the triune God. And a singular purpose.

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And when we understand this, it gives us great encouragement, doesn't it? It does me. It really drives me to live for Christ and live and understand the church for the unification of the church.

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When I see the destruction that so much happens in the church, the disunity that is constantly happening within the life of the church and specifically even against other churches and against each other.

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But we see this and we go, oh man, we already have that unity. We just must guard it. It encourages us to go, the church can be unified.

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After all, we long for that, don't we? We long for this outward evidence of that unity that is already ours to be seen here and now in the visible church.

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We want to see the evidence of it. This is what encourages our souls at times.

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And we should long for this. We should strive for this. We should maintain it as Paul says. We should long for it.

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However, if that is our aim, if that is our hope, if we believe that to be the singular purpose of this one body, the church, then we will be left feeling hopeless.

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I've seen it before. I've seen it in many, many, many Christians. Honestly, I've even seen it in my own life at different times where we study theology.

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We get into theology and we get to this part of theology, ecclesiology, right?

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It's just a big fancy word for the study of the church, which is essentially what we're doing, right? We get to this point when we're studying all of this information and we see what

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God has prescribed in scripture. We see these great truths and it leads us to a greater view of the church here on earth, a lofty view.

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It leads us to this great perspective of the universal church as a whole and the local representation of that universal church.

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Seeing how God works in and through the church, growing in a love for the body.

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When we start digging in, that's what we do. We grow in a love for the body and we should. That's a great thing.

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We should grow in our knowledge of what God has called us to be as a church. And to grow in our love for that.

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Yet, our perpetual idol factory of a heart takes a good thing and makes it an ultimate thing.

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Hear me when I say that. It's a good thing to refine your ecclesiology, your study of the church.

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We do it here. It's a great thing to have a lofty view of the church. But just remember, your propensity as a person in the flesh is to make that good thing an ultimate thing.

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We begin to put our hope in it. And just like all other idols that we place on the throne of our heart, all it ever does is let us down, isn't it?

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You might have experienced this in the past. I have. We see this outward expression of unity working itself out within the church for a season.

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And oh, while that season's going on, our faith is strong, isn't it? Oh, look at what

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God's doing. Look how unified we are. This is awesome. This is great. And I'm strong in my faith.

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And then it's as if God says, oh, child, you're hoping in the wrong thing. As we watch that unity slip through our fingers once again.

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And honestly, that leaves many with their faith shipwrecked.

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If it's a true faith, it's not gone. But your flesh has been affected in a way to where you think it is.

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So in all of this great love and passion for the body, all of this great understanding of the church, all of our theological framework of ecclesiology, we must remember that it is not the church.

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The church is not an end in and of itself. That is not what we're after here.

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What we are doing here today is not the end goal. If it is, that's sad.

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And we're like Paul said to the church in Corinth, we are of all people to be pitied. That's very short sighted of us.

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The outward expression of our unity is not our aim. The outward expression of unity will only be seen and honestly is only lasting when we hope in the purpose in which this body, the church exists to bring about.

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Did you hear me? We can only feel and see this lasting unity when we hope in the purpose in which this body, the church exists to bring about.

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And what is that hope? What is this hope that is lasting?

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What should our aim be? If we're not looking to this, the church, if that's not our goal, if that's not what we're after, outward expression of unity per se, if that's not the end goal, then what is this hope?

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Well, I'm glad you asked. Because that's what we're gonna look at today. Let's see what Paul has to say about it.

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Look back with me at verse four of that text there. Where he says, 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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There is one singular body. There is one singular

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Holy Spirit. And now there is one singular hope.

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So what is this one hope? Is it the church? Is it the hope of unity?

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Is it the hope of everlasting life? Whatever it is,

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Paul says that we've been called to it. Look at it in the text. We've been called, right?

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Just as you were called to the one hope, we've been called to it and that it belongs to that call, right?

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The one hope that belongs to your call. We've been called to this and this belongs to us. So what have we been called to?

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I think that's gonna help us understand what is this one hope. Well, Paul has already mentioned this calling just a couple of verses back.

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The first verse we read a moment ago there in the beginning of chapter four, verse one. Look at it.

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

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And if you were with us back when we came to that text a few weeks ago, I pointed to the fact that in this life, there is an element in which we've been called to suffer.

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We've been called to suffer as Paul is suffering. He says, hey, I'm a prisoner of the Lord for the sake of the

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Lord. I'm suffering. We're called to suffer because that's what Peter said. He said, we suffer because our

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Savior suffered, essentially. However, this is only a temporal outworking of the purpose of that calling.

