The Sealed Believers

Aim: To appreciate and employ the benefits of the Spirit's sealing of believers.

Doctrine: The blessed Holy Spirit brands the redeemed with God's ownership seal: inwardly, which occurs at regeneration; and outwardly, which is expressed in baptism.

Exegesis: The necessary elements of the believers' sealing: there must be a preached gospel that is to be believed (v. 13); there must be a stretching time between justification and glorification (v. 14a); there must be a goal: the adoration of Christ by a redeemed Church (v. 14b).

Further application: How to live in the light of the Spirit's sealing of believers: faithful Churchmen should walk confidently through this world and should worship heartily while in this world.

Key verse: v. 13 ''In Him [Christ] 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...''