Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours 3/15/04
Ephesians 1:7-14
The title of message is “signed, sealed and delivered, I’m yours”. Now I will give you a second to get the song out of your head, and I want us each to examine our own lives and see if we can say the same words of this song.
Signed
When you think of signed you think of signatures. A signature speaks of ownership. When you buy a car you have to sign the title. When you buy a house, you sign paper and your name is placed on a deed. Your name may be on your paycheck but a signature is required for a deposit. Now before you go thinking you have direct deposit and you never even see your paycheck, there still was first a signature to release that direct deposit. I can write as many checks to you as you want, but in order for you to receive the rewards of that check, you must first sign it.
Are you signed with Christ? Does he have ownership of you? Let me give you a few thoughts about His signature.
1. Written in red (Vs.7)
He paid for us in full with His own shed blood. He loved you so much that He laid done His own life for our sins. You don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to clean up before you come into His house.
Romans 5:8, But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
2. We have an inheritance (Vs.11)
Since we have His signature we become heirs to Him.
2 Corinthians 6:18, I will be a Father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.
By being His heir we are entitled to His strength, His power, all that He has, He will give to us.
3. It is our choice.
If I were to give you a check for $10,000 and you had it and you carried it with you. You would take it out and look at it, but you know what you had? You had a piece of paper. In order for you to receive the reward of the check there has to be a signature.
Christ has paid for our sins with His shed blood. We are entitled to all He has to offer us, and that is a lot. Peace, joy, contentment, love, the list goes on and on. But He also gives us the choice to accept or reject this great gift.
When we are saved He places his signature upon us. When Christ puts his name on us…he identifies Himself as owner. First this gift has been signed…next we see in our text that this gift has been Sealed.
Sealed (Vs.13)
What kind of seal is Paul talking about?
A seal was an official mark of identification placed on a letter, contract, or document. When royal business was conducted, the document was sealed with hot wax and imprinted with the king’s signet ring. A Kings seal signified 3 things.
A. Ownership - Written in kings name, sealed with signet ring. The Kings property
B. Security - The built in security of the seal was the king’s authority. Break the seal and die.
C. Unchangeable- No One, not even the king himself can reverse such a decree.
An example is King Darius was tricked and forced to throw Daniel to the lions because of his unchangeable decree (Dan 6:6-16)
When we speak of being sealed, what does that mean to us?
By being sealed we have to first accept Christ. By doing so we declare that He has ownership.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Or do you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price: therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
We are sealed. He owns us and we are His.
Security - (John 10: 27-30)
John 10:27-29, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
The built in security of our seal is the KINGS authority.
NO ONE can take His seal away because He is “greater than all” (v. 29)
Unchangeable - (John 6:37-39)
John 6:37-39 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me; and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.
The king has promised to “by no means cast out (v.37) the one who comes to Him. To break the Kings seal on a believer would be to “cast out” one who has believed in Him, making Him a liar!
Our Salvation is sealed. You can never loose it. Satan may put that doubt in there but you can’t loose it because you never did anything to deserve it. You can loose your fellowship with God by having sin in your life but there is no eraser on God’s pen and when He writes your name in the Book of Life, it’s there to stay.
Now on the other hand, there are those who may say the words but never received the words.
Matthew 7:21-23 Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of My Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name? cast out demons in Your name? and done many wonders in Your name? And then will I declare to them, I never knew you: depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.
The Bible says that you will know them by their fruit. You can’t help but be changed after you receive Christ because you can’t put something that good in something that bad and there not be a change.
Delivered
After we have been signed, sealed, then we need to be delivered. What are we delivered from?
We are delivered from guilt. The sins of our past are gone. We are washed clean.
We are delivered out of fear.
Luke 1:74 That He would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,
No longer do we have to fear anything, because greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world.
We even can have deliverance from continued sin.
Romans 7:24-25 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
No longer should the things of this world bring us down, because He has the power and strength to deliver us.
And now for the last point and the one that is the least talked about.
I’m Yours
When you get married you say vowels to God and to the witnesses that are there that you are giving yourself to your spouse. I’m yours, till death do us part. By saying, “I’m yours” you are freely and totally giving yourself to that person. That is the kind of commitment we need to have to the one who signed ownership to us by His death, shedding His blood for our sins. Who sealed us with the Holy Spirit to be His forever, and delivered us from our bondage of sin. We need to be committed to Him.
Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.
When Paul speaks of presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice, meaning that we should use our bodies to serve and obey God. Holy means set apart for the Lord’s use; Acceptable means pleasing to Him, and reasonable indicates that should be the least we should do for all that He has done for us.
We are not to be conformed to the world. When the world sees us, they should see something different. Renewing our mind. When you renew some thing it is not a one-time thing. We need to daily seek God. We do so by daily talking to Him, daily get into His word, daily ask Him to use you for His glory.
Did you hear about the man who went to the doctor because he had a severe obesity problem? The doctor examined him very carefully, and said, “I have some good news and some bad news.” “The good news is that there is not anything wrong with your appetite. The bad news is, according to your weight, you’re not as tall as you should be.”...
Are you being all you should be for Him?
When we learn to do that, then we can say… “I’m signed, sealed, delivered, and God I’m yours”. Use me as you see fit.
