Blessings from the Spirit

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Well, I have been interested in genealogy since I was a kid. And it’s become, the Internet has opened a lot of possibilities for research that wasn’t possible even a few years ago. And so I’ve sort of become the family detective in what free time I actually have.

Become kind of the family detective. Sometimes, I mean, that’s a mixed blessing, because sometimes I’ve discovered things I wish I didn’t know. And other times, it’s been fun, though, to discover things that other people wish I didn’t know, that they thought was going to be secret forever.

I’ve been involved for a few years in something of a family mystery. You see, my great-great-grandfather, one of them, that’s my mother’s father’s father’s father. was adopted.

Now we know from later records that he was born in 1872 in Mena, Arkansas. But like I said, that’s a later record. There’s no birth certificate.

Probably wouldn’t be. He was born in the mountains. And there’s no record that we could find of who his parents were.

But we know he was adopted because the oldest record that we have that he shows up in is the census in Yale County, Arkansas, which is a little bit, a little ways away. And he shows up in the household of some people who do not share his last name. And he’s listed in the census record in 1880 as being their adopted son.

Okay. So we know that he’s adopted. We know kind of the general area where he’s come from.

And I spent a couple of years trying to track down who, who, who was he? I mean, and it was easier, or it should have been easier, because we even knew his actual birth name. That’s the name he had even after he was adopted.

So I went to the county where he was born, and I start digging through all the 1870 census records, and there aren’t all that many. So I go back to 1860 and start looking at all the records, census and otherwise, over a 20-year period leading up to 1880. Was there anybody with that last name of childbearing age who passed away somewhere between 1872 and 1880.

And there were way more than I thought there would have been who had that same name. So I’ve got all these lists of names, and I’m running them down. Some of y’all think this sounds like the most boring thing in the world.

But it’s kind of like being a detective, except nobody got murdered most of the time. So I’m trying to run down all these names, and I’m hitting dead end after dead end after dead end. There’s just no connection anywhere.

there. Finally came to the point where I just said, I’m giving up, not forever, but for now. I’m giving up because we have no, all this research, I have no idea where we fit, where our family connects, which of these families that lived in this county that our family comes from.

And by the way, nobody’s beaten down the door to claim us either. So, but I couldn’t, I couldn’t find where, who are we? Where do we connect?

A little over a year ago, Charla and I did one of those DNA tests where you spit, you fill up a bottle with your spit and you mail it off to Utah. And they did some analysis. I mean, I kind of get it in theory what they did, but I really don’t.

Except I know it says you’re related to all these people and there are thousands of them. And I thought, well, that’s great. I’m not going to try to place a thousand people.

That seems like a lot of work. I got contacted a couple months later, though, by what turned out to be a fourth cousin. The only person out of all of these genetic matches who’s ever contacted me, and she was contacting me because she said, oh, I see you’re related to so-and-so.

It was a family name on my dad’s side. See, you’re related to so-and-so. I’m curious about that.

We might be related over here because we’ve got the same name, and it says we’re related. And I looked at it and I said, that family for you came from back east. And my family with that name was in Indian territory. I don’t think that.

But I see another place where we might be connected. So through talking to her, turns out that my great-great-grandfather was the long-lost baby brother that she remembers her grandpa talking about his dad. He’s the long-lost uncle.

Apparently the parents died when he was a baby and he and another were adopted out because they were still young and nobody ever knew what happened to them. And suddenly we figure out where we fit. I mean, it’s amazing because there’s only a small percentage probability that you have enough DNA from any given ancestor that far back.

And it’s just amazing that we were able to reconnect there. For all these generations, we haven’t known who we were or where we fit. with this family, but the DNA was always there as this marker of who we were and who we belong to and how we fit.

This morning, if you haven’t already turned with me, please go with me to Ephesians chapter 1. We’re going to talk about another marker that’s always there reminding us of who we are and how we fit. Only this one is a person.

This is the person of the Holy Spirit of God, the third person of the Trinity. You see, the Holy Spirit is oftentimes overlooked. We as Baptists, I think, are more guilty of this than some others.

