Running To Win

Dave McAllister: Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Looking to Jesus, the founder and proctor of our faith. Seals are used for more than envelopes. Major documents are sealed to ensure authenticity. Seals speak of certainty that what's inside is genuine and permanent. Today we learn about being sealed by the Holy Spirit and what that means for every believer. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is running to win with Dr. Irwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, does the sealing of the Spirit relate to the idea of eternal security?

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Dave, the answer to your question is yes because even as you describe the sealing of the Spirit, God is saying in effect that those who are mine are marked, they are sealed and they will arrive in heaven. I want to emphasize that salvation is a free gift. You cannot earn your way to heaven. You cannot give your way to heaven. Giving is something that belongs to the people of God who do so generously and joyfully because they have been redeemed. I want you to listen carefully to the message and then after the message, I'm going to be answering a question.

What was God doing in the book of Exodus when the people of God, namely the Israelites, were able to go into Egyptian homes and the Egyptians gave them virtually all of their wealth? What was going on? Following this message, I'm going to explain that and how it relates even as we think about the future and we think about our investments. For now, I want you to listen. In his book on the Holy Spirit, Francis Chan gives this illustration. He said if I were a basketball player and I told all of my colleagues that I had had a meeting with God and that God now indwells me to make me a better basketball player, he said wouldn't you expect some improvement in my game?

I would think so. I'd expect that he'd have a better jump shot, better guard, more speed. Now we as believers say that we are inhabited by God. What difference does the Holy Spirit of God make in our life? The difference should be very obvious and huge. Today as we are learning how to live beyond ourselves by looking into the scripture and teaching the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, I have two purposes in my message. The first is to just bless us today. How many of you say I'm ready for a blessing today? Could I see your hands, please?

All right. We're all ready for a blessing. Well, you are going to be blessed so much that at the end of this message, I don't think you're going to be able to contain it, but we're going to try. All right? But there's another reason that I preach this message and that is that for those who are not yet Christians but are investigating Christianity, you have an interest in it, but you're not yet in with Jesus. I want you to listen carefully because I think it'll wet your appetite and you'll say to yourself if that's what I receive when I receive Jesus Christ, I want to receive him.

I'm praying that that will happen. The passage of scripture is Ephesians chapter 1, one of the greatest chapters in all the Bible. Ephesians chapter 1. In this passage, we can see that when God intervened in our life to save us, it was huge. You'll notice it says in verse 3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation was instituted by God. He is the one who chose us and predestinated us and and worked toward our salvation. That's what the Father did. But the son who is the second member of the Trinity at verse 7 says, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.

The Father planned redemption. The son purchased us and instituted redemption and now the Holy Spirit has been given to us to make it all real in our hearts. And that's the way the Trinity operates when it comes to the marvelous doctrine of our salvation. But our text today is very limited, only about two verses in chapter 1. It says in verse 13, in him that is in Christ, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed on him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory.

Well, let's dig deeply into this verse. The passage of scripture refers to the sealing ministry of the Holy Spirit. You know in ancient times, and this is mentioned frequently in the Old Testament, kings would take a document and then they would roll it up like a scroll, something like your graduation certificate which you couldn't find if your life depended upon it. At least I couldn't find mine. I hope I graduated from something somewhere. But you know instead of using Scotch tape then to keep it together, they would put some hot wax on it and then the king would take his ring, the insignia, and he'd put it on that hot wax right at where the paper came together and then he would send it somewhere and the recipient would know whether or not it had been tampered with.

After all, if it still had the insignia of the king, if the wax seal was not broken, he would know that it was authentic and nobody looked at it along the way. Now we use that word sealed differently today. Maybe it's something like a signature or it is the stamp like the stamp on my American passport. We also use the word seal when we have Tylenol, for example, in tamperproof seals. The idea is it's sealed in such a way that nobody should open it except the adult who purchased it. And along the way, it is not supposed to be tampered with.

This seal of the Spirit has three different meanings, all of which impinge upon us and bless our souls. First of all, the fact that we are sealed by the Holy Spirit, in fact, the spirit actually is the seal. What it means is ownership. We are owned by God. We are owned by God by virtue of our fact that we were created by God. But we're also owned by God in a special sense because Jesus actually bought us. And how much did he pay for us? Well, you know he didn't pay a $14 trillion or $16 trillion, the amount of the American debt which we really can't get our minds around.

He didn't pay with that kind of thing. He didn't pay with silver or gold, but the Bible says that he bought us with the precious blood of Christ. And that is a tremendously high price. God says I'm going to redeem you and it 's going to cost me so much. It is going to cost me the death of my son. His blood will be shed on your behalf. Wow. I look at that and I think you know God overpaid clearly. I mean just look at us. He paid too much for us. Well, maybe he did, but that is grace.

