Ephesians 1:7-14

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. (NKJV)

Paul uses a metaphoric structure here when talking about salvation. He uses the idea of a contract where a down-payment is made in anticipation of taking hold of the possession once the full price is paid: “the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession.

As in any contract, it is possible for one or the other of the parties to the contract to withdraw. Thus to establish that He will not withdraw from the contract, God sent His own Holy Spirit as the guarantee that full “payment” will be made. The Holy Spirit is our guarantee that God will not back out on His promise to accept the Lord jesus’ sacrifice as payment in full for our sins.

But there are two parties to this contract: God and us. And while we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, we can also break that seal and walk away from God. We can reject our salvation!

Why would anyone do that? It seems impossible that anyone would want to be separated from God and yet, remember! Adam and Eve, who walked with God in the garden, were tempted and succumbed to the lusts of their flesh. The apostle John told us that there were three things that would entice us: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16 NKJV). When we let go of the self-control that is the fruit of the Spirit and give in to the desires that lurk within our flesh, we open ourselves to the temptations that surround us.

The lust of the flesh is the desires and cravings of our bodies. Now some cravings—when we have learned to distinguish between true cravings and false cravings—were created in us so that we wouldn’t die: hunger and thirst, the desire to be in a safe environment. But even those natural cravings—along with the cravings that aren’t natural, but are culturally induced—can lead us away from God’s will. After Jesus fasted for 40 days, Satan tempted Him to turn the stones into bread. But the Lord answered, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4 NKJV). The Lord knew that we could be deceived even by the cravings that God placed within our created bodies. Thus, satisfaction comes not from satisfying the cravings of our flesh, but from turning to the Lord and asking Him to give us everything we need. We are satisfied when we trust that what God has sent fully satisfies all that we need.

The lust of the eyes is often the first step toward sin. Seeing can be physical or it can be mental. What we have seen in the past, we can visualize with our memories and recreate. In Matthew, the Lord Jesus taught us:

“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (6:22-23 NKJV).

We see and we desire. It is the lust of the eyes. And even if we don’t see at this moment, if we have seen in the past, the eyes of our minds are able to recreate it through our memories. We need to control what our eyes see.

Our society, these days, entices us with all kinds of evil through what comes in our eyes: books, newspapers, television shows, movies, the Internet. All of this enters our minds and hearts through our eyes. We have to learn to control what we see and then, if we have seen what we should not, to give it to the Lord and ask Him to block those memories. What we see often leads us through temptation into sin. Our lives become what we see. Do our eyes see evil? Then we will live in the darkness of sin. Are our eyes trained to see what is wholesome and righteous? Then we will live in the light of God’s love.

The last thing that entices us is the pride of life. The pride of life places its trust and delight in this life, in the things of this earth: “This is what I’ve accomplished!” “This is the award I won.” “This is the good I’ve done.” The pride of life accepts this life as the end-all to all things and refuses to understand that life is much more than what we own or what we accomplish. The pride of life places satisfaction in accomplishment rather than character, in success rather than service, in power rather than submission. Pride is the opposite of humility. When I am proud, I demand that people give their attention and energy to me rather than focusing on how I can serve them. The pride of life eventually pushes out Christ until there is no more room for Him.

These three enticements—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—live within our flesh 24/7. They sit at the door to our hearts begging to be let in, even for a moment. But sin is never content to have just a moment of our lives. Sin wants to rule forever. As believers we have been given the freedom to choose whether or not we will serve the Lord or we will serve ourselves. And the Holy Spirit Himself had been given to us as a promise of the marvelous salvation that awaits us if we slam the door shut to sin.

Today, we must make a choice. For me, my choice is made. “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15 NKJV). I choose to embrace the guarantee of the Holy Spirit, to live for the promise of eternal life to come and to turn my back on the temptations that so easily ensnare us.

© 2012 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.