Blessings from the Holy Spirit
Eph. 1:13 – 14
Introduction
We have just finished studying the blessings from God the Father and God the Son. Today we will be talking about the blessings from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does so many things in the life of Christians. Truly He does great things for us that I can never express it in words. He does wonderful and amazing things that I can just stand in awe and say Lord “How Great Thou Art”. In this topic I will concentrate on the sealing of the Holy Spirit but before I start, let me give you a story on how the Holy Spirit worked in the life of the Prince of Preachers, C.H. Spurgeon.
Illustration: The Work of the Holy Spirit
Mr. Spurgeon once preached what in his judgment was one of his poorest sermons. He stammered and floundered and felt that his message was a complete failure. He was greatly humiliated and when he got home, he fell on his knees and said, “Lord God, Thou canst do something with nothing. Bless that poor sermon.” All through the week he uttered that prayer. He woke up in the night and prayed about it. He determined the next Sunday he would redeem himself by preaching a great sermon. Sure enough, his sermon the next Sunday went off beautifully. At the close, the people crowded him and covered him with praise. Spurgeon went home pleased with himself and that night he slept like a baby, but he said to himself, “I’ll watch the results of those two sermons.” What were they? From the one that had seemed a failure he was able to trace forty-one conversions. From the magnificent sermon he was unable to discover even a single soul that had been saved. Spurgeon’s explanation was that the Spirit of God used the one and did not use the other.
From: Illustrations of Bible Truths.
I. The Holy Spirit does so many things in our life. The following are just a few:
A. He convicts the unbeliever of sin (John 16:8-11).
B. He is the one responsible for our new birth or regeneration
1. He cleanses the person from sin and gives them the new nature (Titus 3:5).
2. As He does this spiritual “new birth,” the person enters “the kingdom of God” (John 3:3-7,16).
C. He baptizes (places) the person into the body of Christ. (1 Cor.12:13; Gal.3:26-28)
D. He indwells the believer (Rom.5:5; 8:9; 1 Cor.3:16; 6:19)
E. He fills the believer (Acts 1:4-8, Eph. 5:18)
F. He sanctifies the believer. (2 Thess. 2:13, 1 Pet. 1:2)
G. He gives gifts to believers. (Rom. 12:3-8; 1 Cor. 12; Eph. 4:7-16; 1 Pet. 4:10,11.)
H. He guides the believer into all truth (Jn. 16:13)
I. He comforts. Acts 9:31. That’s why He is called the “Comforter”. (Jn. 14:26).
J. He causes us to bear fruit (Gal. 5:22-23)
II. The Holy Spirit is our Seal (Eph. 1:13)
A. Definition:
1. The sealing of the Holy Spirit is the Work of God the Father whereby He sets His Spirit upon believers to mark us as God’s own and keep us until the day of our completed redemption.
B. The time or when are we sealed:
1. Believers are sealed with the Holy Spirit when they trust Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.
B. The Meaning
1. A Seal Signified Identification – Each King or dynasty, had a personal seal, much like a company logo today. When you were marked out by a particular seal, it identified you with particular king. We are marked out by God’s Seal, the Holy Spirit, and so we are identified with Him. Paul informs the Ephesian Christians, “After that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise” Eph. 1:13. Once they trusted Christ as Saviour and were regenerated, they were immediately identified with God the Holy Spirit he placed upon them as His seal. The same is true for everyone who responds to the gospel.
2. A Seal Signified Ownership – Identification is one thing; ownership is something else. Historically, a seal signified both. Not only are we identified with God through the Holy Spirit, we belong to God by the Holy Spirit. (2 Cor. 1:21-22). 2 Tim. 2:19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. Jn. 10:27-28 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
3. A Seal Signified Security – When God seals, He also secures. In Rev. 7:4-8, there are 144,000 Jews sealed unto God. It also mentions of judgments consisting of 7 seals that no man could open. That’s security.
4. We are Sealed with the Holy Spirit to indicate that we are safe and secure in God, God saved us, sealed us, and secured us for the long haul (Eph. 1:13-14). We are not secure because of what we do but who we are. We are God’s possession, sealed by His Spirit.
5. A Seal Signified Value – If an item was without value, a seal was never needed. One only Sealed was the only one worth keeping or believing. Why was the tomb of Christ sealed? (Matt. 27:62-66). Because of its value. From the Pharisees’ perspective, irreparable damage would be done to their opposition to Jesus if He rose from the dead. And they highly valued keeping Him from the grave. They failed!
6. A Seal Signified Genuineness – God authenticates our being His children by placing the Holy Spirit upon us as His seal of genuineness. Paul said of Abraham, “He received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith” (Rom. 4:11). What the sign of circumcision did to mark out the Jews as God’s chosen people the Holy Spirit does for Jews and Gentiles alike, to mark us out as the genuine, blood bought, authentic children of the Most High God.
7. A Seal Signified a Finished Transaction – when the transaction of our salvation was over, it was over. God certified that transaction with His seal – the Holy Spirit. The purchase price of our souls was the blood of Christ. Our names are written in the Lambs book of life. The Holy Spirit is set upon us as a seal of eternal redemption
8. A Seal Signified Irreversibility – Once a seal placed on the wax or clay, it was there permanently. The Seal could not be removed without destroying it, and thus it was irreversible. Once sealed with the Holy Spirit, a believer can never again become an unbeliever. If he could, what value would the seal of God be? What power would the Spirit of the omnipotent God possess? Once we are Sealed with the Holy Spirit, that transaction can never be reversed. That’s what a Seal means. Our Salvation , sealed with the Holy Spirit is irreversible. That’s why we can proudly say. “Once saved, saved forever”.
III. The Holy Spirit is the “earnest” (Eph. 1:4)
A. Earnest here means the pledge and assurance, a guarantee, part of the purchase-money or property given in advance as security for the rest.
B. The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of what God has prepared for us. (2 Cor. 5:1-5).
IV. Conclusion:
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit had done so much for us. The blessings from the Holy Spirit can never be underestimated for there are so much that space and time will not allow me to put it here. Are you one of the blessed whom we can say Sealed by the Holy Spirit? If not, why don’t you repent from your sins and receive Christ as your personal Saviour? We will have more of this as we continue.
