Blessed in the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:11–14)

Series: Ephesians: Building the ChurchText: Ephesians 1:11–14

By: Shaun Marksbury Date: January 8, 2023

Venue: Living Water Baptist ChurchOccasion: PM Service

Introduction

We traverse a wicked world each week. The flesh in which we dwell produces sinful impulses that war against the ways of God. Society draws us down as those around us, even those close to us, encourage and applaud sin. The enemy of our souls, the devil, alternately tempts us and accuses us when we fail, causing us to feel ineffective for God. By the time we reach Sunday, we might wonder if God even wants to keep His promises concerning us.

That’s what makes the preaching of the Word so important in our lives. We may question what God has for us now and in the future, but Scripture like this passage gives us great hope in the Lord. Just as Abraham believed God, we should be “fully assured that what God had promised, He [is] able also to perform” (Rom. 4:21). It is only in God that we can “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (Heb. 10:23). We receive such confidence in this passage.

This passage comes at the end of that long sentence in the Greek. If you recall, this sentence is a eulogy, a doxology even, a statement of praise. This praise begins in v. 3, which reads, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” These blessings God has given us in Christ encourage our confidence in Him, prompting our praise as a result, and they continue in these verses.

Consider again some of those blessings. As we looked at vv. 3–6, we saw that God the Father choose us before the foundation of the world — before we did right or wrong — predestining to freely bless us with His grace. In vv. 7–10, we saw that Jesus blessed us by redeeming us from our sins, revealing His will to us to sum up everything in Him in the end. We’ve seen God the Father and God the Son blessing us in these previous verses, leaving us with expectation of what comes next in this passage.

So, vv. 11–14 record the blessings of the Holy Spirit. We’ll see this as part of God’s building of the church, first coming to the Jews and then the Gentiles, which is why the spiritual blessings will apply personally to all Christians today. We are going to learn about the root of the Spirit’s blessing (vv. 11–13a), the report of His blessing (vv. 13b–14a), and the result of His blessing (v. 14b).

The Root of the Spirit’s Blessing (vv. 11–13a)

Before we can talk about how the Holy Spirit is a blessing, we need to consider the ground or root of His blessings. So, we first consider an interplay of ideas you’ve probably wondered about before — how do faith and election work together? We see the importance of personal faith later in this letter, when Paul writes, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Eph 2:8). God saves us through faith, but we see that even faith is a gift from the Lord. Likewise, here, we read that God works because of His divine election (vv. 11–12) and through our faith and hearing (v. 13a).

God Works Because of His Divine Election (vv. 11–12)

also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.

Consider this interesting blessing we receive in Christ — inheritance. Now, typically, we think of inheritance as something we gain from the death of another, and it would be easy to think of that with the death of Christ. However, that is not what is meant here.

“Inheritance” is an interesting word in the Greek. It means that we have been appointed something, an allotment. Now, that means there is something sovereign at play, as in we were elected to receive this, which is why the NIV translates it, “In him we were also chosen.” The word means that Christians have been chosen by God to receive this allotment or inheritance.

A better word might be that we were chosen to be a heritage. This is how God speaks of His people in the Old Testament. God delivered the Hebrews from Egypt so they would “be a people for His own possession” (Deut. 4:20; cf. 9:29; 32:9). They were identified with God, in other words — they were God’s people. We shouldn’t be surprised that the New Testament would use the same language for the people of God, those for whom Jesus died to purchase.

The inheritance is God’s. As such, v. 14 says that this inheritance is “God’s own possession.” Yet, because Christians are the sons and daughters of God, this means that we enjoy the resources of God as heirs according to the promise. Of the treasured blessing of such a heritage, Paul prays here in v. 18 that the reader would know “the riches of the glory of [God’s] inheritance.” So, even though we are God’s heritage, we should still see this as a way of blessing us.

We can’t describe the inheritance in which God chooses us to partake. The best we can say is that it must include the life we’ll enjoy with God in the eternal state. One day, we will be changed, transformed from one form of glory into another, and we will then be free from sin, Satan, and the world. We will enjoy the life that God has created us for while enjoying His presence in an unending way.

