this evening, Ephesians chapter 1. We've been looking at this passage as Paul recounts some of the spiritual blessings that are ours because we are in Christ. And we're going to be looking at verses 9 through 13 this evening. Take a moment to read it. We'll pray and then we'll get into the message tonight. Verses, verse nine, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, this is the father made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ. both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ, in whom he also trusted after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that you believed you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. Let's bow for prayer. Again, Father, tonight, as we come to your word, we acknowledge our need of you, of your help, both in understanding and relating this truth to our lives. We pray, Lord, that we would not despise, lightly esteem this portion of your word, but it might be precious to us in understanding what it teaches us about you and your working in our world. And so, guide us in the message tonight and use it for your glory, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. So, according to one recent Gallup poll, only 36% of Americans have a positive attitude toward the church. Just a little over a third of Americans view the church positively. There was a Barna study that was entitled, The State of the Church. This particular one was the year 2020. And they examined five trends that are essential in understanding the church's place in America today. And I won't share all five of those with you, but as I was reading over those, a couple of them kind of hit home or caught my attention. One stated that churchgoers are divided on the value of the church. The study states that those who frequent worship services, people who go to church regularly, do so largely because they enjoy it. However, They admit that most people are tired of church as usual. And it said only 17% of church goers say they attend because they have to, and 15% say they do so out of habit. So almost a third of people who go to church aren't doing it because they want to, they're doing it either just because it's just the way they were brought up, it's just what they do, or they feel like they have to go to church and so they get up on Sunday and they go to church. number four in their list of five was church membership, that 60% of baby boomers are church members. Most of us, the older generation today, are baby boomers. Some of you who are in your 80s, upper 80s and 90s, are what is referred to as the greatest generation, I guess, is that the World War II generation? But we who were born after that, your children, grandchildren, well your children anyway, are baby boomers. I think that runs through 1964, I think is when baby boomers, like 40 to 64. And then you got millennials who are the children of baby boomers, and then there's Gen X who are the children of millennials or are coming along, anyway. But they use those terms. So 68% of baby boomers are church members. So most of us in our generation, my generation, we grew up going to church, especially if we were in a Bible-believing, Bible-preaching church. We went to church growing up. We still go to church. We're members of a church. But only 48% of our children join a church. Church membership is in decline. And it doesn't, even among those that go to church regularly, they don't join church. And it was interesting that it stated that some of those who responded to the survey, the younger generations who responded to the survey, some of them were likely to mention not applicable, which simply means that they go to a church that doesn't even practice membership. So, and I think this is one of the trends that we see, it's going to affect how we do church, maybe not us, but our kids, how they do church, because people are not joining church. Many of them are just not seeing church membership as important. People are more prone in the younger generations to not be committed to a particular church. They may have a church that is their primary church, but they're not committed to being there all the time. They may go over here for a service or over there for an activity and be here once in a while. And there's just a change in the way people view church and the way they do church and how they interact with church. Number five was the church's impact on society. Only 27% of the population saw the church as having a positive impact on society. So just a little over a fourth of people in America believe that the church makes any positive difference in our nation. Now, that's America. But what about you tonight? What is your attitude towards the church, towards church generally, towards the church, maybe even towards our local church, I realize tonight I'm preaching to the choir. I understand that. You're here tonight. But for some people, even people in, maybe even in our fundamental churches, that church is a necessary evil. I mean, I don't like it, I don't enjoy it, but I know I'm supposed to go, and so I go. I have to go. We ought to go. God commands us to go. But we shouldn't go simply out of duty. But some people view it that way. Some people would see it as existing for their convenience. How do you view the church? Do you think of the church as, I need a place where I can go, and I can be fed, and I can be ministered to, and people can help me, and it's all about me. And as long as I'm getting something out of it, I'm gonna go. If I don't get anything out of it, or if it's not convenient, I'm not gonna go. Is it a place for community? You know, I need a place to go where I can connect with people. And since I'm a Christian, I want to connect with other Christians, and so the church is a good place to do that. Or, you know, I struggle in life, and I need a support group, and the church is it. Or, you know, I just need a place to serve. And not all of those