And sometimes we see such an excessive emphasis on the Holy Spirit in some churches that I think we’ve just become afraid to emphasize the Holy Spirit at all because we don’t want to be identified with the church down the road. Well, that’s wrong. The Holy Spirit is either the third person of the Trinity or He’s not.

And so I think a lot of times we forget about the Holy Spirit. We overlook the Holy Spirit. But He too is involved in the blessings of salvation.

That’s what we’ve been talking about the last few weeks are these blessings of salvation. And I’ve walked you through Ephesians chapter 1 where it talks about some of these blessings and how they’re handed to us by the Father. They’re handed to us by the Son.

The Son earned all of them for us. But this morning we’re we’re going to wrap this up by talking about the Holy Spirit and the blessings that He provides that accompany salvation. And we know from elsewhere in Scripture that the Holy Spirit is involved in salvation from the beginning.

The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin. The Holy Spirit tells us you’re guilty. The Holy Spirit tells me that a lot.

And when I came to Christ as a child, I listened to a message in children’s church on sin and I remember the Holy Spirit getting me right there saying he’s talking about you the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin and he points us to our need for salvation and he draws us to Jesus Christ as the answer to that need and he leads us to salvation in Christ and and once we come to Christ we know from the scriptures that He teaches us, and He shapes us to become more like Christ in response to that salvation we’ve received. And we know that His ministry is not just temporary. It’s not just occasional. It’s not something that we have for a little while and then we don’t have it anymore.

We know that His ministry in our lives is not something that comes and goes, but He’s always with us, and He’s with us for the long haul as a result of our salvation and it talks about this in Ephesians chapter 1 starting in verse 13. We’re just going to look at two verses this morning. I can’t guarantee you that that means a shorter message but believe what you want if it gives you hope.

All right we’re going to start it we’re going to look at verses 13 and 14 this morning. In him also this is talking about Jesus the in him if you if you go back to the previous verses which we’ve studied the last couple weeks. He’s talking about Jesus because he says in verse 12 in Christ that he might bring us praise to his glory.

So in him you also, in Christ you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you also believed, were sealed in him with the promised Holy Spirit. He is the down payment of our inheritance until the redemption of the possession to the praise of His glory. And what we see in just these two verses, especially when you look at them in context of what we’ve studied in the chapter so far, He’s talking about the blessings of salvation.

That salvation isn’t just a one-time thing, hey, you’re saved. Let me explain what I mean by that. At the moment of conversion, we are saved.

And we are as saved as we’re going to be because it’s all through the work of Jesus Christ. But what I mean by that is that there is more to our salvation. There’s more to what God provides than just that initial, hey, you’re saved. There’s a change in the relationship with the Father that’s ongoing.

There’s an inheritance in heaven that comes with it. So it’s more than just our sins being forgiven. As incredible as that is, I don’t like to say just our sins being forgiven because that’s already amazing.

But sometimes I think our English language isn’t as big as it is. It isn’t quite big enough to capture all of this stuff. So yes, salvation is an instantaneous thing when we trust Christ. But the blessings of it are more than just that initial moment.

The blessings of salvation continue on throughout the rest of our lives and into eternity. And so this chapter has been talking about those blessings of salvation and how each person in the Trinity has a role in doling those out, so to speak. Jesus paid for them all at the cross.

But we get something from each person of the Trinity. They each play a role. And so the way here that it describes when we come to verses 13 and 14 and we see where it talks about the Holy Spirit, the way this is describing the Holy Spirit when we take these two verses together is that the Holy Spirit is with us.

The Holy Spirit is with us as a constant confirmation of what Jesus has done for us. Let me say that again because it’s important to me that you understand the point that this is making. The Holy Spirit is with us as a constant confirmation of what Jesus has done for us.

You and I didn’t earn our salvation. It was all purchased by Jesus Christ. He did it. It was all His work from first to last. And yet sometimes we as Christians, especially if you’ve been a Christian for enough years, you get to that point where you feel like, well, I don’t feel saved.