I still love the words of Luther when he says that God doesn't love us because we're valuable, but we are valuable because God loves us. What Luther is saying is that our value actually even our value is conferred upon us. And what makes us special in the universe is that we are loved by God and our value went soaring high on the heavenly Dow Jones industrial average when Jesus Christ purchased us at such high cost. We belong to him. And we belong to him and we are also his exclusive property, his exclusive property. It says in the book of Peter, it says that we are God's own possession.

We are owned by God. The seal of the Holy Spirit means God says you are mine in a very special way. Why is this relevant? Well, what it means is that God now takes responsibility for our future. It is God who has our future in his hands. And because we are his property, he's not an absentee landlord. Now at times it may seem as if when we experience loss and heartache and sickness, where is God? God is leading us somewhere and our eternal future is in his hands, not the hands of fate or disease ultimately, but in his hands because he owns us.

I think about a woman who went to the doctor and discovered that she had cancer. And she told me she said, Pastor, for a long time I was just devastated and then I remembered whose body this was. This is after all God's body. God's body. I belong to God today. She is celebrating in heaven because she belongs to God. You know there's a song and it goes something like this. I am his and he is mine. I love that. We belong to God and there's a sense in which God belongs to us. Imagine the inheritance and the sealing of the Spirit means ownership.

God says I've branded you. You are mine. There's a second meaning and that is it is also a sign of security. Now next time in this series, I'm going to be preaching from Ephesians chapter 4 verse 30, just a couple of pages from this text where it says don't grieve the Holy Spirit. That's going to be my topic. But then it says, by whom you were sealed unto the day of redemption. It is security. You know in the book of Revelation, there were 144,000 Jews and they are actually listed there in terms of their tribes and it says that God sealed them.

And it also says that in chapter 14, chapter 7 they are sealed. Chapter 14 it says that they had the name of God on their forehead. But what that meant was that they were sealed. Their judgments could not touch them. They could survive the tribulation because they were sealed by God. They were secure and as a result of that, they knew that they were in God's hands and would make it to the very end. Let me put it to you this way. When you receive Jesus Christ as your Savior, it's as if God is sending you to heaven by registered mail.

God is the one who seals you and the only one who can open the seal is the one for whom it is intended. God is the one who seals you by his spirit and God is the only one who can open the seal when you arrive there in glory. And that's why we read in scripture that we are sealed until the day of redemption. Remember the disciples, they were so glad that they could speak and demons would be subject to them. But Jesus said don't rejoice because the demons are subject to you, but rejoice rather because your name is written in heaven.

Imagine your name written in heaven. There it is. There's Susan. There's Mary. There's Bervin. All of the names written in heaven. And you know what it says in the book of Revelation? It says in chapter 13 that during the tribulation, there will be those who worship the Antichrist except those whose names were written in heaven from before the foundation of the world. If you believed on Jesus, you're already on the heavenly register and God is up there saying, oh okay, so and so died, fine. We checked them off. They arrived. Yeah, so and so arrived.

Now most of us would want God to not be in too big a hurry to check us off like that. But hey, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. You know Jesus said rejoice because your name is written in heaven. You say well many blot out the name. You know there's that reference in the book of Revelation where it says that if you obey me, I will not blot out your name. Now that's a certain kind of figure of speech, but let me tell you there's no evidence that God has ever blotted out the name of a true believer.

I mean it is unthinkable. The God would take somebody and save them and seal them and then they wouldn't arrive in heaven because somebody tampered with the seal along the way and as a result they didn't arrive at their destination. Think of the words of Jesus and be blessed by them. When Jesus made that remarkable statement, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone pluck them out of my hand. And then he said, my father who gave them to me is greater than all and no one is able to pluck them out of my father's hand.

You know I have more ideas to preach than I have opportunities to preach. Someday I 'm going to preach a message entitled Hands in Harmony because Jesus ended by saying I and my father are one. We're in the son's hands. We're in the father's hands. Oh you say but we could wiggle out of his hands. It's not quite that easy because we are also a part of his hands, members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones. What would you say to a shepherd? He starts out in the morning with 100 sheep, comes back with 95 and says, well I thought I did pretty good.

Wait a moment. Oh he says you have no idea those five. They were so rebellious. You know they went down the wrong paths and they were so stubborn. God knows how stubborn they are. Yeah, I know they're stubborn. We've all met some of God's sheep that are quite stubborn. To live above with the saints we love, all that will be glory. But to live below with the saints we know, that's another story. So we all know what it's like to live with stubborn sheep. But you know what shepherds do? Shepherds go hook or by crook.

