Hearing and Believing

Introduction to the Sealing of the Spirit and the Need to Revisit Key Terms

0:02 The Apostle, as he traces out the various facets of salvation in Christ, he broke out into this great hymn of praise. Praise to the Father, praise to the Son, and praise to the Holy Spirit. Praise which, as we've seen week after week, flowed out of a heart that wasn't a stranger to the concepts he enunciated. He wasn't dealing with the concepts of election in Christ, and predestination through Christ unto sonship, and redemption, and the overflowing of the wisdom of the gospel.

0:41 I say he was not dealing with these concepts as a theologian trafficking in his official business. He was dealing with them as a saint, speaking out of the fullness of his own attachment to this great God. And so he uses the terms, which express in the highest form worship and praise. Blessed, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1:11 Then as that blessing of the Father opens up, he traces out the various strands of this great salvation treasured up in Jesus Christ and given to all who are united to him. In the process of unfolding that salvation, he comes in, verses 13 and 14, to the distinctive work of the Holy Spirit in the application of this salvation, which work he brings before us under the concept of sealing. In whom he also, having heard of the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom having also believed, he were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is in earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption, of God's own possession, unto the praise of his glory. For several weeks now, we've been trying to extract from these words of the apostle what it means to be sealed by the Spirit. What is the significance of this great blessing? All to the end that we with the apostle may be filled with wonder and awe and we too may break out in blessing and in adoration to God, not only for the Father's distinctive work in election and predestination and for the distinctive work of the Son

2:39 in redemption, overflowing to us in the wisdom of the gospel, giving us an inheritance, but that we may with burning hearts and with clear heads praise God for the distinctive ministry of the Spirit in the application of our salvation. So we've looked at the meaning of the concept to seal. We've seen that it brings together the ideas of authenticating something as the real thing, identifying something and also preserving and securing a given object. And so God himself has authenticated his own, has identified them and has committed himself to preserve them. And we saw, we saw that the agent in the sealing is set before us very clearly. In whom ye were sealed with the Spirit, particularly as the Spirit of the promise, the Spirit, the Holy One. And then for a couple of weeks we've been looking at the significance of the words in whom ye were sealed.

3:50 For here the apostle sets before us the concept of the sphere in which the sealing occurs. The agent is the Spirit. But the sphere, the realm in which he does his sealing work is nothing less than that realm which was opened up to us in the very first verse of this great hymn of praise, union with Jesus Christ. So that there is an inclusiveness of this statement.

4:17 All who are in Christ are sealed. But there is an exclusiveness as well. Those who are not in Christ are not sealed. So that the sealing of the Spirit as with all the ministries of the Spirit are bound up in this matter of union with Jesus Christ.

4:36 We do not have dealings with Christ as elementary Christian experience and then go on to subsequent and advanced Christian experience by having direct dealings with the Holy Spirit. No. At the very threshold of entrance into experimental acquaintance with the Gospel are dealings with Christ are the very things that introduce us to first-hand dealings with the Holy Spirit. And what is true at the threshold is true of the continuance of the Christian life.

5:08 We have true, valid dealings with the Holy Spirit only to the extent that we have true and valid dealings with Jesus Christ as revealed to us in the Gospel. Now I had hoped to move on to verse 14 today in which we have two gospels. Very fundamental lines of thought with reference to the work of the Spirit in sealing. You have first of all the cardinal significance of sealing which is an earnest of our inheritance.

5:42 The sealing is a down payment of the full rewards of grace that will come in at the completion of our redemption and then you have also what we might call the ultimate peace which is the purpose in the sealing unto the redemption of God's own possession unto the praise of his glory. But we'll have to wait till next week to open up those phrases. As I say I had hoped to deal with them this morning but the Lord willing will deal with them next week. But I felt somewhat constrained to go back and open up some phrases that we passed over.

6:20 We used them again and again in the exposition of the meaning of sealing, the agent in the sealing, the speech of the Lord, the Spirit, the Spirit, and the Holy Spirit. There is a sphere in which the sealing takes place but there are four of the most fundamental nouns in Christian vocabulary and two of the most fundamental verbs that we've used again and again but we haven't opened them up in any kind of detail. Look at them. In whom ye also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom having believed.

