after that ye heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, after
that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,
which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased
possession, unto the praise of His glory. Now the message this
morning is sealed by the Spirit. There are four questions that
come to my mind as I read through these verses. And it's my heart's desire this
morning to both ask these questions and answer them to the best of
my ability. Somebody said he thinks he knows
everything. No, he don't. No, he don't think
that. And I hope I don't talk like
that. But I do know something. I know some things. So here's
the first question. Who is it that's going to be
sealed? Somebody's gonna be sealed. Who
is it? In Ephesians 1 and verses 3 through
12, These verses are given to us,
I don't know if you've ever known this or even paid any attention
to it, but it's all one sentence. There's no break. There's no
break in it. It's all one sentence, and it's
a definition. He said he's writing to the faithful
in Christ Jesus. He's writing to men who believe,
and he defines who they are in those verses. In these verses,
we see very plainly who it is that Paul is addressing. He's
talking about a people chosen by God to be saved and to receive
all spiritual blessings throughout all eternity. These blessings, they incorporate everything that
was done before there was ever a world. before there was ever
a person to inhabit the world. It was done before the foundation
of the world. He uses that term not to set
a place in time, but we don't have the understanding
to even perceive eternity, do we? Or whatever it is, he calls
it the beginning. The beginning. And he refers
to it as before the foundation of the world. And these people
that he marked out are to receive all spiritual blessings. Now, every good gift and every
perfect gift, James says, cometh down from above, comes down from
the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow
of turning. These spiritual blessings come
down from God the Father, and He's not going to change. The
blessings are not gonna change. Nothing's gonna change. If there's
any change, it's gonna be in you. It ain't gonna be in him.
And it's not gonna be in his gifts. They're not even a shadow
of turning with our God. He said, blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ according According,
here's what those blessings are. According, as he hath chosen
us in him before the foundation of the world. Why would he choose
a people in Christ? He hadn't even made a man yet.
Man hadn't fallen yet. Why would he choose a people
and put them in Christ and make provision for their salvation?
Because man's gonna fall. He's gonna fall. that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love. And I want you to listen to me
now. He's not talking here about something you did or will do
in the future. When He's talking about that
you might be holy, He's not talking about a holiness that you're
going to generate in time. You're going to see something,
you're going to learn something, and now you're going to manifest
holiness. Holiness, most people don't even
know what it means. They call these churches holiness
churches and they let their hair grow long and they wear long
dresses and they do all these things. They call that holiness.
That ain't holiness. Holiness has to do with the wholeness
of God. The whole character of God. That's
holiness. Be ye holy for I am holy. You
picture Him wearing long dresses and long hair and no. No, holiness has to do with who
he is, his whole character. And he said, you're going to
be holy. How are you going to manifest the wholeness of God
in Christ? That's why he chose you and put
you in him, that you might be holy. There's no other way to
be holy. holiness without which no man
shall see the Lord. You're not going to see God without
this holiness and you can't generate it. But God made provision for
you. He chose you and put you in His
Son that you might be holy and without blame. Now let's say you sinned and
God forgave you of that sin. Can He now say that you were
without blame? Uh-uh. No, you were blamed. Huh? But that ain't when He chose
you and put you in Christ. It's that you might not have
blame. Blameless. How can that be? Because everything I ever did
was charged to His Son. That's why He put me there. that
I might be without blame and before him in love. It's not
talking about your love for him. If you ever see his love, you'll
love him in return, but that's not what he's talking about here.
He's talking about why he chose you and put you in his son that
you might ever be before him in love. That is being loved,
always, eternally. No matter what happens, God still
loves you. And you can go on and on and
on with the saints of God that were, who sinned. David's a prime example. But all the rest of them did
too. Judah. And you can go on and on. Did
God quit loving them? Mm-mm. He never did. He never
did. According as He hath chosen us
in Him, before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him, being loved. Being loved. If I understand this verse correctly,
it's telling me that if I'm chosen to be blessed in Christ, he put
me in a place where I shall never be blamed. The ministry of reconciliation,
according to 2 Corinthians 5.19, is too wit. that God was in Christ reconciling
the world. Not everybody in it, but people
out of every nation and kindred and tribe and tongue under heaven.
