Sermon Tone Analysis

*Lesson 13*

*/Sealing Ministry of the Holy Spirit/*

*/Eph 1:13-14/*

 

Last week we looked at the “Glory of God”.

We said that in Ephesians 1:12 Paul tells us that */we were made a heritage…/* */in order that we might be to the praise of his glory/*.

Paul is not saying that */we have obtained an inheritance /*like the NASB says but that */we were made a heritage/*.

We are God’s heritage or inheritance.

Because of all the spiritual blessings that He has given us we become His inheritance.

Not only do we possess all these blessings but we are possessed by God Himself.

See, everything is about God.

That is why we keep finding that the goal of the Triune God’s plan of redemption and all the details this plan involves is */to the praise of his glory/*.

As long as you keep this thought central in your mind you will be able to accept and understand such hard truths as predestination and election.

That first and foremost the plan of salvation is a revelatory device that God is using to reveal Himself to mankind.

When God reveals His character through the plan of salvation men reflect His glory back on Him.

And God’s ultimate purpose is to glorify Himself.

Remember that the plan of salvation is like a prism.

*TRINITY (ETERNITY)*

 

 

\\ PLAN OF SALVATION (EPH 1:3-14)

 

 

 

 

 

 

\\ SOVEREIGN RIGHTEOUS JUST LOVING OMNISCIENT OMNIPOTENT IMMUTABLE ETERNAL

*CREATION (TIME)*

* *

God is light and it is in His nature to reveal Himself to His creatures.

Our God is not hiding, He is a revelatory God.

He reveals Himself in many ways; through creation, the human conscience, and also the plan of salvation.

So, God is light and He disperses that light through the prism of salvation so that we as humans are able to comprehend some things about God’s character; namely that He is sovereign, righteous, just, loving, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, immutable, and eternal.

The plan of salvation is first of all about revealing God.

It is only secondly about saving men.

It certainly does save men but if you think of say God’s election in terms only of God saving men then you are missing the main point.

Election is for God first and foremost.

That’s why  the word for election in v. 4 is in the middle voice.

Literally translated it says, */He chose us for Himself/*.

The purpose of election is given right there in v. 4. It says */He chose us…to be holy and blameless in His presence in love/*.

This is eschatological (eternity future).

What is the glory of God? Paul says that all this is */to the praise of His glory/*.

But what is the glory of God?

The glory of God is the sum of all of God’s attributes or perfections.

It’s the essence of God.

OK, if the glory of God is the sum of all of God’s perfections then how can God who already has infinite glory gain more glory?

When we glorify God are we just piling glory on glory?

Are we adding anything to God?

Not according to who and what God is.

If we are adding something to God then God is in process…He’s not complete yet.

No, that’s not the God of Scripture.

He’s dynamic in that He interacts with history but His character is not dynamic, it’s immutable.

So, if we’re not adding anything to God when we glorify Him then what is happening when we glorify God?

Well, first there’s God’s glory as it pertains to His character.

Second, we glorify God by acknowledging God’s character and reflecting it back upon Him.

For example, when we produce fruit that is compatible with God’s character we are glorifying God.

We are recognizing and reflecting back to Him by exclaiming what He already is.

We’re not adding anything to God’s glory.

It’s the reflection of that glory extolling from the creature back to the Creator.

We are acknowledging what He already is by nature.

Remember, this doesn’t just happen when we sing songs.

This happens in every area of life.

I hope you’re not trying to sing praises to God all the time because you’ll lose your voice.

There are more ways to glorify God than with your voice.

What do you do day by day and how do you do it?

That’s where you are glorifying God.

* *

*c.

God’s Seal with the Spirit (1:13-14)*

* *

*(1) Activity: Sealed with the Spirit (1:13)*

* *

*/Greek Text: 1:13/*/ /*/VEn w-| kai.

u`mei~/j avkou,santej to.n lo,gon th~/j avlhqei,aj( to.

euvagge,lion th~/j swthri,aj u`mw~/n( evn w-| kai.

pisteu,santej evsfragi,sqhte tw~/| pneu,mati th~/j evpaggeli,aj tw~/| a`gi,w|(/*

*Translation: 1:13 In whom you also having heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom having also believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,*

 

            *VEn w-| kai.

u`mei~/j **/“in whom you also”/** *is typically understood one of four ways.

The first three of these options presupposes that when Paul shifts from “we” to “you” he is referring to Jews and Gentiles respectively.

This is not necessary for Paul does not yet clearly introduce the Jew~/Gentile distinction until 2:11.

Though the idea is attractive it reads the distinction clearly made in 2:11 back into 1:12-14.

It is better to understand the “we”~/“you” shift as referring to a distinction between those who are with Paul and the believers at Ephesus.

In this case the “*/you also/*” connects the believers at Ephesus with the central theme of being “in Christ” and relates their being “in Christ” to the sealing ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Also, this construction would be the best way Paul could stress the two things that happened simultaneously with their being sealed; namely “hearing the word of truth” and “believing the gospel”.

*avkou,santej to.n lo,gon th~/j avlhqei,aj( to.

euvagge,lion th~/j swthri,aj u`mw~/n(* /“*having heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,”*/.

The word /aletheia/ “truth” is something that is contrary to a lie and is therefore, /reality/.

Here it refers to “the content of Christianity as the absolute truth”.

Christianity corresponds with reality in contrast to the falsehood of other religions.

*/truth/* is a genitive of content meaning that the */word /*has as its content */truth /*(cf. 2 Tim.

2:15).

The Christian claim is that the */word of truth/* is the content of Christianity which defines reality and therefore inevitably corresponds to reality.

No other religion defines or corresponds to all of reality.

How then do other religions often stumble upon the truth and have biblical truth as a part of their system?

GOD CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE INDIVIDUAL

 

What happens is that since all men know God through creation (Rom.

1:20) and conscience (Rom.

2:14-15), even though they try to suppress this knowledge (Rom.

1:18) they cannot suppress it totally.

God keeps showing up in various areas of unbeliever’s lives (Ps.

36:9b, */In Thy light, we see light/*).

If you want to see a really good analysis of this in the areas of Philosophy, Art, Music, and even Theology you might want to get a hold of Francis Schaeffer’s “The God Who is There” or his book “How Should We Then Live?”.

In both of these books he traces the evidence of God-consciousness in unbelievers lives.

Paul was making the same point as he spoke to the Areopagus at Mars Hill in Acts 17:26-29 when he said, */“…having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,  27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;  28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His children.'  29 "Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.”/*

Notice how Paul uses unbelieving poets as an example of the fact that the God-consciousness of unbelievers keeps popping up in everyday life.

It’s like that stubborn grass that keeps growing up in the cracks of your sidewalk.

You can’t ever get rid of it once and for all.

It always comes back next year.

Such is God in the conscience of all men.

As much as they try to suppress the */word of truth/* it nevertheless keeps popping its head up, evidencing that your unbelieving friend really does know God, he knows Him very well.

You need to capitalize on these situations with your unbelieving friends.

When he recognizes truth you need to challenge him to account for that truth.