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Shall we continue in Ephesians? Perhaps we could begin reading at verse 7. Ephesians chapter one beginning at verse 7.
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace, wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in himself.
That in the dispensation of the fullness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.
That we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth.
The gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of His glory.
Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the Saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom in revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened. That you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the Saints. And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward, who believe according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised him from the dead, and set him?
At His own right hand, in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. And hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that fulfill it All in all.
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Her brother alluded to the fact that this term redemption has two thoughts connected with it. Two aspects you might say. One is purchase and the other is redemption and all of these terms you'll notice that there's an underlying thought.
That the Spirit of God is communicating to us, and so to be purchased really denotes the fact that we have new ownership. We're not our own. We're bought with a price. What was the price? The blood of Christ. And we're redeemed. What's the difference?
It Brother Phil mentioned, it has to do with liberty. You not only purchase, you not only have a new master, but you have liberty in the presence of the one who paid the price.
And not only liberty in his presence, but liberty in the presence of the Father. Then you have forgiveness of sins in verse 7 as well as really speaks of the condition that you had. You were once guilty before God, guilty, proven guilty.
But now God looks at you, the cleansing of the precious blood of Christ is being applied and you're cleansed, you're forever cleansed. He looks at you, He says not guilty. And so when it comes to redemption, there is those two things that we have been purchased. And it's good to notice the Lord Jesus spoke of this in Matthew 13. He speaks of the purchase.
I.
In verse 44, the game the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field.
Which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. So there was a transaction made, there was a purchase made. And perhaps we might say, the greatest aspect of the work of Christ in connection with the sin is the purchase of the whole.
Of creation you might say, and he purchased it for himself, the price was blood. And then it says later on in verse 45 that he bought that one Pearl of great price.
Bought it for himself, paid the price, sold all that he had, didn't spare anything that he might have it. And then if we turn to, I think it's second Peter chapter 2, just a one passage of Scripture. We could turn to several.
That speak of the purchase.
Second Peter chapter 2 and verse one. But there were false apostles also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privilege shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift, swift destruction. And so the Lord Jesus has bought the field and all that is in it, every person.
Belongs to Him by right of purchase. They don't all own Him as their rightful owner. They actually in fact deny that He owns them and that He paid a price to acquire them. But you and I, by the grace of God, have acknowledged that He paid the price. And not only paid the price, but He set us at liberty in His presence. So to be redeemed was not only to be purchased, but be set at liberty.
And a complete peace with God.
Before Christ, in Christ, in Christ, place of acceptance, before God and perfect liberty. The Jews never had that liberty. We'll come together, Lord willing, tomorrow morning we'll break bread. We'll remember the Lord in his death. We'll come into the very presence of the Lord.
Who could do that in the Old Testament times? The high priest, once every year He came, and not without blood, and he was afraid when he came. But you and I have the liberty as those that are redeemed to come to the very presence of the Lord. And we're not afraid of it either, if we're walking in a path, a clean path.
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Our standing is sure, and certainly I've enjoyed the thought that redemption makes us the Lord's.
Freed man, but purchase makes us the Lord's bond man, and so we are delivered from sin and Satan. And what a wonderful deliverance this is through redemption.
And that we are purchased by blood to learn that Acts 20 church is the purchase of his blood. We belong to Christ individually, collectively and.
We need to recognize that we aren't set free just to follow our own will, but to be subservient to the Lord Jesus. And really that is liberty to do His will. It's not a ******* that's difficult, it's a happy service that we can do.
For the Lord Jesus, your pastor Paul, you know when he was converted on the road to Damascus.
It was the second question, Yes, Lord, what will thou have me to do? He calls Jesus Lord. And so it's leaving on the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it? That brings salvation. And I believe that faith is manifested in a life that's submissive to Jesus.
We have, we've been given a nature, haven't we, that loves to be subject.
To the will of God.
And to bring glory to Christ, they have a nature.
It's been given to us, it's our possession and we use it. Then God receives glory. Dispensation of the fullness of times, of course, is the millennial period and.
And Christianity.
We now have.
A full revelation.
Of all God's purposes.