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In other words, suffering is but a momentary step towards our true calling.

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It's just for the here and now. And what is that true calling? Well, look back to Paul's first prayer in chapter one.

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Flip over to chapter one of Ephesians. You see how I told you the beginning first three chapters are all theology?

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And now that we're getting to some of the practical stuff, we keep jumping back to that theology. We have to have it. That's the foundation, right?

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We're going to look back because Paul's building on all of this, right? So in chapter one, in verse 18 of his prayer, he's praying for the saints.

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And he prays that they would have the eyes of their hearts enlightened, that they may know what is the hope to which he has called you.

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Paul's already laying the groundwork for exactly what he's calling us for and when he's saying one hope, right?

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He's telling us exactly what is the hope, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you.

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Well, here's that hope to which you've been called. And Paul is praying that we would know that hope. And what does he want us to know?

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He says, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints?

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It's a bigger picture here, isn't there? Paul had already been talking about this inheritance.

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Look back at verse 11 of chapter one. In verse 11, he says, in him, in who?

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Christ. He's speaking of Christ. We have obtained an inheritance.

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Here's that inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.

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You see, God has a plan. He always has a plan according to the counsel of his will, not according to our counsel, not anything that we put in, not any input or participation on our part.

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His counsel stands and everything that he does will come about and has called us to something, hasn't he?

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This God who has a plan for this inheritance has called us to something.

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What is that something? What is this something that he's called us to, that he's predestined us for?

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We'll look back at verse nine. Making known to us the mystery of his will.

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Oh, now we kind of get a little bitty, little picture here. His counsel stands and now he's making known to us what that will is according to his purpose.

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It's all his, which he set forth in Christ. And by the way, if you write or highlight in your

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Bibles, every time you come across in Christ, in Ephesians, just highlight it, underline it, circle it, whatever.

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I want you to see just over and over again. This is why this series is called In Christ. This is Paul saying that this plan that God set forth, the mystery of his will that's being revealed is set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, for the end goal.

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What is the end goal? And what does he say? He says to unite all things in him.

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Things in heaven and things on earth. This is so much bigger than just the now and here, right?

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This is so much bigger than just unity in the body and the church at the moment. This is a bigger plan.

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This is a bigger purpose. This inheritance, this calling is us being united with the triune

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God. And though for us who are in Christ, if you are in Christ today, you are positionally united with him.

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Perfectly. Perfectly positionally united with him. And though that's the case, we still await the culmination of that unity that we will only see once we are brought into glory.

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Do you feel it? Even in the greatest moment of outward expressions of unity amongst the body, in the greatest

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Sunday gathering that we have and your heart feels like it's gonna explode in worship to God and you're overwhelmed by the glorious grace of God, that doesn't even scratch the surface of what

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God has planned. Not even close. It's but a drop in the ocean of a taste.

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Do you get that? We're so short -sighted though. That's what we long for. We long for that moment on a

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Sunday. We long for that moment in a Bible study. We long for that moment in our quiet time. And this is why

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Paul's statement, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, back there in chapter four, is tied to the one spirit that he just talked about.

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Okay? Bear with me. Because this is tied to the one spirit because the spirit is what?

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We talked about that over the past few weeks. What is the Holy Spirit doing when he's indwelling in you?

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He is a seal. He is a guarantee of that inheritance.

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Look back at verse 13 and 14 of chapter one. He says, In him, in Christ, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him.

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Okay, hold on there for a second. When you believed in the finished work of the cross, once you had faith in what

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Christ had accomplished to bring about this inheritance for you, once you see that, when you are justified through faith in the perfect life and the substitutionary death and the glorious resurrection of Christ, once you are there, what does he say?

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You're sealed. You were sealed with the promised

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Holy Spirit. For what purpose?

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Look at verse 14. Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory.

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There's that inheritance, right? He's speaking of this great inheritance and we stand positionally in that inheritance.

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It's ours, but we've not yet seen the culmination of it, right?

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You see, the Holy Spirit is the absolute, certain, never failing, perfect down payment of this one singular hope.

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Do you get that? A guarantee. A guarantee of an inheritance that belongs to you in a way that cannot be removed, cannot be taken away, cannot be lost for any reason or any purpose.

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The down payment is already made and God will not walk away from his investment. It's the hope of our inheritance.

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And then Paul says in chapter 2, verse 7, he says, so that in the coming ages, this age and the age to come, he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

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Now, here's the beautiful part. God doesn't just say, hey, church, guess what?

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I'm gonna redeem you. I'm gonna purchase you. I'm gonna give you a down payment of the Holy Spirit, right?