are wrong as a part of why we do church, why we go to church, why we're committed to the church. None of them should be the primary motivation for going to church. And so as we look at these spiritual blessings that Paul has enumerated in Ephesians chapter 1, we've been looking at six of them, the church is number five. And it's not number five in priority, it's just as the Holy Spirit was directing Paul as he's writing this and he's writing about the blessings, the spiritual blessings that we have in heavenly places in Christ, He begins with the fact that we've been chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, that we've been adopted by Him, that we've been accepted by Him, that we have redemption through Christ, which includes the forgiveness of sins, and we have been just, His grace is lavished upon us. And then He comes to the church. The church is one of the six blessings that Paul tells us about in this passage. The church is a blessing. And so I wanna look at what Paul says about the church tonight and hoping that by doing this, it will help us to maintain a high view of the church and understand the reason for having that view of the church. And so the first thing that we note in this text is the mystery of the church. When Paul says in verse nine, the father has made known unto us the mystery of his will. The mystery, the church is a mystery or was a mystery. A mystery in the Bible is something that cannot be known unless it's revealed. Something that was concealed but is now revealed by God. Something that wasn't clearly known in the Old Testament but now is revealed in the New Testament. And by the way, if you can get me on there, here you go, thank you. Old Testament believers had no concept of the church as we know it. I mean, the Old Testament scriptures do tell us about the salvation of Gentiles. That's there. As a matter of fact, in the Book of Romans, when Paul is talking about the salvation of Gentiles, he quotes a number of Old Testament passages, one right after another, after another, after another, about God's plan to include the Gentiles in the blessings that he gave to Abraham. But the Jewish people, the Old Testament believers, they didn't understand the church as we see it today. They're looking to the end when Messiah is going to come back and establish His kingdom. They're seeing the kingdom, they're not seeing the church. Matter of fact, a lot of times when the prophecies about the coming of Messiah were given through the Old Testament prophets, the prophet would see and would reveal the two comings of Christ, and it's kind of like the mountaintop where the first coming is here and the second coming is here, and they would see the mountaintops, and that's what God revealed to them in the Old Testament. They would see that Jesus is coming, Messiah is coming, but they wouldn't see the big gap between His first coming, when He initially came into the world, what they're seeing is a Messiah who comes into the world and establishes a kingdom. They're seeing the mountaintops. What they're not seeing is the valley, if you will, that exists between the mountaintops, which is the church age, that between His first coming to give His life as a sacrifice for our sins and His second coming to establish His kingdom, there's this gap of time that is the time of the Gentiles, the church age. And it wasn't until God revealed that, that it became known. And so when we read about the mystery of the church, and Paul was the one primarily given the privilege of talking about, declaring the mystery of the church, it's something that the Old Testament believers didn't understand, and God revealed it to New Testament believers, and even they struggled. to lay hold of it. But Paul would write in chapter 3 of this letter to the Ephesians, For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, for you Gentiles, if you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given to me to you, how that by revelation, note that word, he made known unto me the mystery, God revealed to me the mystery, as I wrote afore, in a few words, whereby, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel." Paul says, I understand this because God has made it known unto me. He's revealed it to me, and I'm writing to you to tell you this, that hey, God is doing something in this age, the church, bringing Jew and Gentile together, the church, but it's something that wasn't known before and so it's now known. So the secret's out. That's the title of the message, the secret's out because God has revealed it to us. He's made known the secret, the truth of the church that was hidden in eternity past and so we have the privilege of knowing the secrets of God, the secret about the church. I'm reminded of what Jesus said over and over again to the disciples. In Matthew 13, 10 and 11 the disciples came and asked him the question, why do you speak to the people in parables? And he answered and said unto them, because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not. Hey, the Father is letting you in on some of his secrets. Things that he's not letting the world know, but he's letting you know. And in John 15, 15 Jesus said, henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. But I have called you friends, because all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. I am revealing to you the Father's secrets. because you're my friends. You're not just servants. We're not just telling you what to do and not explaining to you why. We're giving you not only what your task is, what your job is as servants, but we're letting you know why. And we're giving you a revelation about the end of the age and about this age in which we live. We're letting you in on the secrets. And so Paul could write, again, to the Corinthian church, I has not seen or ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him, but he hath revealed them unto us by his spirit. For the spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. So Paul, first of all, when he's talking about the church, he said it was a mystery that God has made known unto us. But notice, secondly, not only is it a mystery, the mystery of the church, but also the destiny of the church. He speaks about the mystery, and you notice the next three words, verse nine, having made unto us the mystery of his will. The church is part of the plan of God. It is in the will of God. It is according to his good pleasure. And here's why I say, as I started it out, we're talking about the attitudes about the church and how we need to have a high attitude about the church. We need to have a high view of the church because the church is God's plan. We don't do this because we want to or because we decided to. We do this because this is what God has determined to do in this age, the church. It's according to his good pleasure. The church exists because God wanted it to. And so Jesus would say to Peter, Matthew 16, 18, upon this rock, I will build my church. and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The church will never cease to exist until the church age is over, until it is raptured out. The church will never cease to exist. Now, individual churches, yes, they come and go, but there will always be the church. There will always be believers who will gather together for fellowship and for worship and for service because it is God's plan and God has determined to build His church and hell will not prevent that from happening. Satan has his people, they're in his kingdom, they're his slaves, but the church storms the gates of hell and rescues people out of Satan's kingdom. The Lord uses the church as his instrument to rescue. He does the rescuing. He's, when we got saved, he translated us out of the kingdom of darkness, out of Satan's kingdom, into the kingdom of his dear son. You got saved, before you got saved, you were a prisoner, you were a slave to Satan, but Jesus delivered you from that and brought you into his kingdom. You're not there anymore. You were behind those gates of hell. But through the church, the Lord stormed those gates and rescued, and he's still rescuing people, and that'll always be true. There's always going to be people being saved. We can always have a positive view of witnessing and preaching the gospel. No, not everybody's gonna get saved, but there are always going to be some who will receive Christ as Savior because that's a promise of Christ in Matthew 16, 18. The gates of hell will not prevail against the church. And that's a promise that we need to claim. And it does seem like, you know, it's harder in America, we've gotten gospel hardened, but yet even in America, God is still saving souls and will continue to do so. Because the church is God's plan. It exists because it's His will. It is His good pleasure. And so Paul would write to the Corinthian church, I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. And he said later on, we are laborers together with God. You're God's husbandry. You're God's building. Paul's acknowledging that the church, even at Corinth, that local church was not the work of Paul and Apollos and Silas and Barnabas. It was the work of God. So again, the church is not the creation of man. There are those that wanna tell us today that religion is something that man has made up. Now, there are man-made religions, but Christianity is the truth of God, and the church is something that God has created, that God has made. So if we despise the church, that is, think little of the church, or we disparage the church, we talk down about the church, really we're despising and disparaging God. because it's not man's thing. It is God's thing. It is God's plan. It is God's purpose. It is God's creation. It was not only according to His good pleasure, but it was according to His purpose, which He purposed in Himself. He determined to create the church And again, whatever God determines will be done. Whatever God decides to do, He will do. And not only is it according to His pleasure and His purpose, but it's also according to His plan. Because it says here in verse 10, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ. But just notice that phrase, in the dispensation of the fullness of times. that were dispensation. It's the word for being a house manager. Joseph was the steward over Potiphar's house. You remember that? And when Potiphar's wife tried to seduce him, he said, you know, I have control over everything in this house. Potiphar's put everything under my control, my management, except you. Joseph is managing Potiphar's affairs. Potiphar doesn't know anything about his affairs because he trusts Joseph to manage them. Well, that's the word that is used here, the word dispensation. It is managing a household, but here it's not a household that he's managing, but God is managing the times, the seasons. What it's telling us is God is managing history. God is stewarding history. All of history is going according to God's plan. And it's all been working towards bringing about, first of all, the church age at just the right time. That's what Paul's saying here. And ultimately, to bring in the kingdom at the right time. What did Paul tell the Galatian church? In the fullness of time, what? God sent forth his son. There was a time in eternity past, the father not only determined that the son would come, he's the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Ever before God created the worlds, he had the plan of salvation. He had planned for his son to be the sacrifice for our sins from before he ever created man. but not only did He have the Son to be the sacrifice for our sins, but the very day in which Christ would be born, the very day in which Christ would die, all of that was planned in eternity past, and everything that's been going on throughout history has been coming to that point, and then