SET APART BY & TO GOD (Eph 1:1b)

Ephesians chapter 1 as we enter week 3 of our study through this beautiful, rich epistle.

And I want us again to read the beginning statements, this greeting from Paul here in the first two verses.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus, grace to you and peace from God our

Father and Lord Jesus Christ. This is the reading of God's word.

Father, help us illuminate our hearts and minds, set our focus on you and guard my words.

Well, as we've seen, as we saw last week in the first half of verse 1, this greeting, this is an uncommon, common greeting, right?

It's common in the sense that this was the customary way in that day in which someone would write a letter.

They would identify themselves as the author of that letter at the onset of that letter so that the reader knew, hey, this is worth reading.

This is from so -and -so or this is something I can disregard or not take quite as seriously,

I guess, depending on who writes it. So this was a common greeting, however uncommon in that this letter and all of the letters that we see in Scripture, in particular the

New Testament, but even the books written in the Old Testament, though penned by men, do not originate from said men.

It's very uncommon because they are inspired and breathed out by the Holy Spirit.

We all know that, right? And we saw last week in detail what that means and why that is the case.

But it's simply meaning that the words of these letters are comprehensively authoritative, completely and thoroughly authoritative and should be read and obeyed as such.

Amen? Amen? These are not the Apostle Paul's words here in Ephesians.

They are the Holy Spirit speaking through the Apostle Paul. And that's why when we read them and we read other epistles and we read other letters, we see personality coming out in them.

We see passion. We see the humanity of the individual penning the letter, yet it is coming from a position of ultimate authority.

And if this is true, and it is, then these next few words of this greeting identifying the intended recipients of this letter carry in them some of the most encouraging, some of the most affirming, life -changing, motivating affirmations of identity in all of Scripture.

To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus.

Now you may be thinking in your mind right now, hold on, yeah, that's a great greeting,

Pastor. Don't you think maybe you're hyping it up a little bit like one of the greatest in all of Scripture? Absolutely not.

You may think, well, maybe we need to get into the meat of the letter. Maybe that'll give us a little bit more richness. Absolutely not.

If anything, I'm under -hyping this phrase from the Apostle Paul, and ultimately from the

Holy Spirit. Because remember, these words are absolutely true. Not only are they true, they are presented with precision.

And done so with depth that the most lofty thinking, well -read, pious theologian could drown in them.

Here's the thing, and I think that most people don't get this until you start really diving into Scripture. We could preach every single week for the next, let's say, six years on this phrase alone and still not mine it dry of its riches.

Amen? Do you understand the weight of what that means? If these words are inspired by the

Holy Spirit, then even in the most seemingly benign phrase, there is more depth than we can even begin to comprehend with our small, finite mind.

However, I will spare you the six years, and I will condense it down to three points today.

How's that for compromise, right? It's not exactly meeting in the middle, but I get it.

And the three things that I want us to see in this small phrase, in this greeting identifying the listeners, is number one, the intended audience of this great truth.

And then I'm going to show us the position of that audience, and lastly, the fruit of that audience.

So let's look at that first one, the intended audience of this great truth. Look at our passage. The second half of verse one.

To the saints who are in Ephesus. Now, if you stuck around with us last week during the sermon

Q &A, we typically do that every week after our Quintinia Feast. If you stuck around with us last week, you might recall that I briefly addressed some textual criticism surrounding this section.

Being that, there is some question as to whether or not this letter was truly written to the

Ephesian church or not. And the reason for that is, is that the earliest manuscripts, that is, being the earliest copies of the

Greek for these letters, are actually blank here. It's very interesting.

When you see the earliest manuscripts, they read something like this. It reads, to the saints who are in blank, and are faithful in Christ Jesus.

There's nothing there. It's interesting. And the ones that aren't blank are actually addressed to other surrounding cities near Ephesus.

Interesting, huh? So how did we end up with this translation of Ephesus? Now, you might be thinking, if you're astute enough, and you've caught on, and you're trekking with what

I've been saying so far, you might be saying, wait a second, Pastor. Didn't you just say that every word of this is precise?

And now you're saying that the earliest manuscripts are missing something. Well, I stand by my statement.

They're absolutely precise in the original text. The original text is what's inspired.

But when it comes to copies, mistakes are made. They're seldom in Scripture, but they happen.

We have mistakes in the copies of the Greek. And that is why

I believe that the Holy Spirit preserved so many copies. And bear with me here.

