in your Bibles tonight, that's sort of been our jumping off place as we've been talking about empowered living and recognizing that a supernatural life demands a supernatural power, that God has birthed every believer from above, given them the divine life of God. and a new life, and He's given us His Holy Spirit to enable us to live that life successfully for Him. But we need to be connected to the power source, but before you can connect to the power source, you need to know the power source. And so that's what we've been doing these last several weeks and probably will continue for at least another week. I'll probably get through maybe one section tonight, but We're in Bible study on Wednesday nights, and I think it's good for us to just take our time and understand the Word of God together and study the Bible together and learn what God has for us. Philippians 1 tonight, verse 19, you remember Paul's in prison. Philippians is one of the prison epistles. He's unsure of the outcome, whether he's going to live or die a martyr's death. And he says to them, verse 19, For I know, I have some certainty, that this, the circumstance, the location, what he's going through, shall turn to my salvation, my deliverance, through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. He's saying God's at work. And through your prayers and the supply of God's Spirit, this is going to turn to my deliverance. And I believe at this point maybe the Lord is impressed upon him that he would be released, although deliverance can mean deliverance to heaven. Either way, Paul was sure. that God would deliver him from this particular affliction, and that the Holy Spirit of God would enable him, would empower him, would do his supernatural work in his life and give him the strength and the grace to bear up under what he's facing. Aren't you glad that you and I have God in us, the hope of glory, the Holy Spirit of God, and He wants to empower our lives, marriages, family, our church, And we want to understand that. We talked about recognizing His person and knowing who the Holy Spirit is and understanding that He's the third person of the Divine Trinity, not less than God. He's equal with the Father and with the Son as a part of the Godhead, the triune nature of our God. Three persons, yet one God. And remember that throughout the Bible it speaks of the Holy Spirit as a person. And that we can get to know the third person of the Trinity who lives within us. And then we wanted to realize His presence. And in this particular age of grace, that the Holy Spirit is permanently indwelling believers. Can I say that again? permanently indwelling believers. In Psalm 51, David would pray to restore the joy of his salvation, cast me not away from your presence. And then he made this prayer, take not thine Holy Spirit from me. That's a prayer that you and I never need pray. Because while I may grieve the Spirit at times by maybe my actions, my attitudes, whatever it might be, the Holy Spirit will never leave the child of God. He permanently indwells us. He's God in us. Not just with us, but in us. Our body is the temple, the dwelling place of the Spirit of God. And listen, what we do with the temple, church, matters. It matters what I do with my body. It matters. And I recognize I'm not my own. I'm bought with a price. and that the Holy Spirit, that God inhabits my human spirit and my body is the dwelling place, the temple of God on earth. How important it is to remember that. We talked about how we need to maximize this position. The Holy Spirit is to have first place in my life. And that's when we begin to delve in just a little bit, sort of touch the tip of the iceberg of this matter of being filled with the Holy Spirit. And we're going to come back and preach a message on being connected to the power source, a very practical message on being filled with the Spirit of God. and how that every one of us ought to be continually filled with the Spirit of God. You say, preacher, how do I know if I'm filled? Well, I can tell you this. If you're in charge, then that means the Holy Spirit's not in charge. And when I'm in charge, the wrong things come out. You ever notice that? That's where the bad attitudes, anger, whatever it is comes out of our lives. At that moment, we can be assured the Holy Spirit is not in control of our lives. When He is in control of our lives, something totally different comes out. Something like love and joy and peace and gentleness and meekness. I believe we find those in Galatians chapter 5 verses 22 and 23. The fruit of the Spirit, that ninefold the cluster of Christian virtue, the character of Christ reflected in my life. And let me just tell you, fruit cannot be manufactured. It can only be produced, and it's produced by the Holy Spirit working in my life as I'm yielded to Him day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment. And so, we need to seek the filling of the Holy Spirit. We're going to talk about that