If I were creating a job description that I could put into the hands of every husband and every wife…a job description that would help them to create and maintain strong and healthy marriages…way up near the top of that job description I would say something like this: do everything you can to help your spouse feel secure in the marriage relationship.
No spouse should ever have to wonder about the security of their marriage. So, if you’re doing something that is causing your spouse to feel insecure in the marriage relationship, stop doing it. And, if there’s something you could be doing to help them feel more secure in the marriage relationship, do it. Insecurity is an intimacy destroyer. And because intimacy is key to a healthy marriage relationship, one of the greatest gifts you can give your spouse and one of the most important of all the ways by which you can express your love for your spouse is to do whatever you can to help them feel secure in the marriage relationship.
And, the truth is, that the marriage relationship is not the only relationship that benefits greatly from a sense of security. Children benefit greatly when they feel secure within their family. Friendships benefit greatly when each friend feels secure within the friendship. And Christians benefit greatly when we feel secure in our relationship with God. In fact, this is the greatest security that we can have in life because even if we feel insecure in virtually every other aspect of our lives—our marriages, our families, our friendships, our employment, and so forth—even if the rest of our life is clouded over with insecurity, we can still survive, even thrive, provided that we are absolutely secure in our relationship with God.
And that’s what I want to talk about this morning. Being secure in our relationship with God. Secure in His love for us. Secure in His provision for us. Secure in His purposes for us. Secure in His power in and over us. One of God’s great desires for each and every one of His children is that we would know that we are absolutely secure in our relationship with our Heavenly Father.
This is week #6 in our series of sermons called, “Getting to Know the Holy Spirit.” This morning, we’re going to look at the unique role of the Holy Spirit in helping us to feel secure and guaranteeing that we are secure in our relationship with God.
But before we look at what the Holy Spirit does to provide and protect our sense of security in God, I think we would be wise to recognize that being secure in God does not mean that we are going to escape life’s struggles and hardships. In other words, the Holy Spirit does not keep us secure in our relationship with God by insulating us from the trials and tribulations that are an inevitable part of life. We can be secure in our relationship with God even though life can be very tough.
Listen to the way Paul talks about this in Romans 8:35-36. He says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? (In other words, who can shake the security of the abiding love that is ours in Christ?) Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors…(In other words, “Even in the midst of these terribly difficult circumstances—trouble, persecution, hunger, danger and pain—even while we’re experiencing these things, we remain absolutely secure in God.” How is that possible? It’s possible because…) through him who loved us.” Our experience of and our confidence in God’s love for us doesn’t change just because our circumstances change. And because our confidence in God doesn’t waver our obedience of God doesn’t waver either. Even in hard times, we persevere in faithful obedience.
So, here’s the point: When hard times come our natural response…and the response, by the way, that Satan encourages in us…is to begin to doubt God. To doubt His love for us; to doubt His provision for us; and to doubt His power to keep us safe and secure. And once we begin to doubt that we’re secure in God, we will inevitably start looking for security somewhere else. “Wow, money’s really tight right now. I don’t know how we’re going to pay all of our bills. Let’s just stop tithing…let’s stop giving…until we catch up.” In other words, “Since we can’t trust God, let’s trust in ourselves.” And, folks, that’s a disastrous decision, because there is no security in any place other than God.
So, to help us persevere to the very end in faithful obedience to God, the scriptures repeatedly warn us of the foolishness of turning away from God to try to find security somewhere else.
1 Corinthians 15:2 says it like this: “By this gospel you are saved, (in other words, “you are secure.”) IF you hold firmly to the word I preached to you.”
Galatians 6:9 says it like this: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest (in other words, “We will discover that we were secure.”) IF we do not give up.”
The point of those verses is not to make us insecure by suggesting that we might lose our salvation. The point of those verses is to keep us secure by warning us away from the futility of turning away from God to look for our security anywhere other than in God.
Bottom Line: Your circumstances will change and hard times will come, even so in God you are still secure so persevere in faithful obedience to the very end.
So, our part in being secure in our relationship with God is to persevere in faithful obedience to God. Now, I want us to spend the rest of our time looking at what the Holy Spirit does to keep us secure in our relationship with God. Let’s begin by reading our text: Ephesians 1:11-14.
(11) In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, (12) in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. (13) And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, (14) who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of His glory.”
Let’s look, for a moment, at verses 13-14, because those two verses are just bursting with Good News. Now, let me quickly say that it’s not Good News for everyone in general but Good News specifically for those people who are, according to verse 13, “in Christ.” So, who are the people who are, “in Christ?” They are people who, first, “heard the word of truth, the gospel…” and then having heard the truth they “believed” that it was true. By believing in, “the gospel of…salvation,” they are now, “included in Christ.”
And verse 14 says that the people who are “in Christ” are going to receive an “inheritance.” That is, they are going to receive from their Father everything that their Father has been preparing for them from the moment He (jumping up to verse 11, now) chose and predestined them to be His children. God is going to completely finish the good work of salvation that He’s begun in us. We will be resurrected to live forever with God. And to make sure that our inheritance is secure…and to make sure that we are secure about receiving our promised inheritance…God has given us the “Holy Spirit” as a “seal…guaranteeing our inheritance.” The Greek text in verse 13 more literally says, “You were sealed with the (Holy) Spirit.”
So, everyone “in Christ” has been “sealed with the Holy Spirit.”