This allows scholars to compile all of these copies in order to confirm that precision.

Where one copy has a mistake, hundreds of others are consistent. It is unbelievable how consistent these are.

It's mind -blowing. Scholars have studied them for centuries now, thinking, how are they so precise?

How did these men copy this by hand and obtain such precision? It's amazing how

God orchestrated all of this, because, as a matter of fact, this process gives us even more surety of Scripture's legitimacy.

People will bring out that argument and they'll say, well, how do you guys know that your copy of God's Word is accurate?

You've got all these copies. But when you start to dive into this textual criticism, which is what they talk about, you realize that this is better than if we had one single source.

Because if you had one single source, somebody could have made a mistake in that one single source, and we would never know it.

But since there's thousands of them, we can compare them.

Does that make sense? So stand affirmed in Scripture and the legitimacy of Scripture.

Now, however, saying all of that about this textual criticism, I don't personally believe that the absence of Ephesians to the

Ephesians in the earliest manuscripts is a mistake. Some would affirm it as a mistake, but I don't believe so.

I believe it's actually left blank because this letter was originally addressed to the church in Ephesus with the intent of being circulated to all the churches within that region.

This was the purpose. That's why we have blank copies meant to send to the churches.

We actually know of 12 other churches within the Roman province of Asia at that time.

They were limited as to being able to send copies to whatever, but they had a region. And we have 13 churches in total in that region that we know about during this particular time.

And here's the thing. Ephesus is probably more than likely a sort of hub for all of them.

It is one of the more renowned cities, more people, probably because it was the most established.

I would say quite possibly the most mature of the bunch, being that the

Apostle Paul himself spent more time there than anywhere else. Did you realize that?

The Apostle Paul spent more time in Ephesus than anywhere. He spent twice as much time in Ephesus than he did in Corinth.

The Apostle Paul had planted himself there. He was there a total of three years and only ended it because of, if you remember, the uproar from the communities and the businessmen in the communities losing business with their idols, creating things for idols that we see at the end of Acts 9, and they run him out.

And that's the only reason he left. Paul loved the church in Ephesus. And you can see the maturity of these saints there in the depth of this letter.

Ephesians is different than some of his other letters that he wrote to churches. Think of the letter he wrote to Philippi, the church there,

Philippians. Think about that book. He's writing to them to stand firm under persecution.

He's writing to them, he's saying, hey, church, you're under persecution, stand firm. Find joy in all circumstances, no matter what's happening.

We see in Colossians, he's writing to combat error and warn of false teachers. But in this letter,

Ephesians, Paul seems to have more freedom. Why is that?

I like what a scholar, Dr. J .A. Robinson, he said on the topic.

He said that it captured Paul's mood when he explained that his mind was now free for one supreme exposition.

Non -controversial, positive, fundamental of the great doctrine of his life.

That doctrine into which he had been advancing year by year under the discipline of his unique circumstances.

The doctrine of unity of mankind in Christ and the purpose of God for the world through the church.

There's a richness in Ephesians. There's a depth.

And I believe that Paul felt like the church in Ephesus was ready for this. They were ready for what he was about to write in this letter.

Not only were they ready for this, they were ready to dispense and help teach these great truths to the surrounding churches.

We see this in how he communicates to the leaders before he departs from that region. As a matter of fact, flip over to the book of Acts with me.

Acts chapter 20. We see Paul's ministry there in Ephesus in that portion.

But Acts chapter 20. I want us to look at verses 27 and 28. You see, at this point,

Paul had been run out by the local surrounding municipalities, the businessmen.

And so he has called the Ephesian elders together and he gave them a charge before he left.

And I want you to see a small portion of that charge. In chapter 20, starting in verse 27, it says,

For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.

Not just the rudimental things. Deep, rich truths. He was able to pour into these elders.

He trusted them. He knew they were ready and he is teaching them the full counsel of God. Look at verse 28.

And now because I poured into you. Think of it in these terms.

So pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the

Holy Spirit has made you overseers. To care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

And roughly six years later, after speaking this to these Ephesian elders, he pens this very letter to them.

He's been gone for six years. Even more maturity and depth is growing in their midst and he writes this letter.

And he writes it with the intent of this letter and its rich truths in which it contains to circulate and to penetrate into the life and hearts of all the churches and individuals who make up those churches.

I think this is possibly why those early copies were blank. And here's the thing.

