[0:00] So take your Bibles, go into the book of Ephesians, Ephesians chapter 1. If you remember last week when we were gathered together, we introduced the book of Ephesians. Going into this letter, which Paul wrote originally to the church at Ephesus, but if you remember our text, more than likely was circulated among the churches of that region because some of the oldest manuscripts left to the church at Ephesus blank, the city blank.
[0:22] So it's sent to a church that was intended to be circulated among other churches. And it wasn't addressing a problem. It wasn't trying to correct some practice that was going on.
[0:33] It's really just a deep theological book. Some have described the book of Ephesians as one of the most really rich books of Paul's writing, which if you know the letters of Paul and you know the writings of Paul, we stand amazed because you put that in contrast with the book of Romans, you put that in contrast with other books.
[0:51] But the book of Ephesians is really so powerful, so rich, and so true. And last week we got halfway through a long run-on sentence. We started in chapter 1, verse 1, and we went down to verse 6.
[1:03] If you remember, verses 3 through 14 are just one big run-on sentence of where Paul gets carried away. He goes, hey, I'm Paul. You know who you are. And then he just really gets into the richness of who Christ is and who God is and gets caught up on the glory of God and really centers around our salvation because the book of Ephesians, the first three chapters have to do with theology and doctrine.
[1:25] That is, what we know to be true, these things we know to be true. And the last three chapters, 4, 5, and 6, deal with practice. So since these things are true, this is how we should live. And Paul starts with this richness of the doctrine of salvation, the foundation of our faith is how we opened it up last week, that God had a grand plan, and the grand plan was the redemption of man.
[1:46] And we saw these great truths of what's going on. And, you know, before the creation of the world, before the foundations of the world were laid, God chose you in Christ. And that is just astounding.
[1:57] Will we ever be able to wrap our minds all the way around it? No. Do we stand in awe of it? Yes. And do we just admit that let God be true and let every other man just scratch his head and try to figure it out?
[2:08] Yes, absolutely. And we looked at the wonders of this thing, that we are not redeemed, we are not saved, we are not forgiven because we chose Christ. We are all those things because God chose us in Christ.
[2:20] And so the spirit of adoption has brought us into the family. And he'll just continue to expound upon that, even when we get into the 15th verse and he begins to pray for the believers. He's praying that the believers will get an understanding of what their inheritance is because they are a part of the family and all the riches.
[2:37] Warren Wearsby and his commentaries always did be, either be encouraged or be steadfast or be, you know, all those things. If you know anything about Warren Wearsby or the Wearsby Bible commentary, he started out his Sunday school material and some of those things.
[2:52] When his book of Ephesians, it is be rich because you see the riches of our inheritance in Christ. It reminds us of who we are, right? Humble, yes.
[3:03] Walking in true humility, absolutely. But friend, listen to me, in Christ, we have more than this world will ever give us, could ever hope to offer us, could ever hope to extend us or even tempt us with.
[3:15] And when we understand the richness we have in Christ, then we understand the rightness of how we should practice because of that. And so Paul just continues that in this run-on sentence here.
[3:26] So our text this morning is going to be Ephesians 1, verses 7 through 14. And if you're physically able and desire to do so, I'm going to ask if you'll join with me as we stand together and we read the Word of God.
[3:38] And I want you to focus. If you remember, I said in this run-on sentence, there are three verses that repeat this refrain. Verse 6, verse 12, and verse 14. To the praise of his glory.
[3:49] To the praise of his glory. To the praise of his glory. So I want you to see from our text this morning, starting in verse 7, reading down to verse 14, God's glory on display. We've seen what the foundation of our faith is, but now let's see how God puts his glory on display.
[4:04] Let's go back, and let's just start in verse 3 so we can get the whole sentence. I know in your translations, in your text, you have periods and capitalization and all that other, but in the original Greek, Paul never took a breath.
[4:15] Right? So we're going to read it the way it was intended to be heard, even though it sounds a little cumbersome without the breaks and pauses in it. And I'll try my best for us to read it that way. It says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before him in love.
[4:37] He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the kind intention of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved.
[4:48] In him we have the redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight. He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to the kind intention which he purposed in him, with a view to the administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.
