Revival - Part 9 — Doc Greenway

The variety in the emblems of the Holy Spirit suggests the multiplicity of his ministry and his functions in the Church and in the world. Just as each of the nine gifts of the Spirit, of which we are familiar, expresses a certain special aspect of his ministry, so does each emblem of the Holy Spirit lay the emphasis on a particular phase of the presence and purpose of the Spirit of God in the midst of God's people.

And I think it is as we learn the special significance of these emblems, the figures of speech under which the Holy Spirit is presented to us, that our understanding of the person of the Spirit enlarges and deepens and expands, and this I think is as it should be.

Again, it is to be expected that there will be, perhaps, in some emblems of the Spirit, a larger area of teaching than in others. I think we have noticed this already. For instance, we have seen that in the Holy Spirit as the water, it opens up a tremendously large area of truth, doesn't it?

Because there are so many aspects to this. But the Holy Spirit as clothing, endued with the Spirit, this limits the field considerably compared with the other emblem that we mentioned a moment ago. I think the important thing for us to remember is that each of these emblems has something to teach us concerning the Spirit of God, if our ears are open and if our hearts are ready for what the Spirit of the Lord would say to us.

Each one of these emblems of the Spirit has a special significance, that each one has a function to fulfill, and that we should never think of any one of these emblems as isolated from the others, because we require the full-orbed vision if we are going to know the truth about the Spirit of God, because all truth is interrelated and interdependent.

So you see, you can run away with ideas that the Holy Spirit is the fire from heaven, and become so concerned about this you forget, as we said some time ago, he is also the dove of God, and that both these emblems, although they are so divergent in their application, are important in the sight of God.

And so we need to learn something about these emblems, about these figures of speech, and to learn in such a way that it is not simply head knowledge, but heart knowledge, something that we possess as an experience.

Becoming Doers of the Word

I would hate to think that we come up here Tuesday by Tuesday, although the journey is not so long, so far as I'm concerned, by now, we were saying on the way up how short the journey seems to be by now.

But I would hate to feel that we came Tuesday by Tuesday simply to expound the Word of God, that you understood something of the teaching that is being given, and then did nothing about it. That, I think, would be tragic, because if we do not know the person of the Spirit through the teaching of the Word, then I think we are hearers and not doers of the Word.

And this, I'm sure, would be a very bad thing, doers of the Word. Did I ever tell you about the Scottish elder who was speaking on a Sunday morning about being doers of the Word? Now he said, you all know what a doer is, it's one of those things that swings on in you.

Well, that was his interpretation. But we need so very much simply to comprehend, first of all, mentally, to grasp the significance of the emblem under which the Spirit of God is presented, and then by faith to lay hold of the principles of truth, and by the grace of God to apply these principles in our own life and experience.

So I'm sure that this is our purpose, our real purpose, in gathering together week by week as it might. I know, too, that we began with a great vision of revival, and revival in our time. I can only say from my heart that the Spirit of God has led me in the way that He has.

I'm sure about this. And if we seem to be majoring now on the Holy Spirit as a person, and on the Holy Spirit in its function and ministry, then I'm sure it is not by accident. There are no afterthoughts with God, there are no emergency acts with God.

And I can honestly say that I waited upon God, not for hours but for days, in preparation for these meetings. I can say that in God's presence, and He knows it is true. And therefore, if I've sought for guidance and for illumination as to the purpose and the plan of God in what we are doing, then surely it must be all right.

I've got that much comfort anywhere, and I trust that you feel the same about it. Now, as I said, it's no use taking one isolated emblem and making that the criterion of your spiritual life. You know, it requires to be studied comprehensively, this work and ministry of the Holy Spirit, if we are to understand it, and this is true of any subject in the book we call the Bible.

Walking in the Spirit as a Righteous Life

Say, for example, walking in the Spirit. The moment you mention walking in the Spirit, well, people think about Galatians 5, 16 and 17. You know, where the Apostle talks about walk in the Spirit, I shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh, for the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary one to the other, and so on, and there it is.

But it isn't just there. That is only one very small facet of the truth. To get a grip of what it means to walk in the Spirit, for instance, we've got to consider a scripture like Romans 8 and verse 4, which talks about the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.