God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. Now watch
this, not imputing, not charging their trespasses unto them. Wow. He never charged me with
my sins. Am I a sinner? You bet. Double
died. Chief of sinners. Chief of sinners. But He never, never charged me
with my sins. If I'm a believer, my sins were
charged to Christ. They were charged to Him. He chose us to be blessed in
Christ, to always be before Him being loved. Romans 8, verses
35 through the end of the chapter tell us that nothing, nothing
shall separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus,
our Lord. That's why He chose us and put
us in Him. We shall always, in Christ Jesus,
our Lord, be before the Father, loved. Now watch this, verse
five, having predestinated us under the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. Why me? Of all humanity, why
me? Is there something in me that
caught God's eye? Uh-uh. Why'd he do it? Because he would. He willed it
to be. He willed it to be. Predestination
is defined in Romans 8, 29 as being brought into conformity
to the image of His Son. That's what predestination is.
Conformity to the image of His Son. Not that we'll be enabled
to perfectly please God by our own obedience. and by our own
sacrifice, but to see how God can save chosen sinners and still
be God. That's what he's talking about.
How God can be just and justifier of all that believe. Our minds
and hearts are brought to see him as God has set him forth
as the propitiation for our sin. The only way God can be propitious
is through his son. Through his son, there's no other
way. And we see this, we see his glory. God sets him forth as the brightness
of the Father's glory and express image of his person. And we see this as he by himself
purges our sins, is buried and raised from the dead. And as
he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, we see
God's image projected in him. When I call God my father, the
only thing I know about him is what I've learned in Christ.
No man has ever seen God at any time. I don't wanna hear that
nonsense. God appeared to me in a vision. No, he didn't. No,
he didn't. Somebody did, but it wasn't God.
No man has seen God. No man can see him and live.
You see him as he truly is. You couldn't survive it. Salvation's not about accepting
Jesus as your personal Savior. It's about seeing Him as God
come into the flesh to save His people from their sins. Eternal
life is not how long it lasts. Eternal life is to know God. Well, how you gonna know God?
Just one way, Jesus Christ. He's the only manifestation of
God you'll ever get. Jesus Christ. He is God our Savior. And in Him we see manifested
the whole character of God. We see accomplished in His redemption
and in His righteous obedience, we see all of the will of God. I come not to do my own will,
he said. I come to do the will of him
that sent me, and this is my father's will which has sent
me, that of all which he has given me, I should lose nothing.
I'm gonna raise it up again at the last day. Not a single attribute of God, but all his attributes shining
in all their glory in that salvation accomplished by Jesus Christ.
Verses six and seven of Ephesians chapter one tell us that we're
accepted in the beloved. To the praise of the glory of
his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved, verse
seven, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sins. Redeemed by the blood. Not a matter of us accepting
Him, but of His accepting us. And the only way God can accept
you is in Christ. There is no other way. His acceptance is made possible
by this accomplished redemption. Talking about God's elect, Paul
said in Romans 4.25 that Christ was delivered for our offenses. and raised again for our justification. Ephesians 1.8, wherein he hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. What did he abound toward us
in? What he decreed before the foundation of the world, how
he chose us in Christ, how he predestinated us under the adoption
of children, how he made us accepted in the blood. How He redeemed
us by His blood. He's abounded toward us in this
knowledge. He made known unto us the mystery
of His will. What will? There's only one will
of God revealed to men, and that is His redemptive will. His redemptive
will. In the volume of the book, Christ
said, what book? You look over in Revelations
chapter five and you'll find God the Father holding a book,
sealed, sealed. And John began to weep because
nobody could take the book. What's God doing? What is He
purposed to do? This is the living God, and I
see Him on that throne, and He's holding a book, but it's sealed
on the back side. It's sealed everywhere. You can't
take the book. Nobody's worthy to take the book.
