The Sealing of the Spirit
A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, MARCH 19, 1876,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"In whom you also trusted, after that you heard the word of truth, the
Gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that you believed, you
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." Ephesians 1:13,14.
I HAVE taken the whole passage for the sake of completing the sense,
but I have no intention whatever of preaching upon all of it.
Practically I only need for the topic of this morning the following
words–"In whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with that
Holy Spirit of promise." The sealing of the Holy Spirit will be the
subject of our meditation. There are many who have believed in the Lord
Jesus Christ who are extremely anxious to obtain some token for good,
some witness from God which shall render them quite sure that they are
saved. They have not yet reached the full assurance of faith and they
feel uneasy till they attain it. They feel that these matters are too
important to be left at all uncertain and they, therefore, pine for
some sure witness or seal.
Men will not risk their estates and no spiritually sensible man will
endure to have his soul and its eternal affairs in jeopardy for an
hour–therefore this anxiety. It is true that by the way of faith only
the fullest and best assurance may be reached, but many who truly
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are not yet aware of this and their
trembling hearts crave for a testimonial from the Infallible God to
certify them that they are, indeed, saved. Yes, and I conceive that
even more advanced saints, who know more fully where their standing is
and confess that they can only walk by faith, yet often sing with very
great emphasis of desire–
"Might I but hear Your hea venly tongue
But whisper, 'You are Mine,'
That cheerful word should raise my song
To notes almost Divine."
Though we can and do believe and can claim the privilege which belongs
to those who have not seen and yet have believed, yet we would be glad
to sometimes have a sight. We sometimes wish we could know by sure mark
and evidence and token that our experience, after all, is a reality,
and that we are, indeed, born of God–
"O tell me that my worthless name
Is engraved on Your hands!
Show me some promise in Your Book
Where my salvation stands!"
Now, in the best sense, this seal which we seek after is to be had! No,
it is manifestly seen by many of God's children. It does not supersede
faith, but it rewards and strengthens it. There is a way by which God
speaks to His own and assures them that they are His. There is a pledge
and an earnest–and this is freely given to the people of God. May
God's own Spirit enable me to speak aright upon this weighty subject.
The text says, "After that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise." And, therefore, first, I shall call your attention
to the position of this sealing. Secondly, to the benefits which arise
out of it. And thirdly, to the sealing itself, which, indeed, I shall
endeavor to explain thoroughly.
I. First, let us speak of THE POSITION OF THIS SEALING. We are desirous
to get some confirming seal from God set upon our souls, some sure
token that we are, indeed, His own people. That sealing we can have.
God bestows it. But let us notice very carefully, lest we make a
mistake, when that sealing comes. It does not come before believing.
According to the text it is, "after that you believed, you were
sealed." Now, there are hundreds of persons who are craving
for something to see or to feel before they will believe in Jesus
Christ. This is wickedness and the result of an unbelief which is most
offensive in the sight of God.
If you demand a token before you believe, you practically say that you
cannot take God's bare Word for your comfort, that the sure Word of
Testimony recorded in the Bible is not enough for you, that the solemn
declaration of God may, after all, be false. At any rate, that you find
it impossible to rest your confidence upon that, alone, and must see
something else. If not a miracle, perhaps you demand a dream, or a
strange feeling, or a mysterious operation. At any rate, if you do not
see some sign and wonder, you declare that you will not believe. You
do, in fact, say to God, "If You will not go out of Your way to give me
what I ask, and to do for me what I demand, then I will call You a liar
to Your face by refusing to believe You."
Ah, my Hearer, this will not do! This is to provoke the Lord to
jealousy and he that does this shall receive no token, whatever, except
it be the sign of the unbelievers of Chorazin, for whom the Day of
Judgment shall be more intolerable than for Sodom and Gomorrah. Note,
also, that this sealing does not necessarily come at once with faith.
It grows out of faith and comes, "after that you believed." We are not,
in every case, sealed at the moment when we first trust in Jesus. I am
persuaded that many who believe in Jesus enter into peace, directly,
and perceive at once the blessed assurance which is involved in their
possessing the Holy Spirit. But with many others it is not so.
