In this sermon, the preacher discusses the concept of justification and how it relates to sinners. He emphasizes that all people are guilty before God and in need of redemption. The preacher explains that justification means God declares the sinner righteous through faith in Jesus Christ. He uses examples from the book of Romans and the book of Revelation to illustrate the sealing of believers and the finished transaction of redemption. The sermon concludes with the message that salvation is a free gift from God and all one needs to do is receive it.

Thank you so much. Well, we have some good books here already. On my driver's car license plate, I always remember it because the letters are neither H-A-I, H-A-I inside, or 33. So I have no problem to remember my license number, H-A-I inside. I have all those books in my library at home. I would grab some of these. That's a good deal. Well, let's turn again to the Word of God tonight. 2 Corinthians chapter 1. Now Paul, generally speaking, in writing his epistles, always taught doctrine first, laid a foundation, and then he applied it. Some of these messages we're giving first have what you might call more foundational messages. We have mentioned a little bit about the deity of the Holy Spirit. This morning a little bit about the personality, that he's a person. We have spoken on the being born of the Holy Spirit and indwelt by the Spirit. You would more or less call these doctrinal subjects. The baptism of the Spirit, likewise, is certainly doctrine. If it's not applied, of course, it's not what God intends it to be. He wants us to apply doctrine to all lives. Tonight I want to speak on another great doctrinal subject, and we've talked some practical things, and then tomorrow night and the next night be more on the practical. Tomorrow night we're going to speak on the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and then on Friday night the filling of the control of the Holy Spirit. 2 Corinthians, chapter 1, reading at verse 21 and 22. Now he which dapted us with you in Christ and had anointed us is God, who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 13. In whom ye also trusted after ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after ye believed, or probably better would be upon believing, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of the purchased possessions unto the praise of his glory. Ephesians, chapter 4, verse 30. Now, these are the only three scriptures that mention the sealing of the Holy Spirit. Ephesians, chapter 4, verse 30. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption, till the Lord add his blessing to the reading of his holy words. Now, just by way of review, that night we spoke on the baptism, and pointed out there's only seven places the baptism of the Holy Spirit is mentioned in the New Testament. Five of them are historical, born of the gospel, one in each of the gospels, and the other one in Acts, chapter 1, verse 5. Then the other one that we may call historical is mentioned. The first were prophetic, and the second were historical, mentioned in Acts, chapter 11, where Peter gives the account when the Spirit of God came upon the Gentiles. And then the seven scriptures found in 1 Corinthians, chapter 12, verse 13, and it's doctrinal. By one spirit are we all baptized into the one body. I just mention this for those who were not present last night. We saw that the baptism of the Spirit was the inauguration of a new thing, the body of Christ upon earth, the beginning of the church, the body of the Lord Jesus. It was the fulfillment of the promise of the scriptures in Leviticus, chapter 23. When the day of Pentecost was fully come, which means 50 for Pentecost men, on the 50th day after the resurrection, the Holy Spirit came to fulfill Leviticus, chapter 23. He came to fulfill the promise of God through the John the Baptist, that the Lord Jesus was baptized with the Holy Spirit. Pentecost happened because the Lord Jesus promised that he had to go back to heaven so he could send a comforter, and told him to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said would come. It's when they waited at Jerusalem. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, 50 days after the resurrection, the blessed comforter came to reside upon the earth. In the Old Testament, he's being like the wind coming upon sailing vessels. But in the New Testament, he's the power within. He's come to indwell us, and he fills all of us. That's the grand truth, isn't it? He came to live in us. I never ceased to marvel at that. Like Solomon, God indeed dwells with men upon the earth. Yes, he dwells in our bodies in the temple of the Holy Spirit. It's a glorious truth, a wonderful truth. These are some of the things we mentioned last night. It was a historical event that took place once at the Calvary Temple. Now, tonight, in the sealing of the Holy Spirit. These three times, I believe, is the only time it's mentioned. Now, we want to talk about this tonight. Now, who is the sealer? When you read in 2 Corinthians 1, it speaks about the one who has anointed us is God who has also sealed us. So, the sealer, the one that puts the seal upon us is God, God the Father. He's the one that has sealed us, just like he sealed the Lord Jesus. In John chapter 4, verse 27, the Lord Jesus spoke of it himself. For him hath God the Father sealed. Now, the Lord Jesus was sealed, or mocked, or recognized because of his own personal worth. Not so with us. We're sealed now because we have been redeemed by blood, and we've been bought and paid for. So, we're now mocked at his very own. We're going to do that as we go on. So, the word sealed could also be rendered he had mocked us at his own. Good that he mocked us. The word that then named the name of Christ is called