In this sermon, the preacher begins by referencing John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" and the story of Christian and Hopeful being imprisoned in Doubting Castle. He emphasizes the importance of having faith in God's promises, comparing it to a key that can unlock any door. The preacher encourages the audience to keep a good relationship with the Holy Spirit and not to grieve or resist Him. He reassures them that no matter what challenges they face, God will always be there to help and fulfill His promises.

Ephesians chapter 1, verses 12 through 14, we have one of the names of the Holy Spirit, and we've been looking at the names of the Holy Spirit, and this one we want to look at this evening. Ephesians 1, 12, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also when ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, who is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. Someone has said that happiness consists in three things, someone to love, something to do, and something to look forward to, and there's a lot of truth to that. We as Christians certainly then ought to be happy people because we have someone to love, the Lord Jesus Christ and his people. We have something to do, serve the Lord, help one another, and win the lost, and we have something to look forward to, the second coming of the Lord Jesus, and until then all that the Lord has promised for them that love him. We're living in days when the future is not as bright as it used to be. It seems that everything people were depending on is falling apart. And folks are frantically reading the magazines and the newspapers hoping for some good word about the economic situation or the political situation or the international situation, and coming closer to home even as a church family. We've had our share of deaths, surgery, difficulty of one kind or another, people going through vocational problems, people going through personal problems. One of the first symptoms of a declining spiritual life is we hate to see the future arrive. For some reason or other we lose hope. Now abide faith, hope, love. These three, the greatest of these is love, but you know when there's love there's hope. When you love someone there's always something to look forward to, and where there's faith there's hope because when you trust someone you're not afraid of the future. But I'm sure I speak to some people here tonight who are concerned about the future, future health, future wealth, future vocation, some problem, some burden down the road. Now the Holy Spirit in verse 13 of Ephesians 1 is called the Holy Spirit of Promise. He is the Spirit of Promise. I'm wondering why he is called the Spirit of Promise. I want to suggest four reasons to you tonight why the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Promise, and I think that when you understand these reasons it will help you to have a brighter future. I can't think of anything that would be more miserable than being constantly weighed down by the worries of the future. I suppose next to that is being constantly weighed down by the regrets of the past. But Paul tells us here in verse 13 that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Promise, and when you and I understand why he is called the Spirit of Promise, I think it's going to make the future a little brighter for us. So if you're discouraged tonight, if you hate to turn the pages of the calendar on your desk, if you hate to even think about a new day dawning, lay hold of the fact that the Holy Spirit of God is the Spirit of Promise. Why? Well, reason number one, the Holy Spirit came to earth in fulfillment of promise. Now that sounds like a rather ordinary statement, but it's an amazing fact that for centuries God had promised that his Holy Spirit would come to the earth, and he's here. There's an interesting incident back in the book of Numbers chapter 11. Moses had complained. He'd heard the people criticizing and complaining, and so Moses just got discouraged. Nothing discourages a servant of God like constant complaining. And he came to God and said, God, did I beget all of these people? Am I their father that I have to put up with what they're doing? God said, all right, I'll give you some help. Choose 70 elders, and I will take of the Holy Spirit that I have put on you and share with them, and they'll share the burden with you. There are those who say that Moses was wrong in doing this because God was able to help Moses get his work done. There are others who say Moses was right in doing this because he was sharing the load. Well, the Holy Spirit was given to these elders, and they began to prophesy. They began to be prophets, and two of the men were off by themselves. They weren't with the rest of them, and they began to prophesy and to praise God. And somebody came running to Moses and said, Moses, there are two men over here who are prophesying. You're the only prophet around here. And Joshua said to Moses, tell them to stop prophesying. And Moses gave one of those magnanimous answers that he was given, and he was gifted at giving. You know what Moses said? Moses said, would God that all of the Lord's people were prophets? You know what he was saying? He was saying, I'm not jealous of the fact that I have the Holy Spirit. I wish all of God's people had the Holy Spirit. But in the Old Testament, they didn't. In the Old Testament, the Spirit of God came upon certain select people, and he left them. That's why David could pray, take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Nobody today prays that way. And God said, I will someday give the Holy Spirit to all of my people. Joel prophesied that a day would come when Israel would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist said of Jesus, he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Jesus himself said to his disciples, tarry in Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high. And