Nobody's worthy to even look on the book, let alone open its
seals. And John began to weep. And one cried out, There's one. There's one. A lamb as if it
had been slain before the foundation of the world. One worthy. And Jesse, he come and he didn't
hold out his hands for God to give him the book. He took the
book. He took the book. Why? Because he's worthy. Because he alone can open that
book and show you who God is and show you God's redemptive
will. And he loosed the seals. The gospel is the unloosing of
the seals on God's eternal will. And Christ said in the volume
of the book, it's written of me, I come to do thy will, O
God. And I accomplished that will
by my death on the cross, verse 10. And I perfected forever all
them that I sanctified. He hath abounded toward us, made
known unto us the mystery of His will, His redemptive will, His will in creation, His will in providence, His will
in salvation. And this, he says, is according
to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself. And the
gathering of all things in Christ, who's the steward of all things,
the mediatorial king of God, he alone is going to mediate
the will of God. If you're going to learn anything
at all about God's will, you're going to learn it in Christ.
And salvation is not a circumstantial thing born out of unforeseen
things and events in the future. The fall of man didn't take God
by surprise. It was brought to pass exactly
as he purposed it to be. And considering everything Paul
had just said about God and his son, he goes on to say, in whom,
verse 11, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being
predestinated, according to the purpose of him who worketh all
things after the counsel of his own will. That, verse 12, in order that
we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in
Christ. Who first trusted in Christ?
God did. You know nearly all the old writers
say that, talking about the apostles. You can't apply those truths
to the apostles, my soul. He's talking about God. The apostles
are not the first to trust in God. Abraham trusted in God.
Adam trusted in God. Noah trusted in God. He's talking
about God. God is the first to trust in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Because He made him the surety
of the everlasting covenant. He's the mediator. One mediator
between God and me and the man, Christ Jesus. And He did all these things that
we should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in
Christ. And all these divine and eternal
mysteries are made known in His Son. And everything we see in
Him, we see to the praise of God's
glory who first trusted in Him. How'd he get to be representative
of the church? How'd he get to be head of the
church? God appointed him. How'd he get to be mediator? God chose him, decreed him to
be king. Yet have I set my Son on that
holy hill of Zion. I've set Him there. And the best
thing you can do is kiss the Son. Everything we see in Him we see
to be to the praise of God's glory who first trusted in Him. Now what are we talking about?
Why did I go through all those verses? I wanna, we're talking
about, I'm trying to answer this question, who's gonna be sealed? Those who know these things. Those who believe these things. We're talking about who should
be sealed of God, and I'm showing you in the word of God who they
are. Listen to this, Ephesians 1, 13. In whom ye also trusted
after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel. of your
salvation. You ain't gonna trust anybody
till you hear. And don't try to sell me on that
thing. I was in my closet and saw a vision. Sell that to your
grandma. I don't believe it. I know how it's revealed. It's
revealed through the gospel. Revealed through the gospel.
You heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. And one more verse, and I'll
move on to my second point. 2 Thessalonians 2.13. He just
finished talking about antichrist, these men who would not receive
the love of the truth that they might be saved, and God turned
them over to a strong, he sent them strong delusion to believe
a lie and be damned. But Paul said, oh, I thank God
for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. How come you ain't in the same
shape they are? Huh? Because God hath chosen
you to salvation. Huh? God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. That's another one of those spiritual blessings He
blessed you with. Where unto he called you by our
gospel, now watch this, to the obtaining of the glory of our
Lord Jesus Christ. We obtain a side of it. Number
one, we see it. We see it. And number two, we see ourselves
beneficiaries of it. We obtain the benefits of it. And we trusted in him after we
heard the word of truth, So who's gonna be sealed? Those brought
to see the glory of God in Christ, believers. Secondly, let me ask
this question. When does this sealing take place? When does it take place? He says, after they hear the
word of truth, the gospel of their salvation. When does God seal you? After
that you hear, after that you believe. And it's by way of this
divine gift of faith that chosen sinners are made meet to be partakers
of their inheritance, of the inheritance with enlightened
saints. And their election is made known
as the gospel comes to them, not in word only, but also in
power and in the Holy Ghost and with much assurance. Nobody is
sealed apart from hearing and believing. Nobody. Heart shall say, well, God gonna
save whom he will no matter what. Oh, no. You ain't gonna find
that in the scriptures. He chosen us from the beginning
unto salvation through sanctification of spirit and belief in the truth. Listen to this, how you gonna
call on him in whom you have not believed and how you gonna
believe in him of whom you have not heard and how you gonna hear
without a preacher? Thirdly, what is the sealing
of the Holy Ghost? What is it to be sealed? What does that mean? Are you talking about certain
signs and evidences given to confirm your faith? Like speaking
in unknown tongues? Gifts of healing? No, sir. No, sir. These things
were never given as evidences of faith, but given to confirm
the apostles and early ministers until the Scriptures were made
complete. So what is this sealing of the
Spirit of God? Well, first of all, I want you
to turn with me to John chapter six. John chapter six. You remember our Lord crossed
that stormy sea. The disciples thought they were
going under. The storm arose, they were out
in the middle, road and road and road for hours, didn't get
anywhere, they're just sitting there in the storm, boats getting
wrecked and the sails, and they thought this is it. And a lightning
flash and they looked out there and here's the Son of God, and
He's walking on water. He's walking on water. And after
they crossed that stormy sea, Some of those 5,000 men that
were fed back on the other side that was gonna take him by force
and make him king, they followed him. And now they appeared right
behind him. And he turned and looked at them.
And they said, what must we do to work the works of God? He
said, verily I say unto you, you seek me not because you saw
the miracles and were convinced that I came from God. You followed
me because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Labor not for
the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth
unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto
you. Now watch this. For him hath God the Father sealed,
sealed. The seal of God is the promised
Redeemer, Christ in you, the hope of glory. In our text, Paul
refers to the Spirit of God as that Holy Spirit of promise. What promise? A promised Redeemer,
the promise of God's Christ. All the promises of God, Paul
said, in him are yea and amen. To Abraham and his seed were
the promises made. He saith not into seeds as of
many, but as of one, into thy seed, which is Christ. Him hath
God the Father sealed. The Holy Spirit of God, through
the faith of God's elect, seals the minds and hearts of God's
elect, and they truly believe. You're not gonna talk them out
of it. You're not gonna force them out of it. You're not gonna
fear them out of it. They believe. They're sealed.
Sealed. They receive him as he set forth
in the gospel, and they're given power to become the sons of God. In Revelation chapter seven,
you might read through that chapter this afternoon, but there's a
beautiful picture of this. John has these visions, and his
visions are, this is the revelation of Jesus Christ. That's what
John's experiencing in his vision. And the Spirit took him out,
and in a vision, he showed him four angels. And they were holding
back the wind on the four corners of the earth. They were holding
back that which would destroy the earth. These angels. They had power. They had power. They had power to step out of
the way. Let that wind come down and do its damage. Just burn
up everything on the earth. And he sees these four holy angels.
And they're holding back these four winds. And as he saw these
angels, he sees another angel. This is Jesus Christ. This is
the angel of the covenant. And he ascends from the east,
now watch this, having the seal of the living God. And he cried
with a loud voice to the four angels saying, hurt not the earth,
neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants
of our God, and therefore we. What is this sealing? It is a
revelation of Christ. It's the revelation of Christ.
Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ in whom we were chosen
and blessed. Christ in whom we were predestinated
unto the adoption. Christ our righteousness. Christ
our Redeemer. Christ, our acceptance with God.
He reveals that to you, Russell. And everything else is just cheap
whiskey. That's what it is. It's nothing.
It's nothing. We're not of them, Paul said,
who draw back to perdition, but of them who believe to the saving
of the soul. Why? Because he sealed you. He
sealed you. Him hath God the Father sealed. What is this sealing? It is the
very earnest of our inheritance. You got some hope other than
Christ? Huh? You got some spiritual supercharger
in you that let you do this and that and now you're gonna sit
up in the heaven one of these days and brag on it for all eternity?
