Are You Sealed by the Holy Spirit? - 2C

David J: Today, on Real Life Radio.
Jack Hibbs: And those of you who are born again tonight, you are just as purchased now as you will be the day before you're standing in front of God Almighty. Isn't that incredible? And people wonder if you can lose your salvation. Not if you're sealed, pal.
David J: This is real life. Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I'm David J thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God's word, the Bible.
Jack Hibbs: Hey, I'm very excited to promote this new book by Dr. Tim LaHaye, not only a mentor of mine, but a precious friend, a man who encouraged me to write books. Dr. Tim LaHaye, he has written a book, How to Study Bible Prophecy for Yourself. And so I really would encourage you to get a copy of this book. He answers so many of our questions. For many of us who study the Bible, Bible prophecy naturally generates questions, and we might even feel kind of left out in a particular area. I bet with all of your knowledge of Bible prophecy, there's still a hole somewhere. And this book is going to help you as you walk you through how to study Bible prophecy for yourself. Remember, Dr. Tim LaHaye is the one that brought you the remarkable Left Behind series among many other books. He is simple, he is foundational. You're not going to hear anything strange or odd. Tim LaHaye, How to Study Bible Prophecy for Yourself.
Guest (Male): That's How to Study Bible Prophecy for Yourself by Tim LaHaye. Get it for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com.
David J: On today's edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues his series called The Book of Ephesians and a message titled, Are You Sealed by the Holy Spirit? Part two. Ephesians is a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus, showing every believer who they really are in Christ. And here, Paul reminds us that the moment we come to Jesus, we not only belong to him, but his love is woven into our hearts. You see, when we trusted Christ, the Holy Spirit sealed us as his own. There's no guessing, no striving, and no wondering if we've done enough. It's a done deal, stamped and settled once and for all. So today, Pastor Jack teaches us that the Holy Spirit is God's divine guarantee that what he began with our salvation, he will faithfully bring to completion. From the moment we trust in Christ and are sealed by his spirit until that day he brings us home, our salvation is secure. Now with his message called, Are You Sealed by the Holy Spirit? Part two. Here's pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs.
Jack Hibbs: He's given us these precious promises and these guarantees of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Romans 11:33 says, Oh, the depth of his riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways they're past finding out. So we've got this checkbook of promises we can write. Romans 11:33. Philippians 4:19. You know this one. My God shall supply all of your need according to his riches and glory by Jesus Christ. Isn't that amazing? You have a need? There's a promise. Philippians 4:19. Write it down, take it to the Lord, hold it up, say Jesus, you made me this promise. Isn't it wonderful, you guys? Have we made God any promises? Uh some of you may be new believers. And you're going to learn, you make him no promises. I've been a Christian uh 18 years. 18 and 1/2 years. It's taken me 18 years to realize I'm no longer making him any promises. Every time I made him a promise, I broke it within a couple of hours or a couple of days. Didn't mean to. And as I looked at the Bible, nowhere does it demand or command of me to make him a promise. What it does demand and command of me is to believe his promises that he's given me. Every one of them. Isn't that a trip? He's He loves us. Uh whenever whenever I go away, I I always get my kids a thimble or a spoon. You know those things they're like $3.99. Don't tell them that it's that. They think it's like really top stuff. But you know, and wherever I go, I get these things and you're scrambling around and and uh they get excited over that stuff. What did you get? And we're trying to get this collection going so that, you know, if the Lord doesn't come back and I'm dead and gone and Lisa and I are in heaven and, you know, relaxing on a retirement program with the Lord and just letting them live their lives down here and letting God reward them for all the grief they get. No, I'm kidding. But um you know, they look at the things and all, you know, Dad got this and there and that thing and you know, and and so you know, tonight I I got I got here like 10 minutes before the service coming from Reno. And uh getting ready to, you know, getting on the airplane and it's I don't have anything. You know, and I think somebody's going to make a lot of money if you go to LAX and have little trinkets from all over the world right there. So when you come from wherever you've come from, you can say, I hope you enjoy it. I got this in Rome, you know. And it's like LA and But the thing is, you know, and then they all excited and and you give it to them it's a thimble, you know, and they put in the, you know, and Well, you know what? They're kids. It's all neat. And then everything about it again. But it mean You know, I think it means more to me than it does to them. I like doing it. And uh I like I like fulfilling the promise and I like them having it. God