I. Introduction

A. So far in this passage (verses 1-12) we have seen the three-fold God at work.

1 The Father before the foundation of the world, chose us and called us to be a

part of His family.

2. The Son coming into this world liberated us in and through His death.

3. We have received the forgiveness of our sins not only once at the beginning

of our Christian experience but over and over again as the need arises.

4. This He does in order that we can live our lives free of any guilt or condemnation.

B. No wonder Paul put it verse 8 - He has lavished His grace upon us.

C. Now we come to the work of the Spirit (13-14)

1. Two things are emphasized here which are always found in scripture - the

Word and the Spirit.

2. There is no salvation without both of these.

3. Both are the instruments for the effecting of our salvation.

II. A Serious Mistake

A. It is a mistake for anyone to emphasize one to the exclusion of the other.

I. Some are saying - We don't need the Word because we have the Holy Spirit.

2. We simply trust those feelings that we get as being from the Spirit.

3. Whenever a group does that, there will develop a fanatical and rigid determinism.

Everyone can do whatever is right in their own eyes.

4. All under the guise of the Spirits leading.

5. Allow me to quote from a message on the charismatic that I preached in 1979,

entitled "Is the Bible Still Being Written."

B. There is a danger however that we go to the opposite extreme and emphasize the Word and minimize or ignore the work of the Spirit.

1. We need to be filled with the Spirit, we should pray that He continually fill and

use us in His service.

2. We need the motivating power of the Spirit in order to effectively witness

to our faith.

3. We must unify both the Word and Spirit in our preaching and ministry as a church.

III. The Guarantee of Redemption

A. The Apostle Paul describes our redemption in a rather strange phrase - sealed with

the promised Spirit.

1. This is a reference to the ancient practice of sealing letters or other things with wax and then impressing the wax with a seal worn on a ring.

2. The ring and sealing wax become an identifying image.

3. The use of the seal produced two important ideas.

B. The First Idea is That of Ownership

1. The letter belonged to the one who owned the Seal.

2. God sent the Holy Spirit into your life to mark the fact that you belong to

Him. (I Cor 6:20)

3. The presence of the Spirit in your life is your witness that you belong to Him

(Rom 8:16)

4. The Holy Spirit in you is His mark of ownership.

C. Second Idea Behind the Seal is that of Preservation.

l. The tomb of Jesus was sealed by the Roman Governor for the purpose of

Preserving it from intruders.

2. Anyone who broke that seal did so on penalty of death.

3. Thus it served to preserve the tomb from intrusion or destruction.

D. This is the idea behind the presence of the Spirit in our lives.

1. It means that God will preserve us, keep us or as Paul puts it here - He

guarantees our inheritance.

2. In Greek the word for guarantee is "arrabon".

3. It means a down payment - we are all familiar with that term.

4. We sign a paper, place a sum of money down with the guarantee that more is

to come.

IV. The HOLY Spirit is Our Guarantee

A. The Holy Spirit in our lives is the guarantee that God has more for us - there is more to

come.

1. Let me slightly correct the translation of the phrase "the redemption of God's

possession."

2. The original is literally - until the redemption of the walk around.

3. It refers to the custom of buying a piece of ground and then walking around

the entire parcel.

4. When you walked around it, you then made it yours.

5. That was a sign to everyone that you had paid the down payment and that it was

now yours.

B. Paul says; that is what God has done for us.

1. God has walked around us, marked us out as His possession by the seal of the

Holy Spirit.

2. Think of it - that is only the down payment.

3. As wonderful as it is to be a Christian, that is nothing compared to what lies ahead.

4. Jesus is coming to claim the Father's possession and that possession is our body.

5. Of course that body will be glorified and fitted for the wonders and glories of

heaven

V. God Fulfills His Promises

A. All of this is in fulfillment of a promise made to Abraham 4000 years ago. God promised to bless Abraham and that through him all nations would be blessed.

1. Paul reveals that those who exercise faith in God will be partners in that

promise and that the promised Holy Spirit brings us into that partnership.

2. Gal 3:6, 13-14

3. How do we receive the Holy Spirit is it by pleading and begging or as a result of some great emotional experience?

4. Paul says we receive the Spirit by faith!

5. The minute you trust in Jesus Christ and receive His offer of salvation, that

moment the Spirit of God enters your life.

B. From then on you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

1. The scripture says we can quench Him, grieve

2. Why? Because He is God's seal and that means we are His possession.

(John 10: 27-29).

C. You say why does God do all of this for us, my only answer is found in verse 14 - to the praise of His glory.

1. Three times in this chapter we read that phrase.

2. Verse 6, verse 12, and now verse 14.