We turn together to that word of God from the New Testament, from our Pew Bibles, number page 976, Ephesians, Paul's letter to the Ephesians, the first chapter. And I read from there the first 14 verses. Paul. an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. even as he chose us before him, in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he's blessed us and the beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in Christ, things in Heaven and things on Earth in him. 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. May God bless his word to us, both in our proclamation and in our hearing. Beloved of God, These 14 verses we just read are, apart from the address in verses one and two, are a single anthem of praise to God. In fact, verses three through 14 in the original language, in the Greek language, they're all a part of just one sentence, a single sentence. broken up for our English understanding and translations. But the central thought of that single sentence is in the first few words. Blessed be God. Praise, praise be God. You see, the Apostle Paul is expressing here the praise of God on behalf of Christians and the Christian church for all the blessings, all the spiritual blessings that God in his grace has given to that church. You see, the church and we together as a church today owes its life, its existence, its very existence, its redemption to God. And this redemption is the gift of a triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And so in verses three through five, the Apostle Paul celebrates God the Father's choosing of us to be his children. From before the creation of the world, he says, God the Father has chosen us to be a part of his family. Then in verses seven through 11, Paul praises God the Son's redemptive activity. By his death, he says he's liberated us. He's given us the forgiveness of our sins, not just once, not just at the beginning of our Christian or our spiritual experience, but day by day, we experience the forgiveness of our failures so that we can live without condemnation, as Paul says in Romans chapter eight and verse one, that we can live without a sense of guilt day by day and with a sense of freedom and a sense of knowing that we are accepted by God. In fact, the way Paul puts it, he says, God has lavished his grace on us, over us, in us. And then in verses 13 and 14, Paul rejoices in the work of the Holy Spirit. who completes this glorious work of redemption. He, the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, puts us in possession of the riches that are ours in Jesus Christ. He seals to us what Christ has done for us. Or to put it another way, the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is God's seal. that He has chosen us as His children from even before the foundation of the world, and that Christ His Son has fully redeemed and graciously blessed us, sealed by God with God's own Spirit. Gonna take a look at that for just a little bit this morning and ask really three things or look at three things. First of all, what does that mean? What does it mean that we're sealed with the Holy Spirit? And then secondly, at the guarantee this gives us. And then finally, at the goal or the purpose of this gift. First of all, what does it mean? What does it mean to be sealed with the Holy Spirit? When Paul says you were sealed with the promised spirit. Well, in the time of Paul, and it's really not all that different today, a seal was a visible token or a mark of some kind that was applied to an object. And usually the seal in that day was a piece of warm wax. And it would be impressed or imprinted with a ring, bearing an identifying image, usually that of the official whose seal it was. And such a seal would be used for a variety of purposes. There was a seal, for example, on the tomb in which Jesus was buried. The seals were set on official documents of the day. There were seals that were set on or tattooed into the skin of slaves. And in each case, that seal was something official. The tomb that was sealed could not be opened except by official permission. Whatever that sealed document stated, was thereby declared to be absolutely true, and it would be carried out. The slave who was sealed was by that seal declared to be the possession of the one whose seal he bore. And now, Paul takes that idea, that concept, that image, and he applies it to us as Christians, and he says that God officially sets his mark, his seal on us as believers. He marks us as his genuine children. And the seal that God marks us with is the Holy Spirit, his presence in our heart, in our life. There's something akin to this in the life of Jesus himself. John the Baptist tells us in the Gospel of John chapter one and verse 31 and following that he did not know the Christ. Now he knew, I'm sure, Jesus. He was even a distant relative of John the Baptist. But John didn't know the Messiah, Christ, the Son of God. And then one day Jesus was there being baptized by John. And as John was baptizing him, there was a dove, the descent of a dove upon Jesus, because God had said to John, the one who sent me to baptize with water told me the man on whom you see the Spirit, the Holy Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit, is the Christ, is the Messiah. And on that day and in that moment, John saw the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus. He witnessed the Father's seal on the Son. The Holy Spirit marked Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God. Now, in a similar way, not