If it was meant for them, if it was meant for the church in Ephesus and then to be circulated to all the churches in the region and then used to circulate to all the churches throughout the known world at the time.

If that is true, then it's meant for you and I also. Because we're part of the universal church, right?

We have as much communion and connection and unity with the saints of that time as we do each other in this room at the time.

Because we are part of the universal church, this is meant for you and I. We are the recipients of this letter.

We are its intended audience. Now, yes, we can contextualize the original language into the historical context of the

Christians in Ephesus at that time when we should. We should do that in order to better understand what

Paul is saying because language changes and we need to understand all of that. Our English translations,

English is limited. And so we need to dive into that. But make no mistake, Paul also has you in mind as he writes these words.

And why does Paul have you and I in mind? Because the

Holy Spirit has you and I in mind. Remember, Paul may be penning this letter, but this is inspired by the

Holy Spirit. And Paul didn't look down and go, hey, I know Adam.

I'm going to write this letter for Adam. But I tell you who did, the Holy Spirit knew Adam. And these words were being penned by Paul specifically for you and specifically for you and specifically for you and specifically for me.

This is important. I know we know this, guys, but we need to know why we know it, right?

We need to understand the depth of comprehending when we approach Scripture that these words from Paul, from the

Holy Spirit, are for me. And I must obey them as such.

Now, if this is true, and it is, what does this say about us?

What is this saying to us? What is this small phrase here saying about you and I? We actually see something of our position here.

Which leads us to the second thing I want us to see. It's the position of the audience, right?

Look at the passage again. To the saints who were at 12 .5.

You hear it? It was sent to us to the saints.

Now, I know to some of you that that phrase, that word, might not mean as much yet.

Because in our culture, Roman Catholicism has unfortunately hijacked this beautiful declaration of position.

They've turned it into something that must be achieved by works and human exertion.

In their paradigm, very few achieve sainthood. You're familiar with that, right?

I forget all the categories that you have to live up to, but one of them I know is you have to have performed a miracle.

And then you're declared a saint, and then you're canonized forever, and this whole process.

And they've hijacked this phrase. They've turned it into something that we have to work for.

That we have to live up to. Yet, Scripture attests this title to every single believer.

Every single believer. This is what Paul's talking about. As a matter of fact,

Paul uses this word, saints, 39 times in his letters in the New Testament.

And nine of those are in this letter alone. And every single time it is referring to every

Christian. That's how Paul refers to Christians. He never says, hey, Christians. No, he says, hey, saints.

And he's referring to everyone, big or small, weak and strong, new and old.

An infant believer, a new convert, is a saint. An old believer who's mature and near the end of their life is a saint, and everyone in between.

Because this is a title of position that Paul is declaring over us.

Now, I'm going to nerd out here for just a moment. You know me, I like to throw out the original language, get it in your head. You don't have to remember this, but it's probably an easy one to remember.

The word that Paul uses here in the Greek is hagios. How about we all go around calling each other that this week, right?

I greet you, hagios. You want me to? It doesn't quite have the same ring that I probably had back then.

But being hog fans, maybe. No hog fans in here, huh?

Okay, all right. Well, then we definitely don't want to use the word hagios. But see, this is the word that Paul uses when referring to Christians.

We see this particularly later on in Ephesians. Let's flip back to chapter 4. Chapter 4 of Ephesians, verses 11 and 12.

I want you to see a confirmation that this is true. Ephesians 4, starting in verse 11.

You're familiar with this passage. And he gave the apostles, right? These are leaders within the church.

Paul's an apostle. We talked about apostles last week, which, by the way, I was called out in the Q &A. I kept saying 12 apostles.

There's 13 apostles. Paul was the 13th, okay? And so, remember that.

13 apostles. But he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints.

Hagios, that same word. To equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.

Now, is Paul, here in chapter 4, is he referring to some special sect of super -Christians? Ones that have done all of the works required to achieve sainthood?

Well, of course not, because those guys would probably supersede the other positions. Why would they be pouring into these super -Christians?

Well, it doesn't make sense. This phrase is for all believers. This word, hagios, saints, it carries with it, in the

Greek, two connotations. And I want to break those two down. If you're a note -taker, you might want to jot these two down.

Because it has two simultaneous meanings to it. The first one means consecrated.

We probably better understood it as dedicated unto the Lord. Dedicated unto the

Lord. As a matter of fact, this Greek word was actually used, this phrase was actually used in reference to the prostitutes in the pagan temples of that time.