That is, to walk in the Spirit means a righteousness fulfilled in the believer. But you don't hear too much about that side of it. Filled with the Spirit, brother, that's the thing for today. Get filled!

Yes, but what about this? That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. So the Spirit-filled life is a righteous life, not simply a life of excessive glory, but a righteous life.

The Holy Spirit does not therefore compromise with iniquity or with carnality if this is a righteous life. We learn, then, that if we walk in the Spirit, the resultant life from God's standpoint and from God's intention should be that we will be honest.

There will be truthfulness that will characterize our dealings. There will be sincerity that will govern all our service for God. For righteousness, right-wiseness, surely implies all this. But it will not be our own life that we'll be coming to, but the life of the Spirit lived in us.

For it does not say that the righteousness which is of the law might be fulfilled by us. That's what our heavenly Adventist friends would have us be. Not by us, but in us, by the Holy Spirit. So it isn't we who are doing this.

It's the Spirit of God who is doing this in us. And so the righteousness which is of the law is fulfilled in us if we walk in the Spirit. That's one aspect. But then again, according to Galatians 6, 7, and 8, walking in the Spirit means that life is imparted to the believer.

See it descriptively. Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth through the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth through the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

The life of God. Not imputed, but imparted. So that to walk in the Spirit means that if the Spirit is a holy life, it's the life of God, imparted. What a tremendous thing this is. And in sowing to the Spirit, certain things are going to result.

There is, for instance, to be a preparation of the ground. So you don't just take a young confidant and say, now what do you need, brother? You need to be baptized with the Holy Ghost. You need to be filled with the Spirit.

Now come along, let's get at it. Show him something else. There's a sowing in the Spirit. See? A sowing of seeds. There's a breaking up of the fallow ground within, as we have said. We mentioned this on a former occasion about break up your fallow ground, and we saw that it can be broken up by conviction of sin brought by the Spirit.

By contrition for sin, because of his dealings with us. By confession of sin, because God brings us to this place and experience. And by a wholehearted consecration of ourselves to him. A giving of ourselves completely over to him, spirit, soul, and body, that he may possess all that is of us.

There is this too, in the breaking up of the fallow ground within us. If there is to be a life imparted by the Holy Spirit. Oh, I do want you to see this. I think it's of vital importance. Then you see, not only will there be a breaking up of the ground, a preparation of the ground within, but there has to be a distribution of the seeds.

You sow a seed that is carnal, and you'll get a carnal crop. But you sow a seed that is spiritual, and you will reap life everlasting. The life of God is imparted to you, if you sow to the Spirit. What does it mean?

It means that you are sowing peace instead of dissension, faith instead of doubt, hope instead of frustration, confidence instead of suspicion, truth instead of error, humility instead of arrogance, and sacrifice instead of selfishness.

These are the seeds you sow, if you want to reap the life of the Spirit. So it's not just a question of saying, walk in the Spirit, brother, and you're going to have victory every inch of the way. There's something more to it than this.

There's a sowing. And in the sowing to the Spirit there is also the cultivation of the crop, removing all the weed, envy, jealousy, malice, pride, bitterness, these things that creep into the life and that seem to grow so strongly.

You neglect your garden and you'll get tremendous growth, won't you? You neglect the garden of your Spirit and you'll get tremendous growth too. But not of the right kind, unfortunately. So you see that there is to be a nurturing of the plants as well, depending on the nutriment of the written word principle.

How important this is in the Christian's life. Drawing on the supply of the Spirit, seeking the strength that comes from fellowship, and so nurturing these plants that they may grow. And there's a watering of the soil in waiting on God, in worshiping God, in giving yourself in devotion to him, in spending time in his presence.

It's a kind of watering of the soil as the seeds of the Spirit may grow. Is this a new concept to you? It's scriptural. It's in the Bible. It's New Testament. But you don't hear a great deal about it.

It's important. So to walk in the Spirit, then, what does it mean? It means that life, the life of God is imparted. And then you see, having looked at the teaching in these passages, you are now ready to look at Galatians 5, 16 and 17 and to see that the third mark of walking in the Spirit is a life of victory.