at Pentecost, the gift of the Holy Spirit came. Several times in his message at Pentecost, Peter talks about the gift. Repent, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This gift is unto you. This promise is unto you and to your children. In fact, the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Promise, the promise of the Father. The Holy Spirit of God came to earth in fulfillment of promise. Now, do you know what that means? Don't miss it. The very presence of the Holy Spirit in this world is proof that God keeps his promises. The next time the devil says to you, sure, you've been claiming this verse or that promise. Nothing's happened yet. My God shall supply all your need. You've been claiming that. How do you know God keeps his promises? And you just come right back and say, just a minute, the Holy Spirit is in this world, and he's the Spirit of Promise. And the very presence of the Spirit in this world is proof that God keeps his promises. And if God keeps his promises, don't be afraid of the future. Because the future is as bright, said Hudson Taylor, as the promises of God. Now we'll go one step further. There's a second reason why the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Promise. He came to this earth in fulfillment of promise. Secondly, he came into your life in fulfillment of promise. There was a time when you didn't have the Holy Spirit living in your life. You had a Spirit, but not the Holy Spirit, the Spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. There was a time when I did not have the Holy Spirit living in my heart. And then one day I trusted Christ as my Savior and the Holy Spirit came to live in my heart. Now, Paul gives us the sequence of events in verses 13 and 14. He says, number one, you heard the word of truth. That's where it all starts. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. He says the very first thing was you heard the word of truth. Paul came to Ephesus and Paul preached the word of truth and they heard the word of truth. Somebody may be here tonight who says, Pastor Worsby, I don't have the Holy Spirit living in my life. I can tell from the life I live, it's an unholy spirit. How do I get the Holy Spirit in my life? He says, you first of all, hear the word of truth. What is this word of truth? The good news of your salvation, not just the good news of salvation, the good news of your salvation. It's personal. Paul didn't get up and preach and say, now, if you are one of the elect, I want to talk to you. Paul got up and said, I want to preach to you the gospel of your salvation. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. The son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost. God is not willing that any should perish. God who will have all men to be saved. So they heard the word of truth. Having heard the word of truth, they believed on Jesus Christ in whom he also trusted when after that, she heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation in whom also when you believe. So there's hearing and then there's faith. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. Now, when they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, immediately they were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. It's unfortunate that our authorized version in verse 13 mistranslates that text. It's not after you believe you don't receive the Holy Spirit after you believe you receive the Holy Spirit when you believe and the Holy Spirit came into your life as the result of a promise. Now, I don't know what promise the Lord used to save you. I suppose we could have an interesting time tonight going up and down these rows and saying what promise from the word of God did the Holy Spirit use to lead you to Christ? When I do personal work, I try not to be stereotyped. I try to find the promise that helps people. Many people have been led to the Lord with Revelation 320. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and will sup with him and he with me. I'm sure when the Holy Spirit inspired John to write John 316, he knew that multiplied millions would come to Christ through that promise. What is the promise? That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, never go to hell, but have everlasting life. So the Spirit of God is the promise because he came into your life as the result of a promise. You say, Pastor, I think I'm a Christian, but I don't know of any promise that the Holy Spirit used. My friend, the Holy Spirit uses the word of God to save people. We aren't saved by emotion. We aren't saved by discipline. We aren't saved by religion. We're saved by believing in Jesus Christ through the word. Jesus himself said, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life. And so the Holy Spirit is the spirit of promise because he came to this world in fulfillment of promise. Secondly, he came into your life in fulfillment of promise. Now, if he hasn't come into your life, my friend, you're not a Christian. Oh, you say, Pastor, you're being very critical. No, I'm being very biblical. Paul says in Romans chapter eight and verse nine, if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he's none of his. I was chatting with a young man after the visitors were during the visitors reception today. He told me about how he had trusted Christ as his savior. I said, do you know that you're born again? He said, yes, I do. I said, how do you know? I said, is the Holy Spirit witnessing in your heart? He said, yes. I said, when you read the word of God, does it say something to you? He said, yes, it never used to, but now it does. That's the witness of the spirit of God. He's the spirit of promise because he came into your life because you believe the promise. Now that means this, as long as the Holy Spirit is living in your life, you don't have to worry about the future because God keeps his promises. So when the