of course in the visible descent of a dove, But nonetheless, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we are marked as God's children. But that raises a question. I mean, how do we know? How do we know whether we have this mark, this seal of God? I mean, isn't the presence of the Holy Spirit, isn't his presence quite invisible? And all of those symbols of the initial giving of the Holy Spirit, you know, the powerful wind, the tongues of fire, the speaking in other languages, I mean, those are all gone. So how can we know, how do we know if we possess this seal? Well, let's think about a seal for a moment. Most of us have a diploma, marriage certificate, some official document. And on that document, there's the impression of a seal. And the seal is impressed right into the paper of that document, that official document itself. And the paper is changed by that impression. If you take your finger, your hand, and you just sort of run it over that sheet of paper, you can feel the dots, the impression, the impression of the seal itself. It has a design, a printing exactly like the seal has. In other words, the seal impressed a copy of itself on that paper. Well, so too. The Holy Spirit as God's seal impresses something of his character, his likeness on us. That's what Jesus meant when he said to Nicodemus, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit, is spiritual, has a new life, a new nature. Having this seal of the Holy Spirit, we are different people. We are new people, we are spiritual people, that is people with a sensitivity and understanding and knowledge and experience of spiritual things. We know God as our Father, Jesus as our Savior and our Lord. We experience genuine repentance and faith. Our tastes, our desires are being purged from their own sinful self-centeredness. what we couldn't do before, we're now enabled to do. What we couldn't resist before, we're now enabled, we can begin to withstand. Or to put it another way, in Galatians chapter five, verses 22 and 23, the Apostle Paul writes that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control. When you love, They really don't feel like it. When you have a deep sense of joy, and I'm not talking about a giddy feeling, I'm talking about a genuine sense of joy, of satisfaction. When you have a sense of peace, even though everything around you is pretty messed up and troubled, you know these things aren't from you. They're not natural, they're supernatural. They're of the Spirit of God. You see, he's put his impression on you, something of his likeness. And when you see those things in your life, well, they're not perfect, not at all, but they're real. You have God's seal that you belong to him. And that's what Paul meant when he says that believers are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. His likeness, something of his character is imprinted, impressed into and upon us. We are spiritual. But now Paul goes on. Having this seal, the Holy Spirit, he says, is also a guarantee of our future inheritance. Verse 14, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it. Now that word, guarantee, literally means it's a deposit guarantee. It's an interesting word. It literally means a down payment, a part payment in advance of a sum of money or whatever it is that's promised. And we're all familiar with that. I mean, you buy something, you sign a contract, and you pay a down payment. And that's a promise, that's a guarantee that the rest of it is to come. Now notice what Paul is saying here. He says that the Holy Spirit who indwells us, who impresses something of his own character on us and in us is God's guarantee that there's more yet to come. much more in greater quantity and in immense quality than anything we've experienced to date. The Holy Spirit is in us as God's down payment. It's God's part payment, if you will, of our perfect redemption, of our perfect inheritance that we shall enjoy and know in heaven. Now there are a couple of thoughts suggested by that. And the first is that being sealed with the Holy Spirit is God's absolute assurance, God's absolute pledge of the fact that we shall inherit the fullness of eternal life. And in this connection, it's interesting to note that God chose the day of Pentecost for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit beginning. Pentecost is called in Numbers 28 and verse 26, the day of the first fruits. It was the day when Israel would go out into the fields and they would gather some of the first of the harvest and they would bring it and they would celebrate God with it. They would bring thanksgiving to God for it. It was a day that anticipated all the rest of the harvest that was still out there. Now on this special feast day, the day of the first fruits, God gave the Holy Spirit that just as those first sheaves of harvest out in the field yet, was God's absolute pledge that the Holy Spirit was the assurance of the full, spiritual, eternal harvest that's ours. And He's God's pledge. God's guarantee of our eternal inheritance in that the Holy Spirit within us is as much an expression, as much an evidence of God's love for us as the gift of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. And that's the love Paul says in Romans 8 at the end, that won't let us go. Nothing can separate us from it. Besides that, the Holy Spirit himself makes us, makes us think about makes us desire, makes us believe in, makes us anticipate that inheritance. Now, there are a lot of people who miss the comfort of these words