Sealing of The Holy Spirit, Part 1

Introduction to the Doxology and the Holy Spirit's Role

0:02 A letter to the church at Ephesus, Ephesians chapter 1.

0:24 If anyone has begun to take seriously the message of the scriptures, I'm sure he will agree with the statement that no fallen son of Adam can have any greater blessing conferred upon him than to be the object of the sovereign, gracious, saving activity of the triune God. Were God to deed over to such a son of Adam, title to the entire universe, it would be like the giving of a penny to a king compared with the great gift of that sovereign, saving activity of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. And it was the contemplation of this greatest of all blessings, sovereign mercy, which caused the Apostle Paul to pen these profound words of Ephesians 1, verses 3 to 14, which comprise what is, in the judgment of many, the greatest doxology to be found in all of the Holy Scriptures. The theme of that doxology is announced in verse 3, as we have seen month by month in our study.

1:47 The Apostle is blessing God, particularly, God the Father, for that salvation which he has conferred in Jesus Christ. And he does so in these words which announce the theme, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Then, the spotlight focuses upon the work of the Father in that salvation, his distinctive work. And the Apostle then gives us these concepts of election in Christ unto holiness, predestination unto sonship, and then says the end of understanding this should be the praise of the glory of his grace. And then the focus moves from the Father to the Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, in whom we have wisdom and knowledge imparted by the Father, and in whom we have the power of the Holy Spirit. And then the third great blessing, particularly attributed to the Son, is that we have obtained an inheritance in him. And then in the conclusion of that second stanza of the hymn, the one in which the Son is central, we have this great statement that the reason why God conferred this blessing of the inheritance

3:14 was because of the good pleasure of his will, the same reason for which he does all things, in his universe. Now having completed our study of verse 12, we come this morning to verses 13 and 14, the last stanza in this great hymn to the triune God, this great volume of praise, focusing first of all upon the Father, then upon the Son, and now in verses 13 and 14, upon the Holy Spirit, in whom ye also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is an earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of God's own possession, unto the praise of his glory. Here then, the Holy Spirit for the first time is explicitly mentioned with reference to his part, in our salvation. Now he has been considered implicitly, particularly in the second stanza. We know nothing of the application of redemption apart from the work of the Holy Spirit.

4:37 We will know nothing of the impartation of the wisdom of Christ apart from the work of the Spirit illuminating our minds and opening our understanding. And we know nothing of the inheritance, now, or in its future aspects, apart from the work of the Holy Spirit. So, the Holy Spirit, no doubt, has been present in the mind of the Apostle Paul in the second stanza of this hymn, but he has been present implicitly. But now he is explicitly, openly, and specifically mentioned as to his great part in our so great salvation in Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit as God's Seal and Sermon Structure

5:19 And anyone just reading this paragraph without any careful attention can see that the spotlight indeed moves from the work of the Son in its exclusive measure and it bears in and focuses upon the Holy Spirit. And the great theme of the Apostle's thinking with reference to the Spirit is particularly his work as a seal of God, of God, upon and in the believer. So then, because we are shifting from our attention to the Son to attention on the Holy Spirit, I feel it's necessary to come at the passage from a large overview of the subject of the work of the Holy Spirit in our salvation. And then we will focus upon several considerations from verses 13 and 14, with reference to the sealing of the Holy Spirit. And then, God willing, next week, I hope to go into a detailed, phrase by phrase exposition of the two verses themselves. So you see how we are coming at it.

6:32 We are backing off and we are going to consider, first of all, some very important principles with relationship to the work of the Holy Spirit in connection with the Father and the Son as that work applies to salvation. Then we are going to draw a little closer to the text and we are going to consider to look at some introductory considerations from verses 13 and 14 and then next week we're going to plunge right in up this close so we're starting back here coming a little bit closer and then a little bit closer yet alright in the first place then I want to say several things about the importance of a biblically framed understanding of the distinctive work of the Holy Spirit in our salvation why should we pay close attention to Paul's statement concerning the distinctive work of the Holy Spirit in our salvation is it not enough to know that the Father has chosen us and has predestined us to sonship that the Son has redeemed us and abounded to us in wisdom and that in Him we have an inheritance isn't that enough to provide fuel for worship and an intelligent understanding of salvation well the answer of the Apostle Paul of course would be no he says I wrote three hymns in my stanzas in my three stanzas in my hymn of praise and don't omit the last one

