• Conclude our summer series today.
• Began by describing Ephesians’ situation:
o Gentiles
o Must have felt like “fringe relatives”
o Do you know what a “Fringe Relative” is? Sniglets
You get a picture of Mike, Sally, and the kids
Then, you also get in the mail a picture of Great Uncle Bud and Aunt Rosie
You don’t have enough picture frames
So, you say, “we’re not nearly as close to Bud and Rosie as we are to Mike, Sally, and the kids; we’ll stick them in the corner
We’ve all been there, done that, right?
o We’ve also all known what it feels like to be on the outside looking in—as the Gentiles might have felt!
o Why? What were advantages Jews had?
• Paul writes to help them understand how rich they were
The Progression of the Gospel:
1. Hear the truth
This is where the salvation begins, and it assumes that there is such a thing as what Francis Schaeffer called
A. “True Truth”
i. Unpopular today – “The only thing that we can be sure of is that we can’t be sure of anything”—are you sure about that? We’ll be called “narrow-minded”, “bigots”, “ignorant” if we suggest that not only does truth exist, but that we have found it in Christ.
ii. “[Postmodernism] affirms that whatever we accept as truth and even the way we envision truth are dependent on the community in which we participate . . . There is no absolute truth: rather truth is relative to the community in which we participate.” Stan Grenz, A Primer on Postmodernism
iii. Of the postmodern assertion, D.A. Carson concludes that while it is certainly true that as fallen human beings, we cannot know anything perfectly or fully, yet we can be assured of the existence of truth, and of our ability to perceive it, though imperfectly
iv. “Your Word is truth” – Jesus
v. Our goals: correct interpretation, correct transmission of truth of God’s Word
B. Good News
i. Begins with good news
1. God created man in His image
2. God endowed man with freedom to choose between good and evil
ii. Continues with bad news
1. Entrance of sin
2. Lost
3. Spiritually dead
4. Without hope
5. Headed to a Christless eternity in hell
iii. Leads to great news!
1. Christ has chosen to save us
2. Christ did the work for us on the cross and in His resurrection
3. Christ offers eternal life as a free gift
iv. Saving news
C. It must be heard
i. Contemporary questions on the state of the unevangelized
ii. God will do what He will do—and doesn’t need my permission to do it!
iii. That said, He has given us what seems to be strong indication that people cannot/will not be saved apart from hearing the Gospel of Christ (Romans 10)
Hear the truth
2. Believe in Christ
A. Lately, we’ve looked at salvation from God’s angle, what He did
i. Blessed us
ii. Chose us
iii. Predestined us
iv. Adopted us
v. Redeemed us
vi. Forgave us
vii. Made us His heritage
B. There is a human angle as well, of course – “you believed in Christ”
i. God’s work for us is met with our faith-response, and that response is simple faith
ii. If the gospel is true, then the epitome of evil could walk through those doors this morning—hey, for all we know, maybe he did—and walk out a forgiven sinner (and if you doubt it, you don’t have a grip on grace yet)
iii. Does this mean I can live as I please? No…not according to Paul’s words elsewhere! “God forbid!” (Romans 6:2)
Hear the truth
Believe in Christ
3. Receive the Spirit
A. Promised long ago
B. God’s Guarantee
We don’t use wax seals today very often
1. Mom used to make preserves and seal jars with wax
2. We use oaths, pledges, affidavits, bonds, warranties – instruments designed to insure that a promise will be delivered upon
3. Romans 8:9-17
i. Ownership and Authenticity
1. Transactions are “sealed” to this day with legal signatures, gold crests, and the like
2. We are given the Holy Spirit at salvation; He marks us as belonging to God
3. We are signed, sealed, and delivered by the Spirit, as it were; further, Malachi 3:17 uses prophetic language, and has God referring to us as His “jewels” or His “treasured possession”
4. To Ephesians who might have wondered about their identity, Paul says, “you belong to God, and the Holy Spirit has been given as the sign that God owns you”
5. Of course, we are reminded as well, then, that we are not our own, for we’ve been bought with a price (I Corinthians 6)
ii. Authority
1. A king would often delegate authority to those who were given his sealed decree
2. God indicates His authority over us
3. He also delegates to us the authority to minister in His name! Jesus said (Acts 1:8), “all authority has been given unto Me; now, you go and be my witnesses…”
4. Now, then, if God has authority over me—and He then tells me that the power is delegated to me to be His witnesses—I had better consider that an important obligation on my part!
iii. Security
1. Ancient kings often placed seals on things indicating that the thing sealed was not to be changed
a. Ahasuerus/Esther
b. Nebuchadnezzar/Daniel
2. A seal indicated a finished transaction, a done deal
3. If the wax dripped on a paper and stamped with a signet was unbroken, the transaction was completed
4. I believe that the preponderance of the evidence in Scripture points toward eternal security
a. Doesn’t deny the possibility of false profession
b. Doesn’t deny the possibility of backsliding
c. Doesn’t give license to sin (just as having a life insurance policy doesn’t give me license to play in traffic)
d. Saving faith should make a huge difference in the life of the believer
e. All of that said, I believe that once an individual has been born again, God will keep us by His power (certainly not ours!)
5. Peace comes with the Spirit; He is the Spirit of Peace, and we see evidence of the reality of the Spirit by the change that He brings in our lives—at His pace, as we yield to Him
iv. Privilege
1. Promises made, promises kept – He is the Spirit “who was promised”
2. In giving us the Spirit, He gives us a “guarantee”; another translation says of the Spirit here that He “is the first installment of our inheritance”
3. What awaits us is glorious
4. The glorious truth is not that we’ll sit around in Heaven playing the harp or something, but that it’ll be beyond anything that we can imagine
5. Behold, what manner of love the Father has given unto us, that we should be called the sons of God!
Hear the truth
Believe in Christ
Receive the Spirit
4. Praise God!
It all wraps up where it all began, with God getting the glory for the things He has done. Read entire passage one more time!
