Sealing grace.
Ephesians 4:30. 08/07/05
This is our forth sermon on the series amazing grace. We have talked about saving grace. The Bible tells us in Ephesians 2 verses 8 and 9, for by grace are you saved through faith, not of works lest any man should boast. Those verses tell us how e very sinner can be saved. If you are saved this morning then you are saved by the grace of God.
Next, we talked about the sustaining grace of God. Not only are we saved by grace but also God’s grace sustains us. When the storms come in life and they do, then it is God’s grace that sustains you through the storm. We thank God for His saving grace and His sustaining grace.
Last Sunday we talked about stewardship grace. We talked about how that the Word of God has give us what we have to use for the spreading of the Gospel. God owns it all; He lets us be stewards of what is all His. We learned that the gifts, the talents, the spiritual gifts that God has given us are to be used for others. If God saved us with no purpose for our life, then He would have just taken us on to heaven. What are we doing as stewards of the best news in the world? Are we warning a lost world out there that Jesus loves them and wants to save them?
This morning, I want us to think about yet another amazing grace of God and that is sealing grace. I want us to understand something about God’s sealing grace. I want you to look at verse 30 in the forth chapter of Ephesians.
Before we talk about the carnal actions verses the Christian actions, I want to spend some time on verse 30. Verse 30 teaches us to greave not the Holy Spirit. Now it is possible to greave the Holy Spirit of God. Now in order to be grieved, the Holy Spirit has to be a living person. The Holy Spirit can be saddened by the way we live. I want you to know that the Holy Spirit is a living being who has taken up His abode in the Christian to guide and help us to walk the path of the Christian life.
Next in the verse you notice that the Spirit of God has sealed us, or every believer unto the day of redemption. Now I just want to be honest with you here because there may be some here this morning who doesn’t believe in eternal security. I mean when you are saved, you are saved for ever. I believe the Bible teaches that. Now there are people who say they don’t believe in eternal security. They say that you can be saved and then if you stop believing, then you will be lost. You can commit some sin that will cause you to be lost. Now I want to tell you something here, the people that believe that are somewhat ignorant of what happened on the cross of Calvary. That may sound like I am critical but actually I am more puzzled than anything else. When I think of the price that was paid on the cross of Calvary to pay for my eternal security, the thought that I have the power to undo that is very puzzling. Jesus death on the cross was a permanent transaction. Because the transaction was permanent, so was the results and the results are forgiveness and eternal life. So every believer is sealed unto the day of redemption. Every believer has been saved, is being saved and in the end will be saved, sealed unto the day of redemption.
Now that the Holy Spirit lives in all believers are both a privilege and a responsibility. The privilege of course is that we have a comforter, one just like Jesus. The responsibility is that we live a life that will not disappoint the Spirit that has taken up His abode in you and me.
Now Paul describes first of all THE ACTIONS OF A CARNAL. Look at verse 31. All the sins listed in this verse speak of a former life. It speaks of people that are lost. Now that it is speaking of lost people, when the Christians actions are like what we find in this verse, then they are acting like a lost person. There is nothing in their life at that moment that would indicate they know Jesus as Savior.
Let’s break them down a little as we go along. First there is bitterness. Bitterness is spirit that refuses reconciliation. That is speaking of a person who is unwilling to forgive and go on. I want to tell you the Christian has no choice in whether we forgive or not. We are obligated as believers to forgive even if we aren’t asked to do so by the one who has wronged us. You better remember the Lord’s model prayer where He says Father forgive me as I forgive others. You are asking the Lord to follow you in the depth of forgiveness.
Rage is an outburst of anger and quick temper for selfish reasons; brawling, are loud self-assertions of anger toward another. I know people say I just speak what is on my mind; what comes up comes out. I want to tell you if it is slander and intentional hurt toward another, then it is of the devil and not of the Lord. And that excuse of speaking what is on your mind will not have must weight on the Lord.
We see not only the actions the carnal but also THE ACTIONS OF THE CHRISTIAN. Look at verse 32. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. The previous way of life must be put off and the new life put on. Kindness takes the initiative in responding generously to others needs. We have received the greatest kindness that anyone can receive and we ought to know how to be kind to others. We ought to know how to be tenderhearted because we are taught by the best, Jesus Himself. Well, why should I be all these things? Because as a believer, I am sealed unto the day of redemption in Christ Jesus. Do you know Jesus as your personal Savior?
