Today on Real Life Radio. In that moment of time, there was a stamp laid upon your heart, and at the same time in heaven, and you were recorded once and for all. And you, you may doubt that event in your life sometimes. The fact of the matter is, the Holy Spirit was there when you were born. This is Real Life.
Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibs. I'm David J. Thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God's Word, the Bible. Hey, my friends! Come with me on our Bold Faith Hawaii cruise, June 12 to the 19th, 2027.
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Once again, that's the Bold Faith Hawaii Cruise, June 12th through the 19th, 2027. For more information, go to jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com. On today's edition of Real Life Radio. Pastor Jack continues his series called "The Book of Ephesians" and a message titled "Are You Sealed by the Holy Spirit, Part Two." Ephesians is a letter that the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus, showing every believer who they really are in Christ.
And here, Paul reminds us that the moment we come to Jesus, we not only belong to Him, but His love is woven into our hearts. You see, when we trusted Christ, the Holy Spirit sealed us as His own. There's no guessing, no striving, and no wondering if we've done enough. It's a done deal, stamped and settled once and for all.
So today, Pastor Jack teaches that being sealed by the Holy Spirit means we belong to the Lord completely, just like a treasure marked with the Master's seal. Nobody can tamper with what belongs to Him.
Now, with his message called "Are You Sealed by the Holy Spirit?" Part two. Here's Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs. Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter one. You you might be asking, how long are we going to be in Ephesians one?
There's rumblings in the church. There's gossip. When will we get out of Ephesians chapter one? I don't know. I can't promise you anything.
I. It's the one of the greatest chapters in all of the Bible, and we've come to the greatest verses in probably the book. And last week together we kicked off verse thirteen. We'll complete verse thirteen tonight into verse fourteen, and then probably next week. Believe it or not, it's very possible that we'll complete the chapter.
And no, really, I mean that. I really do. We're We're asking the question in part two of our study: Are you sealed by the Holy Spirit? And we may mention last time together that if you're sealed by the Holy Spirit, you're going to know it. You're going to experience God's activity in your life.
You're not going to have to guess if you're sealed by the Holy Spirit of God. And it's something that every believer will have experience in their life. Are you sealed with the Holy Spirit? If you're a believer, you will be. You are, and it is that amazing thing that God does at the moment of conversion.
The Bible teaches us in the Book of Ephesians. We'll come to it later on, where we are to be continually baptized in the power of the Holy Spirit. Ephesians five eighteen over and over and over again, but that is the the Holy Spirit coming upon us for power and for victory and the Christian walk. And by the way, when we come to that study, we're going to ask the entire body all three Sunday mornings to come to the Wednesday night service. And I'm expecting that if we'll come and study that word together and take time, and we will take time to pray and to ask God to.
Baptized us again in the Holy Spirit, that we will experience the greatest thing of all. You know, a lot of people are arguing today. You know, are you are you born again?
Well, if you're born again, you'll speak in tongues. You know, that's not in the Bible. People want to argue that it happened at the Day of Pentecost. Yeah, but. When Peter and Paul and others were filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit, it says, "And then they spoke the word with boldness." And you can chase all of those avenues out to your heart's content.
The bottom line of it all is, if you are filled with the Holy Spirit, where He's governing your life, you know what's going to be the main prominent thing of that fact will be the love of the Spirit in your life—the fruit of the Spirit, which is, I believe, love. And if you have the love of the Holy Spirit in your life, all of the other things are going to follow: peace, mercy, all of these things that are connected to the Holy Spirit, all the fruits of the Spirit. But that is a subsequent event that will happen to those who are sealed by the Holy Spirit. And so, what does it mean? And then from here tonight, we'll get into.
What is this guarantee that we have in the Holy Spirit? Verse thirteen, it says, "In Him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. In whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possessions, to the praise of His glory." And so, are you sealed with the Holy Spirit? What does it mean?
We're asking that question. To be sealed with the Holy Spirit, and thinking about that, maybe you can relate to this story. But personally, with you, you don't have to lean on my story. Maybe you have your own story concerning the birth of your firstborn child. And we were there.
