Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation

Introduction to Paul's Prayer in Ephesians 1

0:02 I would ask you to turn in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 1, Ephesians chapter 1,

0:13 and I shall read verses 15 through 23, Ephesians 1 verses 15 through 23. For this cause I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you, and the love which ye show toward all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him,

0:57 having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what the exceeding greatness of his power, to us who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and made him to sit in his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. And he put all things in subjection under his feet and gave him to be head over all,

1:41 all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.

1:51 We resumed last week our studies in Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus, and in particular our study of this second major paragraph in that chapter, a paragraph which is a record of Paul's prayer on behalf of the Ephesian Christians. It is one of two. The prayers recorded for us in this epistle, the second is found in chapter 3, beginning with verse 14 and continuing through verse 19. We have noted again and again in the course of our studies that though this first chapter contains some of the most profound theological concepts to be found anywhere in scripture,

2:36 all of those concepts come to us in the framework of praise and of praise. So that we must never lose sight of what these concepts rightly understood and embraced from the heart should produce in us as the people of God. If your apparent understanding of the profound truths of chapter 1 verses 3 to 14 does not move you to cry out from the heart with Paul, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You have not understood the truth in a true biblical sense.

Characteristics and Concerns of Paul's Prayer

3:18 And if your understanding of the concepts of this great prayer, beginning with verse 15, does not move you to covet those things in your own life and therefore to pray that they might be realized in you and in others, you have not rightly understood them or received them. Thus far in our study of this prayer, we have noted in verse 15, the factors which provoked Paul to new prayer concern for the Ephesians. He heard of their continuing faith and love and he says for this cause, having heard of these matters, I pray for you. Then we consider the essential characteristics of his prayer

4:02 as found in verses 16 and the beginning of verse 17. It had a proper object. His prayer was addressed not to some God, not somewhere, somehow, but his prayer was addressed to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father who is characterized by glory. He was not praying to a God who was the figment of his own imagination or the collection of all the various thoughts of what God may be like.

4:32 He was praying to the God of Holy Scripture, the God of the Lord Jesus, the Father of glory. And then it not only had a right object, but a right accompaniment. It was mingled with praise and thanksgiving. Verse 16, we cease not to give thanks for you and it had a right occasion.

4:52 He prayed continually for them. Now we began last week a study of what I'm calling the principal concerns of his prayer. Having seen what provoked him to pray, the essential ingredients or characteristics of his prayer, what were the principal concerns of his prayer? And you will note that the principal concern was that God would grant spiritual illumination in three distinct areas.

5:20 That they would know what was the hope of his calling, the riches of the glory of his inheritance, and the exceeding greatness of his power. Now we return this morning to break apart in detail these principal concerns of Paul's prayer. And our focus is upon verse 17. And the first part of verse 18.

The Gift of the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation

5:45 He prays with thanksgiving, with continuance, that the God of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your heart enlightened. And you will notice in these words three distinct thoughts. First of all, the gift for which he prays. He prays, is that God would give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation.

6:17 Secondly, he lays out the sphere in which this gift is operative. Notice the words, in the knowledge of him. This gift of spiritual insight for which he prays is operative only within the sphere of the knowledge of God. And then thirdly, he gives to us the manner in which this gift is operative, the eyes of your heart being enlightened.

6:45 So then, the focus of his prayer at this point is the gift for which he prays, the sphere in which that gift is operative, and the manner in which that gift functions. We'll only have time this morning to focus on the first of these three ideas, and God willing, we'll complete our study of the other two next Lord's Day morning. What is the gift for which Paul prays on behalf, of these Ephesians? And in our study of this phrase, that the Father would give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, we will first of all try to identify the gift.

7:24 He prays that God would give a spirit of wisdom and revelation. How are we to understand that gift? We must identify the gift. Secondly, we'll consider the function of that gift.

7:37 It is the spirit of wisdom and of revelation. And then we'll, we'll explain why Paul prayed for such a gift, and then if time permits, I'll try to resolve a fundamental problem connected with Paul's asking for such a gift. First of all then, what is this gift for which he prays? He prays that God would give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation.

8:03 And immediately there is a problem. For in the language in which Paul wrote, he did not use the word the. We call it the article. He did not say, I pray that God would give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation.

