Safe in the Arms of Jesus
Text: Ephesians 1:11 – 14
By: Ken McKinley
(Read Text)
In 1938 Major George Eliot said, “A Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor is a strategic impossibility.” Three years later on December 4th, 1941 (just 3 days before we were attacked) Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox said, “No matter what happens the United States Navy will never be caught napping.”
Your safety is only as good as those whose hands you’re in. Those men; Maj. George Eliot and Secretary Frank Knox were committed to protecting the Navy, but both of them failed in their duty to protect the United States. Again; our security is only as good as the One who is promising to protect us.
Now the Bible tells us that if you are a Christian you are secure in Christ Jesus, but the problem that I see that we Christians sometimes have is that we have an enemy out there who likes to whisper in our ears, “Did God really say you were secure?” It’s the same lie he used on Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden; “Did God really say…” So what happens is that we can read about God’s greatness, we can hear sermons preached on God’s love for us, but we look at ourselves and we can see just how un-lovable we really are. We can look at ourselves and we wonder about if God is so great would He be concerned about someone as insignificant as me? Our text this morning answers that question. When we read through this passage notice that Paul switches from “we” in verses 11 and 12, to “you” in verse 13. What Paul is doing here is making it personal. He’s saying, its not just for me and the other apostles. It’s not just for those 3000 who believed and were saved on the Day of Pentecost… it’s for you too.
And Paul tells us why that is. He says, “In Him you also trusted, after hearing the gospel, and you believed.” The times that Paul lived in weren’t that different than today. It was still a world filled with all kinds of twisted, distorted ideas. It was a world filled with wrong attitudes and strange philosophies. Just like today, people back then could be brought up with all sorts of ideas cluttering their minds
But Paul is saying that when you heard the Good News, God’s way of salvation, you heard the truth.
You see; a lot of people today like the idea of “You’re ok, I’m ok.” But that is not the truth. The truth is that we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The truth is that there are none righteous, no not one. It’s not that we have to get rid of a couple of bad habits and we will be ok. The truth is that we are sinners who were separated from God. The Bible tells us that we had a serious, incurable sickness called sin. But the good news is that it doesn’t just tell us about how miserable we are, it also gives us the cure for this sickness. It is the Gospel. And Paul says we hear it, we trust in it, and we believe it. Paul is saying that Christian faith goes beyond just mentally agreeing with something, it involves trust. Everyone of you here today has faith in the pew your sitting on. If you didn’t you would have never sat down. But your faith had a corresponding action. The work of your faith was to take a seat. Just hearing what the Bible has to say about mankinds condition and agreeing with it, is not enough there has to be faith added to it.
If I were to tell you I have a million dollars waiting for you after the service; that would mean that you are a millionaire, but just having the knowledge of this isn’t enough. No, you would come speak with me after the service and take the gift I’m offering.
Now Paul goes on to say, “You trusted in Christ, you heard the word of truth and you believed. And because you believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise…” In-other-words, you became safe in the arms of the Lord.
The Bible tells us that God is no respecter of persons. Your security isn’t based on your popularity, your good looks, your athleticism. It isn’t like a high school clique where one day your in and the next day your out. If you are a Christian, you have been sealed.
In the ancient world, a seal was an important way that a person could know if something was authentic or not. The seal told you who it belonged to and that it was genuine. We brand cattle to show who they belong to, and there are thousands of registered brands. Well we are not cattle, we are sheep, and Jesus is the good Shepherd. His brand is the seal of the Holy Spirit, and it’s His way of saying “Hands off!” In ancient times a seal was not only used to show ownership, it was also a means of protection. If the wrong person broke the seal, then they would pay for their crime. Let me give you an example, sometimes the Roman Emperor would send out a letter to the governors of the provinces and he would put a blot of wax to seal the envelope and then press his ring into the wax, thus marking it with the imperial seal of Rome. If someone other than the governor opened that letter, or it was stolen, then the wrath and might of the Roman Emperor would come down on that person.