of our text. They say, well, we can't really be sure. Anxiety builds. Have I done enough? Is my life good enough? Isn't it possible to fall from grace? And the Apostle Paul says, no, no, no, no, no. The Holy Spirit who indwells you, who gives you faith, is God's absolute guarantee of your eternal salvation. There are others, however, who misuse the teaching of the words of our text. They say, well, ha, if I have that kind of eternal security, then I can live as I please. I can do what I want. And again, Paul was saying, no, no. No, you see, this Holy Spirit, who is God's guarantee, impresses something of his character on you. so that you become a different person, a new person, a spiritual person who begins to will not your own will, but the will of God. You won't, you can't remain your selfish self. So that's the first thing. The Holy Spirit is God's absolute pledge, his assurance of our eternal inheritance. But secondly, A second thought that's suggested here is that being so sealed with the Holy Spirit is not only an assurance of our eternal inheritance, but it's an indication of what that inheritance will be like. You see, the indwelling sealing spirit, Paul says, is a part payment. It's a foretaste, if you will, a sample of that eternal inheritance. Now here, and a little bit of a caveat, Paul isn't focusing so much at all on the materiality, the physicality, the creationality of our eternal inheritance. After all, heaven isn't some place floating around in the sky where we'll be strumming on harps and sitting on cloud. It will be, John says in Revelation, the renewed earth, the renewed universe, heavens and earth. But here Paul is focusing on the fact that how shall we live life in our resurrected bodies on that and in that renewed universe? And he says it will be a spirit-filled, a spirit-directed life, a life of total and complete communion with God. Again, note the New Testament, the fruit of the spirit is love and joy and peace. It's holiness and fellowship and ability. And if that's God's part payment, then heaven will be filled with more of the same only then in complete perfection. Then heaven is far more than just putting away of what's sorrowful and painful in this life. It's more than doing away with sickness and death. Heaven is like the love that I have for God now. now, only then blazingly perfect. Heaven is like the obedience, the devotion to God that I give now, only then given absolutely perfectly. Heaven is like the knowledge that I have now through a glass darkly, but then I shall know even as I am now known. Heaven is like the holiness we experience, like the fellowship we enjoy, only then those relationships will be absolutely right on. Someone has said the best of this earth is the shadow of heaven. The shadow is like the reality, but oh, the reality. Great and glorious as our earthly experience in Christ is, there's more. There's a lot more to come. And I think that's pretty exciting. Finally, Paul tells us something of the goal or the purpose, if you will, of all of this, of our being sealed with the Holy Spirit, who is God's guarantee, who is our foretaste of our eternal inheritance. What's that purpose? I mean, is it that we can be comforted day by day, assured of our eternal inheritance? Well, certainly that's a part, that's a part of it. But the real goal, the real purpose is this, verse 14, to the praise of his glory. And you'll notice how that theme threads through these opening verses or this sentence of Paul. God the Father, he says, chose us in Christ from before the creation of the world to be his children. Verse six, to the praise of his glorious grace. God the Son, verse 12, has redeemed us in order that we who were first to hope in Christ might be for the praise of his glory. And we are sealed with the Holy Spirit in whom we have that guarantee, that foretaste of our eternal inheritance, verse 14, to the praise of his glory, to the praise of God's glory. What's that? What does it mean to glorify God? Well, there's a lot in that concept. But think of the heavens declaring the glory of God. To glorify God means to reveal God. means to make him known, it means to show him forth, it means to put him on display. And that's what Paul has in mind. God, he says, has chosen us to be his children, he's redeemed us in Jesus Christ, he's given us his seal, the Holy Spirit, to assure us of the fact that we are His children from before the foundation of the world, redeemed in Jesus Christ. And He's done all of that so that we might live every day of our lives daringly for Him. displaying Him, declaring with our lips and with our lives His glorious praise, so that the whole of our life, everything about us tells of Him, the living God, our God. You ever look in a mirror and say to yourself, I'm a child of God. I'm forgiven all my sins, I'm accepted in God's family, and God's put within me his own seal, his Holy Spirit, releasing to me the fullness of the life of Jesus Christ. So I'm equipped to handle whatever comes my way. And not only that, but I have an inheritance, there's a whole lot more to come, what a confession, what a life, let's live it to the praise of God's glory, amen. Heavenly Father, in grace you've given to us so much. From eternity you've loved us, known us, chosen us. In Jesus Christ, your Son, you've redeemed us, given to us the fullness of your forgiveness day by day by day. With your Spirit, you've set your seal upon us, equipped us for new living. Oh God, enable us to live it to the praise of your glory. Amen.