The guarantee of the Spirit

23 Oct

Written By Peter

Lasting commitment is rare and precious. We’re designed to value it and we long for permanence, but the emptiness of loss is everywhere. Having seen the wealth that God gives us through choosing us to be blameless, the riches of Christ as He gave His life to pay for our sin and free us from slavery to death, we now look at the guarantee of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is given to those who believe like an engagement ring is given as a pledge of eternal commitment. Praise be to Father, Son and Holy Spirit for their love for us.

Scripture

Ephesians 1:13-14 ESV In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

Bible Study Questions

Adopted as Son’s by the Father

In Roman culture only sons were adopted with the full privileges of inheritance. Whether we’re sons or daughters of God through adoption, God the Father chose us to be blameless and Holy by the redemption of Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:4-6 ESV In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

Purchased as slaves by the blood of the Son

Slaves have no rights but are bought and sold. Slaves cannot buy themselves. We were slaves to sin and it’s consequence - death. Jesus paid for us by giving His body and blood in exchange for ours. He died on the cross to take the punishment of our sin, so that He could set us free.

1 Peter 1:18-19 ESV …knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

Betrothed as the Bride by the power of the Holy Spirit

Jesus Christ promises that the Holy Spirit is given to every believer as a constant guide, protector, teacher, counsellor and advocate.

Ephesians 1:13-14 ESV In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

John 14:15-20 ESV “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

Hearing the Truth, believing in Him

We cannot purchase or accumulate or in any way earn these great riches of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We must accept the gift in humble faith by believing in the heart and confessing with our voices.

Ephesians 1:13 ESV In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him,

Romans 10:13-17 ESV For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:1-6 ESV Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.

Romans 10:9-10 ESV because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Sealed with the promised Holy Spirit

A seal is a mark of ownership of belonging. When a seal is applied to a letter, it makes the contents private, meant only for the recipient. It proves the authenticity of the words and addresses it’s sender and recipient. When we are sealed with the Holy Spirit we are set apart for God, marked as His precious and exclusive possession.

Ephesians 1:13 ESV In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

Acts 2:38-39 ESV And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

Romans 8:9 ESV You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

The Guarantee of our inheritance (arrhabōn)

The Greek Arrabon means an earnest, a guarantee. It’s used to refer to an engagement ring even in modern Greek. The Holy Spirit marks every believer as their exclusive commitment to God.

Ephesians 1:14 ESV who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 ESV And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, 22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

Acts 20:32 ESV And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

Made for awe, to the Praise of His Glory

Praise is natural to human beings - we all praise something, we all worship something. It gives us great joy to praise and worship, because God created us for this very purpose. We are not whole, not happy until we realise and embrace this.