I have frequently been asked this question, "What is a person to do who
believes in Jesus, but yet is not conscious of peace and joy, but is
filled with such a conflict within that the utmost he can do is to
cling to Jesus with trembling hope?"
1 have replied, "If you believe in Jesus Christ you are saved. The best
evidence that you are saved lies in the assurance of the Word of God
that every Believer has eternal hope." Whether you feel that you are
justified, or not, is not the point. You are to accept God's Word which
assures you that everyone that believes is justified. You are bound to
believe the Testimony of God apart from the supporting evidence of
inward experience. And if it were possible for you to be a Believer by
the year together and yet find no peace, still you would have no right
to doubt what God says because you do not feel peace–you are bound to
hold on to God's promise whether you enjoy peace or not.
My firm belief is that where there is a real faith in the promise of
God, peace and the other fruits of the Spirit come as a necessary
ultimate consequence, but even then they are not grounds of faith–the
Word of the Lord is the sole foundation upon which faith builds. Some
people have a sort of confidence in God, but they are also looking out
for confirming signs and they spoil the simplicity of their faith by
having one eye on Christ and another eye on their peace of mind. Now,
my Friend, this will never do. You are bound to believe in God as He is
revealed in Christ Jesus unto salvation, altogether apart from peace,
joy, or anything else.
The witness of the Spirit within is not the ground nor the cause of our
faith–faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. I, being
a sinner, believe that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners
and I rest my soul upon Him, believing that He will save me. This is to
be my standing, seal or no seal, token or no token. My dependence is
not to be upon the seal of the Spirit, but upon the blood of the Son!
The Spirit of God never takes the place of the Redeemer. He exercises
His own peculiar office, which is to take of the things of Christ and
show them unto us and not to put His own things in the place of Jesus.
The foundation of our hope is laid in Christ from first to last and if
we rest there we are saved.
The seal does not always come with faith, but it follows after. I have
said this because I am afraid lest in any way whatever you should leave
the simple, plain and solid ground of confidence in the finished work
of Jesus Christ and in that only. Remember that a man who believes in
Jesus Christ is as truly saved when he does not know it as he is when
he does know it–he is as truly the Lord's when he mourns in the valley
of humiliation as when he sings on the mountaintop of joy and
fellowship! Our ground of trust is not to be found in our experience,
but in the Person and work of our Lord Jesus–
"I dare not trust the sweetest frame But wholly lean on Jesus' name. On
Christ the solid rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand."
Note, also, as to the position of this sealing, that, while it is not
the first, it is not the last thing in the Divine life. It comes after
believing, but when you obtain it, there is something yet to follow.
Perhaps you have had the notion that if you could once be told from the
mouth of God, Himself, that you were saved, you would then lie down and
cease from
life's struggle. It is clear, therefore, that such an assurance should
be an evil thing for you, for a Christian is never more out of place
than when he dreams that he has ceased from conflict. The natural, fit
and proper position for a soldier of Jesus Christ is to be at war with
sin. We are wrestlers and our normal condition is that of "striving
according to His working who works in us mightily." This side of
Heaven, if there is a place for nest-building and ease-taking it is not
the place for you–you are a pilgrim–and a pilgrim's business is to be
on the road, pressing forward to the home beyond.
Remember, if there are seats of ease, and no doubt there are, they are
not for you since you are a runner in a great race, with Heaven and
earth for witnesses. Cessation from watchfulness means ruin to your
soul. The closing of conflict would show that you could never gain the
victory! Perfect rest on earth would show that none remained for you in
Heaven. Even if the Spirit of God seals you, what will it amount to? To
the inheritance itself, so that you can say, "I have attained
perfection"? Certainly not! To Brethren, the Scripture says, "Which is
the earnest of our inheritance till the redemption of the purchased
possession." This side of Heaven all you can obtain is an earnest of
the perfection of which Heaven is made up–
"There rest shall follow toil, And ease succeed to care: The victors
there divide the spoil; They sing and triumph there."
Here we must labor, watch, run, fight, wrestle, agonize! All our
forces, strengthened by the Eternal Spirit, must be expended in this
high enterprise, striving to enter in at the strait gate. When we have
obtained the sealing, our warfare is not ended, we have only, then,
received a foretaste of the victory for which we must still fight on.
