1 00:00:01,520 --> 00:00:05,640 Well, as the global W embraced the Enlightenment, thinking this 2 00:00:05,640 --> 00:00:09,760 was going into the 18th and the 19th centuries, the spirit of 3 00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:13,360 the age was to learn about man. We learn about ourselves from 4 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:18,640 studying man, and reason was elevated as the primary tool for 5 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:21,480 discerning truth. It's amazing that before, in the 6 00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:23,720 Middle Ages, reason was everything. 7 00:00:23,720 --> 00:00:26,680 Philosophy was everything. And then you have Aquinas saying 8 00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:28,520 the queen of the sciences is theology. 9 00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:31,720 That's where we got our theme for this Ephesians. 10 00:00:31,720 --> 00:00:34,120 The queen of the letters is Ephesians. 11 00:00:34,480 --> 00:00:37,000 And then amazingly, right after we go straight back and say no, 12 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:41,280 reason again took over and natural law took over as the 13 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:44,000 queen of the science. At by the time of the 14 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:46,400 Enlightenment, reason and natural law had supplanted 15 00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:49,520 theology, which means that they set the rules for all other 16 00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:53,680 sciences, including the study of Scripture and including 17 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:57,880 theology. And so with this came the the 18 00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:01,240 higher criticism and the chipping away at inerrancy. 19 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:05,000 And with it came the quest for the historical Jesus, where they 20 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:09,160 began to to peel back what they perceived as layers of Scripture 21 00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:13,440 and to degrade the public's confidence in the deity of Jesus 22 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:17,440 Christ. And in all this, the Trinity 23 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:21,520 became to be viewed as an addition to the doctrine of God. 24 00:01:22,320 --> 00:01:24,560 And this is perhaps most apparent in the father of 25 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:27,400 liberal theology, modern liberal theology was Friedrich 26 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:30,760 Schleiermacher. And in his theology, he doesn't 27 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:34,400 talk about the Trinity in his book until the appendix. 28 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:37,280 You get to the appendix of his theology book, there's mention 29 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:40,480 of the Trinity and you even go to the the bastion of 30 00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:42,800 conservative theology. You go to Princeton with Charles 31 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:46,080 Hodge, the greatest American mind, arguably at the time, the 32 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:49,280 greatest, the most popular American preacher at the height 33 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:53,600 of Princeton's conservative theology and influence and his 34 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:56,760 systematic theology. He spends 250 pages talking 35 00:01:56,760 --> 00:02:00,320 about God before he ever mentions his Tri unity. 36 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:03,960 And so out of that, there's actually one man who kind of 37 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:06,720 corrected us back and got us back on track of thinking about 38 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:09,840 God as as a triune God, as a Trinitarian God. 39 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:14,200 And his name was Carl Bart, born May 1886. 40 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:18,640 He refocused the church because unlike Hodge, the discussion of 41 00:02:18,640 --> 00:02:21,880 the Trinity was first in his doctrine of God. 42 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:24,000 It was first in his discussion of God. 43 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:26,560 And he said the doctrine of the Trinity is basically what 44 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:29,400 distinguishes the doctrine of God as Christian. 45 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:32,400 End Quote. And he said even Christ's 46 00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:36,920 centrality is meant to point to and not away from the centrality 47 00:02:36,920 --> 00:02:40,680 of the triune God. So there was a refocusing of the 48 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:43,200 church on Scripture as revelation. 49 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:46,880 We don't stand above it with our human tools and, and, and apply 50 00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:49,560 ourselves to the Scripture, but rather we stand under the Bible 51 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:52,200 and we confess this is this is not written by a man, but men 52 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:55,200 under the inspiration of God. It's divine revelation. 53 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:59,520 And so we say when the Scriptures speak, the triune God 54 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:03,240 speaks and he rules and he reigns in our lives and our soul 55 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:06,360 and our heart and in this world through this open word. 56 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:09,760 And so we refocused as a church on Scripture as revelation. 57 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:12,360 We refocused on key passages, Trinitarian passages like 58 00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:16,120 Ephesians 1/3 to 11. And so we're not like the spirit 59 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:17,600 of our age. We don't study, we don't have a 60 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:19,920 religion department. We have a theology department. 61 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:22,760 We don't study man to learn about man. 62 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:26,440 We study God to learn about ourselves. 63 00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:30,400 And so we study the triune God, the Father, the Son, and the 64 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:33,160 Spirit. And so this is our supreme 65 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:36,080 source of authority. And one of the premier passages 66 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:39,720 about the Trinitarian God is Ephesians 1, three to 14. 67 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:42,840 You can begin to turn there. Two weeks ago, Paul shone the 68 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:48,200 spotlight on God the Father and he began this sentence. 69 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:53,240 And it was 12 verses 202 words in the original autograph, 32 70 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:56,080 prepositional phrases representing one sentence of God 71 00:03:56,080 --> 00:03:57,720 the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. 72 00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:00,360 And as he shines the spotlight on the Father, he says that the 73 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:03,600 Father chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. 74 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:07,240 It says that he chose you. That's the main verb of this 75 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:09,440 whole sentence because he's trying to give you a sense of 76 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:12,160 the sovereignty of God and your salvation. 77 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:15,680 And he tells you that he predestined you for adoption to 78 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:18,320 give you a sense of the purpose of your salvation, that you 79 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:21,519 would be in relationship to him, that he would adopt you, that he 80 00:04:21,519 --> 00:04:23,560 would give you a family and a home, and that he would become 81 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:26,720 your heavenly Father. And uses that metaphor of you 82 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:29,080 are a child and he is your father. 83 00:04:29,480 --> 00:04:32,680 And then you come to verses 7 to 10, our passage for last week. 84 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:37,960 God or Paul shone the spotlight on Jesus the Son of God. 85 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:43,120 And he said that he purchased you with his own blood. 86 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:45,920 He was your Redeemer. And as your Redeemer he 87 00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:48,880 fulfilled 3 roles. He was your prophet making known 88 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:50,480 the will of God for your salvation. 89 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:54,360 He was your priest making atonement for your soul, and he 90 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:57,160 was your king by subduing all creation. 