7:00 And of course the four key nouns of Christian vocabulary are the word, the truth, the gospel, salvation. What more fundamental nouns can one have in the stuff of Christian vocabulary? Word, truth, gospel, salvation. And what two more fundamental verbs than heard and believed.

What the Ephesians Heard: The Word of the Truth, the Gospel of Salvation

7:26 And so I feel it necessary to take some time this morning to go back and open up those two phrases because they are bound up with this whole matter of the sealing of the Holy Spirit. And so we shall consider this morning what the Ephesians heard which led to their being sealed with the Spirit, what the Ephesians did which led to their being sealed with the Spirit, and thirdly, what does all of this say to us by way of practical instruction and exhortation. First of all then, what did the Ephesians hear which led to their being sealed with the Spirit? Well, Paul says they heard something which he describes in two phrases. Having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation. Now these are not two different things. But each phrase explains and supports the other.

8:32 They were sealed with the Spirit of the promise, the Holy One, when they heard the word of the truth. That is a proclamation of ultimate reality. Truth is that which is. It is reality.

8:48 And he says it was upon hearing a proclamation of ultimate reality which is, the good news, the gospel, which focuses upon the salvation or the work of deliverance from sin and its consequences through Jesus Christ. That word, it is no fable, it is ultimate truth. And when someone says what is ultimate truth, it is that message of the gospel. And so one phrase explains and supports the other.

9:20 Well then let's look at those phrases for a few minutes this morning. What did the Ephesians hear which led to their sealing? They heard that which Paul calls the word of the truth. And Paul delighted to use this concept with reference to the gospel.

The Nature of the Word of the Truth: Absolute, Expressible, Perceptible

9:40 In Colossians chapter 1 and verse 5 he says, Because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. And you have a parallel phrase very similar to that which is before us here in Ephesians. And when Paul uses this phrase reminding the Ephesians of what they heard which led to their sealing, he is declaring three very fundamental facts. First of all, he is giving us to know that there is such a thing as absolute truth.

10:23 The world would be much less miserable and confused if Pilate's question had died with Pilate. Do you remember his sneering question after our Lord said, I have come to bear witness of the truth. And he says, What is truth? Is there such a thing as ultimate reality?

10:46 Is there such a thing as truth? Well the Apostle Paul was very much aware of the philosophical thought patterns of his day. Very much aware of those who would in his day ask the question, What is truth? And in that context he comes to the Ephesians preaching the gospel and he says that message which you heard was the word of the truth.

11:15 Letting them know and reminding them that there is such a thing as absolute truth. Secondly, he is not only asserting that there is such a thing as absolute truth, he is asserting that there is and that truth can be intelligibly expressed. He said you heard the word or the message of the truth. Some would say, Ah yes, there is absolute truth and it exists somewhere.

11:43 Somewhere, out there, up there, down there. Truth is somewhere. But who are we to ever discover it? Who are we to ever understand it?

11:54 Who are we ever to express it? And so you have in our own day the very thing that is driving so many in our own generation to search for truth in the weirdest places, hoping that somewhere, whether on an LSD trip or high on some other kind of drug experience or delving into one's own inner depths, some kind of insight will come that could be called ultimate reality. Truth? Paul says no.

12:25 There is such a thing as absolute truth and it can be intelligibly expressed. The word of the truth. That is why the apostle dared to claim in 1 Corinthians 2.13 that the gospel he preached and of which he wrote and expounded, he preached and wrote in verbal concepts which the Holy Ghost taught him.

12:47 1 Corinthians 2.13 Which things we speak not in wisdom, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but in words which the Holy Ghost teacheth. God can and does convey absolute truth in these verbal symbols called words. These things that we frame with the larynx and with the lips and the mouth and we utter those things that we frame when we pick up our pens.

13:19 Almighty God can and has conveyed absolute truth. Ultimate reality has come to us in words. You say, what are you so excited about? Well, if you felt some of the despair that some of us can imagine, we would feel if this were not true.

13:39 You'd be excited. And there are some of you who felt that despair. Where is truth to be found? God says it's to be found in the word of the truth.

13:49 It can be intelligibly expressed. And then thirdly, Paul asserts that that truth can be intelligently perceived. He says he heard the word of the truth. He didn't say you felt it.