[5:11] In him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to his purpose, who works all things after the counsel of his will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of his glory in him.
[5:22] You also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with the view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of his glory.
[5:38] Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this day. Thank you for the power of your word. Lord, now as we come to it, we just want you to speak to us. We want to hear from you.
[5:49] We want to be in awe of the greatness of God. And we want to see it on full display. So Lord, help every distraction, every hindrance be cast aside.
[6:00] Help us just to hear you speak to our hearts and minds. And Lord, may our hearts be directed to you in worship and adoration. And we ask it all in Christ's name. Amen. You may be seated.
[6:12] It's hard to read it that way. It's even harder to listen to it. And as you say, when you get into the book of Ephesians, you don't have very much toe-dipping time. That is, you don't have an opportunity to ease into the book because Paul throws us into it from the very beginning, right?
[6:26] You just jump right into the richness of the text. And as Paul is carried away in his exhortation and encouragement to the saints, we get carried away in trying to decipher it.
[6:38] We want to pause and slow down. And we want to see exactly what it is that it's saying. And we just want to be amazed at it. But as the early believers, the new believers at the church at Ephesus and the church around it, churches around it, because it was from Ephesus that all of the Asian province there was reached with the gospel.
[6:56] And as those new churches were being overwhelmed with the glory of God on display in redemption, may we too be overwhelmed with that.
[7:06] There are times in which we can walk around and we can testify a scripture where it says all of creation testifies to the creator. We can cry out with a psalmist when we look up to the heavens and we see the stars and the planets in the sky and we say, what is man that God would consider him and know him?
[7:25] And we see the grandness of all of his creative work. We see the display of his glory through everything into the minute detail to the grandest object.
[7:37] But it is the great display of God's glory in the redemption of man that brings him the greatest praise. Because man is the only thing in all of creation.
[7:49] Man is the only object of all of creation which willingly rejected its creator and walked away from him. So much more than just taking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
[8:01] It was a willing disobedience to move away from the creator and sustainer of our lives. And we live in that disobedience until we find redemption. And it is in the redemption of man.
[8:12] The Bible says in the book of Romans, Romans chapter 8, that all of creation groans until the day of our redemption. You understand that? When we look around, when we open up the book of Genesis and we see creation as it was supposed to be.
[8:24] We open up the book of Isaiah and we see creation when it will be as it's going to be. You know it where the lion and the lamb lay down together. When there's no shedding of blood. When everything is living in peace and harmony and man is at this great place of rule and order and all the ordained things that are supposed to be taking place in creation that at the very beginning, we see all these things and we know that creation wants to get back there.
[8:48] We look around and we see that there are not supposed to be natural catastrophes. We see that there's not supposed to be upheavals and all this death that defines our world today. The Bible tells us that the thing that creation is waiting on is the redemption of man because it's here that the glory of God is put on grand display.
[9:09] That's us. And we go, wow. We are the thing that displays his glory more than anything else. The redeemed, the forgiven, the saved.
[9:22] You say, oh, but who am I? That's the grand question. Who am I that God would consider me? That the God who knows every star by name and puts them there and tells them to stay there. I like the way S.M. Locker says it because the book of Job says it.
[9:36] The God who created something out of nothing and hung it on nothing and told it to stay there and it did. That's probably one of the greatest interpretations of the book of Job that I've ever heard because God created something that is the heavens and the earth out of nothing, ex nilo, and he hung it on nothing.
[9:51] That is, he put the earth in the sky and he told it to stay there and guess what? It's still there. It's hanging out there. It's never moved from there. You say, oh, it's the gravitational pull. Who created gravity? Who created the star in the center of the galaxy, right?
[10:02] Or the solar system. Who created all those things? God created something out of nothing, hung it on nothing and told it to stay there and it did. And yet the glory, the pinnacle of God's glory on display is our redemption.
[10:15] And we stand amazed at that because he doesn't need anything to do creative work. I think I've told you this before.
[10:27] I met an individual at one time who looked at me and I know there was a spirit within him that was not reconciled with the spirit that was within me and this gentleman looked at me face to face and he says, I'm God.
