Truth For Life

Guest (Male): Is the Holy Spirit at work in you? Is he present in your church? Today on Truth For Life, Alistair Begg teaches how evidence of the Spirit's transforming work is revealed in individuals all around the world and in the church as a whole. Let's open our Bibles to Ephesians chapter 4, verse 4.

Alistair Begg: This morning was a kind of introduction to an introduction almost. There is one body, and we said there is only one body because there is only one spirit. The picture of being members of a family, or in a household, or citizens of a kingdom, or members of a body—all of those pictures demand in some way membership, identification with, union with all those who are equally in Christ.

I want just to say a word without any embarrassment to anyone, to say a word concerning the incongruity of being made by God's grace a member of his church, included in his body, while at the same time not actually identifying oneself fully, organically, properly, visibly with a local community that is true to the gospel and true to God's word.

If, however, you are a thief on the cross, or if you are a Muslim convert who has never found any community of believers at all, or if you happen to be a lady stranded on a desert island with only your Bible, then each of you in those categories has a plausible reason for not being a member of a church.

But pretty well outside those categories, you have no reason. People who claim to be believers and who refuse to join the church in the face of clear biblical instruction and in light of providential opportunity to do so are a cause for concern and should be a cause for concern to themselves.

The metaphors presuppose that when Paul describes a community in this way, he is not talking about some invisible amorphous conglomerate, but he is talking about those who by grace have been added to Christ's body and who have then identified themselves with others in their community under the leadership of the church in order that they then together might be able to do what God says in his word is to happen. I say it without any sense of anything other than by way of exhortation and encouragement. Whether we like invisible or not, it is to the visible that we are to be committed and to go on from there.

The way in which we've said this is taking place is on account of the work of the Holy Spirit. I pointed out in at least one of the services this morning the Trinitarian nature of these verses: the Spirit in verse 4, the Lord Jesus in verse 5, God the Father in verse 6. There's only one Spirit, and there will be a minor sense of repetition from this morning. The one Spirit indwells every believer and therefore unites us to one another.

We quoted this morning from First Corinthians purposefully, as I do again: for in one spirit we were all baptized into one body. That baptism there is not talking about the physical water baptism that is a symbol of our identification with Christ and with his people, but rather he is actually using baptism itself as a metaphor for what has happened.

The thing that we all share is the fact that we have by the Holy Spirit been baptized into Christ's body. As a result of the Holy Spirit opening our eyes, transforming our lives, uniting us with Christ, in a sense, there has been that baptism which has put us into life with one another. And that body comprises, says Paul, Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and all were made to drink of the one Spirit. Again, I don't think that's a reference there to communion, but simply again a picture of the fact that we drink from the same fountainhead. The Spirit of God that has united us to Christ unites us to one another.

Earlier in First Corinthians, he had asked them rhetorically, "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?" And the "you" in there, which comes twice, is not in the singular but in the plural. He is not asking them as individuals, "Do you yourselves as individuals know that the Holy Spirit lives in you?" which is of course true.

But his point is, in the context of their communion with one another, "Do you realize, of course, don't you, that the Spirit of God lives in you together?" And it is the presence of the Holy Spirit that then constitutes the church. It's not an organization; it is a body, and its life is the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit is absent, then that's when we speak of a dead church, in the same way that when the spirit of a man or a woman is absent from our bodies, what you have is a dead body. There is no life in it at all.

It is clearly possible to have a building that includes a congregation that engages in all kinds of activity, but all of that absent the presence of the Holy Spirit. Absent the presence of the Holy Spirit, then it is dead. This is, of course, a matter of great and compelling significance because the believers in Ephesus came from different backgrounds, both ethnically and socially.

The miracle of it was that God had saved them and made them one. They were indwelt by one Spirit, the Spirit that is at work within their lives as individuals. In First Corinthians 6, there it is in the singular: "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, you were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body."

He's addressing the individuals there in terms of the call to holiness and to purity, and he uses the same picture. The Holy Spirit lives in you, therefore it is incongruous that you would engage in these things because you are a holy temple to the Lord. In the same way, the Holy Spirit is what constitutes you a church together, and it is incongruous then that there would be disunity when he is the one who unites us.

The work of the Holy Spirit actually produces the same fruit in everybody's life. If you think about it, it's quite remarkable. The gifts differ, but the fruit doesn't. If you meet Chinese Christians and they are growing in Christ, you will find that the fruit of the Spirit is in evidence, articulated in Chinese but lived out in the reality of everyday life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and so on.