We were there to see her birth. She can come to us and say, "I don't know if I'm really your child. You know, I don't quite look like you." And, well, you know what? I know that you're our child. Oh, I don't know.
You know, what if this or what if that or what if you found me somewhere? No, you're our child.
Well, how do you know? Because I was there when you were born, and the Holy Spirit was there the day that you were born. When the Holy Spirit was waiting alongside the the wings, the corridors, and you said, "Lord, come into my life." Jesus saved me. He just stepped right on in. He just took right on over.
And in that moment of time, there was a stamp laid upon your heart, and at the same time in heaven, and you were recorded once and for all. And you, though you may doubt that event in your life, sometimes the fact of the matter is the Holy Spirit was there when you were born, and it's a glorious thing what the Lord does when we come to Him. It says here in the latter portion of verse thirteen, it says, "You were sealed with the Holy Spirit." This word "sealed" means to be stamped with a signet ring, or to be personally embossed or marked. It is for security. It is for preservation.
It is the mark of genuineness or ownership. All of that meaning in that little word "sealed" isn't that amazing? You were sealed by the Holy Spirit. And what does all this mean? What kind of language was Paul using here?
Well, you got to remember, he's in the area, or he's writing to the area of the Ephesian church. And we just came through the book of Acts. Remember the port of Puteoli? All you Italians corrected me. After those services, and I'm still pronouncing it wrong.
I can't remember how it went, but I I do remember this. I'm supposed to move my hand when I say it, but you know that great port, the vessels from all around the world, the ships would bring in these goods, and there was a place there called the Free Market, and it's rather amazing. And as the ships came in and unloaded goods from all over the world, and people would begin to buy and to barter and bargain back and forth, and hands would be waving and transactions are taking place in this free market. As the ships were unloading all of their goods, there would be those who were walking around, though quite stately and quite comfortable in the midst of all of the rush and the hubbub in this great port that the freight's coming in. And these guys were buyers for their masters or for their employers.
And the culture in that time, if you were wealthy and if you had the resources. You would dispatch some of your buyers to various places in the known world, and they would be looking for that very item or things that they knew would catch your eye. And they had authority to buy for you. William Randolph Hearst. Have you ever been to the Hearst Castle?
If you've never been, you gotta you ought to go see it. You should make time to see it. It's pretty amazing. William Randolph Hearst. True story.
Heard about this Rembrandt painting that he wanted to buy. Heard about it, read up on it, and he saw it in an article. And he sent his buyers out around the world to find it. They were gone for three and a half years. They came back and they said, "We have searched all the records.
We have been everywhere concerning this Rembrandt that you're looking for." And we have found it nowhere out there in the world. Can't find it. He says, "I've got to have it." And they say, "Well, Mr. Hurst, the fact of the matter is, it's in your warehouse. You've had it for years.
You bought it a long time ago." See, the buyer knew what he would like. Heard about it before, went out and did the transaction and brought it home. In this great seaport, there would be those making a free market exchange. Hey, I'll take that. I'll take that one.
I'll take five of those. But there was the buyer. The buyer would be standing there, and he would calmly and peacefully be looking, looking at an ah. There it is. Oh, there it is, right over there.
Walk over there, and he would take that crate or that very item. And then his servants would come, and they would cart that item by camel or by caravan all the way to where the owner was at, and he would take possession of that good. And how did that work?
Well, that buyer in that place, somewhere in far distant lands, would see that item and say that that's exactly what my master wants, and would go up there and would put a down payment on that item. But not only that, that item would be wrapped up, and there would be a string or rope tied around that item. And they would heat up some wax and put the wax at the intersection of those strings. You know where you put your finger to tie the knot, right there. And they would take the signet ring of the master and stamp that ring into that hot wax.
And if you broke that seal, it was punishable by death. Just with the down payment, then the seal, the transaction was settled, and the owner, wherever he might be, would await the reception or the taking or the delivery of the purchased possession. That's why, when the goods arrived in port, there was no franticness on the side of the buyer, the agent for the owner. He simply claimed it, got the man carted it off to where the owner was. It was sealed.