[10:39] I said, I think you're crazy. He said, no, I'm God and I'll take your life. I said, no, you're not and you can't do anything to me. This really isn't in the middle of the day on a town square, not this town square, just right in the middle of the day and he was really going crazy and kind of got in my face.
[10:52] He says, no, I'm God. I said, well, if you're God then create something for me but don't use anything around you because everything we're sending on, my God created. So don't use what he made, just create it out of nothing. And he got mad and walked away because that's really an attribute of God, right?
[11:06] Ex nilo is what it's called, creation. That God creates something out of nothing. But yet the grandest display of his glory is the redemption of man and we see it being played out in three ways here in this text, okay?
[11:19] I know this text is rich and when we get into it we're just really just touching the tip of it. We're never really diving to the depths of it. We can't, we don't have time because we would have to stay so long just on this one passage.
[11:30] But yet God has given us three things here that are really putting his glory on display. Number one, it is the fullness of man's redemption. The fullness of man's redemption. It says in verse seven, in him we have redemption through his blood.
[11:45] He has spoke of the fact that he chose us before the foundations of the world related. He's adopted us as his children. We are joint heirs with Christ. And now he runs to this reality that in him, that is in Christ, in Christ we have redemption through his, that is Christ's blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.
[12:04] That word redemption is such a rich word. It carries so much in it. It is so deep that we really don't get a grasp of it. It is so much more than just buying something.
[12:16] It is paying the full redemptive price of whatever is up for sale. We really see it in the book of Hosea. The whole reason the book of Hosea is there, that minor prophet, right, where God told Hosea to go and take a woman that was of really, not really good reputation, you know, one that was a harlot.
[12:33] And he took her as his wife. He had children with her. And then she left and Hosea's wife went away. And then she was gone and she wasn't anywhere around. And then Hosea went and he bought back his wife. He bought her on the auction block because after she went back to her harlotry and she did all these things and all her lovers, quote, unquote, had their way with her.
[12:50] And then they put her on the auction block because they were tired of it. They put her up for sale. And she is there. And Hosea goes and he buys her for just this exuberant amount, so much more than the value there.
[13:02] She pays above and he pays above and beyond what anybody else would. And God is saying, this is a picture of my redemption of you, right? You are mine. You are my bride.
[13:13] You are my mate. And I chose you. No one else wanted you. And yet you rejected me and you went away from me. But then I went to the auction and I bought you back. The book of Isaiah says that when God pays the price of redemption, it's 120%.
[13:28] He doesn't just pay 100% of your value. He pays 120%. That's the right word that we see in the offering that is given there, that when you redeem something, you pay above and beyond so much more than it's worth.
[13:41] When Carrie and I were working with youth, I used to put a chair in the middle of the room. Anytime we talked about redemption, I would put a chair in the middle of the room. I can't necessarily do this as a pastor because you would frown upon this. And I would set it there and I would stand on that chair and I'd say, this is me and this is you.
[13:56] And we're on the auction block of sin because our master, Satan, has put us up here to the highest bidder. And he wants anybody that will to come have their way with us. And then in walks Christ and he bids a price that no one else could ever bid.
[14:09] Our master put us on the block. He put us up for sale. He stripped us. He ridiculed us. He mocked us. And he made fun of us. And he put us on display. And Christ walks into the room and pays the redemption price that no one else can.
[14:23] And everybody else has to be silent. And Christ comes and he clothes you with his righteousness and takes you off of that block. That's redemption. In the fullness of man's redemption.
[14:35] It says, in him we have the redemption through his blood. Because Satan was offering you pleasure. Satan's offering you ease. Satan's offering you comfort. Satan's offering you everything this world has.
[14:46] Christ offers his blood. Through his blood. But we keep reading on in the text and look at it. It says, according to the riches of his grace. You know, you were not redeemed according to the wealth or according to the worth of your efforts.
[14:59] You are not redeemed because of how good you were, how much you cleaned yourself up. You're not redeemed because of how much work you did. It says, redemption is according to the riches of his grace.
[15:10] That is, if his grace ever runs dry, then the price of redemption will fail to be paid. Because I can assure you that when we're standing on the auction block of sin, none of us have anything to bring to the auction to buy ourself.