the day of Pentecost, when the church began, was according to God's plan, and everything that's happened since then not only in the church but in the world. It's all working towards God's plan. It's all fulfilling God's plan. It's in His purpose. There's a time for everything. There's a time for the church age to end and the millennial kingdom to begin. So it's a reminder when you read that phrase that in the dispensation of the fullness of time, that should encourage us to understand God has been orchestrating history. Everything that's happening has been happening within the plan of God. Now that doesn't mean that God ordained that every evil that's been done be done. All it's saying is God is, all of that, even the evil though, is working to God's purpose. You know, Nebuchadnezzar was part of God's plan. Now Nebuchadnezzar did some things that God didn't want him to do, didn't command him to do. He went beyond what God wanted because of his, because he was a sinner. He was harsh to the people of God. Going beyond that, the Assyrians did, but they were all part of God's plan. That's why God could tell Daniel, hey, there's gonna be these Gentile kingdoms, the Assyrians, and the Babylonians, and the Medo-Persians, and the Greeks, and the Romans, and the Lord could tell Daniel the whole plan of the age because God had already mapped it out. He's stewarding history, truly history is his story. And so in the dispensation of the fullness of times, when the time was right, when the time that God had ordained, the church came into existence. Now, we can argue, or I'm not going to argue with you, we're not going to literally argue, but I know there are, there have been arguments over when did the church begin? Well, I firmly believe the Church began on the day of Pentecost because the Church doesn't exist apart from the Holy Spirit, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The baptism of the Holy Spirit, Paul is very clear, 1 Corinthians chapter 12, is the act of the Spirit whereby he makes us one with Christ and all other believers. And it first occurred on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came. There was no church apart from the coming of the Holy Spirit. Now the seat of the church was there in the apostles, the disciples of Christ, but the church as we know it didn't begin to exist until the day of Pentecost. So in the fullness of times, as God was managing history, the day of Pentecost came just exactly when God wanted it to, the day when the Holy Spirit came. It was a day predetermined by God. And again, it ushered in the church age, and it's gonna continue until the rapture of the church were taken out, then there's the seven years of tribulation, then the thousand year reign of Christ, and then the eternal reign. And so there's the destiny of the church. The church is God's plan. God put it together. God created it. It's all fulfilling his plan. And so then thirdly, tonight as we think about this, there is then the unity of the church. The destiny of the church reminds us that in the dispensation of the fullness of time, that the church began when God determined it, but that he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both of which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him." That's the church exists to reveal God's plan of unity. God's purpose is to unite all things under the authority of Christ. Look later on in this chapter, look at verse 19. This is part of Paul's prayer. And Paul, he's praying that the believers would know the exceeding greatness of God's power to us who believe according to the working of his mighty power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, the same power of God that raised Christ from the dead is available to us. And Paul said, I want you to know that, I want you to understand that. And not only did He raise Him from the dead, but He set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world, but in that which is to come, and put all things under His feet. and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all." Christ is to be the head of all things. He is the head of the church, right? And the church is his body, he is the head, the church is under his authority. But the plan of God, the ultimate managing of history is to bring the world to the point where all of creation is subject to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so if you'll take a moment and keep your finger there in Ephesians 1, go to the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter 15. 1 Corinthians 15, which is the resurrection chapter. And after Paul affirms in verse 20 that Christ is indeed risen from the dead, 1 Corinthians 15 verse 20, he has become the firstfruits of them that slept. Now, what's the significance of the word firstfruits? Do you know? Firstfruits implies what? Well, it was a sacrifice that was offered in the Old Testament. The firstfruits was one of the sacrifices. Yes. That's right. She said it. Yeah, that's what you're trying to say. More fruit, the first, so there's more to follow. He's the firstfruits. He's the first one to rise from the dead. But because he's the firstfruits, there's more coming. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive, but every man in his own order. Christ, again, the firstfruits. Afterwards, the day that our Christ is coming. But notice what he goes on to say, then come at the end. when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God even the Father, when he hath put down all rule, and all authority, and all power. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet, and the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he that hath put all things under his feet, but when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted, which did put all things under him. So there's Christ and everything's under Christ. And then verse 28, when that is done, when all things shall be subdued unto him, then the Son himself will be subject unto him that put all things under him, that is the Father, that God may be all in all. So ultimately it's God the Father over all everything. but it begins with Christ over everything. So the church is the beginning of this unifying of all creation in Jesus Christ under the authority of Jesus Christ. Sin divided mankind. As a matter of fact after the flood man united in his rebellion against God. God said scatter and fill the earth and they said no we're going to stay together. So God had to confound the languages and divide man because whenever man is united together as sinful man it's in a rebellion against God. And the tribulation period, that seven years of tribulation is a time when the world will unite together in rebellion against God. And God will allow a greater degree of rebellion than he has ever allowed in the history of the world that perhaps, well not even with the exception of the time before the flood. The time before the flood is the worst period of rebellion against God since God created man until the tribulation period. And it will far exceed. the wickedness of the world when God destroyed it with a flood. The Lord Jesus said those times are such that the world has never seen what it's going to be like during the tribulation period. Thankfully, we will not be here. But the Lord is gonna put down all rebellion, and he's gonna subject all of creation to his authority. And so we read in Philippians chapter two that after Christ died and was risen from the dead, God highly exalted him and gave him a name which is above every name, that the name of Jesus, every knee should bow. Of things in heaven, of things in earth, of things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord. to the glory of God the Father. All of creation will acknowledge Jesus is Lord. All of creation will come under the authority of Christ. Even those in hell will acknowledge Jesus is Lord. And all of creation will acknowledge that Jesus is Lord. And all of creation is going to be united as it were under the authority of Christ. It's all gonna be subject to Him. Well, the church is a picture of that truth. In the church, God begins to unify things that were separated. and the church needs to live out that unity. You notice in going back to Ephesians chapter one, Paul says in verse 12, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. Now, the we there, those who first trusted in Christ, if you were here when Brother Hartman was here, he stressed this over and over again in his messages, the gospel is to what? The Jew first. That's the we that Paul's talking about in verse 12. We, Jewish people, first trusted in Christ. We were the first ones to trust in Christ. But then, in whom ye also trusted. That's the Gentiles, because the Ephesian church was a Gentile church. There are Jews in the church, but it's in the Gentile part of the world. It's primarily a Gentile church. And he says, we trusted in Christ. You've also trusted in Christ. After you heard the word of truth, you heard the message of the gospel, it was preached to you, and you believed it. you believed on Christ as your Savior and you became part of the body of Christ. So there's now not Jew and Gentile, there's the church. We're all one in Christ and those distinctions of Jew and Gentile have been removed and we're just one in Christ. So when Paul went out to start churches, he didn't start Jewish churches and Gentile churches. Now it's true that in the area where he started the church, if it was predominantly a Gentile area, the church would be made up predominantly of Gentiles. I mean, that's just reasonable. But if there were Jews in that area and they got saved, Paul didn't say, okay, now we're going to have the first Jewish Baptist church of Corinth and the first Gentile Baptist church of Corinth. No, it's just the first church. We're all together because we're all one in Christ. So there's the Jew and then there's the Gentile, but they come together as one in Christ. And so, again, if you'll go to chapter 2, and by the way, this is so neat. If you understand this, what we're talking about here Paul's given us these six truths, six blessings. This is the book about the church. And so he enlarges. I mean, we already noted the fact that he said, I've already told you about the mystery of the church. Well, he's also talking about the unity of the church. And so he says in verse 14 of chapter two, he is our peace who hath made both one and broken down the middle wall partition between us. That is the two are Jew and Gentile. We're no longer two, we're one. He abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, to make in Himself of two one new man, so making peace, and that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you which were far off, that is the Gentiles, and to them that were nigh, that is the Jews. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father." We're all together in this. And so now, therefore, you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you're fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. And the whole building is fitly framed together and growing into a holy temple of the Lord, and you're part of that. You Gentiles are part of that. We Jews are part of that. We're all one in this together. And so this blessing of the church It's a blessing because God gave us the church. It's His creation. It's always going to exist. And it's a living testimony to the fact that Jesus Christ is going to subdue all things to Himself because He subdued us. And He has, in saving us, He has broken, He hasn't removed, but He's broken our rebellion against Him so that we come together as those that love Him and want to serve Him and we are one in Him. So there's not Jewish churches and Gentile churches and black churches and white churches and Hispanic churches, there's churches. Now I understand and And I think this