in more detail, but I promise you this, if He doesn't have His rightful place in our lives, then He's not going to have the control in our lives and the influence in our lives and the empowerment that can be ours. We're going to miss out on that because we're in control and not the Holy Spirit. And then fourthly tonight, we want to talk about utilize His purpose. We need to understand His purpose in our life. What is the Holy Spirit? What is His office work? What is He doing in our lives? Sure, we talked about His filling and we're going to deal with that in detail, but you know the Holy Spirit does much more than just empower believers. And we're going to talk about that probably this Wednesday and next Wednesday. I may not get past the first point underneath this tonight. And so as we think about the purpose of the Holy Spirit, God has given us the gift of His Spirit. Now, listen. Don't confuse the gifts of the Spirit with the gift of the Spirit. Alright? Gifts of the Spirit are spiritual abilities that God gives to His children. Every Christian has one or more spiritual gift. and we're to utilize that within the framework of the Lord's church to edify, to build up, to bless other believers. So I glorify God and we bless others through the use of spiritual gifts. Those are the gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit, alright? But the Spirit Himself is God's It's a gift that comes alongside of the gift of salvation to every Christian at the moment we're saved. Alright? And so let's understand the first purpose, the first activity of the Holy Spirit is that of assuring us. He assures us that we belong to the Lord. You know, I'm glad that you can know you're saved tonight, aren't you? You don't have to wonder about it. If I have trusted Christ, as the Bible says I'm to, then I can be assured tonight that I have eternal life. And that life that I have from Him is eternally secure. It's not my life. I didn't procure it. I didn't grasp it. No, God gave it. And God has secured me. Not only did He save me, He secured me. And one of the works of the Holy Spirit, His purposes in our lives is this securing or assuring ministry. And we're going to see that, that He is our seal and our earnest tonight. Let's look at that. Turn to your Bibles now to 2 Corinthians. We're going to go back a couple books to 2 Corinthians chapter number 1 and find verse number 22. So we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, the Bible says. And there are three primary passages in the Scriptures that deal with this matter of the Spirit sealing or securing the believer. And we're going to notice first of all in 2 Corinthians 1 and verse number 22. And he talks about how in verse 21, Now he which establisheth us with you in Christ hath anointed us is God. Now watch this. Here's what God does. Verse 22, Who, talking about God, hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. And so here's what God says, that when He saved you, He sealed you. Boy, that's important to remember. I am sealed by the Holy Ghost. Alright? Now what does that mean? What is a seal? A seal is a mark of ownership. Somebody might put their seal on a bat in a major league baseball and puts their name on it. It's a mark of ownership, of authenticity, or whatever. And so, at the moment of salvation, God seals or marks us out. It's a sign of... of ownership, of God's authority in our life, of authenticity, that we belong to Him, of possession, that I'm an individual because I've been sealed by the Holy Spirit at the moment I was saved, that I now have been marked out as an individual belonging to the God of Heaven. Alright? I don't belong to the devil. I don't belong to this world. I belong to my Heavenly Father through faith in Jesus Christ who has sealed me with the Holy Spirit of promise. Now I want you to notice in our verse, the Bible says, who have also sealed us. So let's ask some questions. So who are sealed? Did you notice that in this verse that it's us? Paul is equating himself with every Christian in the church at Corinth. And if you know anything about the Corinthian church, you know it is the most carnal and worldly of all the churches that Paul wrote to. I mean, they had major issues in this church. There were some spiritual people there and there were some not so spiritual people. There were some people there that Paul said, when I come and I'm going to have to correct you, you're not going to like it when I show up. It's not going to be good. when I come. But yet, watch, God says when it comes to this matter of being sealed, it included every Christian or all believers. So at the moment you're saved, you're sealed. That's what the Bible teaches us, alright? And notice, I want you to look at one more passage. Turn to Ephesians chapter 1. Would you go over there? Let's look at the third place here. Ephesians chapter number 1 and find if you would verse number 13. Actually, we can begin at verse 12 for context. Ephesians chapter 