14:05 You encountered it in some kind of a subjective, non-describable experience. He said the organ of hearing, your ears, those appendages that hang on the side of your head, they got into geographical proximity to the vibrations coming out of my larynx and to the words formed on my lips. And ultimate truth came upon those organs of hearing. And you understood them.

14:36 What a blessed thing that the eternal God has condescended to convey truth, facts, things as they are, intelligibly expressed so that they might be intelligently perceived. Truth comes to us in propositions, in statements. They did not have to go into ecstasies, ecstasies, into some kind of irrational transports and then come out of their ecstasy and say, ah, I found the truth. And there are some poor people out there who say, tell me what it is.

15:14 And you say, I'm sorry. If somehow we can both go back into that transport, if we can both go back into the state of ecstasy, then maybe you will and maybe you won't get the same truth that I got. Ridiculous. No, no.

15:29 Paul says, ye heard the word. The word of the truth. You were exposed to that truth. The truth revealed to me by my heavenly Father.

15:42 The truth preached to you in the Gospel. So then, in describing the means by which these Ephesians were brought into the sphere of union with Christ that they might be sealed with the Spirit, the Apostle asserts three of the most fundamental facets of biblical truth. Facts which are questioned in our day. Facts which are denied.

16:09 Facts which are lampooned and considered ridiculous. But facts which, like a granite mountain which isn't moved by the lightning that plays off its craggy peaks. Facts which stand. And many of you here are monuments of the truth of those facts.

16:27 There is ultimate truth. That truth can be intelligible expressed. It can be intelligently perceived. So he uses the phrase the word of the truth.

The Nature of the Gospel of Salvation: Source, Substance, and Spirit

16:40 That's what they believed which led to their sealing. The word of the truth. And then he uses the phrase the Gospel of your salvation. The word of the truth was the proclamation of ultimate reality.

16:58 Yes. And it focused upon those things which are embodied in the Gospel of salvation. Gospel of course meaning joyous tidings. Salvation speaking of deliverance from sin and all of its consequences.

17:20 Now what was that Gospel of their salvation which Paul proclaimed? Well if you turn to Acts 20 he gives to us by way of his statements to the Ephesian elders the most salient parts of that Gospel. He says something about the source of it the substance of it and the spirit of it. What was the source of this Gospel of their salvation?

17:52 The word of the truth. Look at verse 27. For I shrank not from declaring unto you speaking to the Ephesian elders the whole truth. The whole counsel of God.

18:10 Of God. What was the source of this Gospel of their salvation? Its source was God Himself. Therefore its truth is tied in with the very character of the God who revealed it.

18:26 Its authority is bound up in the authority of the God who gave it. The Apostle again and again underscored this principle. Though he might be looked upon in his day as an original thinker he did not want to be regarded as an original thinker. He wanted to be regarded as an accurate conveyor.

18:47 That's all the difference in the world. He says in Galatians 1 the Gospel I preach unto you it's not from man I was not taught it of men but it came by revelation of Jesus Christ. And he's so concerned lest anyone tamper with that Gospel. Why?

19:06 Because he has pride in his own original expressions and like some composer or author who doesn't want anyone to tamper with his product that has the stamp of his originality upon it he's jealous to guard it and to copyright it. No, no. He says it comes from God. Therefore when it's tampered with the truth and the authority of God are being tampered with.

19:29 I'm not an original thinker Paul says but I am a stickler for being an accurate conveyor of what God has already said. What God has already revealed. And so the source of this Gospel of their salvation which preached and believed became the means of their sealing is God himself. That's the source of the authority of the Gospel.

19:53 God who is truth has revealed truth. God who is almighty has commanded us to believe the Gospel. That's why I dare to call upon some of you whom I've never met before whom I've never seen until I sat here this morning and now stand and face you. That's why I dare to be so brash as to say you must believe the Gospel I preach.

20:17 Because the authority of almighty God is bound up in that Gospel. And then he gives the substance of that Gospel in Acts 20.21 The source of it God the substance of it verse 21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Here's the substance of this Gospel.

20:49 It proclaimed the truth about God and man's relationship to that God. Paul as it were fixes as one of the immovable pivots of that ultimate truth that the Gospel has to do with God and God's relationship to man and man's relationship to God. It involved proclaiming that God is that God is our Creator that we are obligated to obey this God. It has to do with the rights of this God the government of this God.