You know what? My alarm went off this morning. My alarm went off this morning.

Time changed Sunday. lost an hour, I did not feel saved. All right.

I probably didn’t act saved either. You can ask my wife about that. I’m not necessarily at my most pleasant when the alarm goes off.

There are times that we don’t feel saved. There are times that we don’t feel like we’re really close to God. There are times when maybe it’s in response to sin.

Maybe there are times where we feel like God couldn’t love me. Surely God couldn’t put up with me after what I just said. We feel in ways that are contrary to what God’s Word has said.

And there’s a political commentator who says, facts don’t care about your feelings. And whether you agree with him or disagree with him on politics, I think that statement is right. Facts don’t care about our feelings.

You may not feel saved all the time, but God’s Word says otherwise. And the Holy Spirit is there as that confirmation. In those times where we question, was it real?

Did He really save me? Could He still love me? Do I really have a relationship with Him?

The Holy Spirit is there and is always there as that confirmation of what Jesus has done for us. For those times that we start to question, those times when we start to doubt, those times when our feelings lie to us and try to convince us of something other than what God’s Word says. In Ephesians 1, here in these two verses, it describes two of the confirming roles that the Holy Spirit plays in the life of the believer after salvation.

There may be more. As I’ve told you in previous weeks, I don’t believe that this is an exhaustive list of every blessing, every spiritual blessing that God gives us in salvation. And yet it’s a pretty good list. And so I don’t pretend that these two things are the only things that the Holy Spirit does for us either, but these are the two listed here in Ephesians chapter 1 as these confirming roles that He plays.

And again, He is with us as a constant confirmation of what Jesus has done for us. For those times when we question, those times when we doubt. It tells us, first of all, in verse 13, that the Holy Spirit is a seal. He says that we were sealed in Him with the promised Holy Spirit.

We were sealed in Jesus Christ with the promised Holy Spirit. Let’s break this down a little bit, this idea of being sealed to God. I’ve talked about this word before in another message.

I don’t expect that you remember. I had to go back and look up what I said. But this word for seal is sphragizo in the Greek, and it was a mark of security.

You know, it calls to mind when a king would seal up his scroll and he’d drip the wax on and he would stamp his ring in it so you would know whether it had been opened or not. You would know that it bore the king’s actual authority. It’s not just a forgery.

You would know. And so to use this word, to use this word as an explanation of what the Holy Spirit does in our lives, it’s a mark of security. It’s a mark of belonging.

It’s a mark of authority. It’s a secure seal. And we know how strong a word this is because it’s used elsewhere in the New Testament when you want to be really, really, really sure. The Romans, when they sealed up Jesus’ tomb, Matthew 27, 66 in the Greek says, they sphergizod it.

Now, it doesn’t literally say sphergizod. It uses whatever their grammar is. But it uses that word.

You know why? the Romans wanted to make sure nobody came and stole the body because the Romans were about done with all the disorder and chaos around Jesus and the fighting between the Jews who followed him and the Jews who didn’t. So they, for Gidzo, they sealed up that tomb because they wanted to make sure nobody could get in or out without authorization.

Good luck with that. I mean, can’t keep God where God doesn’t want to be anymore. But that word indicates it was supposed to be secure.

and then in Revelation two of the times it’s used in the New Testament are in Revelation when God seals the 144,000 these 144,000 servants of His during the tribulation He seals them so they can’t be hurt that word is sphergizo He stamps them and He seals them and He says nobody can touch them without My permission and then when the seal was placed on Satan him for a thousand years in Revelation 20, that word is also sprijizo. Because let me tell you, Satan can’t come out of that pit until God says so. So when you want a seal that is secure, that it is authoritative, and that it can’t go anywhere unless you’ve got to go through God to break that seal, Spragizo is the word you want to use.

And Paul said that we are sealed to God in Christ by the Holy Spirit in that exact same way. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit, verse 13. We’re sealed with the Holy Spirit who was promised.

