Ephesians 4:4-6 “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you also were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.”
Pastor Herk continues that the ritual of “water baptism” is an outward expression of an inward change that has taken place in our lives after we have placed our faith and trust in Christ.
John 3:16-18, 35-36 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. The one who believes in Him is not judged; the one who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. The Father loves the Son and has entrusted all things to His hand. The one who believes in the Son has eternal life; but the one who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
Thirdly, there is one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. There is unity in the body of Believers that is brought about through the work of the Holy Spirit. That body of Believers came into existence through the work of the Son because it flows from the Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. We live in a fallen world due to sin. Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Sin is defined as: the voluntary departure of a moral agent from a known rule of rectitude or duty, prescribed by God; any voluntary transgression of the divine law, or violation of a divine command; a wicked act; iniquity. Sin is either a positive act in which a known divine law is violated, or it is the voluntary neglect to obey a positive divine command, or a rule of duty clearly implied in such command. Sin comprehends not action only, but neglect of known duty, all evil thoughts purposes, words and desires, whatever is contrary to God's commands or law.
This means that due to original sin and the sin nature in all that causes us all to continue to sin, everyone will pay the wages of sin by death in this life and eternal damnation in Hell, unless they individually believe that God exists, repents of sin, believes by faith that merciful God by grace alone sent Jesus Christ alone as a free gift to die on the Cross in their place for the payment of sin in full, and that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day to conquer sin and death forever in God’s plan of Salvation.
Unfortunately, many are saying that since He is “God of all”, so everyone is a child of God. There are the same people that claim there are many roads to reach God, and it doesn’t rather which road you take, as long as you are sincere. They are sincerely wrong. But, to believe that claim, everyone would have to ignore and reject everything written in the Bible about God’s Plan and Way to Salvation. Jesus Christ is Plan “A”, and there isn’t a Plan “B”. It is not surprising that God didn’t provide many paths to Salvation. What is amazing is that sovereign God provided any path at all.
John 1:11-13 says that in Christ’s redemption road from Heaven to Earth in God’s plan of Salvation, He came to His own, and His own people did not accept Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God. When the Apostle Paul writes that there is one God of all, he is clearly saying that this is only true within the context of “as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God”, which are born again Believers in Christ, also known as the Christian church.
In Matthew 16:15-18 Jesus asked, “But who do you yourselves say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, ,,, “upon this rock [this Truth of Who I am] I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” And true Believers are to be unified because they have the same Heavenly Father. In Galatians 3:26-28 the Apostle Paul confirms, “For you are all sons and daughters of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
The Christian church focuses far too much on our differences. But, do they all believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that came from Heaven to earth to go to the Cross, died for our sins and rose on the third day? And then we have the promise of eternal life through the Holy Spirit? Focusing on differences is a distraction that destroys the unity that God has established among His children. The enemy says: “divide and conquer”, so focus on what the Christian church has in common as the unified Good Shepherd’s flock. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are in unity, as are the children of God flocking together. If we are to be a part of God’s family, then we are to follow God’s holy Word, Will and Way as our example. Focus on the things that unite us rather than the things that divide us.
In Christ, Brian
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