It was stamped with the seal of that owner, and it meant protection. It meant payment. It meant delivery from start to finish. It was complete. And Paul, in this Ephesian city, to this church in Ephesus, said to them, "You are sealed by the Holy Spirit." And they all went, "Oh man!" Let's read that line one more time in this letter.
Can you read that part again? Have you ever gotten a letter like that? Can you read that again? I cannot read any writing unless it's printed out on my computer. I just can't read it.
And women write so nice and so fancy, and I I can never read that writing. It's so fancy. Is that a is that an S or an or F? What is that? You know, it's got to be printed out.
You know, for me. And so I'll often say, Lisa, can you read this to me? It's so fancy. I can't read this. And she'll read it, and you come across something, and it's you know.
Jack, I think you've lost some weight, and it's like, can you read that again? Yeah, one more time. And it's something that you know means something to you. And so they must have said, you know what? We understand what it means to be sealed by the Holy Spirit, just by the word He used.
We can all relate to that. Can you say it one more time? Can somebody read that one more time? We're sealed. What a beautiful thing!
You're listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. To learn more about this ministry or to catch up on some previous episodes, go to jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com. And now let's get back to today's message. Once again, here's Pastor Jack.
By the way, God's going to do that again. And he's doing it now. Praise the Lord in many lives, but in the tribulation period, to see a little example of this, God's going to do it again with His great servants during the tribulation period. Revelation seven, verse three, it says, "Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads." God will seal His servants. Same words, stamp them.
They're going to be marked out for God. But verse thirteen begins the entire redemptive process laid out before us, and it will culminate in verse fourteen. It is so fantastic. We saw last week where it says that there is the hearing of the gospel. By the way, that's the work that we ought to be doing all the time.
We're coming up on a work to go evangelize, get the word out there. We all responded by hearing the gospel at some point, time of our lives. Hearing the gospel, you heard it somehow. Isn't that amazing? And the moment you heard the truth, you responded.
Now you may have heard the gospel presentation many times before, but there was a moment in time when you heard the gospel, and it clicked, and you went, "Man, that's what I need to do. I need to choose Christ." You heard the gospel. It says there that you believed. And then now it says that you were sealed, this great transaction that took place, and so let's go on. Sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise.
What does this mean? Why don't you turn to Luke 24? Hold your finger right here in Ephesians and go a little bit to the left to Luke 24. Luke 24 to verse. Forty six.
Luke twenty four forty six. Then he said to them, Jesus, thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day. He's talking to the Emmaus Road disciples. And that repentance, verse forty-seven, and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things.
Behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you. But tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are indewed or baptized with power. From on high, he's talking about the Holy Spirit being the promise. Jesus said earlier on in John's Gospel, "I will send you the promise." So, what is the promise? Listen.
Let the Bible be the commentary on the Bible. You can open up a lot of commentaries, and they're going to tell you what the promise is. Jesus tells you who the promise and what the promise is. It is the Holy Spirit.
So in verse thirteen, it says that you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. He's not only speaking about the Holy Spirit and His work, what He does. Jesus said He'll come, but the very promise that is made to us, it is the Holy Spirit who will bring to pass the promises of God in our life. Isn't that a credible thing? It's not you.
Somebody makes us a promise, and then that promise is possibly in jeopardy. We really want it. I promise you, I'll do it. Oh, good. You know what he promised?
Oh, I'm so excited.
Well, what happens if there's a little bit of wavering? You know, would you promise? We'll so easily, quickly take the words of men. And just have absolute peace. You know what?
You gave me His word, and I'm just going to rest in that. And well, God's given us His word, and what do we do? We read the promises. Oh Lord, are you really going to do it? Oh God, has He ever broken a promise?
And yet we run around like a chicken with our heads cut off. We're so funny. But somebody will say, "I promise, I'll be there at five." It's five ten, five twenty. Jesus says, "I'll be there," and He's there every time. I'll do this.
