Blessings in Christ (part 4)

Amen. I want to read verses in Ephesians chapter 1 verses 3 through 14 because this is the passage we've been looking at.

Well, this will be the third Wednesday that we've looked at this one part of Ephesians chapter 1. We've so rich with truth, doctrinal truth, that we just really need to get.

And so kind of bring us back up to speed. Bring us where we've been. Remind us of where we've been and where we're going. Let me just go ahead and read the passage.

Starting with verse 3 of Ephesians chapter 1. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ.

What a marvelous verse. That's just the introduction to what is going to follow here. Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world.

That we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will.

To the praise of the glory of his grace by which he made us accepted in the beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood. The forgiveness of his grace by the forgiveness of his grace.

Which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence. Having made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure. Which he purposed in himself.

That in the dispensation of the fullness of the times. He might gather together in one all things in Christ. Both which are in heaven and which are on earth in him.

That's how far we have been able to get so far. Now we're going to look at verses 11 through 14. Let me go ahead and read those verses. In him also we have obtained an inheritance.

Being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. That we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory.

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 of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory. I mean even if you don't really look deeply yet.

And hopefully you do. And we have. And we're going to again tonight. But even without an in-depth look. You can just sense through the reading of this. This is all so significant.

It's just like Paul is piling it on here. Piling tremendous wonderful truth. Doctrinal truth.

Piling it up for us. And all of it for what purpose? That we would praise him. Praise the Lord. And so that's kind of how we've been approaching this.

This is verses 3 through 14. The first of three emphases that we're going to find in this larger passage.

Which really starts with verse 3 in chapter 1. And runs all the way through chapter 2 and verse 10. And so this is the major section. The overarching section.

And there are three emphases here. The first one is praise. We've called it praise because of how Paul introduces this. He says blessed be.

Or literally praise be. To God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. So Paul praises God for his blessings in Christ Jesus.

And he's not only praising him. Though he's doing this directly. He is obviously wanting his readers to respond in the same way. And I mean his initial readers.

All readers over the last few thousand years. And for us today. To praise him. The second emphasis. And we'll get to this. Start looking at this next week.

The second emphasis is prayer. Because in reality. In verses 15 through 23. We have really the substance of Paul's prayer.

Paul's prayers for the Ephesians. And so Paul is praying. In these verses as we shall see. Paul is praying really that their eyes. Our eyes. Would be open to the fullness of God's blessings in Christ.

So it's not. He wants our eyes to be open to that. So that we can see that. And understand it. And comprehend it. And so that's his prayer.

In verses 15 and 16. Is really what we would call the introduction to this second emphasis. Therefore I also. After I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus.

And your love for all the saints. Do not cease to give thanks for you. Making mention of you. In my prayers. And then he's going to go on from there. To say some tremendous things.

That really comprise the substance of his prayer. And then third. The third emphasis is purpose. Purpose. And so chapter 2. Verses 1 through 10.

Paul is then going to detail. God's sovereign purpose. In blessing us in Christ Jesus. So we praise him for it. Paul is praying we would see the fullness of it.

And then he's going to share with us. The purpose of it. In more detail. Now purpose. Is something we find. Woven throughout the larger passage. In fact we're going to talk about some purposes.

Here tonight. But in verses 1 through 10. Of chapter 2. That's the main emphasis. The purpose of God. Verse 1. Chapter 2.

Is the introduction to that third emphasis. Jesus. And you he made alive. Who were dead in trespasses and sins. So that has everything. Everything to do with the purpose of God.

Alright. So. We're taking our time. With this. Right? Yes. Well at least I am. And you're gracious to give me your time. To do that.

And so for several Wednesdays now. Our focus has been. Again. Paul's praise. Paul's praise to God. For his. What? His blessings.

In Christ Jesus. His marvelous. Infinite. Wonderful. Blessings. In Christ Jesus. And again. Paul says. Blessed. Or. Again.

