“The His-story of Those Who Believe: Part Two” Ephesians 1:12-14

 

Love Made A Way

A Sermon Series on Atonement

“The His-story of Those Who Believe: Part Two”

Ephesians 1:12-14

Introduction

This four-week series looks at four atonement images or metaphors in Scripture: adoption (family), redemption (marketplace), justification (legal), and rescue/victory (conquest). A well-rounded understanding of the ways God has provided our redemption inspires us to live well as redeemed, victorious, free children of God.

III.      The Future (vv. 12-14)

(review) The Past – Blessed, Chosen, Adopted; The Present – Redeemed; Forgiveness, Wisdom, Insight

“. . . 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, . . .”

When Paul says “so that we who were the first to hope in Christ…” – The first to place their faith in Christ were Jesus’ Jewish disciples, then Paul as an apostle (still a Jew) but the church in Ephesus is Gentile, so when he says, “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth. . .” Paul is saying that both Jew and Gentile have the seal of the Holy Spirit; both are equal in standing before God.[1]

The Word of Truth

“when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him,” Our salvation is rooted on the gospel being true and that we have placed our complete belief in it for our salvation. The gospel describes who Jesus is, and what He has done. No one can become a Christian without this ‘word of truth.” Being a Christian is not about a feeling, an emotional outpouring, crying – these things may happen, but the mind (understanding the truth), moves us to respond in faith in Jesus.

There are many who claim to be Christians, but their understanding of reality is rooted in their own preferences, their own ideas about life, their own feelings about what is right and what is wrong – but the word of truth, the gospel is all that really matters. The gospel declares all humanity to be sinners in need of a Savior. The gospel declares that God is love (not in that he tolerates sin), but in His love He completely destroys it.

Our opposition to cults, other religions, is not based on feelings (being a Christian makes me happy, or feel good), but that Christianity is truth and anything else that conflicts with the gospel is false.[2] There are groups that may change your life, but there is only one way to have eternal life.

When Paul writes young Timothy and is instructing him on how to pastor, he tells him to “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” Paul doesn’t tell Timothy to tell people to show up for worship, or to live better lives, but to preach the word.

J. I. Packer once wrote in a preface to the Christian Directory by Richard Baxter, where he describes the church of his day as “egocentric, zany, simplistic, degenerate, half-magic spell non-sense, which is all the world sees when it watches religious tv or looks directly at the professed evangelical community.” Packer went on to say “our how-tos, how to have a wonderful family, better sex, financial success in a Christian way, how to cope with grief, life passages, crises, fears, frustrating relationships, etc…, gives us a formula to be followed by a series of supposedly simple actions on our part, in the manner of painting by numbers.” His premise is that the church of today doesn’t want the truth, or they don’t even want to think, they want easy answers, and a little Bible so they can check the box.

The Word of God, the word of truth, the gospel is two pronged; one side is the teaching and proclamation of the Word, and the other side is how a person responds to it. Some when they hear it come to a realization that they are sinners, repent of their sin, and are saved from the wrath to come. These people start churches, and turn the world upside down. They continue to share what they heard to others. Some when they hear the word of truth, reject it, and try to stop it (Paul was stoned, the early church was persecuted, and even today martyrs die because of their proclamation of the word of truth and its rejection).

It is the Holy Spirit working in a person’s life that enables them to comprehend the word of truth, and their state of separation from God because of their sin, who Jesus is and His work upon the cross and the “draws them” to salvation. God has given us His Word, and the Holy Spirit uses that Word to move in a person’s heart to cry out for salvation, “how can they believe in whom they have not heard?” 1 Corinthians 12:3 “. . . no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.”[3]

We hear the Word of God, We Believe the Word of God,

and We Hope In the Word of God.

An Inheritance (guaranteed redemption) Sealed with the Holy Spirit

As a means of guaranteeing His promises to those who have received Jesus Christ, God has sealed [them] in Him with the Holy Spirit. Every believer is given the very Holy Spirit of God the moments he trusts in Christ. It is not a separate event (as in you place your faith in Christ, and then later are sealed. No, the two events happen simultaneously).[4] He is there to empower us for ministry, and function through the gifts He has given us.  The Holy Spirit is our Helper and Advocate.  He protects us and encourages  He also guarantees our inheritance (see v. 11) in Jesus Christ.

The sealing of which Paul speaks here refers to an official mark of identification that was placed on a letter, contract, or other important document. The seal usually was made from hot wax, which was placed on the document and then impressed with a signet ring. The document was thereby officially identified with and under the authority of the person to whom the signet belonged.

The Seal of The Holy Spirit

M. Lloyd-Jones said regarding the church’s inability to understand the sealing of the Holy Spirit, “It is one of the most vital of all the New Testament doctrines with respect to revival and reawakening in the Christian Church.”[5]

Our Inheritance of Salvation is Secure[6]

In ancient times the seal of a king, prince, or noble represented security. When Daniel was thrown into the Lion’s Den, King Darius placed his seal over the entrance “so that nothing might be changed in regard to Daniel” ( 6:7). No one can change our salvation, not even ourselves through sin.

Jesus’ tomb was secured with a wax and seal, Matthew 27:66 “So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.” No one was allowed to open it, upon penalty of death by the Roman government.

