In verse three of chapter one,
Paul made this statement, blessed be the God and father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ. Every believer has right now
all spiritual blessings. And then he goes on in these
next 14 verses to enumerate what these spiritual blessings are.
As a matter of fact, I brought 16 sermons from this passage
of scripture thus far, and this will be the last one from this
verses three through 14. And I have entitled this message,
Heard, Believed, and Sealed. Now, verses four through six
is about the work of the Father in salvation. Verses seven through
12 is about the work of the Son in salvation. And verses 13 and
14 are about the work of the Spirit of God in salvation. Now, there are two words that
stand out in this passage of scripture as to what takes place
when someone is under the operation of the Spirit of God, and he's
doing something for them. And that interests me. I wanna
know if I have this saving operation of the Spirit of God. Now look
what he says in verse 13. In whom you also trusted, after
that you heard the word of truth, the gospel
of your salvation, in whom also, after that you believed, you
were sealed. Now that word sealing means you're
shown to be authentic. When something has a seal on
it, it means this is what it is. This really is what it is,
the seal, the brand, as it were. When you seal something, it's
preserved for good. Now, what is the evidence of
the sealing of God the Holy Spirit? Hearing and believing. That is the evidence of being
a recipient of the saving work of God, the Holy Spirit. Now,
how can I know that I have this heavenly inheritance, this pledge?
I like what Paul called the Holy Spirit, the earnest. You know
what earnest money is? You put something down and it's yours.
It's guaranteed. What is the earnest of our inheritance? What is the guarantee that we're
going to be in glory and saved and stand in Christ's presence
accepted? Hearing and believing. That is the evidence of the work
of God the Holy Spirit. hearing and believing. And notice, he says, in whom
you also trusted after that you heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation. Faith comes by hearing. What we're doing right now, you
sit and listen to a man preach A man who claims to be nothing
more than a man, a sinful man, a weak man, a man like you are,
but yet a man called of God to preach the gospel. And I'm bringing
a message and you're hearing this message. Faith cometh by
hearing. Turn to Romans chapter 10. Well, what a precious thing it
is to hear. He that hath ears to hear. You know, not everybody
has ears to hear. What a precious thing it is to
be enabled by the grace of God to hear the gospel. And I, you
know, I'm not talking about just audible hearing. I'm talking
about hearing in the power of the Holy Spirit. where you know
this is God speaking. This is God's word. It's not
just a man speaking. This is the very truth of God.
And you're hearing, and you know how miserable it is to not hear.
I don't know how. I love to hear the gospel. I love to hear the gospel. And
I hate it when I feel like I can't hear. Something's wrong with
me and I'm unable to hear. What a precious gift hearing
is. As a matter of fact, I can say
without any hesitancy that hearing the gospel in the power of the
Spirit is the most pleasurable thing we've ever experienced.
hearing. He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. Now look here in Romans chapter
10, beginning in verse 13. For whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. That's one of my favorite verses.
I'm a whosoever. And here's a promise. Whosoever
shall call Elections of grace. That's why
God can choose me. It's all of grace. Verse six. And if by grace, if elections
of grace and salvations by grace, then it's no more of works. Otherwise,
grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it's
no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. Now, if I believe that salvation
is in any way dependent upon me doing anything. I've not been saved. You see,
when you find out, when you believe, you find out you've been saved. You don't do something to get
saved. You find out that you've been
saved. That's even in the text. The
gospel, the good news of your salvation. Oh, isn't it good
news when you find out, by grace, you are saved. By grace, are
you saved? I think it's interesting in Ephesians
2 verse 5, it says, by grace, you are saved. And then it says
in Ephesians 2 verse 8, by grace, are you saved? Whatever, it's
all of grace. Grace is salvation completely
dependent upon what Christ has done. Well, don't we have to
believe? Don't we have to repent? Yeah,
you gotta believe this. Salvation's in Christ. And you
gotta repent of anything that's contrary to that. Just change
your mind, throw it away. Salvation's by grace. Salvation
is in Christ. I was talking to somebody, And
I asked them this question. I've asked this question a lot.