21:24 It has to do with what we are. That we though obligated to obey Him have turned in rebellion against His government. That we have incurred His wrath. That God has every right to demand that we stack arms and submit unto Him.

21:39 and submit unto Him. That's all bound up in the phrase repentance toward God. He said that was the substance of this word of the truth the Gospel of your salvation. It was a message about God.

21:52 It was a message about man what he is and what he's done. What he has incurred by virtue of his sin. Then he says it's a message that focuses upon its second great theme faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. It was a proclamation of the facts of Jesus Christ who He is and what He has done on behalf of sinners.

22:17 It's a message which proclaims that in this unique person and by virtue of His unique work all of man's hopes for forgiveness are to be found. That in this one are hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge. Then it was a message that called upon men to be rightly related to this Lord Jesus Christ. It called upon them to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

22:44 To forsake all grounds of confidence in themselves and to cast themselves upon Him who is set before them in the Gospel. This is the message which having been brought to the Ephesians having been believed led to their being sealed with the Holy Spirit. It was the word of the truth. It was the Gospel of their salvation.

23:11 The source of it, God Himself. The substance of it, a message about God, man, sin, Christ, His person, His work, repentance, faith. And what was the very spirit of it? Verse 24 I hold not my life as any account as dear to myself that I may accomplish my course in the ministry which I receive from the Lord Jesus to testify the Gospel of the grace of God.

23:44 The spirit of that message was grace. A message which proclaimed not what man must do to somehow make himself qualified to receive some benefits from God. But it was a message which declared what God has done in moving to sinful men in the person of His dear Son. It was a message which was suffused and permeated with the very spirit of grace.

24:14 God's undeserved pity and favor to ill-deserving sinners. That's the word of the truth. That is the Gospel of men's salvation. That's what they heard which led to their being sealed.

What the Ephesians Did: Believed Through Grace

24:31 Now, the second question we address ourselves to this morning. What did they do which led to the sealing? They heard that message. Now Paul says, having heard and having believed you were sealed.

24:50 The Apostle Paul preached the necessity of faith. Acts 20.21 he said, I preach faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ and those who responded did so by believing. And I believe we need to be reminded in our desire rightly framed from Scripture to protect and proclaim the truth that unconverted men have no ability of themselves to believe.

25:18 There must be a gracious powerful quickening work of the Spirit. If they are to believe we need to remind ourselves it is nonetheless our duty to preach without embarrassment and without any strictures of free of full unfettered gospel and call upon men to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul did this. He said, I testified repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

25:52 They believed. Well then, what did that mean? The best description I've ever found of saving faith is found in Professor Murray's book Redemption Accomplished and Applied in which he says, saving faith is self-commitment to Christ in all the glory of His person and in all the perfection of His work as they are so freely and fully offered to us in the gospel. That's saving faith.

26:25 It involves the whole person reposing upon and in Jesus Christ His person. But never Jesus Christ conceived in any other context than according to the theology of the New Testament that He was born of the virgin that He lived a sinless life that He died He was buried He rose He's been exalted to the right hand of the Father. It is self-commitment to Christ in all the glory of His person and in the perfection of His work as He is offered to us in the gospel. What did they do which led to this healing?

27:05 They believed. But notice three things about this faith. It was not a faith divorced from truth. We live in a day that makes a God of man's faith.

27:18 The great emphasis is upon getting people to believe. Whereas the emphasis of the apostle was proclaiming that truth which the Holy Spirit honored and brought men into the belief of that truth. You can't take the phrase in whom having believed ye were sealed and wrench it loose from these other two phrases. Having heard the word of the truth the gospel of your salvation in whom having believed having believed what?

27:48 The word of the truth. The gospel that focused upon repentance toward God faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel which had as its very source revealed truth from God which came in all the authority of God which had as its substance repentance faith which had as its spirit the grace of God. Not a faith divorced from truth and certainly not a faith divorced from repentance.

28:17 Though he says having believed they believed in the context of Paul's preaching a faith which was suffused and permeated with repentance. They didn't come just to get fireproofed. They didn't come just to get off the hook at God's expense. There was repentance toward God as part and an inseparable commodity of their faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ.