Literally. Praise. Be to the God and Father. Of our Lord Jesus Christ. And why should we praise him? Because. Paul goes on to say. He has blessed us. With every spiritual blessing.

In heavenly places. In Christ. Alright. So we praise him. Now what are these spiritual blessings? Well that's what we've been looking at. And. The key verbs. In this passage.

Identify. This special blessing. Again. This. Last week. In China. I'm teaching these. Men. And some women.

Who are church leaders. Some of these women. Are actually pastors. In churches. There in China. But I'm teaching them. How to approach. God's word. And to study it.

And interpret it. And giving them some. Some rules. And methods. To follow. And one of those. Is to. Concentrate. On. Individual words.

In the passage. And some of the most. Significant. And. Full of meaning. Words. In any passage. Are going to be verbs. And so. That's the case here. And so.

We've been looking at. The key verbs. And verb phrases. In order to. Identify. What. What Paul is wanting. To. Get across to us.

The great meaning. Of this passage. And so. Again. Just to remind you. Verse three. He has blessed us. With every spiritual blessing. That's a verb phrase. Blessed us.

And. And then. Verse four. He chose us. That's a verb. He chose us. In him. Before the foundation. Of the world. And then. Verse five. He predestined us.

At. To adoption as sons. To himself. And we've. We've studied all of these. Verse six. He made us. Accepted. In the beloved. That again.

Is a verb. And we're paying attention. To these verbs. Verses. Seven and six. The riches of his grace. Which he. Made to abound. Toward us.

Again. Marvelous. Verb. Rich with meaning. And then. Verse nine. We closed last time. With verse nine. Made known to us. The mystery of his will.

There again. So we're just looking at. The key verbs. And when we. Identify these key verbs. And phrases. And then. Look at what supports. These verbs.

Or. Or. Or. Or. What's around them. Then we understand. These marvelous truths. Now we're ready for the seventh. Verb. Or key verb. And it is the last one. In this section.

That I've called. Praise. That's the key emphasis. And. And it's found in verse 11. So let me read verse 11 again. In him also. And here's the verb. We have obtained.

An inheritance. You say. Well that's a verb phrase. Well you're going to find out here in a minute. That's just one single verb. We have obtained. An inheritance. Being predestined.

According to the purpose of him. Who works all things. According to the counsel. Of his will. All right. So let me point out a few things. Then. About this verb phrase. Now we're. I think up to speed. In your notes.

The phrase. We have obtained. An inheritance. Of course. That's the New King James. Translation. Other. Translations have. You know.

Varying forms there. But. All of them have. A phrase. That's very similar to this. But that phrase. We have obtained. An inheritance. Is the translation. Of a single word.

In the Greek text. Just one word. And. The grammatical form. Of the word. And though. You know. We're not. Greek grammarians. Here.

But I. Just want to make note. That the grammatical form. Of words. Tells a great deal. About their intended meaning. In any particular passage.

And in this case. It's indicative. Error. It's passive. Big deal. What does that mean? But it's what it conveys. It conveys. The idea. Of a future reality. It's something that's out in the future.

It's not yet. A reality. That is. Pertaining to our experience. But it's. Future. A future reality. But. It is so certain. That it could not possibly.

Fail to happen. That's the idea. Behind. The form. Of this. Greek word. That again. We have translated. Or. Or someone has translated. We have obtained an inheritance. It's so certain.

It's ours. This inheritance. Even though we've not realized it yet. We can know a great deal about it. Though I don't think we can know all about it. And we can study what God's word says about this inheritance.

And. And. And come to some. Pretty hard fast conclusions about. The various elements of the inheritance. But. It's still. Future. And yet.

It is so certain. I mean. It's so real. So certain. It will not possibly fail. It's ours as if we had it right now. And that's the idea. That Paul was trying to convey.

Paul uses. By the way. A similar grammatical form. Same grammatical form. In chapter 2. Verse 6. And. I didn't put this in your notes. I may have put the reference there.