The Importance of a Biblically Trinitarian Understanding of the Holy Spirit

8:00 well why was the Apostle concerned that we have an understanding of the distinctive work of the Holy Spirit in our salvation and I want to answer that question and I shall answer it with two or three propositions first of all our conception of salvation is biblical only if it is decidedly and self-consciously Trinitarian now I've used big words but don't run away I've used them because I believe they state precisely what I want to say and I will explain them why should we be concerned to understand the distinctive work of the Holy Spirit in our salvation well for the simple reason that our conception of salvation is biblical only if we are decidedly and self-consciously Trinitarian in our understanding of salvation and to be Trinitarian we must not only understand the place of the Father in election and predestination the place of the Son in redemption and the impartation of wisdom and the giving of an inheritance but we must understand the distinctive work of the Holy Spirit in our salvation and then I've used the word self-consciously Trinitarian because anyone who believes the Bible will say oh yes the Holy Spirit had a part in my salvation

9:27 but that's about the extent of their thinking with reference to this matter now by self-conscious I mean what one of these kids would experience if he had to come into church this morning with a big six inch bandage on the end of his nose you see every time you come to church you come with your nose but you're not self-conscious about your nose you're not self-conscious you don't come into church wondering who's looking at my nose and trying to hide your nose your nose is there and if I asked you do you have a nose you'd say yes do you believe your nose is visible to others oh yes but you see if you had a cut on your nose and had about three stitches and a big bandage on the end of that nose you would be self-conscious about your nose the minute you step through the door you'd be watching to see who's looking at your nose and you'd probably be have a tendency to sort of sneak in this way and sit up real close to your dad's nose so nobody could see it you'd be very conscious that you had a nose now you don't have any more nose than when you're not conscious of it the difference is you are self-consciously aware of your nose now that's a very homely illustration but I hope to at least get the ears of the kids but it does illustrate what I mean by a self-conscious conception of the distinctive work of the Holy Spirit in our salvation in other words our understanding of his distinctive work is not something to which we give lip assent and from time to time consciously think

10:54 but in the whole warp and woof of our thinking we are just as conscious of his distinctive work as we are of the work of the Father and the work of the Son this was true of the Apostle Paul as he contemplated the whole range of saving mercy from election to glorification and that's where he ends in verse 14 unto the full redemption of God's own possession and we'll see that speech of eschatological salvation the final salvation the full inheritance that will come when we are glorified and we are manifested in glory with Christ as the Apostle thinks of that full range of salvation he is self-consciously Trinitarian which means he is not only conscious of the specificity the specific work of the Father the specific work of the Son but the specific work of the Holy Spirit and so I state and I believe rightly so that this kind of thinking alone is biblical thinking about salvation now this accords with the commission of our Lord who when he ordained or when he commissioned his Apostles to go forth and to make disciples said you are to make disciples of course through preaching

12:21 and you are to baptize them into the name of that God who is Father Son and Holy Ghost in other words on the very threshold of coming in to the covenant community of the people of God and openly ratifying one's covenantal relationship to God through Christ there is to be a self-conscious Trinitarian perspective I am coming into covenantal relationship with that God who is not only Father who chose me and predestined me to Sonship not only with the Son who redeemed me and through whom divine wisdom has come and in whom I have an inheritance but I am brought into covenantal relationship with that God who is Holy Spirit who has healed me unto the day of redemption I say this alone this kind of thinking alone accords with the commission of our Lord as found in Matthew 28 likewise as the people of God enjoy the blessings of the ministry of the gathered community of the saints they are to think of themselves as being under the canopy of the blessing of that God who is Father Son and Spirit so when the Apostle gives that well-known benediction

Trinitarian Worship and Consequences of Neglect

13:47 in 2 Corinthians 13-14 he says and now may the grace of Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all what is he saying? he is saying that he is self-consciously Trinitarian in his views of God and he wants the people of God to be and he would not be if he had only said the grace of Christ and the love of God and omitted the communion of the Holy Spirit so in answer to the question why is it important to have a biblically framed understanding of the distinctive work of the Holy Spirit in salvation I answer our conception of salvation is biblical only if we are self-consciously Trinitarian second reason is our worship is biblical only if it is decidedly and self-consciously Trinitarian in its content we have spent some weeks on the subject of worship and we have seen that the sphere of acceptable worship according to our Lord is the sphere of spirit and of truth worship is to be from the heart in the context of divine revelation only such worship is acceptable to God well if it is to be acceptable to God it must be according to truth and if it is according to truth

