Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: When you come to Christ, you are actually surrendering all your rights to Jesus Christ. It is no longer my will, but it is now his will. I am under a chief commander. I don’t give orders now. I don’t do my own thing, but I take orders from Jesus Christ, and I do whatever pleases him that he wants me to do.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. It’s great to have you along today for Raul’s continuing study of the Holy Spirit. Today we’ll see that when we give our lives to God, he sets us apart from the world and gives us his Spirit to publicly identify us as his children.

Keep listening for encouragement to allow the Holy Spirit to fill you with his power, guide you in righteousness, and bless you with spiritual gifts so that you can accomplish kingdom-building work. Today’s message is "Sealed With the Holy Spirit" in Ephesians chapter one. Here’s Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: Paul the Apostle here in the book of Ephesians has been speaking about Jesus Christ. Well, actually, he started speaking about God the Father, and then about God the Son, and then he spoke to us about God the Holy Spirit. This is what he says, beginning with verse 13 of Ephesians chapter one.

He 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 possession, to the praise of his glory."

Now, what Paul is literally telling you and telling me is that we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit, which God has put his mark of ownership over your life. I like that. In the New Testament times, whenever somebody that was rich and was traveling from one port to another port or from one city to another city, they didn’t have markers like we have today.

What they had is the owner of the luggage had a ring. On his ring, he would have his insignia or his identity mark. What they would do is they would take this hot wax and they would press it against the ring, and then they would go over and they would press it against their luggage. That would identify and put the mark of identification or ownership upon their luggage to identify it in the next port.

The Holy Spirit, which we talked about, is a person. Not only is he a person, but he has come into our hearts and he now dwells in us. He, by the power of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, has put a mark on every person that has accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior to identify you as God's children. It is very important to understand that everyone of us has a mark of God through the Holy Spirit.

That is the mark of our ownership that we belong to God. We’re going to be dealing now with prayer, what prayer is about, the purpose of prayer, and why we have to pray. At the same time, the Holy Spirit is the assistant, the one that has come to assist you and me. Whatever our needs may be, when we don’t know how to pray, the Holy Spirit is there to assist us in groanings which cannot be uttered.

At the same time, when you look at people's lives and you see them and they tell you they're a Christian, the Holy Spirit supernaturally has actually put his mark of identity and security over the life of the believer or the child of God, which you and I are children of the Lord. The Holy Spirit had been working in the life of the church, as he is working in the life of the church today.

God's spiritual blessings for believers are based not only on the sovereign election of God the Father and the Son, but also of the seal of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has not only blessed you and blessed me by giving us our identification, our security in Jesus Christ. When we look at the Holy Spirit and we look at Paul the Apostle writing here, he's referring here to the Gentiles.

Speaking to the Gentiles as the gospel is being given to the Gentiles, he begins to expound to them how when they come to believe in Jesus Christ, they were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. God had promised that when he would leave, he would not leave them as orphans or as those that would have nothing to have in their own lives, but the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, would come alongside to assist, to teach, and to lead them into all truth.

The Jews, who had before hoped in Christ Jesus, had found him as their redeemer. Now Paul the Apostle was speaking to the Gentiles, and the Gentiles also now who had heard the gospel of salvation were responding by faith in Jesus Christ and were receiving the seal of the Holy Spirit upon their own lives.

You see that word that is used there for the word "seal" in verse 13. He 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." That word "seal" is a very important word. In the Greek, it means this: to set a seal upon or a mark with a seal.

Like I told you, the ring that they would have and put it on hot wax and actually press it in, and then press it upon whatever you're marking with your mark of ownership. The word "seal" here in the Greek was the word for putting upon an object an identifying possessive mark. It was used of a mark that was for the purpose of confirming, securing, authenticating, or marking for particular possession.

Think of those things I just read to you. Think of how much the Holy Spirit has not only given to you and me, but how much we possess and we are super blessed in the Lord. Not only have we been confirmed by Jesus Christ, but we’ve been secured. We’ve been authenticated. We have been marked as a peculiar possession of God himself, which totally separates us from people in the world.

We are now the children of light. We are the children of the Lord. The Scofield Bible, which I think is one of the greatest Bibles, especially the old King James Scofield Bible and the New King James Scofield Bible, also has the same type of notes. In its notes, they're very helpful when you study the book of Ephesians.

The Holy Spirit in the Scofield Bible here is not only himself identified as being the sealer of the child of God as a believer, but also it identifies the Holy Spirit as a finished transaction, as God's completion when he seals you with the Holy Spirit. For example, in John 17:4 he said, "I have glorified you on the earth, and I have finished the work which you have given me to do," Jesus speaking to the Father.

The work that had been given to him was not only to bring salvation but to seal you and seal me with the Holy Spirit. In John 19:30, Jesus said, "So when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, 'It is finished!' and bowing his head, he gave up his spirit." Now Jesus, in giving his life on the cross and dying to redeem you, to redeem me, not leaving us as orphans, but sending later on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit.