28:46 And thirdly it was not a faith native to human ability. The phrase used by Luke in Acts 18.27 is most significant. He speaks of those who believed through grace.

28:59 The instrumentality which led to their believing was grace. Not nature. Grace. Not native ability. Grace.

29:09 And later on in this very epistle in case they didn't realize this Paul says by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourself. It is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast. And so these Ephesians believed there was the wholehearted embrace of the truth as it related to them. It was the gospel of your salvation.

29:38 They were brought to see yes God is my creator. I am his creature. He has a right to command me. I have foully revolted against his laws.

29:50 I am exposed to his wrath and to his judgment. I have no claims upon him. Yes I do believe the message about his son. That he sent him from his own bosom.

30:03 That he did live a sinless life. That he did die a criminal's death upon the cross. That the father's wrath was poured out upon him. I do believe that he was buried.

30:14 There was true death. I do believe that he was raised again. I do believe that he was exalted to the right hand of the father. And the Christ upon whom my faith terminates is that Christ the anointed of God the prophet, the priest and the king.

30:32 The one who died in weakness was raised in power. Manifested in humility. Exalted in a place of majesty and glory. When that message came and they heard it they didn't seek to tamper with it and alter it to suit their fancies.

30:53 They did not reject it in creature pride. They did not suspend commitment to it until it was confirmed by the experts. They heard. They believed.

31:05 They were sealed. What did they hear? The word of the truth. The gospel of their salvation.

Application 1: Preserve the Purity of the Gospel

31:14 What did they do which led to their sealing? They believed it. Now having opened up the words what does all of this say to us by way of instruction and exhortation? Let me trace out three or four lines of thought as time permits.

31:30 First of all since the work of the Spirit is bound up with the word of the truth the gospel of salvation we who profess to love the truth must do all within our power to preserve that truth in our generation. What does the sealing of the Spirit bring? Well we looked at that for several weeks. All the blessings stored up in Christ are conveyed experimentally and inwardly by the Spirit.

32:05 The assurance of acceptance the witness of our adoption the conveyance of all those gifts and graces necessary for life now which are a pledge of our future inheritance. All of this comes when men are sealed with the spirit of the promise. They are not sealed with the spirit of the promise unless they hear the word of the truth the gospel of salvation and unless hearing they believe. Well if we want these blessings conveyed do you see how essential it is that we commit ourselves to the preservation of the gospel in its purity?

32:44 At any cost? You see there is this mentality this is don't be a stickler about fine points of doctrine let's just try to pressure people into genuine experience. That's all that matters. Ah but my friend doctrine is the gateway into true experience and if you lock that gate whatever people have it isn't a real thing.

33:14 How do you get into the arena of truth? Through the arena of true experience through the gate of true doctrine. So when someone comes along and tampers with the gate Paul says let the curse of God fall upon them. Galatians 1, 8 and 9 Though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you let him be anathema as we said before so say I now again if anyone preach any other gospel let him be accursed.

33:52 Paul's mentality is seen again in a passage like 2 Thessalonians 2 where he says that they all might be damned who believe a lie. They have faith but faith in the wrong thing. And he said that brings damnation. That's why he says in 1 Corinthians 15 this is the gospel we preached unto you here are some of the irreducible elements of it.

34:13 Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. He was buried. He rose again the third day according to the scriptures. And he says it's by that gospel you are saved.

34:23 If you hold it fast. If you're ready to give that up he said alright live with the consequences. If Christ be not raised where yet in our sins your faith is vain. He says true experience of joy, peace the gateway is doctrine.

34:39 That's the gate. Doctrine into true experience. And so may God help us. I'm not talking about just preachers and aspire aspirants to the office of the ministry but every believer to feel something of this godly jealousy.

34:53 To preserve the truth of the gospel in his generation. For only as the truth of the gospel is preserved will we see men brought into all the blessings conferred by the sealing of the spirit. Therefore we're warranted at best to be suspicious of so much that purports to be the work of the spirit in which the word of the truth is not loved. In which the gospel that we saw described in Acts 20 is not loved and embraced.

