The Work of The Spirit

Welcome

Announcements

If you have not joined us yet, come to Sunday School at 9:30am as we study the Holiness of God

Join us Wednesday night at 6pm each week as we study the Puritans and what their life and faith can teach us about our own lives

Tomorrow night at 6pm we will be holding a meeting discussing the formation of a Christian school here at the church this coming school year. If you know anyone that might be interested in either teaching or having a student attend please let them know.

Prepare for Worship

Call To Worship

Scripture

English Standard Version Chapter 14

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.

25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid

Confession

Prayer of Confession

Jesus … Immanuel – our God come in the flesh

so that we might know You and that You might save us:

Thankfully, You watch out for us – help us to watch for You.

Give us eyes to see You on the move, active, alive

in our world every day, everywhere, all the time.

Give us ears to hear the whispers of Your Spirit,

recalling Your Word and guiding our steps each moment.

Give us wills that are responsive to Your will;

hands quick to serve,

feet swift to go where there is a need,

and a longing to taste and see that You are good.

(Prayer of Confession)

Forgive us when we live as if You are not real,

pushing You aside to play god in Your world.

Forgive our impatience

when we plunge ahead rather than wait for You.

Forgive our arrogance when we think we have a better way

than what You show us in Your Word.

Forgive our words used to hurt others rather than encourage them.

Forgive us for loving things too much,

people too little, and You hardly at all.

Forgive, also, what we are too embarrassed to say aloud,

but need You to hear, as we confess our sins

Confession of Faith

on Pg 14 of the Hymnal you will find the Apostle Creed at the top of the Page:

Church What Do you believe?

I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth;

And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father almighty. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic Church*, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

Worship

Again this week we are without musicians so again we will utilize the songs given to us by the Spirit, though we will not sing them, reading them aloud to one another serves clearly as a form of Worship to God.

Song 1 - Psalm 37

English Standard Version Psalm 37

Fret not yourself because of evildoers;

be not envious of wrongdoers!

2  For they will soon fade like the grass

and wither like the green herb.

3  Trust in the LORD, and do good;

dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

4  Delight yourself in the LORD,

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5  Commit your way to the LORD;

trust in him, and he will act.

6  He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,

and your justice as the noonday.

7  Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;

fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,

over the man who carries out evil devices!

8  Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!

Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

9  For the evildoers shall be cut off,

but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.

10  In just a little while, the wicked will be no more;

though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.

11  But the meek shall inherit the land

and delight themselves in abundant peace.

12  The wicked plots against the righteous

and gnashes his teeth at him,

13  but the Lord laughs at the wicked,

for he sees that his day is coming.

14  The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows

to bring down the poor and needy,

to slay those whose way is upright;

15  their sword shall enter their own heart,

and their bows shall be broken.

16  Better is the little that the righteous has

than the abundance of many wicked.

17  For the arms of the wicked shall be broken,

but the LORD upholds the righteous.

18  The LORD knows the days of the blameless,

and their heritage will remain forever;

19  they are not put to shame in evil times;

in the days of famine they have abundance.

20  But the wicked will perish;

the enemies of the LORD are like the glory of the pastures;

they vanish—like smoke they vanish away.

21  The wicked borrows but does not pay back,

but the righteous is generous and gives;

22  for those blessed by the LORD shall inherit the land,

but those cursed by him shall be cut off.

23  The steps of a man are established by the LORD,

when he delights in his way;

24  though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,

for the LORD upholds his hand.

25  I have been young, and now am old,

yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken

or his children begging for bread.

26  He is ever lending generously,

and his children become a blessing.

27  Turn away from evil and do good;

so shall you dwell forever.

28  For the LORD loves justice;

he will not forsake his saints.

They are preserved forever,

but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.

29  The righteous shall inherit the land

and dwell upon it forever.

30  The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,

and his tongue speaks justice.

31  The law of his God is in his heart;

his steps do not slip.

32  The wicked watches for the righteous

and seeks to put him to death.

33  The LORD will not abandon him to his power

or let him be condemned when he is brought to trial.

34  Wait for the LORD and keep his way,

and he will exalt you to inherit the land;

you will look on when the wicked are cut off.

35  I have seen a wicked, ruthless man,

spreading himself like a green laurel tree.

36  But he passed away, and behold, he was no more;

though I sought him, he could not be found.

37  Mark the blameless and behold the upright,

for there is a future for the man of peace.

38  But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed;

the future of the wicked shall be cut off.

39  The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD;

he is their stronghold in the time of trouble.