When the Holy Spirit came, it empowered the church for the gospel preaching and teaching and healing among the believers. So the Holy Spirit plays a major, major part in the life of the believer. Not only as a finished transaction, but listen, it speaks of ownership, how God owns you now and you don't own yourself. In 1 Corinthians chapter 3:16 and 17, he says, "Know you not that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit? And if any man defile the temple of God, God himself shall destroy that person whose temple you are."

When you come to Christ, you are actually surrendering all your rights to Jesus Christ. It is no longer my will, but it is now his will. I am under a chief commander. I don't give orders now. I don't do my own thing, but I take orders from Jesus Christ and I do whatever pleases him that he wants me to do. That's what it speaks about ownership.

But not only ownership, listen thirdly, as Scofield says, also security. Security of what? Security of our salvation in Jesus Christ. We are secure in Christ Jesus. We don't have to worry about being lost. The only time that anybody begins to feel like they’re maybe going to be lost is if they’re living a life of sin after they come to Jesus Christ, and they’re not willing to repent of their sin.

The Bible tells us that whenever a person comes to Christ, we are not perfect people. Everyone of us every day sins against God. There are people in the body of Christ that even though they have the Holy Spirit, and this is what's so beautiful because we do have the Holy Spirit of God, we cannot get away with sin. We cannot. The Holy Spirit always, always like that little small alarm always rings when we're not doing what is right in the presence of God.

A real child of God, one that has been born again of the Holy Spirit, cannot ever, ever, ever get away with sin. It's an impossibility. When you come to Jesus Christ, even Paul the Apostle says in the book of Corinthians that if you really are a child of God and if you do have the Holy Spirit and you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of God, then you cannot ever be the same because you used to be like this. Now you’ve been justified, you’ve been sanctified, and one day you're going to be glorified. Why? Because you’ve been redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb of God. You cannot continue to be the same person that you used to be.

Guest (Male): This is Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Our goal here at the ministry is to help you follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in a God-honoring life. Visit somebodylovesyou.com for an abundance of resources designed to grow your faith. You can also download our app to energize your spiritual walk with live-streamed Bible teaching and much more. Now back to more with Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: A real child of God cannot get away with sin. Why? Because sin grieves the Holy Spirit of God. Listen to Ephesians 4:30. "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you have been sealed for the day of redemption." God has sealed you. God has sealed me with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has been given to us by promise.

It is something that Jesus Christ had promised, and way back in the Old Testament, it was promised even by the prophets of old. For example, in Acts 2:16 through 18, this is what Peter says on the day of Pentecost. He says, "But this was spoken by the prophet Joel: 'And it shall come to pass in the last days,' says God, 'that I will pour out my Holy Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; and on my servants and on my maidservants I will pour out of my Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy.'"

Then in Joel chapter 2:28, Joel says, "And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out of my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions." Zechariah 12:10, "And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on me, Jesus, whom they have pierced. Yes, they will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for him as one grieves for a firstborn."

Speaking when Jesus Christ comes again, how the Holy Spirit is going to convict the Jew when they see Christ. Then Isaiah 44:3 says, "And I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit on your descendants and my blessing on your offspring." And then again John 7:39, "And then he spoke concerning the Holy Spirit, by whom believing in him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified."

When he says if you take upon me, the Holy Spirit is going to be what? Like a glass that is overflowing, overfilled, completely over and over running constantly. That's what the Holy Spirit has come to do in each one of our lives. Then again the Holy Spirit, as we look at the text, is described as the earnest of our inheritance in verse 14. What does he mean by the word earnest here?

It’s a beautiful Greek word. It literally means this: Vincent, one of the Greek scholars, says this. He defines it like this: caution money deposited by a purchase or pledge of making a full payment. That is, the bestowal of God's Holy Spirit is actually God's part payment in the salvation of every believer that gives the believing sinner that part payment, guaranteeing the full delivery of all parts of the salvation given to that person.

This is why Paul the Apostle is so incredibly interested in the future of the church. That's why here in first chapter the book of Ephesians, when he's talking about being sealed with the Holy Spirit, the reason for this whole thing is number one, that the Gentiles, that's you and I, had trusted in Jesus Christ. Look how he begins verse 13 again. "In him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation."

I wrote down 10 reasons why you and I have trusted Jesus Christ. Reason number one, we trusted Jesus Christ because we heard the truth of God. That's why we trusted him. Reason number one is because we heard the truth. Listen to Romans 10:17 what he says, Paul the Apostle. He says, "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ."

The way you got saved, the way I got saved is somebody shared with you and then you heard the word of God. The word of God convicted you and then the Holy Spirit did a work in your life. Then when you repented, he came into your life, he saved you, and now he's maturing you in Christ Jesus. We heard the truth about God.

Secondly, because of God's name, we trusted God's name. That's why we believed. We trusted in the name of the Lord Jehovah God, the name of Jesus. Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord. Psalm 33:21 says, "For our heart shall rejoice in God, because we have trusted in his holy name."