Don't you see, then? I'm not going to enlarge on that because I've often spoken about Galatians 5, 16 and 17, but don't you see this? Paul tells the Galatians that when they determine to say no to the flesh and yes to the Spirit, then they are prepared to turn their backs upon walking in the flesh and are going in the direction of the Holy Spirit where he is guiding and leading them.

As a result, there will be liberty in their life. But it is a liberty that has to be interpreted in the light of the other passages which bear upon the subject. And so when we talk about liberty in the Spirit, we just don't mean that you can stand up and shout hallelujah and you've got it all.

No, there's a sowing of the Spirit. There's the impartation of life by the Spirit. There's a righteousness by the Spirit that is part of the Christian experience, and all this is involved in the liberty about which Paul speaks here.

Now, this is known as contextual interpretation, if you want the theological term, and I'm sure that this is the best possible method of exposition, taking into account the various references that bear upon the subject, and allowing the Bible to interpret itself.

For the Bible is self-interpreting, and it's impossible ever to reach the limit of new discovery where this book of God is concerned. This is the amazing thing, because it belongs on a superhuman, supernatural level.

And therefore, you see, if you come down to exposition of this kind, you've got something which is basic, something fundamental, something that will outlast time. For heaven and earth will pass away, but God's Word will never, never pass away.

The Holy Spirit as the Seal of God

So then, after that, we consider the Holy Spirit again, and this time under the emblem of the seal. As Graham would say, not the seal that floats in the water, but the seal that is like a stamp, you know.

This is the emblem under which the Holy Spirit appears in the New Testament, and it is about this emblem of the Holy Spirit as a seal that I would like to speak tonight. Now, the Holy Spirit as a seal teaches us that believers who have been bought by the Christ are marked out by God as his very own.

What the Holy Spirit takes up is a bold in these believers, and bears witness to their position in Christ. And in this way, he becomes the seal of God, God's hallmark upon the believer, setting him apart from the rest of the world.

And from the use of the seal or signet, which means the same thing in the Old Testament, we can learn other lessons, it seems to me, that can help us in our own position as believers. Now, who does the sealing?

God the Father. It is he who sealed the Lord Jesus Christ according to the personal testimony of Jesus himself. John 6, 27,. Him hath God the Father sealed. This was according, as I say, to what Jesus himself testified.

And again, it is God our Father who seals us as Christians. 2 Corinthians 1, 21 and 22,. Now he which establisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us This is God who hath also sealed us. So the believers are sealed by the same God the Father.

The seal is the Holy Spirit himself. It is the living presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. This is the seal of God. And according to the record of John the Baptist, Jesus Christ was sealed at the time of his baptism.

John Bear Record we read, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. The word of God assures us that in exactly the same way, in such a positive way, we also are sealed with the Spirit.

Take a passage like Romans 8, 15 and 16. We have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. And the Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. A lovely thing, isn't it, to know that we have received the Spirit of adoption.

Adoption and Sonship in the Spirit

We are teachers. We are the sons, teachers of pleasing, the son pleasing. Or if you like, the charter of pleasing. I was talking about this the other Thursday night, I think it was, yes, in St. Ongar.

This son pleasing, what a marvelous experience and privilege it is. I was saying that in the days of the New Testament, you know, when the Romans and the Greeks were very much in power, they were very brave men.

They had more than one wife at one time. And the occasion arose when they had to decide, these fathers, as to who would be their legal son. And they would bring them into the public place, usually a marketplace where the judge and the magistrates and the scribes seated.

Then the father would mention each of these boys by name, by different mothers, of course, by each of his sons by name. And he would say, this my son, this my son, this my son, my legal heir, one after the other.

And then the magistrate would hand, not to the father, but to the sons, the charter of sonship. So, we are teachers, this is the word. And it was in their possession. They were born as children into the family of God, but now they were placed as mature sons in God's family, and they were therefore in the place of heredity, or of inheritance.

And so you see the Spirit of God as the seal of God, bears witness that this is so, bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and so we cry, Abba, which is the child's cry for father.

