Sealed - Ephesians 1:13-14

We've come now in our study of Ephesians 1, to the blessings of God the Holy Spirit, verses 13 and 14. We have seen in Ephesians 1:1-6, the blessings of God the Father, in that He has chosen us, in that He has adopted us, He has received us unto Himself. We are accepted in the beloved. And we have seen the blessings from God the Son. God the Son has redeemed us, forgiven us, revealed to us the will of God, and made us a part of that will, and He has made us an inheritance in Christ. Now in Ephesians 1:13-14, we have the blessings of God the Holy Spirit. Each of the blessed persons of the Godhead is involved in our salvation. Someone has well said that salvation involves the Father who planned it, and the Son who purchased it, and the Holy Spirit who applied it. And in many ways this is true. God the Father chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Our salvation had nothing whatsoever to do with earning or working or deserving. It was all of grace. God the Son came to this earth and died for us on the cross. And then God the Holy Spirit went to work to bring us to the Savior. This is the lesson we have today, Ephesians 1:13-14, the blessings of God the Holy Spirit.

Let's begin with Ephesians 1:12. "That we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ." These are the Jews now. The Jews were the ones who first trusted in Christ. For, "I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ," says Romans 1:16, "for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile." When the Gospel came, it came to the Jew first. Salvation is of the Jews. And so Paul says in Ephesians 1:12, the Jews first trusted in Christ, "in whom ye also, ye Gentiles also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation. In whom also after that ye believed," or literally, "when ye believed, in whom also when ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest, or the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory."

Now here we have two singular blessings from the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians 1:13, the Holy Spirit has sealed us. And in Ephesians 1:14, the Holy Spirit has become the earnest, the down payment, the assurance of future blessing. Now Ephesians 1:13 talks about the Holy Spirit as sealing us. In fact, in Ephesians 1:13, we have given the simple process of salvation. How is a person saved? Here it is: "in whom ye also trusted." Salvation is by faith. Over in Ephesians 2:8, Paul says, "For by grace are ye saved through faith." The Word of God makes it very clear that salvation is by faith. "As many as received Him," Jesus Christ, "to them gave He the privilege to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name," John 1:12. In Acts 16, the Philippian jailer said to Paul and Silas, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" What did Paul say? "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." Believe. Now religion says, behave. God's Word says, believe. First there's the believing, then there's the behaving. And the Word of God makes it very clear that salvation comes by trusting in Christ. "In whom ye also trusted." Now, a person in the hospital has to trust his doctor. He's helpless to make himself well. The man going across the sea in the airplane or the boat has to trust the pilot. He can't do it himself. Salvation involves trusting not a religion, not an organization, not a ritual, but a person, Jesus Christ. "In whom ye also trusted," says the Word of God, "after that ye heard the word of truth."

Now first there's the hearing and then there's the trusting. What are we supposed to trust? We trust in Jesus Christ. How do we know we can trust in Jesus Christ? Because we have the Word. Now the Apostle Paul makes this very same application over in Romans 10. Here it is, Romans 10:13. If you have your Bible in front of you, you may turn to this wonderful chapter. Romans 10:13. "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Isn't that simple? But he goes on to say, "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?" You have to believe before you can be saved. "And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?" You see, hearing and believing go together. Because Romans 10:17 says, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." Have you noticed in your reading of the gospels, how many times the Lord Jesus says, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear?" What does He mean by that? He means that there are many people who have physical ears, who don't have spiritual ears. We're going to see in a future lesson in Ephesians 1:18, that our heart has eyes. The eyes of your understanding, or the eyes of your heart, being enlightened. The heart also has ears. "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." There are many people who hear, but they don't hear. It's like our children when they're out playing. We call them in to supper, and they hear the sound but they don't hear the command. And many people go to church and they hear the Bible but they don't hear the voice of God. And Hebrews makes it very clear when it says, "Today while you hear His voice, harden not your heart." And so God sends a preacher. And this preacher preaches, according to Ephesians 1:13, he preaches "the word of truth." "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth." Nobody can be saved apart from the Bible.