8:19 Then it would be very obvious that the reference was to the person of the Holy Spirit. And because Paul did not use the word the, some have translated it, that God would give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you have it in the American Standard Version. If that's what Paul was writing, then the meaning should be clear. The identity of the gift is this.

8:44 He's praying that God would give a spirit, that is, a disposition characterized by wisdom and revelation. In 1 Corinthians 4.21, Paul uses a similar phrase, the spirit of meekness. He says, shall I come to you in a spirit of meekness?

9:02 That is, a disposition of meekness. And this use is found elsewhere. However, the answer is not that simple. For there are other passages in which the Holy Spirit is clearly set before us without the little word the.

9:17 Right here in this epistle, chapter 3 and verse 5, Paul speaks of truths which in other generations were hidden, but have now been revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets in spirit. The the is not used. And there are many places in the writings of Paul and other writers of the New Testament where the Holy Spirit is directly used and clearly referred to without the article. And I'm convinced, after batting this back and forth for many hours and checking many commentators and going over the text again and again, that it is proper to identify this gift as the person of the Holy Spirit.

10:03 And the reasons for that, I trust, will become evident in the continuance of our study this morning. So then, the identity of the gift, who is this gift? What is the gift? He is praying that God would give them the Holy Spirit in some particular and peculiar way.

10:23 So then, the identity is the Spirit. And I just pause for a moment to underscore the vigorous Trinitarian mentality of the apostle in his praying as well as in his praising. One of the things we saw again and again in our study of the first paragraph was that Paul's prayer praise to God was praise to the Father, to the Son, and to the Spirit. Now in his praying, he addresses God, the Father of glory.

10:52 But he addresses Him as the God of the Lord Jesus Christ and he addresses Him to the end that the Spirit may be given. So again, I remind you as I have again and again because it needs repetition in our day that biblical Christianity is self-consciously Trinitarian. And with all the emphasis upon the Jesus people and the Jesus movement and everybody throwing accolades at Jesus, we need to remember that the religion of the Bible is Trinitarian. It sees the Father as the fountain of all blessing.

11:30 The Son as the medium, the vehicle through which blessing comes. And the Spirit is the one who applies that blessing with power. So it's from the Father through the Son, by the Spirit, and then in response by the Spirit through the Son to the Father we worship and we pray. And that cycle must not be broken.

11:53 A religion that merely comes quote, from Jesus and terminates upon Jesus is not the religion of the Scriptures. The true religion of the Scripture is from the Father through the Son by the Spirit, by the Spirit through the Son to the Father. And we see that cycle here in the prayer of the Apostle. So then, we identify the gift for which he prays as a particular ministry and manifestation of the third person of the Godhead.

The Function of the Spirit: Wisdom and Revelation

12:25 Well, in the second place, what is the function of that gift? Well, the function of that gift for which he prays is underscored in the use of these two words. He says, I pray that the Father would give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation. Now, there are some places where the Holy Spirit is described in terms of what he is.

12:52 Other places in terms of what he does. Now, suppose you children know that on your block the mailman is a big man who always greets you with a warm smile when you see him on Saturdays. You're in school when he comes during the weekday. And when he says hello, he says hello with a booming voice that almost knocks you over.

13:10 And if it weren't for his warm smile that precedes the booming voice, you'd be afraid of him. He's a big man with a warm smile and a booming voice. But he is your mailman who delivers the mail. Now, if you're describing him this way, oh, here comes that man with the big smile and the booming voice, you're describing what he is.

13:32 If you say to your mom, oh, here comes the mailman, you're describing him in terms of what he does. Now, you see the difference? In one case, you're describing what he is. In another, what he does.

13:45 In the same way, the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures describes himself to us sometimes in terms of who he is. He is the Holy Spirit. This is a reference to what he is. Perfectly, ineffably, spotlessly holy.

14:05 But in this passage, he is described in terms not of what he is, but in terms of what he does, his functions in relationship to men. And Paul probably had in mind Isaiah chapter 11 and the first two verses when he used these words. Remembering that Paul was steeped in the Old Testament Scriptures long before he was converted. And then when God was pleased to call him by his grace, all of that Old Testament knowledge now became illuminating by the Spirit and then his hunger increased so that his mentality

14:48 was constantly permeated, steeped in, marinated in the patterns of thought of the Old Testament. And here in this great passage prophesying the coming of our Lord, we read verse 2 of Isaiah 11, and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel, and of might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. Here you see is a description of the Holy Spirit in his functions. He is the Spirit who gives counsel, the Spirit who imparts might, the Spirit who produces the fear of the Lord.

