Verses 13, 14

The thirteenth verse is spoken to us; it is not only both Jews and Gentiles who will partake of this inheritance; but the church is given to know the will of God, by the gift of the Holy Spirit. This it is which distinguishes Christians who, having believed, are sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise. The Holy Spirit becomes a seal. We cannot receive the inheritance before Christ; the Spirit is given to us whilst waiting for it as a seal; God sets His seal upon us, and this is a proof that a Gentile has part in the promises made to Abraham (for instance, Cornelius).
There is a difference between regeneration by the Spirit and the presence of the Spirit as a seal. A person must have believed, for God to be able to put His seal on him; the Spirit may act before this, as for instance, in breaking up the heart, but it is not as a seal. Sometimes the power of the Spirit produces fruits in us; at other times it humbles us, makes us sensible of good and evil; but this is not joy. The fact is, that this work is even more precious than the joy itself, because these are sometimes things in us which are not judged before God on account of the very joy. When God has given us the enjoyment of the true object which we ought to enjoy, He begins to break up the heart, in order that the work may be deeper. The Spirit makes us sensible of the things which are not according to God, and this knowledge of oneself is necessary in order that we may know God. I do not say that if we were to walk exactly as God would have us, this work could not be carried on without the loss of the joy; but it is not generally so with the Christian. It becomes needful for God to turn us toward Himself and to work inwardly, that we may discover what our carelessness has prevented us from seeing. Often this exhilarating joy of a Christian is found in one who has not judged things that ought to be judged in the presence of God. The wants and the desires which the Holy Spirit produces by regeneration, are not the seal of the Spirit any more than the joy which flows from the affections being occupied with a new and divine object, nor even the fruits which the Holy Spirit may produce when He dwells in us. The seal is the Holy Spirit Himself, given to that faith which is in Him who is our righteousness, and is the answer to all our wants; ans then we have peace and joy. It is the Spirit in us who is the seal.
We ought not to be surprised, if we find it is the intention of God to spew us ourselves; at such times we do not see God, because He is making us see ourselves. Many persons think that the full and unwavering assurance of our salvation tends to make us careless as to the state of our souls; but this is a mistake. The Holy Spirit has set His throne in our hearts, and if we will judge ourselves we shall not be judged. It is He who makes, us fully enjoy God, and who makes us judge what is not of God in us; who alone sets us in the truth, and gives us the assurance of what is accomplished for us. God in us, by His Spirit, judges the conduct and the heart; but this does not prevent this Spirit being the seal which God has set upon us, the witness of His perfect and unchangeable love towards us, the strength of a life of liberty, the Spirit of adoption. We partake of it with Jesus; God put His seal upon Jesus Himself when He was in this world, after His baptism by John.
The Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance. And here let it be observed, that the Word, in the New Testament, always employs the word us when it speaks of Christians and of the things which concern them. The prophets saw that the things which were revealed to