We bring you back anyway. And Jesus will have in heaven all those whom he has redeemed. They will be there. And those of you who didn't clap, when we get to heaven, I want you to come up to me and say, Pastor, you were right. All right? All right, let's talk about the hard things. Thank you. Oh yes, the devil can tamper. But you're sealed with the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption, you will arrive. But let's talk about reality. Here I am in Florida maybe 10 12 years ago and at the table at which I'm eating is the wife of a man who committed suicide.

Now he was a teacher in a Bible college in Canada. I had met him only once and he was having a great impact on the students. And in her purse was the note that he had written his suicide note. In her purse, it was a photocopy. She said this is what he left me. And I read it and basically as I recall, it says I'm taking the easy way out. He had had a the diagnosis of a very painful disease and he didn't want to go through the pain. Now let me say this about suicide.

It is always wrong. It is always murder. It is putting a period where there should be a comma. If you are contemplating any such thing, go for help because that is one thing you do not have to do. You do not have to be plagued with thoughts of self-destruction. And many people, most maybe, who who think that this is going to be their way out, they discover as the soliloquy says in Shakespeare in death what dreams may come in the sleep of death when we have shuffled off this mortal coil. But nonetheless, because this man gave every indication that he was a believer, that he had trusted Christ as Savior, I believe that he was sealed with the Holy Spirit and I expect that his wife is going to meet him someday on the other side.

The sealing of the spirit, you belong to God and your God's property and he is committing to bring you all the way home. Well, this is Pastor Lutzer. I want you to receive the comfort of the Holy Spirit of God no matter where you are. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you have received the spirit. He dwells within you. He seals us unto the day of redemption. That of course is a great message of hope. At the beginning of this program, I raised the issue of what was happening in the book of Exodus when the Israelites went into Egyptian homes and the Egyptian says here's a gold pitcher.

Here's some silverware. Take it. What were the Israelites thinking? They were thinking windfall. Think of all the wealth that we have. What was God thinking? God was thinking tabernacle. Where do you think they got all of those wonderful cloths and also pieces of silver and gold to build the tabernacle? My friend today, we have to think of riches in that way. We should never say to ourselves when we have a windfall or when we have more money than we could possibly use, why? God is thinking ministry. I'm well aware that there are many ministries that are preaching the word of God.

But would you consider the possibility of you supporting this ministry? We are deeply committed to the word and if you've been blessed by this preaching, I hope that you will take the opportunity to bless others. Very quickly, we're in the midst of our matching gift campaign. Here's what you can do. Go to rtwoffer.com. Very critical. Let me give you that info again. Go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1 888 218 9337. Every gift that you give during this time will be doubled. Once again, right now, go to rtwoffer.com.

Dave McAllister: It's time now for another chance for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. Billy lives in Pittsburgh, Illinois and has this question about what to do at the end of life. Is cremation acceptable to God? If a person is cremated, will they be raised in the rapture?

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Billy, thank you so much for your question and I'm going to answer your two questions in the order in which you gave them. First of all, is cremation acceptable to God? My own preference is burial because when you read the New Testament, you discover that the early Christians buried Of course Jesus was buried. In 1 Corinthians 15, the apostle Paul says that our bodies are sown in the ground like a seed. And then in the day of resurrection, of course they will be raised in glory. And I think the imagery is a lot better pictured in burial.

You know frequently throughout history, the pagans burned their dead or cremated them because in their mind you were supposed to go back to nature, the great one, the great unity of substance. Nowadays, of course, many people are being cremated, Christians as well. I don't think that cremation is a sin, but I'm saying that if you have a preference, I think that you should be buried. Now that's the first part of your question. The second question you ask is if a person is cremated, will they be raised in the day of the rapture, in the day of resurrection?

And to that answer, of course, yes. Cremation creates no problem to God. He knows where the various elements are and even though the Bible teaches that there is going to be continuity between this body that we have in this world and the body that we will have in the life to come, God is able to recreate bodies. And you know throughout history, people have been cremated, I think for legitimate reasons. For example, during the days in Europe when there was the plague, bodies were burned and that probably was wise for health reasons. And of course you think of 911 where there were some people and there were no remnants of their body ever found, totally incinerated.

It's not a problem for God. So the good news is no matter what we do after we die, God knows our name. He knows where we are. And if we have been cremated, he'll put us back together according to his goodwill and purpose. But I still believe that burial should be our preference.

Dave McAllister: Thank you, Billy, for your question. Thank you, Dr. Lutzer, for your answer. If you'd like to hear your question answered, go to our website at rtwoffer.com and click on ask Pastor Lutzer or call us at 1 888 218 9337. That's 1 888 218 9337. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60614. Believers in Christ are sealed by the Holy Spirit and that seal is a down payment on the eternal life yet to come. As God's property, we're on the road toward a future kingdom and the Holy Spirit makes this real to all who are born again.

Next time on Running to Win, more teaching on a Christian's security. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Irwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.