Application 2: Zealously Proclaim the Truth

35:33 We have every reason to be suspicious. Well the second implication that grows out of our study this morning is this. Since the sealing of the spirit comes by means of the truth preached and heard oh how zealous we should be in proclaiming that truth. You've got to preserve it to have something genuine to propagate.

35:58 But preserving it just for the sake of preserving it is not the biblical perspective. We're to preserve it that we might proclaim it and that there might be another generation born that will also preserve and proclaim it. Only God can bring men to faith but only you and I can bring the message of faith to men. Sound pretty Arminian?

36:27 Now I think it sounds pretty Pauline. Acts, Romans chapter 10. The same apostle who proclaimed the first truth in Acts 9. Only God can bring men to faith and he brings them according to his own eternal counsels of election.

36:48 We would not weaken one statement of Romans 9 or blink at it or hope we have temporary cataracts when we're reading through that section of Holy Scripture. We would read that chapter with open eyes and with responsive hearts. But may God help us to read Romans 10 the same way beginning with verse 11. For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be put to shame.

37:13 There is no distinction between Jew and Greek for the same Lord is Lord of all and rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?

37:32 And how shall they hear without a preacher? If they are to believe, they must hear. If they are to hear, there must be a proclaimer, someone who comes with the word of the truth. And how shall they preach except they be sent?

37:48 Even as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of good things! But they did not all hearken to the glad tidings. For Isaiah saith, Who hath believed our report? So faith cometh of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

38:06 I believe it is scripturally accurate to say only God can bring men to faith, but only redeemed men can bring the message of faith to others. Think of those people who are absolutely devoid of all the benefits of the seeming work of the Spirit. God does not own them as his own. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

38:31 They may have religion, may have morality, may have some degree of ethical respectability, but if they have not the Spirit, they are none of his. God says, I don't own you. If I own you, my seal is upon you and in you. I have sealed you.

38:46 That is the mark of authenticity, of ownership. There they are, no God committed to their preservation. A God who has said as it were, I'll abandon them to all of the built-in tendencies of their own wickedness. Then I will add to it the fury of my own positive wrath and anger when I say to them, depart from me, I never knew you.

39:13 Think of all the blessings that the sealing of the Spirit would bring to them. They would have the knowledge that God is their Father through Jesus Christ. They with us would say, Abba, that is Father. Have the Spirit bearing witness with their spirits that they are the children of God.

39:31 Have the indwelling of the Spirit beginning to perfect in them those graces of likeness to Christ. The confidence that when they lay down in the grave that even there their union with Christ is not severed and the Spirit of Christ in a way I cannot fathom still remaining dwelling in that mortal body that's laying in the grave if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. Think of all those blessings and think of all the people who are absolute strangers to them and then let this principle grip you. The only way they'll ever come into the possession of those blessings is if they hear the word of the truth, the gospel of salvation. And if hearing God is pleased to work in them unto repentance in faith they will come into those blessings. If we believe the truth that we've looked at this morning we should not only be found full of zeal to preserve the purity of the content of the gospel but full of zeal to proclaim that message to men. It's a humbling thing, almost frightening that all that God does

Application 3: Zealously Pray for God to Grant Faith

40:59 in sovereign grace and mercy in imparting the blessings of the sealing of the Spirit are mediated through gospel preaching, gospel witnessing, gospel activity on the part of His people. But that's the truth of Scripture. Then the third implication and exhortation I would bring before you this morning is since the Holy Spirit comes as divine seal, when the truth is believed we must not only be jealous to preserve that truth, zealous in the proclamation of it, but we must be zealous in crying to God that He will bring men to faith. In Paul's day as in ours he preached that gospel faithfully but we read in Acts 19 that some were hardened and became disobedient and turned away from the truth. In the light of the teaching of Holy Scripture we know that the most faithful accurate proclamation of the message will of itself effect nothing unless the Spirit does for men what He did for Lydia in opening her heart to attend to the things spoken by the apostle Paul. And so we should be found proving,

42:27 demonstrating our conviction of the first part of the statement only God can give faith but only we can give the message of faith. If you say you believe those two things and aren't zealous in giving the message I suspect that you really believe that. I suspect the reality of that confession. On the other hand if we say yes only God can give the faith and we aren't pleading with God as we propagate I have reason to question the sincerity of that confession.