Because they had been consecrated and set apart by their false gods and by their religion.

And so this phrase was used for those particular women. I want to talk about redeeming a phrase.

The Christians said, no, now ours. And that's a beautiful thing, but it carries that same meaning, being set apart.

And the second is, simultaneous with it, taking on the moral character of God.

So you are consecrated, you are dedicated unto God, set apart, and you are taking on the moral character of God.

You are being made more like God. So let's look at these two things.

Consecrated, dedicated, set apart to God, this first one. We call this initial sanctification.

For those of you that have gone through our new member class, we actually talk a little bit about this. We have a category in the working of salvation called sanctification.

And sanctification has these two parts. It's very similar to why we are called saints. But we have initial sanctification.

Over in 1 Corinthians 1, Paul, in his greeting to them, very similar to the greeting here, but slightly different, gives us a little bit of connection to the sanctification and the saints.

He says, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.

He brings some clarity here. You can see why we tie these two things in together. But what does it mean there to be sanctified in Christ?

What does it mean to be set apart? In Colossians 1, if you want to flip over there, jot it down, you're welcome to.

In Colossians 1, in verse 13, Paul says, He has delivered us.

Who's delivered us? God has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved

Son. In whom? In who?

How has he transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son? In whom? In Christ.

I'm just making sure you guys are trekking with me, all right? In whom? In Christ. We have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Redeemed. It means sanctified in Christ. Christ has purchased us.

The moment we're saved, we are sanctified. We are set apart. We are made positionally righteous.

Right? Right? And Paul says later on in Ephesians 1, in verse 4,

Even as he chose us in Christ. Even as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be.

And here's the key. Here's what he's called us to be. And here's what he's given us in Christ.

So that we should be holy and blameless before him. What does that mean?

It means that in the eyes of God, if we are in Christ, we are already holy and blameless.

He has sanctified us. He has set us apart. This is initial sanctification.

This is why we are considered saints. It's not because of any sinlessness of our own.

It has nothing to do with us. It has to do with the fact that we are sinless in Christ.

And it's because of the sinlessness of Christ. And we are now hidden in Christ.

All right. We're going to have that phrase ingrained into our minds once we're done with Ephesians, aren't we?

In Christ. We are hidden in Christ. We see this beautifully pictured in one of the ending chapters.

Chapter 5 of Ephesians. Flip over there. I know we're everywhere today, but I just want us to get our brains wrapped around this concept.

Ephesians chapter 5, starting in verse 25. We see this pictured beautifully.

This is the passage I go to when I'm doing marriage counseling. But know, and I tell you, everyone, if you've sat through that with me, you know that this passage isn't about marriage.

This passage is using the analogy of marriage to point to a better truth.

Okay. So starting in verse 25 of Ephesians 5. Husbands, love your wives.

How should we love our wives? Says, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, laid down his life for her, redeemed her, purchased her, bought her with his own blood.

Verse 26, that he might sanctify her, consecrate her, set her apart, having cleansed her by the washing of the water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be.

What's the purpose of being set apart by Christ? Holy and without blemish.

Right? This is the whole point. To be holy, without blemish, to be perfect.

And when Paul greets the saints, he's obviously not greeting a people, a group of people who have it all together and live out righteously sinless lives.

That's not what Paul's talking about. When he says, hey, to the saints who are in Ephesus, the saints at 12 -5,

Paul's not saying, hey, you have lived it out perfectly. You have achieved sainthood.

That's not the purpose. Because remember, he called the Christians and Corinth saints.

We just read that passage a moment ago. He called the Christians and Corinth saints. And you remember how they were living.

They were a mess. There was sin and acceptance of sin and all kinds of things going on.

But he called them saints nonetheless. It's the exact same word, hagios, the same phrase.

They are set apart. And this is helpful for us to comprehend because, let's face it, do any of us in here live out perfectly righteous lives?

Anyone in here, even one day of their life, fulfilled the law of God to utmost perfection?

Of course not. And neither have I. And here's the thing, neither did

Paul. We are all sinful people, but that's not what it means to be a saint.

A saint is positionally righteous. Positionally righteous through justification by faith in Christ alone.

But remember this word for saints, this hagios, has two connotations that go hand in hand with the first.

And this is where, with this second one, this is where our

Church of Christ friends and neighbors get a little confused, I think. They hear us say that first part, hey, we are saved by faith alone.

We are positionally righteous before God. Christ's blood has saved us and we are eternally secure in that.

