"Revival" Eph. 1:3-23 There is a great deal of talk these days about revival-- and more than just talk, I might add. Wheaton College, my alma mater-- has boiled over once more, scalding the heels of even the timid and the sceptical. One of my great concerns has been the lack of solid exegetical support for modern revivalism-- and the need for a careful biblical examination of what revival should be. All too often we have simply adopted, or adapted, the Puritan model without adequate biblical foundations. I would like to attempt to do that here by applying Paul's teaching on the work of the Holy Spirit in the opening chapter of Ephesians to our understanding of a biblical revival. Paul is giving us a quick sketch of the greatness of our salvation, from the perspective of redemption predestined, from the perspective of redemption accomplished, and from the perspective of redemption applied. Weaving the three together, Paul shows us God's eternal plan, which was accomplished in Jesus Christ, and is now applied to our hearts by the deposit of the Spirit. From the perspective of eternity, Paul reminds us that the ultimate foundation of our redemption is found in the predestinating love of the Father in Christ. It was according to his kindness and mercy that he determined to choose a people for himself--to work all things out for his own glory according to the counsel of his will. But redemption predestined cannot be thought of apart from redemption accomplished. We are chosen in Christ, and it is only through his blood--through his death and resurrection--that we can have the forgiveness of our sins. And throughout this passage, Paul blends redemption predestined and accomplished with redemption applied. In fact, the three are inseparable. "In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will." Simply put, election is grounded in the love of God, accomplished by the work of Christ, and effectively sealed to our hearts by the Holy Spirit. We will examine first, the accomplished work of the Holy Spirit in verses 13-14; second, the ongoing work of the Spirit in verses 17-21; and third, we will apply Paul's teaching to the issue of revival. Paul's emphasis in verses 13 and 14 is upon the accomplished work of the Holy Spirit, which is a fixed and unchanging reality. All of you who have believed the gospel of Christ have been marked as being in him. This faith is rooted in hearing the word of truth--the gospel of your salvation. Those who hear this word, and believe, are then marked, or sealed with the Holy Spirit. The sealing of the Holy Spirit demonstrates two things: our inclusion with Christ and the guarantee of our inheritance. First, the Holy Spirit is the seal of your being included in Christ. God has stamped you with his Holy Spirit, a stamp which declares to all who see it: "This is MINE--don't touch!" What is sealed, and therefore made secure, is your union with Christ-- your participation in his death and resurrection, which Paul goes on to explore in chapter two. Secondly, the Holy Spirit is the deposit guaranteeing your inheritance. This is the pledge that your salvation will be consummated at the return of Christ. The arrabwn is a pledge or a guarantee of what is to come. Look at it as a downpayment, a non-refundable deposit, which guarantees that the buyer will complete the sale-- but it is also appropriately viewed as an engagement ring, which declares to all who see it that this woman is beloved by her lover, and he has pledged his life to her. So also Jesus Christ has given you his wedding ring --his Holy Spirit-- as the pledge of his good faith toward you. But in both these pictures-- the deposit and the engagement ring, we see two things: 1 the present reality which we have in Christ, through this deposit of the Holy Spirit; 2 and our future hope of the consummation of all things in Christ. Finally, Paul declares that you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. Here he clearly refers us to the promise of Joel 2-- the promise of the day when God would pour out his Spirit on all flesh-- as well as to the promise of Jesus in John 14. Hence, this is ultimately pointing us to Pentecost. In Paul's teaching, believers not only participate in the death and resurrection of Christ, but also in the session of Christ at the right hand of the Father (see 2:6) and in the day of Pentecost, as we see here. II But despite the fact that the you have received the promised Holy Spirit or perhaps, because you have received this Spirit, Paul prays in verses 17-19 that the Father would give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you might know him better! And what does this knowledge entail? Paul goes on to pray that the eyes of your heart might be enlightened so that you might know three things: First, the hope to which he has called you Second, the riches of his glorious inheritance and Third, the incomparably great power for us who believe. Hope. Inheritance. Power. What is the Christian's hope? What is our glorious inheritance? What is this incomparably great power? This hope of God's calling is the rule and authority of Jesus Christ. This inheritance of the saints is Jesus Christ, and all his benefits. This power which we receive in Christ, is the power which God exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in heavenly places. It is this power which is explicated in 2:6-7 where we are told that "God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus." Your