1 verse number 12 for context. Notice what the Bible says. That ye should be to the praise of his glory, talking about believers, who first trusted in Christ. These are the first people saved at the church at Ephesus. In whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, now watch this, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. And so we find that it happens simultaneous with believing. The moment a person believes, they're sealed. Now notice this verse does not say we're sealed by the Holy Spirit, but with the Holy Spirit. Do you believe every word of God is important? Do you believe that nothing is there by accident? The Holy Spirit of God has inspired His Word that it's infallible, it's inerrant, and therefore every Word of God is pure and powerful. And if we believe that, then that little preposition, with, is extremely important. It's not the Holy Spirit that does the sealing. It's God who does the sealing, the Father. The first person of the Trinity seals His children with the third person of the Trinity when they believe on the Lord Jesus, the second person of the Trinity. Do you follow all of that? Okay? You with me? And so that's what's taking place here. And so the Holy Spirit Himself is the seal. So you say, Preacher, what's the seal? Well, it's not a what, it's who. I'm sealed with the Holy Spirit. The presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer is evidence of His sealing work. You see, the Bible says the Lord knows them that are His. You say, Preacher, out of all the millions and billions of people on planet Earth, How does God, and of course He's omniscient, He knows everything, but we're talking from a human standpoint, our own finite thinking. How does God know which ones belong to Him? And listen, God knows those who belong to Him because they have His seal, His mark of ownership in their hearts, which is the blessed Holy Spirit. See, there's really only two kinds of people on planet Earth. Those who have the Spirit and those who don't. That's it. Romans 8 and 9, Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. You know what that just told me? If you're saved, you have the Holy Spirit. You don't have to pray for Him. You don't have to beg for Him. You don't have to plead for Him. You already have the third person of the Trinity living inside of you the moment you believed. So if you're saved tonight, you're sealed. Isn't that a blessed truth? Now notice, not only who are sealed and what the seal is or who the seal is, let's talk about when we are sealed. Of course, I know I've already mentioned that it happens at salvation, but let's get that from the Scriptures. Can we do that? I circled some words in my Bible. In whom, verse 13, you also trusted, after that you heard the word of truth. Did you know you can't be saved if you don't hear the word? Now, it may be the person just read a tract and they were saved. That's still hearing. Alright? Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Whether I'm reading it, or I'm hearing it verbally spoken to me, the Word of God is going in. They heard the Word of Truth, the Gospel of your salvation. They heard that Jesus died for their sins, He was buried, that He rose again. He's the only way of salvation. They're sinners, they need a Savior, and they believe. Notice what He says, "...in whom also after that ye believed." Alright? ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." And so there's a sequence. Did you watch this? There's a sequence in this verse. Hearing, believing, sealing. That's a sequence. But here's the interesting thing. It all happens simultaneously. Hear, believe, seal. Boom. Done. It's all simultaneous. There's not a moment. The moment a Christian... Listen to me. The moment a sinner places their faith in Jesus Christ at that nanosecond. What is that? I have no idea. I just know it's faster than a millisecond. That's all I know. Do you have a clock? No, I don't have a clock that measures nanoseconds, okay? But at the very moment belief takes place, You're sealed. It's all simultaneous. It's immediate. I don't wait for it. There's not a moment where as a sinner I believe on Christ and I'm not sealed and I have to get... No, it's all at that very moment it takes place in our lives, okay? So here believe sealed. So it happens all simultaneously. Now I want you to get this. You can jot it down. At no point is the believer not sealed. At no point. So the moment I believe, I'm saved. And the moment I'm saved, I'm sealed. I'm eternally secured by God. Did you catch that? By God. And that's important to remember. Okay? I'm going to show you another verse here in just a moment that has to do with that, and I'm going to bring everything together. So we talked about who were sealed, believers. We talked about what the seal is, and we know that's a who, it's the Holy Spirit, third person of the divine trinity. We know when we are sealed, we were sealed the moment we believed on Christ, no believer. is