[15:22] As a matter of fact, it also says that in the Old Testament that a man cannot redeem his brother, let alone himself. So who will redeem a man? The psalmist cries out, says man cannot pay the price of his own redemption, let alone his brother.
[15:35] Man cannot do anything for his own good. What can he do? And it says, but the Lord redeems according to the riches of his grace. Because it's not according to our worth, it's not according to our efforts, it's not according to our work.
[15:50] And this is why we get to this, and I love the rest of that. He lavished on us, which he lavished on us. Don't you love that? That when God redeems you, he doesn't just kind of halfway redeem you, that when he redeems you, he doesn't just do it a little bit right.
[16:05] He lavishes redemption. He goes above and beyond. And his grace is more than sufficient. And he pours it out upon us. And he calls us to himself.
[16:17] And he lavishes upon us in all wisdom and insight, which he made known to us in the mystery of his will, according to the kind intention. You notice this, the kind intention, which he purposed in him, in Christ.
[16:29] See, the fullness of man's redemption is, listen, you're not halfway redeemed, you're not some way redeemed, you are absolutely all the way fully redeemed in Christ. And the fullness of your redemption is this, that at the end of the day, or at the end of all days, when we stand up and the redeemed of the Lord say so, and we're gathered around the throne and we're casting our crowns at the feet of the Lamb, and when we're worshiping him, the glory that's on display is not the glory of our worth, it's not the glory of our efforts, it's not the glory of our being, it is the glory of God that redeemed us while we were yet sinners.
[17:09] And the grandest display of God's glory is the fact that he saved me. And the grandest display of God's glory is the fact that if you are a redeemed child of the King, it's that he saved you.
[17:21] So when you look around at all of creation, and you see creation doing what creation is supposed to be doing, because the author of creation still has it under his control, and you see creation testifying to the work of the creator, how much more glorious is the God, how much more is the glory of God put on display when we, the rebels, are called back to him and he redeems us through his grace and his mercy.
[17:49] He pays the price. God does it. As he told the book, as he told us all throughout the Old Testament, there's these phrases that I love to see that are consistently, and I underline them.
[18:01] And we're looking at the nation of Israel and they're rebelling and they're rebelling and they're rebelling and yet God is faithful, God is faithful, God is faithful. They rebel, they push them, God is faithful, God is faithful, and God reminds them, for my name's sake, for my name's sake, for my name's sake, for the glory of my name.
[18:16] All the blessings continue for the glory of God's name. It is a testimony to him. So in case we ever think that salvation is about us and about who we are, the reason we are saved is so that God gets the glory.
[18:30] It is for his name's sake. And this is why Paul could write that he was the chief of all sinners. Because what he is saying is God got the greatest glory when he redeemed me.
[18:43] And it helps us see ourselves in light of who we really are. And when I think about that, I go, oh wow. How much more glory does he deserve because he could save someone like me?
[18:57] Not how much more do I deserve, but how much more does he deserve because he could save someone like me? Because it is a display of his glory. Number two, we not only see the fullness of man's redemption, number two, we see the focus of all of creation.
[19:10] The focus of all of creation. Now I know that we alluded to this in the first part of this run-on sentence, but we have to continue bringing it up because it is a theme that is there.
[19:21] And if we don't bring it up and if we don't look at it, then we're missing the point in the whole text. The focus of all of creation. Look at what it says. It says, In him we have redemption, that is in Christ, through his blood, that is Christ, the forgiveness of our sins, the riches of his grace, which he, that is God, lavished on us in all wisdom and insight.
[19:38] He made known to us the mystery of his will, speaking of God, according to his kind intention, which he purposed in him, that is in Christ. And we see this focus, right? Stay with me here. With a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is at the right time, that is the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth, in him.
[19:58] Now, the literal Greek has it this way. It would be in your verse 10 and verse 11, and some of your translations have it. It says, The summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens, things on the earth, in him, in him, also we have obtained an inheritance.
[20:13] There's this double in him. And it's a little cumbersome to read it that way. The New American Standard didn't put that second in him in there, but in the Greek it is there. As some say, I believe it was Warren Wearsley said it is very poor Greek grammar, but it is very rich theology.