John 5:24, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life." You have to hear the Word of God before you can be saved. Now hearing the Word of God means hearing the word of truth. No other book in the world can claim to be the truth. Many books are true, but they are not the truth. In John 17, the Lord Jesus said in His high priestly prayer, "Father, sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth." And so the Word of God is the word of truth. Now unfortunately, there are many religious books abroad, and many magazines being published, and I might add many radio programs being produced, that are not teaching and preaching the word of truth. They are teaching and preaching lies. The Lord Jesus promised that there would be false prophets, false teachers, people who would take the Word of God and twist it to make it mean what they want it to mean, religious racketeers. And it's unfortunate that this is going on today, and it's more unfortunate that people, well-meaning people, sincere people, cannot tell the truth from the error. Over in 1 John, the Apostle John, he was now an aged man when he wrote this, said, "Beloved, believe not every spirit." Don't believe every preacher you listen to. Don't believe every Sunday school teacher you listen to. Don't believe every religious magazine article you read. "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they be of God or not. For many false prophets, many false teachers have gone out into the world."

And so the word of truth is the Gospel of your salvation. The word of truth means the Gospel. Now what is the Gospel? If you ever want to know what the Gospel is, you simply pick up your Bible and turn to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15. Let the Bible explain itself. Now what is the Gospel? May I read it to you? May I read to you simply and clearly from the Word of God, from the pen of the inspired Apostle Paul what the Gospel is. "Moreover, brethren," 1 Corinthians 15:1, "I declare unto you the Gospel." It's a message that we preach. "Which also ye have received and wherein ye stand, and by the which ye are being saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you unless you believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all," or of first importance, "that which I also received." Now here's the Gospel: "how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. And that He was buried and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. And that He was seen of Cephas and then of the twelve. After that He was seen of above 500 brethren at once." What is the Gospel? Does the Gospel say anything about baptism? No. Does the Gospel say anything about church membership? No. I believe in baptism and I believe in church membership, but they aren't the Gospel. The Gospel says nothing about good works. I believe in good works, but good works are not the Gospel. The Gospel says nothing about social betterment. I believe that when a man's heart is changed, society will be bettered, but this is not the Gospel.

The Gospel is that Christ Jesus died for our sins. Oh, that means we're sinners. You see the word Gospel means good news. And the good news of the Gospel involves the bad news of sin. Now news is not good news to you unless you're in trouble. Perhaps some loved one is in the hospital and having a very serious operation, and you're waiting there in the waiting room for the doctor to come. And then the doctor walks in with a smile on his face and he says, "I have good news for you. The operation was successful, the situation is not as bad as we thought, and your loved one is going to be well again." That's good news. But good news is always received against a background of bad news. Now the bad news of the Gospel is that people are sinners. Not that they're good, not that they're moral, upright. "There is none that doeth good, no not one," says the Word of God in Romans 3. "They are altogether gone out of the way. There is none righteous, no not one. All we like sheep have gone astray," says Isaiah 53. "We have turned everyone to his own way." Isn't that why there's trouble in your heart and in your home? You want to have your own way. But the Word of God goes on to say, "But the Lord hath laid on Him, on Jesus, the iniquity of us all." Now the bad news of the Gospel is that people are sinners. The good news of the Gospel is that Jesus Christ died for sinners. Now a dead man can't save anybody. So the Word of God goes on to say, "He was buried, and He rose again the third day, and He was seen of witnesses." This is the good news that a perfect person, Jesus Christ, lived a perfect life and died a death on behalf of all mankind, and because of His death and burial and resurrection, He is alive today and able to save. "Wherefore," says the book of Hebrews, "He is able also to save to the uttermost all that call come unto God through Him seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them."

We preach to you today the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation. It doesn't say the Gospel of salvation. It says the Gospel of your salvation. Salvation is a personal matter. It is not enough for a man to say the Lord Jesus Christ is a Savior, or the Lord Jesus Christ is the Savior. He must be able to say He is my Savior. The Word of God says Christ died for the sins of the world, but oh how much better it is to be able to say with the Apostle Paul in Galatians 2:20, "who loved me and gave Himself for me." Mary in Luke 1 says, "My spirit doth rejoice in God my Savior." The Gospel of your salvation. So, you hear the word of truth. The word of truth is the good news that you don't have to die in your sins. You don't have to spend eternity in condemnation and darkness and pain. The good news of the word of the Gospel is that Christ died for you. Now having heard the good news, the next step is that you believe. "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation." Now, "in whom also when you believed," the King James Version says "after that ye believed," but it's a present participle, "when ye believed." "In whom also when ye believed," what happened? "Ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise."