91 00:04:57,160 --> 00:05:00,360 It said things in heaven and things on earth under himself, 92 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:04,680 and he subdued you to himself, which is why we bow the knee to 93 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:08,080 him and we confess him as Lord. He unites all things under 94 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:09,280 Christ. And today we're going to 95 00:05:09,280 --> 00:05:11,440 continue to learn something about ourselves and our 96 00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:14,440 salvation by shining the spotlight on God the Holy 97 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:19,680 Spirit, who He says is going to seal us for the day of 98 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:21,360 redemption. And that, that that's the 99 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:23,760 premier metaphor. God the Father adopts you, the 100 00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:26,040 Son redeems you, the Spirit seals you. 101 00:05:26,080 --> 00:05:29,840 And what he's emphasizing with that metaphor is you're being 102 00:05:29,840 --> 00:05:32,720 set apart in this world for his purposes. 103 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:38,640 You're living for His glory, His ownership of you, the 104 00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:43,400 authenticity or the genuineness of your faith and your eternal 105 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:46,160 security. By having a spirit, He says He's 106 00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:49,400 guaranteeing your inheritance until you acquire possession of 107 00:05:49,400 --> 00:05:53,200 it to the praise of His glory. And so, and all these things to 108 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:55,680 go all the way back to the beginning and all these things, 109 00:05:55,680 --> 00:05:59,000 there is unity between the persons of the Godhead and what 110 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:00,560 they're accomplishing on your behalf. 111 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:04,440 All things in Scripture, be it creation or redemption, is are 112 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:08,600 from the Father, through the Son, and by the Holy Spirit. 113 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:10,600 And the same is true with your redemption. 114 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:12,880 It was according to the plan and foreknowledge of God the Father. 115 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:16,520 It was achieved through Jesus Christ in time, and it is 116 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:20,200 applied by the Holy Spirit. And so those that the Father 117 00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:23,320 chose, the Son redeemed. Those that the Son redeemed, the 118 00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:25,360 Spirit sealed. We saw through the Father was 119 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:27,600 the plan of redemption through the Son, the accomplishment of 120 00:06:27,600 --> 00:06:29,520 it through the Spirit, the application of it. 121 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:32,000 So from everlasting to everlasting, God has been 122 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:34,840 building His church and He's loved His church. 123 00:06:35,280 --> 00:06:38,000 He says He does it that we might be his people and that He might 124 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:40,920 be our God. And he says over and over again 125 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:44,960 in this Section 3 times, it's to the praise of his glory, to the 126 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:47,320 praise of his glory, to the praise of his glory. 127 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:50,240 That's the reason He bought his church. 128 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:55,160 And again, if you'll look to Ephesians 111, the spotlight now 129 00:06:55,160 --> 00:06:58,520 shines on God the Holy Spirit. Let's read this section 130 00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:01,440 together. Ephesians 111 to 14. 131 00:07:03,080 --> 00:07:07,280 In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been 132 00:07:07,280 --> 00:07:10,280 predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all 133 00:07:10,280 --> 00:07:13,560 things according to the counsel of His will, so that we who were 134 00:07:13,560 --> 00:07:17,000 the first to hope in Christ, might be to the praise of His 135 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:19,600 glory in Him. You also, when you heard the 136 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:22,600 word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in 137 00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:26,320 Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the 138 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:29,320 guarantee of our inheritance, until we acquire possession of 139 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:33,920 it to the praise of His glory. Go back to Ji Packer, one of the 140 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:38,200 favorites of the church he was famous for, or he was one of the 141 00:07:38,200 --> 00:07:42,160 guys that popularized this idea that the Holy Spirit is the shy 142 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:45,280 person of the Trinity. And the Spirit is not shy 143 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:47,720 because he's he's timid. He's shy because his name 144 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:50,400 appears less in Scripture than the Father and the Son. 145 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:53,920 And he he's shy because his work is, is not as apparent of that 146 00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:55,800 of Jesus Christ. It's internal and it's 147 00:07:55,800 --> 00:07:59,840 transformative. And so the Spirit he's called 148 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:02,640 shy because his work is not to glorify himself. 149 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:04,960 When you look at the Spirit, all of a sudden the Spirit's 150 00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:06,880 pointing your attention toward Christ and you look at Christ 151 00:08:06,880 --> 00:08:08,720 and all of a sudden Christ is pointing your attention toward 152 00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:11,640 the Father. And so it, it's hard to pinpoint 153 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:14,120 scriptures about the Spirit because all of a sudden you're, 154 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:16,160 you're looking at the Son. It's just how did, how did I get 155 00:08:16,160 --> 00:08:19,120 here? That's his job is to glorify the 156 00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:21,800 Son. John 1613 When the Spirit of 157 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:24,840 truth comes, he will guide you into all, all truth. 158 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:28,200 For he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he 159 00:08:28,200 --> 00:08:32,360 hears, he will speak. Listen, He will glorify me, for 160 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:35,080 He will take what is mine and declare it to you. 161 00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:39,200 John 1526 Jesus says, when the Helper comes, whom I will send 162 00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:41,840 to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds 163 00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:45,160 from the Father, He will bear witness about me. 164 00:08:45,960 --> 00:08:48,120 The Spirit does not bear witness to Himself. 165 00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:52,800 The Spirit glorifies Christ. So the Spirit delights to focus 166 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:55,640 on the Son, and in the same way we see that the Son delights to 167 00:08:55,640 --> 00:08:58,240 point the glory to God the Father. 168 00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:02,080 John 718 The one who speaks of his own authority seeks his own 169 00:09:02,080 --> 00:09:05,680 glory, But the one who seeks the glory of him who sent Him is 170 00:09:05,680 --> 00:09:08,040 true. Jesus sought the glory of the 171 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:10,800 one who sent Him. John 850 says it plainly. 172 00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:15,600 I do not seek my own glory. There is One who seeks it and He 173 00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:18,000 is the Judge. And finally in the high priestly 174 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:20,560 prayer, he says, I glorified you on earth, have accomplished the 175 00:09:20,560 --> 00:09:23,680 work that you gave me to do. So when you attempt to focus on 176 00:09:23,680 --> 00:09:25,920 God the Spirit is to focus on God the Son. 177 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:29,280 Any attempt to focus on God the Son is to focus on God the 178 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:33,520 Father who sent him. And if you remember in the New 179 00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:38,600 Testament some 200 times, it talks about our being found in 180 00:09:38,600 --> 00:09:41,800 Christ and in the greatest concentration of this, in 181 00:09:41,800 --> 00:09:44,360 Christ, in Jesus, in the beloved, the greatest 182 00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:46,920 concentration of those come right here in Ephesians 1. 