[20:28] Because what Paul is doing, and actually there is a biblical interpretation for it according to some scholars and it's called the apostolic disease and is that the apostles would get so carried away in Christ that they would just leave off good grammar and they would just start writing so much about focusing on Christ and just kept repeating Christ, Christ, Christ, in him, in him, in him, in him, in him, in him.
[20:50] Because what Paul is trying to show us is that everything we have and everything we are focuses on one single person, that is Christ. And that all of creation will be wrapped up in Christ.
[21:01] See what verse 10 says, with the view to the administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is the day of redemption, that is all of creation groaning, that is the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.
[21:15] The word summing up there really could have one of three meanings. It would mean that Christ's redemption of man kind of brought all things to a question. It would mean that Christ is kind of head over all things or it would mean that everything finds its fullness in Christ.
[21:29] Really, it is, I think, according to the book of Ephesians, that means Christ is the head of all things. He is preeminent. He is before all things. And the reason we say that is because there's this repeated refrain throughout the book of Ephesians that Christ is the head.
[21:43] Christ is the head. He's the head of the church. He's the head of the body. He's the head of the home. Christ is the head. Christ is the head. Christ is the head. Why? Because the focus of all of creation is on Christ. He is the one that we should be looking at.
[21:55] He's the one that we should be following. He is the one that we should be surrendering to. He is the one that we hope in. All of creation focuses on this person of Jesus Christ.
[22:07] He is the fullness of all. He completes it. He redeems it. He restores it. And he is head over it. And as we make our way through the book of Ephesians, we will see how important that is in the church. We will see how important that is in the home.
[22:20] And we will see how important that is in the workplace. Because when we understand that Christ is the focus of all of creation, that Christ should be the focus of the church. Christ should be the focus of the home. And Christ should be the focus of your work, whatever it is you do.
[22:32] And then when he is the focus of all, that all things are properly aligned with all that God has intended, and the glory of God begins to be on display. Why? Jesus says, and I know this is rich, and I know it's deep, and I know you're probably scratching your head going, Pastor, you're really talking in circles, so stay with me.
[22:49] Because just because it's deep doesn't mean we need to leave it. Jesus said this, he who has seen me has seen the Father. No one has seen the Father apart from me, right? You want to know what the glory of God looks like? Look at Jesus Christ.
[23:01] He's the focus of all of creation. This is why we say that every theophany or appearance of God in the Old Testament is really a Christophany, an appearance of Christ, a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ.
[23:17] This is why we say, as the authors of numerous books say, that he is creator, he is sustainer, he is the upholder of all things. Paul would later write that everything was created by him, through him, and for him, that he holds all things together.
[23:32] He's the focus of all of creation, and he deserves to be the focus of all of our lives, not just part of it. We shouldn't say, well, on Sunday, I'm going to focus on Christ. On Sunday and Wednesdays, I'm going to focus on Christ.
[23:44] All of creation focuses on Christ, and therefore, all of our lives should focus on Christ. It should transform how we do our jobs. It should transform how we lead our families. Will we fail in it? Absolutely. There are times, absolutely, I fail.
[23:55] And I look at myself and I say, that wasn't very Christ-focused, that was man-focused, because I'm still wrestling, right? Should it be how we do church? You say, well, yeah, pastor, it's always how we do church.
[24:06] Really, because sometimes in church, we begin man-focused. We get self-focused rather than Christ-focused, but we see the reality here that he's the focus of all of creation. And finally, number three. This is good, because Paul is going to elaborate this later.
[24:20] You see, it's the fullness of man's redemption, the focus of all of creation. Number three, it's the favor of believers' assurance. God's glory is put on display in this favor of believers' assurance.
[24:30] It is possible. John writes the letter of 1 John. And I'll be honest with you, as I was praying through where I wanted to preach on Sunday morning, I really wanted to go to 1 John.
[24:42] I love the book of 1 John. I think we've looked at it once before on Wednesday nights, but I really wanted to bring it Sunday morning because the theme of 1 John is that you may know, that you may know. John repeats that all throughout, that you may know, that you may know, that you may know, that you may know.