40  The LORD helps them and delivers them;

he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,

because they take refuge in him

Song 2 - Psalm 104

Song 3 - Psalm 139

Prayers of the People

Prayer Request

Sermon Intro - The Spirit

So after 4 weeks we reach the culmination of Paul’s presentation of the Gospel to the readers of the book of Ephesians. Prior to this as we looked at the Gospel laid out in verses 3 thru 14 we have identified that the work of salvation happens within the very nature of GOd. The work of salvation is done in the Triune relationship of GOd, with each person of the Godhead functioning in a different, but perfectly aligned way, to accomplish salvation.

The Father is the genesis the beginning of the work of salvation. The salvation of man begins with the Father blessing His people through the act of choosing from before the foundation of the world, decreeing from eternity that we be adopted into the family of God.

The Son then in the fullness of time, acting as our elder brother, accomplishes the perfect redemption of those adopted into the family. Providing Himself as the perfect sacrifice in blood so that we might be forgiven of the sins that separated us from God in the first place. His work setting us free to live a life in the family of God. He also through His sacrifice does the redeeming work that unites all things in Himself providing for us a redeemed world that will one day be our inheritance.

But now we are left with the question, how is all of this work done since eternity past, applied to me here and now, in real time as I live out my life? Eph 1:13-14

English Standard Version Chapter 1

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.

Just as the Father and Son have been shown to have specific roles in this work of redemption, here too we see Paul illustrating the work of the Spirit. Showing us here that salvation is applied through the work of the Spirit as we Hear, Believe, and are Kept until God claims His redeemed possession.

Hearing

Paul starts this concluding section to his epilogue by stating to the readers, “In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,” I asked you last week as we read the previous verse “so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory,” pass over the statement “we who were the first to hope.” Throughout history there has been confusion to this sentence construction, making people wonder is there one promise to those who were the first to hope, the Jews, and another promise to those who fall into the category of “you also.”

This is a seemingly honest question, and from Paul’s usage of language here, it is one that the original hearers of this letter would have had as well. All the previous language, of being chosen, predestined, redeemed, blessed, and receiving an inheritance was all language familiar to the Jew, it was an expected thing with the coming of the Messiah. But, to the Gentile this was new, to the Jew the inclusion of the gentile was unexpected. It is why Paul says in chapter 3 that the mystery of the Gospel is that it did include the Gentiles. So here at the beginning of the statement that tells the hearer how God has applied the benefits of all the previous work done in the Father and Son, Paul assures the Gentile recipients of this letter that they too are part of the promises.

Hearing Alone

How is it that the original gentiles, and us for that matter, how is it that we know we are the recipients of God's gracious salvation? It is simple, we have heard. Only by God’s grace does anyone in the entirety of existence hear the good news of God’s salvation.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse

Romans 1:19-20 tells us that God has revealed His self evident existence to all of mankind. And that He has done so with such clarity that they are without excuse for not worshipping Him. But Paul in this same set of passages tells us

English Standard Version Chapter 1

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth

Man in His unrighteousness suppresses the truth about God. So what is needed for man to be saved is another type of revealing by God. We call this special revelation, or Scripture. God has given us through this revelation that which is needed to believe unto salvation.

This bring light to Pauls statement “when you heard the word of truth,” the gentile had no way of believing that Jesus was Christ without having heard the word of truth. Prior to that they had no idea that this man Jesus was the promised Messiah, come to take away the sins of the world. They didnt even have any idea that a Messiah was coming. As paul continued on in Romans

English Standard Version Chapter 1

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened

So it is clear that in order to have salvation from these darkened hearts, one must first hear the gospel. The only way that is to happen is through God’s grace who sends His word when and wherever He chooses. The hearing of the gospel is a grace. How much should we thank God that we were born in a place and time in which the gospel is so readily available in our lives. And to the children of believers as we will learn later, how blessed are they to grow up under the umbrella of the gospel in their homes.

This is the first work of the Spirit, that He lead, guide and direct those that would bring the word to everyone who would hear it. The Apostle Peter put it this way

English Standard Version Chapter 1

And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

He made it clear that the words of truth that lead unto salvation come through the work of the Spirit alone, they are not the clever inventions of men, no one has ever been saved by the words of man alone. Paul in Romans 10 asks the question how can they believe unless they have heard, and how can they hear unless someone tells them, and how can someone tell them unless they are sent. The Spirit as the active agent in applying the gospel unto men is the one who does the sending of men to when and where they need to preach.

The word of Truth

We return back to our passage in Ephesians, Paul gives two titles to the message that must first be heard in order to attain to salvation. The first is the “word of Truth.” Paul here is confirming that in order to believe, one must hear truth. Belief in a lie has no power to save. And a partial truth, a word that withholds a part of the truth in fear that it might offend, is no truth at all. The power of the word to save is that it is absolute truth. John says that Jesus is the word of God incarnate, Jesus says of Himself, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Jesus quite literally is truth itself. Belief comes through the hearing of this truth, and nothing else but this truth.