15:31 Therefore, when we find in Ephesians 1 that Paul is praying that this gift, the Holy Spirit, would be given to the Ephesians, he is thinking of the work of the Spirit, particularly as the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation. Well, you say, Pastor, that's fine, but what do those two words mean? Well, let me try to answer that question briefly. We encountered this word wisdom before in the first chapter, you'll remember.

15:59 Paul says in this first paragraph, which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence. And at that time, I gave you a borrowed definition of wisdom in this context, and it was this. Wisdom is penetrating insight into divine realities. And I like that.

16:21 It helps me. It's a definition that takes on flesh and blood for me. I hope it does for you. He says, I'm praying that God would give you the Holy Spirit in His particular function as the one who enables you to have penetrating insight into divine realities.

16:41 These realities are there. He's going to describe the three that he has in mind particularly later on in his prayer. The hope of His calling. The riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.

16:52 The exceeding greatness of His power. Those are not just God words, religious mumbo-jumbo. Those are tremendous spiritual realities, the inheritance of every Christian. Now he's praying that the Holy Spirit would function in such a way as to give the Ephesians penetrating insight into those realities.

17:16 The realities are there. God the Holy Spirit knows them perfectly. 1 Corinthians 2.11 Who knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of a man which is in him?

17:26 Even so no man knoweth the things of God save the spirit of God. He knows those realities perfectly. He knows perfectly what is the hope of the Christians calling. He knows perfectly what the riches of the glory of His inheritance is in the saints.

17:41 He knows perfectly what was the exceeding greatness of His power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead. But the problem is I don't know them perfectly. By nature I don't know them at all. For the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto Him.

17:56 Neither can He know them. But because I am indwelt by the Spirit, Ephesians 1.13 and 14, I've been sealed with the Spirit. My spiritual eyes have been opened, but I don't understand those mysteries perfectly.

18:11 Nor do I understand them to the extent that I don't understand them. It is possible to understand them in this life even while I see through a glass darkly. And so it is necessary in the thinking of the Apostle that the Holy Spirit who has already sealed the Ephesians be given in ever increasing measures as the Spirit of Wisdom. That is the Spirit who will lead them into penetrating insight into divine realities.

18:36 Spirit of Revelation, what is that? Well, the word means to unfold that which is otherwise hidden. You remember the words of Jesus to Peter. Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

18:52 He says, No man knoweth the Son save the Father. No man knoweth the Father save the Son. And he to whomsoever the Son willeth what? To reveal him.

19:02 The word used here for revelation is that word which means the disclosure of something that cannot be known in any other way but by the disclosure of God. Some things you can know by the exercise of your natural faculties. If you stay awake through the next half hour you can know certain things about this building, certain things about the preacher, certain things about Ephesians 1, 17 and 18. With your natural faculties, your ears, your eyes, your intellect, there are many things that can be known.

19:35 But there are other things that could never be known unless God had revealed them objectively in His Word and in His Son and revealed them to the heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. And so, back to 1 Corinthians 2, you find this emphasis. The Spirit of God knows the things of God. By nature, we do not know them, but Paul says we have received the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

20:05 And so, the Holy Spirit is the one whose function it is to unfold the mysteries of God and of the Gospel. The Holy Spirit is the one whose function it is to unfold the mysteries of God and of the Gospel. The Holy Spirit is those things that human mind could never penetrate. 1 Corinthians 2, I have not seen nor heard nor entered into the heart of man the things that God hath prepared for them that love Him, but God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit.

20:27 Revelation comes by the Spirit in the Word. And then, in that work of illumination in the human heart, we are unable to understand the revelation of God. That's why one of the blessings of the New Covenant is described in this way. They shall no more teach everyone his neighbor saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all be taught of God.

20:53 And the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of the New Covenant, operates as the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation. Now, put the two things together. Do you see the close connection? True wisdom comes by revelation, and revelation produces true.

21:12 So the two things are tied together. The God of God The gift for which He prays, we've identified it, the Holy Spirit. The function of that gift as the Spirit who will give them penetrating insight into divine realities by unfolding those realities as the Spirit of revelation.

Application to the Unconverted

21:33 Hence, Paul is praying that the Holy Spirit be given in increased measure to the Ephesians, but not in a general way as the author of all gifts and graces, but in a special sense in His function as revealer of truth. Now, may I say a word to the unconverted and unsaved amongst us this morning? If Paul, in writing to people who are already blessed with all blessings in Christ, chapter 1, verse 3, already redeemed by His blood, verse 6, already endowed with the overflowing wisdom of God, verse 8, already sealed with the Spirit, verse 13, if he prays for such

22:18 that the Spirit will yet be given that they might understand what a sad state you're in. If you're not blessed with all blessings in Christ, not redeemed, not sealed with the Spirit, you look at these realities and you're as helpless to see them as a man whose eyes have been torn from his sockets would be helpless to see me and the pulpit and the Bible. These are realities. And because a man sits there and says, ah, I don't see them, it doesn't mean that the pulpit vanishes because he can't see it.

22:51 If he says, I don't see you, it doesn't mean I vanish. I'm here. A substantial reality. Two hundred pounds of it.

22:58 This is here. A substantial reality. This is here. A substantial reality.

23:03 A blind man can't see those things. And I have no doubt that in a group this size there's some of you who sit there saying, I can't see what in the world the preacher's talking about. No, you can't see. But that doesn't mean the things aren't there.

23:16 That the realities of which we speak are mere mirages. They are there. But you'll never see them until you're born of the Spirit of God. That's what Jesus said to Nicodemus.

23:27 Long before Nicodemus could open his mouth and say, I don't see what you're talking about. He said it later. Jesus gave him the reason why he wouldn't see it.

23:35 He said, except a man be born again, he cannot see. He cannot understand the kingdom of God. You can't have that penetrating insight into these realities until you have spiritual eyes. You don't have spiritual eyes until you're born of the Spirit.

23:51 Hence the necessity of the new birth. Hence the necessity of crying to God for mercy. Very well, having considered the identity of the gift, the Holy Spirit, the function of the gift, Spirit of wisdom and revelation, now we come to the heart of what I trust will be God's word to us this morning. What was the significance of Paul praying for such a gift?

Significance 1: Strategic Place of the Holy Spirit in Christian Growth

24:16 What should this have told thee Ephesians? What should it tell us? Well, in the first place, it underscores the strategic place of the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit in true Christian growth.

24:34 Get the picture now. He rejoices in the first chapter that they've been elect in Christ before the foundation of the world. They have been effectually called into the adoption of sons. They have received that overflowing wisdom.

24:50 They've been sealed with the Spirit. They're continuing to love one another. They continue to grow in faith and yet as Paul prays of all the things he could pray, he focuses upon this one gift. I pray that he give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.

25:07 Paul understood the strategic place of the person and ministry of the Spirit not only in introducing man into Christian experience, but in the continuance of that experience. Perhaps this will make us understand a little more why he was so careful, so earnestly concerned as he indicates in chapter 4 that these believers did not grieve the Spirit. Grieve not the Spirit of God whereby you're sealed unto the day of redemption. Why he commands them in chapter 5 in verse 18 be continually filled with the Spirit speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

25:46 Why? Because the Apostle understood and experienced the Spirit in such a spiritual way that the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit was something more than an abstract theological concept. His ministry was absolutely essential at every point in the development and in the maturation of Christian experience. And at this point Paul's perspective is an example to us and also an exhortation to us.

26:15 Do you, Christian brother or sister, view the present powerful assistance of the Holy Spirit as an indispensable necessity or as an optional luxury?

26:27 You go to buy a car I hope you don't have that sad misfortune in the near future but if you do and you're shopping around for a car you'll be told about certain options on that car. But you see the engine's not an option. You don't go in and say I like this one but take the engine out. I like that one but take the wheels off.

26:47 No, no. The engine the wheels a steering wheel are some of the basic ingredients without which a car does not function as a car. Now if you said would you like the sports stripe down the side that's an option. Automatic transmission that's an option.