is reasonable. There are language barriers sometimes. If you got a community where everybody speaks Spanish, you're probably gonna have a Spanish church, not because the Hispanics and the non-Hispanics are not one in Christ, but because there's a language barrier. If I were up here preaching in Spanish, most of you couldn't understand what I was saying without an interpreter. And we could have an interpreter, but that has its own challenges too. So understand that sometimes a language might be an issue, But the point we need to understand is we're all one in Christ. And even if sometimes we have to have churches that are different because of language barriers, that doesn't change the fact that we are one in Christ. We're living out the unity of God. And so we are picturing God's purpose not only for this age, but for the ages to come. And by the way, the unity that we have rests on possession of the truth, not profession of the truth. And I want to stress this. This is kind of my last main thought to you tonight, the thing about the unity of the church. Let's understand something. When we talk about the unity of the church, we're not talking about the unity of profession. Paul doesn't say we first I don't know, identified with Christ. We first called ourselves Christians, and you later called yourselves Christians. No, he said, we trusted in Christ. You trusted in Christ. You believed the gospel message. And I say all that because there's a movement, and has been afoot for a while, that we want to unite everybody who says they're a Christian, because we're all one in Christ. We're all Christians, so we all join together. Well, we may all call ourselves Christians, but it matters what you believe. because not everybody that calls himself a Christian is. So when we're talking about we need to live out the unity of the church, and I'm not just talking about living out the unity of the church, it's not just living out the unity that exists within the local church, though I believe in the local church, God works through the local church, and the local church needs to be one in Christ, and everybody needs to be welcome in the church who knows Christ as Savior, regardless of their nationality or whatever, we're one in Christ. But there is a standard, if you will, of that unity. Matter of fact, again, this is great, the way Paul puts all this together. So you go to chapter four of Ephesians. And he's talking about this unity of the church. When He says we are to live out that unity, we are to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called with lowliness and meekness and longsuffering and forbearing one another in love. If we're gonna maintain unity, we're gonna have to put up with one another. We're gonna have to be patient with one another. Because we can get out of sorts and get divided. In churches, that happens. Churches split. People get upset with one another. They get divided over some petty thing and they divide and they split and churches split and eventually they die. And Paul says, no, let's walk with humility with one another, endeavoring, verse three, to keep the unity of the Spirit, the unity that the Spirit of God has produced in the bond of peace. And then Paul describes that unity, there's one body, there really is one church. the body of Christ it meets in local assemblies but there's one church and there's one Holy Spirit and there's one hope of our calling that we're gonna spend eternity with God and there's one Lord Jesus Christ and there's one faith that is not that is the the the doctrines the of the church the doctrine of God has been given to the church and there's one baptism I think the baptism there is the baptism of the Holy Spirit There is one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But Paul lays a foundation. This unity is based on truth. And if you don't believe the truth, you can call yourself a Christian, you can say you're part of the church, but you're not. And I'm not commanded or required to try and maintain unity with you if you are not believing the truth. And so in the book of Jude, Jude writes in verse three of his letter, he says, when I gave all diligence to write unto you the common salvation, I was just gonna write to you about this common salvation that we have, but I realized I needed to write unto you and exhort you to earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints, for that body of truth that's been given to us that now we have the responsibility of maintaining. It's the faith once delivered. and that's the basis of our unity. We can disagree on minor issues and still have unity, but it seems like certainly the one main truth, it's not the only one, but the main truth is that there is only one way of salvation, that is by faith in Christ alone, apart from works. That's the book of Galatians where Paul has to say, you know, there are people come in and we came in and preached the gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone. And then there were others that came in after us and said, no, you also have to do good works in order to go to heaven. And Paul says, that's not the gospel. That's another gospel. That's not the gospel we preach. It's not the gospel we receive from Christ. That's another gospel. And you've got to reject that gospel. No matter what the people who are preaching it say about themselves, no matter how they might identify with God, they are not. They're preaching another gospel that is going to condemn men to hell. Matter of fact, Paul says, let them be accursed. Because in preaching that gospel and causing people to believe that you're saved by faith and works, they're condemning men to hell. Because that's not the gospel. As I was thinking about this truth, I was thinking, you know, sometimes you encounter people and you ask them, are you a savior? Are you gonna go to heaven when you die? And they say, I hope so. And I don't wanna be dogmatic