But in chapter 2. Verse 6. It says. God made us. Sit. Or literally. Seated us. Together. In the heavenly places. In Christ. Now. That's. That's what God.

Has done. He speaks of it here. As if. If. It's past tense. Or at least. Present tense. It's already. Done deal. And. You know. When Paul wrote these words.

This had not even. Yet. Happened to him. He had not yet. Even. Realized this. Nor had any of his readers. At the time. Now. He has now. As well. As his readers.

But. This is future for him. But he speaks of it as. Right now. It's done. And for us today. In terms of what we have experienced. What we experience today.

It's not yet a reality. But again. The idea. Is. As follows. Our. Dwelling. Eternally. With the Lord. Seated in his.

Seated in his presence. Our dwelling with him. Eternally. Is just as certain. Right now. As if. It were already there. As if we were already in heaven. And.

This ought to cause us. To praise. It also ought to. Cause us to. Have a different outlook. About. Concerning the things. That are going on around us. And.

No matter what's going on around us. We. Can have confidence. That we are already. Seated in the heavenlies. With Christ. Right now. I mean. In the mind of God.

It's so certain. That we ought to think of it. As. Present tense. Even though. The experience. That we actually. Experience the reality. Even though. That is still.

In the future. Second thing. Grammatically speaking. And. Grammar is important. I'm not talking about. Just the speaking. Of it. Properly. But.

In. Looking at scripture. And understanding. Meaning of scripture. Grammar is very important. So. Grammatically speaking. The verb. That's. Translated with.

Five. English words. But this one. Verb. Could point to. Two. Possible meanings. And. I would say. Though. Both. Are supported. By scripture.

And that is. Theologically. Both. Possible meanings. Here. This verb. Are. Consistent with. With scripture. Only one of them.

Is meant. Intended by Paul. Or. We. We. We need to understand. That about scripture. That's. That's. An important rule. Of. Biblical interpretation. All scriptures have.

They have one intended meaning. And. And. The intended meaning. Is. The author's intended meaning. And that's why it's so important. That we. Discover what it is. And so.

The meaning doesn't change. When the culture changes. Or. Meaning doesn't change. When we have. New discoveries. About our world. The author. Intended one meaning.

And that is. The one meaning. And so. Paul didn't mean. Two possible things. He meant one thing. But. We could. Take this verb. The meaning of it. We could take it.

In two ways. And these are. Rather logical. And by the way. Grammatically. Either one. Could be true. All right. But I think there's only one meaning.

I'll get to that one. But the one possible. One possible meaning. Is. As believers. We are. Christ's. Glorious. Inheritance. That is.

We are his inheritance. And. That is true to scripture. The New Testament. Contains. Quite a number of references. To believers. Being. The unique possession.

Of Christ. We belong to him. We are his. Possession. You know. You have been bought. With a price. You're not your own. And.

So we belong to him. Locked. Stock. And barrel. John. In three places. In fact. Really more than three. I've given you three there. But in John 6.

37. All that the father gives me. Will come to me. That's not only a promise. That. Of salvation. But it. Brings up. The. The.

The. The. The concept. The idea. That. That. Those who are saved. Belong to him. We're given to him. So he. We are his possession.

We are his. Inheritance. In that sense. And. It says something similar. In verse 39. In that same chapter. John chapter 10. Verse 29. 29. My father. Who has given them to me.

All right. That's talking about possession. I belong to Jesus. I belong to him. I'm his. His precious possession. Prize possession.

He didn't get any prize when he got me. But. He. He. He. He thinks of it in those terms. And. And. And. And what. What a wonderful thing. John 17 to.

As you have given him. The son authority over all flesh. That he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him. Where his possession.

