In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
(Eph 1:13-14)

Paul has been telling us of the glories of God’s spiritual blessings on us. Blessing means to favour, to gladden. God has showed us favour, He has loved us. How did He do this? Well, firstly we saw the Father chose us. In the mystery of His will He chose us to be saved, and decided that our destiny would be likeness to His Son. The Son then made this possible by redeeming us with His own blood, forgiving us of our sins, and giving us His righteousness. Not only so, but His redeeming of us was redeeming us to share in Him – the Supreme One; the One who shall be universally worshipped as Lord of all. He has chosen us and redeemed us to be His bride for eternity. As we saw this, our hearts rejoiced in the thought – if this is God’s heart toward us, if this is God’s demonstration of His love, if this is our future with Him, what can be against us, what can be finally for our harm?

Only one possibility could rob us of joy. What if we could fall from Christ? Christ is our only hope, Christ is our salvation, our joy, our future bridegroom – all of our love and joy and peace is rooted in this thought that by grace, we are ‘in Christ’. But here’s the thing. Since it is most terrible to be out of Christ, how can I be sure that I will remain in Christ until that glorious day? There really can be no joy, no confidence, no delight, if my actual status of being in Christ is in doubt. If the possibility of falling out of Christ is ever present, I cannot really have any joy.

But this incredible passage ends on the highest note possible. The Father chose us to be His Son’s bride; the Son came and paid the price so that we could be His bride, but now the Spirit seals us to remain His bride forever. So, tonight we will look at the Treasure of the Spirit Sealing Us.

Now, notice Paul takes the time to mention the process by which we end up sealed by the Spirit in Christ. Firstly, he says you heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation. No one is chosen, no one is redeemed, no one is the Bride of Christ, no one is sealed by the Spirit who has not heard the word of truth, the Gospel of salvation. The Bible is absolutely clear:

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Rom 10:13-17)

Somebody preached to these Ephesians. It might have been Paul. It might have been Apollos. It might have been Timothy. But someone preached. Someone shared the Gospel.

Salvation does not come in a vacuum. Remember we have said God does all things for His glory. Well, what will glorify God? People being saved seemingly out of the meditations of their own minds, or people responding to the will of God preached? Obviously, God is glorified when people obey what He said.

Today there is a teaching that says God has his elect people even in other religions. God has elected them, redeemed them and sealed them, even though they continue to worship idols. Such people think they are glorifying the sovereignty of God. But does it glorify God to say that God has His elect people, but they do not confess Jesus Christ? Of course, this is preposterous. When a person is saved, they confess Jesus is Lord. So for people to come to faith, they must first hear the Gospel.

But secondly, they also must believe in Him. There is the hearing, but then there is the believing. Faith comes only after the hearing. Faith is given when the Word is given. Man receives the truth, when He receives the Word. Notice Paul takes the time here, in the middle of speaking about God’s sovereign programme, to mention human responsibility. Yes, there is election, yes, there was the Son’s provision, yes, there is the Spirit sealing, but these blessings and privileges come only to the one who hears the Gospel and believes in Jesus Christ. Paul does not leave open the idea that we can be saved apart from responding to God’s initiative. After you heard and believed – you were sealed.

Now Paul moves on to what we want to look at – after you believed, you were sealed. This does not refer to being sealed as some second-blessing or second work of grace. The word translated ‘after you heard’ and ‘after you believed’ is translating one-word Greek verbs that are in the past tense. It’s equally valid to translate it: “when you heard the word of truth, when you believed’. This sealing by the Spirit takes place the moment you repent of your sin and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is contingent on salvation, and happens simultaneous to salvation.

What does it mean that the Spirit seals us?

Sealing meant in ancient times, and in many ways still in modern times, a number of things which encourage our hearts. Firstly, sealing means

Security

A seal, in ancient times, was used to close and make something fast, such as books or letters so that they would not be read before they reached their destination. If the intended recipient received the letter with an intact seal, then he knew the letter had arrived untampered with. It secured the contents of the package, the book, the letter. Even Christ’s tomb was sealed with the seal of Rome. Anyone breaking that seal would be punished by death. When Daniel was placed in the lion’s den, we are told the den was sealed with the seal of the king’s signet ring. What that means is that the signet ring of the Spirit Himself has been placed over us. We are preserved in the Holy Spirit to arrive safely at the wedding of us and Christ. Ephesians 4:30 tells us:

“And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”

What day of redemption is that? The final day of redemption, when we are saved from the very presence of sin, when all bow the knee to Christ, and sin is forever banished. We are sealed in the Spirit to arrive safely at that day and place.