devil comes to you and says your future is black, you're going to, you're going to lose your job. You're going to lose your health. Everything is in case you're going in for surgery. Things are in a mess. You're worried about your children, your grandchildren. God can't take care of the future. You just say, wait just a minute. Now the Holy Spirit is in this world that proves God keeps his promises. And the Holy Spirit is in my heart that proves that God keeps his promises. Now there's a third reason. He came to earth in fulfillment of promise. He came into our hearts in fulfillment of promise. Thirdly, he sealed us that we might share the promises. Notice what it says here, whom also when you believe you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. Now you've read your Bibles enough to know that seals are often used in the Bible. When Kings sent out their orders, they marked it with a seal. When the, uh, when Artaxerxes was going to permit them to rebuild the city, he sealed it with his seal. When they put the stone on Jesus' tomb and they put the guard there, they sealed it. A seal in the Bible is a very important thing. A seal in the Bible is a lot like a signature today. Maybe you've been through the national archives in Washington. You've seen some of great documents of American history. I was amazed to see how big some of those seals were. There are some documents in there about treaties and things like that and all these ribbons and this huge seal that they'd pressed on there. That makes it official. Now the seal of the Holy Spirit involves three particular blessings. Number one, ownership. Ownership. When you are sealed, it means God owns you. Paul was writing to the Christians at Ephesus. Ephesus was a great commercial city. And I'm sure when Paul was there and he was down on the docks, he saw the merchant men come down. They're going to, they're going to purchase some, uh, some wool. And so they would sign the thing and put their seal upon it. Purchase some wood. The man who's buying the timber would put his seal on every piece of timber. I own that. Nobody else could claim it. Now, when you were saved, the Holy Spirit of God came into your life and he has sealed you. You belong to God. He's purchased you. Now he sealed you to be purchased a finished transaction. It is finished a completed transaction so that we belong to God. You say, what difference does that make? My friend, when you belong to God, that means from now on, he's responsible for your future. You see, Paul could go down to the slave market in Ephesus. There were 6 million slaves in the Roman empire. Paul could go down to the slave market and he'd see a man standing there and people would be bidding for him. And a man steps up and says, I bid thus and so, and nobody tops that bid. And so he owns him. And from now on, the owner is responsible for that slave's future. Now we recognize the fact that you and I must be obedient to the Lord, that our future might be all that he wants it to be. But when you trusted Christ as your savior and the Holy Spirit came in and sealed you, that meant ownership and God's responsible for your future. You say, what's my responsibility? To obey God that he might be able to do all that he wants to do. So often I meet people who are afraid of God's will. I don't know why, but they are. They're afraid of God's will. I often show them Psalm 33 11. The counsel of the Lord standeth forever. The thoughts of his heart to all generations, the will of God comes from the heart of God. And my friend, my Bible says, I has not seen ear has not heard. It's never entered into the heart of man. The things that God has prepared for them that love him, not just in heaven, right down here. If you had told me 25 years ago, what God had prepared for me, I would have laughed in your face. I would have said you're crazy. And I could go up and down these rows and talk to some of our people. And they'd say the same thing. I never would have dreamed 10 years ago. This is what God had planned for me. Ownership. When the Lord owns you, my friend, he's got your future all planned for you. You don't have to be afraid. Now the seal not only meant ownership, it meant protection. Once a Roman seal was put on something, you didn't dare tamper with it, not on your life. You are risking liberty and life when you tamper with a Roman seal. Now, Ephesus was a very, very wealthy town. The temple of Diana was there and it was a bank. People used to deposit their wealth and keep it in the temple safest place. And it would be sealed for protection. When God saved you, he gave you the Holy Spirit to seal you and protect you. You say, oh, it's wonderful that God has my future planned for me, but I might lose my salvation. Paul says not on your life. You have been sealed by the Holy Spirit of God. You are protected. That means you can just keep on claiming the promises of God. Just keep on walking a day at a time. God has your future planned and God has you protected. But it means something else. It means not only ownership and protection, it means authority. Have you noticed the ads in the newspapers lately that say something like this? Be sure to check the credentials. If someone comes to your apartment door and says, I'm with a telephone company and we'd like to check something out, be sure to see their credentials. Someone comes to your door and says, I'm with the FBI or we're with the police, may we come in? Check their credentials. I will never forget when I was pastoring in Covington, the secretary buzzed me and said, there's a gentleman out here to see you and I think he's from the FBI. And of course, your first reaction is, what did I do now? And he was from the FBI. He came in and very polite, very gracious. He said, I'm so-and-so. And I looked at him. Now I couldn't tell a fake ID from a real ID, but I looked at him and it looked pretty good. One of our men was applying for