This is the true position of the sealing. It stands between the Grace
which enables us to believe and the Glory which is our promised
inheritance.
II. We will notice, secondly, what are THE BENEFITS OF THIS SEALING and
while we are doing so, we shall be compelled to state what we think
that sealing is, though that is to be the subject of the third head.
The sealing spoken of in the text does not make the promises of God to
be true. Please notice that. This text has been preached upon as though
it stated that the Spirit of God set His seal upon the Gospel and the
promises of God. Well, dear Friends, it is true that the Spirit of God
witnesses to the Truth of God and to the sureness of the promises. But
that is evidently not intended here, for the text says not that the
promises were sealed, but that, "you were sealed."
YOU are the writing which has the stamp put upon it! YOU, yourselves,
are sealed! It is not even stated that the Spirit of God seals up
Covenant blessings as gold is sealed up in a bag and reserves them for
the chosen Seed. The text tells us that Believers, themselves, are thus
reserved and marked as the Lord's peculiar treasure–and it is upon
Believers, themselves, that this seal of the Holy Spirit is set. No,
Brothers and Sisters, the Holy Spirit does not make the promises
sure–they are sure of themselves! God, who cannot lie, has uttered
them, and therefore they cannot fail. Nor, my Brethren, does the Holy
Spirit make sure our interest in those promises–that interest in the
promises was sure in the Divine decree, before the earth was, and is a
matter of fact which cannot be changed.
The promises are already sure to all the Seed. The Holy Spirit makes us
sure that the Word is true and that we are concerned in it, but the
promise was sure beforehand and our interest in that promise was sure,
too, from the moment in which it was bestowed upon us by the sovereign
act of God. To understand our text, you must notice that it is bounded
by two words, "In whom," which two words are twice given in this verse.
"In whom also after that you believed, you were sealed." What is meant
by, "In whom"? The words signify "In Christ." It is in Christ that the
people of God are sealed! We must, therefore, understand this sealing
as it would relate to Christ, since so far, and so far only, can it
relate to us.
Was our Lord sealed? Turn to John 6:27 and there you have this
exhortation–"Labor not for the meat which perishes, but for that meat
which endures unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give
unto you: for Him has God the Father sealed." There is the clue to our
text. "Him has God the Father sealed." For since our sealing is in Him,
it must be the same sealing. Notice, then, first, that the ever-blessed
Son was sealed on the Father's part by God's giving a testimony to Him
that He was, indeed, His own Son and the Sent One of the Lord. As when
a king issues a proclamation, He sets His seal to it to say, "This is
mine," so when the Father sent His Son into the world, He gave Him this
testimony, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
He said this in words, but how did He give a perpetual testimony by a
seal, which should be with Him throughout life? It was by anointing Him
with the Holy Spirit. The seal that Jesus was the Messiah was that the
Spirit of God rested
upon Him without measure. Hence we read expressions like these–"He was
justified in the Spirit." "He was declared to be the Son of God with
power, according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the
dead." "It is the Spirit that bears witness, because the Spirit is
truth." Now, the Spirit of God, whenever it abides upon a man, is the
mark that that man is accepted of God. We say not that where the Spirit
merely strives at intervals, there is any seal of Divine favor, but
where He abides it is assuredly so. The very fact that we possess the
Spirit of God is God's testimony and seal in us that we are His and
that as He has sent His Son into the world, even so does He send us
into the world.
Secondly, to our Lord Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit was a seal for His
own encouragement. Our Lord condescended to restrain the power of His
Godhead, and, as a Servant, He depended upon the Father for support.
When He began His ministry, He encouraged Himself thus–"The Spirit of
the Lord is upon Me, because He has sent Me to bind up the
broken-hearted." He found His stimulus of service, He found the
authorization of His service, He found His comfort and strength for
service in the fact that God had given Him the Holy Spirit. This was
His joy!