And councils the mystery of his will. Mystery is not in the sense of anything mysterious.
But it is a secret for various mysteries in the scriptures, it's a secret.
That was not.
Divulged or made known to man.
In past dispensations, but now?
This dispensation of grace.
It has been fully unfolded to us. God has come out in all the fullness of His heart to make known His will, His desire for His church, something that was hidden in God from a past eternity. It was hid in God. There's types and shadows in the Old Testament, but no revelation.
Of.
The position of the Church of God and the blessings which we now have in Christianity.
Thank you the blood of Christ that mentions here, It not only has redeemed us, a price was paid for our redemption, but in Romans we have.
Look for Romans chapter 5.
And we have in verse 8.
God commanded his love toward us, and that while we have sinners, quite died for us.
Much more than being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
Not only did the blood of Christ purchase, our souls redeemed us.
But it also gave us justification before God. We're able to stand before God just as we had never sinned.
Cleared from every death payment was made in full and in Ephesians chapter 2 we have.
Verse 13.
Now in Christ Jesus used ye who sometimes were far off. That's us Gentiles.
Are made nigh by the blood of Christ. It's the blood of Christ that has brought us near to God. We are able to sit here today in his presence because a price has been paid for our redemption, The blood of Christ. Without the shedding of blood, it says there's no forgiveness.
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And so it's the blood. God looks in the mercy seat and he sees the blood of his beloved Son, and that clears the center from all debt and has put us in the position our standing before. God is in his Son through that shed blood.
So he's come out in blessing as God and Father.
Chosen us to be before Him, suitable to his presence. Predestinated us to the closest relationship we could have to Him.
In that, he's been glorified.
Glorified in His grace, and in that we have been the recipients of the rich treasures of His grace, even to the giving of His beloved Son. Our sins seem to spoil everything. But God, as it were, retreated into the depths and resources of His own heart. And who was there? The Son who dwelt there from all eternity, and He sent him into this world, the deep riches of His grace.
Boundless resources of his grace and he sent his Son, shed his blood, put away our sin. Every cloud between us and our God and Father has been removed and he brings us into that place in this chapter and he takes away every anxiety that could be there. And he says, now I want to tell you about my purpose and my well beloved son, I want to tell you what I'm intending to do.
What everything, everything is about what everything hangs on the purpose of the ages and my beloved son. But until we're in that place, free of anxiety, fully accepted, not a cloud between US and him, He could not unfold that. But in that place now he says, now I want to tell you, here's what he does to a son. He confides in him, He confides in his son. He commits to his son the riches.
Of Christ, all that he has purposed in Christ and his well beloved Son, and now he's going to unfold that.
In this chapter, and then at the end of the chapter when we see Christ raised from the dead and seated and heavily placed, he said, I'm applying the same pattern to you who are dead in trespasses and sins and raising you up to the same heights of glory. That's where he's going to go with this. But he starts out with this eternal purpose and his beloved Son on which everything hangs like a wagon wheel. The center is the hub. If you didn't have that, the whole thing.
Falls apart.
Everything rests on that center. All of its structure, all of its pieces are tied into that center. That's Christ and God's purpose in Christ in heaven and earth.
So He wanted us to be at perfect peace, knowing His heart and all of the details that are given to us are so that we can be at peace, that we understand His heart of love and favor towards us. And so He says through His blood were redeemed, and because of His blood were forgiven. Will He ever remind you or I of one sin in heaven?
At the judgment seat of Christ, He'll review our lives.
Those things, those motives that we had and what we did, how we did them, what we said, from the time we were born to the time that we left this scene, our lives are going to be reviewed. But those of us that are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, who says our sins are forgiven, not forgotten, but he has the power never to remember them ever again. So it says their sins and their iniquities will. I remember no more.
And so the fact of the matter is that when you find yourself in the presence of the Savior.
He'll never tell you, oh, that one sin. I want to tell you about that one sin. I just know He'll never remind us not of one sin. The works that we did, the motives of our works, the words that we spoke will be reviewed and rewarded. Those things that are not for His glory will be put on the burden pile and they'll be gone. We'll never remember them again, I don't believe, but He wanted us to know that we have forgiveness.
