The Spirit and Sealing

We saw on Sunday that the Holy Spirit does not seek to exalt himself. In John 16, we saw that his ministry is to exalt Christ and to call attention and emphasize the Father's words, the Word of God. And so it may seem contradictory that we're spending so much time studying the Holy Spirit on Wednesday nights. But it really isn't. The Bible does have a lot to say about the Spirit of God and that's what we're investigating and looking at so that we can better understand who he is and what he does. We began our study talking about who he is and in recent weeks we've been talking about what he does. And we've been looking at various ministries of the Spirit's individuals. We looked at two ministries that he has to unsave people, conviction and then regeneration, which basically is the ministry that moves one from the unsaved status to the believer status. The giving of new life is regeneration. We looked at that last week. Tonight we're going to begin talking about three ministries that the Holy Spirit does at the moment of salvation for believers. Sealing of the Spirit, the indwelling of the Spirit and the baptism of the Spirit. All three of those ministries, as we shall see, take place at the moment of salvation. And then we're going to, after we finish those, we're going to look at several other ministries of the Spirit and other things about the Holy Spirit. We'll look at the filling of the Spirit. Just a brief glimpse at the gifts of the Spirit. We're not going to go through a whole study on that. That's an entire series in itself. So we won't be able to do that. We're going to take at least a look at the Holy Spirit and the gift of tongues and talk about that. And then we'll talk about some other ministries like the leading of the Spirit, the teaching of the Spirit, a few other ministries that are not highlighted as much in the scriptures. We'll also then talk about the work of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament and how that differs from the New Testament. We'll talk about the sin against the Holy Spirit, what's often called the unpardonable sin. And then we'll talk about, we'll end our study of the Holy Spirit with a lesson on the ministry of the Spirit in the future, what ministry will the Holy Spirit have in the tribulation time, in the millennium and so forth. So that will kind of round out our study, kind of let you know where we're headed. But tonight we're going to talk about the sealing of the Spirit, that first of the three ministries of the Spirit that takes place at the moment of salvation. So the sealing of the Spirit is our subject for tonight. And let's just begin by looking at the three scriptures which talk about the sealing of the Spirit, the scriptures which mentioned the sealing of the Spirit beginning in 2 Corinthians chapter 1. 2 Corinthians 1 verses 20 to 22. Let me set the context for this passage. You really don't understand what Paul was saying here unless you get his train of thought. You know, when Paul wrote a letter to the Corinthians, he meant for it to be read from beginning to end. It was probably read publicly in the church. And so the way to study a book, basically the best way to study is from beginning to end. So we get the whole flow of thought. And that's why a lot of times when we just jump into the middle of a passage, I like to kind of bring you up to speed and what is the flow of thought here. What Paul is dealing with in chapter 1 beginning in verse 12 is some accusations that had been made concerning him and his change of plans. Paul had made plans to visit the Corinthians twice on his way to Macedonia and then on his way back from Macedonia to Ephesus. That's what his plan was. He says in verse 15, for instance, because I was confident of this, I wanted to visit you first so that you might benefit twice. I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia. He's in Ephesus. He would cross the Aegean Sea to Corinth and then up north to Macedonia. That's what he wanted to do. And then he says, end to come back to you from Macedonia and then to have you send me on my way to Judea. Was I fickle when I intended to do this or do I make my plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath I say both yes, yes, and no, no. What happened is Paul was not able to visit them twice. He visited them the first time and it was what he would refer to in chapter 2, verse 1, of this book as a painful visit. There were lots of problems in the church that Paul had to address and it was a very painful visit. So he decided not to visit them a second time. He decided to write this letter. And so there were some in the church in Corinth who opposed Paul's ministry and he talks about that a lot in second Corinthians. And they were accused of being a double-tun, double-minded and double-tun. You speak out of both sides of your mouth. You say yes and no at the same time. You're deceptive. You're lying. They were accused of doing all kinds of things and so Paul is defending himself here in this first chapter but he moves directly from that defense of himself and saying I'm not saying yes, yes, no, no at the same time. There were reasons why he had to change his plans but he jumped right into that to talk about God and his promises and what he does. So look at verse 18. He says but as surely as God is faithful our message to you is not yes and no. For the Son of God Jesus Christ who was preached among you by us by me and Silas and Timothy was not yes and no but in him it has always been yes. So he uses this kind of defense of himself to say you know sometimes we have to change our plans. I wasn't being fickle, I wasn't being insincere when I made my plans, really did want to come to see it twice but sometimes things happen and you have to change your plans and that's what happened but his point is he leads into the fact that God never has to change his plans. God never makes a promise and then says you know what I can't keep that this time. Something's changed. I got to change my plans. God never does that. He never has to do that. And so some of those promises and blessings that God gives us that he never has to back off of is what he talks about next. Verse 20. For no matter how many promises God has made they are yes in Christ. In other words they'll never you'll never have to back out of them and say no I didn't can't really do that. They're always yes. And so through him the amen is spoken by us to the glory of God. Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us. We looked at that a little bit before in 1 John 2. We may touch on it again later in our study. But he anointed us in in verse 22. Set his seal of ownership on us and put his spirit in our hearts as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come. Now he mentions the fact that God has sealed us and right alongside that mentions the giving of the Holy Spirit put his spirit in our hearts and what the spirit does in his presence in our hearts he is a deposit. He's a deposit of a full inheritance that's going to come our way. This is a fascinating truth and we're not here to really talk so much tonight about the deposit idea. It's coupled with the sealing of the spirit in this passage and in the other two we're going to look at. So this deposit is a precious truth. It's basically the fact that the Holy Spirit is in us to guarantee that there's more to come. It's one of those truths of eternal security. The fact that God gives us the Holy Spirit is a down payment if you were a deposit on the full inheritance that we're going to receive when we get to heaven. And the down payment is the promise of God that there's more to come and that's how it fits into the promise thing that he's talking about. I made promises. I couldn't keep. God never makes a promise. He can't keep. One of the promises he's made is the gift of the Holy Spirit who seals us and is by his own presence that promise of more to come, that deposit. When you make a deposit on a house, you're promising the bank, there's more to come, lot more to come. So that's what this deposit is. The Holy Spirit is the deposit that promises us you got a big inheritance coming and this is just the deposit. Isn't that wonderful? But it's all tied to the sealing of the spirit. Okay. That's one passage. There's a question there before we look at the two inephesions. All right. Look at Ephesians chapter 1 verses 13 and 14. Again the context is so important. The two verses verses 13 and 14 come at the end of a section beginning in verse 3 that give us a catalog of God's blessings to us in salvation. So many things that God has done for us. He talks about election. He talks about predestination. He talks about verse 7 redemption. He talks about forgiveness. He talks about the purpose of God. He talks about so many other things in this passage. And he kind of ends in verse 13 with this. And you also were included in Christ. There's our union with Christ included in him. When you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, when you believed you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit. Now here it is clear that the seal is the Holy Spirit. Okay. So we're sealed by God with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit himself is the seal. We'll come back to that in a few moments. When you believed you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit. Now look at what he says in verse 14. Who is a deposit guaranteeing iron heritance until the redemption of those who were God's possession to the praise of his glory. So the Holy Spirit is the deposit guaranteeing the full inheritance is going to come at the redemption. You said, wait a second. I thought I was redeemed when I got saved while he's talking here about the full redemption, the full completion of redemption when we are with the Lord. And that is even more clear in chapter 4 verse 30, our third passage on the sealing of the Spirit, Ephesians 4 30. He says, and do not greed the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Okay. You're sealed awaiting that for that pointing toward that day of redemption. The day of redemption is the day when we see Christ. And that's when our redemption will be final, full, complete. You see, redemption has to do with being purchased for God's own possession and purchased out of the slave market of sin and set free from sin. Well, at the moment of salvation, we are set free from the penalty of sin. Now, those were justified sins wiped off our record in heaven. There's no penalty anymore. There's no condemnation to those who are in Christ. So we're saved immediately from the penalty. As we grow in Christ, we are saved from the power of sin over us. But when we see Christ, when we get to heaven, we will be saved from the very presence of sin. And that's when our redemption will be complete. That's sometimes in the New Testament spoken of as the future day of redemption, when redemption will be fully complete and will be saved from the very presence of sin. And that's what he's talking about here. But we are sealed until that time with the Holy Spirit. Okay, those are the three passages and just kind of an overview of them. Now, we're going to dissect a few things about them a little bit more, but any questions before we do. Okay. The time of the ceiling. When does this ceiling happen? When does the ceiling with the Holy Spirit happen? Look again at the two passages and Ephesians, Ephesians 1, 13, you were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. So you hear the gospel and then verse 13, the middle of verse 13 says, when you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit. So it is when you believed, literally it is having believed at the moment of belief. And I think the NIV is appropriate to translate it this way. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit. So you hear the gospel, you believe and at the moment of belief, when you believe, you are sealed. You're marked with a seal, which is the promised Holy Spirit. So it seems pretty clear in this passage that the ceiling of salvation or the ceiling of the Spirit is at the moment of salvation when you believe in Christ. You hear the gospel, but when you believe, that's when you're marked with the seal. So it's important to understand the ceiling of the Spirit is not dependent on anything you do. It's not dependent on a certain kind of cleansing that you go through, purifying yourself from sin. It's not something that happens at a certain stage in your sanctification. You grow to a certain level and then you get sealed. Now, the ceiling happens at the moment of salvation. It's based on your faith in Christ. And when you trust Christ, then you're sealed with the Spirit. Feasions 430 supplements that more by way of implications, not quite as clear, but it certainly implies strongly. Paul says, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. The command, don't grieve the Holy Spirit, is given to all believers. He's not specifying a certain category of believers. This whole section is a list of commands and instructions about how to live the Christian life. It's designed generally for all believers, all the Ephesians, all of us. So the command, not to grieve the Spirit, is for all believers, no exceptions. And that same group, he says, has been sealed. Don't grieve the Spirit, that's all believers, are included in that command. Don't grieve with whom you were sealed or by whom, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. The same group, all believers, are sealed until the day of our final redemption. So it's implied that it is the universal experience of every believer. So if something is the universal experience of every believer, there's only one point at which that could have happened, and that's salvation. I mean, if it's true for every believer, then how else could it be true of every believer unless it happened at the moment of salvation? Someone who's been saved for 30 seconds, their believer, they've been sealed. Someone who's been saved six months, six years, 60 years. Universally all believers have been sealed, so if that's the case, the only time that could happen is at the moment of salvation, if it's true of all believers. So if we have the implication, at least in this passage, the moment of the time of the sealing or the moment of the sealing is at the moment of salvation. So we've looked at the three passages that really describe it. The time seems pretty clear that it happens at the moment of salvation when you trust Christ a Savior. Any question before we look a little more at the richness of the figure itself, what it means to be sealed? Any questions about these passages? Guisty. How do those who do not believe in eternal security explain those verses? I'm not real sure. My guess is that they would explain sealing in a completely different way. I've heard sealing explain as some kind of ministry of the spirit of power, kind of like a filling of the spirit. And I think that's probably the way they would see it. They would not see it in the sense of what sealing really is and what we're going to talk about in a few moments. It is one of the clearest evidences of security in all the Bible. But I think they would have to see the whole concept in a different way. That would be my guess. Anybody come out of a background where you didn't believe in eternal security, of course you do now, but you didn't believe in eternal security at one point. You remember how that sealing of the spirit was dealt with? Anybody help me out here? Pardon me? Didn't talk about it. Okay, just didn't talk about it. Skip over it. Okay. I guess we're all guilty of kind of sliding over passages that are hard for us to explain. And that may be the case with, yes. I mean, it's a lot of the things that work within the Holy Spirit. I don't know. This is moment one. This is moment one. You can't do such way by another child in the family. Because that's the way that when she could line up on this, they'd acknowledge that it's like a kind of, I don't know. Yes.人生 vonborn was a familiar group of people who were guilty ofvegan or prevents person of circumstances. We certainly felt they had to have an opportunity to take care of things that kept in the devil as they, for many years. So I was thinking, Eunice There is seeking the whole process, the structure of the whole, the rich. Yeah? So the research on this. I realize there is no surface points. Like actually knowing the subjects of the gay marriage is almost impossible. So this process, and so on, It's니까. Some of the issues that the Black, were especially libertarianities. Yes, that is sad. Very sad. True of so many folks who do not rest in the eternal nature of salvation we have in Christ and not confident of being with the Lord. Okay. Time of the ceiling then appears to be at salvation. Now let's talk about the meaning of the ceiling. This is, I think, one of the most beautiful word pictures of a doctrinal truth anywhere in the Bible, the ceiling of the Spirit. So let's talk a little bit about the figure of speech. In ancient times documents from a king or an emperor or some important official would be written on a scroll. I wish I'd thought to put a picture for you. You've seen it in movies, you've seen it differently. We're going to put on a scroll that would be rolled up maybe from both ends. But if the scroll was rolled