wants to fulfill the promise and he really enjoys us having it the way a dad does. And it's a really neat thing. And though we may just go, that's neat, put on the shelf, the fact is it is true. And it's his promise. And it's his guarantee. It's his pledge. It's what he's given us. And there's a beautiful picture here. Who is the guarantee of our inheritance? Well, this inheritance is the possession or literally in the Greek and Hebrew it is air, not not air like airplane, but airship. Like an air. To receive something from a relative. And uh here's a beautiful thing. Listen to this. There's a great There's a great painting of this in the Old Testament. Genesis. You don't need to turn to it. You can jot it down in your footnotes right along verse 14. You can just put Genesis uh Genesis chapter 22 to 24. Great story about this very thing we're talking about. Eliezer is mentioned earlier on in Genesis chapter 15. He's Abraham's right-hand man. He's a servant of Abraham. Now get this. Father Abraham. You got it? The father of faith. The progenitor of the heirs of salvation. Father Abraham. He has a servant named Eliezer who's mentioned in chapter 15. Sarah dies. She's out of the picture. While Sarah is out of the picture and after Sarah is out of the picture, Abraham says to his chief servant, name not mentioned at this point. Mentioned earlier in chapter 15. Go to the land of my brethren and find my son a wife. Can you imagine being a servant of somebody go find a somebody a wife? I mean, I would be saying, Do a good job, man. You know, you'd send that guy out with pictures and you know, something like this. Will you keep your eye open? If you're going to come back with somebody, you know, let's do a good job, okay? You brand? So Abraham says, you go find my son a wife. What a job. And uh he's going on his way. And he says, Lord, prosper my trip. And uh for me to know who I'm to get my master's uh wife for, can you like show me through maybe she can water the camels and and when I And I'll know. So they, you know, Eliezer remember his name's not mentioned in the story shows up and there's this woman by the name of Rebecca. And the story goes on and come to find out, you know, he's talking to Rebecca and I'm I need to I want to talk to your dad. And they wind up going to her house and the deal is laid out before Rebecca's dad. And that is, I represent my master, Faraway Land. You know who he is. Well, his son is Isaac. And here's the deal. I've asked God to prosper my trip. Your daughter came out of the of the countryside and and watered the camels and and did exactly what I asked God to do to show me the sign. And I want to take her back and she's going to become the bride of my master's son, Isaac. And they all say, well, you know, we need to talk about this and you know, does she want to do this? And it's really neat because this guy who's not mentioned in the story begins to show Rebecca gifts. He opens up a bag and he gives her earrings, bracelets, presents. And he says, these are down payments, promises, and tokens of my master's wealth, his security, his possessions, who he is. And Rebecca says, I'm going. She's never seen Isaac. She's only heard about Isaac. And there's a man representing the kingdom giving her gifts whose name's not mentioned. He puts her on the camel and along the way back home to Isaac, he's given her gifts. All along the way. And the moment she sees Isaac Come on, they didn't have Polaroids then. But she is writing on her camel. She sees Isaac who's sitting in the field. He's probably praying or it's He's out there maybe devotion. I don't know. She jumps off the camel and runs and greets They become married. They're married. He takes her in to Sarah's room and consummates the wedding right on the right there. Absolute ordained of God. Well, the beautiful thing about this is that all along the way, she was given presents and promises of this one that she had never seen. Back up. Eliezer sent from the father to find the bride for the son. His name not mentioned in Genesis 22 to 24. The reason being is because the Bible says the Holy Spirit will not speak of himself. So what's the connection? Eliezer in Hebrew is the word the comforter. Jesus says, I will send you the comforter, the promise whom you will receive from the father. The Holy Spirit has gone away to earth from heaven from heaven to earth to not only seal us, but the Holy Spirit Are you ready? The Holy Spirit when sealing us is bound by a transaction as the servant buyer dispatched to a foreign land to deposit who you are in heaven, intact, completely preserved, kept safe, secure as a possession of the master. He will not lose you along the way. Nobody will break the seal. I will never leave you or forsake you. All who come to the father, all who come to me, Jesus says, will no wise I will no wise cast out. Eliezer, the comforter, the Holy Spirit finds the bride, the bride of Christ. We are in route to meet the one whom Jesus said, who the scriptures say, and whom we've never met yet we love. We are pledged to him. We're promised to him. He's given us the gifts of the Holy Spirit along the way. All along the way.
Guest (Male): You're listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. To learn more about this ministry or to catch up on some previous episodes, go to jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com. And now let's get back to today's message. Once again, here's Pastor Jack.