In the book of Revelation 6:9-10 it is discussing Jesus and him being worthy to open a scroll set apart for the end of time, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” So a seal secures something, to be opened at a designated time, by the proper person, and that security is only as powerful as the one whom the seal represents. Today, no contract is complete until both parties sign the dotted line. The Holy Spirit in the life of the believer is God’s signature of promise.

Jesus even prayed in His High Priestly Prayer, for those who would choose to follow Him, John 17:11 “Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, . . .” The Holy Spirit keeps us, secures us as the Fathers’.

Our Salvation is Authentic (a certificate of authenticity)

When God gives us His Holy Spirit at conversion, it is as if he stamps us with a permanent seal that reads, “God’s own for eternity.” Out on the plains cattle ranchers would brand their cattle (permanent) so that they could not be stolen and so they could easily be identified.[7]

The Seal of the Holy Spirit Gives Believers Authority

When the Holy Spirit seals believers, He marks them as God’s divine children, who from that moment on entirely and eternally belong to Him. As God’s children there are expectations for them to do, the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives gives them the authority to do those things.

“When Christians are sealed with the Holy Spirit they are delegated to proclaim, teach, minister, and defend God’s Word and His gospel with the Lord’s own authority.”[8]

In John 6:27 (turn there) those that Jesus had fed the day before approach Jesus asking for proof that Jesus was the Messiah, and Jesus responds, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” Jesus by saying that God the Father has “set his seal” upon him is saying “God has made it clear that I am His Son, that I, the Son of Man, am the Son of God in that He has sealed me, has given me authority, has authenticated my claims, has established my ministry, and has anointed me as the Messiah.”

Children of God Have the Authority to Speak on His Behalf;

Make Sure You Get the Message Right.

2 Timothy 2:15 “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”

The Believer’s Inheritance Is Guarantied

“(v. 14) who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

The purpose of Paul’s teaching about the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives is so that we can be grounded, unmovable, established, steadfast in our daily lives. God has plans and work for us to do. His presence keeps us grounded and moving forward until the work is complete. We can keep moving forward because we have a promise from God. (v. 14) “guarantee,” It is a promise of something that is to come, like an engagement ring, a down payment, God’s first installment of what is to come, is the presence of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life.

God’s presence in our lives today, is but a “down payment” (a portion of the whole[9]) of what is to come in our future. The Holy Spirit’s presence today is the guarantee (the promise) that more is to come later. Our inheritance (our redemption in eternity and a full relationship with God) is guaranteed by the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

This fills us with encouragement, and emboldens us to keep pressing onward. This sealing of the Spirit tells us two things about heaven; 1) We will experience God more fully than we do today and 2) we will be free from sin so that we will become like Him. Right now we know God and are known by Him, but in eternity it will be so much better, and while today we are growing in righteousness (turning from sin), in eternity we will be completely freed from it. 1 Corinthians 13:12 “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”

When something in the future was so certain that it could not possible fail to happen, the Greeks would often speak of it as if it had already occurred. (aorist passive indicative) Our every conceivable need is met by God’s gracious provision in accordance with His divine promises. We are promised peace, love, grace, wisdom, eternal life, joy, victory, strength, guidance, power, mercy, forgiveness, righteousness, truth, fellowship with God, spiritual discernment, heaven, eternal riches, glory – those and every other good thing that come from God.

Even with all these promises and blessings from God, they are not the ultimate goal of our salvation. Man is redeemed for the purpose of restoring the divine image marred by sin, “to the praise of his glory.” Because God’s intention in creating men was that they should bear the divine image, salvation’s goal is creation’s goal – to redeem back all of creation (including mankind) so that God receives the glory that is due Him. We bear His image so that we may reflect His glory.

So in this opening chapter of Ephesians Paul uses three ways to think about our salvation, in the past (chosen before the foundation of the world), in the present where were are saved but also need to work out our salvation (there are things we need to learn and grow in our relationship with God, sanctification) so we have forgiveness and wisdom and insight, and the future (where we will be complete, perfectly existing as God originally designed humans to be) – to perfectly bear His image. All of creation will be restored.

Jude closes his letter with, “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”

Invitation

• It all comes down to do you have a relationship with Jesus.

1. The Past (Blessed, Chosen, Adoption)
2. The Present (Redemption; Forgiveness, Wisdom & Insight)
3. The Future (Inheritance; Sealed; security, authenticity, ownership, authority)

_________________

[1] “They were first called Christians at Antioch.” Acts 11:26

[2] D. M. Lloyd-Jones, God’s Ultimate Purpose, An Exposition of Ephesians 1:1 to 23 (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Baker Book House, 1978) 233.

[3] See also Ephesians 2:8 – grace/faith is a gift from God.

[4] Peter T. O’Brien, The Pillar New Testament Commentary, The Letter To The Ephesians (Grand Rapids, Michigan; William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999) 119.

[5] Lloyd-Jones, 244.

[6] MacArthur, 35. Security, Authenticity, Ownership, and Authority.

[7] See also Ezekiel 9:4-6.

[8] MacArthur, 36.

[9] J. Armitage Robinson, Commentary on Ephesians, Exposition of the Greek Text (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Kregel Publications, 1979) 36.