Now on this truth alone, you already have the doctrine of eternal security. How can the Spirit seal us, if it is possible that we will not arrive at the destination? How can it be true, in any sense, that the Spirit seals us, if we are able to break the seal ourselves and get out of Christ? The Holy Spirit sealing us until the day of redemption provides us with every sense of security. Furthermore, how can God predestinate us, if our destiny was uncertain? Can you be predestinated to two possibilities? Now we are in the realm of the logically absurd. God, the Father, decided it; God, the Son, provided it, and God, the Spirit, ensures it. If someone is more powerful than the Holy Spirit of God, then the seal could be broken. But the Bible is very clear: “No one is able to pluck them out of my hand, or the Father’s hand.” Neither height nor depth, nor angels, nor principalities nor powers nor any other creature is able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

John 6:39: “And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day”.

We are secure because the Spirit will keep us in Christ. We are also secure because the Spirit will keep us from falling into total unbelief.

I Peter 1:5: “Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time”.

Jude 24: “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy”.

Philippians 1:6 puts it gloriously: “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”.

So the Spirit’s seal gives us great security. These spiritual blessings cannot be lost once we have heard the word of truth and believed on Him.

But we also rejoice in the Spirit’s sealing because it speaks of:

Completed Transaction

Seals were often given to state that a transaction had been completed.

And Jeremiah said, The word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum thine uncle shall come unto thee, saying, Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth: for the right of redemption is thine to buy it. So Hanameel mine uncle’s son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the LORD, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD. And I bought the field of Hanameel my uncle’s son, that was in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver. And I subscribed the evidence, and sealed it, and took witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances. So I took the evidence of the purchase, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open: And I gave the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, in the sight of Hanameel mine uncle’s son, and in the presence of the witnesses that subscribed the book of the purchase, before all the Jews that sat in the court of the prison.” (Jer 32:6-12)

Jeremiah bought the field, and then sealed it as evidence that he had paid the full price for the field, and there was nothing more to be paid.

This gives us great joy because it means our security in Jesus is not conditional upon our behaviour. If we still had to pay in a lifetime of holy living, then the transaction would not be complete. It would mean that God had only paid a percentage of our redemption price, and we would have to work off the rest. Sadly, this is what many people believe. They believe if you don’t keep working, you’ll lose your salvation. The truth is, as a Christian, the Spirit of God in you will cause you to want to live a holy life. But He will not leave you and break the seal if you do not. That’s a contradiction. If the Spirit is within me, I can and will live for God. There is no reason for Him to forsake me, because it is He who is able to keep me from falling. So, since He is able to prevent me from reaching total apostasy, the Spirit is the best protection against losing the Spirit. What I’m saying is the Holy Spirit will prevent you from becoming the sort of person that the Holy Spirit would forsake. It’s a sealed transaction. I do not have to work to keep my salvation, or earn God’s favour. I work in light of God’s grace, not to keep it. I work because of God’s grace, not to sustain it. Jesus said on the cross – it is finished, and indeed it was. The transaction is sealed. It is completely paid for. No further transaction must take place. The only thing left is delivery.

But the Spirit’s sealing means a third wonderful truth. It means our salvation is authentic.

Sealing means… Authenticity

A seal was also used to denote that something was genuine, authentic, confirmed or approved. When a document was an approved edict by the king, he would seal it. The king’s seal was the ancient equivalent of a signature. It became the statement of authenticity. And in this sense, what it means is the seal of the Spirit gives us great joy because we know not only that we can not lose the blessings in Christ, not only that we do not have to earn the blessings in Christ or work to keep them; it means we can have a sure way of knowing we have them in the first place. Sealing shows that someone or something is genuine.

This is what we read in John 6:27: “Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.”

Jesus is authenticated as Messiah – the Father has sealed Him.

“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.” (2Ti 2:19)

God seals those that are his – they have his stamp of ownership, of approval. And it is the seal of the Spirit.

Think of it: picture reading of all the beautiful blessings in Christ; of all the fabulous promises of the future; of the wonderful security in Him, but having no way of knowing if you are in fact in Christ. And the sealing of the Spirit is God’s way of not only securing us, but assuring us. God assures us that we are His children by the presence of the Spirit.

Eternal security and assurance of salvation are not the same thing. They are related, but not the same thing. Eternal security is an objective fact – once in Christ, always in Christ. Eternal life cannot be temporary. God secures us in His Son from the day of repentance to the day of redemption. Assurance of salvation is our subjective, personal awareness of this objective fact. Assurance of salvation is when we come to know and sense what is true. And in the Holy Spirit’s sealing us, we have both eternal security and assurance of salvation.

Verse 14 tells us how we have assurance of salvation. It says the Holy Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. That simply means the Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it. It means a down payment as a promise of more to come. So while the transaction of our redemption is complete, the Holy Spirit has been left with us as a down payment towards what we shall receive in full on that future day when we are wed with Christ. The Spirit is a deposit; God’s way of guaranteeing that all he has promised us in Christ will certainly come to pass because of His presence.