Abba, father, father, my own dear, precious father. This is what the Spirit of God is crying out in company with our spirit when we know this son-placing that the Apostle is talking about. The Holy Spirit bears four witnesses to us, or at least four witnesses in relation to the Christians.

I'm sure you know this. In Hebrews, it's his witness to us. And then in 1 John, his witness in us. Here in Romans 8, his witness with us. In Acts, of course, it is his witness through us. So here you have it.

His witness to us in the gospel. His witness in us because we are born again of the same Holy Spirit. His witness with us, causing us to cry with him, Abba, father. And his witness through us as those who have been filled with his Spirit and therefore have become channels of God.

What a marvelous privilege, isn't it? Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Even the thought of being in this position, in the hand and purpose of God. What a tremendous thing it is. Just a channel, open to God above, open to the world beneath.

There's nothing between. That God can flow. Isn't it wonderful? What a glorious arrangement. And this is God's intention. All right. Now, to consider some of the teaching concerning the Holy Spirit as the seal.

The Seal as Possession and a Finished Transaction

Let us think first of all of the implications in the typology which is used. What did a seal imply? First of all, a seal implied possession. Whatever was sealed signified ownership. On the human level, it meant a transaction had been entered into, had been finalized, had been witnessed to, and had been signed and duly sealed.

It spoke of a definite, finished transaction between two parties. This was the idea. And it's illustrated in the book of Jeremiah by the purchase of a field, Jeremiah 32 .10, verified by witnesses and then sealed in a book.

The seal therefore implied possession. And because a definite transaction was entered into by our Father in Heaven with the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, our redemption has become a fact. Jesus humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Therefore, he could speak of the redeemed as those whom thou hast given me, part of the new covenant, if you like, of the new transaction, part of the new sealing by the Spirit of God. For just as positively, you know, as God made a covenant with Abraham and gave him the seal of the rite of circumcision, so the mark of the new covenant between God and his Son, as a finished transaction, is this sealing by the Spirit of God in the lives of God's people.

When Jesus cried on Calvary, it is finished, one word in the Greek, as you no doubt know, tetelesta. When the artist had achieved his purpose and he saw before him his masterpiece, this was what he cried, tetelesta.

Finished! Perfect! You can't add anything to it. When the sculptor had wrought upon marble that which satisfied his inner instinct, he looked upon it and he cried this word, tetelesta. Finished! Perfect!

When the shepherd, looking for a sheep that he would take to the priest, found at last one without spot or blemish, he lifted it up and he cried, tetelesta. Finished! Perfect! And he could bring it to the priest as his offering and sacrifice.

And when Jesus stretched his hands upon Calvary, when he was nailed as our Redeemer, he could cry, tetelesta. Finished! Perfect! Nothing to be added to it. That was finished. His sufferings were finished, praise God.

No one could touch him again so far as physical suffering was concerned. His sufferings were finished. The whole Levitical system was finished. The sacrificial law was finished. There remaineth now no more sacrifice for sin.

What else was finished? I believe that Satan's kingdom was finished and that he is a defeated fool. But most of all, your redemption and my redemption was finished on Calvary. When Jesus cried, tetelesta, finished, perfect, done once and for all, never to be added to, absolutely what God requires, because this is so.

God has sealed this transaction in your life and mine by the blessed person of the Holy Spirit. And the seal implies possession. Never forget this. I think this is why the Apostle could challenge the Corinthians with this question.

Perhaps know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, that ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.

It is as though he had said, what? Don't you understand that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in your body is the seal of divine ownership where you are concerned? Don't you understand that God designed your body for himself?

That sin has defecated it, but that now the indwelling Holy Spirit would rededicate it to the service of the living God. Don't you understand this? So what shall it be? A sanctuary or a slum? This is his question.

A sanctuary or a slum? A sanctuary in which the indwelling Spirit can mediate Christ, magnify Christ, minister Christ? A sanctuary in which there is only one light known to shine, the shining of God's Shekinah glory?

Only one voice heard to speak the voice of the living priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. And only one Lord to magnify at all times, in all situations. If it is to be a sanctuary, if your body is given over to be the place of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the word which is used is not the word for the outer court.