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Presently we are forgiven, we are no longer guilty and there's nothing that we can do to make ourselves guilty again.
It's impossible. It's an act of God to forgive, and He has the power never, ever to remember those sending iniquities again. And so that gives a piece that gives us peace. And His desire is that we would have liberty in His presence and our consciences would be at rest. That's what they didn't have in the Old Testament economy. They could go and offer a sacrifice for one sin.
Put the hand on the animal's head and in figure the sin would be transferred to the head of the animal, and then the animal had to be killed. The bloodshed for one sin. And it says it's, I think it's Leviticus chapter 4 says and it it shall be forgiven him.
Looking forward to the cross and not work being accomplished. But that one sin was forgiven. But that's not what took place at the cross of Calvary. At the cross of Calvary, all my sins were dealt with on a righteous basis. They're all forgiven, every single one of them. And so now I have peace. And that's really what he brings out. In Hebrews particularly, we could just turn to Hebrews.
Chapter 9 perhaps?
Verse 14, Hebrews 9. Verse 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience? That's the effect that it has on the believer. It purges the conscience from dead works to serve the living God. And so we have purged consciences. Our consciences know.
The Spirit of God tells us that our sins are forgiven and we have peace with God. That's a fabulous thing to enjoy in our souls, to think of the love of God to tell us this. The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin, all nevertheless.
That being so.
Umm.
I've been thinking of those verses.
Having an abundant entrance into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
That's not an abundant entrance into heaven. We're all going to have that.
Regardless of how we have walked down here, we'll all have an abundant entrance into heaven. Not some are going to have a meager entrance there.
So that does not refer to heaven there. It refers to the coming Kingdom, which we are looking at here, the time when the Lord will have His rightful place and He won't take the Kingdom and the inheritance, which is the material aspect here, until He has the church with him. Inheritance is spoken of in two ways. As we know, there's a material size, which is the thought here in verse 11.
But there's also the spiritual side. We have a spiritual inheritance.
The material site has to do with this earth, and we're going to share with the price. All that he has is Son of Man. We're going to be the consort, the queen with the Lord on his throne. He's our heavenly bridegroom and so.
The abundant entrance depends upon our walk down here, brother.
If we are careless in our walk down here.
And we're not devoted to the Lord and his interests. We're not going to have an abundant entrance into the everlasting Kingdom. To quote that exactly, look at first Feeder chapter one second Peter.
Yes, it is.
You get the.
Expression there.
Peter.
Chapter one, verse 8 For if these things be in you and abound.
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They make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful.
In the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And going down 11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But the apostle is saying is, if you are careful as to your walk down here, and you manifest these beautiful moral graces that Peter speaks of, and there's separation from the world, you're going to have an abundant entrance.
When the Kingdom is established, you're going to have a place there according to your walk down here.
So that's something that should exercise us. Our place in the coming Kingdom will be, according to our walk down here, how careful we should be to.
Independence upon the Lord, knowing that all is going to come out at the judgment seat of Christ. Thank you.
This was a thing that was not known in the Old Testament.
So it's something revealed to us now, a mystery that is made known to us now, not known.
Before its revelation.
In the Old Testament they knew that Messiah was coming. They expected him to set up the Kingdom and to reign over this world and the Gentiles will be brought into subjection to Israel. Those things they knew that that Messiah would be head over all things and not only the earth but heaven as well was something not spoken of in the Old Testament. That was something that was not revealed.
Until it was revealed to the Apostle Paul and then the other apostles subsequently, I believe.
It was a secret, and so this was something new, that this coming one was going to have all things in two spheres headed up in himself. Those who opposed dispensational truth say, well, you have a problem. You say that God has two purposes.
You say that God has two purposes, one in the earth of the earthly people and one in heaven with the heavenly people. But we hold that God has one purpose, one purpose. And of course what they hold is that God's one purpose is the salvation of man.
God only has one purpose. It's not true that He has two. He has one purpose, and that purpose does not center in lost man and His salvation. That purpose centers in His well beloved Son, who He is going to exalt in two spheres, heaven and earth. God has one purpose that's going to be developed and manifest in two spheres, heaven and earth, but it is a single.