This was according to God’s plan. God didn’t just wake up one day and say, hey, maybe I need to do something to watch over them, protect them. No, this was his plan all along.

This was what he had promised to do for us. That he was going to seal us to himself and he was going to use the Holy Spirit to do it. Now a good question to ask is when do we receive that seal?

Because people have all sorts of ideas about you’ve got to go through this, you’ve got to do that, you’ve got to show evidence of this or that. Verse 13 gives us the answer of when we receive that seal and it has nothing to do with what we do. It has everything to do with what Jesus did and how we respond to that.

It says, In him you also, again remember that’s in Christ, in Jesus, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you also believed, were sealed in him with the promised Holy Spirit. So we receive that seal when we hear the gospel and when we believe. When we hear that message that Jesus Christ died to pay for our sins and rose again so that we can now be reconciled to the Father.

Our sins can be forgiven, not as a result of any good that we’ve done, but simply because of what Jesus Christ did. And when we respond to that by believing that it’s true and putting our faith not in our own efforts, but putting our faith in Jesus alone. When we hear that message of the gospel and we believe, Ephesians 1.

13 says we receive that seal. At that moment, it’s not something you have to earn later on. It’s not something you have to work for later on. At that moment of conversion, the Holy Spirit comes and stamps you and seals you to God and says, you’re mine.

And it’s an irrevocable seal. It’s not something that can be taken back. Remember, the Spirigizo is a seal that really only God can break. According to every other example we see of it in the New Testament.

so at the moment that we hear the gospel and we respond in faith we are sealed to god by the holy spirit he marks us out as his as his children and he puts us under his protection now there may be times in your life as a believer where you don’t necessarily feel all that saved again it doesn’t matter how you feel. It matters what God’s Word says, that He has stamped you, He has sealed you, and you belong to Him whether you feel like it or not. But He doesn’t just call the Holy Spirit a seal. He calls Him a down payment.

Some of your translations may say earnest. They’re both right. The Holy Spirit is this down payment, this earnest money, like you’d put earnest on a house. It tells you’re serious about actually coming back and following through on buying the house.

Down payment, same way. You don’t want to lose any of that money. It shows you’re serious about buying the house.

The word in Greek is arobon, which I thought sounds like something my wife sells, but no. It’s an indication that somebody’s going to come back and pay the full amount. It’s used six times in the Bible, three times in the New Testament, three times in the Greek translation of the Old Testament. And let me give you an indication.

The Bible gives us a story that we can use to understand. There was a man named Judah who in Genesis 38, through a series of unfortunate circumstances and trickery, ended up visiting a woman of ill repute, or so he thought, but it was actually his disguised daughter-in-law. If you ever think your family’s dysfunctional, Go and read the book of Genesis, and you’ll feel a lot better about going to Thanksgiving and Christmas.

So he visited his daughter-in-law thinking she was a prostitute. He didn’t have the money or the goat to pay her, or the sheep. My memory suddenly went fuzzy about what he actually owed her.

But he didn’t have all that. He didn’t have it with him. So he gave her his bracelet, and I believe his ring, and a staff.

He gave her some things that were his as a sign that he was going to come back and make things right. We do this all the time. You go into a real estate transaction, at least up until recently, you put down earnest money.

Well, the last time I sold a house, the realtor told me, no, they don’t have to put down earnest money. I think he was just being lazy because I’ve always had to put down earnest money. You have to put down earnest money.

When you go into O’Reilly, here lately they just have somebody come out with the machine to read your check engine light. Used to, if they were busy, they’d just hand it to you. You left your driver’s license with them.

That was a symbol to them. You’re going to make good. You’re going to come back and make things right.

It’s an earnest. It’s a down payment. The word that was used three times in Genesis 38 for Judah, giving Tamar these things as proof that he would come back and pay what he owed, in the Greek translation of the Old Testament is Sphirgiza. I mean, sorry, Aribon.

Got my Greek mixed up. It’s Aribon. It’s that down payment word.

And that same word is used three times in the New Testament, and every single instance of it that I have found refers to the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is absolutely a down payment that God has given us. It’s an indication that He’s going to come back and pay in full the amount He’s promised.

