Here’s my notes and audio for my sermon on Ephesians 1:13-14 “Praise God the Holy Spirit!” preached at Cross of Christ Fellowship on 9.22.24.
INTRO: Companies selling products give guarantees: Money-back gaur, satisfaction gaur, lowest price gaur
-A guarantee increases our confidence in a product or company, and when done well shows them worthy of trust
-What is the guarantee that we as Christians will go to heaven? How do we know? What gives us confidence?
-How do we know that God will really give us as Christians eternal life?
TODAY: we see that God Himself gives a guarantee, by sealing us with the Holy Spirit and assuring us of eternal life.
*When we became Christians, we were sealed with the Holy Spirit and given a guaranteed future of eternal life.
-This is what our text shows us, and it leads us to rejoice in God!
CONTEXT: Ephesians is a letter to the churches in Ephesus, written by Paul who was now in prison
-Ephesus was a large impressive city, with a huge temple to Artemis, full of wealth and idols
-A small Christian community was there seeking to be faithful to Jesus
-Paul wrote to encourage and instruct the Ephesian Christians.
-OPENING: Paul’s letter begins with a long prayer of praise to God (1:3-14)
-Trinitarian shape: Father (3-6); Son (7-12); Holy Spirit (13-14)
M.I.: Praise God the Holy Spirit!!
*When we became Christians, we were sealed with the Holy Spirit and given a guaranteed future of eternal life.
1. When we became Christians: when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him
No one is born a Christian, but it is a personal decision that you must make.
-Paul spent 2-3 years sharing the gospel in Ephesus and saw many become Christians
-It has been years since he was there, and now even more Ephesians have become Christians. –NOTICE: Hearing and Believing are two main part of becoming a Christians.
1. HEARING! “heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation”
-“heard”=someone proclaimed the gospel to the Ephesians.
–What was heardà: “WORD OF TRUTH”!
-Christianity is true, and it tells us the truth about God and us
-God cannot lie and he told us the truth about Himself and us.
Arnold: “In a pluralistically religious environment like the west coast of Asia Minor, such a statement could have been perceived as exclusivistic and narrow by outsiders. For those who had turned to Christ from other religions, however, Paul’s assurance that they were following the truth would have been greatly encouraging. Paul frequently spoke of the gospel as the truth.”
–WORD OF TRUTH=“GOSPEL OF YOUR SALVATION”: Good News of your salvation.
-OTHER KINDS OF SALVATION THEN: Artemis, Roman gods, Ceasar
–OTHERS OFFERED NOW: You-tube influencers, self-help experts, relationship, gym, money
–SOME: We are our OWN saviors: ‘self-made man’ (Batavia)
-Christianity’s Salvation: SALVATION FROM SIN!
-Jesus accomplished victory over sin and death for you!
-Lived a perfect life and died for us on the cross.
-Through faith in Jesus we are saved from our sins.
-Great exchange: 2 Cor 5:21
2. BELIEVING! “and believed in him”
-This is the way into Christianity: placing our faith in Jesus
-Faith as the way to salvation: John 3:16
CALVIN: “A man will be justified by faith when, excluded from righteousness of works, he by faith lays hold of the righteousness of Christ, and clothed in it, appears in the sight of God not as a sinner—but as righteous.”
-There is salvation nowhere else: Acts 4:12
-Only the gospel provides us with salvation from sin
APP:
-If you are not a Christian, hear this good news and believe in Jesus!
-If you are a Christian, let’s share the good news of salvation and invite others to believe in Jesus!
2. When we became Christians, we were SEALED with the Holy Spirit: were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit
Many things happen when one becomes a Christians: Adoption; Forgiveness of sin; Justification; à SEALING with HS!
–HOLY SPIRIT: Truly God, and the 3rd person of the Trinity
NCC: 36: What do we believe about the Holy Spirit?
That he is God, coeternal with the Father and the Son, and that God grants him irrevocably to all who believe.
37: How does the Holy Spirit help us? The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin, comforts us, guides us, gives us spiritual gifts and the desire to obey God; and he enables us to pray and to understand God’s Word.
–PROMISED H.S.: God promised to pour the H.S. on his people in Joel 2:28-29
-Fulfillment in Acts 2=Pentecost
-All who hear & believe experience the ‘baptism’ of the H.S.
-H.S. regenerating, convicting, giving faith, filling with joy and delight in God
–SEALED: -All Christians are “SEALED” with the H.S.
Seal=Official stamp which denotes ownership and protection: possession, property, official letter, charter; my friend’s library.
-To be “sealed with the Holy Spirit” = God is saying “This one belong to me!”
APP: Believer, you are secure in Christ.
-No one can take this seal off you: Satan, sin, others.
-Rest in the assurance of God sealing you and keeping you safe.
-Look away from self and look to God and rejoice in the Holy Spirit sealing you.
3. When we became Christians, we were sealed with the Holy Spirit and given a guaranteed future of eternal life.
Better than a ‘money-back’ gaur, ‘satisfaction’ gaur, ‘lowest price’ gaur, is the guarantee God gives His people in the gospel
-It is the guarantee of eternal life to all who truly believe in Christ and have been sealed by the H.S.-INHERITANCE: In Christ we are adopted into the family of God
-Promised the inheritance of eternal life on the new Earth
-Following the logic: How do we know we’ll actually get this?
–H.S. is the GUARANTEE of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.
-Guarantee=“Earnest payment”=first installment of a payment
-Buying a house=assurance you will purchase the home.
-This is God’s assurance to believer: You can trust God to give you eternal life!
ARNOLD: “The message that Paul is communicating here is that God so values his people that he has put down a deposit and will complete the transaction in the future.”
APP: This is the GUARANTEE of our future eternal life!
Many of plans for the future may or may not come to pass: Man who spent million to restore ship that began to sink
-Christian has a ‘guarantee’ he will make it to heaven, his true in inheritance
-Let this truth ground you and give you peace.
-God is kind to give us a guarantee, because we are weak and spiritual warfare is hard:
CALVIN: “So long as we are in this world, our warfare is sustained by hope, and therefore this earnest is necessary; but when the possession itself shall have been obtained, the necessity and use of the earnest will then cease.”
-One day ‘our faith will be sight’ and we will acquire this inheritance.
-No more sin, no more doubt, no more unbelief, no more bullying, lies, deceit.
-Until then we are sustained by this assurance: God has guaranteed our heavenly inheritance.
*WARNING: Unbeliever:
-Only through believing Christ can this become true for you.
-Believe in Jesus, and be assured of the eternal life that Christ freely gives.
END GOAL: THE GLORY OF GOD: to the praise of his glory.
-NOTICE: v 6 and v 12
-GOD DESERVES TO WORSHIPPED: there is nothing greater than God.
-GOD IS RIGHT TO CREATE US FOR THIS: nothing else can actually satisfy us.
-Here is where we are going!
-God has sealed us for this and guaranteed this would happen.
CLOSE: Praise God the Holy Spirit!
* When we became Christians, we were sealed with the Holy Spirit and given a guaranteed future of eternal life.
