Speaker 1: All right, good evening, happy Wednesday to you.
Speaker 1: Are your bellies full, but your minds are sharp?
Speaker 1: Right, but your minds are sharp, not too full, then you get all foggy headed.
Speaker 1: Okay, wednesday nights we have this semester we've been walking through the role of the Holy Spirit so that each of us, as believers, would know the function of the Holy Spirit, so that we would be able to distinctly begin to hear his voice and to be able to tune into that.
Speaker 1: I don't know what he's doing, all right.
Speaker 1: So first week we looked at it is the role of the Spirit that completely does the work of salvation.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 1: You were lost the Scripture says you were dead in your sin and then the Spirit of God that came and opened your eyes and began to work in your heart.
Speaker 1: And then last week we looked at the permanent indwelling Holy Spirit that if you've placed your faith in Jesus Christ, have you Do you know?
Speaker 1: You can say that with confidence.
Speaker 1: The Spirit of God permanently indwells you.
Speaker 1: The fullness of the Spirit of God permanently indwells you.
Speaker 1: All right, so this evening I want to begin with a question why will you wake up tomorrow, a believer?
Speaker 1: Why will you wake up tomorrow a believer?
Speaker 1: I want you to know that if that question is answered based on your feelings, that is the most fragile ground imaginable, right?
Speaker 1: If that question is resting on your own theological training, on your own theological training, even that is some of the most fragile ground.
Speaker 1: Okay, this evening I want us to see that the answer to that is because you've been sealed in with the Holy Spirit of God.
Speaker 1: Okay, so my oldest son he was saved about six or seven and was confident of that.
Speaker 1: He really showed conviction over sin and he was saved.
Speaker 1: And a couple years later so maybe he's seven or eight, and that's bad math.
Speaker 1: Eight or nine?
Speaker 1: All right, where's Mark?
Speaker 1: There he is, don't use it, mark.
Speaker 1: I corrected myself.
Speaker 1: All right, mark, you got to watch out for Mark, okay.
Speaker 1: Okay, he is convicted over sin.
Speaker 1: And he comes to me and Elaine actually texts me.
Speaker 1: I was at work.
Speaker 1: Like Ian really needs to talk to you.
Speaker 1: He's questioning his salvation, he's working through some things.
Speaker 1: So I came home, grabbed him, we went and grabbed a bite of eat.
Speaker 1: We were at Burger King in Plainview and he begins to just question how do I know that I'm saved?
Speaker 1: How do I know?
Speaker 1: How do I know.
Speaker 1: And so he's young and I'm a father just trying to work through this with him and I'm like, listen, man, if you need to nail this down right now, like, all right, ask Jesus to be your Savior, if you want confidence that you know that.
Speaker 1: So we pray right there.
Speaker 1: All right, trust in the gospel?
Speaker 1: Right, the answer is always trust in the gospel.
Speaker 1: So he trusts in the gospel.
Speaker 1: 30 seconds later he looks at me.
Speaker 1: How do I know?
Speaker 1: The Spirit gave me a great illustration in the moment and I said listen, let's say, daddy calls you on the phone because he's at work and says hey, I picked up a football from the store and I'm going to bring it home to you at the tonight.
Speaker 1: I was like and then we hang up the phone, you could spend all afternoon worrying about that, okay.
Speaker 1: Or and he interrupted me, he goes no, no, no, I know you, I trust you.
Speaker 1: Okay, you're going to keep your word.
Speaker 1: And right then, okay, that's what he was struggling with, that assurance.
Speaker 1: Okay, listen to where we're going tonight.
Speaker 1: It is a major question of assurance.
Speaker 1: Listen to the way the Scripture speaks Ephesians, chapter 1, 13 and 14.
Speaker 1: That would be you, robbie Put it on the screen, two slides.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're past that.
Speaker 1: There we go, all right.
Speaker 1: That there we go, all right In him.
