Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries
What it means to be initiated into the secret of the mystery. Part 33. The baptism of the Spirit and the signature guarntee from God the Father.
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Through the baptism of the Spirit you have been made a new spiritual species, the church, the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, the temple of the living God.
Our eternal security as members of the Royal Family is based on the sealing ministry of God the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit is in our heart as a pledge, because you cannot understand the filling of the Spirit controls the heart and is given by God as a pledge or down payment of better things to come.
You cannot understand that the ministry of the Spirit is given the way that it is, unless you have the appropriate doctrine in your soul.
“Sealed” – noun – sphragizo = to set a seal upon something or to mark with a seal.
1. It was used in the ancient world for business transactions or business contracts.
The work for salvation is totally finished, JOH 17:4; JOH 19:30.
MAL 3:6 For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.
1SA 15:29 And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.
2. Sphragizo or the seal was also used for a sign of ownership upon horses and chariots.
1CO 6:19-20 – your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
3. Sphragizo was used for a signature for cashing checks.
4. Sealing was used to protect something that was valuable like a treasury or library.
The Old Testament saints were called the “apple of His eye,” ZEC 2:8.
MAL 3:17 “We are His jewels.”
ISA 62:3 “We are His crown of glory.”
5. Sphragizo was used to seal fruit as a sign of approval.
He has presented us “a glorious church,”
EPH 5:27, not having spot or wrinkle.
2TI 2:19 Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord abstain from evil.”
Since sealing was used in the ratification of treaties, it becomes analogous to the doctrine of reconciliation, in which man is reconciled to God through the death of His son.
There are two guarantees of our portfolio of invisible assets: the sealing ministry of the Holy Spirit at salvation and the indwelling of Christ as the Shekinah glory.
2CO 1:21-22 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.
Pledge – noun arraboon = pledge, a down-payment in advance as security for the rest: a guarantee, a guarantee for the completion of a transaction or pledge.
Our security from the baptism of the Spirit is also based upon the character of God.
Through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, God has put His “seal” on us.
“Does God fully accept me?”
“If so, upon what basis does He do so?”
ROM 5:1 Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
COL 1:20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
When you are not walking in the Spirit you are in the flesh: you have turned to the old man which was crucified on the cross, ROM 6:6.
You have to be restored to fellowship, and when you are, you find your acceptance with God unchanged and unchangeable.
EPH 1:6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
Our satisfaction can only spring from and rest in His satisfaction.
It is from God to us, not from us to God.
When the Holy Spirit reasons with man, He does not reason from what man is for God, but from what God is to man.
Thank God, He has accepted us in His Son, and upon this fact we must rest our faith.
As in justification, our acceptance is by grace alone.
Grace, once bestowed, is not withdrawn: for God knew all the human failures and sins beforehand: His action was independent of them, not dependent upon them.
To believe, and to consent to be loved while unworthy, that is the great secret to the spiritual life.
To refuse to make resolutions and vows; for that is to trust in the flesh.
To expect to be blessed, though realizing more and more your lack of worth.
To rely on God’s chastening [child training] hand as a mark of His kindness.
To hope to be better for acceptance is to fail to see yourself in Christ only.
To be disappointed with yourself, is to have believed in yourself.
To be discouraged is unbelief – as to God’s purpose and plan of blessing for you.
To be proud, is to be blind! For we have no standing before God, in ourselves.
The lack of divine blessing, therefore, comes from unbelief, and not from failure of devotion.
To preach devotion first, and blessing second, is to reverse God’s order, and preach law, not grace.
Fear, too, has a place in Christianity, but God has higher and more effective motivations than fear, and one of these is love.
2TH 2:16-17, Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word.