Grace Baptist Church, Nokomis, IL.

Text:

It’s very difficult for me to imagine what eternity is like. Our lives have a definite beginning, and, in terms of our earthly life, a definite end. I think kids understand eternity better than I do when they have to wait a whole minute to do something that they want to do. The Holy Spirit, being God, is eternal. And He’s inside of you if you trust in Christ. Though we think it finite ways, the infinite is living in and through us. How does this impact how we live our lives?

“In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 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, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” (Eph 1:11-14 ESV)

Before getting to my main topic, I need to address the elephant in the room regarding this passage. I’ve heard a few preachers preach on texts such as this and ignore controversial issues. There’s a huge division in the church because of that little word “predestine” (v. 11). I’ve heard many people say that they don’t believe in predestination. My response is that if you believe the Bible is the Word of God, then you better believe in predestination, because the word is in the Bible. We may not all agree as to what the word means or refers to, but we should all agree that we have been predestined. I think I can ease the argument just a little bit by giving you a simple understanding of predestination: God saves us, we don’t save ourselves. He does this by grace through faith in Christ. God does not save us apart from faith in Christ.

God existed before the creation of the world (v. 11, 4). In order for God to predestine and choose us, God had to exist before we did. Many of you are thinking, “Duh.” But the world would have us believe that God did not create us, we created God. We did not create God, God created us, and He is our Master and our Lord and we are to worship Him with all that we are.

The Holy Spirit was there in the beginning, too. We talk about the eternal nature of the Father and Son a lot. We picture God the Father as existing from eternity past. We know from John 1 that God the Son has also been with God the Father for all eternity. But we don’t talk much about the eternal nature of Holy Spirit. But God has always existed as Three Persons. So the Holy Spirit was there in the beginning as well (Genesis 1:2). Some say that this is referring not to the Holy Spirit but to the essence of God. Usually people say this because they deny that God is Three Persons. But we do accept that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, so there is no reason to reject that this is referring to the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is with us today. He is convicting the world of sin. He is living in those who trust in Christ. He guides us, teaches us, comforts us, and draws us into a closer relationship with God. He sanctifies us so that we might be more pleasing to God the Father (v. 12). He seals every genuine believer in Christ for salvation (v. 13).

The Holy Spirit will reign in all His glory for all eternity. On the earth, light had to be created (Genesis 1:4). Have you ever wondered why the light was good? Light is good because it is an illustration of the purity and perfection and truth of God. But Heaven is always bright because of the presence of God. It is our responsibility, both on the earth and in heaven, to praise God in all things (v. 14). God the Father is our Creator and Master. God the Son is our Savior and Lord. God the Holy Spirit is our Comforter and Friend.