They hear us saying this and they think we're saying that that can happen to a person.

And then that person go on living like the devil with zero regard to holy living. And that we're saying that that person is now still going to heaven.

But that is absolutely not what we're saying. That could not be any further from the truth.

I know that in Baptist circles today we've distorted once saved, always saved.

I've talked to people who are like, yeah, my family member over here, they have zero regard for the church.

They don't live like they're cheating on their spouse or this or that. But you know what, they prayed that prayer and they walked down the aisle and were baptized when they were 10.

They're saved. Once saved, always saved. That is a perversion of a great truth that we like to call perseverance of the saints.

Which actually I prefer perseverance of the Holy Spirit. Because it's not our perseverance, it's the perseverance of God within us.

We'll talk about that here in a moment. But that's what they think we're saying. That's what many think and hear.

But that could not be further from the truth. What we are saying is that when this first thing happens, if it truly happens, if you have been made positionally righteous in Christ, if you have been set apart and sanctified in Christ, then this next part will surely follow without question.

They go hand in hand. That's why it's important to identify this great word for saints here.

And that is our second point. Or the second thing that it means is taking on the moral character of God.

Taking on the moral character of God. This is what we refer to now as progressive sanctification.

So we've talked about positionally made righteous. God has set us apart.

He has dedicated us. He has placed us from darkness into light and positionally put us there.

And that is initial sanctification. But the Bible teaches another act that's going on in the

Christian, which is progressive sanctification. It's an ongoing sanctification.

If we have put on the new self, created after the likeness of God, in true righteousness and holiness, as Paul says in chapter 4, then not only are we positionally righteous,

God will mold and form us into conformity to that righteousness. God will mold and conform us into that righteousness.

Because just as Peter, if you remember him quoting Leviticus over in 1

Peter 1, he says, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.

I don't know about you, but that statement takes my breath away and I think I can't live under the weight of that. Initially.

Be holy? Is God as holy? And he drives it even deeper by quoting Leviticus. He says, since it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy.

And then we understand the holiness of God and we know that even on my best day,

I deserve eternal wrath and punishment. Because I am not holy by any means,

I can't live up to it. But yet Peter's telling me that I have to. Now here's the thing, we understand what

Peter is saying. Peter is not contradicting his other teachings and the other teachings of Scripture.

He's not declaring some self -righteous legalism. He's simply stating a fact, the fact that God demands holiness.

But therein lies the good thing that we have already confirmed. We look back and we rest.

Ah, in Christ he made us holy. I am positionally holy.

I am made righteous by the righteousness of Christ. But now, here's the thing.

Now we have a desire for our practice to match our position. If you show me somebody that's prayed the prayer, said they repented of their sins, gone through waters and baptized and become a member of the church, and they're not living out their life as the habit of their life, seeking for their practice to match up with their position, then

I'm going to call their bluff. It doesn't add up. It doesn't match.

And here's the thing, we only have that desire because He is working in us to carry it out, isn't He? Praise God that He's the one working in me to carry out this desire for my practice to live up to it.

Because if left to myself, I'm always turning from my Savior. You know what I'm talking about.

I'm constantly running from Him. And He, like the good shepherd, He comes and finds me and pulls me back in.

We see this mind -blowing paradox best in Hebrews 10. If you want to turn over there or jot this down, but I would like for you to get your eyes on it.

Hebrews 10, verse 14, we see this conflict, this paradox.

Not contradiction, but paradox of this positionally righteous and then being formed in righteousness.

Hebrews 10, verse 14, the writer of Hebrews says, For by a single offering.

What is that offering? What's he talking about? What? Christ. The offering of Christ at the cross.

The perfect spotless Lamb. The one that came to redeem a people for Himself. That perfect offering.

And remember the writer of Hebrews writing to Israelite people that are looking back and they're seeing all of the sacrifices and the ceremonies and all that's going on.

And the writer of Hebrews is constantly pointing them back and being like, Those were just mere signs. Now this was the one single offering.

This was the perfect offering. For by this single, perfect, great, amazing, life -changing offering,

He has perfected. Underline that word, perfected for all time.

And here's where the paradox seems to come into play. Those who are being sanctified.

Do you hear it? Do you see it? Perfected for all time. And nothing can change that position of perfection.

Nothing can move it. Nothing can take it away from you. Jesus doesn't change

His mind. Because He's God. And God doesn't change. And when God makes up His mind, He does it. And He never, ever, ever changes.