Do you believe a man can be saved by hearing Billy Graham preach? Now, Billy Graham is Protestant
religion, sacred cow. I know he died recently, but
he didn't have any notable scandals in his life. And everybody looks
at him as a as a very fine man. And he does seem like a real
nice man. Very fine man. Wouldn't wouldn't question that
at all. Nice guy. False prophets usually are nice
guys. But I asked this individual, I said, do you believe a man
can be saved hearing Billy Graham preach? And he thought about
it, and I was given the opportunity to explain why I didn't agree
with this, and I think the Lord blessed it. But he said, God
is sovereign. He can use Billy Graham. He's
sovereign. He can use some truth that Billy
Graham preaches and use it to beget life and enable somebody
to believe the gospel. Now, God is sovereign. I agree
with that. God is sovereign and God only
uses the truth. That's the way it is. of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth. God does not use error. Why should he? He doesn't need
to. Well, he can't find anybody to
preach the truth. Yeah, he can. He gives them the
truth, he saves them, and they're going to preach the truth. So
yes, That kind of thinking is just
wrong. You hear the word of truth, the
good news of your salvation, and you find out you've been
saved by Christ. That's what you find out. Not
that you've been made savable, and that you'll be saved if you.
You find out the Lord has saved you. You really believe the message,
salvation is of the Lord, and you really are trusting Christ
to save you. Now you hear. You hear of the
gospel of your salvation, and you know what you do? You believe. You believe. You hear of the
salvation that's in Christ, and you believe. You don't try to
believe. You know, I can remember trying
to believe. When you try to believe, you don't believe. You believe
when you believe. You find yourself believing the
testimony. Acts 1630, sirs, what must I
do to be saved? Believe. Now this word believe
does not simply mean you're giving some kind of acknowledgement.
Yeah, I believe that that's the truth. I believe that's what
the scripture teaches. Yes, that's part of it. But to believe is
to trust. It's to rely upon. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. You believe he's the Lord. Do
you believe he's Lord? Do you believe He's in absolute
sovereign control of everything? That everybody is just under
His thumb? He controls. He's the Lord. He's
Jesus, the Savior. Do you believe He's the Savior?
Do you believe He's able to save you without your help? Do you
believe He's Jesus the Savior. That's why I call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. Do you believe
He's the Christ? God's prophet? The very Word
of God? God's priest? If He brings you
into God's presence, you must be saved. You must be accepted.
He's God's King, and you need Him as King to cause you to believe. Oh Lord, speak the word of power
to me, cause me to believe. You see, the king is the one
whose will's done. And when you come to him, you
come to him as a king. You come to him as the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to this scripture, Romans
4, 5, to him that worketh not. You know anything about that? You're convinced of this. You cannot be saved by your works. You're convinced of that. You
don't have to be taught that. You believe it. You see enough
about yourself. The Lord has revealed enough
to you about yourself that you know you can't be saved by anything
you do. To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifies
the ungodly. You believe you're ungodly and
you believe on him who actually justifies the ungodly. You believe
that there's such power in the work of Christ on Calvary's tree
that somebody ungodly like you can stand just before God, justified,
without guilt, perfect in God's sight. Romans 9, 10, if thou
shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in
thine heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved. You believe he's Lord, don't you? And you believe in
your heart that God raised him from the dead. Not just the fact
of the resurrection, but you believe why he was raised from
the dead. He put the sin away. He made satisfaction. God raised
him from the dead. 1 John 5, 1, who so believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. 1 John 5, 4, and 5, this
is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who
is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God? Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God? That's what the Bible calls faith. Now, let me remind you again.
I need to remind myself of this. Faith has nothing to do with
what you believe about yourself. Well, I believe I'm saved. That
doesn't mean you are. Well, I'm afraid I'm not saved.
