A Call to Hope; a Call to Worship

In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:11-14)

          This being an election year, you and I have been treated to our share of optimistic words from the candidates in recent months. The message always seems to boil down to, “Vote for me and things will get better.”

          Perhaps, though, all the broken promises through the decades have jaded many of us. Cynicism – not optimism – rules our day.

          That’s especially true when it comes to the people around you disappointing you. Has someone in your life broken so many promises through the years that your hopes have been dashed?

          Yet there is good news for you and me who trust in Jesus as our Savior: in a world of broken promises and disappointments from those closest to us, we have hope in God the Father – because He always fulfills His gracious plans in Christ.

          We have noted in our study of Ephesians 1 that verses 3-14 form one long sentence in Greek, and that sentence actually is a call to praise God the Father for all the blessings He has bestowed on us in Christ. This morning, as we close our examination of this passage by looking at verses 11-14, we first see that St. Paul calls us to praise God because He always enacts His gracious promises perfectly. Unlike sinful humans, God never disappoints.

          You and I, Paul writes in verses 11-13, are living proof that the Father never fails to bring His gracious will to fruition. In fact, our very existence as Christians is fulfillment of two of His ancient promises in the book of Genesis.

          On one hand, the fact that some Jews have believed the Gospel of Jesus Christ is proof that God has kept His promises first recorded in Genesis 3:15 and in Genesis 12. When Paul says “we have obtained an inheritance” (“inheritance” meaning salvation and the hope of Heaven), he is referring to those who “first trusted in Christ” – the Jews, who waited on the promised Messiah for centuries as God revealed increasingly more about the Christ through the law, prophets and poetic books. Moses, David and Isaiah never knew the Lord Jesus Christ personally while on this earth, yet all of them believed God’s promise of the coming Seed of the woman, who would crush Satan’s head at Calvary.

          The Jews’ forward-looking faith in Christ was totally the work of God, to the praise of His glory. You’ll recall that many of the Jews abandoned the Lord and chased after the false gods of the nations; the Northern Kingdom eventually apostatized entirely. But just because a majority of those who grew up learning of the one, true God later rejected Him, the Father didn’t give up on His perfect and eternal plan of salvation. From eternity, the Father had purposed to save a remnant of Jews by giving them faith in Christ, and the very faith of Moses, David, Isaiah, Paul, Peter and their fellow believing Jews was a testimony to God’s faithfulness.

          God’s gracious and sovereign will, which – Paul says in verse 11 – includes everything that comes to pass in history – also includes Gentile believers. When the Lord promised believing Abraham that He would bless all the nations of the earth through Abraham, He really promised that there would be Christians who attend Leakesville Presbyterian Church and First Presbyterian Church of Hattiesburg and Gospel-believing churches throughout the world.

          The apostle writes that you and I also trusted in Christ after we heard the Word of Truth preached, which is the Good News of our salvation in Jesus from sin. Faith in Christ comes by hearing, Paul tells the Romans, and hearing comes by the Word of God. That’s why the preaching and spread of the Gospel is so important: the Word is the means of grace God uses to draw sinners to Christ and to give us new hearts and new destinies. And at the same time you and I were given faith in Christ, we were sealed with the Holy Spirit – the proof of our belonging to God.

          In “do it yourself” America, you need to realize that the fact you are sitting in that pew today claiming salvation in Jesus Christ is a testimony to the God Who keeps His ancient, and gracious, promises. So many professing Christians are petrified of the doctrine of God’s sovereignty and of His predestining us to faith in Christ, but in fact this doctrine is a reason to praise God and to hope in Him. You and I fall down on our promises all too frequently, so much so that we mope about in cynicism. Left to our own inclinations, we never would choose to believe in Christ as our Savior. You’d never even acknowledge your need for a Savior.

          Your status as a saved child of God is a call to worship the God who planned your salvation from all eternity – and who made good on His promises.

          You and I must praise God, secondly, because He will fulfill His gracious plans perfectly at the Last Day.

          The fact that you are a transformed child of God now is a reason to praise the Lord; but there also is a future or “not yet” element of your salvation – your being made perfect in Christ. Yet just because full redemption is in the future doesn’t mean you should doubt the Lord. After all, He is the God who keeps His covenant perfectly.

          St. Paul teaches that you and I, at the time of our regeneration and faith in Christ as Savior, simultaneously are sealed by the promised Holy Spirit, who is Himself the Promise of greater things to come in the New Heavens and Earth. To be sealed by the Holy Spirit means that God has authenticated you as His child in Christ, much like the seal on your diploma proves that you indeed are a graduate of the school. To have the Holy Spirit means you truly belong to God.

          To be sealed by the Holy Spirit also means that you will belong to God, from the present time throughout eternity. Paul writes that the Spirit is God’s down payment or pledge that at the Last Great Day, when Jesus comes to judge the quick and the dead, you and I will be redeemed fully (made perfect) in Christ. Presently, of course, you belong to God. Jesus purchased you as his own by the price of his blood. But in this fallen world, you and I still sin: we speak harshly to one another; we struggle with bitterness; we break promises. When Christ returns, you and I will be redeemed fully – set totally free from sin to serve the living God as He always intended for us.

          Does it seem like such a promise is unbelievable? Do you struggle so greatly with old sins and with new temptations and with the toil of life that you don’t think perfection could come? If you do, just look at your life in Christ and at the Holy Spirit in you and remember that He is the Father’s real and living Pledge that one day, you will dwell with Him in glory perfectly.

          Many professing believers in Greene County don’t know what to make of the Holy Spirit, and they will ask you if you “have the Holy Ghost.” Tell them that if you are a Christian, you do have the Holy Ghost in all His fullness. It is impossible even to have saving faith in Christ apart from the Spirit of God working in you and dwelling in you completely!

          If you sense guilt and shame before God for your sin, if you take comfort in His promises even at a funeral, if you sense the Lord’s leading when you are in a time of trial, if you are a believer, know that you have the Holy Spirit of promise. And because you have the Holy Spirit, you have hope.

          Call me cynical, but I don’t think it will take long for our newly elected leaders – whoever they turn out to be – to lose the trust and the praise of the people. In our world, broken promises seem to eclipse the kept word.

          Cynicism, however, doesn’t have to color your entire life. In fact, it cannot color your life if you are a believer in Jesus as your Redeemer.

          Think of what God has done for you in Christ, fulfilling eternal promises in your very life. Think of what God surely will do for you in Christ, because He has pledged your full redemption by giving you His Holy Spirit here and now.

          Praise the Lord. Hope in the Lord. You, Christian, are proof that our sovereign and gracious God cannot fail!