Now, Brothers and Sisters, if we need to be encouraged for holy service
by feeling quite sure that we are saved, where must we get that
encouragement? Read in the First Epistle of John, the third chapter and
24th verse where the seal of God is described–"Hereby we know that He
abides in us by the Spirit which He has given us." Read also in the
fourth chapter, verse 13, "Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, because
He has given us of His Spirit." So that as the seal which comforted our
Lord and made Him to know, in times of depression, that He was, indeed,
beloved of the Father, was that He had the Spirit of God! So to you and
to me, Brothers and Sisters, the possession of the Spirit of God is our
continuous encouragement, for by this we may know beyond all question
that we dwell in God and God dwells in us.
The seal answers a two-fold purpose. It is on God's part, a testimony,
and to us an encouragement. But the seal is meant to be an evidence to
others. The Father set His seal upon His Son in order that others might
discern that He was, indeed, sent of God. John says, "I knew Him not:
but He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, upon
whom you shall see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, the
same is He which baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I saw, and bare
record that this is the Son of God" (John 1:33).
The Spirit, then, was, upon our Lord, the seal for recognition. And,
Beloved, so must it be with us. We cannot be known by our fellow
Christians except by the possession of the Spirit of God. Have you ever
noticed how Peter claimed for the uncircumcised the rights of Church
membership in the 15th of Acts in the eighth and ninth verses? He says,
"God, which knows the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy
Spirit, even as He did unto us, and put no difference between us and
them, purifying their hearts by faith." So that to Peter, the
possession of the Holy Spirit was the broad seal of Heaven which the
Lord never sets upon a heart wherein there is no faith. The same
argument had been felt in all its power by Peter when he said, "Can any
man forbid water, that these should not be baptized which have received
the Holy Spirit as well as we?"
Paul used this as his test concerning the sons of men, for in Romans
8:9, he says, "You are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if, indeed,
the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if any man has not the Spirit of
Christ, he is none of His," plainly indicating that the absence of the
Spirit is fatal, for the Divine signature is not at the bottom of the
document. But if the Spirit of God is there, then all is right, for the
Lord never puts His seal to anything which is not sound and true. Rest
quite sure that where the Spirit of God abides, there the Gospel of
Jesus Christ has been written on the heart and the man is saved.
Further, the fourth effect of the seal upon Christ was that it was to
the world a witness. The Spirit of God upon Jesus Christ was not
recognized by the ungodly world to be, indeed, Divine, but they
perceived and were astonished at a something about Him which they did
not understand. He spoke with authority and not as the scribes and they
confessed, "Never man spoke like this Man." They did not know what
spirit He was of, but they knew they hated it and straightway they
began to oppose Him. Now, Brothers and Sisters, if you have the same
seal as your Lord which is described in the text as, "the Spirit of
promise," the same result will follow! Men will wonder at you,
misunderstand you and oppose you!
And what is the reason? Never in this world did the Spirit of promise
appear without opposition from the spirit of bondage. Isaac was the
child of promise and did not Ishmael, who was born after the flesh,
persecute him? The two seeds of the flesh and of the promise are at
daggers drawn with each other! When the Lord sets His seal upon you by
giving you the Spirit of promise, so that you are not under the Law but
under Christ, the world will know it. They will not admire you, but
they will strive against you to destroy you.
Once more, the seal upon our Lord Jesus Christ was intended for a fifth
reason, namely–for His perseverance even to the end. A seal is set
upon a treasure which we mean to preserve and so was the precious
Redeemer sealed. Now, you will say to me, "But dare we speak of Jesus
Christ as being preserved by the Spirit of God?" My dear Brethren, we
must never forget the wonderful self-denial of Christ in that He laid
aside His own Divine power. And while He was in this world He said the
Father was greater than He. And He became a Man so as to pray and to
believe, and to depend upon the Father. Jesus Christ put Himself into
such a condition while He was here that He relied upon the Spirit of
God to uphold Him. Do you doubt it?
Turn to the 42nd Chapter of Isaiah, verse one, and there you get it in
express words: "Behold My Servant whom I uphold!" See how He puts
Himself, as a Servant, to be upheld by the Lord. "My elect, in whom My
Soul delights. I have put my Spirit upon Him: He shall bring forth
judgment to the Gentiles: He shall not cry nor lift up, nor cause His
voice to be heard in the street: a bruised reed shall He not break, and
the smoking flax shall He not quench: He shall bring forth judgment
unto truth." There can be no doubt that this is Christ for these very
words are quoted concerning Himself.
