Rich in Christ -- Part 3

Introduction

Over the last month or so we have been on this journey of gaining a deeper understanding into who we are and who we are supposed to be in Christ. And the reason we have been looking at these things is so that we can grow stronger in our witness for Christ and hopefully in the process feel more comfortable when it comes to being able to tell others what it truly means to be saved!

Jesus gave us two commands when He left us to go home to be with the Father and those two commands were...

Mark 16:15 — “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”

Matthew 28:19-20 — “19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you:”

And as I stated at the beginning of this series, I feel like we as Pastors do a decent, maybe even a good job, of leading people to Christ but many times we don’t do such a great job at the second command of teaching.

It’s great to see people come to Christ but that’s only the beginning! It’s at that point that you start to learn who you’re really supposed to be!

And so this year, if you will remember, my goal was to help you learn and grow so that you could feel more comfortable and confident when talking to others about Jesus. And I hope over these last 4 or 5 weeks now you have experienced a deeper understanding of who you are in Christ.

Today I want to continue on with this thought and look at our last message in this series of Who We Are. We looked at The Will of the Father in verses 3-6 and then last week we looked at The Work of the Son and this week we’re going to finish it out with The Witness of the Spirit in Part 3 of Rich in Christ.

So if you have your Bibles with you, I’d ask you to take your copy of God’s word and look with me at verses 13-14 of Ephesians Chapter 1.

Trusting in the Truth

Now there are 3 things I want us to look at here in this passage of scripture:

The Trusting in the Truth

The Sealing of the Spirit

The Installment of our Inheritance

Paul starts off here in Verse 13 by giving us a mouthful and at first glance, with the way it’s written it can even be a little overwhelming so, what I want to try and do is break it down a little bit to help us understand exactly what it’s saying here.

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,

In order to get the full effect of what Paul is trying to say here, you have to back up and look at verses 10-12.

Paul is saying to the folks at Ephesus…look the gospel was declared originally to the Jews but God sent me to declare it unto you also so that you might believe as well!

If you will look in Ephesians 2:11-19

Galatians 3:28-29 — 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Romans 10:12 — For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.

*The Simplicity of Salvation* *From sinner to Saint*

You hear

You believe

You are saved

When the Bible says, “after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation:”

The word “Heard” is the Greek word (akouo) and it means to hear with attention, to hear with the "ear of the mind". The idea is to hear effectually as to perform or grant what is spoken. To listen or pay attention to a person with resulting conformity to what is advised or commanded. The context often implies to hear and obey.

Hearing alone won’t save a man! He must act upon what he has heard!

Then Paul says, “after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation:”

The Greek word the Bible uses here for “Word” is (logos) and it means a word uttered by a living voice, what someone has said, the act of speaking, speech, doctrine teaching, matter under discussion,

Hearing alone won’t save a man but he must hear in order to act!

Romans 10:14-15 — 14  How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 15  And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

Romans 10:17 — So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Each Sunday at the end of service I encourage you to go out and put into practice what you’ve heard because God has placed someone in your life who needs to hear it!

Just like that little saying I put on our app yesterday, “the gospel came to you because it was heading to someone else!”

Listen, God saved you so that you would become a conduit He could use to lead others to Himself through you!

Bro Tony Evans said we are not to be “cul de sac Christians” but rather we are to be conduits through which His blessings will be delivered to others. 

Then Paul tells us what it is exactly that we are supposed to tell them! The “Truth!” What is the truth?

Jesus said in John 14:6 — I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

If Jesus is the truth and these Ephesians heard the word of truth, then we can conclude that Paul simply told them about Jesus, right? He follows that up by saying the “gospel of your salvation.”

The good news of salvation is that Jesus Christ, the one and only Son of God, redeemed us by coming to this world and dying in our place, for our sins, on an old rugged cross on Calvary's hill. He was buried in a borrowed tomb and three days later rose from that grave and now sits at the right hand of the Father making intercession for all those who will believe in Him!

And if you will believe upon Him, and as the Bible says here, put your trust in Him, then you shall be saved and sanctified in the eyes God the Father. You will be adopted as sons and daughters of God therefore making you heirs and joint heirs with Christ and you will be given an inheritance in the heavenlies!

Now, I don’t know about you but in my eyes that’s some pretty good news! Amen!

In order to obtain this though you must Trust in the Truth! And when you trust in the truth it leads us to our next part here, the sealing of the spirit.

Sealing of the Spirit

Paul says here, after you heard the word and believed, you were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.

Now, this is a very special word for the Christian this word “sealed.” It comes from the Greek word (sphragizo) to set a mark upon by the impress of a seal or stamp, to prove, confirm or attest to a thing.

Vine’s Dictionary says that here specifically it’s speaking of ownership and security, together with destination.

When a person hears the gospel and believes upon the Lord Jesus Christ, immediately that person is sealed and indwelt by the Holy Spirit!

It’s God’s way of marking those that are His and saying to this world and that old deceiver, Satan, “look here Jack, that one’s mine!” He proves us, confirms us and attests that we now belong to Him and that nothing in this world can change that!

And the greatest thing you need to understand about this sealing process is that God’s the one doing the sealing! We don’t seal ourselves! And the reason this is so important is because if God’s the one doing the sealing, that means there’s no way that man can unseal it, Amen!

When He marks us as His own, we become eternally secured by the mighty hand of God!

Listen honey, I don’t have to go to bed at night wondering if I’m going to heaven! I have put my trust in Jesus and His finished work on the cross, God has sealed me with His holy Spirit who dwells within me, and I am His!

I have been bought with a price, therefore I am not my own but rather my life is now hid with Christ and in Him I am complete! He took my filthy rags and gave me a robe of righteousness and because of that, I can now come boldly unto the throne of grace and know that when the Father looks at me, He won’t see old wretched, sinful me but what He will see is that I trusted in His Son and that’s going to be the only thing that matters!

His blood has cleansed me and set me free from the bondage of sin and in Him I am made whole!

That ought to make somebody in here want to shout, Amen!

And then Paul goes on to give us some more good news about this sealing of the Spirit!

Installment of our Inheritance

Paul says the Holy Spirit is the “earnest” of our inheritance. That word “earnest” is the Greek word (arrabōn), which means "pledge" as used here in verse 14. It refers to "the first installment with a guarantee that the rest would follow.” In modern Greek (arrabona) is an "engagement ring."

Today about the only time you hear this word being used is in real estate transactions when the realtor says we need to put some earnest money down. It’s a down payment that shows you are serious about purchasing the property.

In the same way, the Holy Spirit is God’s way of saying, “hey I’m serious about the promises of my word! If I said, “I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there ye may be also” I meant it and this how I want you to know I’m going to hold up my end of the deal! This is my first installment but the best is yet to come!”

Oh, isn’t that a wonderful thought! The best is yet to come!

There’s an old song that was written by a man named Jack Campbell and the chorus goes like this...

The best is yet to come when I walk through Heaven's gates. O the first time I see Jesus, I can hardly wait! He'll show me to my mansion, say "child, this is your home." O I have a feeling in my heart, that the best is yet to come.

I don’t know about you friend, but to know that those small glimpses that the Holy Spirit gives to me sometimes of what heavens gonna actually be like, to know that is just a foretaste of what I’m actually going to experience when I get there, amazes me and gives me a happiness the likes of nothing this world can offer!

This is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession...

What it’s saying is the Holy Spirit is the first installment until Jesus returns to take us home with Him!

1 John 3:2 — Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

1 Corinthians 15:51-58 — 51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

The Message: It’s in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what’s coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.

We are Rich in Christ and because of His great love wherewith He loved us, our lives, in return, should reflect the praise of His glory!

As we come to a close this morning, I want take just a moment and revisit all the words we have covered in this little series that shows us just how Rich those of us who are in Christ truly are!

The Bible says in Vs. 3 - we are blessed, Vs. 4 - we are chosen, Vs. 5 - we are predestined to be his children, Vs. 6 - we are accepted, Vs. 7 - we are redeemed, Vs. 8 - 10 He has given wisdom and prudence and informed us of His master plan to bring together all things in Christ, Vs. 11 - we have been given an inheritance, Vs. 13 - we are sealed and finally in Vs. 14 we get the best news of all that God has given us a guarantee through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that His word and His will will be accomplished!

The next time this world gets you down and you feel as though you are nothing, come right here to this set of scripture and let God’s word remind you that you are something special, thought of before you were even born and that through His Son Jesus you’ve become a child of the King! You’re now an heir to riches the likes this world has never seen!

Now maybe you’re sitting here this morning and find yourself saying, I wish I could be a child of the King! Well, guess what, Jesus died for you too and if you will simply believe upon Him, and His finished work on the cross, you too can become a child of the King!

For the Bible says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved!