I Believe in the Holy Spirit Part 2
We Believe: The Apostles Creed • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Ephesians 1:11–14 (Page 1159)
What He does
Today and next week I want to look at two activities the Spirit does in the life of a Christian.
One is a single event with forever effects,
and the other is a repeated event that grows us in our salvation and service to Christ.
Indwelling and the filling of the Spirit
The Indwelling of the Spirit
The Indwelling of the Spirit
Ephesians 1:3–14 is actually a single sentence
that embraces most of the essential doctrines of Christianity.
It deals with the doctrines of
God,
the Trinity,
election,
the work of Christ,
forgiveness,
the gospel,
grace, creation,
the consummation of world history when all things are brought together in subjection to Christ—and others besides.
In this collection of doctrines Paul also talks about the Holy Spirit,
and his elaboration of this subject is even more comprehensive than the ideas presented previously.
What we have in verses 11–14 is a rich statement of the chief doctrines of the Holy Spirit and his work.
Ephesians 1:11–14 “11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
Predestined - Chosen for the Glory of God
Predestined - Chosen for the Glory of God
Ephesians 1:11–14 “11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will
At first reading, this seems to be saying the same thing as verse 4, where Paul wrote that God “chose us in him before the creation of the world.”
That is, it seems to refer to the eternal election of believers to salvation.
But that would be redundant.
Actually, in this verse Paul is carrying the argument a bit further,
Ephesians 1:4–5 “4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,”
When God saves someone through His grace
he planned to before the foundation of the world
(meaning before your were born
and before you heard the Gospel,
before you experienced “becoming a Christian)
and his salvation from sin to full membership in his family
is effective and lasting for eternity
meaning it saves in this life, though this life,
after the end of this life, and forever in the life to come.
We see this in these verses clearly.
God predestined people to be given an inheritance by the work of Christ.
Those who hope in Jesus, Trust Jesus, follow Jesus, praise Jesus are sealed in salvation by the Holy Spirit.
That means our remaining a Christian with authentic saving faith in Jesus is not dependent on the power of our will and ability to sustain ourselves through trial and life, but by the power of the Holy Spirit.
When we looked at planned grace, we see the the threefold harmony of the Trinity.
It’s clear throughout the Scriptures that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
are working together
at all times to sustain our salvation from the beginning to the very end of time.
•The Father plans our salvation to the end:
“He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).
The Son promises to carry out our salvation to the end:
Hebrews 12:2 “2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
The Spirit guarantees our salvation to the end:
(2 Corinthians 1:22 “22 and GOD who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”
Because we were predestined and chosen by God, the Spirit pursues us.
Pursued - Called through the gospel.
Pursued - Called through the gospel.
The first work of the Holy Spirit is what theologians term “the effectual call.” It is what is referred to in verse 11:
Ephesians 1:11 “11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,”
showing how, having first “predestined” to salvation, God now chooses those who have been chosen, thereby working out his purposes in their particular lives.
This is accomplished by the Holy Spirit,
who pursues us and
who opens our eyes to understand what Christ has done for us,
grants faith to believe on him,
and moves our wills to embrace him as our personal Savior.
This effectual call by the Holy Spirit
This call is not universal but particular.
God has chosen his elect in eternity, not on the basis of anything foreseen in them, not even faith.
At the proper time, he calls those whom he has chosen to salvation in his Son, bringing to fulfillment what he decreed from all eternity. Unlike the gospel call, which goes out to all people, the effectual call is specific, taking place within the hearts of God’s elect alone. Like the wind, the Spirit “blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes,” says Jesus in John 3:8, highlighting the sovereignty of God.
Second, not only is this call particular to God’s elect but it is effectual in its power and outcome.
In other words, God’s call of his elect does not fail.
Just as his electing choice in eternity is not conditioned on the will of the sinner,
so too is his special call not dependent on the will of the sinner.
In fact, the sinner’s will is in bondage to sin (e.g., Rom. 8:7-8),
and his engagement with the things of God
is characterized by a spiritual inability.
But when he is effectually called and regenerated by God,
his will is set free so that he can
and will repent and trust in Christ.
Jesus affirms this:
John 6:36–37“36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”
Paul is in agreement:
2 Timothy 1:9 “9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,”
Whom God called us has called he will save us…
Ephesians 1:13 “13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,”
The Spirit is at work in us before we are saved,
and when we are saved we are given the spirit to reside in us.
At salvation we are indwelled, baptised with the presence of God by the spirit.
if you are saved today you have the presence of God in you. You are the temple of God.
This is repeated elsewhere…
2 Corinthians 1:22 “22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”
2 Corinthians 5:5 “5 He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.”
Paul pictured this truth the truth of the Holy Spirits work with the image of a seal,
the imprint on a clump of clay that kept ancient scrolls secure.
“When you believed,” Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13).
A seal in the ancient world implied at least 3-4 realities.
A seal
(1) prevented tampering and thus implied protection on contents and
(2) denoted ownership. Seals also indicated
(3) genuineness or
(4) authenticity.
See Harold Hoehner, Ephesians (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2002), 238.
We are sealed for God’s possession, protection, and proof.
When we are saved we are sealed, baptized filled for the first time with the Holy Spirit and says that …..
Possessed - We are sealed in the family of God.
Possessed - We are sealed in the family of God.
The Holy Spirit is also God’s claim on us that we truly are his possession.
The phrase “possession” is used explicitly in verse 14.
Ephesians 1:14 “14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
So when Paul wrote that God seals us through his Holy Spirit,
he was declaring, first, that we are God’s possession —
and no one steals God’s stuff because
no one can overcome God’s power
or slip undetected past God’s defenses!
That’s what Jesus was getting at when he said,
John 6:39 “39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.”
John 10:27–29 “27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”
If you are God’s possession —
someone who has been transformed by God’s power —
no one, not even you,
can remove you from God’s hand.
If you have authentic saving faith in, hope in Jesus, you are owned and possessed by God, you are His.
He possesses you and every aspect of life.
As member of His kingdom and family
He instructs us, guides us, commands us,
encourages us, and empowers us with a new
life capable of persevering in this life in such a way we are able to have our lives be both effective and fruitful for Him.
We are also protected…
Protected - We are kept in the love of God.
Protected - We are kept in the love of God.
A seal also suggests protection.
You seal a letter so that the recipient knows that it has not been
John 10:26–29“26 but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”
When Jesus said, “They shall never perish” (John 10:28), he reminded us that we can never leave God’s fold.
Death comes from sin,
and since the power of sin has been removed from us,
so has every form of death that lasts past this life. “
Jesus, as emphatically as possible,
states that those to whom he gives eternal life
will never be lost, will never be cast into hell. . . .
This is one of the strongest statements of God’s preservation of his people in the whole Bible,
and it comes from the lips of Jesus, the Savior of the world.”
God’s grace is based on who he is, not on who we are.
His plan is fixed and his hand is steady.
He does not change his mind, he does not get nervous, and he does not hesitate.
When God chose us, he declared,
“These people belong to me.”
There is nothing in the universe strong enough to remove God’s chosen ones from His hands.
Romans 8:38–39 “38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Believers don’t merely enter eternal life when they die;
eternal life enters us when we believe and it can never leave —
if it did leave us, it wouldn’t have been eternal!
This seal of possession and protection provides, according to Paul, an unbreakable promise.
Promised- We are given assurance through the spirit.
Promised- We are given assurance through the spirit.
Ephesians 1:14 “14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
When we trusted Jesus in response to the Spirit’s work of resurrecting grace,
the Holy Spirit became in our lives “a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance
God chose us as his portion and possession (Ephesians 1:11)
and then placed his Spirit within us as “a deposit” —
a down payment or first installment — promising that he will redeem us at the end.
Think about what this means for us:
If anyone who trusts Jesus (“when you believed,” Ephesians 1:13) is lost, that would mean God made a down payment and claimed a property as his own, but then defaulted on his payments. T
That means we would no longer be able to sing, “Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe,”
but “Jesus paid it partly, and it depends on me whether he pays the rest” —
which would drop a bit of a damper not only on our theology but also on our music.
Remember: God’s planning never writes a check his power can’t cash!
Paul made that point clear when he described the faith of Abraham: “He did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God.” And what was the assurance that undergirded Abraham’s belief? He was “fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised” (Romans 4:20 – 21).
Whatever God promises, he possesses the power to do,
and his down payment through the Spirit is his promise that he will finish all that he started.
Philippians 1:6 “6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
Surely at some point he has to realize the mistake he made getting involved with me and will decide he is ready to move on.”
We look at the hard-heartedness and half-heartedness that we offer him
and cannot imagine him—or anyone—hanging in with us,
much less passionately loving us.
We get trapped because we make too much of ourselves and too little of God.
We see the mess and failure of our lives as being too great for anything to reshape them.
And we see the strength of his commitment to us as being too weak to match the self-destructiveness that we carry inside.
God is not surprised that your life doesn’t perfectly reflect his glory.
But he does intend it to. Jesus did not die for the mere possibility that you might end up a little bit better than you used to be.
He died to guarantee that one day you would be pure and perfect, just like him.
One thing stands out throughout Scripture:
everything that God starts,
he finishes.
When he brought you into a relationship with himself,
he first committed himself to finishing the work that he would begin in you (see Phil. 1:6).
His commitment to you not only predates your commitment to him;
it is the foundation upon which your commitment is built (see Eph. 1:4, 11–12).
Be confident then.
One day you will love him just as fully and completely as he loves you.