183 00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:50,280 And I want to remind you the words of Carl Bart, when even as 184 00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:53,440 he is, he is central here. Bart says even Christ's 185 00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:57,120 centrality is meant to point to and not away from the centrality 186 00:09:57,120 --> 00:10:00,760 of the triune God. And so we're going to glorify 187 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:03,560 the Spirit this morning. And in so doing, we will glorify 188 00:10:03,880 --> 00:10:06,200 the Son and the Father who sent him. 189 00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:12,320 And as you look down to these verses, 11 to 14, I counted 7 190 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:16,000 works of God the Holy Spirit in these 5 verses. 191 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:19,840 And so taken together, these seven works of the Holy Spirit 192 00:10:19,840 --> 00:10:25,040 represent the application of redemption to your soul, the 193 00:10:25,040 --> 00:10:27,040 application of redemption to the church. 194 00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:28,440 And we're going to go through them one by one. 195 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:33,000 But those seven works are the Spirit, places you in Christ. 196 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:36,920 That's the first work. The Spirit unites all things in 197 00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:40,680 Christ #3 the Spirit works through the Word, through the 198 00:10:40,680 --> 00:10:46,520 gospel, and through faith #4 the Spirit seals believers #5 the 199 00:10:46,520 --> 00:10:48,360 Spirit guarantees your inheritance. 200 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:52,600 Number six, the Spirit fulfills prophecy, and #7 the Spirit 201 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:55,840 glorifies Jesus Christ. So we'll begin right here at the 202 00:10:55,840 --> 00:10:58,120 top. The Spirit places you in Christ. 203 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:00,800 I'm going to read verses 11 to 12 again so you can see it in 204 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:04,120 this context. It says in Him we have obtained 205 00:11:04,120 --> 00:11:07,200 an inheritance, having been predestined according to the 206 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:10,480 purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel 207 00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:12,720 of His will. Says that in Christ we have 208 00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:16,600 received every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. 209 00:11:17,320 --> 00:11:20,480 And so this, all of these spiritual blessings, all of 210 00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:24,040 these blessings that are given by the Holy Spirit are found in 211 00:11:24,040 --> 00:11:25,960 Christ. Everything in this section is 212 00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:29,040 bound up in Christ. And so union with, union with 213 00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:33,480 Jesus, the beginning of our salvation did not occur when 214 00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:35,400 Jesus went to the cross and died for your sins. 215 00:11:35,400 --> 00:11:37,080 It didn't occur when he raised from the dead. 216 00:11:37,080 --> 00:11:40,000 It didn't occur when he was ascended up into glory. 217 00:11:41,040 --> 00:11:44,760 Your being united with Christ happened through the work of the 218 00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:48,760 Holy Spirit, who then applied that work of redemption to you. 219 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:52,640 Jesus accomplished redemption. The Spirit has to apply it. 220 00:11:53,480 --> 00:11:58,520 And so he says that in verse 13, that happens when you hear the 221 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:02,400 word of truth, when you hear the gospel, and when you believe 222 00:12:03,040 --> 00:12:04,600 He's going to work in and through those things. 223 00:12:04,600 --> 00:12:06,800 And after you believe in, because you believe the Spirit 224 00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:08,600 applies the work of Jesus Christ to your soul. 225 00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:10,640 Do you get it? This is the order. 226 00:12:10,640 --> 00:12:13,600 This is how it happens, and this is the plan of God from all 227 00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:16,440 eternity. This is the wise plan that was 228 00:12:16,440 --> 00:12:18,600 part of the foreknowledge that was given in all wisdom and all 229 00:12:18,600 --> 00:12:22,560 insight that God would have this plan, that the Spirit would 230 00:12:22,560 --> 00:12:25,760 apply it. And you see that He accomplishes 231 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:28,840 it through your faith and belief. 200 times you hear these 232 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:31,800 words in Christ, in the Lord, in Christ Jesus, in Him, in the 233 00:12:31,800 --> 00:12:35,240 beloved, which means that union with Jesus Christ is essential 234 00:12:35,240 --> 00:12:37,800 to your faith. Without union with Christ, there 235 00:12:37,800 --> 00:12:41,400 is no salvation. It's essential to your faith. 236 00:12:41,680 --> 00:12:44,160 You are dead in your trespasses and sins while you remain 237 00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:46,000 outside of Him. And it's by the work of the Holy 238 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:49,920 Spirit alone that you are united with your Savior, that His 239 00:12:49,920 --> 00:12:54,400 righteousness is applied to you. And so all of the doctrines 240 00:12:54,400 --> 00:12:56,680 we've seen so far in Ephesians, one, we've seen election and 241 00:12:56,680 --> 00:12:59,560 redemption and justification and adoption and sanctification and 242 00:12:59,560 --> 00:13:01,120 glorification. There's a reason you keep going 243 00:13:01,120 --> 00:13:01,920 through. It's in Him. 244 00:13:02,040 --> 00:13:04,640 It's in Him and in him. All of these doctrines run like 245 00:13:04,640 --> 00:13:08,080 a thread. They all find their genesis or 246 00:13:08,080 --> 00:13:11,000 the thread being bound up in Jesus Christ. 247 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:15,000 It all happens in Him. First Corinthians 617 to 20 248 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:18,800 illustrate this wonderfully. Or do you not know that your 249 00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:21,280 body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, whom you have from God, 250 00:13:21,280 --> 00:13:23,680 and you are not your own, for you were what? 251 00:13:24,600 --> 00:13:27,960 But with a price, Therefore glorify God. 252 00:13:29,040 --> 00:13:31,280 The Spirit unites you to Christ. And in that section. 253 00:13:31,280 --> 00:13:35,320 This is the context of the words Paul says and verse 17 But he 254 00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:39,560 who is joined to the Lord becomes 1 Spirit with him. 255 00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:43,880 Your salvation is united. You are united in Christ. 256 00:13:44,440 --> 00:13:46,720 And you can ask, how can I be sure that I'm saved? 257 00:13:47,320 --> 00:13:51,160 How do I know that I'm saved? The answer is that God has given 258 00:13:51,160 --> 00:13:54,360 you his Holy Spirit who dwells in you, who unites you to Jesus 259 00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:58,320 so that you are found in him. And so when these verses, Paul 260 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:02,400 again remind you, this is God's sovereign plan and purpose. 261 00:14:02,680 --> 00:14:05,200 And you see it in these two prepositional phrases. 262 00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:08,440 In verse 11, he's underlining the thoughtful and deliberate 263 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:10,920 nature of God the Father and your salvation. 264 00:14:10,920 --> 00:14:14,400 He says first it's according to the purpose of him and then 265 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:17,320 second, it's according to the counsel of his will. 266 00:14:17,320 --> 00:14:20,920 He's been heaping up this, the sovereign language throughout 267 00:14:20,920 --> 00:14:23,280 this passage. He's used 3 words to to stress 268 00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:25,560 divine sovereignty. It says it's his purpose, it's 269 00:14:25,560 --> 00:14:28,320 his counsel and it's his will. And you, you can't divide those 270 00:14:28,320 --> 00:14:30,040 things. You can try and dig into them 271 00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:32,080 and find shades of meaning in them, but there there's no 272 00:14:32,080 --> 00:14:34,880 shades of meaning. It's it's Paul overwhelming you 273 00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:38,520 with synonyms so that you get a sense of his sovereignty over 274 00:14:38,520 --> 00:14:40,240 your life and over your salvation. 275 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:42,400 That's what these these words are doing. 