ever unsealed and at no point is the believer not sealed. Okay? There's no lag time from believing to sealing. It's all simultaneous. Well, how long? How long does God say that the seal lasts? That God has sealed us. How long does it last? Well, I'm glad the Bible tells us. Let's go to Ephesians chapter 4 and find verse number 30. Salvation and the securing a believer is totally the work of God. Remind you Ephesians 2.8 and 9, For by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves. The Bible goes on to say it's not of works. For by grace you're saved through faith, that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works. Human effort of any kind. Alright? So it's by grace through faith and the finished work of Jesus Christ. Alright? Not of human effort. And so we find that it's entirely the Word of God. It is God who saves and it is God who secures. No one can ever undo what God's done and God's going to tell you He won't undo it either. I'm going to show you the verse. Ephesians chapter 4 verse number 30. And grieve not. the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed how long? Until the day of redemption." Now what is the day of redemption, preacher? That's when Jesus comes. That's what it is. It's when you die or He comes. Now the day of redemption has to do with His coming. So what's this? I'm sealed until the moment that I'm fully in the presence of God. So that means that, let's say, my grandfather that passed in 2010, who was saved as a young man, came to know the Lord and he went to heaven at that moment, so to speak. The seal was no longer necessary the moment he stepped into heaven. Why? He's in the presence of God. He's there. He's there. But the day of redemption hasn't taken place. The day of redemption is when God's going to redeem our bodies. Listen to me. You are a redeemed soul Christian living in an unredeemed body. This body that we have right now isn't going to heaven. Now when we die, it goes back to the ground, okay? And it decays. It's corruptible. It goes back to the earth, okay? And so we understand that. So when Jesus comes, the dead will be raised. They're going to get a new body. And it's going to look like the old body, but it's not the old body. It's a new body. It's fashion-like into His glorious body. So the Bible said that corruption will put on incorruption. Mortal will put on immortality. But what if I don't die? That's what I'm after. What about you? The rapture. Well, that's when the living, the saved living are changed. Remember what Paul said? 1 Corinthians 15, 51 and 52, Behold I show you a mystery, we shall not all sleep, not every Christian is going to die, but we shall all be changed. Every Christian is not going to die. There's going to be a generation of believers that will go to heaven without dying. But there will be no believers who will go to heaven in their mortal bodies. They will have a new body that's fitted for an eternal heavenly environment. Okay? And that is called the day of redemption. So how long am I sealed? So watch this. I'm sealed when? When I'm saved. How long does it last? When I'm in heaven. There's no evidence. God says the seal can never be broken on earth. You can't break it. The devil can't break it. And nobody else can break it. God sealed you. He's the only one that can break the seal. Imagine in your minds, And imagine in your minds a royal seal. Go back to the days that Paul lived, even before that. In ancient times, kings had a ring, a signet ring. Remember, Pharaoh gave Joseph his ring, okay? And you would sign documents, official documents, the king would. And when he did that, they would be folded up, wax would be placed on it and melted. And the king would take his signet ring and press it into that wax, sealing that document. The only person that had authority to open that document was the person it was sent to or the king himself. Nobody else had the authority to open that document, alright? It was sealed. So watch this. Let's imagine that we're a document, okay? We're signed and we're sealed and one day we're going to be delivered. And when we get to heaven, God's going to break the seal. Because there's no more need for the seal. You following me? So it lasts until the day of redemption. And nobody has the authority or the power to break the seal. And so we're sealed, church, until we die or the Lord Jesus comes, whichever is first. Now I want you to look at another word in Ephesians chapter 1. Would you go back to Ephesians chapter 1? For just a moment, I want to show you another word. And it's found in verse number 14. Because the seal and the earnest of the Spirit go together. Okay? Look at verse number 14. These messages have been prepared weeks and weeks in advance. I just couldn't wait to get here. Look at verse 14, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. There it is. See? Day of redemption. Under the redemption of the purchased possession, we've been bought with a price, and it's all under the praise of His glory. Well, what is the earnest, preacher? That is God's pledge. You ever heard earnest money? Sort of a down payment like my house when we bought my house. We had to give earnest money, a down payment. You know what I was promising? The rest is going to follow. I'm going to pay for the next 29 years. 