[24:56] So John is writing that the believers would have an assurance of their salvation. Here, Paul tells us the only hope that a believer has for the assurance of their salvation.
[25:06] I'll call your attention to this in verse 13. Verse 13, by the way, is the fullness of the gospel in one verse. It is the fullness of the gospel in one verse and which leads us to the believer's assurance.
[25:18] Verse 13 says, in him, that is in Christ, you also, here's the fullness of it, after listening to the message of the truth, that is, how will they believe unless they hear?
[25:30] Right? It's the word of God. True salvation, biblical salvation, is not rooted in the opinion or the persuasion of man. Biblical salvation is rooted in the reality and the truth of God's word.
[25:43] Anybody can convince you of anything if they're a good enough speaker. But the truth of scripture is that which penetrates the heart to the very depths of our being. It says, in you, in him, after you had heard the message of the truth, the gospel of your salvation.
[26:02] Having also believed, that is the response of man. Man hears the word, man believes in the word. You say, well, God's predestined us. Right, but he has not in that predestining grand work removed the free will of man.
[26:15] Can I explain that to you? Absolutely not. But I will tell you that you have a responsibility. It says, after you heard, you believed. Right? After you heard, you believed. He drew you according to the word and in drawing you according to the word, you believed in the word.
[26:29] Then it says, having also believed, you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise. That is the favor of God put upon you, the sealing of the Holy Spirit.
[26:40] Now we read this here and Paul is writing to this church and Paul says this is how salvation works. The fullness of salvation, one verse. That in Christ, everything centered in Christ, right?
[26:52] It's his work. In Christ, you heard the word of the truth. That is the gospel of your salvation. And when you heard the word of the truth, you believed the word of the truth because God drew you through his word.
[27:03] And the moment you believed, you received the Holy Spirit and were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. I believe that that's an instantaneous event. I don't think we have to wait until the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
[27:16] I don't believe we have to wait until the fullness of the Holy Spirit. I think we have to surrender our lives and say, God, I want to give you more of my life and through sanctification, progressive sanctification, the Holy Spirit gets more control of us, not that we get more of the Holy Spirit because as Paul writes it, it's happening instantaneous.
[27:32] You hear the word, you believe the word, you receive the Spirit. It's a wonderful gift and it is God's favor because Jesus says this, he who has the Spirit has Christ.
[27:44] The only testimony in your life that you're actually saved is the very presence of the Holy Spirit in your life. You say, well, I had goosebumps, I made this feeling and I did this and I made a decision and I signed a card.
[27:56] It says that the only testimony that you have in assurance of salvation is the presence of the Holy Spirit. He who has the Spirit has life. Paul says that when you heard the word and you believe the word, you receive the Spirit and the Spirit is that promise.
[28:11] It says here, the Holy Spirit of promise which is given as a pledge of our inheritance. It's that engagement ring. It is that dowry, that down payment. He is the pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God's own possession to the praise of his glory.
[28:30] I don't think that God wants his people living in uncertainties and it is the favor of God which gives us a pledge that shows us that he has absolutely redeemed us and set us free and that is the presence of the Holy Spirit and it says the moment we hear the truth we respond to the truth and with sincerity and in truth in our own heart and we commit ourselves to that then we are given the Holy Spirit as a pledge until the day of redemption.
[28:59] That pledge, that Holy Spirit is there present in our life. It brings conviction of sins. It brings uncertainty. It brings confidence. You say, well how do I know if I have the Holy Spirit?
[29:09] Well, there are fruits of the Spirit, right, love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. There are fruits of the flesh. There are all these things that testify to the reality. You shall know them by their fruits and when we see these fruits being put on display in our life, again, the Holy Spirit doesn't always come and give you goosebumps.
[29:27] It doesn't always come and make you swing from the chandeliers. It doesn't always come and change who you are physically, but it gives you an assurance that you would not have naturally. It gives you a love which at times you say, well, I really would like to not love that individual but something inside me compels me to love that individual.
[29:43] It gives you a confidence in doing things which you would never do and it leads you to God-centeredness, right? These are the things of the Spirit, right? Because naturally, remember this, no man is righteous, no, not one.