confidence, your hope, your motivation in all your ministry -- and indeed in all that you do, is that Jesus Christ has begun a good work in you, by uniting you to his death, by the power of the Holy Spirit-- But it doesn't stop there. You also have been raised with Christ. YOU are seated at the right hand of the Father IN CHRIST. And HE who began this good work in you will bring it to completion in the day of Christ Jesus. Therefore, says Paul, I keep begging God to open your eyes. To give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know this Christ more. There is nothing which Paul wants for you, besides the same Jesus Christ who is seated at the right hand of God, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion-- both now, and in the age to come. Paul gives us two grounds for our hope in this passage, One pointing backwards, and one pointing forwards. First, he directs our attention to what Christ has done. In verse 7 he points us to Christ's blood--his death In verse 13 he points us to Christ's sending the promised Holy Spirit--Pentecost In verse 20 he points us to Christ's resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father. Your hope is rooted in the once-for-all work of Jesus Christ, and is therefore utterly secure. But he also directs our attention forward to the goal of what Christ has done. In verse 21 he points us to the age to come, and the consummation of all things in Christ. All the blessings which we have in Christ are pointing to the great day, when "all things in heaven and on earth will be brought together under one head, even Christ." These two grounds for our hope, however, are not ultimately two--but rather are one. Paul is not bouncing around from one age to another, pointing us backwards and forwards until our heads are dizzy. The NIV might make you think that but not Paul. Rather, the incomparable riches of his grace, which he speaks of in 2:7 have begun to appear even now. The flow of Paul's thought continually points us to what Christ has definitively accomplished, because the age to come has now dawned. When Paul prays that the glorious Father might give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that the eyes of your heart might be opened, He is praying that you might see what is yours in Christ. that you might see that the age to come has been inaugurated, and you have been brought into the hope, the inheritance, and the power, that belongs to the eschatological reign of Jesus Christ. Your hope, your inheritance, your incomparably great power, all rest in Jesus Christ, who has given you the promised Spirit-- the Spirit whose coming was foretold by the prophets; the Spirit who would be poured out upon all God's people; the Spirit who would give his people hearts of flesh to obey God's commandments. Paul prays here that your eyes may be opened to this reality-- that your heart may be enlightened so that you might see that you are seated with Christ EVEN NOW in heavenly places; that you are no longer under the power of transgressions and sins-- in which you used to live, back when you were objects of wrath. This is the deposit of the Spirit: that you have been made a partaker in Christ's death and resurrection, so that you might EVEN NOW live a new life. And all this is just the downpayment! It is this Christ to whom the Holy Spirit points you. This Christ who is sealed to your heart by the Spirit's presence; this Christ who is the wisdom which the Spirit reveals. ------------ Having briefly and inadequately seen the reality of what we have in Christ, let us look at what this teaches us about revival. What does revival offer? Is it anything more than this? Anything less? No, true revival is simply a time when Christians experience the reality which is theirs in Christ. True revival is when the Holy Spirit opens the eyes and the hearts of believers to what Christ has accomplished-- and the hope to which we are called-- the glorious inheritance which is ours in him. If revival means anything else, then I am not here to offer you revival, I am here to offer you Christ. I am not here to offer you a new work of God, I am here to offer you the only work of God that there ever has been, or will be, the finished work of Jesus Christ. I am not here to urge you to prepare for what God is about to do, I am here to urge you to accept what God has done. I am here to declare to you that if you are in Christ, YOU HAVE DIED, AND YOUR LIFE IS NOW HIDDEN WITH HIM IN GOD; that you have been seated in the heavenly places in Christ and when he returns, you also will appear with him in glory. I am here to declare to you that if you have received the promise of the Holy Spirit then the end of the ages has come upon you and the Spirit has been poured out in your midst. You don't have to wait. Charles Finney was right! You don't have to wait for God to bring revival. He already has. He has brought it once for all in Jesus Christ. This is not something which God only bestows upon one or two generations in any given century, This is something which God has promised to bestow upon every generation that is in Christ. -- so why don't you believe it?! Revival is often seen as something unusual-- a special work of God's grace to revive a dying church. But according to Paul, what some call revival, is merely what the church is called to be all the time. I do not deny the divine monergism of grace, but neither does Paul