15:14 it will be self-consciously Trinitarian worship which means the Holy Spirit will have his rightful place in not only our understanding but also in the pouring forth of our praise and our worship unto God the same apostle who says blessed be the God and Father says in whom ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise now as many of you know I had the privilege this past week of preaching for three days at a Pentecostal Bible Institute up in the city of New York in New York State now were I preaching to that student body this morning I would put the emphasis here your worship is not acceptable unless you see the place of the Father in your salvation for generally speaking those in Pentecostal circles have much of Jesus and of Christ in their worship and much of the Holy Ghost but for the most part they know little of the fact that they are salvationists salvation is bounded and rooted in the eternal purpose of God and therefore I would press upon them the necessity of a Trinitarian worship that sees that salvation begins in the electing purposes of God that salvation has as its goal what the Father purposed not happiness but holiness

16:40 that they were chosen unto holiness but I'm not preaching to that student body of Pentecostal students but I'm preaching to a group of people who have come out of most of you the rank and file of evangelical circles in which there is a very real temptation to neglect the distinctive ministry of the Holy Spirit while maintaining a proper emphasis upon the work of the Son and the work of the Father and so I believe the exhortation we need is this our worship is not acceptable unless it is decidedly Trinitarian which means we give to the Holy Spirit His proper place in our worship and then the third thing I would say in answer to the general question the importance what is the importance of having clear understanding on the work of the Spirit and salvation my third answer is this the absence of this self-conscious Trinitarian thinking and worship has led to some terrible terrible consequences first and foremost it has robbed God of some of the glory that is due unto Him as one of the old creeds says in speaking of the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit who with the Father and the Son

18:07 is to be praised to be adored and to be worshipped you look at the Trinity Hymnal several areas of glaring weakness amidst its many struggles that have led us to adopt it as our own hymnal and the section on the Holy Spirit is impoverished just by the few the few number of hymns that are there and God the Holy Spirit is robbed of some of the glory that is due to Him now I'm fully aware of the fact that He does not come to testify of Himself He has come to reveal the things of Christ to us and we sang that we prayed that in our last hymn that He is the one who is the Spirit would do His work of glorifying Christ but listen there is nothing in Scripture to indicate that He is to be ignored as the one who does reveal Christ and apply the benefits of Christ to our hearts if this were true then our Lord was wrong in giving us three whole chapters in which the person and ministry and office and work of the Holy Spirit is central or are central John 14, 15 and 16 so giving due regard to the Holy Spirit is not necessarily moving off center in the biblical perspective rather we run the danger of robbing God of some of the glory due to Him

19:35 for our salvation then a second result that has come from this absence of self-conscious Trinitarian thinking is that it has created a climate in which man has too much glory people speak of Christ dying for their sins and gladly confess that without the shedding of His blood they would never be saved but the general impression is given that whether or not one enters into the benefits of His death ultimately depends upon the activity of man if I were to say in the average evangelical congregation if Christ had not died I would have no Savior and no salvation I would receive a reflex Amen everyone would agree to that if Christ had not died I would have no Savior and no salvation but if I go on to say had the Spirit not been given and had He not powerfully and personally applied Christ to me I would have no more benefit from Christ than I would have had Christ not died that would really cause them to sit back in their pews and listen a second time but you see there should be no less immediate agreement with the second statement than with the first for both are equally true just as much as I would have no Savior

21:03 objectively presented if there were no death and resurrection I would have no salvation subjectively and powerfully applied if there were no present activity of the Spirit and so where the thinking concerning salvation is not decidedly and self-proclaimed or consciously Trinitarian God is robbed of some of His glory a climate is created in which man has too much glory and thirdly it has created a vacuum into which extreme views on the Holy Spirit have rushed nature hates a vacuum whether in the realm of the physical or the spiritual and the mental and where there has been a vacuum on decided biblical teaching and self-proclaimed teaching self-conscious appreciation of the work of the Spirit into that vacuum has rushed all forms of teaching on the person and work of the Holy Spirit which are a deflection from the essential teaching of the Word of God and so in our own generation we are witnessing what by many is considered to be the greatest revival since the days of the Apostles but which some of us have reason to believe is in great measure nothing but satanic counterfeit and psychological and autosuggestion and we're grieved by it