It's the word for the inner shrine, the naos, the inmost shrine of the Spirit. But know you not that your body is the inner shrine of the Holy Spirit, and that therefore God's mark of ownership is upon you?

Shall it be a sanctuary? Or are you going to allow it to become a slum dwelling where fleshliness, carnality and selfishness belies the fact of a divine ownership where you are concerned? One thing is positive.

Whatever our answer may be to the question deep in our hearts, whatever we may decide in the light of all that is involved and all that is implied, one thing remains absolutely positive. You are not your own.

You are bought with a price. The word of God tells us this. And the seal of the Spirit proves this divine ownership to be a fact. The price that has been paid is a price of infinite cost. The blood, the sweat, the agony, the tears, the body bruised and scurred and scarred, the visage, the hands, the feet, the side, the back open.

The price that Jesus paid is so infinite in its cost. We never can understand it. We can never hope to comprehend it. Do you think that sin is a light thing in the eyes of Almighty God? If it cost His Son this sort of suffering in order to redeem your soul and mine, sin is no light thing in God's eyes if it cost Jesus so much to redeem us from its power.

And therefore don't you see that the presence of the Holy Spirit as the seal implies a divine possession? Our hands belong to Him. Our feet, our tongue, our eyes, our very being belong to Him. You are not your own.

You are bought with a price. A seal implies possession. And this is typified further, it seems, in the sealing of the high priest in the Old Testament days. Recalling, as we did a moment ago, that the word signet and seal mean the same thing in essence, you remember that the priest was sealed on the shoulders, and the shoulders imply authority or strength.

And so it signified that all his authority and all his strength belonged to Jehovah. They were not his. His authority was divinely imparted because its source was personally acknowledged. It came from Jehovah in the first place, and therefore it was truly God's possession.

So his shoulders were sealed as a sign of this divine ownership. Do you remember how the centurion spoke in the Gospels, I am a man under authority, and I say to this man, go, and he goeth, to this man, come, and he cometh, and to this man, do this, and he doeth it.

A man under authority. It is only the man who is under authority that has authority. For, you know, underlying what we have in the Authorized Version there is something quite terrific. I am a man under absolute authority.

So I say to this man, go, and he's gone. I say to this man, come, and he's here. I say to this man, do this, it's done. No questioning. No hesitation. No argument. This is the kind of authority which is implied here.

And so you see with the shoulders sealed with a signet, it shows that this man is under divine authority. This was the sealing of a high priest. He was God's representative to the people before ever he became the people's representative to God.

He was God's man first, and the shoulders sealed signified it to all and sundry. And he was sealed on the forehead. His intelligence belonged to the Lord. And it had to be used in the service of God and in the interest of God's kingdom.

His thoughts were intended to be directed Godward. And this is important too. That our thought life might be directed toward God and toward God's own kingdom authority. So a thought and you reap an act.

So an act and you reap a habit. So a habit and you reap a conduct. So a conduct and you reap a character. So a character and you reap a life. So a life and you reap a destiny. But it all begins there.

So this man's forehead was anointed. I think that Paul had the right idea when he wrote as he did to the Christians at Philippi, I remember. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Give your attention to them. Give your thought life to them. For these things are productive of what is good and beneficial. And the high priest was sealed on the breastplate. This signified that his affections were sealed unto Jehovah.

It meant he was to love the Lord his God with all his heart, his soul, his mind and his strength. With all the intensity of his being, the breastplate seal was a sign that his affections, his heart, love and devotion belonged to God.

And I think that this is the final test of discipleship for every one of us, is it not? As it was in the case of Simon, the son of John. Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? These? What does he mean?

These things? Surely not. These others? Simon, you have said more than they have ever said because you have always been the one to voice anything on behalf of the others. Simon, you have done more than they have ever done.

Simon, your pledge of loyalty has always been stronger than theirs. I will never fail you. I will go with you to prison and to death. I will do this, that and the other thing. Now what about it? Simon, son of Jonas, do you understand the dispensation of the end of the ages?

Do you understand who is in the body or who is in the bride? Simon, son of John, do you understand these apocalyptic images that are presented? Not at all. Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?