Speaker 1: Okay, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation all right, you've been saved.
Speaker 1: Having also believed, you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise who is given as a pledge of our inheritance.
Speaker 1: Okay, as a pledge of our inheritance, okay, the Spirit of God is given to you, as it says two things here, okay, the first one is a seal.
Speaker 1: Okay, a seal.
Speaker 1: Now, what does that mean?
Speaker 1: There are really two kind of descriptions in the scripture of sealing and both of them actually apply, because they kind of say in the scripture of sealing, and both of them actually apply because they kind of say the same thing.
Speaker 1: Seal is used in Matthew 27, 66 for the sealing of the tomb of Jesus' tomb.
Speaker 1: Okay, and the purpose of that right was keep locking in, okay, closing in.
Speaker 1: And then another seal that is given In Revelation 7, 3,.
Speaker 1: God puts his seal.
Speaker 1: He marks each of the believers.
Speaker 1: The believers are marked.
Speaker 1: This is also very similar to like Abraham's.
Speaker 1: Circumcision is a sign of the seal.
Speaker 1: It's a marking, it's a sign of authenticity.
Speaker 1: Okay, god marking, like a king did with his signet ring, he would seal a letter, king did with his signet ring, he would seal a letter.
Speaker 1: It both closed the letter, but simultaneously it marked it as authentic.
Speaker 1: Okay, and that's what this scripture says here, that the Holy Spirit does for you, believer.
Speaker 1: Okay, that the moment you believed this is not based on your feelings, it's not based on your theological aptitude, that the Spirit worked in you.
Speaker 1: The Spirit permanently indwells you and you have been marked as authentic and as His Secured, the package secured.
Speaker 1: And then there's a second thing that's described here.
Speaker 1: Some versions call it a guarantee.
Speaker 1: Here it says given as a pledge or a down payment, okay, a down payment on something.
Speaker 1: So imagine, for example, that I ran out of gas and I had to run to a gas station.
Speaker 1: For example, that I ran out of gas and I had to run to a gas station and that I only had enough money to purchase five gallons of gas and I'm like, look, I'm going to take this gas tank back to, I'm going to fill it.
Speaker 1: Actually, I didn't have any money, okay, but I need just a little bit of gas.
Speaker 1: And then I'm going to drive back here and I'm going to any money, okay, but I need just a little bit of gas and then I'm going to drive back here and I'm going to fill up, right, you give your word to the gas station owner and he says give me your driver's license, okay, I'll give you five dollars.
Speaker 1: Give me your driver's license, okay.
Speaker 1: Why are you going to come back to that?
Speaker 1: Because you know what a pain it is to get a new driver's license.
Speaker 1: In your mind you're like the DMV oh, no, all right, I am coming back for that.
Speaker 1: Right, it secures the payment, a down payment.
Speaker 1: Okay, you're going to come back.
Speaker 1: In that sense, that is the Spirit of God.
Speaker 1: That's what this text is talking about.
Speaker 1: There's a down payment, a deposit that has marked you and sealed you.
Speaker 1: That is the guarantee that God is yours, that you are his and he is yours.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 1: So the Spirit is what assures you.
Speaker 1: But let's take it a step further.
Speaker 1: I want to show you, because not only is the spirit a sign, is a guarantee, but I want you to see and realize.
Speaker 1: Out of Romans 8, 15, and 16, I want you to look at this.
Speaker 1: Let's start with verse 16.
Speaker 1: The spirit testifies, with our spirit, that we are God's.
Speaker 1: Okay, that is a role of the Spirit of God.
Speaker 1: Okay, so we started this series with you may not have been here, but I started with the question how do you know that God is speaking to you?
Speaker 1: Okay, this is a very important role.
Speaker 1: Okay, the Spirit of God, one of the functions Scripture describes.
Speaker 1: He speaks to your spirit, and let's see this verse.
Speaker 1: Verse 15 describes how the Spirit does not speak.