So, what does that mean? What does it mean to be “sealed with the Holy Spirit” and how does the “sealing” of the Holy Spirit keep us secure in our relationship with God? The Greek word translated here as “seal” is used in the New Testament to convey a variety of different meanings. I want to point out four of those meanings that are conveyed in verse 13.
To begin with, this word, “seal,” conveys the idea of authenticity. It speaks of that which is genuine as opposed to something that is fake trying to pass itself off as genuine. In 1 Corinthians 9:2, for instance, Paul refers to the many people who were saved as a result of his ministry as, “the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.” So, for anyone who doubted the genuineness of his call to be an apostle, Paul could point to the many people who had come to know the Lord through his ministry and say, “Those Christian converts are the seal of authenticity stamped on my ministry.” In the same way, the presence of the Holy Spirit in us authenticates that God really has created a brand new spiritual life in us. The seal of the Holy Spirit proves that we really have been born again.
If someone questions my claim to be a child of God, I can say without hesitation that I know that I belong to God because I see the evidence of God’s Spirit at work in me.
–I see spiritual fruit in my life that is only produced by the Holy Spirit.
–I see God working through the spiritual gifts He’s given me and those gifts are given by the Holy Spirit.
–I see a heart on fire for the Lord, and that only happens by the Holy Spirit.
And God only gives His Spirit to His children. The presence of the Holy Spirit in my life authenticates my membership in the family God. And the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life authenticates your membership in the family of God, as well.
Second, this word, “seal,” also conveys the idea of a mark that signifies ownership. Slaves were a widespread reality in the first century Roman world and it was common for slave owners to identify their slaves with a distinctive mark. Anyone who saw that mark would know that this slave already belongs to someone else.
In the same way, the “seal” of the Holy Spirit serves to marks all believers as belonging to God and God alone. God has staked His claim to everyone who is “in Christ,” He has identified those who belong to Him by the “seal” of the Holy Spirit and no one can take what belongs to God. And this means, among other things, that no Christian ever has to worry about being possessed by the Devil. The Devil is powerful, but He’s no match for God. Once you’ve been marked by the seal of the Holy Spirit you belong to God and the Devil has no chance whatsoever of stealing you away.
Third, the word, “seal,” also conveys the idea of sealing something in or sealing something out. For instance, the Gospels tell us after Jesus’ body was laid in the tomb, Pilate ordered the soldiers to secure the tomb with a seal. The idea was to make sure that his body stayed in the tomb and his followers were kept out of the tomb.
In the same way, the “seal” of the Holy Spirit keeps us secure in God by keeping saving faith in and keeping unbelief out. The Holy Spirit actively works to lock in our faith and protect us from wandering into unbelief.
And, finally, the word, “seal,” also conveys the idea of completion. It was true in the Roman world in the first century and it’s still true in our world today—you always seal a letter shut before you send it out. But you don’t seal the letter shut until you’ve completed writing the letter. The seal is a sign of completion.
In the same way, the “seal” of the Holy Spirit signifies the completion of the first stage of our salvation.
–We look forward to the ultimate completion of our salvation when we are resurrected with Christ.
–And God, at this very moment, is at work in us to conform us to the image of Christ.
–But if you are “in Christ,” the first, decisive act of your salvation has already been completed—you’ve been born again. And the Holy Spirit sealed the deal. As verse 13 says, “Having believed, you were…(that’s past tense, completed)…sealed with the Holy Spirit.”
SUMMARY—So, what do you think? Does God really want us to be secure in our relationship with Him?
–So much so that He has placed His Spirit in us to prove that we really are His children.
–So much so that He has marked His ownership of us with the seal of the Holy Spirit
–So much so that the Holy Spirit is actively working to seal in our faith and seal out unbelief.
–So much so, that the moment we believed the gospel, we were joined to Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Now, let me raise two final questions: Why is the security of our relationship with God so important to God? And, Why does God want us to know that we’re secure in our relationship with Him?
Let me ask the same questions another way: First, Why does God work so hard to make sure that every single one of His children make it safely home? And, second, why does God want us to know that He’s going to get us safely home?
Two questions, but there’s just one answer: Folks, it’s all about God’s glory. If you only remember one point from this sermon, remember this—our security in God is firmly rooted in God’s commitment to His glory. God is passionately committed to His glory and everything He does is done with the purpose of increasing His glory. He wants His glory known. And because His glory would be diminished if He started losing His own children, He will do whatever is necessary to guarantee that none of His children gets lost. And because secure children sing God’s glory louder than insecure children, He will do whatever is necessary to help His children feel secure. It’s all about God’s glory.
Now, am I just making that up? No. It’s right there…twice…in our text. So, let’s read it again to make sure that we see it. Ephesians 1:11-14 says this:
(11) In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, (and why does God do that?) (12) in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. (13) And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, (14) who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—(for what purpose?) to the praise of His glory.”
Folks, God is in the process of working out a plan to accomplish this purpose—He is assembling a mighty chorus of believers who will sing the praises of His glory now and for all eternity. And if you are in Christ, you are in that chorus.
What’s more, you’re not in that chorus by accident. You’re in that chorus because God chose you for that very purpose.
And you’re in that chorus forever, because God sealed you in with the Holy Spirit. God has never lost one of His singers. So, rest secure. He’s not losing you, either.