Untitled Sermon (56)

Text for today: Ephesians 1:13-14

Secure Interest:

As we come together today, I want to place a specific focus upon the work of the Spirit.

Most of y’all know that I cannot tell a joke to save my life.

Joshua was a great man in many ways.

Many of us today are reeling with questions concerning the future.

Questions both pertaining to this Church.

But today, I’m gonna go out with a bang!

He had a good job and

Joshau was a single man who was living at home with his father.

Maybe concerning what it is we are supposed to do moving forward.

I think it’s okay for us to ask those questions.

In fact, I think its healthy that we do so.

However, I think that any one of us who does so without first recognizing who we are in Christ does a great disservice to the testimony of the Gospel.

Not only who we are in Christ but how we are promised to remain that way as well.

You see, as human beings we are very easily tempted to look for the momentary satisfaction.

Now know that I am not insinuating any of this for what any of you all should do.

I’m merely pointing to a reality of the moment.

But most of us are too easily tempted with the momentary satisfaction that we lose sight of the overarching picture of the Christian life.

We are promised in Scripture only a few things.

The first is that God will take care of us.

Now this does not mean that it will look the way you and I think it should look by any means.

But it does mean that in His way, He will care for us greater than the birds of the air.

The second is that you will be ridiculed and persecuted for your faith in Christ.

Lastly, that He who began a work in you, will bring it to completion.

Not that He will possibly bring it to conclusion but that He will do so.

So how is it that even in the midst of the turmoil going on within my own heart this morning can I know that this is so?

I mean, if I’m being honest, I don’t want to go anywhere.

My desire is to stay right here and walk faithfully alongside of each of you pointing you ever back to King Jesus.

That would be my momentary pleasure!

That would be my temporal satisfaction.

Yet there is not a one of us who knows the mind of the Lord.

We can gather details from His Word concerning His desires and some of His purpose.

Yet we cannot ascertain the purpose of the Lord.

So how do we know that this moment isn’t going against all that the Lord has in store?

How do we know that we can rest assured upon what He has said?

We know this because His Word tells us as much.

We know this because these mere moments in time, though for us they may seem to be exhaustive and encompassing all that we are.

They are but a fleeting glimpse of time which will be paled in comparison to eternity.

For us, this moment of a lack of satisfaction and what seems to be tribulation is working for us an eternal weight of glory beyond measure or comparison.

So let us not be like those who seek after the temporal satisfaction.

Flesh and Blood Scenario

Let us not be like the Prodigal son who desired his inheritance now.

Only to squander away all that he had because he knew not how to live for tomorrow but only to live for today.

Let us not be like him who ask for the temporal satisfaction but instead;

Let us be like the son who stayed at home, faithfully serving alongside of his father.

Vital Personal Questions:

So I want to ask you this morning, how are you coping with all of this?

Are you looking to this fleeting moment of time and wondering how it could be that things will get better.

Are you so stuck in this moment that you cannot look unto tomorrow to see the beauty of the Lord on the horizon?

Crucial Assertions:

I’m not saying that you are, but if you’re like me;

You can’t help but twist your stomach into knots over all that is taking place.

If not in this situation than probably in other areas of your life.

Determinative Difference:

Yet, if we look to passages such as this one before us today with eyes longing for truth and comfort, the Lord is faithful to provide.

Purpose:

Connection to previous sermon:

To tie this back to last weeks sermon from Verses 7-12, you need to remember that we seen three ways which we can rest fully assured in Christ Jesus.

The first was that He has accomplished a greater salvation than we will ever understand.

The second was that He has poured that salvation out onto His people in ways which should cause us to pursue Him.

And the third was that all which Christ has done shows us that He is worthy of all glory.

More than we can ever offer to Him.

What am I going to be talking about:

Where am I in the outline of the book:

Restatement of PNP and Theological Principles:

PNP with Theological Principles:

Today, I want to show you two imperatives from this text concerning the work of the Spirit in your life of redemption.

The first is that for all of eternity, you are promised to the Son.

The second is that we know the surety of this promise on the basis of who the Holy Spirit is.

Restate PNP:

Body of Sermon:

PNP:

I. The first is that for all of eternity, you are promised to the Son.

a. God’s People are His possession.

What I’m about to say might not make much since to many depending upon the translation of Scripture which you use.

But inside of this passage, the Apostle Paul uses two Old Testament terms which express God’s possession of His people.

Paul uses the term Kleroo which is translated as destined.

That specific term is also a reference to an inheritance.

Some have thought this to be a reference to the gift which we have recieved in Christ.

And while I think that might be true, there is more on the table than just that.

Instead, if we dig deeper into the text we find that you and I, those who have trusted upon Christ have been taken as God’s own people.

We have been made a heritage.

Think about this in the idea of a Old Testament Israel.

The Lord’s portion is His people.

Jacob was His allotted heritage.

This term throughout the Old Testament was used as a form of endearment meant only for Israel.

Israel was the Lords.

Yet Paul here is cutting through those social barriers of uncleanness and human nature and showing all of Christ’ people that they are the Lord’s.

Those who are Christ’, Gentiles as well as Jews are now God’s possession.

Look over at verse 13-14.

Ephesians 1:14 ESV

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

Ephesians 1:13–14 ESV

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

For a moment we’ve been recapping what is found in verse 11-12 trying to recap some of the thought.

Now here we have the explicit guarantee.

We have been promised that all of those who have heard the word of Truth which is the Gospel and believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ for redemption.

You have been sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit.

Now think with me for just a moment about the words used here.