Now how do we know whether or not a man is saved? Well, his life ought to change, his lips ought to change, his desires ought to change. But Romans 8:9 says this, "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." May I repeat that? Romans 8:9. The Apostle Paul, writing about the Holy Spirit, says this, "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of His." How do I know I belong to Christ? The Spirit of Christ moves into my body and seals me. You remember when the Lord Jesus Christ was placed in that Roman tomb? He was guarded by a Roman seal. Pilate said to the soldiers, "Make that tomb as safe, as secure as you can." They put the Roman seal on that tomb. Nobody could break that seal. Jesus did. Jesus came right through. Then the angel came and moved the stone away. A seal is a mark of ownership. A seal is a mark of security and protection. You know, many people say, "Oh, I'd love to be saved. I believe in the Gospel. I know Christ is the Savior of the world. I know He can save me, but I'm afraid I won't hold out." Ever said that? Ever heard that? Well, Ephesians 1:13 says, "When you believe on Jesus Christ, you know you are saved because the Spirit of God comes in." The Spirit of Christ. And because He moves into your body, He seals you. He is God's seal. In other words, the presence of the Spirit of God in your life, what Paul calls the witness of the Spirit, Romans 8, "God's Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God." We know it in our hearts. The presence of the Spirit of God is God's assurance to us that we are saved. Many people have the strange idea that when you are saved, an electric shock goes through your body, or you hear voices, you see visions, you make shouts of some kind. No. No, you read your New Testament, you'll find that the emotional response to salvation differs with different people. Not everyone goes through the same emotional experience, and you dare not build your salvation on an emotional experience. Just like a wedding, I've conducted scores of weddings in my ministry. Sometimes the groom cries, sometimes the bride cries. Sometimes they both smile. But they're all married. The Word of God says the assurance that we are saved is the presence of the Holy Spirit within our hearts, and He is the seal. Now when God puts His seal on somebody, he's not going to be lost. The devil can't break that seal. Sin cannot break that seal. Continuing in Romans 8, Paul says, "What shall separate us from the love of Christ?" And he answers, "Nothing." Once you have truly received Christ as your Savior, you are born again, and you are sealed. You belong to God. He is yours, you are His. He protects you. He marks you. You are sealed. Now, that's not the end.

Ephesians 1:14 tells us that this same Holy Spirit who seals us is the earnest or the down payment of our redemption, of our inheritance. When a man buys a house, he gives earnest money. The house costs $15,000. He gives the real estate man $1,000 earnest money. This earnest money is the assurance, the down payment, the assurance that the rest of the money is going to be paid. Now, when we were saved, God gave to us everything we need. And God promised us a future redemption. The redemption talked about in Ephesians 1:14 is the future redemption. The Holy Spirit is the earnest, the down payment of our inheritance. How do I know I'm going to have this inheritance in Heaven? I have the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God's down payment that all the rest of the blessings will be delivered to me at the right time. Now, what is the right time? "The earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession." Now, I belong to Christ. He purchased me. He died for me on the cross. I do not yet have all that He died to give me. How do I know I'm going to get it? I have the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit of God is the earnest, the down payment, the assurance to me that someday I will inherit all God has promised to give me. "We are heirs of God," says Romans 8, "and joint heirs with Christ." A joint heir is someone who inherits something jointly with another. Do you know that Jesus Christ cannot enter into His inheritance until I'm there to share it? We're joint heirs. God cannot give to His Son one iota of the future glorious inheritance until the Church is there to share it.

So in Ephesians 1:13, we have the present blessing of the Holy Spirit. He seals us. He protects us. We belong to Christ. In Ephesians 1:14, we have the future blessing. He is the down payment. He is the assurance to us that one day God will keep His promise and take us to Heaven. Now, dear friend, if you're not saved, don't use as an excuse, "I'm afraid I can't hold out." The Holy Spirit of God sees to that. You simply hear the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation. Having heard the word of truth, believe in Jesus Christ. Trust Him as your Savior. Stake all of your assurance on the Word of God. And when you trust Jesus Christ, then the Holy Spirit moves into your life. And the Holy Spirit seals you. The devil can't break that seal. You may grieve the Holy Spirit, but you'll never drive Him away. And the Holy Spirit of God becomes the down payment, God's assurance that one day Jesus Christ will return and possess what He has purchased and take us home to glory, and will enter into that glorious inheritance. These then are the blessings of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. Are they yours? Our Father, we pray that some today will hear the Word and believe and be saved and sealed by the Holy Spirit until that blessed day of redemption. We thank You that Christ is going to come, and we're going to enter into the inheritance that we have just begun to taste and enjoy. Oh, may He come quickly, we pray in His name. Amen.