Now, what comes of the upholding of the blessed Spirit? "He shall not
fail nor be discouraged until He has set judgment in the earth, and the
isles shall wait for His Law." So that the Spirit of God upheld Christ,
sustained Him and kept Him till His life's work was finished, without
His failing or being discouraged. My Brothers and Sisters, this is how
you and I must be kept! This is the seal which we need, which shall
preserve us as the consecrated ones of God, so that when He comes, He
shall find us under seal and not discouraged.
Let me now recapitulate. Upon our Lord Jesus, the Spirit of God acted
as a seal, namely, as God's testimony that He was His Son, as an
encouragement to His own heart, as an evidence to others, as a witness
to the world and as a help to perseverance, even to the end. The same
benefits will the sealing of the Spirit confer upon us–"in Christ
Jesus after that you believed, you were sealed with that holy Spirit of
promise."
III. Thirdly, let us consider THE SEALING ITSELF. A great deal has been
said on this point which has tended to foster superstition. Some have
supposed that there is a separate act of the Spirit of God in which He
seals Believers. It may be so, I will not raise the question. But I
should be very sorry if any man here, living in sin, should,
nevertheless, look back upon some time of religious excitement or
enjoyment and say, "I am safe, for on that occasion I was sealed." And
I should be very sorry to have any Brother or Sister take as the sure
reason why they are saved, some remarkable experience which they
underwent on a certain day, long past.
A seal is for the present and is not a mere memory, but an object
palpable now and before the eyes. I am afraid many have been deceived
into carelessness by the notion of a sealing received long ago. Let us
seek out the Truth of God. According to the text, as far as I can read
it, here is a man who has believed in Jesus and he desires a seal that
God loves him. God gives him the Spirit and that is all the seal he can
wish for or expect. Nothing more is needed, nothing else would be as
good. The very fact that the Spirit of God works in you to will and to
do according to God's good pleasure, is your seal! You do not require
anything beyond. I do not say that any one operation of the Holy Spirit
is to be regarded as the seal, but the whole of them together, as they
prove His being within us, make up that seal. It is better, however, to
keep to the doctrine that the Spirit of God in the Believer is,
Himself, the seal–
"You are the earnest of His love, The pledge of joys to come, And Your
soft wings, celestial Dove, Will safely convey me Home."
Now, let us look at what the context tells us about this. If you read
on, the Apostle tells us that wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of
God are part of the seal. Kindly turn to the chapter and follow out the
Apostle's line of argument. He says, (verse 15), "Therefore I also,
after I heard of your faith, etc., cease not to give thanks for you,
making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and
revelation in the knowledge of Him." See, then, if you have believed in
Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God comes upon you and He gives you wisdom
and revelation.
Doctrines in the Word which you never understood before become clear to
you–"the eyes of your understanding being enlightened." The blessings
promised are more distinctly discerned and you see, "the hope of your
calling, and the riches of the glory of the Lord's inheritance in the
saints." The deeper Truths of God, which at first quite staggered and
puzzled you, gradually open up to you and you see and appreciate them.
More especially, you discover the Glory of
Christ and see the exceeding greatness of the power with which the Lord
works in the saints, "according to the working of His mighty power,
which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him
at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all
principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that
is named, not only in this world, but in that which is to come." You
drink deep into the blessed thought that Jesus is the Head over all
things to His Church and you obtain some glimpses into the mysterious
doctrine that the Church is His fullness, the fullness of Him that
fills all in all.
Now, Brothers and Sisters, if we know these things aright, the Spirit
has taught us, and the consequence of it is that we say to ourselves,
"Certainly I must be a child of God, for I never understood the things
of God before." How could I have learned them if I had not been taught
of God. The Master seems to stand by our side and say, "Blessed are
you, Simon Bar-Jonah: for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto you,
but my Father which is in Heaven." If you have been made to see the
abounding Grace of God, the grandeur of the plan of salvation and the
choice beauties of the blessed Person of Jesus Christ, you have a sure
seal upon your soul, for like the blind man in the Gospels you can say,
"One thing I know, whereas I was blind now I see."