That doesn't mean you're not. Faith has wholly to do with what
you personally think of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, I believe
he's the Christ. I believe he is the son of God. Now, look at our text. Verse
13 of Ephesians 1. In whom you also trusted after
that you heard. There's the hearing. after that you heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after
that you believed, you were sealed. Now, what about this word after?
It means you weren't sealed until you believed. And when you believed,
you were sealed. Having believed, you were sealed. Now this is God's seal. Finding someone who hears, he
doesn't find them, he gives them the hearing ears and he gives
them the faith. And this is the seal of they're
authentic, they're mine, they're real. They hear and they believe. Now, you don't believe and then
you're sealed. you are sealed, and the evidence
of sealing is believing. They come at the same time. Now,
logically, the sealing, the work of the Holy Spirit's got to come
first. You can't believe until you have life. You can't believe
until God does something for you. But chronologically, they
come at the precise same time. And this gives us some idea of
the importance of this thing of hearing, and believing, let
every man be swift to hear. I love this scripture. Let every
man be swift to hear and slow to speak and slow to wrath, slow
to pop off and say, I don't agree with this. I've heard this many times before. I've even said it. I've listened
to a preacher. I thought, you know, he's preaching better. He's preaching
better. Maybe I'm just hearing better.
Could be, couldn't it? You know, I want to preach better.
I hope this time next year I'm preaching more clearly and more
simply the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to preach
better, but it could be if somebody's preaching better, maybe I'm just
hearing better. And I've had people slam my preaching. I've had people say, well, you
dry doctrine, dead, lifeless. Well, it is to you, because you're
not hearing. If you were hearing, you wouldn't
say that. Indeed, it does seem dead and
dry. Well, the preacher's slipping.
Well, maybe he is. Maybe he is. I'll tell you, there's nothing
worse than going home and feeling like the Lord wasn't speaking
through your preaching. When I go home feeling that way,
it makes me pray so earnestly that the Lord don't leave me
to myself, don't leave these people listening to an idiot
like me. Don't let that happen. But the thing that is, If you
have ears to hear, you hear. What a blessing hearing is. The precious gift of hearing
and believing are products of the sealing of the Holy Spirit.
Turn with me for a moment to John chapter 16. I love the way
in verse 14, he's called the earnest of our inheritance. If
you have the Holy Spirit, you've been sealed by the Spirit of
God. If you've been sealed by the Spirit of God, this is the
evidence, hearing and believing. Isn't it being less sinful? No. No. Well, it seems like if you're
saved, you'd be less sinful. No. Are you saying sin's okay? No, not saying that at all. I'm
talking about the experience of the believer. I love where
Paul said, we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal,
sold under sin. Only a believer could make a
statement like that. An unbeliever would just be mystified by, what's
wrong with him then? Sold under sin, what's wrong
with him? They just don't know. They don't understand. The evidence
of being sealed by the Spirit of God is hearing and believing. Well, you're saying it doesn't
make any difference in your life? No, I'm not saying that. Every
believer manifests the Beatitudes. Every believer is poor before
God. Every believer mourns over their
sin. Every believer is meek before
God. Every believer hungers and thirsts
after righteousness. Every believer has that pure
heart that's given in regeneration. Every believer is merciful. Every
believer is a peacemaker. Every believer will be persecuted
for Christ's righteousness sake. Every believer will manifest
the fruit of God, the Holy Spirit. But when I'm looking at the sealing
of the Holy Spirit, what is its evidence? Well, it's how holy
you fit. No, it's hearing and believing. I asked you to turn to John chapter
16. Let me get there. Verse seven. Let's start in verse six. Because
I've said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.
Now they'd been with the Lord three years and he lets them
know he's leaving them. And he's letting them know he's
going to be crucified and slain. And he lets them know the third
day he'll be raised up, but they didn't have much understanding.