All of these things are expressed no matter where you go in the world in the body of Christ, whether the person is intelligent or not so smart, whether they are from Asia or from North America. It is the Spirit of God who does this because there is only one body and there is only one Spirit.

The unifying factor in that is absolutely crucial so that as a result of the Spirit's work in the lives of individuals and his work within the context of the church, those who are in this body are those who have been convicted of the fact of their sinfulness, that they were without God and without hope in the world, that they were dead in their trespasses and in their sins.

Nobody is a genuine Christian who believes that it makes perfect sense that God would have included them because they've never really done very much wrong at all and they're eminently nice people. That individual has never understood the gospel because the gospel brings us to our knees; the gospel brings us down before it lifts us up.

So they have been convicted. They have at the same time been convinced of the work of Jesus and of the necessity of the work of Jesus in their lives. As a result of that, they have been in turn converted so that there has been a transformation in their lives. It may have been dramatic; it may have been slow; it may have been gradual; it may have been instantaneous from a human perception. The work of God's grace is mysterious in every dimension.

Nevertheless, converted and then being conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. No matter where you go in the world, when you meet the people of God, what's happening to them is the same thing that's happening to you. Whether you're learning it in Arabic, or in Chinese, or in Hindustani, it doesn't matter. What you're learning as one who has been included in Christ's body is that the work of the Spirit of God is to conform you to the image of his Son.

Convicted, convinced, converted, conformed, and all in communion—the communion that is brought about as a result of the Spirit's work unifying those who are in Jesus. It's quite wonderful, isn't it? The same fruit that is produced in Cairo is produced in Cleveland. The same fruit produced in Detroit is produced in Delhi. Whatever our personalities or whatever our nationalities, we are animated and united by the one Spirit, by the one Holy Spirit.

When we talk here about the work of the Holy Spirit and when we recognize that the Spirit of God is at work, and the Lord Jesus is at work, and God the Father is at work, we recognize that the process here as it is outlined is not in the normal manner of our terminology. In other words, you will see that the work of the Holy Spirit comes first, and then the mention of Jesus comes next, and then the place of God the Father comes afterwards.

When we think in terms of the Trinity, which is what we're introduced to here, we have to recognize that we're dealing with something that actually boggles the mind. At best, what we have in the Bible is not an explanation of the truth of the doctrine of the Trinity, but a formulation of its truth. You have, for example, in the baptism of Jesus in Matthew, you have each member of the Godhead present and active simultaneously.

That's very, very important because one of the heresies that developed in the church was called Sabellianism or Modalism. What it taught was that God appeared in different modes at different times. Sometimes he took on the form of the Father, sometimes he came as the Son, and another time he came as the Spirit. The early fathers of the church said this cannot possibly be, and one of the places that they looked for the simultaneous activity of each member of the Trinity was, of course, in the baptism of Jesus. The voice comes from heaven of the Father: "This is my beloved Son." The Son is in the water, and the Holy Spirit alights upon him as a dove.

Before I leave the Spirit, let me say something else again, and that is that we began this service with essentially a prayer to the Holy Spirit: "Come, Holy Spirit, dwell here among us." Is that legitimate to ask? Surely we gather in the risen presence of Jesus. We know the risen presence of Jesus by the Holy Spirit. Then is it legitimate for us to ask him to come?

The answer to that is not only is it legitimate, but it's absolutely necessary. We will see before we finish Ephesians that Paul is going to urge the Ephesians to make sure that they go on being filled with the Holy Spirit, that their encounter with the Holy Spirit will be an ongoing one, a progressive one, and an obvious one.

When you read the Acts of the Apostles, you see that that is actually the case. All that happened on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, you discover happening all over again in Acts chapter 4. When you get to the eighth chapter of Acts, in Samaria and in Caesarea and in the household of Cornelius, you have this great move of the Holy Spirit. You have it again in Acts chapter 19.

If you trace church history out of the Dark Ages, what was the great need out of the Dark Ages as the light of the gospel was virtually extinguished? What was the great need? It was for the Holy Spirit to come. It was for the Holy Spirit to come in revival. There is no question but that the Reformation was as a result of God coming to revive his work in the midst of the years so that out of all of that deadness and darkness and emptiness, suddenly the light shines. Suddenly the Bible comes to life. Suddenly you have this amazing proclamation of the gospel. What has God done? He has come by the Holy Spirit.

In eternity, what we've got an inkling of in reading church history will become apparent. The stories seem almost too quaint to be realistic, but history records that, for example, in the revivals in the Outer Hebrides of Britain, when the historians tried to trace it back—who started this, where did this come from?—it came finally to the home of two elderly sisters who, unbeknown to anyone, had covenanted before God to pray that the Spirit of God would come and revive the work of God in their generation. And he did.