All right. The Bible says that Jesus actually won possession of us. Where? At the cross. at the cross and prophetically speaking malachi 3 17 and so it's speaking prophetically of all the redeemed that's all of us in here who named the name of christ the messiah actually is speaking he says they shall be mine i love that passage he's speaking about me now he's speaking in the past and looking to the forward he sees me out in the future and uh and uh and he sees you and he sees all of the redeemed he says they shall be mine mine they're mine says the lord of hosts on the day that i make them my jewels being being a precious jewel he's gonna he makes us his precious jewel and i will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him all right so that's one possible meaning of this phrase here we have obtained an inheritance now dramatically speaking that would work there and theologically speaking that works because the bible certainly teaches that the second possible meaning which i believe is paul's intended meaning is as believers christ and all that is his christ and all that is his is our glorious inheritance that christ is our inheritance now that's pretty awesome thought and uh the language here um we could literally render this in him we were made heirs we were made heirs and this truth is also supported in scripture of course first peter chapter one verses three to four blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ that sounds very much like what paul said who according to i think they knew one another though so 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 we have been saved to an inheritance the inheritance the inheritance is ours and it is christ and all that is his and all that he has promised is our inheritance hebrews 9 15 those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance we have an inheritance uh colossians 127 to them he's speaking of the saints his saints because he uses the word saints in the verse that precedes this to them god will be willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of his mystery among the gentiles that is the gospel among the gentiles which is christ in you the hope of glory although the bible has speaks of both concepts in fact uh the bible on one hand says many times that we are in christ or so we're his possession and then the bible speaks many times paul probably more than any other that christ is in us christ in us that is our possession uh you know uh so it's he's he is our inheritance so the conclusion i think is that the second meaning is intended here by paul and that would be consistent with how paul opened this section of the chapter this section of this passage verse 3 god has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in christ that's speaking of our inheritance the inheritance that he has brought to us and made us to have and so this is a statement concerning our inheritance as believers for which god is to be praised and that's why paul opened it that way

so our inheritance then is in christ meaning that all that he is and has and has promised will become our glorious possession now it's already ours in reality and one day it will be an experience uh actual experience all uh all of our glorious possession our inheritance all right the third thing here is uh what follows then all right if this is the key verb if this is this this inheritance he's made us to have this inherited if that's the key verb then the verses that follow are subordinate to it they're subordinate to this key verb at at the opening verse 11 and therefore everything else defines or describes or supports our inheritance as believers so everything else fits with this inheritance or speaks of this inheritance or explains this inheritance or and and many other things so we start with the key verb which leads us to the the main idea and then everything else supports that and so we need to see what uh what everything else is here and and so first of all we have uh i think what i would call the provision of this inheritance the provision of this inheritance the provision of our inheritance comes from three eternal realities three eternal realities one of all one of them is an eternal person we're talking about the foundation kind of the foundation of our inheritance the actual provision of it it's based upon three eternal realities the first one being the eternal an eternal person verse 11 first part of verse 11 in him we have obtained an inheritance in him all right so the inheritance is realized through then a saving relationship with the lord jesus christ there's no inheritance apart from that you you must be in him that is you must be in him in a saving way in order for this inheritance to be yours see it is first of all in an eternal person the lord jesus christ now even the unbelieving in the world enjoy god's blessings don't they they do every day they don't realize it don't give him glory but they realize or they enjoy god's general or common grace the air we breathe the sun that shines the trees that grow and fruit that grows and the whole whole uh uh principle of uh of uh of planting and growing and reaping harvesting all that's a part of god's grace and unbelievers enjoy that as well as believers there's god's general grace matthew 5 45 he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good sends the rain on the just and on the unjust uh so that's god's general or what we might call common grace that all enjoy all right but believers enjoy god's special grace not just in salvation but in ultimately all that comes with that salvation that we have not yet even experienced that's special grace and it's the full blessings of god's inheritance romans 8 16 to 7 and 17 the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of god and if children then what heirs we're heirs we're heirs heirs of god and as we have his inheritance we're his heirs joint heirs with christ so

