Introduction We have looked at our blessings in the Father (vv.1-6); our benefits in the Son (vv.7-12) and now we look at our belongings in the Holy Spirit (vv.13-14). All the Godhead participates in the origin and destiny of the believer and the Church. The Church was planned by the Father; purchased by the Son; and now preserved by the Holy Spirit. Before the foundation of the world, God the Father planned to save you, in history past God the Son died for you, and now Paul points to God the Holy Spirit who in the present works in our lives. We are saved, sealed and secure in the Holy Spirit. Francis Bacon wrote, Some books are to be tasted, others swallowed, and some few to chewed and digested. These few verses need to be carefully chewed and digested. Paul continues his song of praise. Paul sings praise to the Father for choosing us, adopting us, accepting us. Paul sings praise to the Son for our ransom, our redemption and our reconciliation. Now Paul praises the Person and work of the Holy Spirit in the believer s life. We are saved, and sealed and secured. In a very real sense our salvation is a legal transaction with the Holy Spirit who serves both as sign; the signer; and signature. I don t think Stevie Wonder had our salvation in mind when he wrote the song; Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I m Yours! His song is about false assurance; Like a fool I went and stayed to long Now I m wondering if your loves still strong Oo baby, here I am signed, sealed delivered, I m yours Have you ever felt insecure in a relationship? Have you ever wondered if your partner would leave you for some reason? Some people feel that way about God. They think that God is looking for reasons to abandon the relationship. Fear of God leaving generates a lack of assurance, confidence, it generates insecurity and robs us of hope. I think God knows how desperately we need assurance of His love; assurance of His friendship; assurance of our relationship. Do you need assurance that God will go the distance with you? Do you want firm assurance or false assurance? False assurance leads us away from our dependence up the grace and mercy and salvation in Christ. Firm assurance is based on God s promises and God s Word. Our assurance is based on God s care and Christ s resurrection and the Spirit s presence in the life of the believer. 1
Saved By The Holy Spirit (v.13a) Ephesians 1:13a (NKJV)13In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; In one sweeping verse Paul describes the entire process of salvation! Warren Wiersbe writes; It tells how a sinner becomes a saint. First, he hears the Gospel of salvation. This is the good news that Christ dies for our sins, was buried and rose again (TBEC Vol.2 p.12). The word of truth is the gospel of our salvation. Even then the Holy Spirit is present convicting us of sin and pointing us to Jesus the Savior (John 16:18). What role does the Holy Spirit play in our salvation? Alan Redpath wrote; The Holy Spirit s great task is to carry on the work for which Jesus sacrificed his throne and his life the redemption of fallen humanity. Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:5; Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. This birth by the Spirit is also called the new birth. The new birth is the work of the Holy Spirit, who places the believer in a right relationship with God. It is the work of God, not man (Don Stewart; The Holy Spirit; p.185). Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:13). The Holy Spirit convicts of sin points to Jesus changes the heart (Ezekiel 36:27) and transforms the sinner into a saint (John 3:5-6). When do we receive the Holy Spirit? We trust Jesus we believe Jesus having heard the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation. The New Testament teaches we receive the Holy Spirit when we believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior. You do not have to wait or beg or plead for the presence of the Holy Spirit. This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by the hearing of faith? (Galatians 3:2 NKJV). And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, Abba, Father! (Galatians 4:6 NKJV). All born-again followers of Jesus have the Holy Spirit. The presence or absence of the Spirit is not predicated or based on age or maturity or immaturity. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16 NKJV). The Christians in Corinth had a boatload of problems. Yet Paul reminded them they were the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in them. Sealed By The Holy Spirit (v.13b) 2
13b...in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, The Holy Spirit is a gift given to all who believe the Gospel and trust Christ; the Holy Spirit is not simply the promise of God or the blessing of God the Holy Spirit is God. Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us, and the Holy Spirit has been sent to prepare us for that place! The word sealed is sphragizo to set a seal upon to mark with a seal (Wuest s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997, c1984, S. Eph 1:13). The Harper Bible Dictionary has an excellent article on ancient seals. Thousands of tiny seals, any of them like small spools in shape and size have been found in excavations in the Middle East. They were used to affix the ancient equivalent of written signatures to documents and also widely used whenever security from molestation was important as in sealing jars of wine and oil, or bales of goods (p.657 see Word Meanings in the New Testament; by Ralph Earle; p.292). Scofield s note is helpful; The Holy Spirit is Himself the seal. In the symbolism of Scripture a seal signifies: (1) a finished transaction; (2) ownership and (3) security. When a person comes to Christ, the Holy Spirit comes and marks that person as owned by Christ. The Holy Spirit is not simply the symbol of ownership, but God s deed or title to your soul. You are wholly owned by Christ. You are God s precious property. The sealing follows believing and one Greek scholar (Eadie) writes; The Divine image in the possession of the Spirit is impressed on the heart, and the conscious enjoyment of it assures the believer of perfection and glory...the seal unbroken remains a token of safety. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Romans 5:5; NKJV)....who also sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee (2 Corinthians 1:22 NKJV). And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30 NKJV). Does grieving the Holy Spirit put pressure on the seal or break the seal? What conclusions might we draw from these passages? The sealing of the Holy Spirit is for the Believer a once-for-all act that gives the believer on going assurance that we are God s children, entitled to our blessings in the Father and our benefits in the Son! Therefore the seal implies or signifies a finished transaction. It also implies ownership. God has placed His seal on us because He has planned our redemption and Jesus has 3