29 years and 11 months or whatever it is till it's paid for. It's a pledge. Now watch this. The Holy Spirit is the seal that guarantees your salvation. He's also the pledge that what God's promised in your life, He's going to perform it. The Holy Ghost, the moment He came into your heart, is the down payment. Now the price has already been paid. It's the down payment of God's blessings. We only get a portion of the blessings here. The lion's share is on the other side. You see what I'm saying? And so the Holy Spirit is the pledge that what God started in my life, He is going to complete. It's a pledge or promise of more to follow. I remember listening to the radio sometime back and there was a guy who didn't believe in the security of the believer. And he made a statement. He was actually mocking this idea of being sealed and being preserved until the day of Jesus Christ. And he was actually mocking that and he said, because I've heard even some preachers that would believe in the security of the believer would use this illustration as well about how their grandma or mom or whatever would do green beans and put them in a canner. After they had canned them and done all the stuff, they put them out on the counter and then they put a towel over them and then you could hear the pop, pop, pop, pop, pop as all of them sealed. And one guy used that illustration on the radio against them and said, well, you know what, not every can of beans or jar of beans that my grandma ever canned actually sealed. Some of them spoiled. God ain't sealing vegetables, folks. He's sealing people. There's a difference. That's not a true illustration. God's not sealing vegetables. We're not green beans. We're His children that's been bought with the precious blood of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And God said, I've secured you for all eternity. Now, let me talk about the purpose of the sealing. The primary purpose of God's sealing of the believer is security. To be able to quote 1 John 5.13, and know for the surety it's a fact, where John says, These things are written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know, that's with certainty, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you have eternal life. and that you should believe on the name of the only begotten Son of God. And so, if I can lose it, I can't know it. That's the problem with the Calvinists today. They believe in the perseverance of the saints. So if you believe in all five tenets of Calvinism, and you come through all the five little tenets of it, and you get to the other one, the perseverance of the saints, and what they'll say is that a person who's saved goes through it, and they've got to persevere into the end, and only then will they know they're saved. It's amazing John MacArthur believes that. He wrote a whole book on alternative security. Well, guess what, John MacArthur? If you really believe in Calvinism, you don't know you're saved. You haven't persevered yet. John Piper, R.C. Sproul. By the way, if you see those books in your bookstore, don't touch them with a ten-foot pole. You don't need them. They're not going to help you. Okay? And it's amazing how much John MacArthur will say what I've said tonight and then turn around and do double talk, and he's much more brilliant than I am, but it doesn't matter how smart you are. What matters, am I rightly dividing the Word of Truth? Dividing the Bible accurately has nothing to do with intelligence. It has everything to do with the authority of the Word of God in your life. And if you're a Calvinist, then what you do is you view all of the Bible through that lens rather than allowing the Bible to speak for itself. The same is true of the flip side of that, of the person that believes you can save and lose it, save, lose it, save, lose it. You know what? You'd have to be sealed, unsealed, sealed, unsealed, sealed, unsealed. And God said it doesn't work that way. You're sealed to the day of redemption. That's what He says. And therefore you can know that you're saved. It's not presumption. It's not. It's believing what God says and then standing on what He says. And our lives ought to be a thank you note, living for... lived for Him for everything He's done for us. We're not trying to be saved or trying to stay saved. We're trying to honor God because we are saved. Does that make a difference? That ought to be the motive of your heart, Christian, to live for Him. Let me give you some thoughts, alright? And I'm going to be done tonight. So the primary purpose of God's sealing of His believing child is security. So number one, it assures us of the certainty