Following on to the next chapter you will see that the Spirit of God
works in every man who possesses in him life, and that life becomes
another form of the seal. "You has He quickened who were dead in
trespasses and sin." That life is of a new kind and has a renewing
power so that men reject the course of this world and no longer fulfill
the desires of the flesh and of the mind. This new life they trace to
God who is rich in mercy, who in His great love with which He loved
them, even when they were dead in sins, has quickened them together
with Christ. They trace this life entirely to the Grace of God–"By
Grace are you saved"–and they see that this life produces in them good
works, "for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good
works."
I need not explain how this life lifts us up to sit in the heavenlies
with Christ, for most of you know all about it. You have received a
life from above, a living and incorruptible Seed is in you. You have
passed into a new world. You have feelings, desires, fears, hopes such
as you never knew before–and thus your outward life is also
changed–so that you follow after that which is according to the will
of God. Now, Brethren, what can be a better seal to you that you are,
indeed, saved, than this life which you feel within? This is the way in
which the Spirit of God seals you–by making you partakers of the
Divine life which never has resided in the unbeliever yet–and never
can dwell in anyone apart from faith. To "as many as received Him, to
them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to as many as
believed on His name." "He that believes on the Son has everlasting
life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life, but the
wrath of God abides on him." So that wisdom and life, which are both
sure results of the indwelling of the Spirit of God, are a seal to us
that we are really saved.
Go on a little further and you will notice upon the one seal a further
mark, namely–fellowship. "You were without Christ, being aliens from
the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of
promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: but now in
Christ Jesus you who sometimes were far off are made near by the blood
of Christ. For He is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken
down the middle wall of partition between us." Those who have believed
in Jesus Christ are led by the Spirit of God to love their fellow
Christians and thus, "we know that we have passed from death unto life,
because we love the brethren." Once we thought the godly a dull and
melancholy set–at any rate we let them go their own way–and we were
glad to keep aloof from them! But now we delight in their society,
sympathize with their pursuits and are willing to share their
persecutions.
We count the saints of God the best company in the world. We would
sooner sit down and talk half an hour with a poor, bed-ridden Christian
woman, than be found in the courts of princes. This brotherly love
becomes a seal of Grace within our hearts, for John tells us in his
First Epistle, "Everyone that loves is born of God, and knows God." "If
we love one another, God dwells in us, and His love is perfected in us"
(1 John 4:7, 12). Even more striking is that which follows, namely,
that we have fellowship with God. The Apostle speaks of us as
reconciled unto God by the Cross, by which the enmity is slain, and he
says of our Lord, "Through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto
the Father." I am following the course of the chapter.
When you and I feel that we commune with God, that there is no quarrel
between Him and us, that He is loved of us as we are loved of Him. When
we feel that we can draw near to Him in prayer and speak to Him, that
He hears us and deigns to grant us gracious answers of peace, these are
blessed seals of salvation. Some of us can look back on times of
fellowship with God, on seasons of prevailing prayer with Him and upon
countless answers to our petitions. All these become to us Infallible
tokens of Divine love!
I shall not tire you if I bid you notice, for one moment, that the
Apostle puts in next building up–"And are built upon the foundation of
the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner
stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together grows unto an
holy temple in the Lord." Are you not conscious, Believers, that you
are being built up unto a divinely glorious form, after a high and
noble model? It does not yet appear what we shall be, but you must be
conscious that course upon course of precious stones have been built
upon the foundation of your faith in Christ. Since you have known the
Lord you have made a distinct advance. At times you are afraid you have
only grown downwards, but you have grown! There is a something about
you, now, which was not there 10 years ago.
I am distinctly conscious, somehow, that 20 years ago I was not what I
now am. I sometimes feel like a bird in the eggshell! I am chipping it
away bit by bit. I believe it will break, one of these days, and the
bird will come out. But I often feel my wings fretted and cramped by
the shell. I want the life in me to be developed and set free! Do you
never feel the same? Have you not felt as if you, yourself, were big
with a far more glorious nature and longed for deliverance from flesh
and frailty? These groans, aspirations, hopes and desires are all seals
of salvation!