an engineering post and it was a security post and they were checking him out on everything. He asked me questions his own mother couldn't answer. I was glad he did. I'm glad that people in security are checked out. Now the Holy Spirit of God is the seal of God. This is my credential. Because I am sealed by the Holy Spirit, I have the authority to claim the promises of God. Now, unsaved people can't claim his promises. My heart goes out to the hundreds of unsaved people who are lying in Cook County Hospital and Presbyterian St. Luke's and the 30 other hospitals in the area and they can't claim God's promises. They can't claim Psalm 23, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me. They haven't got the authority. But you see, you and I, when we come into the presence of God, we come through the name of Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit. I can still hear Dr. Donald Gray Barnhouse when he used to pray, Father, we come in the name of Jesus and through the Holy Spirit. And this is true. We pray in the name of Jesus through the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit of God, having sealed us, gives us the authority. It's as though we can walk up and say, now Father, here are my credentials. We can claim the promises of God. Now, if you're afraid of the future tonight, I don't know what the cause may be. I simply say this to you. You don't have to be afraid. The Holy Spirit is a spirit of promise. He came into the world in fulfillment of promise. He came into your life in fulfillment of promise. Therefore, you can trust the promises of God and he is the seal of God upon your life. Therefore, God owns you and he'll take care of the future. Therefore, God will protect you and you cannot be lost. And therefore, you have the authority to come and claim the promises of God. Wouldn't you much rather have all of the promises of God and have God taking care of you a day at a time than have a million dollars in the bank? You could lose that million dollars just like that. I talked to a man recently who smilingly said, oh yeah, I remember the depression. I lost everything. But you can't lose the promises of God. There's a fourth reason why the Holy Spirit is a spirit of promise. And this is the one that excites me. I'm excited to know that he's in the world. Therefore, God keeps his promises. He's in my life. Therefore, God keeps his promises. He has sealed me. Therefore, the future is secure. There's a fourth reason. The Holy Spirit of God is the earnest to encourage us to claim God's promises. Verse 14, who is the earnest of our inheritance. Now, a younger generation doesn't remember the word earnest. The word earnest to many young people means zealous, being very earnest about something. But a few years ago, people talked about earnest money. Remember that? Now, you know what earnest money is. You go to the loan association and say, I want to buy a house. They say, fine. You'll have to have a down payment. The earnest money. That's what the Holy Spirit is. The Holy Spirit is God's down payment. Now, when you were saved, God gave to you everything that he has for you. The Christian life is claiming what God has given to us. Now, there's some things God can't give to us yet. A glorified body. There are days I wish I had a glorified body. There are days you wish you had a glorified body. We don't have it yet. There are days I wish I could see my loved ones who have gone to heaven. I can't see them. There are days we wish we just see Jesus, but he hasn't come yet. How do we know he's going to come? How do we know we're going to see our loved ones? How do we know we're going to go to heaven? How do we know we'll have a glorified body? He's given us a down payment. The Holy Spirit of God is God's earnest money. God's down payment. Let me use this word. God's pledge that the rest is going to come. Now, if I go next door to the bank and I say I want to buy something, buy an automobile perhaps. They say, well, we're going to need $500 earnest money. I say, well, I haven't got $500, but I happen to have 500 grapefruit. Fellas, that's very interesting. That's a rather juicy offer, but they say, I've got to have money. I say, well, I got 500 books. I got 500 books. Well, he said, I appreciate that, but I've got to have money. You see, the earnest money, the earnest, the down payment has to be the same thing as that which is going to come. If I promise to give him $500 and then pay him $2,500 in 100 uneasy installments, he's going to get the whole thing, but he starts with money and he keeps getting money. You don't start with grapefruit and then bring in money. Now, the Holy Spirit is this way. God says, I have so much for you and just to let you know how wonderful it is, I'm going to give you the down payment. Now, would you just hold on to your seats for a moment because I'm going to make a statement that to me is just devastating. It just lifts me off the ground. It's this. Since the Holy Spirit is the down payment of the future inheritance for the Christian, the future is now. The future is not 400 years from now. It's now. We are enjoying the blessings of the future now. Oh, we're on earth with all the sorrows and trials and opportunities that are involved, but we're seated in heaven. We have the glory of God. We have the spirit of God and the future is right now. Now watch how this works out. God said, I'm going to give you the Holy Spirit. He's the down payment. And I'm just going to keep on giving you the installments until one day Jesus is going to come and you'll be caught up and you'll receive the full inheritance. The future is now. You see, the Holy Spirit wrote these promises down. When he inspired Paul, he said, now, Paul, there's going to be a preacher there in Chicago who really needs this promise. So write it down. And when he inspired David, he said, there's going to be a lady going into surgery and she's going