of being possessed by God. I'm sure that if I'm saved then I'm sealed and therefore I belong to God. I'm His child. He's my Father. And that relationship is eternally secure. Number two, it assures us of the certainty of the promise of salvation. Notice, we're sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. The promise that what God began in my life, Philippians 1, verse 6, He that hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. And so we find that. And we realize that it assures of the certainty of the promise of God, of salvation, that I belong to Him. Does anybody know any power greater than God? Anybody know anybody? Okay. If there's no power greater than God, and it's God who sealed us, Therefore, only God can break the seal and He's promised never to break it until we're in heaven. So it assures us of the promise of salvation. Number three, you can jot this one down. So number one, assures us of the certainty of being possessed by God. Number two, assures us of the certainty of the promise of salvation. Number three, it assures us of the certainty of God's promise to keep us or preserve us until the day of redemption. And see, something that is sealed is secure. And something that's sealed by God is as secure as God's promise. And so we have His Word on it. Now I want to show you another verse and I'm going to be done tonight because it's just about 8 o'clock and I want to finish this up tonight. I want you to look over if you would. And I've got four or five more works of the Holy Spirit that we're going to talk about. This was just the first one in order. We're going to talk about His comforting ministry. and His restraining ministry and all the other ministries that He has to us. But I want you to turn to 1 Peter. Would you turn there real quickly and we're going to just wrap everything up because we want to understand this keeping, this preserving, this sealing matter of God that secures us, that God has promised or assured us of the certainty of God keeping us or preserving us. We don't have to keep ourselves saved. God does that. Jesus is not in heaven maintaining my salvation. That is done. He's maintaining my fellowship. Fellowship is what God does with His children after they're saved. Okay? Our salvation is never in question once the person comes to Christ. Alright? So notice if you would, let's find 1 Peter 1 and verse number 3. Can we start there so that we can sort of get the gist of what Peter's writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit? He said, 1 Peter 1 verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively or living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. So that begottenness again is the new birth. Alright? That's a person saved. Alright? And notice it's by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. We have a living hope. Not a question mark. Exclamation point. Verse 4, To an inheritance unincorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, were reserved in heaven for..." Who? You, those who belong to the Lord. Look at verse 5. "...who are kept," there it is, "...preserved by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time." And so we're kept by the power of God. And that's it. And so once I'm sealed, I can never be unsealed. Alright? And so the gift of the Spirit is the guarantee of our security. That God will not go back on His promises. That what God has promised, He will perform in my life. That I can sing with Fanny Crosby, blessed assurance Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of God. Born of the Spirit, washed in His blood. What a wonderful song that is. But you can't sing that if you don't believe in the sealing of the Holy Spirit. Can't do it. Because you wouldn't have that assurance. There would always be the tick in the back of your mind of whether or not it's going to last. Thank God it lasts. Does it matter how we live, preachers, Christians? Does it matter? Absolutely it matters. Because the name of my Heavenly Father matters. And I as a Christian should love my Heavenly Father, not out of duty, but out of devotion, enough that I want to walk worthy of the vocation, the calling, the name that He's given to me as a Christian. I don't want to take God's name and run it through the muck and mire of this world. Do you? I don't want to do that. We belong to Him. And therefore, as believers, we want the Holy Spirit of God. We want Him to be pleased with our lives as we're yielded to Him so that we can know His feeling. I already have His sealing, okay? But I want His enabling and that comes through the empowering or the filling of the Holy Spirit. And that's important for us to remember as believers. And we're going to get there on how to be filled with the Spirit, okay, in another message. Alright? And so, thank God. Thank God for the sealing ministry. of the Holy Spirit of God. Boy, that's something we ought to praise Him for tonight, isn't it? We ought to praise Him. Alright.