276 00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:44,080 It's his purpose. It's his work. 277 00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:46,080 It's his counsel. It's his will. 278 00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:49,200 He's sovereign. It's his plan at his initiative, 279 00:14:49,320 --> 00:14:53,400 his power, his forethought, his design, his execution, and you 280 00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:54,960 move on. And it says it's all according 281 00:14:54,960 --> 00:14:58,080 to the working of his grace. Working is literally the word 282 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:02,480 inner ghetto, energetic. It's it's his power that is 283 00:15:02,480 --> 00:15:06,160 accomplishing this work. It's his power that puts this 284 00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:09,680 plan into effect. And we remember in verse 8, it's 285 00:15:09,680 --> 00:15:12,720 not only with power, it's all power now, but it was with all 286 00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:15,880 wisdom and all insight, power and wisdom. 287 00:15:16,880 --> 00:15:18,040 And you look at the created order. 288 00:15:18,040 --> 00:15:21,280 You can tonight when the sky goes dark, you can get out of 289 00:15:21,280 --> 00:15:23,400 telescope and you can look out at this created order and you 290 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:26,920 can see something of the power and the the majesty and the 291 00:15:26,920 --> 00:15:28,720 bigness of God. And then you can get out your 292 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:30,960 microscope the next morning and you can see something of the 293 00:15:30,960 --> 00:15:35,120 wisdom of God because it's all there and apparent for you. 294 00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:37,200 He's showing you this and you can look through all of it. 295 00:15:37,400 --> 00:15:40,600 And he says here that he's uniting all things under Jesus 296 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:43,880 Christ, the work of the Spirit. He says things in heaven and 297 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:48,000 things on earth, they will all be brought in and made to reign 298 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:52,680 under the one head of Jesus. It says here he's building his 299 00:15:52,680 --> 00:15:55,120 church from eternity past to eternity future, that we might 300 00:15:55,120 --> 00:15:57,400 be his people and he might be our God. 301 00:15:57,640 --> 00:15:59,440 And to remind you of this truth, he says it again. 302 00:15:59,440 --> 00:16:04,280 He says this phrase again that we were predestined making it. 303 00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:05,480 It's at the beginning, it's at the end. 304 00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:08,360 It kind of makes it a refrain of this passage. 305 00:16:08,920 --> 00:16:13,360 It begins and ends our section. And as you go into verse 11, I 306 00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:17,280 want to make a note too that scholars argue here over this 307 00:16:17,280 --> 00:16:22,960 word inheritance, and they say, do we have our inheritance in 308 00:16:22,960 --> 00:16:26,320 Christ or are we the inheritance for Christ? 309 00:16:27,240 --> 00:16:30,040 And I want to say that regardless whether you're the 310 00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:32,480 inheritance or we've obtained an inheritance, Paul is going to 311 00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:35,680 stress in Ephesians that you are a people after God's own 312 00:16:35,680 --> 00:16:38,680 possession. It's one of his main focal 313 00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:42,160 points. And your secure place in God is 314 00:16:42,160 --> 00:16:45,280 intentional. And it required the Holy Spirit 315 00:16:45,280 --> 00:16:48,120 uniting you into Christ so that you can be found in him. 316 00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:51,080 That's his first great work. And moving to the second one, 317 00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:56,000 the Spirit unites not only you, but all things in Jesus Christ. 318 00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:59,840 Look at verse 12 into verse 13 he says verse 12 so that we who 319 00:16:59,840 --> 00:17:03,000 were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of him 320 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:04,960 glory might be to the praise of his glory. 321 00:17:04,960 --> 00:17:07,040 We who were the first to hope in Christ and then in 13 he says 322 00:17:07,040 --> 00:17:11,640 and and in him you also and so he's making a distinction here. 323 00:17:11,640 --> 00:17:15,040 You got to choose as he is he making a distinction between the 324 00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:17,560 first to hope in Christ literally just being like some 325 00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:19,599 people believed first and now some people are believing 326 00:17:19,599 --> 00:17:22,920 second. You also, or is it we who were 327 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:26,280 the first are the Jews and you also are the Gentiles. 328 00:17:26,280 --> 00:17:28,600 I think he's getting at that. And whether he is or isn't, he's 329 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:31,320 going to say this in chapter 3. This mystery is that the 330 00:17:31,320 --> 00:17:34,160 Gentiles are fellow heirs, member of the same body, 331 00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:37,160 partakers of the same promise in Jesus Christ through the gospel. 332 00:17:37,480 --> 00:17:39,920 So you've already seen it illustrated at Pentecost where 333 00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:43,440 he's taken the two unique bodies who are hostile to one another. 334 00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:45,720 He's going to say the Gentiles who could not even approach the 335 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:48,400 throne of grace and he's saying I've taken those two and I've 336 00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:52,720 united them under one head. They are now found in Christ in 337 00:17:52,720 --> 00:17:55,960 submission to him. He's saying it's not just it's 338 00:17:55,960 --> 00:17:58,160 all things things in heaven and things on earth and here's your 339 00:17:58,160 --> 00:18:00,800 premier illustration. The Jews and the Gentiles, 2 340 00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:03,280 distinct groups of people have been found in him. 341 00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:07,680 And you see this when God poured out his Holy Spirit and 342 00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:11,040 established his church, he pours out his spirit on the Jews and 343 00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:14,320 3000 believe in the spirit comes on them and there's the same 344 00:18:14,320 --> 00:18:16,720 spirit and there's the the tongues and there's the sign. 345 00:18:17,240 --> 00:18:19,200 And then he goes to the Samaritans and trying to show 346 00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:22,080 that it's one church united under Jesus Christ. 347 00:18:22,080 --> 00:18:24,840 They received the same spirit and they know they have the same 348 00:18:24,840 --> 00:18:28,720 spirit because it's the same sign, the same tongues. 349 00:18:28,720 --> 00:18:30,440 And then you come to the Gentiles and here it is. 350 00:18:30,440 --> 00:18:32,960 It's the same spirit. It's the same sign. 351 00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:36,320 And so when the Spirit unites you to Christ, he's 352 00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:41,200 simultaneously uniting you to the church, which is why anybody 353 00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:44,600 that doesn't love the church doesn't love the Father. 354 00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:48,280 You can't say I believe in God, but I don't believe in organized 355 00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:50,480 religion. When you are given a new 356 00:18:50,480 --> 00:18:53,120 orientation toward God, you're given a new orientation toward 357 00:18:53,240 --> 00:18:55,880 His church. We have fellowship with Him and 358 00:18:55,880 --> 00:18:57,200 we have fellowship with one another. 359 00:18:57,680 --> 00:19:01,400 Ezekiel 11/19 prophesied. And I will give them all one 360 00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:05,520 heart, and a new spirit I will put within them, and they shall 361 00:19:05,520 --> 00:19:07,440 be my people, and I will be their God. 362 00:19:07,440 --> 00:19:10,560 That's the only distinction. Now, those who are God's people 363 00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:13,880 and those who aren't, we have been united under our head. 364 00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:17,720 You become God oriented and you become church oriented. 365 00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:22,520 And this unity is the very thing that Jesus prayed for. 366 00:19:22,520 --> 00:19:26,160 We said last week that he's our priest and part of the the work 367 00:19:26,160 --> 00:19:29,200 that Jesus accomplished as a priest was our atonement. 368 00:19:29,200 --> 00:19:30,960 And as he's going to make atonement, he's praying. 369 00:19:30,960 --> 00:19:33,760 This is all under his office as a priest, and as he was praying 370 00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:35,800 to God the Father the night before or the night he was 371 00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:38,680 betrayed, he says this. I asked for all those who 372 00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:41,840 believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, 373 00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:45,720 just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may 374 00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:48,560 be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me 375 00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:50,160 the glory that you have given me. 376 00:19:50,160 --> 00:19:54,880 I have given to them that they may be 1 even as we are one, I 377 00:19:54,880 --> 00:19:57,480 in them and you and me, that they may become perfectly 1, so 378 00:19:57,480 --> 00:20:00,520 that the world may know you sent me and loved them even as you 379 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:02,920 loved me. So Jesus is praying that we 380 00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:05,400 might be 1 even as the Trinity is 1. 