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But you gotta wait till glory to have any taste of it. You're just gonna walk as if it was anything else in the world.

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But he doesn't say that. He says in the ages to come. What's he talking about? He's talking about this age right now.

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We're experiencing that beautiful kindness and grace. Even now, even though it's but a taste, we experience it.

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That is why he's brought us together as a church. When I come into this room or I run into any of you out and about or we go out to dinner or we have something at the house or we talk on the phone, my soul rejoices at the sound of your voice because I get to experience the kindness and grace of God that has given us this beautiful picture of unity and oneness in the church in this age.

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But it's just a taste. It's just a taste.

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And this is certainly a great hope because after all, you and I, as Paul said in Ephesians 2, 12 and 13, should remember that we were at one time separated from Christ.

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Remember, he's talking to Gentile believers in Ephesus. That's you and me, right? We were separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers of the covenant of promise.

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That's what he says. And then he says, having no hope. Right now we have the glorious one hope, but before we had no hope and without God in the world.

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Oh, but now in Christ Jesus, we who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

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Oh, what a glorious truth. We see this great truth over and over again all through scripture.

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As a matter of fact, turn to 1 Peter 1 with me. There's a lot of correlation from Peter's first letter and the letter in Ephesus.

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We see a lot of interesting overlap. In chapter one, I want us to start reading in verse three because I want us to see the totality of scripture drives this.

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This isn't just the letter to the church in Ephesus. This is the grand theme of the entirety of scripture.

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Peter writes in 1 Peter chapter one, there starting in verse three.

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He says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope.

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Our Savior, the one that redeemed us, is living. This hope is living and active within us.

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This living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to, and here's very similar language that we just read, an inheritance.

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Peter's saying the same thing Paul is, isn't he? Coincidental, right? Inspired by the

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Holy Spirit. This is the purpose. To an inheritance. What is it about this inheritance that is imperishable and undefiled and unfading kept in heaven for you?

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It's sitting there ready. It's ready. It's not fading.

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It doesn't corrode like earthly treasure. It's not subject to moth and corrosion.

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It's imperishable. And it's for you. Verse five. Who? By God's power.

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What power? The Holy Spirit working. The power of God are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

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In this you rejoice though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials.

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That was that momentary suffering that I mentioned a moment ago that we're called to suffer on this earth, but that's just momentary.

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That's just for a little while. Grieved by various trials if necessary for a short time.

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Verse seven. So that the tested genuineness of your faith more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

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So he allows us to suffer and we wonder, well, why do we suffer? Like we talked about, why do we suffer?

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Well, our Savior suffered, but we're being molded into the image of our Savior. And when we suffer, we're being put into the fire and all of that dross, all of that imperfection is being burned off and what comes out is pure.

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And that tests the faith and that allows us to see even in each other. Like when we go through trials and difficulty, does it burn away like chaff and wheat?

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Or is it refined like gold? You see the difference? That's the purpose of that.

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But verse eight, though you have not seen him, you love him.

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I don't know when Adam read this text earlier, was your heart just rejoicing? At that moment,

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I just about burst out in tears as I thought of this glorious truth. Though you have not seen him, you love him.

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Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

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Though you have not yet seen him, this is why we hope. We've not yet seen him, but we hope.

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I gotta say this. We do not hope with uncertainty and wishful thinking.

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That's not what that one hope is. That's not the hope that we see in Scripture.

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When Scripture speaks of hope, we can see it in the context. Paul says, you know, hey,

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I hope to come see you. I hope to be able to join you at some point here.

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That's my prayer. That's my desire. Well, that's kind of a, well, it's up to God. We'll see. We'll see what comes about if I get to or I don't get to.

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But when hope is spoken about in this context of Scripture, this is very different.

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It's the same kind of hope we see the psalmist saying when he says, behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him and on those who hope in his steadfast love.

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See the distinction there? They hope in his steadfast love. It's not wishful thinking.

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This hope is certain. Paul said to Titus in his opening letter to Titus, he says, in hope of eternal life, which

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God, who never lies, promised before the ages began.

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There's a certainty here. There's an absolute certainty. The writer of Hebrews in chapter 6 in verses 18 and 19 said, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, it is impossible for God to lie, who have been fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope that set before them.

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We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul. Interesting.

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A sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain.

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This isn't wishful thinking. This is a hope of certainty because this one hope is grounded in a never changing perfect God who cannot lie, cannot change his mind, will not change his mind because his mind and his will are perfect.