Speaker 1: Okay, the Spirit does not speak out of.
Speaker 1: You have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 1: So I know that you get tempted and you have voices that you're trying to listen to and you're trying to discern.
Speaker 1: So let me state it plainly to you okay, if it is full of condemnation, if it is full of shame, okay, if it is full of fear, that is not the voice of your Father, that is not the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: Okay, what does the voice of the Spirit sound like?
Speaker 1: Okay, well, it would be the opposite of that.
Speaker 1: Now we're going to get to the fact that the Spirit convicts.
Speaker 1: But when the Spirit convicts, the Spirit always heals, always points to the hope that is available in Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: Yes, it can be painful, that's your pride coming to terms with itself, but the Spirit never leaves you in shame and in condemnation.
Speaker 1: That is the voice of the enemy.
Speaker 1: You have to be able to discern that in your life.
Speaker 1: That is not the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: The Spirit of God is not slavery that leads you to bondage, to stay in bondage, but the Spirit speaks to you and informs you.
Speaker 1: You are His child.
Speaker 1: Yes, you need to repent of your sin, but you're His child.
Speaker 1: The Father always says come, doesn't?
Speaker 1: The Father always say come to me?
Speaker 1: That is what the voice of the Spirit sounds like.
Speaker 1: And there's a further detail the Spirit.
Speaker 1: As you get trained to hearing the Spirit and responding to the Spirit, the Spirit teaches you to cry out Abba, father.
Speaker 1: I don't have time to go into a lot of details.
Speaker 1: There was a very key moment in my life when I was wrestling with because I was going through doubts and I was going through.
Speaker 1: I was struggling with sin, through doubts, and I was going through.
Speaker 1: I was struggling with sin and I began to wonder in my own life maybe I got this thing wrong, maybe I needed a second baptism of the Holy Spirit because, like the first go-round wasn't quite enough and it's kind of like I ran out of gas.
Speaker 1: Okay, it's like maybe I need to try this again.
Speaker 1: How did I be reading a book that kind of helped me work through that?
Speaker 1: And this is what that book said, and I say it to you because it's right out of this passage.
Speaker 1: Okay, the book just began to say you know what God, I love you.
Speaker 1: You know what Jesus I love you.
Speaker 1: And in my own life, I realized the Holy Spirit was inside of me Because I knew from Scripture that was a work of Him and that is something that I go back to very often in my life.
Speaker 1: You'll go through seasons of doubt.
Speaker 1: You'll go through times of sinning and confusion.
Speaker 1: You will sin and go further than what you ever thought.
Speaker 1: You'll be very disappointed in yourself.
Speaker 1: But when I hit the reset button this is one of the key things I do I get quiet, I get alone.
Speaker 1: I'm like listen, I know if it's based on my feelings or my obedience all of those things are so messy.
Speaker 1: I can quiet my heart and sense you know what I love Jesus.
Speaker 1: I love God.
Speaker 1: He put that in me.
Speaker 1: That is the Spirit of God inside of me.
Speaker 1: That is the Spirit testifying with my spirit.
Speaker 1: You know what I love Him and it's a massive reset for me.
Speaker 1: I hope that helps you.
Speaker 1: Let's pray, heavenly Father, we do love you, father.
Speaker 1: I pray across this room that each of your children is able to do exactly that, to quiet our hearts and just to tell you yeah, god, I'm sorry I messed up, I'm sorry I've been all over the place, but I love you.
Speaker 1: And what a confirmation that has been in my life you.
Speaker 1: And what a confirmation that has been in my life that Spirit, you are inside of me and that I'm sealed and that I will make it all the way into the end, not because we are holding on to you, but because you are holding on to us.
Speaker 1: You are the promise.
Speaker 1: You are the promise that we will be delivered on that final day.
Speaker 1: Help us to walk in that truth.
Speaker 1: In Jesus' name, we pray Amen.
Speaker 1: God bless you guys.