381 00:20:06,040 --> 00:20:07,480 Even his Father, Son, and Spirit are one. 382 00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:10,360 That's the unity that we are to embody as a church. 383 00:20:10,880 --> 00:20:14,600 And that prayer of Jesus Christ is accomplished by the work of 384 00:20:14,600 --> 00:20:18,360 the Holy Spirit who unites all things in him. 385 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:23,760 The third work of the Holy Spirit as he says that the 386 00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:27,360 Spirit works through the word and through the gospel and 387 00:20:27,360 --> 00:20:30,360 through faith. And here's where Paul presents 2 388 00:20:30,360 --> 00:20:33,280 truths in tension and the the tension of these two truths kind 389 00:20:33,280 --> 00:20:35,120 of become a hallmark of his letters. 390 00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:40,080 And those two truths are God's sovereign will for the salvation 391 00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:43,160 of his church and the individual believers responsibility to 392 00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:47,680 respond to the gospel in faith, God's sovereignty in man's 393 00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:51,000 responsibility. And there's no need to reconcile 394 00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:55,440 these verses. As Spurgeon famously said, how 395 00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:57,880 do you He was asked, how do you reconcile these two truths to 396 00:20:57,880 --> 00:20:59,280 each other? And he responded, I wouldn't 397 00:20:59,280 --> 00:21:01,240 try. I never reconcile friends. 398 00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:06,000 There's no contradiction, there's no tension between God's 399 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:08,640 election and mankind's response and faith. 400 00:21:08,640 --> 00:21:11,560 Ji Packer wrote a book on it, Evangelism and the Sovereignty 401 00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:13,200 of God. He says they're not enemies, 402 00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:16,640 they're not uneasy neighbors. They're not in an endless state 403 00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:20,160 of Cold War with each other. They're friends and they work 404 00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:23,200 together. And you see it in verse 13 and 405 00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:25,240 all of this language of sovereignty and the divine 406 00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:27,720 initiative of God. And it says right here, read it 407 00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:31,000 with me in him. You also, when you heard the 408 00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:34,840 word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in 409 00:21:34,840 --> 00:21:38,440 him were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. 410 00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:42,120 And there's a word that we use. It's not a contradiction. 411 00:21:42,120 --> 00:21:44,200 It's not a paradox. There's a word we use when 412 00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:47,840 there's two truths that that the Bible affirms are both true and 413 00:21:47,840 --> 00:21:51,120 our there's limits to our human understanding that we can't see 414 00:21:51,120 --> 00:21:53,400 how they fit together. We know that they're true. 415 00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:55,360 We confess them as true. Again, not a paradox. 416 00:21:55,360 --> 00:21:58,400 We call it an antenna, me an an enemy. 417 00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:03,640 And the main subject of this passage, going all the way up to 418 00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:07,560 the main verb is God's sovereign choice of the church in eternity 419 00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:10,360 past. And we see that again, that the 420 00:22:10,360 --> 00:22:13,200 initiative of Jesus Christ as he comes and redeems his church, 421 00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:15,600 the initiative of the Spirit as he applies that. 422 00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:19,520 But then Paul presents 2 human elements that are necessary for 423 00:22:19,520 --> 00:22:24,040 salvation, and the first one is the proclamation of the gospel. 424 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:28,440 You have to hear the gospel, and the second human element that is 425 00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:31,480 absolutely essential is your belief in that gospel. 426 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:33,880 You have to hear and you have to believe. 427 00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:36,120 And so there is human responsibility that is 428 00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:39,200 compatible with divine sovereignty. 429 00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:41,520 And the first human responsibility is to preach the 430 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:43,560 Word to every tribe, tongue and nation. 431 00:22:43,760 --> 00:22:46,120 It's the responsibility of all of us and us collectively. 432 00:22:46,120 --> 00:22:50,240 This is God's divine Commission. He says go there for and on the 433 00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:52,520 basis of God's divine sovereignty and foreknowledge, 434 00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:54,400 preach election to all those who are elect. 435 00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:57,400 That's what he says. Oh no, that's not at all what he 436 00:22:57,400 --> 00:22:59,920 said. Go therefore, and make disciples 437 00:22:59,920 --> 00:23:02,280 of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father 438 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:05,040 and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all 439 00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:07,240 that I've commanded you. And lo, I'm with you always, 440 00:23:07,240 --> 00:23:11,240 even to the ends of the age. He's saying we have a 441 00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:13,920 responsibility to preach the gospel, and that gospel is never 442 00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:15,800 encumbered with the language of election. 443 00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:19,640 We never proclaim election in our to say whoever is so 444 00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:22,200 predestined. No, it's not restricted. 445 00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:25,640 It does not restrict the free offer of the gospel, Whosoever 446 00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:29,840 will believe in Jesus Christ. And then there's the other human 447 00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:33,080 responsibility, not just to proclaim it, but to respond to 448 00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:36,200 it and to trust in Jesus Christ for salvation. 449 00:23:36,200 --> 00:23:38,040 You hear Paul's theology in Romans 10. 450 00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:41,200 If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe 451 00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:44,360 in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be 452 00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:47,320 saved. It's enough to believe in your 453 00:23:47,320 --> 00:23:50,080 heart and to confess with your mouth that he is Lord. 454 00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:53,280 They have to hear, which is why Paul says in the same context, 455 00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:56,840 How will they hear him and whom they have not believed, how they 456 00:23:56,840 --> 00:23:58,240 call on him and who they have not believed? 457 00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:00,200 How are they to believe in Him and whom they never heard? 458 00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:02,560 How are they to hear without preaching? 459 00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:05,160 And how are they to preach unless they are sent as it is 460 00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:06,520 written? How beautiful are the feet of 461 00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:11,120 those who preach the good news. Verse 13 For everyone who calls 462 00:24:11,120 --> 00:24:13,680 on the name of the Lord will be saved, and this is your 463 00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:16,000 opportunity. The salvation is here. 464 00:24:16,400 --> 00:24:20,160 If you believe in Jesus Christ, you have to trust in all of 465 00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:22,280 these tenets of the gospel that He is the eternal law. 466 00:24:22,280 --> 00:24:23,480 Goss. He is the Son of God. 467 00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:25,480 He took on flesh. He was born of a virgin. 468 00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:28,320 He lived a perfect life that you could never live. 469 00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:30,720 You sinned and fell short of the glory of God. 470 00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:34,120 And by his work of redemption at the cross, he accomplished 471 00:24:34,120 --> 00:24:36,960 perfect righteousness. And here's the beauty. 