the foundation or the actual basic provision of our inheritance is first of all uh an eternal person it's in an eternal person the lord jesus christ apart from him there is no inheritance and apart from knowing him in a saving way there is no inheritance to an eternal plan an eternal plan the provision of of of this inheritance is based upon an eternal plan verse 11 again we're just kind of picking apart verse 11 second part of it being predestined according to the purpose of him predestined i know you know words like predestined and such that cause a lot of angst with some people you know in fact so many people are again it that as soon as you mention the word predestined they just tune you out but this is a rich word wonderful word the word predestined uh is prohorizzo and uh it's a compound word i've even given that to you here pro even in the english you understand uh the word pro or for or something but that's not the idea here pro as a preposition means before before and uh oritso oritso is a word that means up to a point or to determine by the way we get our word horizon uh from this uh this uh word oritso even though oritso by itself doesn't appear anywhere in the bible but the word means uh means boundary or you know horizon and uh and that that helps us make some sense in the meaning of the word that god has set a boundary for us he has pre-appointed a place for us a determined end horizon for us and so there is a distinction then uh to be made between election and predestination we've talked about election talked about that at the beginning of this chapter uh and uh and and we've also talked a little bit about predestination but here's the word again predestination there's there is a a distinction between these two words election as i understand it refers to god choosing god in eternity past choosing some for salvation and so the idea uh the focus of election is salvation predestination though refers to god's determination concerning the outcome of that salvation for those he has elected the outcome the ultimate outcome of it and uh that i think speaks of sanctification though i would also add glorification to that did i give you macarthur's quote in there no let me read it to you of course you macarthur put it this way i think i think it helps us from eternity past god declared that every elect sinner though vile rebellious useless and deserving only of death who trusted in his son would be made as righteous as the one in whom they put their trust make us as righteous as the one in whom we put our trust he's predestined us for this for this and so here's the idea god has predetermined that all believers will receive his glorious inheritance which is christ and all the promises in him in him all right so it's it the foundation of the purpose of it is in an eternal per person that's christ it is based upon the eternal plan predestined us to be conformed to the very image of christ and then third an eternal pleasure an eternal pleasure and paul has uh mentioned this uh this concept this

idea a number of times in this chapter already in fact he's very repetitious about this but in 11 chapter verse 11 the latter part of it all this according to the counsel of his will all this to the counsel of his will so our inheritance comes to us because god desires it according to his divine pleasure that's why it comes to us he desired it so and it's according to his will his pleasure because now listen because god is perfect and holy then god unlike us can always act according to his own counsel and we need counselors and uh and and for us to always operate according to just what seems right to us to our own counsel we're going to fail nearly every time every time but god because he's perfect and holy knows all things and uh and so forth uh god relies totally upon his own counsel he never looks outside of himself for counsel like romans 11 33 34 somewhere in there uh who who who could be his counselor uh who who could be his counselor well no one he doesn't need a counselor god god god uh all has all that within himself he doesn't have to look outside himself because god is perfect and holy he always acts according to his will and pleasure now that'll only work with god that's work with us we think somehow that's okay for us or we think negatively we think well how i mean that doesn't uh that doesn't seem to jive i mean i don't think god uh does that make god a good god well god is perfect he can always act according to his own will and the bible even speaks of uh jesus dying for our sins as an act of divine pleasure uh isaiah 53 10 yet it pleased the lord to bruise him he has put him to grief please the lord to do that hebrews 12 2 looking unto jesus the author and finish of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross it was a joy for him to go to the cross it pleased him uh and uh so we should understand this about uh about god let me make sure i got messed up on my all right yeah okay so now we go to the second thing in this passage i said there were three second the purpose of this inheritance the purpose of this inheritance the purpose of our inheritance is to reveal that is the purpose of god giving it to us is to reveal two aspects of god's character one that god is gracious that god is a gracious god and that you see god responds to us acts toward us according to his grace verse 11 in him we've already looked at this but we're kind of looking at another angle of this in verse 11 in him also we have obtained an inheritance in him we have according to the counsel of his will those are there are two two things that see the inheritance is not in us it's not to be found in us you know there are many religions of our day that uh i would even say joel osteen is uh would be numbered among these that look look inside of you the power is in you you know the it's all in you you just have to discover it you know and but it's not in us