commoniquity, or mocked people, God's people. So, we are the ones who are sealed. So, we ask the question, who are the sealed? It's the believer in Christ, and only believers. In the western states, or the western Canada, I don't know if it's still effective, but they used to buy animals. And then, after they bought them, they would brand them before they left them loose, so their mark would be upon them. Well, the Lord Jesus, he came and he bought us out of the slave market of sin. He redeemed us, and after he had saved us and paid for us, then he mocked us at his own. That's what the seal is. We are the sealed. We are sealed because we've been purchased with a very, very costly Christ, the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, we are sealed not to make us his, but we're sealed because we are his. I wonder if there's anyone here tonight that has had any question about that. Are you sure you belong to the Lord? Have you been born again? Have you heard the word? God spake the word, and then the Spirit of God applied it, and you received the Lord Jesus. You were born of the Spirit. In the word of God, remember we mentioned in Genesis chapter one, God commanded that there be light. That was the word of God. And then the Spirit of God moved upon the deep and upon the darkness, and there was light. So, the word of God is preached, and the Spirit of God moves, and he regenerates the believer, and light shines into a darkened mind, and we're born again. So, after we're born again, then he seals us. It all happens at the same time. We can't equate anything. It's something like the spokes of the wheel. You can number the one spoke, forgiveness of sin. You can number another spoke, well, I've been justified. Another spoke, I received the Holy Spirit. But when that wheel turns, they all turn at the same time. It all takes place, justified freely by his grace. At the instance we receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, he has given us the spirit of adoption. Romans 8, verse 15 and 16, For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father in that land. The feared himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. He seals those that are hid. And in Galatians chapter 5, where it deals on the adoption, it means the placing of mature sons into the family of God. In verse 4 of Galatians, But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because she has sons, listen, God has sent forth the spirit of his Son into your heart, crying, Abba, Father. Isn't that wonderful? We hear little babies saying, Dada. And when we are born the spirit, how naturally comes to us, Father. You don't have to learn to say prayers, you just have, it comes out, doesn't it? The spirit crying, Abba, Father. He places us as full sons, wherefore thou art no more a servant, Father, than a true son. Faith in all the privileges of sonship, that because we've been redeemed by the blood and the Son, and an heir of God through Christ, an heirs of God and joined heirs with the Lord Jesus, is called enrollment. Oh, what God has not marked us up for when he has sealed us after purchasing us, he has sealed us by his Spirit. Now, what is the seal? I believe the seal at this test is the Holy Spirit himself. Ephesians 1, 13. You were sealed with that Holy Spirit of God, or promised. Sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, the Spirit of God. When the Lord Jesus went back to heaven, he said, I'm going to send you another comforter, and he's going to abide with you forever, and he's going to be in you. He's going to take my place, and he's going to not only be with you, but he's going to come and dwell right in your body. And everything in a sense that's true of the Lord Jesus is now true of the believer. That's a tremendous thing. You know the Lord Jesus, and of course in a different sense, but he certainly was the Son of God. But in another sense, beloved, now we are called the sons of the children of God. As he's in the world, so are we. This is my beloved son. John says, Behold, what man of love the Father bestowed upon us. The very same love. In John 17, you read that beautiful chapter, and you'll see that beautiful relationship with the one that was the Father and the Son, and with his own. He is redeemed by his blood. The Holy Spirit seals us to bring us into all these great privileges. Is the Lord Jesus the altogether righteous one? So are we in him. God made him to be sin of the sin offering for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Is he accepted of God the Father? So are we. We're accepted in the beloved. We stand in all the perfection of the perfect Son of God. What a standing it's ours. Think of what it's brought us into, this blessed bit of God having sealed us to mark us out like that. And we could go on to many other things, but time is going, and we want to go on a little more. Now, when is the believer sealed? Now, one brother said to me, and this may be a little controversial, and he said, I believe I was sealed before the foundation of the world. Well, I couldn't quite accept that, because it says in Ephesians 1, 13, We are sealed upon believing. God knew from eternity past that I would put my faith in the Lord Jesus, but it was when I truly as an individual put my faith in the Lord Jesus, God knew I'd do that from past eternity. But the moment I did that, I believe that's when I was sealed. I think the other is reading things into the Scriptures that's not there. Romans is a great book. In the first three chapters, down to the end of verse 31, you have a great subject of condemnation. Every man is brought in before God, the Jews, the religious Gentiles, the sinning Gentiles, the whole world is brought in guilty before God. So here they're all under condemnation. Every mouth is going to be stopped. The whole world becomes guilty before God. God says in effect, Deliver him from going down to the pit. I found a ransom, and the fourth in 321 to the end of chapter five is brought before the great subject of justification. Condemned sinners, unworthy, unholy, no soundness. Read Romans 3, there's none like it. There's all. Look at the none and the alls in that chapter. It's just hard to realize our hearts are so wicked. Yet God brings in how guilty sinners in the person of Christ can be declared righteous. That's what justification means. God declares the sinner righteous and believes in the Lord Jesus. How? Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. God sees us in the Beloved, in all his perfection. I stand accepted in him. That's the only acceptance that will take us into the presence of a holy God. You have to be perfect to get into God's presence, and perfection is found in the Lord Jesus. And then in Romans 5, and I think it's verse five, we read these wonderful verses. And hope maketh not a shame, because the love of God is shed abroad in our heart by the Holy Spirit, which is given unto us. There we have the great truth. The moment a sinner believes he's justified, the Holy Spirit is given to us, and the same moment he's sealed by the bitter God. Now, I'd like to ask how long, or until when, is he sealed? We read that in Ephesians chapter four, and verse 30. It speaks very clearly, Believe not the Holy Spirit God, whereby ye are sealed, until the day of redemption. That doesn't mean the redemption of our soul that's all dealt with. That's another redemption, and I think Romans 8.23 brings that out. In Romans 8.23, And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. The package, if I may call it, of salvation includes it all, and it takes you safe home to glory. It comes to the redemption of this body. When I was saved by the grace of God, I was saved from the penalty of sin, as you know. I'm being saved every day from the power of sin, but at that time we're going to be saved from the presence of sin. That's going to be wonderful, isn't it? In His presence. That's when the psalmist says, Then I shall be satisfied when I wake with His likeness. There will be fullness of joy, there will be perfect satisfaction, there will be perfect completeness, and the Spirit has sealed us unto then. Aren't you glad? When I first got saved, you know, I thought if you did one thing wrong, you'd be lost again. But that's man's theology. I didn't know my Bible. I remember I was traveling in a bus with a Christian who knew much more about the Bible than I did, and the only verse I knew, The wages of sin is dead. I just kept on quoting that, The wages of sin is dead, but I didn't understand the scriptures. Well, I was in Africa for six months and reading the Word for four hours a day. All I had was the New Testament, and I came out of Africa, and I was a believer in the security of the belief. I don't know when I passed the line, but just the Word of God convinced me. God gives you something wonderful, and it's eternal, and we'll deal with that a little more. Now then, what does the seal mean or imply? What is the meaning of the seal? We've already intimated it means ownership. After you've been purchased, you're marked with seals to think of the branding of the animals as we suggested. When we were in the Army or the Air Force, remember we used to mark our clothes to make sure they belonged to me so somebody else wouldn't take them, or somebody got them by mistake and say, hey, that's my name on there. And we always encouraged the children when they come to camp, put your name on your clothes. You know at camp every year there's a pile of clothes left behind. So you mark the clothes to show that you have paid for them. They belong to you. Marking them doesn't make them yours. You take them out to somebody else, it's not really yours, is it? But the purpose of marking them is to show who the owner is. And so God has sealed us with the Holy Spirit of promise to show that we're His, and we're His forever. It's really a wonderful thing. So the seal marks that. You have the same truth brought up in Revelation chapter 7. Remember the sealing of the 144,000. There the Lord said in verse 3, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. They had to seal them, and then nothing could touch them or happen to them. And I heard the number then that was sealed, and you know 144,000, 12,000 of each of the tribes, but they were sealed to show that they belong to the Lord. Something else the sealing illustrates is the finished transaction. A very fine scripture that illustrates that is found in Jeremiah chapter 32. If you'd like to turn to it, it'd be good for you to do that. Jeremiah 32, beginning to read at verse 6. The word of the Lord there came to Jeremiah, in verse 6, and Jeremiah said, The word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Behold Hananiel, the son of Shalom, thine uncle, shall come unto thee, saying, By thee, my field, that is Anathot, for the right of redemption is thine, to buy it. And the context goes on to say that Jeremiah, he bought it, and after he bought it, then it was sealed. Look down at verse 10, just to save time. And I subscribed the evidence and sealed it, and took witnesses, and weighed him for money in the balances. So when it was his, to show that it was his, it was sealed. And so God, he has marked us, and it's a sign that this transaction between these two men was finished and was sealed, and was put away in the files. I want to tell you something, that the seal speaks to that our salvation is the result of a finished transaction. The Lord Jesus said in John 17, verse 4, I have glorified the inert, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. For when he died upon the cross in John 19, 30, he said it's finished, and that means it's paid for in full. A finished transaction. The cup that my father gave me shall I drink, and he drank it. He paid the full price of all redemption. It's a finished transaction, and, friend, there's nothing more we can do. It's done. If you're here tonight and you're not saved, there's not a thing you can do for your salvation. It's free. It's paid for in full. All you have to do is receive it. That's a free gift. The gift of God is eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ. The seal speaks that it is absolutely finished. It's all completed. I want to tell you this, that those whom he saved they're as good as in heaven. Romans 8, 30 says that. When the Lord Jesus paid for your salvation, he paid the full price. In a sense, in Romans 8, 30, more whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also lulled by. As good as in heaven. All the grace of God. Well, then you can go and do just as you like. Sin, do anything you want. No, no, friends. When you love the Lord, you want to please him. And a man talks like that, the question is, has he ever been born of the Spirit? To really have the Spirit of Christ in you, have the new divine nature, you love the things the Lord loves. And you want to please him more than anything else. You don't want to just go out and do anything you want to do. And think and get away with it. A new nature doesn't act like that. When you're born of God, you have that nature in you that you want to please God. You want to please the one who loves you and gave himself for you. Something else, and we've been talking about that, but particularly too, the seal speaks of security. The security. When you put something in an envelope, you seal it. It won't fall out. You remember the days of Daniel and Daniel chapter six, when those evil men that took advantage of Daniel and caught him, and they caught him praying to someone besides the emperor there. They would cast down the lion's den, and those men, they took and they sealed that tomb with the king's seal. It could be broken. He tried every way he could to get Daniel out, and there was no way he could get him out. And that's what the seal means. Remember the sealing of the tomb when the Lord Jesus died, and the Jews came, and they said, you remember, the pilot, that that deceiver said before he died that he would rise from the dead. Now he said, you make this tomb sure so the pilot, he can't put out with them. He said, you make it sure you can. And they said, they sealed the tomb and they set a watch to make it sure. But of course, you know what happened. But I'll tell you this, when the Lord seals it, no one breaks that seal. And when he said, to watch your loss, it's a watch nobody else can break through. It's not a man-made watch. But that's the principle, the teaching, that I believe that comes out of that. And you know, John chapter 10, the Lord Jesus said that. Some of you might, you know, have that anxiety, I can't hold on, I might lose my salvation, like I was in my first days. John chapter 10, verse 27, this is what the seal means, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. That's how you know them. That's why they don't want to do anything that sinners want to do. They want to do what pleases the Lord when you're really His. And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Does that mean what it says? Exactly. They shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck the mud of my hand. Someone says, I might fall through his fingers. Oh no, you're one of the, you're members of his body. A finger can't fall through the old finger, can it? An old hand. My Father which gave to me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck the mud of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. I think the picture is this. The good shepherd is bringing down his home the sheep on his shoulder, and he has their legs in his hand. Now I ask you, whose fault this is, the sheep that's lost? Then the Father's hand is over there. In Romans 8, there's another wonderful verse. In verse 35, it says, Who, that's a better translation, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? And he goes on to name everything. Then he says, I'm persuaded, in verse 38, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. What should our response be to a love like that? Oh Lord, everything I have is thine. Like the slave that was set free by a gracious man that bought him and set him free. He said, I'll be your slave forever. That should be our desire, shouldn't it? That should be our attitude. The one who's done so much for us, not to see what we can do behind it. That sort of thing. But how much can I really thank glory to his name and pleasure to his dear heart? That should be my concern. There's not a way that the sealing speaks of the secrecy of seals. There was the seals of books that couldn't be opened in Daniel, chapter 12. Remember, the words were to be sealed, not to be opened. They have the marching orders sometimes, and sealed orders, not to be opened. All life is hid with Christ in God. Today, friends, a lot of folks look at the true believers as somebody that's a little bit up here, you know. But the Lord knows them that are his. And he looks down upon us and he sees you hidden with Christ in God, and that the day coming when he shall appear, we also shall appear with him. Now, in a sense, we may be sort of hidden ones, unrecognized, unnoticed, as far as this world is concerned. But remember, the Lord knows them that are his. And one of these days, things are going to be opened up. It will come into full display when he shall be revealed. Then we shall also be revealed with him. The Corinthians wanted to reign then, but the Lord, Paul says, this is not