472 00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:39,960 If you trust that that work is enough for your salvation, the 473 00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:43,040 Holy Spirit, according to the plan and foreknowledge of God 474 00:24:43,040 --> 00:24:45,920 the Father, will apply Christ's work of redemption to your 475 00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:49,240 heart, and you will confess that Jesus is Lord and you will be 476 00:24:49,240 --> 00:24:51,560 saved. And you can do that now. 477 00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:56,040 If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ now, you will be saved. 478 00:24:57,760 --> 00:25:03,520 And so divine election and human belief are necessary for your 479 00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:05,360 salvation. We say from God's perspective, 480 00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:08,280 the very actions of hearing and believing are part of his 481 00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:10,200 sovereign plan. We say that he ordained the 482 00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:13,400 means or the end, which is salvation, and he ordained the 483 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:15,880 means, which is belief and trust. 484 00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:19,600 And from our perspective, the gospel has to be preached and it 485 00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:24,320 has to be heard and it has to be believed and men are responsible 486 00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:26,440 for their response, which you can sum it up this way. 487 00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:29,760 If if a man goes to heaven, we say all glory be to God. 488 00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:33,720 And if a man goes to hell, we say he is responsible for his 489 00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:37,200 unbelief. And those two are not intention. 490 00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:40,840 And so God's Holy Spirit works through the preaching of the 491 00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:44,160 gospel, through belief, through trust, and through faith. 492 00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:46,880 And there's actually, you got to make a decision grammatically 493 00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:48,200 here. And you'll see it really is no 494 00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:52,720 decision to how you're sealed. It's either because you heard 495 00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:55,200 and believed in this prepositional phrase, or it's 496 00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:58,720 after you heard and believed and the commentators are all in 497 00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:01,760 agreement. The answer's yes, because you 498 00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:04,960 heard and believed, and after you heard and believed, you were 499 00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:08,200 sealed with God's Holy Spirit, who was the guarantee of your 500 00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:11,880 inheritance to the praise of His glory, which leads you into the 501 00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:13,560 most important work of God's Holy Spirit. 502 00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:14,880 This is the work that's emphasized. 503 00:26:14,880 --> 00:26:18,440 This is the main verb of the section as you go into the 4th 504 00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:22,120 work of the Holy Spirit. As emphasized in this passage, 505 00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:28,120 the Holy Spirit seals believers and you can read verse 13 again. 506 00:26:29,280 --> 00:26:30,920 Again, this is what's emphatic in him. 507 00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:33,960 You also, when you heard the word of truth or after you heard 508 00:26:33,960 --> 00:26:36,440 the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in 509 00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:39,720 him were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. 510 00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:43,440 So here's the works. God the Father adopts you, that 511 00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:46,360 that's his emphasis. The Spirit or the Son redeems 512 00:26:46,360 --> 00:26:48,080 you. That's the main metaphor of the 513 00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:50,320 Son here. And then the Holy Spirit seals 514 00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:53,560 you and I want to show you that like adoption there, there's 515 00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:55,920 several things that get communicated in that metaphor. 516 00:26:56,120 --> 00:26:58,160 And there's several things that are communicated and, and this 517 00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:01,600 metaphor of being sealed, these three things are it communicates 518 00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:07,720 ownership, genuineness or authenticity and security. 519 00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:10,800 And there's a commentator named folks who kind of wraps all this 520 00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:12,760 up, ownership, authenticity, security. 521 00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:15,520 He says in this brief description of what it means to 522 00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:17,640 be sealed. He says, quote, in the ancient 523 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:21,440 world, the seal was the personal sign of the owner or the sender 524 00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:24,720 of something important. And thus, as in a letter, it 525 00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:27,200 distinguished what was true from that which was spurious. 526 00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:29,880 It was also the guarantee that the things sealed had been 527 00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:33,480 carried intact. So the king or the dignitary 528 00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:37,040 would take his, his ring or his stamp and he would seal the 529 00:27:37,040 --> 00:27:39,760 letter saying, now you know this is from me. 530 00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:42,480 It's that it, it's saying that this belongs to me. 531 00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:45,200 I am the owner. It's the mark you, you know that 532 00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:47,240 it's, it's secure because it's sealed. 533 00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:49,760 And so first, it's a mark of ownership. 534 00:27:50,040 --> 00:27:54,720 And you can use this metaphor. The spirit seals you like unto 535 00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:59,080 how we, we brand cattle. It's a mark of ownership. 536 00:27:59,120 --> 00:28:01,520 I bought this one. This one belongs to me. 537 00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:05,240 Or if you don't like that metaphor, Richard Cokin says the 538 00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:08,040 Holy Spirit is the birthmark of every believer. 539 00:28:09,160 --> 00:28:11,520 When you're born again, you receive a birthmark, and that 540 00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:16,000 birthmark is the Holy Spirit. First Corinthians 619 to 20 says 541 00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:19,600 you are not your own. You were bought at a price. 542 00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:24,000 And so Jesus is saying this one is mine, this one belongs to me. 543 00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:25,880 It's first a mark of ownership, and then it's a mark of 544 00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:28,480 authenticity. Who gets the Holy Spirit of God 545 00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:31,440 except those who have a genuine faith? 546 00:28:31,760 --> 00:28:34,360 If you have a spurious faith, if you have a, if you're a cultural 547 00:28:34,360 --> 00:28:38,560 Christian, a civic Christian, then you do not receive the Holy 548 00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:39,960 Spirit. There is no transforming of your 549 00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:43,120 life because you lack the power. You you try and manifest 550 00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:46,080 outwardly what there is no power internally to manifest. 551 00:28:46,080 --> 00:28:49,120 The spirit marks genuine faith. It's the final proof to the 552 00:28:49,120 --> 00:28:52,160 individual and it's the final proof to others that you have 553 00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:55,480 this internal and transformative force which works its way, its 554 00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:56,800 way out. And then it actually becomes 555 00:28:56,800 --> 00:29:00,160 external assurance because you are not who you were or who you 556 00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:03,240 once were. It becomes assurance to you and 557 00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:06,760 it moves into this Third Point. This this metaphor is security 558 00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:09,560 and you go to the book of Romans in chapter 8, the Holy Spirit's 559 00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:12,080 chapter. It's a beautiful it multiplies 560 00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:14,160 metaphors for what it means to have this Holy Spirit. 