27:03 Vinyl top that's an option. You can still get from your house to church without sports stripes vinyl top and all the rest but you can't get from there to here without the engine. You say well that's obvious what are you trying to tell us? I'm trying to get home to your own conscience this principle.

27:19 How do you regard the presence and ministry of the Holy Spirit in your Christian life? Do you regard it as an option that you can function without? You say how can I tell? Well you can tell the same way Paul could tell.

27:37 To what extent does prayer for his present aid mark your prayer life? How many days go by without you consciously praying for some specific ministry of the Holy Spirit in your life?

27:52 Now you just sit and think and I think many of us feel that we ought to blush. In the honest answer to that question.

28:04 For this cause he says I pray to the Father of the Lord Jesus that God of glory that He would grant you the spirit of wisdom and revelation. The Apostle miles away from the Ephesians knew that the measure of their growth and development would be the measure of the Spirit's present and powerful operations within them.

28:31 As we gather today do we gather with that sense of dependence upon God for fresh supplies of the Spirit of God? Do we believe that there will be no penetrating insight into the realities of the Word unless the Holy Spirit is present to illuminate our minds? Or do we just assume we've got what it takes we've been blessed in Christ with all blessings we've been redeemed we've been sealed with the Spirit we've got all the furniture all the equipment now we just need to come and expect that something will happen. Not so with the Apostle.

Significance 2: Primary Focus of the Spirit's Work in Christian Growth

29:03 There is this conscious dependence upon his person and work expressed in prayer. Second thing under the significance of this prayer for this particular gift is this not only underscores the strategic place of the person and ministry of the Spirit in Christian growth but it underscores the primary focus of the Spirit's work in Christian growth. Think of all the functions of the Holy Spirit that Paul could have prayed for. Is not the Holy Spirit the Spirit of power the Spirit of love the Spirit of joy the Spirit of peace the Spirit of utterance the Spirit of counsel sure he's all of those things

29:46 upon two functions of the Spirit that he would give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him. Now why did he do that? Because he understood that the primary means by which the Holy Spirit carries on his sanctifying work in believing is as the Spirit of truth. Jesus had promised that the Spirit of truth would come.

30:19 The Comforter would come as the Spirit of light and of understanding. Hence later on in this very epistle Paul says I want you to know this mystery that has been hidden. The Holy Spirit has revealed it to me and to my fellow apostles and prophets. We want you to understand it.

30:37 This whole letter to the Ephesians particularly the first few chapters the first four have in them what we would call in our day mind-blowing concepts. Now why did Paul give them to us? Was it because he was some kind of a frustrated philosopher who wanted a hearing for his profound thoughts that would confuse people and send them away reeling saying boy isn't he deep? No, no.

31:00 No, no. He was vitally concerned for the health and the well-being of that church. But he knew that the health and well-being was to be maintained not by the church. Not primarily by the Spirit pumping joy into their hearts.

31:15 Not primarily by the Spirit pumping zeal into their hearts but by the Spirit illuminating their minds. Spirit of wisdom. Spirit of revelation. That's what he says I want you to have.

31:29 Now as we'll see next week because the sphere in which that gift is operative is in the knowledge of God. It is true religious knowledge. It is not mere academic or as we say head knowledge. It operates only within the sphere of a man loving God and trusting God and obeying God.

31:48 But nonetheless it underscores that the primary focus of the Spirit's work is in this area of the understanding. The foundation of Christian growth is not experience feeling love. The foundation of Christian growth is precisely what is the foundation of the church and he describes it in chapter 2. The church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets that is the doctrine of the word of God Jesus Christ himself the cheap cornerstone and then he speaks of the temple growing indwelt by the Spirit it's a living thing but it's life never breaks the boundaries of truth but it's life comes to manifestation only within

Significance 3: Specific Means by Which the Gift is Given (Prayer)

32:33 the framework of truth. And so I say the significance of this prayer for this particular gift underscores the priority the primary focus of the Spirit's work in true Christian growth and then thirdly it underscores the specific means by which this gift is given. He says I cease not to give thanks making mention of you in my prayers that God would give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation. In other words Paul says it was a constant prayer that there might be constant supply of the Spirit functioning as spirit of wisdom

33:17 spirit of understanding. Now Paul understood clearly that every gift and manifestation of the Holy Spirit to the people of God was a purchased blessing. This idea that some of our dear Pentecostal friends have that the Holy Spirit in His person and ministry and gifts and graces is somehow locked up in the hand of a reluctant God and must be pried loose by our agonizing and by our carrying His mere paganism. It's the idea that Jesus flatly contradicts in His teaching on prayer in Matthew 6 they think they shall be heard for their much speaking.