Uniting purpose, And it is the uniting theme that threads the entire Word of God together into a unified whole.
Is His purpose in Christ and in the administration of the fullness of times, and all the other times have run their course.
There is going to be 1 grand administration that is going to be headed up in Christ. It's called the administration or the dispensation of the fullness of times. All the other times of testing and the present day that we're in, they've all run their course and the time comes when the Lord Jesus will be manifested as head over all things for God's glory. Do you not want to know what God's thinking about?
You read it in this verse. This is what God is thinking about. This is what he's been thinking about from before this world ever was. This is what he's still thinking about. He says, I want to tell you what I'm thinking about. I want to bring you into. I want you to know what I'm thinking.
And he brings us into his confidence. He says this is what I'm thinking. This is what I'm.
Planning to do and so both in heaven and earth, united system of glory for God's glory in his well beloved Son. Everything that man has failed him, everything that man has failed in, he is going to take up and make good in himself for God's glory.
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Truth is that He wanted the Church to be there with him and to be associated with Him, to enjoy it with Him. He will be the head over all things. And so it says here in verse 10 that he might gather together to one in one. All things should read in the Christ, both which are in heaven or in the heavens, and which are on earth, even in Him. And so when it speaks of the Christ, it really refers to Christ and the Church.
Unitedly And so you and I will be with him and we will see him in that place of headship and be at his side when he is glorified in this way and God is going to have this His way. He said, I think it was Brother Harry Hale used to say that this was the central verse to really understanding the whole of the Scriptures. This is what God had in mind and He tells us in a nutshell what the whole purpose was.
To have this world and all of the things that have been created in it, it was all for His glory, which both which are in heaven or in the heavens and which are on earth. Even in Him. He's the central figure. And so I think Brother Steve mentioned it's not man. Man isn't the focus. We come into blessing as a result of the plan that God had, but that wasn't the focus. The focus was Christ and His glorification.
That's the focus.
I think it's important to see that there's maybe some confusion that fullness of times is not the same as fullness of time in.
Galatians 4.
4/4 the fullness of the time was come. That is, man's probation for 4000 years had come to an end.
And God is no longer proving man or testing man. That's the fullness of time when the Lord appeared. After all, God's culture and testing of man was a dismal failure.
But the fullness of times, that's a different, that's a different expression. That is the period as explained, when the Lord Jesus will have his rightful place not only on earth, but in the whole universe.
And that is all part of the mystery, as Robert expressed. Often have I heard times without number from our brother Heyhold. HEH. This is the key to the whole Bible, verse 10, the purpose of God, the glorification of His Son, and that we He's going to share it all with us. Why are we worried, brethren, about material things down here?
Why do we live and worrying and try to accumulate things down here? It's all going to pass away. We're going to share the whole universe with the Lord. Oh, that's the inheritance in its material aspect that we have. I think that that that's the.
The thought in Ephesians one is sharing the material heritage that has to do with the earth, but we also have a spiritual inheritance which has to do with heaven. Thank you.
The promise that.
That God made with Abraham was an unconditional province, a promise both to the the Jews and also to the Gentile for God's people, Israelites. It was a promise made to Abraham by God that in his seed all the nations of the world should be blessed.
Well we have the development of it here and we see the seed here that blesses eternally all the nations eternal blessing for men on the earth and in heaven is Christ. So it's it was a mystery and that in that sense that it wasn't developed yet, but we have it in the in the promise that God made to Abraham was an unconditional promise made both to.
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Israelites to Abraham and the sea, but Gentiles the nations.
And so all the nations of the world will be blessed.
Through the faith of Abraham.
Might be helpful to look at.
That the Lord had. It was a seed plot, we know that.
All of God's purpose.
27 So God created man in his.
Over.
The head of the first race of man was given authority over the earth, and he ruined everything because of sin in the fall.
Having you that his man would reign over all.
And I.
It says in Second Corinthians chapter 5 that we're a new creation in Christ.
And so we're a part of that. So the Lord Jesus, the head of that new creation race will rule over all, not only earth, but the heavens too. And so that's the description is our brother John said of his material inheritance is all created things. That's his inheritance. It's not his church. He didn't inherit a bride.