561 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:15,600 He's like you're a live in contractor. 562 00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:18,920 It says it's like a a dead man coming to life is what it's like 563 00:29:18,920 --> 00:29:20,320 when you receive the Holy Spirit of God. 564 00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:21,800 It's like you were dead and you're alive. 565 00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:24,680 He says it's like you were a slave and now you're a son. 566 00:29:25,160 --> 00:29:29,160 Some fundamental legal changes happen, some ontological change 567 00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:31,320 has happened, and you are no longer as you were. 568 00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:36,280 And with adoption, this metaphor provides the assurance that you 569 00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:40,600 belong now and forever to God. And we talk all the time. 570 00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:42,400 I hear you guys talk all the time about the Westminster 571 00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:46,040 Shorter Catechism question #1 and you say that all the time. 572 00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:49,040 What is the chief end of man? But I, I, I will buy a book To 573 00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:51,880 anyone who could tell me the Heidelberg Catechism question 574 00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:55,040 number one, What is your only comfort in life and death? 575 00:29:57,280 --> 00:30:00,280 My only comfort in life and in death is that I belong. 576 00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:04,080 I am not my own, but I belong in body and soul and in life and in 577 00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:06,800 death to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ. 578 00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:11,920 Heido Catechism, Hebrews 912. He bought you, He secured for 579 00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:16,840 you an eternal redemption. He snatched you from the fire. 580 00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:19,200 Your name is written on his hand. 581 00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:21,240 Your name is written in the Lamb's book of life. 582 00:30:21,800 --> 00:30:25,840 Your legal status has changed. He sealed you with His promised 583 00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:27,920 Holy Spirit. He says He will never leave you. 584 00:30:27,920 --> 00:30:29,680 He will never forsake you. You're His. 585 00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:31,800 He'll bring to completion what He began. 586 00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:35,880 And how can you be sure? Because God has given you as His 587 00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:39,840 first fruits, His Holy Spirit. And it's based on the work of 588 00:30:39,840 --> 00:30:42,960 that Holy Spirit, not on yours, that He will bring it to 589 00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:44,720 completion. We can trust in the work of the 590 00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:49,200 Holy Spirit. He has sealed you and the 591 00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:51,640 element of security continues into the 5th work. 592 00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:54,000 It brings us into the 5th work, which is that the spirit 593 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:56,480 guarantees our inheritance. This is kind of the positive 594 00:30:56,480 --> 00:31:00,040 counterpoint counterpart to the the last work. 595 00:31:01,360 --> 00:31:04,480 You will receive your full inheritance because it says here 596 00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:07,120 that he is your down payment. The guarantee. 597 00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:09,840 He's the guarantee of your inheritance until you require 598 00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:11,520 possession of it. And to say it another way again, 599 00:31:11,520 --> 00:31:14,960 he is your firstfruits. He's given you this firstfruits 600 00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:17,720 and the rest is to come. It's not just then, but it's 601 00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:19,480 now. There's much more coming. 602 00:31:20,080 --> 00:31:21,640 And this is where redemption and forgiveness. 603 00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:23,960 It's already been talked about. This is where it it ends up 604 00:31:24,280 --> 00:31:28,080 eternal redemption, this future inheritance, our full 605 00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:30,320 inheritance in glory, our final redemption. 606 00:31:30,760 --> 00:31:32,560 And you come to the to this passage. 607 00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:36,800 Guarantee is the Greek word Arabon, which means literally 608 00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:42,000 earnest money or caution money. And anybody who's ever made a 609 00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:44,520 large purchase, or if you've ever bought a home and you've 610 00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:48,200 had to put a massive earnest money or down payment on a, on a 611 00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:50,000 home, then you understand this metaphor. 612 00:31:50,080 --> 00:31:51,520 This is literally what he's saying. 613 00:31:51,840 --> 00:31:55,000 You're making a promise to buy this house and you're saying, 614 00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:58,120 I'm so committed to buying this house that I'm going to give you 615 00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:01,600 this money as a promise and an assurance that I'm going to 616 00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:04,600 continue and buy it. And so in Oklahoma, this is as 617 00:32:04,600 --> 00:32:08,160 little as 1% or as much as 5%. You're saying with this money, 618 00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:10,920 I'm making this promise. I'm swearing this to you, and 619 00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:14,120 God's showing you how serious he is, His earnest money to you as 620 00:32:14,120 --> 00:32:18,480 he says, I'm giving you myself, I'm giving you my Holy Spirit. 621 00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:23,240 This at its core, at its most basic expression, is a promise. 622 00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:28,080 And this image of a deposit also reminds you that this is not all 623 00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:31,160 yet future. You have his Spirit now. 624 00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:34,880 He's transforming you now. It's the first fruits you have 625 00:32:34,880 --> 00:32:37,480 now the Spirit, and there's more to come. 626 00:32:39,080 --> 00:32:41,040 So you're not yet with Jesus, but you will be. 627 00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:44,400 And you know, because He's given you this promise that you may 628 00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:46,120 know that His blessings are coming. 629 00:32:46,120 --> 00:32:47,960 The 6th work, I'm going to keep moving. 630 00:32:47,960 --> 00:32:49,560 The 6th work is easy to overlook. 631 00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:54,240 He is fulfilling prophecy. The Spirit fulfills prophecy. 632 00:32:54,240 --> 00:32:56,640 Look at verse 13. There's this little name for the 633 00:32:56,640 --> 00:32:58,640 Holy Spirit. It says that He is the promised 634 00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:01,920 Holy Spirit. Interesting title. 635 00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:03,720 He's the promised Holy Spirit and you go back. 636 00:33:03,720 --> 00:33:06,000 There are so many. It could be a sermon in itself 637 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:08,800 of all of the prophecies about the Spirit who's coming. 638 00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:11,640 I want to highlight three Numbers 1129. 639 00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:15,600 Moses cries out, exclaims, would that all the Lord's people were 640 00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:19,280 prophets, would the Lord put his Spirit in all of them? 641 00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:23,600 And we say, church, you've lived to see the day it's here. 642 00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:26,560 It's now Joel 228 to 29. It prophesied about the day the 643 00:33:26,560 --> 00:33:28,200 Holy Spirit would be poured out on all flesh. 644 00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:31,000 And it shall come to pass after that I will pour my spirit on 645 00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:33,760 all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophecy and 646 00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:37,320 your old men shall dream dreams in those days I will pour out my 647 00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:40,960 spirit. Ezekiel chapter 36, I will give 648 00:33:40,960 --> 00:33:44,160 you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you, and I 649 00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:47,000 will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and I will give 650 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:49,960 you a heart of flesh. I will put My spirit within you 651 00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:53,520 and cause you to walk in My statutes and be careful to obey 652 00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:55,840 My rules. The Holy Spirit's transforming 653 00:33:55,840 --> 00:33:59,560 presence actually does. He's given you a heart of flesh 654 00:33:59,560 --> 00:34:04,480 and He causes you to walk in the statutes of God the Father. 