22:32 but we're grieved because we know that a vacuum has been created into which this teaching has rushed in other words people have not been immunized against errors with reference to the Holy Spirit by being grounded in the truth concerning the Holy Spirit and you notice the Apostle Paul recognizes that as this principle in Ephesians 4 he says in verse 13 that ye be no more children tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine and by the slight of man whereby they lie and wait to deceive well how do you get out of that state well he says so in the next verse but speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things so then there must be immunization against error by the truth concerning the person and work of the Holy Spirit well I hope those three reasons are sufficient to convince you that it is necessary for you to gird up the loins of your mind and think hard and clear about the distinctive ministry of the Holy Spirit in the application of salvation unless we are self-consciously Trinitarian in our thinking we are not thinking biblically about our salvation we are not worshipping biblically and we are leaving the door open for these three terrible consequences robbing God the spirit of some of the glory

24:01 due to him leaving a situation in which man is going to get too much praise and glory and creating a further vacuum into which deflective teaching and defective teaching will come alright now we are going to come a little closer to Ephesians 1 13 and 14 I hope you are convinced you ought to come real close to it now that was my first task to convince you you ought to come real close now as we start to come close what do we find well let's look at the verses in whom ye also speaking of course of in Christ the sphere in which all spiritual blessing has come the theme announced in verse 3 blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ so if he is going to lay out another blessing he is reminding us the sphere of it in whom ye also having heard the word of God the truth the gospel of your salvation in whom having also believed ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise who is an earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of God's own possession unto the praise of his glory now it is obvious that the apostle in singling I want to say signal in singling out one aspect of the work of the spirit takes this word work of sealing the main thought of these two verses

The Centrality of 'Ye Were Sealed' and Interpretive Principles

25:29 is found in the verb ye were sealed everything else in verses 13 and 14 either modifies amplifies explains or expands this statement ye were sealed that's the fundamental thought in whom is the spirit in which the sealing occurs in whom ye were sealed having heard the word of the gospel having believed those were the conditions attending the sealing the agent in the sealing ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise the immediate effect of the sealing he is an earnest of our inheritance the ultimate goal of the sealing twofold as far as your concern the full redemption of the purchased possession far as God is concerned the praise of his glory so you see a treatment of these two verses can hang together by recognizing that all of the phrases in some way modify amplify explain qualify expand this statement ye were sealed well then if that's true the one place we can't afford the luxury of being wrong is what does it mean to be sealed if everything

26:57 pivots upon that statement if we're wrong there then everything we build on it's off when I did construction work I did the dirty work digging out the holes in the trenches for foundations and the rest and there are times when it seemed almost ridiculous the care with which we had to plumb up that foundation and after laying two or three courses of block we'd get the transit and set it up at one thing and I'd hold the stick on there with the measurements on it and if we were just a quarter of an inch off then we'd remember that and put a little more mortar in the block for the next two or three courses so that when we were done and the carpenters came in to put down the plate upon which the house would be constructed they had confidence that everything they put from the foundation up was going to be alright if we had messed up then everything they did would be messed up well in the same way as we try to see the construction of the mind of the Holy Ghost in this passage the foundation is understanding these words ye were sealed and if we're off there then the sphere in which we're sealed we won't understand that the immediate attending conditions of the ceiling ye heard ye believed we won't understand that so we must begin right here well it's at this point that in one who seeks to expound the word of God often runs into trouble he gets out his Greek Testament and he looks up the parallel passages and his concordance and he says well I think I think I have some idea what it means