Interestingly, Ephesians itself lacks a direct rebuke of false teachers like so many of Pauls Epistles do. But does have a number of references to the truth, the most interesting being that the truth, is the belt in the armor of God. It is the piece that functions to hold together that which is worn.

We can surmise from the nature of how one comes to hear the truth, through the work of the Spirit, that when the Spirit brings the Gospel, that is God Himself brings His word to bear in our lives, that it is the truth. And when one is given a false Gospel, it is not the work of the Spirit, but the devices of men and of the Devil.

The Gospel

Paul emphasizes His point, aligning the title “word of truth” with another “the gospel of your salvation. He tells them that which saves them, that which they believe, the word of truth, is the good news of their salvation. The truth that they heard, the one that included all the works of the Father and the Son, that was theirs, not constrained to the Jews only. They were given the gift of knowing that from before the beginning of time, God’s plan of salvation was for them.

To us who sit here today, to those who might listen to this on the internet. This is the good news, if you believe upon the truth contained within God’s word you too have recieved the “good news of your salvation.”

Belief

Paul says when you heard....and “believed in Him.” Obviously it is not nearly enough to hear the word proclaimed. It must be believed. There is nothing profound in this word itself. It holds the meaning in Greek pretty much the same as you or I would define it in English. But, it is important to understand what is the nature of belief, and the content of our belief that actually saves .

Nature of Belief

Belief is not merely an intellectual agreement. Belief is not simply I agree with the facts that you are presenting to me. You can claim belief in the facts of the Bible all day long, but unless that belief comes from the heart, and is truly felt, if not it is not truly belief.

Belief is a gift bestowed upon us. Jesus says “you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.” But what does that mean? We heard earlier that the only way to believe in something is to first hear it. The Spirit in the application of salvation takes the Gospel when and where he chooses. Jesus says my sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me, because the Father has given them to me.

Belief has power “truly, Truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life” Belief is the force through which people are moved from death to life.

Content of Belief

Jesus says “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” Jesus was that one sent. So our most basic belief must be in Jesus Christ. And there are people through out time that have proclaimed belief in a Jesus, but there is only one Jesus in whom belief is salvific.

Jesus is a fully man, as much as He is fully God. He manifested himself in a specific period of time, lived a specific life, and died and rose again. To that many can agree. And the only way we can know that Jesus is in how He is revealed in Scripture. Take away a detail here or there, virgin birth, eternal existence, begotten not created, second person of the Trinity. We need not know everything there is to know about Jesus, nor do we have to have perfect understanding of the nature of Jesus in order to be saved. But, when it comes to clearly revealed truths about Jesus in Scripture, His revelation of Himself, we cannot deny them and assert our own understanding of Him. Otherwise, we have a Jesus of our own making, and a Jesus that cannot save.

The Spirit of Belief

At this point you may ask yourself though, how can anyone truly know if they have belief in the true Jesus. This is the comfort of the Spirit, those in receipt of belief given by God through the work of the Spirit will be brought along to a true understanding of God when they are presented with the clear truth. A believer in-dwelled by the Spirit, ultimately will not deny the truth when they receive it.

Kept by the Spirit

So we see that through he Spirit we are presented with the truth in such a way that we come to a point of saving belief in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Paul then goes on to explain how the Spirit ensures that this work is not lost. Once we have heard and we believed we:

English Standard Version (Chapter 1)

were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it

Sealed

Paul uses an ancient image here to indicate the work of the Spirit in marking out those who believe. A seal served two primary purposes in the ancient world, especially when it was the seal of the King. The first was to guarantee authenticity. A letter was sealed by a royal sender so that when it was recieved the person that got it knew without a doubt that it was from the person it said it was. Secondly, seals were used on pottery and things crafted from clay in order to mark ownership.

We see Paul using this imagery to indicate that the Spirit is given to the believer in such a way as that person is marked. Marked as the property of our Creator, and marked as authentic believers, the ones given unto Christ.

It must be realized that this mark this receipt of the Holy Spirit is an indelible mark. One that cannot be removed by us, or anyone else. Only the one that gave the mark would be able to remove it, but we are assured here that this will not be the case.

A Guarantee

A guarantee, and “arrabon” is a down-payment, and earnest money given in the purchase of property to serve as a security.

This sealing with the Spirit, this marking out as the property of God is also a guarantee of the full receipt of our inheritance. God is not paying someone else for us, as we are already His property, rather this guarantee is to keep us in the continual grace of God. It is as simple as this. We have been set free from the penalty of our sin by the blood of Christ. The bestowing of the Spirit, God Himself indwelling us in some way or manner in which we cannot fully comprehend, is His way of keeping us in that state until such time that we receive that inheritance. That state of existence in which man and God walk together again as it was originally designed in the garden.

