Sealed By The Spirit

0:16Thank you for listening to the Sermon Audio Podcast for Crossroads Bible Church in Rocdale, Texas. Crossroads Bible Church is a Reformed Confessional Baptist Church that meets every Lord's Day at 10 a.m. for Bible study and 11 a.m. for corporate worship. For more information about our church and for directions, you can find us online at www.crbcrockdale.org. Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are in Ephesians. Continuing through this wonderful and delightful but perhaps difficult section, we will be in verse 11 through 14 this morning, talking about being sealed by the Spirit. And I want to consider then as we finish up this section verses 11 through 14, that the whole of this section that we started back in verse 3 that goes all the way through verse 14 is one continuous Trinitarian thought. I saw this on one of the social medias. I don't know if one of y'all shared it, but it was a comment by sproll saying something that creation was a Trinitarian act, and also redemption was a Trinitarian act. And we see that even in through this section. We saw that first week that the Father plans and chooses. That we saw that first week. Last week or last time, it was the Son who redeems and who accomplishes that work of redemption. And then we will see this week as we pull it all together that it is the Spirit that seals and assures us of that salvation. So again, this the whole concept of our redemption is a Trinitarian work. So explicitly in Scripture, the God who was, the God who is, and the God who is to come, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, our Trinitarian fullness of God not only created but saves us and ultimately glorifies us. So we looked in the previous weeks again as the Father planning, the Son redeeming, and this week the Spirit seals. And in that effort, we will consider what it means to be, to receive the inheritance of God as we will read from our text. We will see the purpose of his people, and we will see the fullness of what it means to be sealed by the Spirit. The inheritance of God, the purpose of his people, and being sealed by his spirit. So that's where, Lord willing, we will be as we move through the text this morning. Please stand with me and let's read. Starting in verse eleven. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory. This is the word of the Lord. Lord, we thank you again for your word, Lord for the wonderful gift, Lord, of salvation that you have given to us, Lord, that you have planned, secured, and now sealed, Lord. We pray and ask that you would speak now this word in the name of Jesus that we pray. Amen. We will return again to verse 11 as we begin. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. The first thing that we have to point out here is that we are in Christ. It says, in him, verse 11, in him we have obtained an inheritance. This is union with Christ, a relationship with Christ, with the Father. Remember the garden. Remember that free access to God that was available to our first parents in the garden. Remember that communion that they had with him in the garden. This is the beginning, then, of the restoration of those blessings which our first parents enjoyed. This is the restoration of that union in him we have obtained an inheritance. This is union with Christ. Restoration of our relationship with the Father. Our inheritance then is given to us, or it is gained in Christ. In and through Christ. Think about it this way. Say a parent, two parents die and they leave their young son with nothing but debt, burdens, and messes to clean up in their life. And then that child is adopted by a very wealthy man who is stable and secure, has a stable and secure life, gives this child a stable and secure future, and says to the child, don't worry, you now have security and an inheritance in me. That's what it means to be in Christ. That's what it means that we have obtained an inheritance in Christ. He has secured for us an eternal and everlasting inheritance. This inheritance is also all that belongs to Christ. Everything that belongs to Christ is now yours in him. Eternal life. A place in God's restored kingdom. It is also rest and peace under the authority of God. It is a relationship and an eternal life with God. This is the inheritance that we have in Christ. In him we have obtained an inheritance. How do we obtain it? We want this inheritance, but how do we obtain it? We obtain it through faith. That is hope and trust in Christ. Given by God, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, our text says. The word obtained there does not mean earned. The word obtained in him we have obtained does not mean earned. In the Greek, it's the word kleros. It's the same word we get our word clergy from. Same Greek word, obtained, kleros. And who are the clergy? These were a men appointed by God for his service. So beginning with the Jew, then, there was an appointed people designated by God according to his plan and purpose. Those are the ones who obtain this inheritance. A more literal translation, if you literally translate the Greek, it would say, in him we were made an inheritance, as opposed to in him we have obtained an inheritance. In him we were made an inheritance. The focus throughout. Really the whole of Scripture, certainly the book of Ephesians, is that God alone is doing the work. And there's always been a people of God. Always. As our text says, there was the first to hope in Christ. This is in verse 12, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. Who were the first to hope in Christ? These were the Jews. The Jews hoped in Christ. Did they, though? They did. These are the words of Christ from John chapter 8. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and he was glad. So the Jews said to him, You're not fifty years old, and you've seen Abraham. Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself away and went to the temple. They didn't, quick aside, they didn't stone Jesus because he was a, want to stone him because he was a good prophet or a nice guy, right? He claimed to be God. So the Jew looking forward then to Christ, Abraham saw his day and was glad and rejoiced in it, right? The Jew looking forward to Christ, this Messiah, the future fulfillment of God's purpose in salvation, received salvation on the basis of faith in that future hope. Faith in Christ. Faith looking forward to what was yet to be fully fulfilled. But it was still and always a particular people according to the purpose of God, looking forward in faith to Christ. But there's another group of people mentioned in the text, in verse 13. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. We also, this is us, the Gentiles. We were grafted into Christ's work and God's people. So we don't only look forward in faith now to something that has yet to be fulfilled, but rather we take hold of that which has already been accomplished for us. We hear the word of truth that has been fully and finally proclaimed. We hear the gospel of our salvation that has been fully and finally received, and we believe in him who has done it. So these two groups, the Jews and the Gentiles, are not split by methods of salvation, as some might suggest. Right? As though the Jews are the only predestined ones, and that those are really God's only chosen people, and he's just letting everyone else kind of in that special group, those who just happen to believe. He doesn't maintain two separate groups of people. He doesn't maintain two separate methods of salvation. It's always been one people by faith given by God according to his will. That's the focus, but the timing. You have Christ then, the one through whom all were saved. All were saved through Christ. The first to hope were saved through faith in Him to come. Everyone else is saved through faith in him who finally and fully did the work. Same Savior, same sovereign will, same act of predestination, same particular people, same grace, same mercy, just different timing. Some were hoping in the salvation to come, others believing in the redemption accomplished and applied. What then is the purpose of this inheritance? What is the purpose of this redemption? What is the purpose of God's peculiar people? Our text tells us. And that is to the praise of his glory. The purpose of this people is to the praise of his glory. And this is repeated as we saw in both sections, that we illustrated those two different groups, and both, it says, might be to the praise of his glory, or as we finish the text, to the praise of his glory. This is not a new idea that is introduced to us by Paul in the book of Ephesians. Isaiah 43, verse 6 and 7. Looking forward, then Isaiah is looking forward to the engrafting of people all over the world, this particular people all over the world, and Isaiah says this from the Lord bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made. The word of the Lord to Isaiah. In Revelation we hear, worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created. Isaiah 43, again, looking to this people. This is verse 21. The people, Lord says, the people whom I formed for myself, that they might declare my praise. I don't have time to dissect Isaiah 43, 21. I wish I did. But can you just feel the weight? Just stop. And feel the weight of that verse from the Lord. The people whom I formed for myself, that they might declare my praise. You have been formed for God to declare his praise. 1 Corinthians 10, 31. So whether you eat or drink, do all for the glory of God. Or whatever you do, he says. I didn't mean to misquote that. So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God. 1 Peter 2, verse 9. But you are a chosen race. And coincidentally, we read this, not coincidentally, providentially, we read this this morning. Brother Stephen read it. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light. The salvation of God's people is about the display of his mercy and to the praise of his glory as he restores and renews after the image of Christ our Redeemer. And God is about the maximizing of his own glory. He could have kept everything and everyone perfect, with no one ever having known sin. Right? He could have. I think we talked about that last time. But as all of those supporting text would demonstrate, to the increased praise of his glory, he allowed men to fall that he may, in the fullness of time, send his son to redeem them, to rescue them, so that he might restore a broken people to himself. Many would argue that God really actually wanted everything to be perfect. God was doing everything he could to keep everything perfect, but man just messed it all up. And we did, to be fair. But 1 Peter alludes to us, first I'm not going to turn there and read it, but 1 Peter alludes that Christ was, Christ and his work was foreknown before the foundation of the world. The redemption in Christ was foreknown before the foundation of the world. So in response to that, one might say, well, God knew it, but he just didn't have anything to do with it. It was all man screwing it up. Again, we did screw it up. As though God couldn't have stopped it or prevented it if he really wanted to. Right. Finally, then man must concede, well, yeah, he knew about it, and yeah, he could have stopped it, but he allowed it because what he really wanted and what he really only wanted was only a heaven with a people who willingly chose him. I know you've heard this argument as well, that God's desire in all of this was that so heaven was full with only people who would willingly choose him. What about Romans 3? Verse 10. No one is righteous, no, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God, all have turned aside. Psalm 14 of which Romans Paul there quotes The Lord looks down from heaven to see if there is any who understand. If there are any who seek after God, they all have turned aside. First Corinthians 2, 4. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God. He is not able to understand them. Paul says, Matthew 11, no one knows the Father except the Son, and to whom and to anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Matthew 11, 27. If God then allowed the fall and is patiently waiting in heaven for all those who willingly know and willingly choose him, heaven will be a very empty and lonely place. Again, why then? Why did he do it this way? It was all done according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that those who hope in him and believe in him would do so to the praise of his glory. This plan, and this is all we can really say about it, maximizes the glory of God in the display of his unimaginable mercy on the elect and his righteous justice on the reprobate. And we can all put ourselves on a pedestal. And we can all with pride say, well, that's not very loving of God to do it that way, to just concern himself with the maximizing of his own glory, or that's certainly not how I would have done it. Of course it isn't. You're not God. You don't deserve anything. You haven't merited or earned anything to the church. Who told you that you were worthy of God's love? Or that God owes every human being something. He doesn't owe us anything. We failed. We screwed up. We denied him. We continue to fall and we continue to deny him. You have sinned against him even this morning before coming to church, I can guarantee it. What in the world do you think he owes you? In comparison to the unsurpassing glory and greatness of God, we are but dust in the wind. Deserving nothing but death. Do not think more highly of yourself than you ought. But for his own. According to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, he has shown mercy, giving them faith, pardoning our transgressions, passing over our sins and the covering of his precious, the precious blood of his righteous Savior, our righteous Savior, to the eternal praise of his glory. To the eternal praise of his glory that he alone has saved a worm such as I. Adopted me and you into his family, given you an inheritance, an eternal inheritance. How do I know if I am his? Cast all your willing, cast all of your working, cast all of your running, and receive his amazing grace. His unmerited favor, crying out, Lord, have mercy on me a sinner. Save me, O God. Make me one of your own. In that profession of faith and by the application of his spirit, we can be assured that we are indeed his. We can be sure. So that was a very long way to get to the title of our sermon: sealed by the Spirit. He sends his spirit to us in that faith, in that redemption and salvation. He sends his spirit to us to seal us and to secure us until we acquire what has been promised. Verse 13 In Him you also, this is you. When you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory. I want to read from our confession of faith on this section, it's section 17.1, if you're taking notes. The title of this section is A Perseverance of the Saints. A confession says this: those whom God has accepted in the beloved, effectually called and sanctified by his spirit, and given the precious faith of his elect unto, can neither totally nor finally fall from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end and be eternally saved, seeing the gifts and callings of God are without repentance, from which source he still begets and nourishes in them faith, repentance, love, joy, hope, and all the graces of the Spirit unto immortality. And though many storms and floods arise and beat against them, yet they shall never be able to take them off that foundation and rock which by faith they were fastened upon. Notwithstanding through