the inheritance is not according to our will and so if it's not in us and not according to our will that then left just to us it's beyond our reach uh and so the inheritance then is totally an act of a gracious god you see completely apart from anything in us both actual and potential now what do i mean by that that is anything that's in you right now and actually any good thing anything that would cause god to want to bless you anything that's actually part of you now but also anything that might potentially be in you you know if you've heard it said god god knows all things and so maybe he just kind of looks down through the corridors of time and he sees you know that don coleman's going to turn out all right or that he you know will actually have something to offer to god and so god then decides since i see the potential for this young man who's not not so young but uh this this man then i'm going to bless him bless him with my inheritance and that god doesn't operate that way god does this totally according to his grace his grace and it's all based upon his own desire and pleasure he's a gracious god so this inheritance then the purpose of it is to highlight for us and bring us to great worship and praise the purpose of it is to bring to highlight god's gracious that he's a gracious god uh secondly that god is glorious gracious gracious and glorious verse 12 that we who first trusted in christ should be to the praise of his glory now that is a really interesting verse of scripture let me read that again and read it slowly that we me you we who first trusted christ those are those of us who are saying that we should be to the praise of his glory now how can that be possible how's it possible that we could be the praise of his glory we're rebellious well i'm speaking for myself but i probably say bet you are too we're rebellious we're sinners i tell you we're anything but reflections of god's glory for the most part so how can we then be to the praise of his glory well the purpose of our salvation and inheritance with christ is to restore that to restore the divine image that was ours when before the fall of man before adam and eve sinned in the garden see before adam and eve sin in the garden they were perfect reflections of the divine image of god man was intended to be the glory of god not glorious in himself but a perfect mirror of his glory reflection of the glory of god and yet through sin because that's what happened in the garden through sin that image was was destroyed well maybe not totally destroyed because we god was going to restore it we could say it's fatally marred and so redemption in christ our salvation is what restores that divine image that was lost in the garden that was lost marred by sin now we'll not realize the full restoration of that until we reach glory right that's something's going on right now in our lives that's what sanctification is all about

and so god's ultimate purpose then in salvation and this inheritance is to restore our desire and power to both display his glory through our lives and to proclaim his glory that's the purpose of this inheritance third the promise of his of this inheritance third and finally and i'm about out of time can i get this done i think i can squeak it out here third the promise of his inheritance the promise of our inheritance is threefold one it is a saving promise it it involves salvation this inheritance verse 13 first part of it in him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation all right so this is a promise of salvation described from a human perspective remember you look at salvation from the human perspective and from the divine perspective that's where we get into trouble and begin to misunderstand god's sovereign purpose in salvation his elective purposes because those verses deal with god's perspective and so since we don't have his perspective we think this is a raw deal not fair but from a human perspective and and also it helps us understand the difference between the sovereignty of god and salvation in man's responsibility man's responsibility to repent and believe all right so this is the human perspective the good news the gospel of our salvation that's what paul mentioned here verse 13 the good news of that is this that when you hear the truth concerning christ and then when you trust that truth you're saved you're saved that's the promise of his inheritance second or two number two it is a sealing promise sealing not sealing c but s ceiling s e a l i n g promise a sealing promise verse 13 the second part of it in in whom also that is of course in christ in whom also having believed you were sealed with the holy spirit of promise sealed with the holy spirit and so when sinners trust jesus christ for salvation they are sealed with or by the holy spirit of promise now what is this seal referring to in this verse is that a a for your mechanics out there is it a transmission seal or is it a an easter seal or is it a an easter seal or is it a navy seal or is it a fish eating mammal with flippers seal well obviously not in ancient times and really maybe not even ancient times perhaps these are still used today in some some places a seal was used to ratify official decrees or other legal documents and they would what they would do you know you've seen it they pour a little little dab of wax hot wax melted wax on the document and then they press that down with an official seal that was you know possibly fashioned by you know on various types of instruments you know there are there are stamps you know that you hold and it has the seal engraved on it and you press down on on the wax or in some cases be clay or other other types of material maybe that kind of a stamp or a cylinder they even used cylinders that had the engraving on the cylinder and then they would just roll it over the the clay or wax