This guarantee works miraculously, but at the same time by regular means. In some ways we have recieved in part our inheritance now. God is dwelling with us as believers by the presence of the Spirit within believers. This is the miraculous. Having an understanding of this state of being alone should drive us to want to avoid sin at all cost. God is not simply watching us from on high taking note of everything we do, but He is here with us now and always.

Through His indwelling the Spirit is guiding us, directing us to various means by which we can overcome sin. One of them is this. Our meeting here this morning to encourage one another through worship. Another is the people He has placed in our lives, parents, spouses, siblings, pastors, coworkers. They can all serve as encouragement to overcome sins in our live because they too as believers are in-dwelled by the Spirit. He has given us governments within our lives to direct us away from sin. Self government, the government of the family, the government of the church through church discipline, and the civil government through the punishment of evildoers. All of these are means by which God, in His time, through His Spirit, is performing the redemptive work for which Christ died. This is how he is guaranteeing our inheritance.

Delivery of that Inheritance

Paul concludes the thought by pointing out the period of time for which the guarantee is for. The translation I am using today, the ESV, words it as “until we acquire possession of it.” While an adequate translation, most other translations render it “until the redemption of the purchased possession.” This seems to communicate the meaning of the text a little clearer. The Spirit will act as a guarantee until the redemption of His possession, all of creation, is complete.

Last week I spoke of “God’s favorite Bible verse Psalm 110:1. Christ sitting on His throne until all enemies are placed beneath His feet. Here at the end of Paul’s epilogue we see that the Spirit acts as this guarantee until the redemption of the creation. This sounds a lot like the time to which Paul is referring in 1 Corinthians:

English Standard Version Chapter 15

Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

The Spirit will keep God’s people until the end, until death is destroyed finally, and eternal life is given fully unto His people.

Conclusion

Throughout the past few weeks we have looked at the perfect work of a Triune God in salvation. Each person of the Trinity perfectly and in unison saving a people unto God Himself. The electing work of the Father, The redeeming work of the Son, and the preserving work of the Spirit. A salvation that is a product of the very nature of God. A salvation that could not be without a Triune God.

So what do we do with this knowledge, what good is it beyond our own personal intellectual growth? I think there are a # of outcomes that should come from the understanding of what Paul was communicating to the Ephesians and ultimately to us.

Comfort in our blessings. Paul began this passage by telling us that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. Then he proceeds to lay out what those blessings are; adoption into the family of God out of the family of Satan, the forgiveness of sins, the redemption of an inheritance, and the guarantee that we will receive that inheritance. These are the blessing to which we should count daily. A good house, a good car, a good job, the rain we receive, the food that is provided for us; These are ll blessings of God. But every single one of those could be stripped from us today, and we would still have reason to rejoice, and sing from the rooftops. We would still be far wealthier than the richest person alive who does not know Christ. Find your joy in those blessings laid out here by Paul, and the hardships in every other part of life should pale in comparison.

Cherish His grace and give it freely. All the blessings are to the praise of His grace, and according to His grace. His grace is how God bestows all these blessings into our lives. We should not simply recognize grace, but we should actively seek to see it in all areas of our lives. By grace I am saved, by grace, I wake up each morning and take another breath, by grace I have all of those physical blessings mentioned before. If the Creator of the world who has every right and reason to detest me, a rebellious sinner, has seen fit to forgive me through grace, then it stands to reason that I as a redeemed son should seek to emulate Him in all I do. Beginning with giving grace, not where it is earned, or only when it is deserved, but like Him given freely because that is how it was given to me.

Glorify Him. All the work of salvation has been done according to His will, according to His purpose, and that purpose is to glorify Himself. All of it was done to the praise of His glory. That without doubt implies that because He has done this for us we are to glorify Him in all that we do. He has given us a new life. A life that we can use to glorify Him by living in the manner that He has called us to, walking as Christ walked, or we can balk at Him and continue to live in our sin, choosing our own comfort, our own import, our own glory above His.

Paul gave us a very succinct but deep presentation of the Gospel here. Revealing not only our own salvation, but the overall plan of God in that salvation of a people for Himself. A plan to unite all things in Christ to give it as an inheritance to His children so that they might glorify Him. From here we will see Paul further expand on these ideas, and then later shift to how we should live in light of these truths. It is important that we see that this presentation is the cornerstone of everything Paul will instruct past this. This is the Gospel that is to be believed, the gospel in which we find salvation.

Closing Prayer

Pray that God take these truths and help us to apply them to our lives, that He cement them in our minds so that in times of doubt we can look back to them and find comfort

Doxology