Jack Hibbs: And even Sarah is a symbol of the nation Israel who Isaac was recipient of a bride after Israel. The nation typified through Sarah had passed away at least for a time. And here's what I think is the most wonderful thing is Isaac being the good Jewish boy that he is takes to him a Gentile bride. She had Gentile blood in her veins. That's just like us. A promise. God, if you are sealed by the Holy Spirit, God is going to present you in heaven guaranteed. How do you know? Because it says that who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory until the redemption of his of the purchased possession. You know what this means? Real quickly we'll wrap this up. Means this. This word redemption means redemption in totality, all redemption. And what do you mean by that? This is what's meant. The absolute taking of ownership. Jesus will take absolute ownership not long from now. This is what the word means. It means in spirit. He will take possession of us in spirit. That means you you're born again who you are, your rebirth. Okay? Remember that. Second thing is he will take you that is in totality in complete redemption, your soul. Your soul. Not only your spirit, who you are forever, but your soul. That is your emotions, your personality, your logic. He will take complete ownership in the third area, absolute ownership in the body that is to be resurrected or raptured. Depends on where you're at when it happens. Isn't that amazing? And in other words, not one part of you's going to be left behind somewhere. Body, soul, and spirit is what's mentioned here in absolute redemption. When you're redeemed in the final end, God is going to receive all of you. You're not going to have this glorious body in heaven and uh you know, be brain dead. Body, soul, and spirit. Jesus Christ when he died on the cross purchased all of you. Body, soul, and spirit. The redemption of the purchased possession. The purchased possession means what was paid for. Here's what's fun paid for when paid for the moment the buyer put the down payment because the seal was embossed upon the item and nobody in the world would tamper with that seal until it arrived in heaven or till it arrived with the master. That's when the transaction truly happened. It's when the little down payment was given. And those of you who are born again tonight, you are just as purchased now as you will be the day before you're standing in front of God Almighty. Isn't that incredible? And people wonder if you can lose your salvation. Not if you're sealed, pal. Are you sealed by the Holy Spirit? I want to read a few verses. Just listen to this. Romans 8:18. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the down payment, expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. That's us. For the creation was subject to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it in hope because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of this corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. We know that the whole creation of God has been groaning in pains of childbirth right up until this present moment. Not only so, but we ourselves have the first fruits of the spirit groaning inwardly within us as we wait eagerly for the adoption as sons and the redemption of our bodies. That why you get a little homesick sometimes and you want to go to heaven. This world's not so exciting anymore. It's pretty dead. 1 Corinthians 15:50. This is what it means. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. You're not going there like you are. Can't happen. Nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Paul says, behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all die, but we shall be changed in a moment in a twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. That's the rapture of the church from the trumpet Although the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. We're talking about being changed in the moment when the rapture happens. Not the second coming, but the rapture. And so it goes on to say that we are going to be to the praise of his glory. Listen. God's going to save you. He's going to present you not because you're such a hot shot, because you're so cute or whatever. He's going to He's going to present you before the kingdom totally intact from start to finish, saved all the way all the way through, absolutely complete and done to the praise of his glory. You have a hard time with that? I don't have a hard time with that at all. If he wants to get all the praise and the glory for it, I'm just fine to bow my knee and to yield to him and let him have ownership of me. No problem. Not a bad deal. He has absolutely sealed us with a guarantee. Let's pray. Oh Lord, you are so good and so gracious. Lord, that we would receive such a bounding attention from you. Lord, I think in my mind's eye of you coming to us and maybe we're standing off to the side somewhere and you come and you begin to speak to us and speak words of endearment and words of love and words of passion. Lord, we can we can blush and we do blush because we're so unworthy and and we might even say the things like how can this be happening to me? I I don't deserve this. And Lord, you could get so much better. Why Why are you interested in me? And why would you take the time to even talk to me? How could you have even noticed me? Lord, you would present to us gifts and flowers and chocolates and precious things, hamburgers and things like that and just love and and the things that would be a blessing to us and we we blush even more and we we say, Lord, why are you doing this? Just a servant. I'm just a a nothing. Lord, we turn to you and look in your eyes and you just receive us completely and then you slip the ring onto our finger. Lord, we're we're like the Shulamite woman in the Song of Solomon been marked out by the king. Everybody knows in the entire city that he's interested in her. And uh nobody comes near her because the king has claimed her because he loves her. And so, Father, in Jesus' name, I pray, Lord, that the reality of how much you love us, how much you like us, how much you like to hang around with us just floods our lives completely. God, you're so good. We thank you for your mercies, for your riches, for your wealth that you've bestowed upon us. We thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen.
David J: Pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio with his message called, Are You Sealed by the Holy Spirit? Part two. Thanks for being with us today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack's series called The Book of Ephesians, a series through Paul's letter to the Ephesians discovering the riches, the walk, and the warfare of every believer. And we'll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.
Guest (Male): So as you heard from our broadcast, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And if you'd like to know what a commitment to Christ can mean in your life personally, we would love to help you out with that. Go to jackhibbs.com/knowgod. That's k n o w god. And there you'll be guided through what a commitment to Christ can mean in your life and the freedom that you'll find in knowing God. Don't miss out. That's the knowgod tab at jackhibbs.com.
Jack Hibbs: Hey, thank you again so much for listening. And if you'd like to hear or see more of what we do here, you can always go to jackhibbs.com for all the latest on what's going on with this ministry. And please, if you're ever in the Southern California area, come see us at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills. We'd love to see you there in person. It has been so good to be with you today and I pray you find yourself in the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. See you on the next episode.
David J: This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you, our listeners. Visit us at jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com. Until next time, Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life Radio wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in his word. We'll see you next time here on Real Life Radio.