Uh-uh. You ain't got any hope apart
from Christ. Here or there, you don't have any hope. He's the earnest of our inheritance.
It is our anxious anticipation knowing that when we shall see
Him, we'll be like Him. We'll be like Him. I just like
reading some of the things which I read that separate the work
of the Spirit from Christ in this verse, and even separate it from faith.
as though it were some second definite work of grace. The Spirit
of God comes to us by virtue of the merits of Christ. Read
John chapter 16. Our Lord is, he's talking to
his disciples about leaving this world. He'd been talking to them
all the way from chapter 14 all the way through 17. He's got
to go to Jerusalem, he's got to be sacrificed, he's got to
die, he has to be buried in a tomb and rise from the dead. And he
said, if I go not away, I cannot send a comforter unto you. You mean Christ sent the Holy
Spirit into this world? That's what he said. He said,
if I don't go away, I can't send him, but if I go away, I'll send
you the comforter. I'll send you the comforter.
Paul said, we have received not the spirit of this world, but
the spirit which is of God, that we may know the things which
are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not
in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches.
How does he do that? Comparing spiritual things to
spiritual. The sealing. You know, he said,
you're sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. It is the
Spirit that reveals these things to us. I know they're revealed
in the gospel. We declare these things just
like I'm declaring with you today, but you won't believe them. You
won't see them as absolute, unquestionable fact until the Holy Spirit presses
that upon your heart. And when he does, you're sealed.
You're sealed. And then finally, what effect
does this sealing have on your lives? We cannot know or hope
in any gospel truth apart from the Holy Spirit of God. You can't
know anything. I have not seen or heard, neither
have 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. by his Spirit. He said, when
the Spirit of truth has come, he'll guide you into all truth.
What's he gonna do? How do I even know I'm sealed
of God? Because the Spirit of God guides
me into all truth. That's why. For he shall not
speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he
speak. He's gonna glorify me, Christ
said. This truth that the Holy Spirit
reveals, does it glorify Christ? Huh? Then it's the Spirit of
God. That's what He sent for. He shall receive of mine and
shall show it unto you. John 16, 13, and 14. What does
it mean to be sealed? It means secured in Christ. Secured in Christ. In him, Paul
said, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you're
complete in him, who's the head of all principality and power. I have no other hope but Christ.
And then let me give you this, and I'll quit. Ephesians chapter
four, verse 30. Paul goes through this long list.
He tells us to put on the new man. What's he talking about? You're talking about Christ.
He's the new man. He's the new man. Put on Christ. And all these things that have
made up your past, you steer away from them. Why? I'm not going to let no man judge
you in meager grant. Why would I want to abstain from
these things? Because they're contrary to God. That's why. They're contrary
to God. Now watch this, verse 30. After
he finishes naming all these things, here's what he says.
And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed
unto the day of redemption. Now I wanna say this, I'm not
gonna go into a big, long explanation of this, but I just wanna say
this. If you don't love somebody, They can't grieve you. They can't
grieve you. I've had people in my past who
ought to grieve me, but they didn't grieve me and couldn't
grieve me because I didn't love them. Only those you truly love can
grieve you. And God loves his people. And
he says he would grieve not. How do you grieve the Holy Spirit?
To do anything contrary to His work in you is to grieve the
Holy Spirit. God help us to live the life
of faith. Simple faith. Looking to Christ. Trusting in Christ. Being complete
in Him. Walking in His righteousness. Glorifying God in Him, seeing
Him, worshiping Him, trusting Him, looking for Him. Unto them
that look for Him, He'll appear the second time. But He's not
coming as a sacrifice the second time. He's gonna come in all
the glory of His Father's house. And we're looking for Him. We're
looking for Him. God help us to live this life
of faith. Submit ourselves to God, knowing
His love for us, and grieve not. the Holy Spirit of God who sent
to comfort us and seal us unto the day of redemption.