655 00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:06,720 And so each of these prophecies, and there and there are many 656 00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:09,800 more, are telling you in advance that this was God's will and 657 00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:14,080 plan, this was his design, that the Spirit would give you a new 658 00:34:14,080 --> 00:34:17,639 heart, that he would cause you to delight in the commandments 659 00:34:17,639 --> 00:34:18,560 of God. The world looks at the 660 00:34:18,560 --> 00:34:21,000 commandments of God and says they're so restricting, they're 661 00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:22,560 so limiting, they're fun killing. 662 00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:25,360 And to us, the church, we say we delight to do these 663 00:34:25,360 --> 00:34:28,239 commandments, we love it. That's the work of the Spirit. 664 00:34:29,440 --> 00:34:32,320 It says by that riches you have, by his work, you have a new 665 00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:34,679 heart, you have a new nature, you're delight in Him. 666 00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:37,800 And yet we have to confess. Yet not I, but through Christ 667 00:34:37,800 --> 00:34:40,520 and me. Just like Michael Farran's song, 668 00:34:40,520 --> 00:34:42,480 with every breath I long to follow Jesus. 669 00:34:42,480 --> 00:34:45,600 For he said He will bring me home, and day by day I know He 670 00:34:45,600 --> 00:34:48,040 will renew me until I stand with joy before the throne. 671 00:34:48,040 --> 00:34:50,960 The work of a Spirit. To this I hold my hope is only 672 00:34:50,960 --> 00:34:53,400 Jesus. All the glory evermore to Him. 673 00:34:53,400 --> 00:34:55,880 When the race is complete, my lips shall repeat. 674 00:34:56,080 --> 00:34:58,840 Yet not I, but through Christ and me. 675 00:34:59,560 --> 00:35:04,440 And the final work of the Spirit in this the 7th is that the 676 00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:10,200 Spirit glorifies Jesus Christ. And this long sentence ends with 677 00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:14,760 the purpose of all of it. He uses it three times for the 678 00:35:14,760 --> 00:35:16,880 Father of the Son and the Spirit, He says to the praise of 679 00:35:16,880 --> 00:35:19,440 the glory of God the Father, to the praise of the glory of God 680 00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:23,280 the Son, to the praise of the glory of God the Holy Spirit. 681 00:35:23,800 --> 00:35:26,280 So this morning as we glorify and shine the spotlight on the 682 00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:29,720 Spirit, we participate in his work of glorifying the Son and 683 00:35:29,720 --> 00:35:31,680 his work of glorifying God the Father. 684 00:35:32,360 --> 00:35:34,560 And so at the end of all of this, at the end of these 12 685 00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:38,920 verses, the sentence begun in eternity, I hope you see more 686 00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:42,960 clearly who you are. Not because we've studied man as 687 00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:45,200 man, not because we've stood over the Scriptures, but because 688 00:35:45,200 --> 00:35:48,040 we've submitted to the divine revelation, because you've 689 00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:51,320 studied who God is. And I hope that because you've 690 00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:54,240 got a sense of how big God is, that you now understand just a 691 00:35:54,240 --> 00:35:58,960 little bit more who you are. And I, I can think of no greater 692 00:35:58,960 --> 00:36:01,680 summary for these verses than these legendary words of a 693 00:36:01,680 --> 00:36:04,400 commentator named Daryl Bock. I want to read his quote at 694 00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:06,520 length to sum up this whole sentence. 695 00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:10,840 He says quote, the theology of the unit is one of praise tied 696 00:36:10,840 --> 00:36:13,520 to an awareness of all that God has done for believing sinners 697 00:36:13,520 --> 00:36:16,360 from eternity past into the present and looking ahead to 698 00:36:16,360 --> 00:36:19,040 consummation. These believers have received 699 00:36:19,040 --> 00:36:21,920 from God everything they need for a fruitful spiritual life. 700 00:36:22,600 --> 00:36:24,840 They can bless God for all He's done on their behalf because 701 00:36:24,840 --> 00:36:27,960 they are rooted in His choice of them in eternity past, tied to 702 00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:30,920 the work of Jesus Christ, and are living in a context of the 703 00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:34,160 forgiveness of sins, redemption, and the provision of the Spirit 704 00:36:34,160 --> 00:36:36,480 as a down payment and seal of what is to come. 705 00:36:37,680 --> 00:36:40,440 We are part of a larger drama in which God is summing up all 706 00:36:40,440 --> 00:36:43,920 things in Christ to the praise of the glory of His grace. 707 00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:47,320 This awareness of and gratitude for what God has done is fuel 708 00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:49,880 for the direction and stability of the Christian life. 709 00:36:50,560 --> 00:36:53,400 When we realize how much God has done for us, the sense of 710 00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:55,920 gratitude that emerges leads us to responsiveness for the 711 00:36:55,920 --> 00:36:58,480 challenges of living the new life that we've received from 712 00:36:58,480 --> 00:37:00,960 God. These divine acts He performs on 713 00:37:00,960 --> 00:37:04,560 our behalf have a future destination that will lead us to 714 00:37:04,560 --> 00:37:07,680 full redemption, and we can add to his quote to the praise of 715 00:37:07,680 --> 00:37:11,080 his glory. So I want to end with this 716 00:37:11,080 --> 00:37:14,840 Heidelberg question number one. What is your only comfort in 717 00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:16,440 life and in death? I only read part of it. 718 00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:20,160 My only comfort in life and death is that I am not my own, 719 00:37:20,520 --> 00:37:25,160 but I've been bought and belong in body and spirit in heaven. 720 00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:29,000 That I've been bought in body and spirit by my faithful 721 00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:33,200 Saviour Jesus Christ. And He goes on because I belong 722 00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:37,120 to Him, Christ. By His Holy Spirit He assures me 723 00:37:37,120 --> 00:37:40,360 of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready 724 00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:44,360 from now on to live for Him. So please pray with me, Lord, 725 00:37:44,360 --> 00:37:46,000 You are our only comfort in life and death. 726 00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:48,320 This is our comfort, that we belong to You. 727 00:37:48,480 --> 00:37:52,440 You bought us and when you bought us, you branded us. 728 00:37:52,440 --> 00:37:55,080 You gave us this birthmark at our regeneration when we're born 729 00:37:55,080 --> 00:37:58,040 again. This one is mine, says the Lord, 730 00:37:58,040 --> 00:38:01,000 we belong to you. And this is not a this is not a 731 00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:02,760 slave as the world would see slave. 732 00:38:02,760 --> 00:38:06,640 This is not chattel slavery. This is a a bondservant of love 733 00:38:07,280 --> 00:38:09,680 that you've given us an awl in our ear and you've said I belong 734 00:38:09,680 --> 00:38:13,120 to you and we say, Lord, what a great and benevolent Lord you 735 00:38:13,120 --> 00:38:15,760 are to us. And the better metaphor that 736 00:38:15,760 --> 00:38:17,400 you've given us is it doesn't in there. 737 00:38:17,400 --> 00:38:20,200 You are our Father, and you love us. 738 00:38:20,200 --> 00:38:22,160 You've adopted us. You've given us a home, You've 739 00:38:22,160 --> 00:38:24,600 given us an inheritance. And we know that we have because 740 00:38:24,600 --> 00:38:27,120 you've given us your Holy Spirit who's regenerating our hearts 741 00:38:27,120 --> 00:38:30,080 and transforming us so that we have assurance and we know that 742 00:38:30,080 --> 00:38:33,960 we believe, and we know that nothing can separate us from 743 00:38:33,960 --> 00:38:36,200 your love. And you are our Lord. 744 00:38:36,200 --> 00:38:39,160 You are a Lord who loves us, a Lord who's adopted us, who's 745 00:38:39,160 --> 00:38:42,480 demonstrated that love Romans 55 to 8 by redeeming us. 746 00:38:43,040 --> 00:38:45,480 And praise God this morning you are glorified and that you have 747 00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:47,320 sent your Holy Spirit to keep us. 748 00:38:47,560 --> 00:38:49,640 We put all of our faith and all of our assurance, not in our 749 00:38:49,640 --> 00:38:52,960 works, but in His works that He's accomplishing in us even 750 00:38:52,960 --> 00:38:55,360 now. It is to your glory that we now 751 00:38:55,360 --> 00:38:57,800 sing Lord in Christ's name. Amen. 752 00:38:59,880 --> 00:39:02,080 Thanks for listening. To learn more about Heritage 753 00:39:02,080 --> 00:39:05,120 Church or if you'd like to respond to this sermon, visit 754 00:39:05,120 --> 00:39:09,440 our website at www.heritageshawnee.org.