Ephesians 1:11-14 - Praise the Spirit

Coming home from the hospital with Silas

Stopped at Taco Bell

“How are you today!?”

“Good! We’re on our way home with our new baby!”

They celebrated with us and paid for our meal!

Worth the celebration

Context

Paul is closing is long celebration song.

Ephesians 1:3-14 is 202 greek words/one sentence.

Paul is celebrating the work of the Triune God in our salvation.

He’s leading us in this worship song because of the God who saved us and how He did it.

He illuminates God the Father’s work in election in eternity past that should lead us to praise because God chose to love us.

He celebrates God the Son’s work in securing our redemption and forgiveness by offering Himself up on the cross and uniting us to heaven!

God the Father initiated our salvation, God the Son accomplished our salvation

Now Paul focuses on the third person of the Trinity.

We’ve covered Praise the Father, Praise the Son, and now…

Big Idea: Praise the Spirit

Many an uneasy by the Holy Spirit because we don’t understand Him.

He’s a person? Without a body? He is a Spirit?

What does He do exactly?

We have had many misunderstandings on the work of the Holy Spirit.

Paul includes Him in the work of redemption.

Stand to read

Ephesians 1:11–14 ESV

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.

Leader: This is God’s Word

Everyone: Thanks be to God

Paul says that in Christ, we obtain an inheritance.

What were we predestined by the Father for? (v. 5) Sonship.

“What about daughtership?”

The women are brought in as co-heirs!

The inheritances and riches of the family went to the family’s firstborn son.

Inheritance is a property that is given to a descendant, especially the first born male.

Through faith in Jesus, we are all brought into the family as sons, meaning that through faith(not birthright) we have the fullness of God’s inheritance!

We have all of heaven in Christ’s name!

All of heaven belongs to us because we are sons of the Father through faith in Jesus Christ!!

This is a total work of God!

You don’t earn an inheritance—You are given an inheritance.

The firstborn isn’t just “good enough” or deserves the inheritance.

It’s given by birthright.

Jesus gives us His birthright by making us sons in Him.

What’s Jesus’s is ours!

There’s a second privilege to being in Christ.

Ephesians 1:13 ESV

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 Holy Spirit was promised to God’s people in the Old Testament.

Isaiah 44:3 ESV

3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.

Ezekiel 36:26–27 ESV

26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Paul said that when they heard the word of Truth, they were sealed with the Promised Spirit.

Before Jesus was crucified, He told His disciples

John 16:13–15 ESV

13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

There was a time in your life that you didn’t know the good news.

There was a time you were dead in your sins and separated from life with God.

But since God set His affections on you before time began, He sent someone into your life to share the gospel, the word of truth with you.

They told you that God the Father sent God the Son to die on a cross to forgive your sins and make you right with God!

More than that, through faith in Jesus Christ, you have the right to be made a son of God!

All you have to do is repent and believe the gospel!

Then you were given the gift of faith to believe in Christ!

God the Father brought you into His family as His son!

He put His name on you! You belong to Him!

In Middle Ages, Kings had a particular signet ring.

It was more than a stamp—He would use this signet to send important messages to his people or to communicate something under his authority.

When a scroll showed up with the King’s seal, you could be assured this from the king.

The seal gives the document the full authority of the king.

To break the seal or defy the message it has sealed is to defy the king himself.

It would be an act of rebellion.

Because you were chosen by the Father to be holy in the Son, Paul says that we were sealed with the Holy Spirit.

Church,

God the Spirit seals our salvation

When God draws us to Himself and saves us, He puts His royal seal on us.

The Holy Spirit is within us, marking us as His own possession.

No longer do we belong to the world.

No longer are we enemies.

We belong to the King.

The Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives testifies to the reality that we are saved and gives us authority to live as God’s children!

We have accesses to His power and guidance.

He convicts us of sin and leads us into our new identity as children of God.

He reminds us that we belong to the King!

This also means that there is security in Him.

God has placed His name on us and no one can take us from Him!

Transition

This may be a hard thing to reckon with.

“I can’t seem to escape sin. I feel trapped by it. Surely God must be over my antics and forgiving me.”

When He saves you, He seals you.

Before the world began, God the Father set His love on you. He chose you before anything ever took place.

God the Son came to accomplish the Father’s plan to redeem and bring you into His family.

Jesus died so that you could be forgiven and rose again so that you can have eternal life in His name!

Then, God the Spirit comes to you and reveals the salvation that God has for you!

The Lord is a powerful and mighty Savior!

There’s no sin that He cannot overcome!

The Lord is patient and faithful to His promises!

The One who began a good work in you will complete it!

We have a great Father! a great Savior! and a great Promise!

There’s nothing that can take us from Him!

He guarantee’s this by giving us the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 1:14 ESV

14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

The Holy Spirit is like a down payment for the greater redemption that is to come.

The reality that the Holy Spirit indwells us is the first installment of the restoration that God the Father planned.

Hilary and I are looking to buy acreage.

We’re starting the awful process of getting papers in order/all those things.

One thing we need to factor in as we are applying for the mortgage is a down payment (earnest money).

The money that we lay down now is a promise for the rest that is to come.

He is the promise of what is to come in Christ!

When Jesus returns and restores all things, we will be fully united to God and glorified!

But now, we have God with us, the Promised Spirit, of what is to come!

The life we get to live as Christians now is the same as the future glorified self.

We don’t have to wait to live as if we belong to heaven!

We have the Holy Spirit in us proving our citizenship!

Overtime, the Holy Spirit will make you more like Jesus—He will change your heart.

All you must do is repent of your sins, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and be sealed with the Spirit!

You’ll never be good enough because of your actions—You’re only good enough if the King’s seal is on your life.

The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our promise of eternal life in Christ!

Church,

God the Spirit assures us

At this moment if you are a Christian, we have the Comforter, the Helper, the Holy Spirit with us.

There is never a moment the Lord is not with us because He assured us that He wouldn’t leave us as orphans!

Do you have the Promised Spirit?

Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died for your sins?

Do you believe that He is risen as the King of kings and Lord of lords?

Do you have His seal, the Holy Spirit, on your heart that you are a blood-bought child of God?

If you’re not a Christian, you can be assured by the Promised Holy Spirit today.

Repent of your sins, lay them at the foot of the cross, and believe the gospel that saves.

You can be completely transformed by the work of God the Father who initiated our salvation, God the Son who accomplished our salvation, and the work of the Holy Spirit who assures our salvation.

Let’s celebrate with Paul in singing Ephesians 1:3-14!

How amazing is our God?!

Take the Next Step

If you’re not a Christian, receive the Holy Spirit. Believe the gospel.

Praise God for all He has done in securing your eternal life in Him.

Demonstrate that you belong to God.