and then you you you know the in signet rings you know that would have the seal and they would press that down on that wax and make the seal and it would be affixed to a document and the seal would signify security it would signify authenticity it would signify authority the authority of the seal of course the authority is only as good as the one who put the seal on there but uh you know is there a greater authority than god who placed the holy spirit on us so authority it also signifies ownership so the holy spirit is god's seal then upon us to signify security of salvation of our salvation i believe this is one of the key passages that uh i i believe supports the doctrine of the eternal security of the believer we're sealed with the holy spirit of promise who can break that seal no one can break that seal it also signifies the authenticity of our faith of of what we believe in have trusted in it's authentic the gospel is authentic it's sealed it also signifies the authority of god's right to rule in our lives it also signifies ownership ownership of all that we are and all we have and then third or number three it is a securing promise securing promise verse 14 who is and still speaking of the holy spirit the holy spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchase of his possession to the praise of his glory now some of you uh who are familiar with the king james maybe some of you even have a king james you'll you'll remember that the word there is earnest uh the earnest instead of guarantee but the meaning is the same sometimes you know when you want to purchase an expensive item like a car or a house you know sometimes the seller will require some what earnest money earnest money to be put down up front not the full amount but some earnest money it's a portion of the whole and so this is a partial payment of the total price and and and therefore it represents the buyer's promise to pay the full amount at some later date you know some some specified time and so what is it it's a guarantee that you're going to pay the full price and this kind of earnest or this kind of guarantee is stronger than just simply a handshake or even a written document because if you don't pay the full you lose it right and so it's it's stronger and it's a great incentive to pay the full all right so we understand the concept of a earnest or the guarantee and so when jesus died for us on the cross he paid the full price right it wasn't a down payment he paid the full price for our redemption and therefore there's nothing left for us to pay he paid it all jesus said in john 19 30 it is finished that means he paid the full price nothing left to be done nothing left to be paid it's paid in full and so at the moment of our salvation the holy spirit came into our lives to indwell us and he came into our lives for among other things as the promise that one day god would grant us full salvation the full thing and we don't have it yet we don't have the full thing yet we just have a part of it though the full is just as as sure as if we already had it and you do understand the bible describes salvation in terms of three realities there's justification that's first that's past and completed completed that conversion

uh and it's the work of god justification where he he declares us as righteous as christ he declares us uh uh guiltless of sin justification is the first reality of of our salvation second sanctification sanctification is present and ongoing in this life so justification is one time thing and it happens happened in the past the very moment you believe that we were justified justified by faith sanctification is starts at salvation the point of salvation but it is present and it's ongoing for the for our entire lives all of this life where god is again conforming us to the very life and image of christ glorification is the third aspect or reality of salvation and that's future and it's in heaven we'll not see that here it's in heaven and so glorification then is the final installment it's it's the full complete salvation and the holy spirit in us is god's guarantee that one day we shall have it we we shall have it and it's again it's just as sure as if we already had the holy spirit is the guarantee of it and this full salvation will when will that occur it will occur when the redemption of the purchased possession at the redemption of the purchased possession when christ comes in all glory that's when we will realize the full payment we just have the earnest money now but it's the holy spirit so you don't have to worry all right he's good for it and uh but one day we'll have the full full salvation and that will happen when the redemption at the redemption when we will be redeemed all of them will be redeemed our bodies too will be redeemed uh the redemption of the purchased possession we're the purchased possession and when christ comes he's going to redeem all of us every part of us and we will have full salvation and that's what he means in verse 14