He's going to inherit the all of created things right now they're not the creation isn't set at liberty. It has been purchased. The transaction was paid, the price was paid, but it still awaits its redemption. That's what he speaks of in Romans chapter 8. It will be set at liberty and when it is set at liberty, you and I are going to reign with Christ over it. And so that's really we're jumping ahead a little bit, but in.
Our chapter.
It says, verse 13, we could read in whom ye also trusted. He's Speaking of the Jews thereafter, that he heard the word of truth, or the Gentiles, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also that after that ye believe, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of his glory.
So he made a purchase at the Cross.
Can he enjoy it right now?
No, it's in rebellion against him and it's suffering the effects of corruption. But it will be set at liberty, it will be redeemed. And so you and I are going to enjoy that. And how do you know? And I know that we're going to enjoy that inheritance with the Lord.
Were indwelled with the Spirit of God. We have the earnest of the Spirit. We have the down payment.
And because we're indwelled with the Spirit of God, we know that we're going to.
Have that inheritance until the redemption of the purchase, possession under the praise of His glory. So.
It's a broad plan that God had and he brings us into the knowledge of it. It wasn't something that was developed after man sin. It was a secret that God had in his heart from the past eternity. And now he's at liberty, so to speak, to unfold it and to tell us about it because we have the capacity to understand it, to enjoy it, and to walk in the good of it. I wonder if we could just turn back over to that chapter in Romans 8, just to we're we're having the inheritance.
God's purpose of Christ claiming his inheritance. But we have some real nice verses here that help us to understand our our place there. In verse 17 it says, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so be we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory.
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Which shall be revealed in US and then it goes on to speak about that what you were saying that creation is set free from the sufferings and the effects that the 1St man brought in responsive and failure of his responsibility brought on the creation.
But what we are enduring right now is not the possession of the inheritance that we.
Are taking part as Co heirs with Christ right now we're experiencing the suffering of a of a world that is rejecting the authority of Christ and the effects of sin and so.
We we endure suffering with the anticipation of the coming glory.
Everything that we pass through.
Can be.
Softened or can can be.
We can be strengthened with the thought of the future glory. And the Lord wants us. He wants us to walk by faith. These are the truths God has said before us. And so he's he's given us these promises that if we lay hold of his, his plans for the future glory of Christ and our association with him, it will help us to go through the sufferings that.
Were called to go through.
So mostly we've talked about the Earth.
What about heaven and over all things both which are in heaven and which are on earth?
Turn to a verse in Matthew 24 and verse 30. Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn. They shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds. From one end of heaven to the other he shall send.
Whose angels?
His angels.
The angels of the Son of Man. They were the angels of God.
But now they're the angels of the Son of Man.
And Paul says to the Corinthians, Know ye not that ye shall judge angels? Not in the sense of fallen angels, consigning them to the lost eternity, but the sense of administration.
You know, when a new president is elected, there's a change of administration. And those that belong to the old administration, they move out and others take their place and there's a new order of things. There is a coming tremendous change of administration that is going to take place. He was made for some little while inferior to the angels, crowned with glory and honor and right now.
Because of man fall into sin, God has committed the administration of this world into the hands of angels, and they watch over the elect.
But there's a day coming when there's going to be a change of administration, and those angels are going to become the angels of the Son of Man, and we reigning with him. They will be under us. And so all things not only which are on earth but which are in heaven, are going to come under the dominion.
Of the Son of Man.
The Jew today does not believe there is any such thing as a man in heaven.
No such thing. Never will be, never could have been. Well, what about Enoch and Elijah? God killed him on the way up.
No such thing as a man in heaven. No such thing that a man would ever reign over a heavenly sphere of things. But he's going to. There is a man in heaven.
Spirit, soul and body just like you and I. And God has purpose to put everything under His feet in a coming day, even the angels subject to him.
A little bit of that you just want to turn over to 1St Corinthians 15.
Might be nice to read it in connection with.