I'll fulfill that because He has said so, and the Holy Spirit will see to it. Promise. This is a word to make to mean to make announcements. The Holy Spirit of announcement, the Holy Spirit of guarantee, of pledge, of assurance. The Holy Spirit of assurance, and its announcing not only this.
Listen, the seal is a tangible thing. He stamps the Holy Spirit's ownership on our heart, and then the Holy Spirit turns around and makes a proclamation, a promise. And that's the meaning of the verse that says the spirit of God bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God. What is He saying to us? He's speaking words of insurance to us.
Did I say insurance? Assurance. Maybe insurance too, right? Fire insurance. Thou shalt not burn.
You know. Promise. It's given us promise, given us a pledge, and by the way, this is really a this is very precious because it speaks of a wedding promise. We're going to get more into this because the words are aligned this way, but it goes with this kind of thinking, and Paul is using these words if. If I were engaged to a woman, that engagement first began with the asking, and then the ring is taken, and and and you know, will you marry me?
Yes, there goes the ring, and you know, why do we even do that? That ring is a an announcement. It's a promise that you're spoken for, you're taken, and listen. When love is involved, that that bride to be is very glad to get that ring because there's love there. Oh, I've got the ring.
Oh, yes, ring's on there, and you know they drive around the window down, and it's they catch it on the curtains, and they rip sweaters with it, and it's out there, and well. They're proud, you know. I'm spoken for, and that's really precious. I think that's beautiful, and and and that's a. I think that's the kind of pride that God loves.
I'm spoken for. I'm taken, and it's an announcement. Hey guys, back off.
Now that was the bridegroom speaking, the groom to be. You put that ring on there, and it's basically, hey, butt out. This is my babe. And you know that's a great thing. Spoken for.
The word can mean, in the context of marriage, it means that I have pledged to her my wealth, but that's what the word means. My poverty. I have pledged to her my possessions. And I have pledged to her my love, and I have pledged to her my protection. I have pledged to her my security.
The thing is, it speaks of listen, gals and guys. It speaks of ownership. He owns me. And people go, Oh man, I can't believe he said that. And oh, what a what a chauvinistic statement!
Listen, if you think like that, you got to get your brain cleaned. You know, we've been so polluted by the world. If somebody loves you, if a young man loves you, if a man loves you the way you're supposed to be loved, the greatest thing in the world is for you to be under his protection, security, wealth, possessions, and ownership. That's what the word means. I'm his.
Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hughes here on Real Life Radio. With his message called "Are You Sealed by the Holy Spirit?" Part two. Thanks for being with us today. You know this message is part of Pastor Jack's series called "The Book of Ephesians," a series through Paul's letter to the Ephesians, discovering the riches, the walk, and the warfare of every believer. And we'll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.
Do you need encouragement, clarity, and solid teaching for everyday life? At JackHibs.com, you'll find sermons, podcasts, devotionals, and streaming content designed to help you grow in your faith. Visit JackHibs.com today and stay connected to what matters most. Hey, I'm very excited to promote this new book by Dr. Tim LaHaye.
Not only a mentor of mine, but a precious friend, he has written a book: How to Study Bible Prophecy for Yourself. Remember, Dr. Tim LaHaye is the one that brought you the remarkable Left Behind series. I bet with all of your knowledge of Bible prophecy, there's still a hole somewhere. And this book is going to help you as he walks you through how to study Bible prophecy for yourself.
How to study Bible prophecy for yourself? Get it for a gift of. Any amount at jackhibs.com. Hey, thank you again so much for listening. And if you'd like to hear or see more of what we do here, you can always go to jackhibbs.
dot com for all the latest on what's going on with this ministry. And please, if you're ever in the Southern California area, come see us at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills. We'd love to see you there in person. It has been so good to be with you today, and I pray you find yourself in the grace and. Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.
See you on the next episode. This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you, our listeners. Visit us at jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com. Until next time, Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life Radio wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in His Word.
We'll see you next time here on Real Life Radio.