34:02 No, no the Apostle Paul understood clearly and taught explicitly that the Holy Spirit in His person and ministry His gifts and graces is the purchased blessing of Jesus Christ given to the church as pure gift. Galatians 3 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us to what end? That upon the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham that she might receive the promised spirit through faith. Christ became a curse to purchase all the blessings the church will ever need.

34:38 But listen though Paul understood that clearly and though he had already declared that they'd been sealed with the Spirit he also understood this mystery of Scripture. The purchased gifts of God that are all of grace are somehow bound up in their giving and reception with the prayers of God's people. And I don't understand that. I know that they are all of grace they are pure gift and yet I read in my Bible a phrase such as Philippians 1.19

35:11 and I want you to turn to it for a moment because it's a strategic phrase in expounding the passage before us.

35:20 Ephesians I'm sorry Philippians 1 and verse 19 For I know that this shall turn out to my salvation through your supplication and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Paul ties together the supplication of saints many miles away from his Roman priesthood and the supplies of the Spirit of Christ to his own heart there in his Roman prison. Now what's the precise relationship between the whimperings of imperfect saints and the gracious giving of the Spirit of God?

36:04 I don't know that precise relationship. I know it's not one that my prayers merit and at the same time I know it's not one where we're just playing games with God for my Bible says ye have not because ye what? Ye ask not. Ask and receive not because ye ask amiss.

36:25 Didn't Jesus say if ye who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Spirit to those who ask Him? It's a pure gift but it's given to those who ask. Therefore my asking must never be construed as merit but I must never expect the gift without asking. Hence the Apostle's prayer holds a profound lesson for us.

36:50 It underscores the specific means by which Christians know increased measures of the Spirit's work in their hearts and lives. It's as they pray growth and increase in the Christian life are dependent upon the Spirit of wisdom and revelation being operative in my life and the working of the Spirit in that manner is in some way dependent upon the prayers of the people of God. You see the psalmist understanding this. He cries out open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things

37:34 out of thy law. You see this is the great problem in our day. Why are men not penetrating those realities of God and of His truth? Modern evangelicalism says it's because we're presenting these things in antiquated terminology and if we can only modernize these things and modernize these things and modernize the gospel and send them down Maiden Street with wide lapels and bell bottoms everybody will embrace it as though all we need to embrace and understand spiritual truth is to make it palatable enough to the spirit of our age.

38:09 My friends that's an entire deflection from the teaching of the word of God.

38:14 So instead of having all these conferences on methods of evangelism what is the answer to the indifference to the gospel in our generation? It's the people of God praying to send His spirit.

38:32 You may take smug sophisticated 20th century people and take the simple fundamental truths such as we've been reading in the book of Romans sin, guilt, grace and righteousness and give people such insight to those realities that sophisticated 20th century people who've laughed and mocked at the doctrine of creation in hell will tremble at the fact of judgment in hell to come. And cry out God be merciful to me the sinner. That's our one great need. An outpouring of the spirit of God who can get penetrating insight into divine realities.

39:16 And if that's true with reference to the unconverted it is nonetheless true with reference to the saints of God. I'm sickened as I read the religious periodicals. People talk about the demise or the demise of preaching. People don't want to attend to a thought or a narrative preaching anymore.

39:35 People don't want to attend to serious sober worship. We have experiments in worship and experiments in communication and everybody's saying what are we going to do? Here's the answer. For this cause we cry to God that he send the spirit of wisdom in revelation and let men get a view of who God is and then their worship.

40:00 The majesty of God and you don't want to insult him by some kind of a little ditty of an introduction of dialogue or some kind of play and bring Broadway into the house of God and call it worship. There are times when you know that even in this place you feel like you want to close your hymnal and shut your mouth and hide your face and just be still in the presence of the eternal God. And cry with Peter depart from me. I'm an unclean man.