This is just a glimpse, an imperfect one, at that. Even so, you may wonder whether these promises apply to you. Remember, though, that God chose to do this before the foundation of the world. Moreover, just as Paul noted in v. 5, we see that this blessing comes because God “predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will.” Rather than consulting others, or ourselves, God’s will is the extent of His own counsel. His decision already made, He now “works” or “energizes” all events in the history of His creation according to His will.

You can be sure of His promises. He works “all things,” including but not limited to our salvation, for we already read that “all things” would be gathered “in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth” (v. 10). As Christians hear the truth, believe, are sealed in the Holy Spirit, and are God’s possession (vv. 13–14). As Paul says in Philippians 1:6, “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” The rest will follow in His good time.

We can take confidence in the fact that His promises to us represent a unilateral covenant on His part — we can fail to submit, but we can never fail to enter what Christ has for us in Heaven. That’s why Romans 8:1 states that glorious gospel promise: “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” We can know that God will continue to bring us forward in Him because of Christ’s work, despite our own.

As such, Ephesians 1:12 is the natural result: “to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.” Glory means weight or honor, and we must praise Him for the gravity of the work He’s accomplished. Our response comes both in praise and in faith (which brings us to the next point).

God Works Through Our Hearing and Believing (v. 13a)

In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—

Remember that we said that our inheritance identifies us with God, and God uses the same language of Old Testament saints. This connection comes forth here. We see a link in the people of God throughout all ages and ethnicities.

That’s an important consideration starting in v. 12. In proper English, Paul writes of “we who were the first to hope in Christ,” but the original language emphasizes the pronoun — “that we, we would be….” Contrast that with v. 13, stating “you also.” Paul temporarily divides believers along ethnic lines — the first ones to hope in “the Christ” or “the Messiah” in v. 12, the Jewish disciples and the gentiles — to make a point.

Paul highlights this division again in chapter two. He writes (2:11–13),

Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands — remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ

Paul goes on to write there that the two have become “one new man” (v. 15). The message is a powerful one of unity. Paul isn’t saying “we vs. you” but “we and you.” Look again at 1:13 — he says “you also.” In other words, some of us may have come first, but we all came the same way. What is true of us is true of you, and vice versa.

What is true of both Jewish and Gentile Christians? First, he says that they were “listening to the message [or word] of truth.” Truth here refers to the Word of God (Psa. 119:43), specifically “the gospel of your salvation” (cf. Col 1:5).

No blessing can come in our lives apart from the Word of God. In fact, faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). That’s why he lists it in this order here — they listened to the message of truth, and they believed.

Now, we’ve made it about halfway through the sermon, and you may have been wondering what any of this had to do with the Holy Spirit. Yet, we see here a vital means for the Spirit’s work — the Word. He was involved in the inter-Trinitarian counsel to predestine believers before the foundation of the world, and He inspires Holy Scripture.

He (not “it”) inspired the Word, and now He illuminates the Word in the hearts of believers. The Jews were the first to hope, and now the Gentiles likewise hear and believe. The Holy Spirit applies the choosing of God at the right time, bringing the Bible to bear on a darkened soul, calling sinners to believe in the gospel. This is all the Spirit’s work.

What does the Spirit-inspired Scripture report about the His own work? In part, that question is answered in these verses. Let’s turn to consider that now.

The Report of the Spirit’s Blessing (vv. 13b–14a)

having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance,

Here the Spirit reveals His own work in our lives. Two illustrations define that work are the seal and the pledge. Let’s start with the first of those — a seal — something we talked briefly about this morning.

We tend to think of seals as protectors, like seals on bottles. As a review, though, a seal is also an official stamp or mark of authenticity. Just as wax on a document imprinted with a signet ring certified the document, the Holy Spirit is a seal of our promise and inheritance.