Nevertheless, I tell you that, but I've said these things and
you sorrow filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the
truth. It's expedient for you. It's necessary for you that I
go away. For if I go not away, the comforter,
what a name for the Holy Spirit, the comforter. I need for him to say, behold,
I am thy salvation. I need him to comfort me. I need
him to let me know that I really am a believer, someone who looks
to Christ, someone who hears, someone who believes. If I go
not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart,
I'll send him unto you. And when he has come, here's
his threefold work. He will reprove, and that word
reprove is convict, the world. The same world that God so loved
that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth
in Him should not perish. I have no problem with that.
He's the Savior of the world. That means if you're saved, it's
Him saving you. The only Savior there is in the
world is Him. But does this mean all men in
the world? Obviously not, because not all
men are convicted like this. But everybody who is, He's the
Savior of the world. I love that terminology. And
when he has come, he will approve or convict the world of sin and
of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin, because they believe
not on me. Now, what is the conviction of
sin? You know, some people act like
if they feel guilty about something or if the preacher made them
feel guilty or stepped on their toes, that means it's doing good. You know, I've stepped on my
toes, preacher. I didn't mean to. I promise I didn't. Sorry.
That kind of thinking is just wrong. That's not the conviction
of sin. Or even feeling guilty over things
you've done. That could be part of the conviction
of sin, but it's principally this. You're convicted of sin,
first of all, when it's your sin. And it's all your fault. And you're not a victim. You
can't blame God's sovereignty. You can't blame your circumstances.
It's your sin. And it's all your fault. You're convicted of the sinfulness
of your actual deeds. You're convicted to of the source
of those deeds, your evil nature. Listen, you don't become a sinner
when you sin. You sin because you're already a sinner. That's
where the sin comes from, that evil nature you have. You realize
that you have a heart that's desperately wicked and deceitful
above all things. And you become convicted that
your good works are actually evil and that your righteousness
is nothing more than filthy rags. You've not been convicted unless
you've been convicted of that. And you're convicted of this
thing of unbelief. Now, what does that mean? You're convinced that faith is
out of your reach. That you can't up and decide
to believe. You don't even know what it means
to believe. You're convinced of that. And you know what you
do when you're brought there? God have mercy on me, the sinner. I can't even believe. Something
as simple as that, I can't even believe unless you give me the
grace to. That's when you start, you come
to Christ not so much in faith, but for faith. Lord, give me
faith. Whatever faith is, give it to
me. Teach me what it means to trust you. That's what it means
to be convinced of sin. And next he says in verse 10,
to be convinced of righteousness because I go to my father and
you see me no more. What is the conviction of righteousness?
Well, why did he go to his father? To present his righteousness.
That's why he went to his father. He put sin away, and now he's
going back to the father, presenting his righteousness, and you become
convinced when God the Holy Spirit convicts you. You are convinced,
not by man, but by God. that the righteousness of Jesus
Christ is the only righteousness there is. Are you convinced of
that? David said in Psalm 71 verse
16, I've made mention of thy righteousness, even thine own
righteousness. only. David, why his only? It's the only one there is. And
you're convinced of that. And you don't want to stand before
God in any other way, but his righteousness. Now that's what
happens when God, the Holy Spirit convicts you. Verse 11 of judgment,
because the Prince of this world is judged, has been judged and
has been defeated. You see, When you're convinced
of the Holy Spirit, you're convinced that all judgment took place
on Calvary's tree. Satan was defeated, your sin
was put away, you were saved by what Christ did without any
reference to anything you do. You're convinced that all judgment
took place on Calvary's tree. Look at verse 14. He, this is
what God the Holy Spirit does. He shall glorify me. I turn back to Ephesians 1. Verses
13 and 14, in whom you also trusted. After that, you heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, after
that you believed, you were sealed, or having believed, you were
sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest
of our inheritance, the down payment, the pledge, the guarantee
of our eternal inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased
possession. Now, what is the guarantee that
I'm going to stand in glory? This earnest, this sealing, which
is evidenced by hearing and believing. I love that scripture, Romans
15, 13, the God of hope. And I have no doubt this is a
reference to God, the Holy Spirit. The God of hope fill you with
all joy and peace in believing. And notice verse 14, which is
the earnest, the guarantee, the down payment of our inheritance. Do you believe? Do you hear? Do you believe? Well, you have
been sealed by the Holy Spirit. You have the earnest. You have the guarantee, which
is the earnest of our inheritance. And what is that inheritance?
