The Holy Spirit 04 Sealed by the Spirit — Svend Christensen

Thank you so much. Well, we have some good books here, all right. 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 and 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. It's more or less called 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 baptized 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.

Chapter 4, verse 30. Now, these are 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 word.

The Holy Spirit’s Baptism and the Formation of Christ’s Body

Now, just by way of review, that night we spoke on the baptism. It's pointed out there's only seven places the baptism of the Holy Spirit is mentioned in the New Testament. Five of them are historical, four in 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 was prophetic, and the second was 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, what Pentecost means, 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 been 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, who said, to the temple of the Holy Spirit. The glorious truth, the wonderful truth. Some of the things we mentioned last night. It was a historical event that took place once at the Calvary's head.

God the Father Seals Believers as His Own

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? 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 4, verse 27, the Lord Jesus spoke about 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 seal 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 Christ.

For from iniquity we are mocked people, God's people. So, we are the ones who are sealed. 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. For 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.

Regeneration, Justification, and Adoption Occur Together

I wonder if there's anyone here tonight that has 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, you 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 the washed 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 put 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 Heaven. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.

He seals those that are his. 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 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 fulsomes, wherefore thou no more servant, but a mature 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, and heirs of God and joined heirs with the Lord Jesus, this is called in Romans.

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 manner 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 Spirit 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 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 believed 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, of course, in 321 to the end of chapter 5, it's brought before the great subject of justification.

Condemn 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 the 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 5, we read these wonderful verses. And hope maketh not a shame, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts 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 day moment he's sealed by the Spirit of God. Now, I'd like to ask how long, or until when, is he sealed?

Sealed Until the Redemption of the Body

We read that in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 30. It speaks very clearly. Believe not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed until the day of redemption. That doesn't mean the redemption of all souls.

That's all dealt with. There'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 grow 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 your saved form to glory. It's unto 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 death. 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 on a bus with a Christian who knew much more about the Bible than I did, and the only verse I knew, The weight is a sinner's debt. I just kept on quoting that, The weight is a sinner's debt, but I didn't understand the scriptures.

But 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.

The Seal as a Sign of 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 think to mark somebody else's, 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. There's the same truth brought out 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 of them that were sealed, and you know, 144 ,000, 12 ,000 of each of the tribes. But they were sealed to show that they belonged to the Lord.

The Seal as a Finished Transaction

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, Hannah, Neal, 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. This is the same time. And I subscribed the evidence and sealed it and took witnesses and weighed him the 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 the finished transaction. The Lord Jesus said in John 17, verse 4, I have glorified thee on earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

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 it? 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 as 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. And it says 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 glorified.

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, Fred. 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 he can 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.

The Seal as Security and Preservation

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 in Daniel chapter six, when those evil men took advantage of Daniel and caught him.

They caught him praying to come and decide the emperor there. And he was cast down the line then. And those men, they took and they sealed that through with the king's seal. It could be broken. He tried every way he could to get Daniel out, but there was no way to 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 to 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, the watch over us, it's a watch nobody else can break through. There's not a man made watch. But there'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 when I was first saved. 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 them out of my hand. Someone says, I might fall through his fingers.

Oh no, 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 them out of my Father's hand.

I and my Father are one. I think the picture is this. The good shepherd is bringing down to whom? 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?

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 a response be to love like that? Oh, Lord, everything I have is dying, like the slave that's set free by a gracious man that bought him and set him free. He says, I'll be your slave forever.

That should be all a desire, shouldn't it? That should be all attitude. The one who's done so much for us, not to see what we can do behind that sort of thing, but how much can I really thank and pleasure to his dear heart.

That should be my concern. There's another 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 word was to be sealed, not to be opened.

They have the marching orders sometimes and sealed orders, but not to be opened. All life is hid with Christ in God. But today, friends, a lot of folks look at the true believer 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. He 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 reigning day is coming, but it's not now. It's by and by. The seal is also that which speaks of recognition.

You know, these that were sealed in Revelation 7, the living God, 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, Now let the foundation of God stand true, having this seal, the Lord know them that are his. That's God's side. Man's side is there, but let everyone, the names of Christ, depart from iniquity.

That's man's responsibility. It's the God word and the man word. Recognized by God, we ought to be recognized by the world. 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 fear of adoption, where we cry out the Father. The veil that's been rest, went into the holy, that new and living life.

We come in the Spirit, praying in the Spirit. We enter right in. What a privilege. What an honor. Now 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 Naphthah, she 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 an expert who 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. Gives us that divine authority because we are sealed. My time is gone, but it also brings an obligation.

The Seal’s Obligation: Do Not Grieve the Holy Spirit

Ephesians 4 .30. We're not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God whereby we're sealed unto the day of redemption. Now, how can 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, friend, 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 having our priorities straight, it grieves 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 us 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 there. Maybe they were taken on a mission for you, 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 interesting. How do you think, how do you think the Holy Spirit feels when we now really love the Lord Jesus, love to talk about him, and think of God as his child, that the responsibility, that an application goes along with the grieving of the Holy Spirit.

Well, that's much more, but time has 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 of sessions, and 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 that the obedience to the Lord's great commission go into all the world of preachers, Gospels, and every creature.

There are many areas wherein we seek to disregard the Word of God. God help us, by his Spirit, to seek the obedience and follow him out of love and appreciation to glorify the Lord Jesus. Let us bow our heads and say, Our Father, we thank thee so much for all thy provisions, for all thou, the gracious God, that has come and visited this world in the person of thy Son, who loved us and gave himself to us.

For we thank thee for his promise that he would not leave us here as orphans, but he would send a comforter. We thank thee that the comforter has come and he indwells every believer, and we thank thee that he has sealed us until the day of the redemption of the purchase of sessions.

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, that the Spirit of God may have full control of our lives as we might seek to, like the Lord Jesus, who said unto him, He did always the things that pleased the Father.

Help us, that God has left us an example that we should follow in his steps. We commend thee, service children, as thy words have 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.