[29:53] The works of your heart and the desires of your heart are desperately wicked. These things are realities. We see these in the core of your being. Don't convince yourself that you're better off than you really are. You say, well, pastor, that doesn't make me feel good about myself.
[30:06] Well, neither does the Bible. The Bible doesn't make me feel good about myself at all. When I open up the Scripture, it shows me that my heart is as hard as stone. When I open up the Scripture, it shows me that I am desperately wicked and I am a rebel and I'm ungodly in all of my ways.
[30:20] It shows me that at the core of my being that I have this inherited nature called a sin nature which has pushed me far away from God and I don't deserve or desire His holiness, right? I don't want to be holy as He is holy.
[30:31] I want to fulfill my own desires. I want to fulfill my own lust. I want to fulfill my own ambitions. I want to fulfill my own pleasures. All of those things, whatever they may be, are self-centered. I see them in me and I know that you see them in you when you're honest with yourself.
[30:46] But the favor of God is that the moment we accept the truth, we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit that reminds us that though we wrestle with these things, that though to the natural, to the core of our being, we are not what we should be, the Holy Spirit is there to testify that there will be a day where He will make us as we will be.
[31:02] It is given to us to assure us that we have been redeemed. Why? Because redemption is not based upon your own merit but about the riches of His grace. Remember that? And the presence of the Holy Spirit is a guarantee of God to give you assurance in days of doubt but also to give you hope in the future ahead because you have the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption.
[31:23] this down payment or dowry was understood as an extravagant price put down with a guarantee that rest of it will be paid.
[31:37] Friend, listen to me. Satan likes to discredit us, disarm us and to remove us. Satan cannot remove you from the hand of God but one thing he can do is remove your effectiveness in the kingdom of God.
[31:52] Satan is there to try to kill, steal and destroy. God has given you a pledge in your heart to the very depth of your being.
[32:03] God has given you a pledge in the Holy Spirit that assures you that what He has promised He will do, He will do it. Now if you say, well I don't know if I have the Holy Spirit in my life. I don't know if these things because this is how as Paul says you need to examine yourselves to work out your own salvation to test yourselves to see if you're in the faith.
[32:21] You say, well I signed a card one day. What did Paul ask the believers at Ephesus? Do you remember? You have to open up the book of Acts and see. Do you remember? Because Paul went through there he left Priscilla and Aquila there and then there was a man named Apollos that came and he led some people to do some biblical knowledge and then Paul came back and Paul was there longer than he was there any other time.
[32:42] What was the one question Paul asked him? Did you receive the Holy Spirit? Did you receive the Holy Spirit? And they said well we don't even know if there is such a thing.
[32:54] So Paul prayed for them and Paul prayed with them. Open it up in the book of Acts and the Holy Spirit fell upon them and then Paul writes to them later and says you received the Spirit you know you did so you know you're his. Now live accordingly because the favor of God's gift gives us assurance.
[33:10] You know the reason why I believe that most people don't live according to the faith which they profess is because in their minds they doubt because when you are sure of something I mean when you are absolutely sure of it you will change how you live.
[33:29] When you think it may be so and you kind of hope it's so and you really want it to be so you may change some things but when you know it is so you live differently.
[33:42] that's why God pours his favor upon us and gives us an assurance in the presence of the Holy Spirit and it is there to testify that God has given me look part of the Godhead dwells within me as a pledge that there will be a day that he will redeem his own possession he's going to redeem me to the praise of his glory and what a glorious day that will be.
[34:10] Let's pray. Lord we thank you so much for this day I thank you for your word Lord even the depths of it which we cannot comprehend easily but Lord we know that it testifies of your grandness so Lord may we as your people live with an assurance that our lives would look different we would behave different we would speak differently because of who you are Lord if there's any here who don't have that assurance when we ask the question did you receive the Holy Spirit they don't even know if there is a Holy Spirit Lord would you draw them to yourself to the truth of your word bringing them to humble themselves and surrender their lives to the work of Christ for your glory not ours Lord just have your way and we ask it all in Christ's name Amen Amen Thank you.
[36:02] Thank you.