Message of the Week

The Little White Community Church

Scripture: Eph. 1: 7-14 Nov. 26, 2023

Message: “Sealed by the Spirit” by Pastor George Gnade

Intro: 1. As most of you know, we have been studying Eph. 1: 1-14 during the Thanksgiving season. 

a. So far we have learned how God made us holy and calls us His saints, blessing us with all the spiritual blessings that Jesus has promised to give us.

b. Then we learned how Jesus chose us even before the world began; yet somehow His call is still based on our response. He works everything out so that our lives and His plans merge together.

c. Then last week we praised God because God the Father has adopted us and qualified us to be called His sons and daughters. Of course that makes us children of a king with an inheritance fit for a king. 

2. Today’s passage continues with more good reasons to praise the Lord. It can be divided into three parts.

A. The first part emphasizes our forgiveness.

1. Vs. 7 says: “In Him we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of our sins.”

a. Paul stresses how we have been forgiven of our sins, not because we deserve it, but because Jesus died on the cross for us. This is a fantastic act gift of God’s grace.

b. It reminds me of the song: “Wonderful grace of Jesus, greater than all our sins. How can my tongue describe it, where shall its praise begin? Taking away my burdens, setting my spirit free, O how the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.”

2. Vs. 8 goes on to say: “He lavished (this grace) upon us with all wisdom and understanding.”

a. The world laughs at us. They mock us. Do you really believe an all-powerful God would do this? You must be mistaken! Paul didn’t know what he is talking about. Who do you think you are that God should care about you? 

b. But Paul writes: No! This is not a mistake. He did this because He created us and adopted those who believe in Him to be His children. 

3. God our Father did this with a complete understanding of who we are. This act of grace is not because of foolish thinking. It is because of His great love and great wisdom that He found a way to do this.

B. The second part of this passage deals with God’s plan for our future.

1. In vs. 9, Paul writes: “God made known to us the  mystery of His will…”

a. Whenever Paul talks about a mystery, he is referring to something that was not known or understood until Jesus came and only then was revealed to us.

b. This mystery is God’s plan for the future, his plan for us, or even more accurately, his plan for Christ Himself.

2. Again this is called “His good pleasure,” meaning this is something special that makes God happy. 

a. It reminds me of our children when they are growing up. Birthdays or even Christmas are opportunities to share gifts with them. We get as much joy out of giving the gift and seeing their eyes light up, as we do receiving the little gift they give us and seeing the joy on their faces as they do it. 

b. God always gets great pleasure out of giving to us His spiritual blessings that are found in Christ.

3. His plan will take effect “when the times will reach their fulfillment.”  That means at the end of history as we know it. His plan is “to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under on head, even Christ” (Eph. 1: 10).

a. Even in heaven or on the new earth, God will show Himself to us through Christ. He will dwell among us through Christ. 

b. Jesus will reign over us as the one and only king of God’s universe. That is His plan, and in His time this will become a reality. How fantastic that new perfect world, free of sin and death, will be. We will enjoy Him and His new world forever and ever.

C. The third blessing to be thankful for in this passage is found in vs. 13-14. It is the privilege of being “sealed with the Holy Spirit.”

1. Paul says: “Having believed in Him, you were marked with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit, guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – all to the praise of His glory.”

Let us break this down one section at a time.

a. It all begins with actually hearing about the Good News of the Gospel and responding by placing our faith in Jesus. 

b. As it says in Rom. 10:17,”Faith comes by hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ.”  

2. Then “having believed in Him, you were marked with a seal.” In those days, slaves were often marked on the forehead to show to whom they belonged.

a. The non-Christian will be marked by the number 666. It could literally happen, but I believe that number represents how the mind of the unbeliever thinks. The world controls his thoughts. God knows our thoughts.

b. When a person in faith accepts Christ as His Savior, the Holy Spirit enters him and begins to take control of his thoughts. Notice the seal of the Christian is not a literal mark on the forehead. It is the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Obviously, Jesus knows who has His Holy Spirit in his heart. 

3. That is why the Holy Spirit is called the guarantee of our inheritance in Christ. These verses describe the Holy Spirit as a deposit. If you have God’s deposit of the Holy Spirit in your heart, then He guarantees you will receive the rest when you get to heaven.

a. In Vs. 14, Paul calls this “the redemption of those who are God’s possession.”

b. The price of our redemption was Jesus’ death on the cross. He paid the penalty for all our sins, and the true believer belongs to Him. In that sense, we are already redeemed in Christ.

4. But when Jesus comes again and raises us up and gives us all new redeemed bodies, that is the ultimate fulfillment of this promise. 

a. In Rom.8:21, it says this is when the whole creation will be liberated from the curse of sin as God makes all things new.

b. At the same time, our fleshly bodies will be raised and changed into glorified bodies. In Rom. 8: 23, Paul says we groan inwardly as we wait for that to happen. Vs. 24 says: “In this hope we were saved.”

5. In our passage, Paul says the Holy Spirit in our hearts guarantees that it will happen in God’s time.

In Conclusion, this whole passage found in Eph. 1:1-14, spells out many of our spiritual blessings. They are all gifts from God to His children who love Him. I pray that this series of messages during this Thanksgiving season has opened your eyes to how rich we are in Christ.  Our hearts should be filled with His joy as we wait patiently for all these things to come to pass.