So the Spirit who indwells us, just like these uses in the Old Testament, the Spirit who indwells us, who lives inside of us, is a down payment on our inheritance. I talked to you a little bit last week about what our inheritance is in Christ. Some of the things that we’re looking forward to. These are the eternal promises.

this is eternal life with him this is being in his presence in heaven this is the joy this is the experience where he wipes away all the tears from our eyes these are things that are part of salvation that they have been promised with salvation but have we received them yet not if you’re breathing we haven’t received them yet that doesn’t mean that we can’t have every confidence that god is going to come through and give everything that he’s promised because the spirit is our down payment our inheritance means all all these benefits of salvation the eternal life the glorified body almost forgot about that one I was moving a trailer the other day and ran into it I found my trailer at the edge of it with my shin and I was really looking forward to that glorified body at that moment still kind of have a bruise there and I’m waiting for it and speaking of all tears being wiped away you know these things are all part of the promise reigning with him we haven’t received all of the things He promised, but we’ve been given this down payment.

The Holy Spirit is the down payment on all of that inheritance. Now we need to understand that the Holy Spirit is not just a down payment on that inheritance for a little while. And suddenly the down payment expires, the deal is null and void.

No, He tells us in verse 14 how long this down payment lasts. He said, He is the down payment of our inheritance until the redemption of the possession. this down payment this earnest money is in place until the whole thing is redeemed meaning until the promise is completely fulfilled so we don’t have the holy spirit in this sealing confirming role reminding us who we are and who we belong to just until the deal expires no the the word says we have the holy spirit with us confirming who we are and who we belong to until the whole thing is finished, until it’s all finished, until we get the full thing that has been promised, the full inheritance that has been promised, we have this assurance.

We have this Holy Spirit that lives inside us as the down payment. Now, why would he do this? Verse 14 says, he’s the down payment of our inheritance until the redemption of the possession to the praise of his glory.

God is glorified in confirming this to us because it reminds us who he is, that He’s a God who keeps His promises. And when we recognize His faithfulness, we have all the more reason to praise Him. Because we realize He’s not a God who promises us things and lets us down.

He’s not a God who promised eternal life and then, well, it’s been 2,000 years later, so the deal’s off. He’s not a God who promised us eternity with Him and then forgot. He’s a God who keeps His promises.

And isn’t a God like that worth praising? Isn’t a God like that worth worshiping? A God who no matter what happens is going to be faithful and is going to keep His promises.

And the Holy Spirit is proof of that to the praise of His glory. So the Spirit’s presence is a pledge from the Father that He’ll give everything He promised in due time. It won’t always be according to our time frame and timetable, but when the time is right from the Father’s perspective, He’s going to pay everything.

He’s going to, I shouldn’t say pay. He doesn’t owe us anything. He’s going to give everything He’s promised in due time.

And on that day, we will receive everything that Jesus paid for. And the Holy Spirit is there confirming all of that. Again, in those days where we don’t necessarily feel saved, in those moments of darkness, those moments of despair, those moments of doubt where we wonder, do I really belong to God or not?

The Holy Spirit is there. He’s with us confirming what Jesus has done for us. The Holy Spirit is there like that DNA, that constant reminder, this is who you are, this is who you belong to.

The Holy Spirit’s there. Ultimately, the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to reassure us that we belong to Jesus Christ. He’s at work in us every day to reassure us that we belong to Jesus Christ. These two roles, again, these are not the only roles the Holy Spirit plays, but these two roles that are outlined here in chapter 1 are all about reassuring us. He’s a seal. He’s a down payment.

Those are things you give to somebody when you want to make sure that they’re sure. When you want that person to be confident, you give them the seal. You give them the down payment. And so he seals us so we really know that we really belong to Jesus.

And he’s our down payment so we know we really will receive everything that Jesus paid for and that the Father promised. And all of this is in Christ. I mean, just like the rest of the chapter, I’ve taken you through verse by verse in previous weeks, in him, through him, by him, because of him. Every promise that he makes, every blessing that he provides is because of Jesus and we receive it in Jesus.