about this, but I think many times, if somebody says, I hope so, that's a pretty good indication that they're not going to heaven. Because when they say, I hope so, they're not resting in Christ. Well, first of all, that's not faith. When it says, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, if faith says, I have believed and therefore I am saved, because that's what God promised in His word. And if I can't say that, if I'm not sure, have I really exercised faith? But most people when they say, I hope so, what they're hoping is I'm good enough, and they're trusting themselves. I hope that I'm doing enough good, that I'm good enough. I hope I prayed the right prayer. I hope I did the right things. I hope my baptism, I hope my church, I hope something that I, it's always what I have done, my hope rests on me. And that's not salvation. Salvation is my hope is in Christ, in Him alone. When Jesus died upon the cross, He did the only work that is necessary for my salvation. He paid for my sin. He suffered my death when He died upon the cross. And God has promised that if I will come admitting my sin and believing that Christ paid for it and trusting in Christ as my Savior, God will forgive my sins and give me eternal life. And I am saved and secure. And as we mentioned, I think it was last Sunday night, and talking about being in Christ, and Romans 8, if any man be in Christ, there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. If I'm in Christ, I can't go to hell unless Christ goes to hell, and he's not going to hell, so I can't go to hell. I'm saved. I'm going to heaven, because I'm in Christ. But it's only those who are in Christ. who are part of the church, and that unity exists for those who are in Christ. And we need to make that distinction. I know we can't always tell if somebody is a professor or a possessor, but we can look at their doctrine, and if they're preaching another gospel, we can't join with him, they're not part of us. if they don't believe in the deity of Christ, if they don't believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ, or the virgin birth of Christ. I was listening to J. Vernon McGee yesterday, and somebody, it was question and answer time, and somebody said, can you be saved and not believe in the virgin birth of Christ? And did anybody hear it? Anybody know what his answer was? Or how would you answer that question? Can you be saved and not believe in the virgin birth of Christ? And the answer is? Actually, it's yes. Okay, now hear me out. This is what he said, and that wasn't supposed to be a trick question, but anyway. A lot of people that get saved don't know about the virgin birth. That was what he said. He said, when I got saved, I didn't know anything about the virgin birth. I just knew the gospel. But he said, if you are saved and you hear that Jesus was born of a virgin, then you will believe it. So once I know that truth, once I hear that truth, I will believe it. But I may not have heard that truth when the gospel was preached to me. They may not have included the virgin birth, but they preach the gospel and it gets saved. But again, the virgin birth is a foundational doctrine. If you know the Bible teaches Jesus was born a virgin and you don't believe that, you're not saved. Or you don't believe that he bodily rose from the dead. Or you don't believe that he was indeed God come in the flesh. Or if you believe that you're saved by works, Those are foundational truths. And so there is a unity. God has been guiding history, first of all, to bring all of history to the point of establishing the church in his time. And the church throughout its history is a picture of the unity that God is going to one day establish in the world when Christ is ahead over all things. And though there will be people in hell and people in heaven, We'll all be under the authority of Christ. We're not all one in the sense that we belong to Christ, but we are all under the same authority, the authority of Christ, and then He will put all things under the authority of the Father, that God the Father may be all in all. That's where we're headed. and the church is simply a picture of what is coming. So, the world might like to be rid of the church, but it'll never happen because it's God's plan for this age. And though churches may come and go, the church will never cease to exist until it's taken out of the rapture. And so, as believers, we must have a high view of the church because it is God's plan. and maintain our connection to the church, because it is God's plan and purpose, and support it with our attendance, and with our service, and with our gifts, because it's not our plan, it's God's plan. It's not our church, it's God's church. It's not about maintaining a human institution, it is about working out the plan of God, what God has ordained. Well, let's stand together for prayer. Our Father, we thank you for the church. What a blessing to have the fellowship of other believers, the encouragement, the friendship, but most of all to share the common bond that we have in Christ. Father, I ask that as a church, that we might learn more how to share that common life that we have in Christ. We have a lot of things in common, some things not in common, but the one thing we definitely have in common is Christ. And may he be the source of our unity and the source of our fellowship together as believers, the source of our encouragement and strength to live the Christian life. May we learn to make much of Christ as a church, we pray. And Lord, if there's someone that's here tonight, or maybe they're watching the live stream or listening to this message in the days ahead, and they're trusting in something other than Christ for salvation, I pray that your Holy Spirit would make it plain to them that they need to trust in Christ alone and that they would put their trust in Christ as Savior. And we ask that in Jesus' name, amen.