And He will not lose you. You are positionally perfected in the eyes of God for all time.

And nothing can change. But for us that are being made perfect positionally, at the same time because of that single offering of Christ to the cross, we are being sanctified.

That active, ongoing work. Being sanctified. Being made more and more into the image of our great and wonderful Savior.

Being made more and more holy. Seeking after righteousness. Seeking after holiness. Pursuing to be like our

Savior. Being made holy experientially. Oh, I long for that, don't you?

I wish it could just happen overnight. I wish I could wake up tomorrow with a perfected body.

My ankles and back don't hurt no more. I don't long for wickedness.

I only long for righteousness. But it's a process.

But in the meantime, I can rest. Because I'm positionally righteous. And this is our position.

We ourselves are part of that already and not yet that we often talk about.

Right? This is already the kingdom of God. Jesus reigns. Jesus is the ruler of all things.

Nothing happens outside of His sovereign will. But He has not yet come in full fruition to make all things new.

We're the same. Already. Not yet.

So we've seen the intended audience of this great truth. We've seen the position of that audience.

Third and lastly, I want us to see the fruit of that audience. Look at our passage again.

To the saints who are at twelve five and are faithful in Christ Jesus.

You see, this is evidence of that progressive sanctification that's happening in our lives.

You see, there are no saints who are not also faithful. It doesn't exist. There's no such thing.

But just like your righteousness, just like my righteousness, that alien righteousness that belongs only to Christ, and He has given it to us, just like that, your faithfulness is not dependent on your fortitude or trustworthiness.

Because let's face it. You and I are often more like pre -crucifixion

Peter. Remember? I don't know the man.

I don't know that man. I don't know this Jesus. Because things were hard.

Let's face it. More often than not, we are not faithful. We're just like Peter was pre -crucifixion.

But here's the thing. God slowly turned pre -crucifixion

Peter into crucified upside down for the sake of the gospel Peter. The Peter that denied

Him three times before the morning came, when he himself needed Him most, when he's being drugged to the cross and tortured and beaten, and he denies

Him, is the same Peter who said, I will not deny You again, my Savior. And I don't even want to be hung on a cross like You because I don't deserve it.

Hang me upside down. And kill me. That's faithfulness.

And he worked it out in Him, didn't he? And He's working it out in me, and He's working it out in you. I might be pre -crucifixion

Peter right now, but oh my God is going to turn me into the willing to die

Peter. Because that's what sanctification is. And that sanctification is working out in our hearts and in our lives consistently.

And that's why we are saints. We're positionally righteous. And we've been made more in the image of our Savior. And in that comes faithfulness.

Because Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5 that He who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it.

Our faithfulness is an outworking of His faithfulness. The only faithfulness that we have is rooted in Him.

Hebrews 10 .23 Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering.

Let us be faithful. Let us stand firm without wavering in this hope for He who promised is faithful.

Titus 1 .2 In hope of eternal life which God who never lies promised before the ages began.

He stands firm. He works in us. You remember

Abraham right? Abraham was faithful to obey God because God had given him faith in God's faithfulness.

You hear that? Abraham was only faithful to God because God had given him faith in God's faithfulness.

Abraham standing there looking, I'm the father of many nations. I'm an old guy.

I don't even have a kid. But God you're bigger than that.

And you have always, always, always been faithful. You have never not been faithful.

And when you say it, you don't lie. I have faith in your faithfulness. I don't have faith in my faithfulness.

Abraham didn't stand and go, You know what God, I'm so glad you picked me because I'm the guy. I'm going to be faithful.

I'm not going to doubt. Because we see that there were times of doubt right? He was human just like us.

But that wasn't what Abraham was doing. That's not what the saints of old did. That's not what any saint that has ever stood.

Any saint understands that my faith is based on the faithfulness of God. Period.

Of course we're not talking about perfect faithfulness. I think we all need to hear that sometimes.

I know I need to hear it. This side of glory there is no perfect faithfulness.

Only the faithfulness of the one that is perfect. However, here's the thing.

We will see a pattern of faithfulness. Sometimes, I know some people.

Their conscience is pricked and they see their own sin. And they're questioning their salvation. And they hear a word like progressive sanctification.

And here's how they see it in their mind. They see a chart. And they see the starting point.

And they see a straight line to the upper end of the corner. And they think that's what we mean by progressive sanctification.