So what does that mean for us though? What does it mean that you and I are sealed? Well it means that we can be certain that we are secure of our relationship to God. We can know without a shadow of a doubt that we belong to Jesus. We can know for sure that God has redeemed us and that redemption can never be undone. When you heard the Gospel and believe what it says, and trust in the One it speaks of, you are sealed.
We can’t make ourselves more secure in Christ. But what we can do is rest in the knowledge that we are accepted by the Father because we are in the Son, and we are sealed by the Holy Spirit.
Paul even tell us that it is the Holy Spirit of “promise.” All throughout the Old Testament we read about a promise that God would send His Spirit, and that when the Spirit came He would turn our hearts of stone to flesh. He would dwell with believers and IN believers and would write God’s law on our hearts. Before Jesus ascended into heaven He promised that He would send the Comforter. And so the Holy Spirit was promised to us, but He is also the Spirit of promises made before Christ came. The sealing by the Holy Spirit is also a promise of more to come. In verse 14 Paul says that He is the guarantee of our inheritance.
In the Greek language this is talking about a down payment of sorts. The Holy Spirit is sort of like God’s down payment. The full payment is coming, but what we’ve got now is a binding and legal claim on those who are saved. The Greek word is the word arrabon they still use this word in Greece today when they talk about an engagement ring. Being sealed with the Holy Spirit shows us that God is serious about His promise to us. And being sealed with the Holy Spirit shows us that we have an inheritance coming.
Paul tells us that this sealing is the guarantee of our inheritance. The same God who created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them… the same God who holds all things together. This same all powerful, all knowing, omnipresent God has made a guarantee to us that we have an inheritance waiting for us when our redemption is fully completed.
Now last time we talked about the redemption that Jesus accomplished for us on the cross nearly 2000 years ago. We are owned today because Jesus redeemed us when He hung on the cross. The deal was done then, the transaction was complete at that time, but the full realization hasn’t come just yet.
Think about it like this. Let’s say you were going to buy a new vehicle. You went to the dealership, signed the papers, and paid for the vehicle, but you weren’t able to pick it up that day because part of the purchase agreement was that the dealer was going to tint the windows, put in a new stereo, and detail the vehicle. So you have to wait awhile until the vehicle is exactly the way you want it to be. Well in a sense that’s sort of what’s going on here.
You see; we’ve been redeemed by the blood of Christ, but the end results of that redemption hasn’t been fully realized just yet. In Romans 8:23 Paul tells us that we have the first fruits of the Spirit but that we are waiting for the completion of the adoption. What is that completion? It’s the redemption of our bodies… it’s talking about the resurrection from the dead or the rapture when we are given glorified bodies. Bodies that are free from sickness, suffering and sin.
You see; Jesus is coming again to claim His purchased possessions. He’s coming to get what He has redeemed.
So what Paul is saying here is that we have nothing to worry about, if we belong to the Lord. You see, it’s God’s responsibility to secure what He has bought, and if you’re a Christian you’ve been bought with a price. We are His and His alone. You are not your own – the Bible tells us.
In 1937 the Golden Gate Bridge was finished and at that time it was the longest suspension bridge in the world. It cost 77 million dollars to build (a lot of money back in the 1937) and was built in two phases. During the first phase 23 men fell to their deaths into the waters of the San Francisco Bay. Before the second phase began someone decided that something had to be done to ensure the safety of the workers. So an engineer designed the largest net ever made out of stout manila cords, it was stretched out below the area of the bridge where the construction crew was working and it cost $100,000. Was the cost worth it? Well to find out you would have to ask the 10 men who fell into it without being hurt. Not only did the net save those 10 men, but the bridge was completed in 3/4ths the time because the construction workers were less afraid of falling. Now think about this: if you are always concerned about your security in the Lord, how much witnessing are you getting done? If you’re consumed with wondering if you are secure in your salvation how much victory and peace do you experience in your life? Well I want to tell you this morning, that if you are a Christian, you can live out your life freely, safely and securely, because you have been sealed to the very end. God Himself has pledged to preserve you.
INVITATION AND PRAYR