to need that. So write it down. The Holy Spirit wrote God's promises. He inspired them. Then he teaches us God's promises. Oh, how many times I have turned the pages of God's word and a promise just jumped out at me. The spirit does that. That's the down payment down inside bearing dividends. So he wrote the promises of God and he teaches us the promises of God and he gives us the faith to claim the promises of God. Oh, many times I've had to pray, Lord, I know this promise is here, but it's so hard for me to believe it. Now, Holy Spirit of God, help me. You're the spirit of promise. And he does. Charles Spurgeon was on a boat one day and the boat was docked at the wharf. He was witnessing to a sailor. That's interesting. I hadn't thought about our young man being here tonight. He was witnessing to the sailor and talking to him about the claiming the promises of God. And the sailor said this, Spurgeon pointed to the cables from the boat that were wrapped around the big posts there at the dock. And the sailor said this to Mr. Spurgeon, I know that they are good, strong promises, but I cannot get near enough to shore to throw my cable around them. That's the difficulty. And I've had that difficulty. I've been tossed and turned on the waves and the storms of life. And I see God's promises. They're standing so strong and so firm. And I want to get the cable of my faith around them, but I can't. That's when the Holy Spirit comes along and says, wait, just you don't do it in your own strength. Let me take care of that. And the Holy Spirit of God gives you the cable of faith to lay hold of the promises of God. I see some of you shaking your head. You know what I'm talking about. He's the earnest, the down payment that enables us to claim God's promises and enjoy them right now. Until verse 14, you got to study the untils of the Bible. The Holy Spirit's not going to be the down payment forever until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory. Until, until what? Until Jesus comes. That's the promise of promises. That's the fulfillment of fulfillments. That's the glory of glories. Everything else is nothing compared to that. He's going to come. Now, my friend, you and I can put up with anything as long as we know it's going to end. And one day it is going to end. And one day Jesus is going to come. Now, the Holy Spirit of God is the spirit of promise. He came to earth in fulfillment of promise. He came into your life in fulfillment of promise. He has sealed you that you might claim God's promises. He is the earnest to encourage you to claim God's promises. The future is not tomorrow. The future is now. We've been studying Pilgrim's Progress at the 530 hour. Tonight we had that interesting scene where Pilgrim and Hopeful are captured by the giant despair and taken into Doubting Castle and thrown into the dungeon. And from Wednesday morning until Saturday night, they're in the dungeon hungry and thirsty and beaten. And the giant comes down and frightens them. And they talked about committing suicide. John Bunyan, a master of the word of God, puts it this way. Sunday morning is dawning, the Lord's day. A little before it was day, good Christian, as one half amazed, broke out into this passionate speech. What a fool I am to lie in a stinking dungeon when I may as well walk at liberty. I have a key in my bosom called promise. That will I am persuaded open any lock in Doubting Castle. Then said Hopeful, that's good news, good brother. Pluck it out of thy bosom and try. Then Christian pulled it out of his bosom and began to try at the dungeon door, whose bolt as he turned the key gave back and the door flew open with ease and Christian and Hopeful both came out. Then he went to the outward door that leads to the castle yard and with his key opened that door also. After he went to the iron gate, for that must be open too. That lock was very hard, but the key did open it. They thrust open the gate to make their escape with speed. What did it? A key named promise. Now somebody here tonight is in Doubting Castle and despair and discouragement have been like a giant kicking you and beating you. Bunyan knew his Bible. He said, I have in my bosom a key called, not in my pocket, in my bosom, in my heart. The Holy Spirit of God is the spirit of promise. Now let him be the key that reveals to you the promises of God. Let him be the key that opens the doors. No need for us to be discouraged about the future. We belong to God. And if something happens to us that brings disgrace to the name of God, he has more to lose than we do. If my father in heaven permits me to get into a situation that he can't handle, he ceased to be God. Oh, my friend, his glory is at stake. His good name is at stake. The veracity of his promises is at stake. He's not going to fail you. Yes, Hudson Taylor was right. The future is as bright as the promises of God. Now, that leads me to conclude with these words. Number one, keep on good terms with the Holy Spirit. Don't grieve him. Don't resist him. Don't disobey him. He's the best friend you have. Keep on good terms with the Holy Spirit. Secondly, keep reading this book. Let the Holy Spirit of God give you the promises you need when you need them. He'll do it. Thirdly, let him give you the faith to use these promises because they'll never fail. Gracious Father in heaven, we're thankful tonight that we don't have to worry about our future. We can commit it all into your care and keeping because we walk by faith in your promises. Thank you that the Holy Spirit is the spirit of promise. Oh, Father, we're thankful that through the work of the Holy Spirit, we can be encouraged about the future. We pray for somebody here tonight who needs to be saved. Oh, may that one trust the Savior. I pray for that discouraged Christian. Give a new inoculation of encouragement tonight through your promises. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.