Interestingly, a form of the Greek word for earnest came to mean engagement ring. An engagement ring is given, in one sense, as a pledge that more is to come, that a commitment has been made that will end in marriage. And what a beautiful symbol – the Holy Spirit is Christ’s engagement ring to us. It is His precious promise – I will certainly come again and receive you to myself.

Now if the Spirit’s presence in us is the guarantee that we are sealed and will certainly be with Christ; if His presence is what gives me assurance of salvation, how do I know His presence?

Some mistake warm emotions for the Holy Spirit. Some mistake psychosomatic behaviour for the Holy Spirit. Some cults mistake a burning in the bosom for the Holy Spirit. How do we truly know if we have the Holy Spirit? We know He indwells us when we are saved, but what is the evidence that He is there?

Well, the evidence is fairly straightforward. It is linked to His main ministry. His main ministry is the revealing of Jesus Christ.

“But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: (Joh 15:26) He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. (Joh 16:14)”

This is the Spirit’s main ministry – the revealing of Jesus Christ. Therefore, you can know if the seal of the Spirit is on you if you have had Christ revealed to you in some measure.

What does that mean? Well, if you have read the Bible and it has come alive, and you have seen Christ in it – then that is the Spirit illuminating you to see Christ in the Word. If you have tried to obey what you have seen in the Word and been successful, that is the Holy Spirit empowering His fruit in your life to help you to see Christ in your own nature. If you feel guilt over sin and a desire to confess it – that is His power of conviction, showing you when you have been unlike Christ. When you sense that God is your Father – then that is the Holy Spirit revealing Christ to you in the sense that He is also God’s Son.

“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. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:” (Rom 8:15-16)

Indeed, it is the Holy Spirit who helps you to realise Jesus is Lord and is to be obeyed. Paul said “… no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.” (1Co 12:3)

Now if you have never known or seen Christ in the Word of God; if the Bible is still a mystery to you; if you have no desire to be like Christ and to put away sin; if you have absolutely no power over sin; if you sense no relationship to God as Father, you may have good reason to doubt that you have the Spirit.

“But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” (Rom 8:9)

But on the other hand, you may have had some experience of this, but not much. This may be because you are grieving the Holy Spirit and quenching Him. You grieve the Spirit when you live in pride, and live independently of Him. You quench Him when you respond to His prompting in your life with coldness, indifference, disinterest or ignoring Him. Grieving Him and quenching Him cause us to see little of His ministry of revealing Christ. And that is why many Christians struggle with assurance. It is not that they have lost their salvation, it is not that they have lost the objective fact of their eternal security. By hardening their hearts against the Spirit, they lose the subjective assurance of this objective fact. Because they live in disobedience, they see little or none of His ministry of revealing Christ. And a Christian who just about never sees Christ will soon wonder if they are at all a Christian. But the good news is that even that lack of assurance is the Spirit’s alarm bell – causing us to get right with God. If we are not saved – the call is to believe on the Son of God. If we are saved – the call is to make sure we are not grieving and quenching the blessed Holy Spirit, and thereby losing the wondrous joy in our eternal security.

If you rejoiced in the fact of our eternal union with Christ, then the only thing that is stopping you from having that joy continually is when our cooperation with the Spirit is not what it should be. He mediates Jesus Christ to our hearts. But a proud, independent heart, an indifferent, lukewarm spirit will cause His still small voice to be imperceptible.

But here is the thing. The Holy Spirit being the guarantee implies this: that what we are receiving now is a foretaste of what is to come. The joys of the Christian here are of the same nature as they will be in heaven. Heaven will consist of the same glories of love, and peace, and joy, and purity begun here, and simply expanded there to complete and eternal perfection. The joys of heaven differ only in degree, not in kind, from those of the Christian on earth. That which is begun here is perfected there; and the feelings and views which the Christian has here, if expanded and carried out, would constitute heaven. That is why – if you have no taste for Jesus Christ now, you have cause to check if you are saved. If you have some desire to know and love Him, then heaven will be the fulfilment of your ultimate desire.

So the Spirit’s seal is a sign of security. We can’t lose this being ‘in Christ’. It is a sign of a completed transaction. We do not have to earn our place in Christ or keep it by our own efforts. It is also a sign of authenticity. God Himself has declared us to be His own, and has proved it by giving us the down payment of the Holy Spirit. His indwelling presence, revealing Jesus Christ to us, is a promise of what is to come – the ultimate revelation of Jesus Christ to us in our wedding to Him. If there is some taste for Christ; some desire to love Him and serve Him; some desire to honour Him and know Him; some desire to be like Him, then God has blessed you with an unbreakable seal, the Holy Spirit, by which He says the One you desire to be like; the One you desire to love; the One you desire to see – I will deliver you to Him safely, without blame on that day of redemption.