God spiritually certifies His believers. For example, in Ezekiel 9:4–6, we read that God sends a messenger into sinful Jerusalem. That’s can be a fearful matter, but this one was to mark the foreheads of those who cared about God’s ways, those who sighed and groaned “over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst” (v. 4). To the other angels, however, God instructed them to slay those without the mark. The seal of God identified those who were His and saved them from destruction.

We are God’s possession, and the Holy Spirit ensures that. The MacArthur Study Bible notes, “Four primary truths are signified by the seal: 1) security (cf. Dan. 6:17; Matt. 27:62–66); 2) authenticity (cf. 1 Kin. 21:6–16); 3) ownership (cf. Jer. 32:10); and 4) authority (cf. Esth. 8:8–12). The Holy Spirit is given by God as His pledge of the believer’s future inheritance in glory (cf. 2 Cor. 1:21).”

This is also past tense. The moment of sealing occurs concurrently with the moment of belief. It is not something earned through the course of the believer’s life or something to be sought. Nor is this a seal which we can break. Rather, the believer is to understand this to be a reality secured by God.

Some have thought that this is a reference to baptism of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:11; 12:13; 2 Cor. 1:22; Col. 2:11). If that is the case, then this occurs at the moment of salvation. This is the promise predicted in the Old Testament (Joel 2:28; Zech. 12:10; Isa. 32:15; 44:3) as well as the New (Luke 24:49; John 7:39; Acts 1:4–8). That’s why, in v. 14, that the Holy Spirit is God’s pledge — a guarantee or engagement ring of sorts — He’s the Spirit “of promise.”

Now, that may not seem like much. While there is more to be said about the Spirit’s work in our lives, many people look for much more from the Holy Spirit. They will expect ecstatic experiences. They will at least expect visions, dreams, feelings and promptings, and “still, small voices” inside of them. Again, we will discuss more about the Spirit’s work as we go through Ephesians, but in short, the Spirit’s word in Scripture never tells us to look for these kinds of experiences. In fact, looking for experiences always has an effect of diminishing the work of the Word, tacitly communicating the idea that Holy Scripture is not enough.

For now, let’s consider what the result of the Spirit’s work is in our lives.

The Result of the Spirit’s Blessing (v. 14b)

with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.

Here, we see the distinction between past redemption in v. 7 and future redemption here. God redeems what is already His. One commentary notes, “The Old Testament described the nation of Israel as God’s special treasure, one He had purchased by His mighty acts of deliverance during the Exodus (Ex. 19:5; Deut. 7:6). Here Paul describes Christians as the Lord’s own possession, one bought with the blood of His own Son.”

This is the telos or end of the Spirit’s work in our lives — securing us for that day. Isaiah 43:21 says, “The people whom I formed for Myself will declare My praise.” There’s no loss; it’s not “many” or “some of” the people God formed, but simply “the people.” The Spirit causes us to persevere to the end. And that end demands our praise, which we will willingly offer in return for these undeserved gospel promises.

Conclusion

We have seen all three members of the Trinity at work, blessing all the saints. God the Father elects us. God the Son redeems us. God the Spirit secures us. This knowledge is overwhelming and should causes us to rejoice in all that God has done for us.

The Holy Spirit today grants us moments of understanding this, even as we traverse this wicked world. We believe and even grow in Christ, despite our sin. We experience some freedom from the evil influences within and without. We experience some joy in the expectation of what is to come. All of this is limited, not by the Spirit’s ability but by ours; He grants us a sight through a dim glass. This seal and pledge known as the Holy Spirit of God guarantees that we’re God’s heritage and that we have a future redemption drawing nigh.

If you are not in Christ, none of these promises speak of you. You don’t have the Son, which means you don’t have the Father. It follows, then, that you don’t have the Spirit, either. However, the good news is that you can call out to Him. You can confess your need to Him. You can ask for salvation from Him.

If you have faith, however, understand that it came from Him to begin with. The Holy Spirit is already present, working in you. If He began a good work within you, will He not continue to bring it to completion?