Word of Salvation – Vol.46 No.30 - August 2001

The Holy Spirit Enables Faith and Spiritual Maturity

Sermon by Rev H Vaatstra on Ephesians 1:17-19a

(Belgic Confession Art 5)

Scripture Reading: 1Corinthians 2:6-16

Beloved in the Lord...

In the third Article of the Belgic Confession we are reminded that the Bible is a unique book because its origin is not of man but of God.  2Timothy 3:16 says that the Bible is “God Breathed”.  2Peter 1:20 says that “the prophecy of Scripture never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”  Therefore, the Bible is God’s book and as such it has authority and clearly presents the only way of salvation.  All that is necessary for faith, salvation, spiritual growth, is contained in the Scriptures.

So why is it then that someone can go into a hotel room pick up a copy of the Gideon Bible, read it and remain dead in their trespasses and sins?  Why is it that people can read the Living Word and yet not be moved by it, or challenged by it, or changed by it?

Article 5 of the Belgic confession, summarising the relevant scriptures, tells us why.  We can only receive the Bible as God’s Word through the witness of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.  In other words, unless the Holy Spirit enlightens or illumines one’s heart and mind as God’s Word is opened and studied, people will fail to experience the life changing power of God’s Word in their lives.

You see, it is the Holy Spirit, together with the living Word of God, who gives us faith and spiritual maturity.  Without the Holy Spirit there can be neither.  Let’s see how this thought comes across in our text.

In the first chapter of Ephesians, Paul, having listed the rich blessings which belong to all Christians, tells the Ephesians that he is praying for them.  He is praying that God may give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that they may know the God of our Lord Jesus Christ better, and that they may be enlightened so as to be filled with hope and power.

Now some say that the word ‘Spirit’ here in verse 17 is not the Holy Spirit but spirit as in a state of mind.  And yet, is not enlightenment to the truth of God’s revelation only possible through the work of the Holy Spirit?  Revelation which comes from God isn’t usually connected with the human spirit but with the Holy Spirit.  Similarly, in John 15:26, the Spirit of truth refers to the Holy Spirit as does the Spirit of adoption in Romans 8:15.  Therefore here in Ephesians 1:17, I follow Calvin and Hendriksen in taking the Spirit of wisdom and revelation to refer to the Holy Spirit.

Now that reminds us first of all of the absolute necessity of the operation of the Holy Spirit for faith.  Without the Holy Spirit, there can be no faith.

Let me illustrate.  In Jesus’ day many of his Jewish opponents were avid readers of the Old Testament Scriptures.  They knew the law, they sought to apply it to their lives in detail; they could no doubt tell us the various shades of meaning of all the Hebrew words and tell us a few things about the complexities of Hebrew poetry as well.  And yet they failed to recognise the one person to whom the entire Old Testament points!

About these Jews John 1:11 says, Jesus Christ “came to that which was his own but his own did not receive him.”  Jesus’ own explanation about that was, “No man can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”

Anyone can read or listen to the Word of God and absorb it through their ears or eyes.  On an intellectual level one may be able to assimilate, appreciate and even promote some of the contents of Scripture to others.  But to be able to understand the main point of the Bible, that God in His grace has sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to be Saviour of sinners, and to place one’s trust in Him, is beyond everyone’s ability.  One can be informed but not illuminated.  One can read the words of the Bible but not hear the voice of God.

This is the point Paul makes in 1 Corinthians 2:14, “The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.”  He who is spiritually dead, must be born again by the almighty power of God before the truth of God’s living Word can mean anything at all.

This is made clear in Acts 16 about the conversion of Lydia.  Verse 14 tells us that as Lydia sat listening to Paul preaching, “The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.”  It’s no different for you and me.  We are here responding to God’s call to worship because the Lord has opened our hearts to the truth of the gospel.  We regard Jesus Christ as our Saviour because we have been born again, or regenerated by the Holy Spirit.  If that wasn’t so, we wouldn’t care, we wouldn’t bother to darken the door of any Christian church, we wouldn’t want to worship.  We wouldn’t want to confess the name of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour.  Without the Spirit, the Bible would just be another ancient book.

So, that’s the first thing, as the Confession says, we are able to receive and understand the Word of God as God’s truth because of the Holy Spirit.  Sure, belonging to the church and receiving instruction, and reading the Bible for ourselves are contributing factors, after all the Spirit always works together with the Word.  But it’s specifically the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts which enables us to receive Scripture as God’s Word.

Now Ephesians 1:17-19a takes this a little beyond the immediate scope of the Belgic Confession.  We don’t just need the Holy Spirit to believe.  We need the Holy Spirit to be empowered by the Word of God and to be spiritually strengthened by it.  This is the intent of Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian church.  They were believers and therefore they already had the Holy Spirit.  Yet Paul prays for them that they might be given the Spirit of wisdom and revelation for spiritual maturity.

In other words, that which is already present – the hope, assurance of salvation, the power to act according to God’s Word -- must be strengthened by the Holy Spirit.  The work begun by the Holy Spirit must be carried on until completion.  Love and all the other graces must abound more and more.

Thus Paul prays for the Spirit to be given to the Ephesian church in greater measure so that they might grow in the knowledge of God and so that they might apply God’s Word to their lives in such a way that it actually empowers them and makes a real difference in their lives.  Paul is emphasising the necessity of the Holy Spirit, not just for faith, but for every step of our lives.

Now as I mentioned earlier, there are a lot of Bibles in motels and hotels which visitors may pick up and read.  How many of them are converted remains the prerogative of the Holy Spirit.  He is the one who draws people to Christ and who illumines their minds as they read the Word.