Think about the term sealed.

We don’t see this much in our own day because we just use a different vernacular.

But in the first century world, there was a couple different definitions for the term sealed.

The one which were focusing on here would find its root back to this idea of the King’s signet ring.

When a message needed to be delivered, the King would have it written out on a scroll.

Once it was written, the king would pour hot wax across the back of the scroll where the two edges meet together and he would seal it with his ring.

He would do this in multiple ways.

One scroll may have several seals on it and be meant for different people.

This not only testified to whom the letter belonged to, but it determined who was able to open that letter as well.

See most of us know about the ring which acts as a seal to testify to ownership and authority.

Yet we often forget that in order to open that letter, one had to have the authority vested in them by the King.

And if they couldn’t prove it by showing that they had the matching signet ring which proved their authority, they couldn’t open the scroll.

For you and I, our lives are as this scroll.

At the moment of regeneration an faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit placed upon us a seal.

And this seal guarantees authenticity to the one who is to receive us.

So as God’s possession, He will look upon this seal and check its authenticity to see that we are truly His.

Nobody else is allowed to open that seal.

Now let me break this down.

You and I, those of us who have redeemed through Christ.

We are sealed, meaning that we can never be pulled away.

Are you hearing me in this?

Some people like to point over to passages such as to point to a person’s ability to break that seal on their own.

Yet, when we take systematically, that doesn’t make sense.

Hebrews 6 ESV

Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned. Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

Hebrews 6:4–8 ESV

For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

Hebrews 6:4

Here is my question about this passage.

Is it possible for someone to be enlightened concerning the work of Christ Jesus.

For them to taste of the heavenly gift being offered.

Shared in the work of the Holy Spirit.

Is it possible for them to fall away?

Of course it is.

Listen to the wording.

Enlightenment is not the same as absolute knowledge.

Those who are truly redeemed have an absolute knowledge concerning redemption.

Judas was enlightened.

The Christian doesn’t merely taste of the goodness of God, they dine with Him.

Judas tasted but did not sit down to eat.

The Christian shores in the work of the Holy Spirit through the proclamation of the Word of the Lord.

Judas preached Christ all with contempt in his heart towards the Lord.

See the Christian and the person from are not the same person.

Especially not if we take what is being addressed here and understand it systematically with

John 6:44 ESV

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

Romans 8:29–30 ESV

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Romans 8:

John shows a guarantee of redemption.

Paul in Romans shows a golden chain of redemption which cannot be broken.

And this passage here today shows that in the work of the Holy Spirit, we are 100%sealed until the day that the Lord calls us home and opens that seal.

We are His.

So Christian let me ask you this morning, do you earnestly believe this?

(Strip club analogy for the Christian)

(Not an excuse to sin but a reality of who we are in Christ)

In Christ you are fully redeemed.

And nothing you ever do can ever separate you from the Love of God that is in Christ Jesus.

You belong to Him!

Brothers and Sisters, you are His chosen possession.

And we can know that we are His on the basis of who the Spirit.

This is point two now.

II. We know the surety of this promise on the basis of who the Holy Spirit is.

a. The Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance.

III. Theological Principle

Look back at verse 14 for just a moment.

a. preaching point

Now my intention here looking at this passage is not to slam or put down the part that works play in our lives.

James tells us that faith without works is dead and for good reason.

Those who are redeemed will have works which give testimony to the redemption which has occured.

But beloved can I tell you something.

Those works are not the guarantee that you will one day inherit the Kingdom of God!

To use Paul’s words in this place;

May it never be that we look to our works as a surety of our inheritance to come.

Instead, we look at who the one is which has sealed us.

We belong to God by His will.

He has predestined us to be His sons according to the purpose of His will.

He has made known to us the mystery of His will according to His purpose.

And we have become His heritage according to the purpose of Him who accomplishes all things.

This is all by God’s will.

It is His purpose that we are sealed.

May no one ever be able to say that we are redeemed only to be destroyed.

Isn’t that what Moses said to the Lord on Mount Sinai?

Exodus 32:12 ESV

Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people.

Genesis 32:12 ESV

But you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’ ”

This is not the plan of the Lord.

He did not bring you out of you slavery of sin to partially bring you along the way to the promised land with the idea of destroying you.

Instead, in the midst of the Lord rescuing you from your bondage, He sent the helper just as Jesus promised.

That everyone who believes upon the Lord Jesus Christ is given the third person of the Trinity and indwelt by Him.

You Christian, God in the person of the Holy Spirit resides within you!

He is there to point you in the way which you are to go.

He is there to magnify Christ in your own heart.

But more importantly, He is there proving that you belong to the King.

The Spirit is the promise, the seal and the guarantee.

The Spirit works to authenticate you before the Lord of Glory.

And in contrast to the external seal of the scroll, your seal is internal and only the Lord can see it.

And because of this you will have assurance that He is active in your life.

You will have assurance of HIs activity in your pursuit of His Glory.

You will look at all that you are doing and ask yourself this very question;

Am I pursuing after the Glory of the Lord in this?

Is what I am doing giving glory to the Lord.

And the answer to that question will act as a testimony to the work of the Lord in your life.

Christian, I pray this very day that you have this assurance.

For without this seal, no man may see the face of the Lord.

(Gospel)

Conclusion:

Synopsis:

Restate PNP:

Restate Structure:

Resecure interest:

Vital Transition:

Vital Assertions and questions:

Closing appeals: Forceful Obedience encouraged and disobedience rebuked.

The Purpose: What now

Clinching Element of Persuasion:

The Gospel: