In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes that everything that happens in our lives is under the control of God's loving hands. The speaker highlights various verses from the Bible to explain why God does what He does. Jesus, in his ministry, assures his disciples that although he will be leaving them, he will send the Holy Spirit to help them. The speaker also emphasizes the incredible promises that God has made to believers and encourages gratitude and praise for what God has done, is doing, and will do in the future.

All right, Ephesians chapter one, tonight, we're going to pick up in verse 13, but I think it'd probably be a good idea to just go ahead and read from verses three on through to verse 13, just to get that flow of what the apostle is saying here. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he made us accepted in the beloved in him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth in him in him. Also, we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory in him. You also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also having believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchase possession to the praise of his glory. So as we pointed out before, this is one continual sentence in the original. Paul begins praising God and thanking God for his blessings, and he just keeps on going. He, first of all, touches on the specific work of the father. He chose us to be holy before the foundation of the world, and then he moves on to the specific work of the son who redeemed us by his blood. And we've talked about both of those things. So we come in our study now to the work of the third person of the Holy Spirit or excuse me, the third person of the Trinity. We come now to the work of the Holy Spirit. And so he says that we have been sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, the Holy Spirit of promise. There was a promise that was given by God in the Old Testament that in the latter days he would pour out his spirit upon all flesh. You see, up until the time of the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit had only come upon. A very few people in history, there wasn't that common experience of the spirit by every Israelite, but occasionally there were men and women upon whom the spirit of God would come. But God gave a promise that there was a day coming in which he would pour out his spirit liberally. He would pour out his spirit upon all flesh. And we find throughout the Old Testament occasional references to that coming. But specifically, the verse that I just mentioned in Joel, chapter two, verse 28, Jesus himself spoke quite frequently about the spirit. And in Acts, chapter one. Jesus reminded them about the promise of the Holy Spirit, he said, which you have heard from me. So Jesus was the one who really emphasized. That the day was coming when the Holy Spirit would be poured out, so the promise, when Paul refers here to the Holy Spirit as the Holy Spirit of promise, I think it was primarily the promises of Jesus Christ that Paul was thinking about when he referred to the Holy Spirit as the Holy Spirit of promise. The Holy Spirit is the one that Jesus promised would come in the gospel of John. Chapters 14 through 17. Jesus there prior to his betrayal and his trial and his death, he spoke very intimately to his closest followers. And it was there in that context that he revealed to them much about the spirit's coming. It was there that Jesus really began to lay out the promises to them. You remember, they were greatly discouraged over the fact that Jesus said that he was leaving them and they couldn't they couldn't begin to imagine what it was he was talking about. They they thought he was the Messiah. What do you mean you're leaving? And they couldn't begin to understand why he was saying things like that. But then he began to comfort them. You see, they at this point, they didn't really understand God's redemptive program. They still at this point didn't really understand that the Messiah had to die. To redeem them from their sin, and as we go through the gospels, we find those few occasions where Jesus specifically tells them about the coming death that he's going to experience. And we see that they didn't know what in the world he was talking about. And they would even consult among themselves after he would say something like that, and they would turn to one another and say, what does he mean by that? But what he's talking about, the rising from the dead. You see, in the Jewish mind, a dying Messiah wasn't part of the program. There was no concept of a dying Messiah in the Jewish mind. The Messiah is the king. He's the he's God's anointed servant who's going to liberate Israel. And yet Jesus is talking about things that are puzzling them, and now he's beginning to tell them that he's actually going to be leaving them and they're confused. But then he starts to make promises to him and he tells them, he says, I'm going to go away. And I know you think that's a horrible thing right now, he said, but. I'm going to send somebody else to help you, and so he began to talk to them about the Holy Spirit earlier on in his ministry. There was a time when Jesus and his disciples were visiting Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles, and maybe you remember the occasion where on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood up in the midst of this great multitude there on the Temple Mount and he cried with a loud voice, he said, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. And he said, for whoever comes and drinks out of his innermost being will gush forth rivers of living water. And then we're told. That what Jesus was referring to was the spirit who would be given after Jesus was glorified. So occasionally Jesus would make reference to the spirit. But then when we come to that final period, just prior to his betrayal, he starts to really develop for them what he's been alluding to. So he says, I'm going, but I'm going to pray the father and he will give you another helper. He will give you another helper just like me. Can you imagine having been with Jesus for the period of time that they were with him for that period of three years, they obviously would have become very dependent on him. I mean, Jesus was the greatest guy in the world to have around. There were no problems when Jesus was around. There wasn't anything that he couldn't deal with, nothing that he couldn't solve. So now he's telling him, I'm going to go away, you know, I'm going to send somebody else, they might have been thinking, well, you know, we don't want anybody else. We want you. Who could be who could be a replacement for you? But what he actually said to him is he said, I'm going to send you another helper. And the idea is I'm going to send you another helper who's just like me. Of course, at this time, they had no understanding of the trinity of God either. They believed in the God of Israel, they believed in one God, and now they're realizing that Jesus is the son of God, and that's probably boggling their minds. And now they're beginning to discover that there's another person in this divine nature. Jesus said, I'm going to send another helper. He's just like me. And then he referred to him as the spirit of truth. And he said to them, the helper, when he comes, he is going to teach you all things. I've taught you some things. Remember, Jesus said to him, he said, there are many things I still want to teach you, but you're not able to bear them now. But I'm going to send a helper and he's going to teach you everything. He's going to actually take you further into the things of God than I've taken you. So he will teach you all things. He said he's going to bring to your remembrance everything that I have been speaking to you. He said he's going to guide you into all of the truth. He's going to actually tell you the future. He's going to tell you things to come. And then he said he's going to glorify me. So when Paul here refers to the Holy Spirit as the Holy Spirit of promise, he's thinking primarily about the promises that Jesus made. The Holy Spirit is the one that Jesus promised would come and in a very real sense, take up where he left off. How many of us, I can certainly say that I've wished for this, but how many of you can identify? How many have wished that you could have lived in the land of Israel at the time that Jesus walked the earth? How many have wished that you could have been there around the Sea of Galilee, following Jesus and observing what he did and listening to his words and having that kind of intimate contact with him that the apostles had when we read through our New Testament. Sometimes we get envious of these guys think, oh, I wish I would have been there. Here's the incredible thing. That Jesus is still with us today. He's not restricted to that one location that he was restricted to when he came to earth two thousand years ago, but now through the person of the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus Christ walks with each and every believer wherever they might be in the world each and every day. That's the reality of what the Holy Spirit does, the Holy Spirit brings to us. The presence of Jesus Christ. And so we don't really if we understand fully the ministry of the Holy Spirit, we don't really have to be envious of those people back then because we have the same thing that they had. And once the spirit was poured out, you know, here at this point that we're talking about when they were with him in the upper room and he was telling them all these things, they still I mean, he was telling them, but they weren't completely getting it. And everything happened just as he said it would. They went with him out to the Garden of Gethsemane, as you know, and there he was arrested and they fled and he was taken and unjustly tried and condemned and crucified. And buried and then we find that they were disillusioned, they had lost hope, they were thinking that he was the one to redeem Israel, but obviously couldn't have been because he's now dead, but he wasn't dead, he was actually risen. They'd been told that he had been raised from the dead, but they didn't believe it. Some of the women told them and they thought these women are nuts. We know that he died, but then something happens. Jesus, of course, is risen from the dead and he begins to appear to them. And he begins to commune with them. And he begins to restore their faith, and then he tells them about the time coming when the Holy Spirit is going to be poured out upon them and he says, wait in Jerusalem and you're going to receive the promise and when the spirit comes upon you, you're going to be witnesses for me. And here's the point that I want to make. Once the spirit was poured out upon the early church, they never again longed for the good old days. They realized, just as Jesus had promised, this is better than it was when the Lord was actually here. And they went on through the power of the Holy Spirit to enter into all those glorious things that the Lord had promised that they would enter into, just as he said, they were led into all the truth. The Holy Spirit taught them all of the deep things about Christ and what he actually accomplished when he was here. The Holy Spirit brought to their remembrance everything that he had said to them. The Holy Spirit spoke to them about the future. The Holy Spirit was working to glorify Jesus. And it's that same Holy Spirit that led them and filled them and empowered them and made Christ a reality in their lives that we have a relationship with tonight. So as Jesus said, I will not leave you as orphans, I will come back to you. He would come back to them in the person of the Holy Spirit, and so he's come to us in this day and age in the person of the Holy Spirit. So when we have a work of the spirit taking place in our lives, what's happening is Christ is coming to us and he's working his work in us through the spirit. He's making himself manifest to us through the spirit. And that's why, as I said, Paul refers to the spirit as the spirit of promise. Now, in speaking of the activity of the spirit of promise, he says you were sealed with the Holy Spirit. So here is the Holy Spirit's contribution to our salvation. The father chose us, the son redeemed us, and now the Holy Spirit, it says, sealed us. Now, there are several purposes for which a seal was used. We don't think so much about it today, but we still use seals today. But in that day, seals were used much more often and in many more situations than we would find them used today. But the three primary reasons or purposes of the seal was, number one, to authenticate or confirm something as genuine and true. Secondly, a seal was used to mark one's personal property. And thirdly, a seal was used to render something secure. So that's that would be in the mind of the first century person as they read Paul's reference here to the Holy Spirit's sealing. Those are the kinds of things that would come to their mind. They think, oh, the Holy Spirit sealed us. Oh, well, a seal authenticates or confirm something as genuine and true. And we still have this today. If you get an official document of any sort, a government document, it has the seal of our government on it that authenticates it as valid. How many of you have a passport, have a passport that that is an official government document, and it's got the seal of the United States of America on it. If you are an American citizen and carry an American passport. So what does that passport do? That authenticates you. It confirms you as a citizen of this country. And so a seal would be used for official documents. Sometimes a seal is used in the context of art or those, you know, something that a person would create or make, they put their seal on it. This is authentic. This isn't, you know, some phony kind of a thing. Different clothing manufacturers, you know, a lot of times people will try to counterfeit clothing and they'll make things in bulk and take them and sell them at the swap meet or, you know, things like that. And, you know, it might have the label on it. And you think, wow, look at that. You know, there's a real, you know, trendy, expensive shirt or something. And man, look, it's only five bucks. Can you believe that? And so you buy it and you take it, you know, and you go out and you're showing your friends and look at this. You know, I got this for five bucks. Can you believe it? Things genuine. And they say, no way. And then, you know, they know because this is what clothing manufacturers do. They put some distinguishing seal on it to prove whether or not it's genuine. And they'll go to the tag in the back of the T-shirt or something, or they'll go to some place on the garment and say, oh, no, see, it's phony, doesn't have the doesn't have the seal on it. The Holy Spirit is God's seal upon our lives, and the Holy Spirit is the one who authenticates and confirms that we are the people of God. Now, just like we have counterfeit documents, we have counterfeit works of art. We have counterfeit clothing. We also have counterfeit believers. And you know how, you know, a true believer from a counterfeit is you look for that authenticating mark of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, who is the spirit of truth, that's where you look. Are they lining up with the truth as it's laid out in the Bible, the Holy Spirit who glorifies Jesus? Do they glorify Jesus? Do they say the same thing about Jesus that the scriptures say about him? And quite often what you find is it's not authentic. They're saying that they're believers, but they don't have the distinguishing mark of the spirit's presence in their life. The fruit of the spirit isn't there. That manifestation of the spirit love for the brethren isn't there. So the spirit of God authenticates as a seal. Then secondly, the seal would mark something as one's own personal property. And so the sealing of the Holy Spirit has marked us. It's God's mark upon us. It's God's stamp upon us saying, you're mine, you belong to me. And we have the personal experience of that sealing of the Holy Spirit in what Paul refers to as the spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. If you are a believer tonight, you know what I'm talking about. You have that confirmation. You know, sometimes you have doubts. Sometimes you go through times where you don't necessarily feel like you're a Christian and all of that. We all go through that sort of thing. But at the same time, everyone who is a true believer, they have experienced that stamp of God upon their life. They have personally had that experience of the sealing of the Holy Spirit. They've had that sense where they just know that they know that they know that they belong to God. That's part of the work of sealing the spirit of God, bearing witness with with my spirit that I'm a child of God. And when push comes to shove, even though I have my ups and downs, even though I have times when, you know, I feel like God is as close to me as he could possibly be. And I have other times when I feel like God is as far from me as he could possibly be. Nevertheless, I still have that that confirmation deep inside of me. That stamp that I am the personal property of God, Revelation, chapter seven, we come to that period in the future when God is going to begin his work among the nation of Israel once again. And what does he do? The first thing he does is he selects one hundred and forty four thousand twelve thousand from all the twelve tribes of Israel. And what happens to them? They have the seal of God placed upon them. Remember that in Revelation seven? Well, the seal of God that they have placed upon them. It marks them out as God's personal property. So when the judgment of God is being poured out upon the earth, remember, as the judgments are being sort of spelled out, the angel says it doesn't come upon those who have the seal upon them. You see, they belong to God. And that's how those carrying out the judgment will know that they are to pass over certain ones. It's by the seal of God upon their forehead at the time. That's what we have today. So what it's talking about is that sealing of the spirit that they will experience in the future. It's a sealing of the spirit that we have already experienced by virtue of our being chosen and redeemed. And then thirdly. The sealing of the Holy Spirit or a seal itself would render something secure. When something was sealed, it meant that it was the personal property of such and such a person or such and such an organization or whatever the case. And it meant that it wasn't to be tampered with. Another person didn't have the right to come and tamper with it. And so God has put his seal upon us and that seal of the spirit of God has secured us as the people of God. And guess what? Satan can't tamper with this. He can't undo what God has done. He can't actually do anything that God doesn't allow him to do. And the one thing God will not allow him to do is undo what he has already done. So the sealing renders something completely secure in Ephesians 430. We'll get to it someday when we get to Ephesians 4. There, the apostle again talks about the sealing of the spirit and he says something interesting. He says that we are sealed unto the day of redemption. Now, what that tells me is that once I'm sealed by the spirit, remember, the day of redemption is the day of collection. It's the day when God takes me to be his in that entire and complete sense. It's the it's the entering into the glorified state. The apostle says that we are sealed unto the day of redemption. In other words, God is going to keep us secure until he gets us to the place where he takes us and he glorifies us. The scriptures give us security, they give us comfort, they give us assurance and confidence that he that has begun a good work in us is going to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. And when Paul talks about being sealed unto the day of redemption, you can't get around the implication of that. What he's saying is you're going to make it. You're going to make it. God is going to get you to the desired destination, which is glory, which is heaven. And so that's what he's talking about when he's talking about the fact that we are sealed, we are marked out as authentic and genuine. We are designated as God's personal property and we are given the security that. We belong to God and will ultimately be glorified as he has planned for us to be glorified. And so he goes on and he says this in verse 14, speaking of the Holy Spirit of promise, he said, who is the guarantee of our inheritance? You see, God has made us incredible promises. I mean, you know, if you really stop and think, meditate on the promises of God, they're just they're mind boggling. The promises of God are. As we're reading through the book of Revelation, especially in the latter part there when we're having, you know, that glorious description of the new Jerusalem and all those things, notice how as the Lord's describing all of these wonderful things that are going to happen. He then says these things are faithful and true. And I think he says that because they sound too good to be true. And God can imagine us reading these things and saying to ourselves, oh, Lord, I want to believe this, but could it really be? And so he just says, yes, these things are faithful and true. So God has made us all of these glorious, eternal promises, and what he's done is he's given us his spirit as the guarantee that what he's promised us is going to come to fruition in time. The Holy Spirit is the guarantee. He. The word guarantee here, the Greek word are a bond is the word translated guarantee. It's translated in the older translation is earnest. This was originally a Hebrew word, but it was a word that was borrowed from Hebrew, brought into Greek and became a predominantly Greek word. Interestingly, this word is used in modern Greek, although it's a very, very ancient word, and I'll tell you in a minute what it refers to in modern Greek, but going back to this whole thing of a guarantee for a moment, let me quote to you from Charles Hodge on this. He had a great couple of things to say. I'm kind of paraphrasing because he wrote so long ago, he used words that none of us know today, so I'll paraphrase him a little bit. He said those influences of the spirit which believers now enjoy are a small taste of future blessedness, though immeasurably less in degree. Have you had those moments where you've had a sense of the spirit's presence in your life? And sometimes if if it's an intense sort of an experience, it is of necessity brief because you can't have that kind of an experience with the Holy Spirit for very long before you're just completely undone. You just can't function. Well, those momentary experiences, those brief encounters that we have. They are just a small taste God gives us occasionally, just that taste. You know, sometimes we're overwhelmed with anxiety or something like that, and all of a sudden the peace of God just comes upon us. I was sharing about my experience on the East Coast, you know, back when the whole terrorist thing happened and I was agitated, I was anxious, I I wasn't at peace. I had no rest. I wanted to get home and I couldn't. And. I went into my room and as I was lying there, I was just thinking, oh, I hate this, I don't want to be here, this is I just had this unsettled feeling. And I said, Lord, what is going on? Why am I here? And suddenly there was just a great calm, just a peace. And Lord said, you're right where I want you to be. It's OK. That's such a great experience. If I could have that kind of experience just going on continually, man, that would be fantastic. Maybe somebody has figured out how to do it. I haven't yet. I read somebody gave me at the conference I was doing the past couple days, somebody gave me one of John Newton's hymns. And as I was reading this, it was it was a great hymn. John Newton is most well known for his hymn Amazing Grace. I don't know if this was the title of the hymn. It said conflicting feelings on it. I don't know if that was the title of the hymn or if that's just you know, that's what was being described in the lyrics. But, you know, he was talking about, you know, just the experience that we have of having great peace at one moment and then being back in turmoil immediately. And as I read it, I thought, wow, I guess I'm not the only one that goes through this. And I was consoled by the fact that John Newton, someone of that spiritual caliber, was having the same kinds of experiences that that I have. But, you know, we do have those times when we have that sense of peace or, you know, maybe some time where we're just flooded with the joy of the Lord. Well, there's times when we're just endued with power from God and we just there's just, you know, victory, we just sense it. Those are little tastes, they're little tastes. And I like what he said, immeasurably less in degree, the degree to which we're going to experience this, and it will be a permanent experience. And that's what we have awaiting us in the future. That is what the spirit's presence in our life right now is guaranteeing for us. And so this word, this word Erebon, it's talking about the fact that the Holy Spirit is presently assuring us through these brief. Encounters and blessings of what's coming in the future, and the spirit is a pledge of what's certainly coming our way eternally. Now, the Greek word Erebon. In modern Greek, the word Erebon is the word that's used today to refer to the engagement ring. I think that's very interesting. What is the engagement ring? It is the pledge, it is the promise that we are going to be married. It's the guarantee, as I give that engagement ring, I am giving my word that we are going to be married and now we're just awaiting the wedding date. The Holy Spirit is the Erebon. The Holy Spirit is God's way of saying, I'm going to bring you to glory and here's the pledge of it for now. In that glorious, so the very fact. That the spirit of God has sealed us again. Is the confidence that we're going to be married, we're going to the marriage supper of the Lamb, we're going to be participating in it, we're going to be there in the kingdom, God's going to do it. And this whole. Redemptive act. Beginning with the choosing of God. And the predestining of God. And the redeeming of the son and now the sealing of the Holy Spirit. That. This whole thing is going to culminate in us being forever with the Lord in his glorious kingdom, and that is the blessed hope that we have as the people of God tonight. And as the world. And particularly our own country. Is in a state of anxiety. In a state of fear. I saw yesterday that the sale of antidepressants and anti anxiety medication has just gone through the roof. And understandably so. Because of where we find ourselves right now as a people, as a nation. But we as the people of God. We don't really have to worry. We don't have to get on the meds. We got the med, we got the Erebon, we've got the guarantee. Of our inheritance in the future, we've got the promise that we belong to the Lord and no one can touch us, we're his. You know, since September 11th, I've had to do more flying than I really. Was wanting to do, I had no choice, I had commitments, I had obligations. We flew out of John Wayne Thursday morning and. Wednesday night, Gaylord had said to me. He said, oh, I called the airport because I was trying to get my ride to the airport sorted out and you know what time I needed to be there and. My plan was to be there two hours early. And Gaylord said, oh, don't worry about it, I called the airport, they said business as usual, just show up an hour beforehand and you'll be fine. And I thought, I don't want what? What do you mean business as usual? I don't want business as usual. I want security. And so we took Gaylord's advice and showed up an hour prior to our flight and thank God our flight was delayed, we never would have made it. Because there was some serious security for which I was thankful over there, they had delayed our flight initially, and then, you know, we went through the whole, you know, security process and we got there and the planes about half loaded. You know, now they're doing these things where they're breaking it up into, you know, group number one, group number two, group number three. And I think we were part of group number four, group number one and two had loaded the plane and we're waiting for them to call group three and four. And all of a sudden, the police, the police dogs, the runway shut down, the doors are slammed. Security problem right now. And here we are, half the people are on the plane, we're still standing in the airport. Cheryl and I are looking at each other, you know, we're thinking, do we really need to go to this conference? I mean, you know, she's saying, you know, I don't know, I think my pneumonia is coming back right now, maybe, maybe, maybe I should go home and. And, you know, this kind of stuff, I mean, it can get you a bit unsettled. And yet, you know, I just had to stop and think, you know, I belong to the Lord, I can't let this kind of stuff control me. I've got commitments, I've got obligations, I'm God's servant. And I just have to go back and remind myself of these kinds of things that we're talking about here. I'm sealed. By the spirit of God into the day of redemption, God's got taken care of, he's I belong to him. And as we look at the situation we find ourselves in in our world tonight, we can rejoice, we can rest. That we belong to the Lord, we're his and he has demonstrated his ownership of us by sealing us with the Holy Spirit and no one can mess with us because we're his and nothing can come our way except it first has to pass through his loving hands. And so the apostle ends this segment here with these words to the praise of his glory. And when we really think about what God has done for us. That is the only reasonable response to just praise him for his glory. Why did he do all of this stuff? We've mentioned it a couple of times, but it's good to go over it again. Verse five, according to the good pleasure of his will, verse seven, according to the riches of his grace, verse nine, according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself, verse 11, according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his own will. Why did he do it all? He did it all to the praise of his glory. So we who are the recipients of this unspeakable work of redemption. Would just sit back and say, Lord, we praise you, we praise you, you're the one that gets all the glory because you've done it all. And so that's where we're at tonight, we're just thanking God for what he's done, what he's doing and what he's promised to do in the future. Get us to glory, we rest in that father, we thank you. Lord, that this whole work of salvation is something that you initiated. Lord, when we really stop and think about it. We realize that you were under no obligation to ever do anything for any one of us because we willfully turned our backs on you. But Lord, out of your kindness, your compassion, your love, you came searching for us. And we thank you, Lord, that you chose us to be holy and without blame before you. We thank you, father, that you predestined us to adoption. We thank you, Lord, that tonight you have accepted us in the beloved, that we stand before you tonight as white as snow. We stand in Jesus and the same love you have for him, you have for us. We thank you for that. And Jesus, we thank you that you became a man so you could die, that you took up on yourself a human body. With blood flowing in your veins so you could shed that blood to redeem us. We thank you, Lord, that you've made known to us the mystery of your will. That we're not in the dark about where the world is going, but we know it's coming down to your return, how we glory in that tonight. We thank you, Lord, that you've given us an inheritance and Lord, we thank you that. You, by the spirit, have sealed us. That we belong to you and you've given us the guarantee that we're yours and Lord, that you're going to get us home safely in due time. So, Lord, that's what we rest in tonight. We thank you for all of that. We bless you. Amen.