There are also a lot of Christians who read the Scriptures.  Some, regularly, some, not so regularly.  Some are empowered by the Holy Spirit as they read the Word.  Their lives are changed.  They want to conform their lives more and more to the biblical model.  They are zealous for the things of the Lord and are involved in the life of God’s church.  Others seem to have little power.  They battle on year after year with the same attitudes, the same problems, the same lack of involvement in the church, the same lack of joy.  Why?

Well, I believe the answer is to be found in the person and object of the Holy Spirit.  You see, the Holy Spirit is not an arbitrary impersonal force.  The Holy Spirit is a person.  Jesus referred to Him in the masculine when making reference about Him to His disciples.  Moreover, He is an accessible person of unlimited power, our Helper, our Advocate, our Comforter.

He teaches (John 14:26), witnesses (John 15:26), convicts (John 16:8), and guides (John 16:13).  He prays (Romans 8:26-27), commands (Acts 8:29), calls ministers (Acts 13:2), and appoints elders (Acts 20:28).

The Bible also tells us about actions that are done by men in relation to the Holy Spirit.  He can be blasphemed, lied to, obeyed or insulted.  And He can be grieved.  In Ephesians 4:29-30, it is written, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.  And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.  Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, brawling and slander and every form of malice.”

You see, these sins listed here in Ephesians 4:29ff are the very sins that threaten the well-being and the integrity of the church.  Gossip, evil, slander, lying and the like endanger the unity of the body of Christ, the church which has been established through the work of the Holy Spirit!  When such sin is not checked in a congregation or in an individual’s life, then the Spirit is grieved and His power withdrawn.

Now the implication of this is that when we read the Word of God, or when we hear the Word, we must be mindful of the person of the Holy Spirit in our lives and be careful not to grieve Him through sin, especially the sin of the tongue, or the sin of a bitter spirit.  These are often the sins that break the unity of the church and which grieve the Holy Spirit.

Similarly, in light of Paul’s instruction not to quench the Holy Spirit in 1Thess 5:19, if we regard the Word of God without due reverence, or if we are complacent about the Word, or even despise the Word, relegating it to second or third place in our lives, then can we possibly expect the Holy Spirit to fill us with zeal for his church and kingdom, or even make us conform more closely to the Lord Jesus Christ?  The Word will have no power in our lives at all!

On the other hand, if we keep ourselves from such sins, if we are zealous for the unity of Christ’s church, if we say things that build one another up, if we faithfully and prayerfully study God’s word (given that God may open a door for his Word in our lives through prayer (Col 4:20), then we may confidently expect to see the Holy Spirit’s power evident in our lives.

Then we may expect the Holy Spirit to enlighten our minds so that through the Word we gain greater knowledge of Jesus Christ, greater assurance of salvation and a closer walk with Christ.  So, when we are sensitive to the Person of the Holy Spirit that we can only grow in spiritual maturity through His help, then the Word of God will be of great profit in our lives.

However, we also need to know what the object of the Holy Spirit is.  How do we know that we have received the spirit of wisdom and revelation and have been enlightened by the Holy Spirit?  Paul’s prayer contains the answer.  We know that we have been enlightened by the Holy Spirit when we know Christ better and when we know the riches of His hope to which He has called us and when we partake in the riches of His glorious inheritance and His incomparably great power.  In short, when we trust more in Jesus and want to follow Him more.  Because, you see, the Holy Spirit’s primary role is to reveal and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ.

It seems that in recent times many fall for the upbeat worship and teaching where the Holy Spirit is made Christian centred rather than Christ centred.  In countless so-called charismatic churches around the country, the Holy Spirit is called upon to glorify Christians rather than Christ it seems.  And so you’ll find preachers whose names are emblazoned across the front of their promotional material or on television.  I once saw one of these famous preachers wave his jacket at his audience at which point 50 or 100 people in the front few rows fell to the floor.

This was meant to be a work of the Holy Spirit.  I’ve heard of Christians laughing in the spirit, or barking in the spirit, or going into a trance as they seek some kind of evidence that they are indeed spirit filled.  But is that really the Holy Spirit’s primary role, to give the glory to men or to give believers such unusual experiences?

Didn’t Jesus say about the Spirit, “He shall glorify me” and “He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said”?  And in John 16:26, “He will bear witness to me”.  In other words, if the Holy Spirit is doing in your life what Paul prayed he would do for the Christians in Ephesus, Christ will be magnified!  He will increase, you will decrease!!!

Being enlightened by the Spirit won’t mean that suddenly you’ll have arrived, that all will be well in the sense that you will have overcome all your weaknesses, or that you’ll constantly have a look of rapturous joy on your face and that sin in your life will be a thing of yesterday.  There are no Christian heroes in the Bible either.  All the so-called heroes of the Bible represent sinfulness, disobedience, half-heartedness and pride, as well as faith and obedience.

The real hero, the one who is truly faithful, is Jesus Christ!  He is the one who succeeds where we fail.  He is the healer of the blind, the provider for the hungry, the friend of the outcast, the source of living water, the bread of life.  He is the spotless Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Brothers and sisters, when we read God’s Word, we will know that the Holy Spirit has enlightened us when we are able more and more to see and magnify Christ and desire more and more to trust Him, adore Him and follow Him.  As we read the Word, may the Holy Spirit help us!  And may we read it with integrity, not grieving the Holy Spirit or quenching His fire.  And may we do it prayerfully, in reliance on God; not so that we become great, not so that we obtain power, but so that we may increasingly love, trust and follow the Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.