28:26 let me check out my thoughts with the masters of the past and so he promptly pulls Hodge off the shelf and he says well that makes good sense I think that's what it says then he has the misfortune of maybe pulling off another commentator and lo and behold there is a different approach to the ceiling and then he pulls off another and there's a different approach until he enters that state where he wonders is there any way to come down with solid conviction Lord what does it say in the multitude of counselors there is safety but oft times in the multitude of counselors there's confusion they don't speak with a voice of unanimity and then you say well who am I to question the findings of the great Dr. Hodge or who am I to question the findings of the great Dr. Goodwin and then a man says but I've got to preach and I've got to tell God's people what that text says and so you begin to say well Lord help me to back up and look at the context again maybe the key is found somewhere in the overall drift of the passage so that I can start by saying what it does in me I may not be able to say I believe this man is right but if I can say this one and this one and that one is wrong I've at least narrowed down the field now that's exactly what I want to do in the time that remains this morning I want to state what this ceiling must be or can be or can be or cannot be

The Sealing as a Universal and Attendant Experience

29:56 in terms of the immediate and more remote context in other words I'm not going to tell you what the ceiling is this morning that's to be reserved for next week but I want to share with you some principles out of the passage which have brought me to my conclusions so that you can examine those principles and see if they are valid so that you will come to the same conclusion let's start the first thing we understand from the larger context of Ephesians 1, 13 and 14 is that whatever the ceiling of the spirit is it is the possession and the experience of all the people of God now some commentators say the ceiling is a subsequent experience in which God imparts assurance some commentators say the ceiling of the spirit is a subsequent experience that some Christians may or may not have in which there are peculiar gifts given some try to combine these thoughts and you say well Lord who's right but as you look at the larger context of this statement you will come to the conclusion that whatever the ceiling of the Holy Spirit is it is the possession and the experience of all the people of God and why do I say that well look again at verse 1 Paul an apostle

31:24 of Christ Jesus through the will of God and the people of God and the people of God and the people of God to the saints that are at Ephesus and though there's some textual question about the word at Ephesus nobody questions that the word the saints is there so whatever Paul is saying is addressed to the saints in general verse 3 blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us all the people of God with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ and then as Paul goes on he makes it very clear there's no Christian who is not elect unto holiness is there such a thing as a true Christian who has not been elected unto holiness of course not because the apostle says even as he chose us all the people of God you saints at Ephesus and me Paul and my companions is there any child of God who is not predestined unto sonship why of course not he says having forewarned ordained us unto adoption as sons is there any child of God who is not redeemed by the blood of Christ why of course not the scripture says in whom we have our redemption through his blood is there any Christian who has not been made wise unto salvation through the gospel of course not the text says wherein he hath abounded to us in all wisdom and prudence you see what I'm doing don't you I'm taking you down

32:52 through the whole paragraph and showing that whatever the apostle says in expanding and in expounding this great salvation everything he says applies to all of the people of God so that when he writes later in chapter 4 and in verse 30 and says and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption he's not writing to a special little class at Ephesus who have pressed on and met a thousand conditions until they've gotten a subsequent experience in the Holy Spirit he's not writing to some little elite esoteric group who have had some peculiar gifts imparted he is saying something which is true of all the people of God that's why though this same apostle is going to exhort the Ephesians to many things in his letter he's going to exhort them to holiness he's going to pray that they have greater insight in the Holy Spirit that they have stronger faith that they have deeper experience of the love of Christ which passes knowledge never once in all of the New Testament is there any exhortation to seek the sealing of the Spirit no exhortation to pray for the sealing of the Spirit it is stated as a fact

34:19 in whom ye were sealed so whatever the sealing is it must be sealed it must be something that is the common possession and common experience of all the saints of God second thing the immediate context tells us that whatever it is it always attends a saving reception of the Gospel it always attends a saving reception of the Gospel notice in whom ye also having heard the word of the truth the Gospel of your salvation in whom having also believed ye were sealed and those phrases could be summarized this way in whom on hearing and believing ye were saved so you have this trilogy of experience they heard they believed they were sealed now what did they hear does he say you heard some message quote of the full Gospel that being converted was not enough that simply having the indwelling of the Spirit was not enough but you must go on to seek a sealing or a baptism in the Spirit

35:48 is that what they heard not according to Paul he says he heard the word of the truth which was the Gospel full of your salvation. And what was that gospel? Well, Paul tells you in Acts chapter 20. When he's facing the Ephesians, he said, I kept back nothing that was profitable to you, but have testified publicly and from house to house.

36:11 And what was his gospel? Repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. His gospel was not a gospel which said, now get saved and get that over with and then here's a list of 20 conditions. If you meet them, you'll get the baptism of the Spirit.