Do you love me, as we know, with a love that prizes me? A love that is really divine, divinely given and divinely expressed? Do you love me with a love like this? And I believe it in the end. This is what it comes down.

You can have your heads filled with the light of the knowledge of the scripture and your heart as empty as last year's nest when it comes to loving God. It is the heart that makes the theologian. It is the love life of the Christian toward God that really matters.

And I am sure that sooner or later we discover this to be true in experience. And so the breastplate was sealed with a signet. And Jesus said to Peter, lovest thou me more than these. What else? A seal implied protection.

The Seal as Protection

Whatever was sealed was intended to be preserved and protected. Documents were sealed for that purpose. As were many other things such as doors and even tombs. Sealed for protection. So it is not by chance that we are told, for your life is hid with Christ in God.

Think of it. Your life is hid with Christ in God. A triple security. Nothing and no one can ever touch the source of your spiritual life. They can't get at it. They can do lots of things with the outflowing light.

They can do lots of things against you as Christians. And they can interfere very often with the kind of life you would like to live if only you could. They can do this. But the source of that life is protected.

Your life is hid with Christ in God. And nothing can ever touch the source of it. Nothing can get near it. And I suppose we shouldn't be surprised then to hear Paul say, as he does in the 8th of Romans, when he comes to the end of that chapter, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Not what, but who. Things can't do it. Who, then, will do it? After a long list of possibilities, he concludes so triumphantly, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other created being shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So positive is he that the seal implies protection. Not simply in Old Testament days. Thank God in our days, too, as believers. And I've got a sort of suspicion that it not only applies exclusively to the very source of our spiritual life, but it does apply in many, many senses to our life as we live it amongst men.

Protection is there for us even in our daily living. I had an evangelist friend in the old country, Welshman, of course. His name was James Jones. He was a marvellous evangelist. He was an outdoor evangelist, you know.

He would have about 17 or 18 open-air services a day on his own. Absolutely alone. That's the kind of man he was. And, you know, he used to irritate some people. I remember on one occasion he was in a certain village, and he was preaching in his usual style out in the open air.

And the people were a bit incensed when they got the policeman to tell him to move on. So he said, yes, certainly I'll move on. So James Jones moved on, and he moved around and around in a circle. Round and around he went, making the circle ever bigger.

So at last the policeman said, look here, he said, I'll run you in if you don't behave yourself. He said, are you going to take me to prison? Yes, he said, I'll take you to jail, and laying his hand on him.

Whoa, he said, did you ever read what happened, he said, when Paul and Silas were in prison? And before the man had come very far, you know, he was preaching the gospel to him for all he was worth. Well, this incensed the people even more, and it didn't do very much to help the policeman.

But the result was that they took hold of James Jones, and they pushed him into a shed and locked the door, and they said, forget Bill Bennett, he was the village pugilist, and he'll beat you up. And they got Bill Bennett, and he was all raring to go.

And they led him into the shed where James Jones was, and he wasn't a very big man, James Jones, not big at all. This huge, towering, hulking fellow, you know. In he went, and everybody was expecting to hear the bangs going on.

But you know, there was dead silence. And in ten minutes, he came to the door, this great big bully of a man, he said, I can't get near him, he said. I don't know what's wrong, I can't get anywhere near him.

And James Jones was there on his knees, and just, you know, with his hands together, just thanking the Lord for his wonderful goodness and his protecting power, keeping on praying, and here was this pugilist, he couldn't get near him.

There's something wrong here, he said, I can't get anywhere near him at all. And he went back in. And before the night was out, James Jones led him to Jesus Christ. What a marvelous night that was in that village, I tell you, because this man was quite notorious.

But there it was, not simply a protection for the source of spiritual life, but a protection in this sense, too, where this man was concerned. And I am sure there are many who can testify in the same way.

The seal implies protection. Now, the application of the seal. You have this in Ephesians 1, 13 and 14. In whom he also trusted, says the apostle. After that he heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that he believed, he was sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession and to the praise of his glory.

The Seal, Assurance, and Final Redemption

Now, the whole of this first chapter, which precedes these verses, is a revelation of God's loving concern for us as his people. Now, at the very commencement, Paul, as you know, blesses God for his goodness to his people.