up, was not on little pieces of wood or something, the scroll was just rolled up, then it would be sealed with wax, where the edge of the scroll rolled up against the scroll, it would be sealed with wax. And quite often, if it were a government official, a king, an emperor or someone important, then the ring that carried the insignia of that person, the seal or the individual marking of that particular government official would be pressed into that wax before it hardened. So when the wax hardened, it would have that particular insignia indicating that it came from this king or this emperor. So that's the picture here. The sealing of a document is the picture here of the sealing of the spirit. The essence of that seal and what that seal would show was that first of all who it came from, who the owner of that document was, so it would show ownership. And secondly, it would show authority. It's got that insignia on it. This is an official authoritative document. It carries some weight. And then it would also show that because it's sealed, you don't tamper with it. You don't mess with that document. The only way you can mess with is by breaking the seal. And that would be obvious that the document has evidently been tampered with if the seal is broken. So someone else will not be able to seal it back with that insignia in it. So the seal was very important for ownership to give authority to the document and to show that it was secure. So that's the figure of speech. That's the picture that's in the mind of the biblical writers when they use that figure of speech to illustrate a ministry of the spirit. So the sealing of the spirit, it comes out of that figure of speech. It describes a real ministry of the spirit and what it means. Now, I think it's important to understand next that the Holy Spirit himself is the seal. The Holy Spirit himself is the seal. Remember back in 2 Corinthians 1, it says, it is God who makes both us and you stand in the Holy Spirit. He appointed us, set his seal of ownership on us. So it is God who does the sealing. But then in the Ephesians' passages, remember what it said, when you believe you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit. And then Ephesians 430, do not agree with the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed. So you got the picture. It is God who does the sealing with the Holy Spirit, and in Ephesians 113, the Holy Spirit himself is called the seal. Now if you seal a document with wax, the wax is actually the seal, isn't it? So if you seal us with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit himself is really the seal. To use the figure of speech, that carries over beautifully. So God seals us. It is not like the Holy Spirit seals us. God seals us, the Father seals us with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit himself is the seal. Now here is how it works. When the Holy Spirit comes to indwell you at the moment of salvation, comes to maintain, as we will see, indwelling means an abiding presence with us at all times. When that happens, he becomes the seal. The fact that the Holy Spirit comes to indwell us at the moment of salvation, he by his very presence becomes the seal. God the Father seals us with the Spirit by sending him to indwell us at the moment of salvation. So the sealing is really tied to the indwelling, tied to the Holy Spirit abiding presence with us. By virtue of him being with us forever, he himself by his presence becomes the seal. Any question about that before we look at what that means for us? Alright? We are clear on that. Then let's talk about what the meaning of this is for the believer. What does it mean that God at the moment of salvation when you believe seals you with the Holy Spirit? Well we go back to the figure of speech and what a seal indicated. I mean these Bible writers were not just pulling things out of thin air. They were using figures of speech that everybody in their day would be familiar with. Everybody was familiar with the sealing of a document. And so they are using that vivid imagery to communicate a very real ministry of the Spirit and what that ministry does for us. So when the Holy Spirit comes to indwell us at salvation, what does that mean? How does he become a seal? Well in the same three ways we saw that a wax seal is a seal. First of all, the seal, the Holy Spirit's presence in our life as a seal is a sign of ownership. Remember the wax with the insignia from the ring of that king or government official showed ownership of that document. This document belongs to and proceeded from Emperor Maximus or whatever. So it showed ownership. Let me give you a biblical example and there are wonderful examples of these seals being used through Bible times. And this one really shows the ownership side of it. Jeremiah, look at Jeremiah, chapter 32. Jeremiah 32. Jeremiah is told to buy a piece of property in Judah as a sign that his prophecy would come true. Now, here's what's going on. Jeremiah is prophesying very strongly that Judah is going to go into captivity to Babylon. In fact, you remember if you were familiar with Jeremiah, Jeremiah was telling the kings and people of his day, surrender to the Babylonians, don't resist them. It's God's purpose to send you into captivity. You're just going to end up killing a lot of people if you're resistant. And so they thought Jeremiah was a traitor. So God tells Jeremiah, part of your prophecy is that the people will be in Babylon for 70 years and then they'll come back. Now to show that that prophecy truly comes from God, Jeremiah is told by God to buy a piece of property in Judah just on the verge of everybody being taken into captivity. All right. Now, with that background, look at verses 10 through 15 of Jeremiah 32. This nine says, so I bought the field to anthoth from my cousin, Hannah Mel, and weighed out for him 17 shekels of silver. Verse 10, I signed and sealed the deed and had it witnessed and weighed out the silver on the scales. I took the deed of purpose, purchased the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions as well as the unsealed copy. In those days, there would be two copies of the deed. One was a sealed copy which would be registered and could not be tampered with, not be broken. The other was left unsealed so that if anyone had a question about what was in the sealed one, they could look without breaking the seal of the official one. So that's why he's talking about a sealed and an unsealed document deed here. And verse 12, he says, and I gave this deed to Baruch, son of Nariah, the son of Messiah, and the presence of my cousin, Hannah Mel, and of the witnesses who had signed the deed and all the Jews sitting in the courtyard of the guard. In their presence, I gave Baruch these instructions. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says, take these documents, both the sealed and unsealed copies of the deed, purchased, and put them in a clay jar so they will last a long time. For this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says, houses, fields, and vineyards will again be bought in this land. So this is a sign of faith in his own prophecy that, yes, we're going into captivity, but we're going to come back to this land. So I'm buying a piece of property for 70 years from now. And it is sealed. Why would it be sealed to show who the deed belongs to? To show who the property belongs to? And so the seal was a sign of ownership, and very clear in this case, it would mark out that piece of property is owned by Jeremiah. That document, that sealed, shows ownership. Okay? Now, what does that mean for us? When you get saved, and the Holy Spirit takes up residence in you, in dwells you, it shows that you belong to Christ, you belong to God. You are His possession. And the Holy Spirit Himself is God's seal of ownership. You belong to Him now. You know, beautiful how that ties in with so much of what we know from the New Testament, what, no, you're not the true bodies of temple, the Holy Spirit which you have of God which is in you, and you are not your own, you are bought with a price. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6, 19 and 20, therefore glorify God in your body and spirit with your gods. So the Holy Spirit dwelling in us shows that we are not our own. We're bought with a price. We belong to God. And He Himself is God's seal of ownership. Once the Holy Spirit becomes the seal, the sign that God owns us, that we are now His. We don't belong to ourselves. So that's part of what the sealing of the Spirit means for us. Any questions about that? Comments about that. All right. The second thing that the sealing means for the believer, the sealing is also a sign of authority. It's a sign of authority. Again, the seal on a document in ancient times showed that that document carried the authority of the person who sealed it more. So if a Roman Emperor sends it, this document carries the authority of that Roman Emperor. If a Jewish governor sends it, it carries the authority of that governor. Whoever's seal is on that gives authority to that document. So it's a sign of authority. And with the official insignia of a ring in that wax, that seal becomes power. It becomes authority. This gives that document authority. A couple of examples of that in the Old Testament. Back in 1 Kings, 1 Kings chapter 21. Do you remember Ahab and Naboths of Inured? Remember that story? And Ahab, the King, is coveting Naboths of Inured. Naboth has one vineyard. And Ahab, the King, has all the vineyards he wants, but he wants Naboths of Inured. And he goes to try to get it to buy it, and Naboth will not sell it. And he goes to that because property by Jewish law is to stay in the family. And he's doing the right thing by keeping it. And remember Ahab went back to the palace, pounding, laying on his bed, pounding, like a little spoiled child. I can't have my vineyard. So Jezebel figures out how to get it for him. Look at verse 7. Verse 21, verse 7. Jezebel's wife said, is this how you act as king over Israel? Get up and eat. Cheer up. I'll get you the vineyard of Naboth, the Jezreelite. So she wrote letters in Ahab's name placed his seal on them. And sent them to the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth city with him. And those letters she wrote proclaim a day of fasting and seat Naboth in a prominent place among the people. And they're going to sit to scoundrels opposite him and have them bring charges that he has cursed both God and the king, then take him out and stone him to death. On who's authority are they going to do something like that? Ahab's authority. Why? Because the document has his seal on it. That gives the document authority. That means they have got to do what in that document because it carries the authority of the king. One thing, back in the book of Esther, if you'll flip forward a little bit in your Bible to Esther chapter 3, there were a couple of things done in Esther that were official government edicts from the king that were sealed to carry his authority. Esther 3 verse 9 and 10, this is when Haemon has devised his plot to exterminate the Jews from all the kingdom of Persia. Verse 9, if it pleases the king, Haemon is talking to the king. If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them. And I will give 10,000 talents of silver to the kings and administrators for the royal treasury. So the king took his signate ring from his finger and gave it to Haemon son of Hamad Datha, the aggigite, the enemy of the Jews. Keep the money the king said to Haemon and do with the people as you please. Why