Ephesians 1:13
Beyond The Covenants Of The Promise
Broadlands Bible Church
June 21, 2023
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Thesis:  The Spirit was given for good reasons.

Introduction:  With these notes we are going to wrap up our series on the provisions God has made to enable us to experience the quality of existence known as eternal life. These provisions boil down to two: a promise undergirded by specific covenants; and a promise undergirded by a specific Spirit. In our last set of notes we looked into the methodology of the Spirit as He moves to make the life of Jesus manifest through our bodies. From what we have seen thus far, it should be apparent that the Spirit is abundantly willing and capable of making Jesus manifest through us. The problematical issue is the part we play in that process. To quote the apostle Paul, "We have this treasure in earthen vessels." The bottom line of the part we play is couched in the terms faith and unbelief. But, up a notch or two off of that bottom line, we have considered the reality that the most problematical issue for us is the resistance that wells up within us to the Covenants and the Spirit. In our study last week we saw that we have an internal enemy called the Law of Sin in our members which/who is willing to wage war by deceitful methods in order to deceive our minds so that we are brought into captivity to Sin. We are not passive in this warfare, but neither are we sufficient for it. Our sufficiency is the Spirit of Christ Who has become, for us, a new internal Husband who is wedded to our souls. If we are passive in the conflict, we will find ourselves committing a form of spiritual adultery that consists of our permission to allow the old man to reassert himself unto the production of evil through the members of our bodies. On the other hand, if we remain steadfastly loyal to our new husband (this is the issue of faith/unbelief), we will find that He will assert Himself to produce righteousness through the members of our bodies. Our study this evening has to do with this issue of steadfast loyalty.

There are three basic commands given to us to address this loyalty issue. The first is "walk by the Spirit of Jesus Who is within you" (Galatians 5:16, 25). The second is "grieve not the Holy Spirit of Jesus Who is within you" (Ephesians 4:30). The third is "quench not the Spirit of Jesus Who is within you" (1 Thessalonians 5:19).

• I. Walking by the Spirit of Jesus Who is Within You.
  • A. Walking by the Spirit is equivalent to being filled by the Spirit (Ephesians 5:17-19).
  • B. This "filled walk" is explained by the contexts in which the issue is addressed.
    • 1. When Paul commanded the Galatians to "walk by the Spirit", he did so in the context of the focus of faith (3:1 and following) against the backdrop of the effective function of Law.
    • 2. The issue of such a walk is dependence in the face of a necessity that is driven by love and not condemnation.
    • 3. The context of Ephesians 5:17-19 clearly has to do with accepting one's circumstances with joy, i.e., turning loose of the agenda issues.
  • C. The issue here is comprehensive: refusal to permit the old man access to the members of our bodies so that he may not express himself.
• II. Grieving the Spirit of Jesus Who is Within You.
  • A. The issues of this context (Ephesians 4:30 and following) have to do with attitudes we take toward one another: the issue of servanthood as opposed to dominion.
    • 1. All of the exhortations from 4:24 through 4:32 are relationally significant in terms of refraining from activities which will build barriers.
    • 2. The characteristic of the work of the Spirit in the command is that He is the One Who makes us safe so that there is no need to build walls.
  • B. The major factor here is turning away from self-interest as it relates to security issues.
• III. Quenching the Spirit of Jesus Who is Within You.
  • A. The issues of this context (1 Thessalonians 5:19) center upon the attitudes we take in life as we accept the responsibility of living by the Spirit.
    • 1. The preceding three exhortations can be summarized as 'dependent gladness in the giving of thanks'.
    • 2. The following three exhortations can be summarized as 'careful appropriation of the Truth as God makes it available'.
  • B. The issue of the "will of God" surfaces again (as in Ephesians 5) and this time it centers upon the giving of thanks.
  • C. The significance of the exhortation to "quench not" has its focus upon the human tendency to resist truth because of a perception that it is false guidance.
    • 1. The wisdom and direction of the Spirit often run counter to human perceptions because human perceptions are often locked on to objectives which are, by God, already "givens" and, thus, are illegitimate objectives.
      • a. We tend to forget that we have a commission from God to be totally involved in His Kingdom agendas.
      • b. The totality of involvement precludes a great host of activities which are, of themselves, amoral.
    • 2. The exhortation, simply speaking, means to embrace instruction as it comes because that is the method of the Spirit: immediate guidance ["Today, if you hear His voice, harden not your heart"].
  • D. The summary of the exhortation has, at its heart, the insistence that we become relationally committed to an involved God Who gives good wisdom...which boils down to a willingness to permit the status issues of life to be handled by God.

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This is article #044.
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