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There's no purpose in changing it. God, the father who chose you before the foundations of the world, who loved you, said,

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I love Nathan. Oh, he's not lovable, but I love him and I will get him.

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God, the son who came and paid the blood ransom for me as a substitute to save me from the wrath of God and then

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God, the Holy Spirit, as a guarantee that what he said he will do, he will do.

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Amen? That's right. Clap on that. That's what I'm talking about. Absolutely. What he said he'll do, he'll do as a guarantee, the very person of the

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Holy Spirit as a seal, as a promise. And it is for the purpose of uniting all things to himself, isn't it?

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That's the purpose, isn't it? To unite all things to himself in heaven and on earth.

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And this is where the church comes in. The church is not an end in and of itself.

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That's not its purpose. It is a means that God is using to accomplish this purpose.

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

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We are the church. If you are in Christ, you are in that body.

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We are the church. And our goal, our ultimate goal is not unity.

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It's not. We should maintain it and guard it. That's not our goal.

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Our goal is not even the Great Commission. Pastor what? Right?

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That seems extreme, right? That's what we're called to, right? That's not our ultimate goal.

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That's not the one hope. Even though these things are byproducts and tools being used for the goal.

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Again, let us not be short -sighted here. Our hope is not the here and now. That's not where our hope lies.

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That's not the ultimate goal. That's not what we should set our gaze and our affection and our thoughts and our purposes and our attentions on.

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It's so short -sighted. But we often are, aren't we? We can only see the here and now.

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And we forget this glorious inheritance that awaits us. Our hope, our one hope is so much bigger than the here and now.

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One day, okay? One day, if you are in Christ, you will stand in glory with a body that is made like His glorious, perfect body.

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The body of your Savior that is right now at the right hand of the Father interceding for you.

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Right? And you will stand in glory with Him. There will be no more fight for unity.

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Right? No more fight for unity because there will be no more sin that causes division.

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It will be gone. It will be wiped away. It will be destroyed. Our Savior will even wipe away our tears from the disunity.

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He will wipe away our tears from the brokenness and the death and the corruption that Adam subjected us to.

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And now we are left in this world with war and famine, hunger, death, sickness, separation, brokenness.

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Oh, we forget that, don't we? Our Savior is going to crush all injustice and disunity.

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It will be His footstool and He will destroy it. There will be a new heavens and a new earth.

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The Garden of Eden has nothing on what's getting ready to be displayed, does it? The Garden of Eden even fell short because sin was capable of entering into it.

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Oh, but this is different. There'll be no more

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Adam that is susceptible to self and sin because the true and better Adam, Christ, sets enthroned perfectly and His perfect righteousness holds us in perfect righteousness for eternity.

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Ha! No fear of failing, failure and destruction.

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We will be with Him and we will see Him as He is in all His glory.

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Oh, this, this, this is our one hope. This is the one hope of our calling, isn't it?

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We are bound. We are bound. We are bound for the promised land.

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I think so often in church today we lose sight of that. If you listen to some of the old hymns that I grew up on, and the hymnals you open them up, there's so much about what's coming.

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The saints, they, I think, before us, they had less of the world offered to them and it was a little less enticing.

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There was still sin and destruction, but there was a little less enticement than the world is for us today.

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And so their sights were aimed at that future hope, that one hope of glory.

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And now we have a tendency to forget that. That's why we sang that song this morning.

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We are bound for the promised land as a reminder. Let's quit looking at the here and now so much.

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Yeah, we should guard the unity. Let's maintain the unity of the Spirit. Let's seek to die to flesh.

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Let's seek to, to live as the kingdom of heaven here on earth. After all, it's what Jesus said to pray, right?

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Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Bring it about here. Church, let us not lose sight of this.

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Let us not put our hopes in temporal things because those are temporal hopes. Let us look to the one hope.

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Paul said in Romans chapter eight, for in this hope we are saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope.

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For who hopes in what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

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This one hope, if I were to sum it up, what is this one hope?

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The triune God. He's the one doing it, isn't he?

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He loved us. He purchased us. He sealed us. And we rest in that.

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What a glorious truth. Let's not lose sight of it. Now typically we go to the

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Lord's table at this moment, but I would like to ask some of the group to come back up.

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I want us to sing that song once again as a people, as a response. And as we sing this, this truth, we are bound for the promised land.

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And I want you to think of that glorious, beautiful redemption that has brought you to a hope, a certainty of the coming of that promised land.

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That is coming. And we'll give you great encouragement in the meantime to live for him, knowing that we will experience glory together.

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Amen? Let's stand to sing. Amen. Well, now as we continue our time of worship, let's get...