36:26 That was not his gospel. The word of the truth was the word concerning God's revelation of himself in Jesus Christ and the provision and the demands of the gospel summarized in repentance and in faith. And he says, you heard, and then what did you do? You believed that word.

36:50 Faith was gendered in your hearts by the mysterious and mighty work of the Spirit. In that work that precedes what he calls here the actual sealing or reception of the Spirit. The work of the Holy Spirit in regenerating, taking out the heart of stone, giving a new heart, having heard, having believed, ye were sealed. And the emphasis in the original is not upon any time lapse.

37:21 And this is tragic that the King James was translated after, after, after, though there was some time sequence. And I'm surprised that certain commentators have just taken that translation and built whole doctrines on it. No, no, the emphasis in the original is you heard, you believed, you were sealed. And since you can't put all things together that may happen simultaneously but must lay them out, it's more that that we find in this passage.

37:49 So then, whatever the sealing is, it always attends a saving reception of the Spirit. The Gospel. Any view of what the sealing is which does violence to this inseparable trilogy, these three things, this triad of thought, hearing, believing, and sealing cannot be the proper understanding.

The Spirit's Impartation with Initial Gospel Response

38:13 Now this comes into the area or brings us into the area of one of the most fundamental principles on the work of the Holy Spirit which if we do not understand we're open to every kind of confusing doctrine. And the principle is this. That the basic impartation of the gift of the Spirit always comes with the initial response to the Gospel. So that the emphasis of the New Testament is you have received all in the gift of the Spirit.

38:45 Now live out what God has given. Draw upon the resources. Never is the emphasis there's something more. That was the emphasis of the Galatian heretics.

38:57 That was the emphasis of the Galatians. That was the emphasis of the Colossian heretics. They had a Gospel of Jesus plus something. The Gospel plus something.

39:05 And Paul kept bringing them back saying no, the Gospel imparted all.

39:11 And so when he writes to the Galatians what does he say? He says, are you so foolish having begun in the Spirit you are now seek to be made perfect in the flesh? Well when did they begin in the Spirit? Well he tells them.

39:25 Receive ye the Spirit by the works of the law. Or by the hearing of faith. He says you received the Spirit when you embraced the message of the Gospel in faith. Now these people come along and say alright, that's alright to start with.

39:42 But now to really go on to spiritual maturity you need something more. Paul says more theology quotes more theology or the theology of more is to move into the realm of the flesh. As someone has said the fatal number in theology is two. The fatal number in theology is two.

40:05 No, as the Gospel came and was embraced the gift of the Spirit was imparted and this perspective is seen in the teaching of the epistles. It's seen in the record of the preaching in the book of Acts and the day of Pentecost. What did Peter say? Repent and be baptized and then if you carry long enough and if you meet ten other conditions you'll receive the gift of the Spirit?

40:32 No, repent, be baptized you shall receive the gift of the Spirit. Just that simple. And when the Scripture says they that received His word were baptized and they were added unto them the clear implication is that they did receive the Spirit. No evidence that there were charismatic manifestations when they did but there was the gracious evidence that they received the Spirit for the next text says and these all continued steadfastly.

41:00 In the apostles doctrine in fellowship in the breaking of bread and of prayers. Now who produces that? Steadfastness. Attachment to apostolic doctrine.

41:13 Willingness to be identified with the people of God and give oneself to prayer and reveling in the privilege of being identified with the visible community in mutual sharing and fellowship. That's the work of the Spirit whom they received upon their repentance and faith. And so this perspective that we find here in Ephesians 1 is so essential to any understanding of the work of the Spirit in general. So then I give you these two introductory principles from the more remote context the more immediate context that we give them to you again.

Practical Application: Rejoice in Sealing or Believe the Gospel

41:50 Whatever the sealing of the Spirit is it is the possession and experience of all the people of God just as every other blessing in this passage is the possession of all God's people and secondly whatever the sealing of the Spirit is it is the attendant of a saving reception of the Gospel. When the Gospel is heard and the Gospel is believed the sealing work of God occurs. Well then as we close this morning what does this say to all of us? I know this has been kind of heavy and a bit academic but I'm sorry.