40:32 That's the great need. Penetrating insight into the reality of who God is then men will worship. They'll worship. You'll find every instance in the scriptures when God revealed himself to men.

40:45 What did they do? What did they do? If they were in a state of sin they ran and hid like Adam did or they fell prostrate on their faces.

40:57 Whether it's Joshua, Jacob, Abraham, Manoah, you read right through the Old Testament and into the New Testament. When the Lord Jesus was transfigured before those three on the Mount of Transfiguration it says they were afraid and Peter blurted out something they didn't know what to do. Why? They saw something of the glory of who he was.

41:17 John who leaned on his bosom in the days of his flesh when he saw him in his exalted state of glory revelation won. What did he do? He said I fell at his feet as one dead. He worshipped.

41:29 That's the answer.

41:32 People say well people don't evangelize. We've got to have conferences on evangelism and little gimmicks and training people with evangelism. No, no. Let men have penetrating insight into the reality of the glory of God.

41:42 Let men have the glory of the gospel and the plight of men and the command of Christ and they'll evangelize. That's what motivates many of you to be aggressive in your evangelism. Not because we're up here every third Sunday preaching a sermon and you ought to be a soul winner. You ought to be a soul winner.

41:58 Let the Holy Ghost come as we gather and give us a little greater sight of the glory of Christ and the plight of men and then your heart burns within you and you long to share what you know of Christ. Isn't this true?

42:11 That's the answer. Oh may God grant that we may will not be shaken by all the cross winds of opinion as to the answer to the church's need. Here it is. For this cause I pray.

42:24 Paul was not ignorant of the problems they faced at Ephesus. That was a center of pagan worship. It was a center of Roman culture with all of its godlessness. What does he pray?

Resolving the Problem: Spirit Already Given vs. Praying for the Spirit

42:34 That he would give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Oh may God find us so praying. Well, I'm sure there's a problem that's arisen in the minds of some of you and I want to close by addressing myself to it. A fundamental problem connected with this prayer.

42:49 Having identified the gift, the Holy Spirit, having described His functions in this context, spirit of wisdom, revelation, having looked at some of the clear implications of this prayer, underscoring for us our dependence upon the Spirit, underscoring for us the primary function of the Spirit, underscoring for us the way the Spirit in His presence and in His presence is known and realized, prayer, a problem has arisen in some of your minds and the problem is this. How can Paul pray that God will give them the Spirit when He already said in chapter 1, verses 13 and 14 that they had the Spirit? Now if that creates no problem in your mind, I hope it does because it does in mine

43:34 and I don't want to be answering, just preaching to myself. But notice verse 13, In whom ye also having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom having believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise who is in earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of God's own possession unto the praise of His glory. And when I expounded that passage, some of you will remember I spent four weeks laboring the fact that wherever the gospel is heard and believed, men are always sealed with the Spirit. That's an inseparable trilogy of spiritual experience.

44:11 When men hear and believe, they are sealed. And the teaching, that it's possible to be a Christian and not to have received the Spirit is an absolute contradiction of the overriding teaching of the entire Word of God. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. And I emphasized it again and again, tried to expose the fallacy of Pentecostalism old and new and all of its various branches that view people as saved but not having the Spirit.

44:41 And I've not backed off one whit on anything I've said there. But, what do we have in the passage before? We have Paul praying that God would give them the Spirit. And just as I sought to be faithful to the text in the first paragraph, and as it were, take a clear stand against everything that is a deflection from the clear teaching, so I want to take my stand honest with the text here.

45:03 And what does it tell us? It tells us that we must never think of the Holy Spirit in physical, spatial relationships. Let me illustrate. Suppose I say to one of the children here this morning, I am the Spirit.

45:16 I am going to give you this book. And so I reach out my hand and I put it into your hands and you take it. You now have this hymn book. All the pages in it, the covers, everything there.

45:27 My fingerprints, the oil from my... You have this book.

45:31 Now, for you to look up to me while you're holding this book and saying, Pastor Martin, will you give me the hymn book? Would be absolutely ridiculous. I say, look, I gave it to you. Either you have or you don't have it.

