January 29, 2023
Morning Service

Through his letter to the Ephesian church, Paul is leading us through a “spiritual inventory” of all that God has blessed us with.  He started off with reminding us that God chose us to follow Him fully knowing our many short comings.  He did not choose us as servants, but adopted each of us into His family as His children; giving us great value and purpose.  He then reminded us that our salvation was paid for in full by Jesus, not our own works.  We often doubt ourselves, but never doubt that the full price for your sin was paid and accepted.  In adopting us to be His children, God also has blessed us in the knowledge of what the future hold and an inheritance. We know in the end we win!  Jesus will return and all of us whom He has chosen will “enter into the joys of the Lord” forever.  God blesses us with a hope that the future will be worth whatever struggle we must endure here on this earth. 

That leads us right into today’s inventory; the gift of the Holy Spirit.  I want to detour slightly this morning to be sure we all understand fully this gift of God’s presence in our lives.  Every believer in the Lord Jesus is given a portion of the Holy Spirit (God Himself) at the time of conversion.  Notice the promise given in Acts 2:38 by Peter as he preaches the first sermon after the resurrection of Jesus.  They have come to the point of repentance and ask a beautiful question:

 Act 2:37-39 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?"  (38)  Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  (39)  For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call."

            Notice four things here.  First they “were cut to the heart” and inquired on what they needed to do to make things right.  This is a clear picture of repentance.  We all come to the point where we know we are sinners and need a Savior.  Next, notice Peter gives them specific instructions; “repent and be baptized for the remission of you sins.”  Your inward decision to follow Jesus and accept Him as your Savior will lead you to the outward action of entering the waters of baptism out of obedience.  In so being obedient to these commands, a gift is promised to us.  “You shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”  There is no wording saying maybe, sometimes, or perhaps but states “You shall receive the gift.”  It may come at the time of repentance, but be assured by the time of your baptism God’s Spirit abides in you.  Finally, take note that this promise includes us; “to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord God will call.”  That is us, we are promised the presence of the Holy Spirit to enter into us from that time forward. Hopefully through the Word we have built your faith that you have received the gift of the Holy Spirit and we will build further shortly.   Let’s return now to our spiritual inventory with Paul.  The “Him” he speaks here is of course Jesus.

 

Eph. 1:13-14 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, (14) who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

            As we determined through the teaching in Acts, we as true believers in Jesus have been “sealed with the Holy Spirit” as a sign that we belong to Him.  Just as a seal in legal matters indicates ownership and security, so it does in divine affairs.  The Holy Spirit is like a down payment or deposit on the covenant we have with God through Jesus.  The indwelling of the Holy Spirit brands us as God’s property and guarantees our preservation until the day He returns for us.  The Holy Spirit is our ticket into heaven.  Paul reaffirms that to the Corinthians:

 

1Co 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?  (20)  For you were bought at a price; therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.

            Our body is the temple, the dwelling place, of the Holy Spirit and it is He that seals us as belonging to God.  “We are not our own, but we are bought with a price and now belong to God.”  The Holy Spirit is the evidence of this.  God in Spirit form enters into our life living inside of us.  The Spirit is the seal of God that we are His guaranteeing that we possess eternal life.  The Spirit also will serve as our guide along our journey of walking with Jesus.  He is a spiritual blessing that empowers us to be able to do things we could not do on our own.  In reality it is God walking with us along every step of the way.

Now let’s be proactive here and cut off our enemy before he begins to sow doubts in our mind.  The presence of the Holy Spirit is not a visible seal like a tattoo we receive or any visible marking that we can see.  It is a matter of Faith; the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).  The Spirit’s presence in our lives in not a visible one, but one of faith.  Jesus explained it to Nicodemus like this:

 

John 3:5-8 Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  (6)  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  (7)  Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'  (8)  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."

            Jesus used the example of the wind for us to understand the moving and presence of the Holy Spirit.  We do not actually see the wind, but we feel it, hear it, and see what the results of it does.  We cannot deny the reality of the wind because of our lack of sight, nor can we deny the reality of the Spirit for the same reason.  We never actually see the Spirit, but we feel Him, hear Him, and see what He is doing in our lives and the lives of others.  It is a matter of faith; the evidence of things unseen.  Let’s quickly build our faith more because “faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word of God” (Romans 10:17) Who better to build our faith than Jesus Himself.

 

John 14:15-19 "If you love Me, keep My commandments.  (16)  And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— (17) the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.  (18)  I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.  (19)  "A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also.

John 14:25-27 "These things I have spoken to you while being present 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 things that I 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 heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Jesus again reaffirms what we have been saying.  He promises the Holy Spirit will come and “dwell within us.”  His presence in our lives has a purpose and that is to “teach us all things and bring to remembrance all things I said to you.”  That is exactly how the apostles were able to write down in exact detail the events and words Jesus spoke to them.  It is how God spoke through Paul and the other writers of the New Testament as well.  Paul stated this to Timothy in his second letter to him:

 

2Ti 3:16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,

            In other words, it was hand written by men, but inspired by the Spirit of God within them.  This again is a statement we must take by faith.  We have no physical proof that this is true, but we believe it anyway by faith (evidence of things unseen). 

As Jesus followers we are blessed with the presence of God in our lives through the Holy Spirit.  God the Father sits upon the throne and decrees His plans that are to be carried out.  Jesus, sitting at His right hand, serves as our Mediator advocating for us His chosen.  The Spirit is sent to live in us to guide us and be our connection directly unto God through Jesus.  It is through the Spirit we communicate with God and through the same Spirit that we are being molded to be more like our Lord and Savior.  Perhaps the greatest and the richest of our spiritual blessings is God dwells with us and in us.

 

Col 1:27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

 

Heavenly Father thank You for Your wonderful plan of salvation and Jesus who is both the author and finisher of our faith.  Grant us wisdom and understanding needed to follow You with a greater faith trusting You at Your Word.