By Diane Caston
The Scriptures teach about Being Sealed by the Holy Spirit.
This is one of the aspects we haven’t discussed yet.
Eph.1:13-14 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 (down payment) of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
Chuck Smith
The great port city of Rome in Paul’s day was Petiole, and the merchants would purchase their goods there in Ephesus and then pack them for shipping to Petiole. Once they packed their goods, they would then seal them. They would put a wax seal on their merchandise, and then they would put the imprint of their signet ring on them which was their mark of ownership. And then the goods would be placed on the ship and sent to Rome. When they would arrive at the port of Petiole, the servants of these merchant men would go down, as the ships were being unloaded, and they could identify their masters' goods because of this seal that was upon them. It was the stamp or the mark of ownership.
Paul is saying to the Ephesians that God has put His stamp of ownership on them. And that stamp of God's ownership is His Holy Spirit. How glorious it is to receive and to have the Holy Spirit, because I have that assurance that I belong to God. The Holy Spirit is His seal on my life to prove His ownership of me. Jesus, you see, purchased you from the slave market. You were once a slave to sin. You were in the bondage of corruption, but now you belong to Him.
And it is God…who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
Now it is a comforting thought to think of belonging to the living God. And His Spirit is there to remind us that we are His. It’s a guarantee. As long as we seek Him and follow Him, we are guaranteed to be His.
Since we are His, we are not our own to do as we please. We belong to Him.
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
1 Cor. 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Now, I should live as if I belong to Him. I should seek always to please Him in my thoughts and in my actions.
You have been redeemed.
1 Peter 1:18 -19 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
God purchased you and now He claims you as His own. You are His purchased possession. He has placed His seal of ownership on your life. We are like merchandise on the ship headed for the home port of heaven. And when we arrive Jesus is going to say, "Yes, that child is Mine. I have My stamp on her. There is My seal. They are Mine." And Jesus will acknowledge you as His possession.
And because He purchased us; we become His children. We have an inheritance waiting for us.
Rom.8:16-17 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
1 Pet 1:3-5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Now since we are bought and sealed and a waiting for our inheritance…we take advantage of all He has for us. We have been learning with Steve all through Ephesians about the riches that are ours in Christ Jesus. This is just one of many, but an oh so important one
Being filled with the Holy Spirit
After the disciples waited for the Promise of the Father that George told us all about on Sunday, If you were at first service you got to hear him expound on the gifts of the Spirit also. He said in the future he will be doing a follow up study to explain the gifts even further.
We see immediately the change that the Baptism made in Peter as he got up and gave his first ever Spirit-filled sermon. Peter preached:
Acts 2:16-18 But this (referring to the outpouring of the Spirit) is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall see visions,
Your old men shall dream dreams.
And on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days;
And they shall prophesy.
This was the beginning of life in the Spirit. This was the beginning of the Abiding in the Vine life, the ability to be connected to the vine to walk always in the Spirit of God – alive to the things of the Spirit.
Revivals – read from Catherine’s book.
The day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the believers was the beginning of the last days. Do you see that in this passage? If that was the beginning, where do you think we are today? We are at the end of the last days.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!
We need His Spirit, the special anointing of His Spirit, to be His witnesses in this disintegrating society in which we are living. Needed in the days after Jesus went back to heaven, needed so much today. Jesus told us the warning signs in the gospels; wars, threats of war, earthquakes, famines, pestilence¸ fearful sights and great signs from heaven Luke 21 Matt 24
The day of Pentecost was the anointing for the apostleship of bringing the gospel to the nations. That anointing has not failed as we see the day so quickly approaching. But have we become complacent? Should we not at least be as fervent as our early church brothers and sisters were? The days are short to proclaim His salvation to the ones who haven’t heard.
Amazingly It’s only the thirsty who get filled!
Jn. 7:37-39 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
We need to be asking. We need to be thirsty. We need to desire His filling in our lives.
Once we are filled with the Spirit, we will see many things will follow:
Obedience
Acts 5:31-32 Then God put him (Jesus) in the place of honor at his right hand as Prince and Savior. He did this so the people of Israel would repent of their sins and be forgiven. We are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit, who is given by God to those who obey him.”
Become Witnesses
Acts 1:8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
These following things we see in Eph. 5:
Fellowship
Eph. 5:18-21 … be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
you will want to be with other believers! And when you are you will be talking about the Lord and what He is doing in your life. You will be applying scripture to your situations or encouraging others to do that. You will be singing spiritual songs together praising the Lord. You never did this before you were a Christian!
Worship
Eph 5:19 Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord,
Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, when you wake up, throughout the day, you become a worshipper of God. Your mind is set on things above, not on things of this earth. You sing to the Lord!
Thankfulness
Eph 5:20 Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord,
giving thanks always. When filled with the Spirit we remember all the amazing things the Lord has done for us! Our hearts are filled with gratitude.
Submissive
Eph 5:21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Now this isn’t something we usually think about when we think of the Spirit’s filling, but the Spirit allows us to back down from our rights, our natural tendency to put ourselves first, and humble ourselves before others. Jesus humbled Himself to the point of death by the power of the Spirit. He could at any time have put a stop to the way He was being treated, but His mission was to submit His life to death. The least we can do is be humble before our spouses, our friends, even our children.
These are all evidences that the Spirit has come to make His home within us. George shared with us the gifts of the Spirit. In the fall we will go through the fruit of the spirit. We are bearing His fruit as we learn.
“Will God ever ask you to do something you are not able to do? The
answer is yes--all the time! It must be that way, for God's glory and
kingdom. If we function according to our ability alone, we get the
glory; if we function according to the power of the Spirit within us,
God gets the glory. He wants to reveal Himself to a watching world.”
― Henry Blackaby,
Experiencing the Spirit: The Power of Pentecost Every Day
Finally adding to the evidences, which are included in some of the things above, are our own personal experiences of the supernatural. We don’t often think of them as that, but they truly are. They are not like UFOs or little green men or ghost stories. I like to call them the supernaturally natural things that the Lord does for those who are living in communion with Him. The ways that God has led us by His Spirit, the things He has done that cannot be explained apart from His work.
I could spend the day sharing about them.
Chuck Smith shared a couple in Living Water: Elevator story
The spray tip
Sadly, Bill Rosencranz
Ladies give examples
So, as we go into our small groups to pray. Think about these words of Charles Spurgeon:
“Oh! yes, (the prayer meeting) is the place to meet with the Holy Ghost, and this is the way to get His mighty power. If we would have Him, we must meet in greater numbers; we must pray with greater fervency, we must watch with greater earnestness, and believe with firmer steadfastness. The prayer meeting...is the appointed place for the reception of power.”