42:57 For in a way that we cannot understand the workings of God's Spirit in power in the hearts of men is bound down is bound up with and tied inseparably to the prayers of His people. And I don't understand it but I see it taught in Scripture and I see the most zealous of all gospel defenders and propagators again and again confessing the magnitude of His own prayer life and yet feeling that was so meager calling upon His Christian friends throughout the Roman Empire pray for me that utterance shall be given to me that a door shall be opened conscious that there were spiritual powers in operation that were in some way moved by the cries of the people of God. Then my closing word be to those who sit amongst us today perhaps who have never until this morning ever heard the word of the truth the gospel of salvation. You have heard it this morning. It is God's good news.

Exhortation to Unbelievers: Hear and Believe the Gospel

44:08 Which comes from His own heart with all the authority of His own omnipotence in it and upon it and over it and beneath it saying that you are His creature. You have revolted against Him. But God in mercy has sent His Son for the likes of you. And that Son the Lord Jesus the God-man died not a death for His own sins but for the sins of others.

44:36 And the Father bruised Him even to the point where He cried out My God, My God why hast Thou forsaken Me? He died. He rose again. And from His place of exaltation and power He commissions all of His children and His servants to proclaim to you forgiveness of sins in His name.

44:59 And He calls upon you to repent and to believe the gospel. You will never know anything of the blessings of the sealing of the Spirit. Unless you hear and believe the word of the truth. My heart is saddened because there are many others of you that don't fit into that category.

Exhortation to Unbelieving Hearers: Accountable for Unbelief

45:21 You have heard the word of the truth. Not once not twice not thrice not four times but God alone could count the times you've heard it. You've sat in this place and your mind has been exposed not to men's opinions not to fables not to people's experiences but your mind has been exposed to the authoritative word of the living God. The word of the truth has come to you week after week month after month year after year.

46:00 Yet you're an absolute stranger to all the blessings of the sealing of the Spirit. Why? Because you remain yet in your unbelief. You remain yet in your unbelief.

46:15 There has been no self-commitment to Christ in all the glory of His person and in all the perfection of His work as He is so freely and fully offered to you in the Gospel. You cannot say that you're a stranger to the sealing of the Spirit because you haven't heard the word of the truth the Gospel of your salvation. You've not been told you're alright just chuck yourself under the chin and take up courage and hope that God will balance out the good. You haven't been told that.

46:48 Some people are going to hell believing that lie. You can't. You've been told otherwise. You can't say that you haven't heard the word of the truth.

46:58 Ah, but my friend you must confess you haven't believed it and God holds you accountable for your unbelief. You say, I don't understand that. You said and you quoted from Scripture that man can't believe unless God enables him and yet you say I'm to blame for my unbelief. Yes, you are.

47:13 God charges you with your unbelief. When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come He will reprove the world of sin of sin because they believe not on me. It's your sin that you will not believe. It's the perversity of your own heart the stubbornness of your own unrenewed will.

47:33 You say that doesn't make sense to me. I must believe and yet I can't believe and God will pull me accountable if I don't believe. My friend you can either go out of here and curse God in the light of those truths or you can fall down before His dear Son and cry out like that blind beggar who had no power to open his eyes but who was in the presence of one who could and He said Son of David have mercy upon me. Ah dear friend fall upon your face and cry out Son of David have mercy upon me.

48:09 Lord Jesus you died for the sins of men even the wicked perverse sin of my unbelief. Lord subdue that sin and enable me to embrace you and the salvation you so freely offer even to the likes of me. May God grant that having heard some of you who heard but have never believed shall believe and you too will be sealed with the Spirit. May God grant them the exhortation to you out of Christ may be effectual to your faith in Christ and for those of us who are in Christ and long that others know the blessings of divine sealing may the fruit of our study today be that there will be new zeal and new determination to preserve the purity of the Gospel if necessary even unto blood that there will be new zeal in proclamation of that Gospel and that there will be new zeal in pleading with God that men may be given faith to embrace it. If so may God give us the word of the truth the Gospel of your salvation in whom having believed ye were sealed will be repeated again and again through the testimony and witness of this assembly all to that ultimate end that we will study next week God willing to the praise

49:38 of His glory. Let us pray.