purchased our redemption. Implicit as well are the concepts of security and protection. The Romans placed a seal on the tomb of Jesus. To break Rome s seal was to violate Rome. Another purpose of a seal is to determine authenticity. Just like a signature on check authorizes the check, so the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer proves the believer is genuine. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His (Romans 8:9 NKJV). Can a person believe they are a Christian when in fact they are not? Can a person do good things, carry a Bible, go to Church and remain in the flesh absent the Spirit? It is the presence or the absence of the Spirit in your life that determines the reality of whether or not you are truly in Christ and in Christ s Church. Secure In The Holy Spirit (v.14) 14who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. Let s connect the dots. The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin. The Holy Spirit points us to Jesus. The Holy Spirit changes the human heart (Ezekiel 36:27); the Holy Spirit imparts the new birth and the Holy Spirit indwells the believer. The Holy Spirit indwells the believer (Romans 8:9) and if a person is not indwelt by the Holy Spirit there are no real and lasting blessings from the Father or benefits in the Son. The presence of the Holy Spirit guarantees our inheritance; that is the Holy Spirit serves as our down-payment or proof that we are secure in the Son secure in our hope of Heaven. The word guarantee has been translated earnest, pledge or down-payment. It is a common practice in our culture when you purchase property you put down an earnest payment a pledge a token that you are serious about the purchasing the property. The Holy Spirit is given to the believer as a token, a pledge, a downpayment that all the promises given by the Father in the Son will in fact come to fruition. How are we to think about our guarantee and our inheritance and our purchased possession? In the ancient world the word used for guarantee meant partial payment down payment with a future payment promised so that the buyer could complete the transaction. The pledge was binding. We might think of it like a non-refundable deposit. We are the present possessors of the Holy Spirit. We have the Holy Spirit now. We will experience the Holy Spirit in complete fullness when we live in Christ in eternity future in heaven or the eternal state. God will keep His promises to us. The Lord will not back out or refuse to make good on His promise. We secure in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Lord God will see our relationship through to the end in this instance the end is the death and resurrection of the 4
believer and the placement of the believer in glory (this means our final reunion in heaven with Christ). Sometimes I am asked; Can a believer lose the Holy Spirit? In the Old Testament David prayed; Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me (Psalm 51:11). We see examples of the Holy Spirit leaving Sampson (Judges 16:20) and Saul (1 Samuel 16:14). Some have argued that in the Old Testament economy the Holy Spirit did not dwell in a person on a permanent basis. Another view is that these people received a specific anointing by the Holy Spirit for special God ordained tasks. Whatever the case in the New Testament Jesus promises the believer; And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever (John 14:16). Forever means forever. No one has ever asked me; Can God the Father and God the Son lose God the Holy Spirit? Yet here the implication is that God has left His Holy Spirit both as proof and pledge that your adoption, your acceptance, your ransom, your redemption, your forgiveness, your salvation is safe and secure. Who also sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee (2 Corinthians 1:22 NKJV). The word translated guarantee has one more meaning even in the modern Greek language arrabon engagement ring. An engagement ring is a symbol that promises have been made and promises will be kept. But the Holy Spirit is not a symbol. Ladies if you lost your engagement ring would lose your love or your lover? I think not. Ladies have you ever broken off an engagement and given the ring back? Or have you experienced the trauma of your fiancee saying the wedding is off and I m giving the ring back? God has given His Holy Spirit as our engagement ring. Paul adds of the purchased possession. The Greek phrase is peripoesis and is translated five different ways in the New Testament. The word is translated obtain (1 Thess. 5:9). the obtaining (2 Thess.2:14); the saving (Heb.10:39) and peculiar (1 Peter 2:9). The true sense of the term is described by Greek scholar Vincent: The word originally means a making to remain over and above; hence preservation; preservation for one s self; acquisition, the thing acquired or a possession (3:369). Wiersbe: The redemption of the purchased possession refers to the redemption of the body at the return of Christ...Redemption is experienced in three stages: We have been redeemed through faith in Christ (Eph.1:7) 5
We are being redeemed as the Spirit works in our lives to make us more like Christ (Rom. 8:1-4) We shall be redeemed when Christ returns and we shall be like Him (TBEC Vol.2; p.12). Has redemption taken place in the past? Yes. Is redemption taking place in the present? Yes. Will redemption take place in the future? Yes. Paul at the end of the sentence repeats (v.6;v.12) to the praise of His glory. It s great to have the things that money can buy. It s better to have the things that money can t buy. Riches come by God s grace. Why would God save you? Pity? Perhaps. Love. Certainly. But Paul points to God s glory these three times v.6.;v.12; v.14. God saves you to promote His glory to reveal His glory to satisfy His glory! Yes Creation reveals God s wisdom and power; and the Church reveals His wisdom love and grace and glory! Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee (2 Corinthians 5:5 NKJV). You are saved, sealed, secured by the Holy Spirit. Conclusion Paul describes our blessings from the Father and benefits in the Son and our belongings in the Spirit. A.W. Tozer Do you want to be filled with a Spirit who, though He is like Jesus in his gentleness an love, will nevertheless demand to be Lord of your life? Are you willing to let your personality be taken over by another, even if that other be the Spirit of God himself? If the Spirit takes charge of your life he will expect unquestioning obedience in everything. He will not tolerate in you the self-sins even though they are permitted and excused by most Christians...You will find the Spirit to be in sharp opposition to the easy ways of the world and of the mixed multitude within the precincts of religion. He will be jealous over you for good. He will not allow you to boast or swagger or show off. He will take the direction of your life away from you. He will reserve the right to test you, to discipline you, to chasten you for your soul s sake. He may strip you of many of the borderline pleasures which other Christians enjoy but which are to you a source of refined evil. Through it all he will enfold you in a love so vast, so mighty, so allembracing, so wondrous that your very losses will seem like great gains and your small pains like pleasure. 6