I'm going from this to that. That's unfortunately not how progressive sanctification works out.

How experientially is it? That chart looks more like a heartbeat monitor in my life.

There's ups and downs and ups and downs. But here's the thing. In the progression of it, we are being made more and more in the image of our son.

Over periods of time. And when I say periods of time, sometimes over decades. You see he started at that point.

And maybe you had some ups and you had some downs and ups and downs. But the trajectory is always going upward.

And you'll never achieve perfection in this life. The godliest man that ever lived didn't even come close to the top of that chart.

Until they died. So don't get discouraged. I'm not saying that we're going to live out perfectly.

But there is going to be a pattern. I used to buy into this idea of a carnal

Christian. Does anyone remember that old song that we used to sing?

I don't want to be, I don't want to be a casual Christian. I don't want to live,

I don't want to live a lukewarm life. Anybody ever heard that?

This is me. We used to play it. And we'd sing it and we'd mean it as much as we could from our hearts.

I don't want to be a carnal Christian. Stupid stuff. I used to believe this.

This idea that enticed, someone that's just enticed by the things of the world.

And it's too much to affect them to pursue holy living.

And I believed it. That is until I realized that according to scripture there's no such thing. There's not a category of a lukewarm

Christian. There's a for me.

And there's an against me. And anyone that tries to meander in this area,

Jesus says, I will spew you out. It doesn't exist.

There is no carnal Christian. And, of course, we all have seasons of sin.

But our good and gracious Father is gracious to chase in those that He loves. We may hop that fence and run over and wallow in the mud every once in a while like a dumb sheep thinking we're a pig.

But our good and gracious Shepherd comes over, picks us up, washes us off, and pulls us back every single time.

It's like the person who claims to be a Christian yet forsakes the gathering of the saints on a regular basis.

Is that faithfulness? The person who is hanging on to unrepentant sin, not even seeking to mortify the flesh in their life as the habit of their life, is that faithfulness?

Faithfulness will be evident because we will know them by their fruit. It will be evident in your life.

And my prayer for us as a people, as individuals, and as a church is that we will be able to read these words to the saints who are at 12 -5 and are faithful in Christ Jesus and rejoice in our position because of our

Savior. Amen? Notice that phrase though at the end.

He doesn't end there. He doesn't say to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful. He says faithful in what?

In Christ Jesus. That's our hope. That's our focus. That's what we're always about. This is not about legalism.

This is not about us doing good and being right.

It's about our Savior. Now I have to say, because I'd be foolish to think that everyone in here is a believer, if this isn't you this morning.

If you've heard my words and you realize deep down I'm not a saint and I am certainly not faithful,

I'm not in Christ, I have good news.

There's hope. You're here. You're breathing. God is good.

He is merciful. He is patient. He is kind. He is long -suffering. I encourage you to call on the name of the

Lord. I encourage you to repent. I encourage you to believe and trust in the finished work of the cross, the finished work of our

Savior, Jesus Christ, and trust in the faithfulness of God. That's all you have.

You're either for Him or you're against Him. And He hates all evildoers.

Oh, but He loves His children. He loves us.

I'm grateful for that. The God who promised restoration through His perfect Son back in the garden when our forefather

Adam railed against God and sinned against Him and then God comes in and He promises there in Genesis 3 restoration.

That God made good on that promise because of His faithfulness.

Rest in it. But for those of us who felt the refreshing waters of that reminder of our position in Christ, and make no mistake, those are refreshing waters, and I pray that they were for your soul.

And if you're in that position, then let us celebrate together by going to the Lord's table as we do each week.

We get to see the Word play out before us as we take of these elements and we declare our oneness in Christ by looking back at what

Christ has done with His spilt blood and His body for our behalf, looking around, seeing each other, partaking, declaring their position in Christ with a hope of the future of being delivered because of God's faithfulness and that great feast that we will share together one day when it's not just a small piece of bread and a small cup of wine, but it is an eternal feast.

It is never ending and perfect. And we get to rest in that. So let us pray.

And as we do each week, the elements are up here. Pastor Jeremiah and myself will be up here if you want to pray with us, if you want to talk about anything, if you want intercessory prayer, if you just want to have us pray over you and love on you and talk you through some things, we're here for that.

You're not interrupting us. Please come up to us. But you can come around.

Remember, we go on the outsides, take the elements, and then go back to our seats. You can pray individually, pray as family, pray as a group, take the elements, and then we will come back together and sing and close.