42:26 There are times we have to be if we're going to teach you as we ought. And I don't make any apologies for doing that occasionally. I don't do it any more than I have to but I felt I had to this morning. But it does have some very practical applications to us which I hope will turn our hearts to the Lord in worship and in praise as we close this morning.

42:47 Let me ask you as you sit here this morning child of God have you heard the Gospel of salvation? The word of the truth of the Gospel? Has it become what Paul says here the Gospel of you? Your salvation?

43:02 Have you embraced that message from the heart? Have you from the heart committed yourself to Him who is offered in that Gospel? And whether you understand what the sealing is and understand the implications rejoice in this fact this morning you are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Don't trouble yourself as to whether or not you are sealed.

43:30 Make the focus of your concern Lord. Help me to understand. Understand what this great blessing is. What this great gift is.

43:38 That I may worship you for it. That I may appreciate more fully your great salvation. That I may be more careful that I do not grieve and quench Him by whom I have been sealed unto the day of redemption. Do not trouble yourself.

43:55 Well do I have the sealing or do I don't? Do I don't? That's bad English. Or do I not?

44:02 My mind was going to the next sentence. As I've read some of the commentators and thought well I wonder what happened in the congregations where they preach this stuff. All I can see is the people of God going out confused and torn and some saying well I think I've got the seal and others say well I think I may have half the seal and somebody else saying well I wonder if I have any seal. Oh dear children of God listen.

44:27 Whatever else you don't have of measures of holiness and grace and love to Christ. Love to Christ and seal for the souls of men. If you've heard and believed you've been sealed. And we hope to open up the glory of that mighty work of divine sealing.

44:46 So rejoice this morning and say Lord I don't know what it is but I thank you it's mine. And be pleased to show me what it is that I might rejoice. But then I'm speaking to some of you. You've heard the word of the truth.

45:02 But it hasn't become what Paul says. Here the gospel of your salvation. You've heard the word of the truth. The truth that God is your God who made you in his image.

45:15 That Christ is his son whom he sent to rebel sinners such as you and I. You've heard that. But it hasn't become the gospel of your salvation. It's proclaimed salvation to you.

45:28 It has extended all the privileges of salvation to you. It has set salvation before you. But it hasn't become the gospel of your salvation. Why?

45:38 Because you haven't believed. You haven't credited the testimony God has made of his dear son. And given yourself to him in faith and repentance. What a terrible thing for you to have to sit here and be an onlooker from the outside.

45:58 As we seek to open up the glory of this sealing work of the spirit. And you'll observe the same work. And you'll observe the same work. And you'll observe the same work.

46:05 And you'll observe the same work. If you'll notice the difference of God I trust with the glory of God upon their faces. And you'll notice the difference of God I trust with the glory of God upon their faces. As they rejoiced in this.

46:10 And you're standing out here no part of it. Oh dear friend, the most wonderful thing that could happen this morning would be that having heard the word of the truth. You believed that gospel. And when that becomes the gospel of your salvation, you too are sealed by the Spirit.

46:30 And you can come with us if God spares us next week. And you can come with us if God spares us next week. And on your very first week anniversary of life in Christ, you can have the joy of seeing what God has wrought in sealing you with the Spirit. Oh, I plead with men and women, fellas and girls, who've heard the gospel, but it isn't the gospel of your salvation.

46:58 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. And in the saving embrace of that gospel is the great blessing of the sealing work of the Spirit. As the Apostle says, and as we shall amplify next week, God willing, that Jesus Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. Why? That the blessing of Abraham might come to all who believe the gospel, that they might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

47:36 It's when we have dealings with Christ in the gospel that we are sealed by the Spirit. And so I do not hold up before you some coat of many colors, subjective experience, a list of twenty-five conditions that one must meet before he can know what it is to be sealed with the Spirit. No, no. I hold before you the word of the truth in the gospel.

48:03 That truth about God, about your own... sin, about Christ, his death and resurrection, about repentance and faith, and call upon you to believe, and then you too shall know the blessed sealing of this passage.

48:20 Let us unite our hearts in prayer that God himself will be pleased in this very hour to cause some to make the gospel the gospel of their own salvation, to embrace it to themselves. And then pray that God will be pleased to open to us as his children something of the glory of this great ministry of the Spirit by whom we have been sealed unto the day of redemption. Let us pray.