the reigning time. This is the time to suffer with him. You belong to reject the crucified Savior, be willing to suffer with him. The coming, the reigning day is coming, but it's not now. It's by and by. The seal is all to that which speaks of recognition. You know, these, they were sealed in Revelation 7. The living gods, they were recognized. The Lord Jesus said, I know my sheep, and other people should know them, too, by our testimony. That's the double aspect there of 2 Timothy 2.19. The first part, never let the foundation of God's standard true, or having this seal, the Lord know them that are his. That's God's side. Man's side is there, but let every one that names the names of Christ depart from iniquity. That's man's responsibility. That the God word and the man word were recognized by God, we ought to be recognized by the world. And that's what the seal is. The seal is a pitch of recognition. In Romans 4, I was just noticing this evening, I hadn't noticed it before, in Romans 4.11, Abraham was given the sign of circumcision that he might be the father of the believers, and it's called a seal, a seal of righteousness to show that he had faith. It was to mark him as a man who had believed in the Lord. So, the seal is a sign that we belong to the Lord, and we show that by the holy life that we live. Then it also speaks of divine authority. We cry out the Father, we come right into the presence of God. We can come boldly onto the throne of God. The spirit gives us a spirit of adoption where we cry out the Father. The veil has been rinsed, went into the Holy that doing living life. We come in the spirit, praying in the spirit. We enter right in. What a privilege and an honor in all we can enter right in. We'll speak more about that when we talk about the anointing, but there's a tremendous privilege there and authority. The seal meant something, you know, when Jezebel wrote the letter on behalf of Ahab to destroy Napalchus, they sealed it with the king's seal. Authority. We can come into God's presence because we're sealed with authority. Lord, you have said it, and we believe it. We claim your promise. I'm amazed when you read some of the old-time men. Sometimes I remember reading that expression. It said, Lord, if you really said that, why didn't you say it if you didn't mean it? And then hold God's promise up to him. And God honored that kind of thing. He would take him at his word, give us that divine authority because we're sealed. My time is gone, but it also brings an obligation in Ephesians 4.30. We're not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God, whereby we're sealed unto the day of redemption. Now, how could we grieve the blessed spirit of God? What was the spirit of God's work? It was to glorify the Son of God. That was his work. He was to glorify the Son of God. And, friends, if we are so interested in the things of time and in the things of the world and so taken up with things down here instead of being taken up with the Lord Jesus and the things of eternity and really have not priorities, greatly grieve the Holy Spirit. He loves to have us talk about the one that he sent here to glorify and speak about. When everything else interests but that, how it must grieve him. One of the emblems of the Holy Spirit is the dove. And the dove is very easily offended, very easily, very sensitive. And our blessed Holy Spirit is very sensitive. And may we be careful that the word says here not to grieve the blessed spirit of God. Oh, you imagine how you would feel. You have somebody you really love, and you have a picture that maybe they were taken on a mission field serving the Lord, and they gave their life, and you love to talk about that person and what he did for the Lord. And the person just listening to it is not a bit interested. How do you feel? How do you think the Holy Spirit feels when you really love the Lord Jesus, love to talk about him, and think that God, that the responsibility, that an obligation goes along with the grieving of the Holy Spirit. Well, there's much more, but time is gone. Oh, may God help us to appreciate his blessed person of the Godhead. And may we thank him that he is the seal, and he has sealed us until the day of the purchase procession when we get home to glory. And may we seek, with his help, not to grieve him as we walk the pathway of faith, for there is not a faith but a sin, says the word of God. May we also seek to be obedient to the Lord's great commission going into all the world of greeks as gospel-related creatures. There are many areas wherein we seek to disregard the word of God. God help us, by his Spirit, to seek to be obedient and follow him out of love and appreciation to glorify the Lord Jesus, as our founder would have said. Father, we thank thee so much for all thy provisions, for all thou the gracious God, that it come and visit this world in the person thy Son, who loved us and gave us all cause for we thank thee for his promise he would not leave us here as orphans, but he would send a comforter. We thank thee the comforter has come and he indwells every believer, and we thank thee he has sealed us until the day of the redemption of the purchase procession. Oh, we praise thee, we thank thee, we adore thee, blessed Lord, for thy wonderful love and provision. Help us now to be yielded to thee, the Spirit of God may have full control of our lives, and we might seek to, like the Lord Jesus, who said unto him, he did always the things that pleased the Father. Help us, that cause he has left us an example that we should follow in his steps. We commend this service to thee, now thy words are given. Thank thee for the good singing tonight, the choir, and all the good things we have enjoyed. We thank thee in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.