This is no different. He says in verse 13, in Him. In verse 13, you were sealed in Him.

And in verse 14, to the praise of His glory, this is all in Christ. All of these promises are still in Christ. Yes, it’s the Holy Spirit working and moving, but all these blessings are still ultimately there because we are in Christ. So the Holy Spirit constantly reassures us of what God did for us in Christ. of what God is doing in us in Christ and of what God will do for us in Christ. There’s times when we doubt, was it real? The Holy Spirit reminds us it is. Do I have a relationship with Him now?

Can He hear me now? The Holy Spirit reminds us He can. Will He really follow through?

The Holy Spirit reminds us that He will. The Holy Spirit is there constantly reminding us of what the Father has done, is doing, and will do in us because of Jesus Christ. the Holy Spirit is there for those moments of human weakness where we begin to doubt and we begin to question and he’s there as a comforter Jesus promised that when he left a comforter would come he’s there to to whisper the truth when the enemy whispers lies to us and says God saw that which that’s that’s not the lie God saw that that is true but God saw that and he couldn’t possibly love you after the way you just acted. When the enemy comes and whispers those lies, the Holy Spirit is there to counteract it with the truth.

Jesus said he would send us the spirit of truth who would guide us into all truth. And he’s there as that constant confirmation that no matter how we feel, how our temporary emotions and our doubts may confuse us, he is there as a constant stalwart witness of what Jesus has done for us and what the Father has done and is doing and will do. And so for us this morning, we need to look at the Holy Spirit as evidence of where we stand with Jesus.

Is the Holy Spirit at work in your life this morning? I mean, is He there? Is He shaping you to become more like Jesus?

Is He teaching you? Is He calling you out when you need to deal with God? Is He there and present in your life where He’s that reminder?

Maybe the Holy Spirit’s at work in your life, but it’s calling you to Jesus. Maybe it’s that conviction where He’s telling you, you’ve sinned against God. You’re not right with God.

You need to get right with God. Jesus is the way to do it. You need to trust Jesus.

This morning, I would encourage you to look for that work of the Holy Spirit in your life. What is He doing? What is He telling you?

Because that tells us where we are in relation to Jesus. If we can see where He’s working in us to make us more like Jesus, that’s a confirmation. That is a reminder that we belong to Jesus.

But this morning, if you don’t have that indwelling Holy Spirit who’s working on you and changing you and improving you. And He’s calling you instead, calling out to you. By the way, if this is new to you, I’m not necessarily talking about an audible voice.

But if He’s calling to you and saying, you need Jesus, you’re not right with God, you need to do something. You’ve sinned. If He’s calling you out for that, that’s the work of the Holy Spirit leading you to Christ. And so if you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior before this morning, I’d invite you to do so.

If the Holy Spirit’s impressing on your heart that you’ve sinned and that you need a Savior, that’s His witness that Jesus Christ is the only one to be that Savior, that you can’t be good enough to have a relationship with God. It’s simply the only way you can have a relationship with God, have these blessings of salvation, this forgiveness, this eternal life. The only reason you can have it is because Jesus suffered, bled, and died to pay for your sins so that you could be forgiven.

And this morning, if you’ve never trusted Christ and you feel Him calling you, I hope that you’ll listen to that. I hope that you’ll quit trusting in whatever you’re trusting in and try to give you a better relationship with the Father and instead believe that Jesus died and rose again. Put your faith completely in Him.

We’re going to stand in just a moment when our musicians come forward. As a matter of fact, if you’d like to go ahead and come forward, we’ll stand in just a moment and we’ll sing a hymn to close out the service. During that time, if you’ve got questions or you’d like somebody to talk with, you’re more than welcome to come forward.

You can also trust Christ right where you are this morning. And if you’re a believer this morning, I want to encourage you to look for the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. See where He’s at work.

Because there are going to be those times, there will be those times where we question. Maybe you question y

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