did he give him his signate ring? So that in the edict that goes out, it can carry the king's authority. Okay, it's going to be marked with that seal. Now a little bit later, remember the story turns on Haemon and Haemon is the one who ends up being killed. Chapter 8, verses 7 and 8, the king has to issue another edict to overturn the first one. And this edict is going to have the purpose of saving the Jewish race, not exterminating them. And so in chapter 8 verse 7, King Zerksy's replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, because Haemon attacked the Jews. I've given his estate to Esther. They've impaled him on the pole. On the pole he set up. Now write another decree in the king's name. In behalf of the Jews, it seems best to you and seal it with the king's signate ring. For no document written in the king's name and sealed with his ring can be revoked. This may be the best passage of all to show the authority that a sealed document carries. No document, no, no, no edict that has the king's signate ring on it can be revoked. King's name sealed with his ring. You cannot revoke that because it carries the authority of the king himself. Now what does that mean to us? If the seal represents authority, what does that mean to us? At least a couple of things. Exactly. The salvation is by the authority of God. What did John say in John 112, but as many as received him to them that believed on his name he gave the right or authority to become the children of God. We have the authority to become the children of God, not because of our own authority, but because God has put his seal on us and that gives us his authority to be called his child. Then there's another way in which the Holy Spirit provides us authority. What way would you think that might be? Maybe we could say confidence or boldness to do what? Pardon me? Can it be revoked or changed? Just like we saw with King Zerxes, so salvation becoming the children of God cannot be changed, cannot be revoked. That's true. We're going to see that in a moment with the next thing, but that is a very important part of this. Security? Yes. We're going to see that in a moment. I'm still thinking of something a little different though. As far as authority is concerned, don't we have authority to enter into the presence of God in prayer? Obviously through the new and living way opened up by Jesus, but this is not going to happen, but let's just say someone were saying, what right do you have to be here? Oh, I've got a seal. I have the right to come into the King's presence. I have his seal on me, the Holy Spirit. There is a sense in which it is the Holy Spirit that gives us that right through the blood of Christ to enter with confidence into the presence of God in prayer. And so that authority as well, the privilege of prayer, the authority to come to him in Jesus' name, the ceiling of the Holy Spirit factors into that as well. So yes, the Holy Spirit as a seal is the sign of authority. And then here's the one we've been waiting for and we've been talking about. The ceiling is a sign of security. Remember the figure of speech, the actual seal in wax on a document meant that the document was secure. If that document arrived and the seal is intact, then everybody knows this document has not been tampered with. In fact, the seal itself guaranteed that the document would be secure and could not be tampered with. So the seal itself as it remains in place is a sign of security. There are a couple of examples. We're not going to take the time to turn to them because we're times about it. But remember in Daniel 6, when Daniel was thrown into the lion's den, the Bible actually says there that they rolled the stone over the lion's den and put a seal on it. And it was the King that did it, Darius who did it. So it carries his authority, but it also secures the lion's den. Now where was another place that a seal was put to hopefully secure a place? The tomb of Christ, right? Matthew 27, 66. They put a seal on the tomb. And probably the way that worked since that stone rolled into place, they put typically the Romans would put a rope and seal one end of it onto the top of the stone with wax. And the other end would be sealed to the face of the tomb with wax. And so you couldn't move that stone without breaking that seal. It was supposed, it was not like a lock or anything. I mean, it could be easily broken, but it was there to show that the tomb had not been tampered with. If you move that stone, obviously you couldn't do that without breaking that seal. So it was not because of strength, it was just because to show that the tomb was secure. All right, the Holy Spirit as God seal on us provides security. And it is an eternal security because remember the Bible says we've been sealed until the day of redemption. So that's God's promise that the seal is not going to be broken until we finally get to heaven. So the Holy Spirit is God's promise deposit, remember of the inheritance, that's one way to say it. The other way to say it is he seals us to show we are secure and the seal is not going to be tampered with till we get to heaven. It's good until we get to heaven and then there's no need for the seal. So the Holy Spirit, His presence in our lives gives us eternal security, security that we know we are kept as God's possession until we get to heaven. So just to summarize, the Holy Spirit's presence at the moment of salvation becomes God's seal of ownership, authority and security on us. It is, I think one of the most blessed truths in all the scriptures, the sealing of the Spirit, beautiful, beautiful, wonderful, comforting truth that His presence is God's sign of ownership, authority and security on us. Okay, times up, back to running a little over so we better pray and go tonight. Let's pray.