Joined heirs with Christ. Being made like Him. Until the
redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of His glory. Now, into the redemption of the
purchase possession. We're God's purchase possession. Now we're His by right. He's
God. Christ is Lord both of the dead
and the living. I love that scripture. You know that unbeliever? He's
their Lord. They don't know it, but He's
still their Lord. There in His hand. He's Lord of the living.
And every believer, not only are we His by right, but by purchase. He purchased us. You are bought
with a price. Therefore glorify God in your
spirit, in your body, which are the Lord's. I am my beloved's.
Don't you love to say that? I am my beloved's. I belong to
him and he is mine. But notice it says until the redemption of the purchased
possession. Now that hasn't happened yet.
You see, in the scriptures, we've been saved, we're being saved,
and we're not saved yet. As long as we sin, we're not
plumb saved, not yet. Now, we've been plumb saved,
by what Christ did, by his grace, we're being saved. We're in the
process right now. You're learning more and more
how much you need Christ, aren't you? You're learning more and
more just how much you're dependent upon free grace. You really believe
that. You're in that process, as it
were, of being saved. And to them which are being saved,
Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. But there's
a time coming when I'm not gonna be a sinner anymore. I'm not gonna have any sinful
appetites. I'm not gonna have any sinful thoughts. I'm not
gonna have any sinful desires. I'll be perfectly content. I'll
be perfectly satisfied. I'll be perfectly at peace. I won't have any raging clouds
going over my head. Perfect peace. When? Well, turn
with me to Romans 8. Notice he said, until the redemption
of the purchased possession. Romans chapter 8. Verse 23. And not only they, but ourselves
also, which have the first fruits of the spirit. We have that sealing
of the Spirit. We have that earnest of the Spirit.
We have the work of God, the Holy Spirit in our heart. And
because of that, we have some understanding of sin, of righteousness,
and of judgment. Even we ourselves grow within ourselves. waiting for
the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. I love that song,
waiting for a body that will never sin. We're waiting for
the redemption of our body. It hasn't happened yet. And it
won't happen until we close our eyes in death. And the moment
we close our eyes in death, we're gonna see him as he is, and we're
going to be perfectly conformed to his image. The redemption, the final redemption
of the purchased possession. And his last statement is to
the praise of his glory. You see, everything God does,
he does for his own glory. And any lower motive would be
beneath the transcendent excellency and dignity of his person. He
does what he does for his own glory. And for him to act any
other way would be beneath him. Somebody says, isn't God being
self-centered? No, he's being God. He's being
God. I love God being God, don't you? And I know this. When I stand before thy throne,
dressed in beauty not my own, when I see thee as thou art,
love thee with unsinning heart, then, Lord, shall I fully know,
not till then, how much I owe. I know I'm speaking as the spokesman
for every believer when I say every one of us think that we,
and I know this, I believe this, I believe this about myself.
And if you're a believer, you believe this about yourself as
well. I believe that I will be the greatest example of just
how much salvation really is all of grace. Let's pray. Lord, with what anticipation
we wait for the redemption of these bodies. Lord, how we thank you for the
precious gift of hearing. How we thank you for the precious
gift of believing. How we thank you for this sealing
of God, the Holy Spirit. That's evidenced by hearing and
believing. Lord, enable us to hear. We can't hear except you give
us ears to hear. Enable us to believe. We can't
believe except you grant us that faith. Lord, we're confessing. We can't do anything. But Lord,
you told us in your word, without me, you can do nothing. And Lord,
we believe that. And we ask that you would give
us grace to hear with those ears that are the gift of your grace,
and to believe with that heart that is the gift of your grace.
Lord, bless this message for Christ's sake. In his name we
pray. Amen. What do you got, Rich? 75. Does that abide with me?