when he commands the Ephesians to "put off your old self" and "be imitators of God." It is most definitely "by grace that you have been saved, through faith" and not by works. It is certainly the gift of God. But don't forget the next part: we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. If we have learned anything from Pentecost, we must learn that the last days are upon us, and the Spirit of God has been poured out upon all flesh-- --as was foretold by the prophet Joel. If we hear anything ringing through the ages, let us hear the command which Peter gave to the multitudes, "Repent and be baptized, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Peter insisted that this was a once-for-all event when he then declared that this promise would hold true indefinitely-- "The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off-- for all whom the Lord our God will call". The question is whether Pentecost is our Prototype, or our Archetype. What is the difference? A Prototype is a first example, which we should imitate and copy. An Archetype is an origin or source, the reality from which all derivatives must flow. If Pentecost is our prototype, then we must seek to follow its example, and hope for repetitions of the outpouring of the Spirit on that day. But, If it is our Archetype, then we must live our lives under its power, and believe that we have received the outpouring of the Spirit of that day; Therefore, we see that just as we participate in Christ's death, resurrection, ascension, and session at the right hand of the Father, so also we participate in the once-for-all baptism of the church with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. So, what implications may we draw about the continuing work of the Spirit? Are we on the verge of the greatest revival in the history of the church? With millions of people flocking to evangelistic meetings in order to accept Christ? With dying churches awakened to new life and vitality by the instrumentality of mass media events? I don't know. I don't know what to think of all these huge gatherings for prayer. I'd be more optimistic if our churches had been regularly meeting for prayer for the last twenty years. I'd have more hope if our churches believed and clearly preached the gospel and lived like they believed it. Then again, if we had been doing that, we wouldn't need a revival. But I suppose that's the problem. If we were obeying God, revival would be the last thing on our minds. It's the very fact of our disobedience which creates that need. What troubles me is that when it comes to revival, most people stop exegeting scripture, and start exegeting providence. Solomon Stoddard, Jonathan Edwards' grandfather, claimed that he was converted while celebrating the Lord's Supper. Therefore he determined that the Lord's Supper must be a converting ordinance, and invited virtually everyone to come to the Lord's Table, exegeting his experience, rather than Paul's warning against unworthy participation. Evangelicals often read the Old Testament and see the cycles of revival and declension, and then they look, and see the church acting in a similar fashion. They conclude that the same thing must be happening; but this does not do justice to the testimony of scripture. We live in a new age--the Age of the Spirit. To say that we must pray for God to do a new work in our midst is to deny the work that he has already done. The reason for the Old Testament cycle was the flow of redemptive history-- God was still working out his salvation through those ages, for our benefit, upon whom the end of the ages has come. The coming of the Holy Spirit has guaranteed that the reality of the church Age is not that of the Old Covenant. When Jesus was about to ascend to the right hand of the Father, he did not say, "I'll stop by and visit you occasionally", he said, "I will be with you always, even to the end of the age." The "Emmanuel" principle--"God with us"-- has come true in the coming of the Holy Spirit. ------------ Let me give you a picture of a genuine revival. This revival started twenty years ago-- but unless you got to know these people, you'd never guess it. It's not spectacular in its outward manifestations, but these people love to pray together. In fact, they love to be together. The best way to say it, is simply that they love each other. There's not much publicity-- in fact, if you asked them, they'd probably deny that a revival ever took place. You see, they think that this is simply what Christ commanded them to do. There's nothing special about it-- they just live as though they were Christians. They take Paul seriously when he says to put one another's interests above their own. They believe Jesus when he told them that the world would know that they were his disciples by the love which they show to one another. They understand what it means to shine as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. Any call to revival which calls you to focus on anything except what Christ has accomplished is a distraction from the call of the gospel. Any call to prayer which seeks a coming of Christ other than his glorious return is a siren song luring the watchmen from the walls. The greatest revival in the history of the church happened nearly two thousand years ago. And if I'm right, you'd better orient your whole life and ministry around it. Nothing more. Nothing less. May God grant us grace toward that end. Amen.