unbelief and the temptations of Satan, the sensible sight of the light and love of God may for a time be clouded and obscured from them. Yet he is still the same. And they shall be sure to be kept by the power of God unto salvation, where they shall enjoy their purchased possession, they having been engraved upon the palm of his hands, and their names having been written in the book of life from all eternity. Oh, to be that secure in the hands of God. This is the very essence, or this is at the very essence and the heart of this mysterious and strangely controversial doctrine of election, and it's why I'm so firm on it, and why, Lord willing, and by his grace, I will never sway from it. It's because if he alone has saved you, then it will be he alone who will surely keep you. And the God who has never failed will surely never fail with you. This is why it's important. Not because I love John Calvin, I mean, I'm sure I do, or because I want to white knuckle and hold on to these reformed doctrines or the reformed doctrine of predestination, but because it is here where we have full and final assurance of salvation, true and lasting assurance of salvation. Again I say, because if it is he alone who has saved you, then it is surely he alone who will keep you. If we cast ourselves into the hands of the great shepherd, where else is there to go but to the green pastures of paradise? If his hand has reached down to save you, if his firm grasp is holding you, you can be assured he will bring you home. What more could maximize his glory than such a deep, rich truth as that? What more could result in us crying out as we all do, apparently, or at least the angels in Revelation 4, 8? Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created. So I believe it when our text says that believing in him, hearing his good gospel and receiving him in faith, that we were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. Sealed. Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we finally possess it? The guarantee. God the Holy Spirit is the earnest money put down on our name. Sealing the transaction, the purchase of your soul. He bought you with his blood, he sealed you with his spirit. Christian, you cannot be lost. Imagine that wealthy father then that I mentioned earlier. Having adopted his son, he dies, and the son shows up in court to receive his inheritance. How is he assured to get what was left to him? A judge or a lawyer looks over all the paperwork, checks all the signatures, and says, Yeah, it looks like he put everything in order for you. He's left everything to you. Christ having shed his blood, having died and then come back from death from the grave, now sitting at the right hand and the Father has set everything in order for you. When you by grace through faith believed in him, when you believed in that grand work that he did for you, he sent his spirit then to seal you, to guarantee your inheritance. It's all taken care of. The fees are paid, the signatures are all in the right boxes. I didn't forget one. Done. Salvation and eternal life are yours. And you will one day walk into the presence of his glory and acquire possession of that inheritance that he has secured for you. That is sure. As we close, then I'll say that the purpose of these truths is for the maximizing of his glory. And that we demonstrated from those supporting texts that this is about the maximizing of his glory, but it's also to the praise of his glory. If our theology and what we believe about God doesn't humble us enough to the point that we just praise him for his glory, we're doing it wrong. This great and mysterious doctrine must only result in the praise of his glory. Because that is all we really have to give to him. What can I give to him? Poor as I am. If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb. If I were a wise man, I would do my part. Yet what I can give, I give him. I give my heart. May that blessed truth this morning bring us to our knees. May it lay us bare before him. What can we bring to him? May we now seek to give him the only thing a poor child with nothing to his name can give him. Give him our hearts for the praise of his glory. We have been saved by him and sealed by his spirit. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this great work of redemption and salvation that you have given to us in Christ, Lord, that you have planned according to the purpose of your will. The praise of your great glory. We thank you, Lord, that you have given us your spirit, Lord, to seal us and to secure us, Lord, so that we know even now, having trusted in you, having received your salvation by faith, by grace through faith, Lord, we can be assured that we are yours and that you are leading us home. Now having been saved by your will, we're not kept in our own will. That we just now lovingly give you our hearts and obey you as we trust that it is you alone who will lead us home. We thank you for your spirit that makes that possible. Lord, would you continue to teach us, guide us, and lead us by your spirit, which we know you have promised to do. We love you, Lord. Ask all these things in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.