45:41 Now, we must not think of the Holy Spirit in that way. He is God. And the moment we begin to think of the gift of the Spirit, in terms of some kind of limited, confined, spatial relationship, we've missed the teaching of the Word. For the giving of the Spirit is not so much that God passes some spiritual entity through space from His throne into our hearts.

46:03 Those are just words God uses to accommodate Himself to our way of thinking. But the gift of the Spirit is the working and manifestation of the Spirit within the heart and life of the believer. For God fills heaven and earth as to His being. So, there is no problem in the biblical writers of thinking of the givenness, giving of the Spirit.

46:27 He has been given. He is continually given. So that a Christian is one who has been radically introduced to the realm of the Spirit and now is in such a relationship to God through Christ that there can be continuing supplies of the Spirit. And that, to my mind, is a satisfactory response to the question how can we how can He be given and yet still be given?

Practical Implications for Pentecostalism and Positionalism

46:53 And this mentality we saw is very present in the Scriptures. Paul speaks of the supply of the Spirit and in other instances we find similar references. Now, this has a very practical thing to say to us. As our dear Pentecostal friends and if they love Christ as revealed in Scripture they are our friends.

47:13 Those who make a God out of their experience are not our friends. They are enemies to God's truth. But there are true Christians within us. In Pentecostalism, old and new.

47:22 There are true friends within various branches of the Christian Church who teach a second work of grace. The great need of such people is to understand Ephesians 1, 13 and 14. What it means to be sealed by the Spirit. And they'll never straighten out and sort out the errors of the system until they take seriously the magnitude of the initial experience of the Holy Spirit present in the heart and life of every true Christian.

47:54 That's the starting point. And if I were speaking to a group of people of that persuasion I would go back to chapter 1 verses 13 and 14 and put the emphasis there. But, now listen carefully, in non-Pentecostal circles where people would say an amen to every assertion made about verses 13 and 14 that if we are Christ we have the Spirit we've been sealed by the Spirit we're indwelled by the Spirit unto the day of redemption we are Christ and we'll always be His is there not a tendency because of that to go into the opposite area of what I call dead positionalism since we're sealed with the Spirit unto the day of redemption and we have the Spirit it's as though

48:38 we can utterly forget the Spirit and think that all of His operations are now simply automatic. Paul didn't think that way. Having declared that they had been sealed by the Spirit he now says that God would give you the Spirit and oh that we might have that balance. Nothing would please me more when we gather this Wednesday night than that half the prayers should be for God to grant His Spirit to us as we gather on the next Lord's Day to grant His Spirit to us to open up the mysteries of His truth to grant His Spirit to us as we prayed and as we witnessed and as we worked in Christ's name but I'd want that prayer to be mingled with prayer and to be mingled with prayer that He has already

49:23 given us the Spirit that He has already sealed us intelligently understanding what we have in the Spirit and yet earnestly pleading that there might be more of the working and manifestation of the Spirit and I believe if that's the way our praying is we'll be right smack dead center with Ephesians 5 praising Him we've been sealed to Him that He would be given oh may God help us to be given to be kept on the one hand from the terrible errors of a failure to appreciate the gift of the Spirit attendant upon believing the Gospel but oh on the other hand may God keep us from the curse and the barrenness

Conclusion: A Call to Prayer for the Spirit

50:07 that always comes when the Holy Ghost is ignored and we do not seek the Father for ever increasing measures of His gifts and of His graces the gift for which Paul prayed we've identified it and we've identified we've shown its function and I use the it in terms of gift not concerning His person He is a person but as gift His function is wisdom revelation we've seen the implications of that prayer now all of this will come to naught unless we find the echo in our own hearts to pray with Paul for this cause I pray that the God of the Lord Jesus

50:52 the Father of glory may come may give to me to my brothers and sisters to our assembly to all of His people the spirit of wisdom and revelation God willing next week we'll consider the sphere in which that gift operates the knowledge of God how it operates the eyes of the heart being enlightened and then may God be pleased to give us such measures of that spirit that when we come to the words hope of His calling riches of the glory of His inheritance exceeding grace greatness of His power God will give us such insight to those realities as they will have what I trust they will have a ravishing effect upon our hearts as we see

51:36 the great inheritance that is ours and that our zeal to serve Him our zeal to honor Him our zeal to worship Him may be increased to His praise and to our profit let us pray