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What Christ is his work that is going on now and will go on right on through the tribulation period that's to come on through the millennial reign, 1000 years of Christ and then right into the eternal state. But it's all God's accomplishments will be accomplished in Christ. It says in verse 20 of.
1St Corinthians 15 But now is Christ risen from the dead?
And become the first fruits of them that slept.
He's ahead of the new creation, For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For is an Adam all die. Even so in Christ shall all be made alive, but every man in his own order. Christ the first fruits afterwards they are Christ at his coming.
Day of God then come at the end, when he shall have delivered up the Kingdom of true God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority and power. For he must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death, for he that put all things under his feet. But when he says all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted.
That which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall he. Then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be All in all.
So all things that God had intended for this planet, for this scene down here before sin came in, in the Garden of Eden, His purposes that He purposed for man are all going to be accomplished in His beloved Son. The Lord Jesus is going to clean everything up for his, for God the Father, and in the end, God will have His way.
That which he purposed for man here on this earth for his own pleasure, He will accomplish it. There's going to be accomplished in the eternal state of things and it's all leading up to that. We're almost, I believe, right at the point of the tribulation when the rapture will take place and God will bring judgment in. But then you have the thousand year millennial reign, which we will reign with Christ during that time, but then you have the eternal state. Well, Lord Jesus will.
Clean everything up.
And hand hand this whole creation over to his Father and and rule.
And there will be a righteous rule for all eternity. I think it's important to see the.
The fact that.
Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
That's often applied to our forgiveness of sins. I wouldn't object to it, but in its widest application it refers to this period that we are speaking about here, when the Lord will have His rightful place as the head of the new creation race.
And.
When he will put away every trace of sin, it will be obliterated. Not during the Millennium.
Although at large measure.
Sin will not be active at that time, but in the eternal state every trace of sin will be removed. I think we only have a few minutes here and.
I don't know if we have another reading or not tomorrow. Last reading.
I was going to speak on the.
The Holy Spirit as the.
The seal that is for security.
The best illustration that I know, and I suppose it's threadbare, I go down to the market here in Bangor and.
I buy 50 sheep, all right, I take my money out, I pay whatever is required, and my hired man is with me. And I said, now remember.
These sheep belong to me.
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And so that they don't get mixed up with another flaw.
When we get home, I want you to take the branding iron and put my name on every sheep's ear.
Now that seal doesn't make the sheet my own, it's the money that I paid for them.
That makes them my own, but now I want everyone in the neighborhood to know.
Those sheep belong to me no longer to their former masters. They belong to me because they have my seal on them. You can look at it.
So when we believe the gospel, brethren.
This is really a Christian blessing when we believe in the death.
And resurrection of Christ.
Rest upon his finished work. We don't have to pray for the sealing of the Holy Spirit. We can pray to be filled with the Spirit. That's another thought. But when we believe the gospel as we have in 13 here.
God seals us with the Holy Spirit for security. That is the mark upon us if you don't have the Spirit of God.
You all are in you. You really are not Christ in the full sense of the word.
So when you have the Spirit of God, your seals for eternity.
Secure eternal security and then the inherit the earnest of the inheritance I think is already mentioned.
Is a foretaste of the glory. Now, before we enter into its fullness, the Lord has given us a forecast.
Illustration that I have heard.
Of this is several given.
OK, I'll go back to the farming analogy. Here's those sheep I have.
I say to my hired man.
That beautiful field of Clover over there.
I'm going to put them in there in a few weeks.
When I'm not ready right now.
So I want you to go in there.
And take several big armfuls of that sweet Clover and bring it out and let them have a taste of it there along the side of the barn. I'm putting them in there in a week or so. But they can have a forecast of what they're going to have in all its fullness in a short time. And that's what the earnest of the inheritance is. It's the Spirit of God again.
Bought eight years.
Until redemption, that's by power.
We spoke about redemption through the blood of Christ.
The ground of redemption, but the power has not yet been put forth. And that's what the Lord will do. But meantime.
We have the earnest. We have a foretaste of what we're going to enjoy for all eternity with the Lord. Thank you.
#18 in the back.
And glory is good, and it's low, that's why.
That's wrong.
I saw the rise and travel the world.
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The soul.