Sealed by the Spirit: Assurance of God's Children

In whom also after that he believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. We come back to a consideration of this statement, and I make no apology for dealing with it at such great length because, as I've been trying to indicate Sunday by Sunday, there is a sense in which there is no more important statement from the standpoint of the experience of Christian people than just this very statement. [00:19:24]

This is something apart from belief, additional to belief, that this authorized translation indeed does give the meaning in whom after that he believed in whom also after that he believed or if you prefer it in whom also having believed which means the same thing but therefore it is something which is in addition to what we may call the common blessings of the Christian Life. [00:86:84]

It is that immediate and direct Assurance which is given to us by the Holy Spirit that we are the children of God, that we are, as Paul says in the very context, inheritors of this great inheritance that God has waiting for his people. It is this direct and immediate Assurance; it is this extraordinary experience, and it is an experience. [00:180:80]

It is the greatest experience that a Christian can ever have in this world. I don't hesitate to repeat that. I have reminded you that the great Thomas Goodwin 300 years ago put it very differently and explicitly like that when he said there's only one thing that can ever happen to a man greater than this experience of the sealing, and that is to be in heaven itself. [00:317:24]

This is something additional; this is something beyond the realm and the reach of my spirit. It is the Spirit himself bearing witness with my spirit that I am a child of God. Now, all who've ever written about this or preached about it are agreed in saying it's very difficult to put this thing into words. [00:402:63]

It is an experience of God's love, and it is an experience in turn of our love going out to him. We love him because he first loved us, and I say there is something almost inexpressible about it, and yet it's the most real thing that can ever happen to us. [00:524:36]

This is the key to all witnessing and testifying which is not mechanical. You can witness and testify in a mechanical manner; it has very little value, but this comes from the heart. It is only those who rarely know these things who can tell others about them. [00:563:16]

Surely we are entitled to say this: it's quite clear and obvious that the Apostle Paul didn't know every single member of the church at Ephesus and these other churches. He certainly didn't know every member of the church at Rome, and the Apostle Peter, we have clear evidence, most certainly did not know the people to whom he was writing. [00:959:36]

It is indeed more than conceivable; it is even likely that all these first Christians were given the experience. What I mean is this: you look at that event which is described in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. Clearly, that was unique in this sense; it was unique in its extent; it was unique in its intensity. [00:1094:40]

It is meant for all Christians. You remember Peter preaching there on the day of Pentecost, and after he'd been preaching for a while under the power of the Spirit, men cried out saying, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" And Peter replied saying, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." [00:1390:44]

Search the scriptures, search the scriptures for the promises, these exceeding great and precious promises that Peter talks about. Realize, my dear friend, what God means you to have and what he offers you. You remember what Paul puts it in the third chapter of this great epistle. [00:2076:44]

Pray for it, seek it, be desperate for it, hunger and thirst for it, keep on until your prayer is answered. Take time, in other words, take time not only to be holy but take time to seek this sealing with the Spirit. Keep on with it, keep on, never cease, and this will be your experience one day. [00:2502:16]