You will never find the ungodly thus moved. These pangs are peculiar to
life. You are not a finished structure, but a house in process of
erection and you may be sure that one of these days the top stone shall
be brought forth with shouts of, "Grace, Grace unto it." This building
up through the Spirit of God is the seal of the Spirit. It is to you
the evidence that God has begun a good work in you and is carrying it
on. Last of all, the second Chapter of Ephesians finishes up by saying,
"In whom you, also, are built together for an habitation of God through
the Spirit." And this seems to me to gather up all that I have said
before. The indwelling of the Spirit in the saints, in the whole of
them united and in each one in particular, is a choice seal–
"Do You not dwell in all the saints, And seal them heirs of Hea ven?"
Yes, that is the manner of the sealing, according to the prayer of our
hymn–
"Jesus, my Lord, reveal In charms of Grace Divine, And be Yourself the
sacred seal,
That pearl of price is mine."
If you have the Spirit of God dwelling in you, you must be the Lord's!
Will the Spirit of God dwell in any temple but that which God has
consecrated? He may come upon men to strive with them for awhile, but
He will never dwell in any heart that has not been cleansed with the
blood of Jesus, nor can He possibly reside permanently in any soul
which is defiled with self-righteousness and love of sin. No, Beloved,
if the Spirit of God dwells in you, you need no dreams, nor angels'
whispers, nor noises in the air. The indwelling Spirit is the only seal
you need! I put it to you, Brothers and Sisters, what more do you need?
What more could God give you?
Suppose you were to meet on the road home, standing on the snow, an
angel clothed in glittering white, and that he should say to you, "I
have a message from God to you"? What if he should then mention your
name and add, "You are one of God's chosen." That vision would comfort
you for half-an- hour, I have no doubt, but many desponding spirits
would not be comforted much longer, for Satan would say, "It was
snowing, right? No doubt the flakes blew into your eyes or else you
simply have a fine imagination." "Oh, but," you would say, "I heard him
speak!" "Ah, you had noises in your head. You are becoming a fair
subject for Bedlam Asylum!"
I confess if you were to tell me the story, I should not make any bones
about it, but should say, "You are not such a fool as to believe that,
are you?" And you would find many other people of the same mind. Now
there can be no doubt about the seal of the text. You have been taught
of God what no one but the Spirit of God could have taught you. You
have a life in you which no one but the Spirit could have given you–of
that knowledge and that life you are perfectly conscious–you do not
need to ask anybody else about them. A man may ask me whether I know
So-and-So–I am the best witness whether I do or not. If I am asked,
"How do you know you are alive?" Well, I walk about, that is all, and I
am quite sure about it–I do not need any further evidence.
The best seal to a man's heart must be that of which he is conscious
and about which he needs not appeal to others. Give me a seal that is
as sure as my own existence! I fail to see how God Himself can give me
anything more sure than the
gift of His Spirit working knowledge and life in me. "Oh," says one,
"but if I could hear a voice." Suppose you did? Then the argument of
fear would be that there are countless voices and one may be mistaken
for another. You were in the street when you heard it. Perhaps it was a
parrot or a starling in the upper window. Who knows? It is so easy for
the ears to be deceived. Many a time you have said, "I know I heard
So-and-So," when you did not hear him, but someone like him.
I would not believe my own ears, if their evidence had to do with my
soul, one half so readily as I would believe my own consciousness.
Since knowledge and life and other things I have mentioned just now are
all matters of consciousness, they are much better seals than anything
could be which appealed like an angelic vision to the eyes, or like a
mysterious voice to the ears! Here you have something sure and
steadfast. If the Spirit of God dwells in you, you are His, but if He
dwells not in you, you are none of His.
Take this for the closing word–"Grieve not the Spirit of God, whereby
you are sealed unto the day of redemption"–but love Him, honor Him and
obey Him. So will the seal always be bright before your eyes. As to you
who have not believed, I conclude with this–Do not ask for seals! You
have nothing to do with seals, but with Jeans. "An evil and adulterous
generation seeks after a sign." Believe in Christ Jesus, and when you
have trusted Him, then shall there come signs, seals, marks! God bless
you, for Christ's sake. Amen.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Ephesians 1. HYMNS FROM "OUR
OWN HYMN BOOK"–168, 458, 728.
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Sihon and Og, or Mercies in Detail