What does our nation need more than any other thing? It needs revival. It needs a revival that comes in the people of God, taking that which is becoming routine, familiar, dull, absorbable, moribund, and transforming it. When Gipsy Smith was asked about revival, they said, "Well, how do you pray for revival?" He said, "I take a piece of chalk, I draw a circle on the ground, I stand inside the circle, and I ask God to revive everything inside the circle. Revive me. Revive my heart. Increase my interest in the things of God. Make me diligent for your truth. Help me not to be this and that and the next thing." Can you imagine what may happen? What God may choose to do? For there is only one body because there is only one Spirit.

It is in that sense that there is this one hope, and it is the hope to which you have been called with your calling. He's mentioned this all the way from the beginning, hasn't he? That he has called us, and in that calling, called as a result of the work of the Spirit of God into a hope.

We'll move on to a faith, to a baptism that is again on account of the fact that there is one Lord. We'll come to that later, but let me remind you again that the order is worthy of note. The work of the Holy Spirit, which is where it begins, is on account of the sending of the Lord Jesus. Remember Jesus says to his disciples in the Upper Room Discourse, "When the counselor comes." The Father sends the Spirit, the Son sends the Spirit, and the Spirit comes. The promise of Jesus: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you."

The person and work of Jesus is ours on account of the sending of the Father. You will notice actually that nobody sends the Father. The Father sends the Son; the Father sends the Spirit. Jesus says later on he ascended on high and he gave gifts to those who were his own in the sending of the Holy Spirit. So that what God has accomplished in the work of the Son, he has applied in the life of the believer by the Holy Spirit, and he hasn't finished yet.

You were, Paul says to the Ephesians previously, without God and without hope in the world, but now you have been born anew to a hope that is a living hope. The word "hope" here is used in Romans 5 as well as in this context. It is the anticipation of an unrealized yet nevertheless certain promise. It is not a hope that it may or may not; it is the certainty that it will. It's an amazing thing. You can't live without hope. People cannot live without hope. When you think about it, without to live without God as revealed in Jesus, who dealt with our sin, who triumphed over the grave, is to live in absolute hopelessness.

Hence the kind of cynical bumper sticker: life is tough and then you die. That's it. And the people look on and they say, "You Christians with your pie-in-the-sky-when-you-die stuff." We're not talking about pie-in-the-sky when we die; we're talking about having been brought into the reality of this in the present tense. That because of the work of God, we have understood what it means to be united to Jesus, to be included in his body, to be instructed, filled, guided, enabled, kept by the work of the Holy Spirit, and to be able to say this hope stands the test of time.

When we do funeral services and we say the words of committal, I know that it sounds incongruous: "Forasmuch as it has pleased Almighty God of his great mercy to receive unto himself the soul of this dear one here departed, we therefore commit their body to the ground: ashes to ashes and dust to dust; in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our earthly body that it may be like unto his glorious body, according to the mighty working whereby he has been able to subdue all things, even death, unto himself."

This is the Christian's hope. And he or she who has this hope reveals it not by being able to articulate the details of eschatology, but by two things: by a zealous, energetic desire to see other people coming to know the Lord Jesus and by a commitment to moral purity. First John 3: "He who has this hope within him purifies himself, even as he is pure." It's wonderful. It is truly wonderful.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Truth For Life with Alistair Begg. In our current study in Ephesians, we are learning how to walk in a manner worthy of our calling, and today we want to recommend to you a book that will help you do just that. It's called A Heart Aflame for God: A Reformed Approach to Spiritual Formation.

This book lays out the foundational disciplines that both the Puritans and the Protestant Reformers commonly practiced to ensure that they were growing spiritually and walking worthy. Unfortunately, all these centuries later, some of these essential disciplines are considered optional or completely overlooked altogether. Here's a book that will take you back to the basics, help you focus on the priorities that were so vital for the Puritans and the Reformers—the daily practices they participated in, like studying the Scriptures, meditating, praying.

You'll learn how to maximize these disciplines so that by practicing them regularly, you're being transformed day by day into the likeness of Jesus. Request your copy of the book A Heart Aflame for God when you donate to Truth For Life today. You can give online at truthforlife.org/donate, or you can call us at 888-588-7884. If you'd rather mail your donation along with your request for the book, write to Truth For Life at P.O. Box 398000, Cleveland, Ohio 44139.

Thanks for listening today. Can others tell that Jesus is your Lord? How does your life reflect that truth? Tomorrow, we'll consider these questions together. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth For Life, where the learning is for living.