The name of Jesus is holy. The name of Yahweh is holy. In the Old Testament times, when God spoke to Moses at that particular time and going through the Old Testament, the Jews could never pronounce the name of God. God's name was silent. We don't know if it was Jehovah or Elohim, but it's important that we understand because the writers of the Old Testament, when they came to the book of Genesis, for example, in chapter one, you have the name of God 31 times written there.

The word there is not Jehovah, it's Elohim: God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The word Jehovah doesn't even come up until chapter two or in verse four. What's interesting is that the Jews, the writers, the scribes would not only be dressed up as they were sitting at the table and they had a pen and they had ink and then they had this scroll, and they would be writing from right to left the Hebrew. They would be writing "In the beginning," and then when they came to the name of God, they would actually stop, bow their head in silence. They wouldn't even pronounce it.

Then they would write it, and then they would write the rest of the scripture. Then they would get up and they would take the pen and they would go over and they would wash the pen out very clean. They would take off their garments and they would take a bath and put on clean garments and then come back and do the same thing. Every time you came to the name of God, you would have to do that. Think about that.

The name of God in the Old Testament is used over 2,000 times. Think how critical the name of God is. Holy to us, holy to the Jew. It's so important that we understand who God is. Then thirdly, we trusted God or we trusted Jesus because why? Because of his word. Because of his word, because we believe that the Bible is the word of God.

In Psalm 119:42, which is a psalm speaking about God's word, precepts, and commandments, he says, "So shall I have an answer for him who reproaches me, for I trust in your word, O God." I like that. I trust in the word of God. The word of God is dependable. You can trust it for all things.

Thirdly, because we trusted in Christ for our salvation. Not in Mary, not in Joseph, not on the Pope, not on a pastor, but on Jesus Christ. He is our salvation. In Acts 4:12, it says this: "Nor is there salvation in any other name, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." The name of Jesus. He's the mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.

Fifthly, because we trusted God for our provision. We trust God for our provision. In Psalm 37:3, he says, "Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and feed on his faithfulness." God is faithful. You don't ever have to worry about God supplying not only all your needs, but God is faithful to keep you and to provide everything that you have need for.

Sixth, because we trusted Christ for his Holy Spirit. Here is the scripture in John 7:38-39. He says, "He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water out of his belly." But this he spoke concerning the Holy Spirit, who those believing in him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified or he had not died yet. The Holy Spirit becomes a river of living water pouring out of our hearts completely.

Seventh, we trusted Christ because he becomes what? Our safety. He becomes our safe place of refuge. Psalm 56:4 says, "In God I will praise his word; in God I have put my trust. I will not fear what can flesh do to me." I like that. What can anybody do to me? If God is for me, who can be against me? Nobody.

How about this one: we trusted in Christ because God is our inheritance. Our inheritance eternally. Isaiah 57:13 says, "But he who puts his trust in me shall possess the land and shall inherit my holy mountain," Jesus said. Shall inherit my holy mountain.

Then we trusted in Christ because of his love that he had for us. John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life."

And then finally, 10th, because we trusted Christ why? Because of his forgiveness. Look what he’s done to you, what he’s done to me. Totally has forgiven us. Matthew 9:2 says this: "And behold, they brought out to him one that was paralyzed, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the one that was paralyzed, 'Son, be of good cheer,'" notice not healing first, "'be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you right now.'" Immediately, before healing could come, Jesus first of all put his priority on forgiveness of his sins as he’s forgiven you and forgiven me.

Guest (Male): It is so humbling to know that God loves us so much that he has not only blessed us with salvation through his Son, but he’s marked us as his children through the gift of his Holy Spirit. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. If you’d like to hear today’s teaching in its entirety, we’ll be happy to send a copy of the message, "Sealed With the Holy Spirit," for a donation of $5 or more. Just call us at 800-634-9165.

To further encourage you with assurances of the Spirit’s work in your life, we’d like to tell you about Raul’s seven-part series, "Filled, Empowered, and Equipped." Available on CD or USB, this resource underscores the unique role of the Trinity’s third member, establishing that when you trust his leading and lean on his strength, he’ll use you to carry out kingdom-building work. Visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165 to order "Filled, Empowered, and Equipped." We’ll send you Raul’s seven-message study on CD for $20 or on flash drive for just $11.

That’s 800-634-9165. Or you can write to Somebody Loves You Radio, PO Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California 91765. You can access our Somebody Loves You resources at the convenience of your schedule day or night. Email Raul your Bible questions at pastoraul@somebodylovesyou.com. He’s happy to personally respond. And you can also look for us on iTunes and Spotify to get podcasts of all of these programs.

Don’t forget, we’re a listener-supported ministry. Your partnership is crucial to helping us tell more people about the good news of Jesus. And join us next time as we continue our focus on living a spirit-led life. We’ll find out that there’s power in surrender when we daily choose to obey the Holy Spirit’s direction and walk in the wisdom of God’s word. This program is sponsored by Somebody Loves You Radio in Diamond Bar, California.