Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1284
“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.