I might just as well confess to you that I'd
rather preach than to do anything else in the
whole world. I just love it. There isn't anything
that I'd rather do than to just take the Word
of God, just take the Bible, and talk about the
glorious promises of God. This is the very Word
of God. Know that. You can stake your very life
on it. I don't care who you are. And remember,
I've staked everything that I have. Everything.
My life. That which is beyond today. Beyond this
earth. I've staked everything on God's Word.
If you don't think that it means a lot to me,
I hope... Some of you feel so sorry for me because
of my poor Bible. I hope it holds together. I
hope it holds together before I finish. If while
I'm talking to you, you find a page or a two
falling on the floor, think nothing of it. Don't
get nervous. I'll pick them up and put them back
again. After all, you know. It's what you have
in your heart. You can pick up pages. But when
this word has become a very vital reality to
you, it's inside. Really, the pages never fall
apart. Well, I hear Pocono talk about how hard
it is to live the Christian life. I'm going to
talk to you today about the wonderful sealing
of the Holy Spirit. Do you really, really know
what it means to be a Christian? Do you really?
Some people only see the negative part of it,
that which they have to surrender. In receiving
the best that God has for you, they can only
see that part of, do I have to surrender this
thing or the other thing? Let me ask you something.
Do you really know the provision that God has
made for those who will follow him? Do you really?
Maybe you are there, a Christian, an heir of
God and a joint heir with Christ Jesus. You haven't
fully understood the provision, the inheritance
that is yours as one of his children. Maybe you
are not accepting your full inheritance as a
child of God. You were never made for defeat.
No man, no woman was ever made for defeat. Know
that. If you're living a defeated life, then,
my friend, you're not living according to the
will of God. He did not create any man or any
woman for defeat. You were made for victory.
To live a victorious Christian life. Paul understood
all about it. And I'm going to read, if you will,
please, from this precious word, his word. Ephesians.
I'm going to begin with the very first chapter
and the very first verse because I love it. Paul.
Oh, Paul. There's so many wonderful things that
God revealed to you. He must have trusted Paul
an awful lot because he entrusted so much to
him. Paul, at the very beginning, wants you and
wants me to know that he knew that he'd been
called of God and more than that, that he was
living according to his will. And so he begins,
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will
of God. to the saints which are at Ephesus, and
to the faithful in Christ Jesus. And he wants
it to be made very clear that that of which he
was speaking was not just to the living saints
at that time, but to all of the saints of all
generations, Christians. Grace be to you and
peace. And where will you find greater grace?
All peace and who can give peace? In this world
that is so lacking in peace, oh sure. Much is
being talked about peace. We've signed documents.
We read about peace. But there's so very little
peace on the earth. Sometimes I think the only
place where you find real peace. Peace of mind
and peace of soul is in the human heart of that
one who knows the Christ, who alone can give
that peace. And I do not believe there will ever
be real peace upon the earth until he returns,
the glorious Prince of Peace. Bless it. Be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ. Now, get at this
because this is very meaningful. According as
he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy without
blame before him in love. Be full the foundation
of the world. Even before God said, let us make
man in our own image and after our likeness.
A way back there, generations, centuries ago,
you as an individual, as a part of humanity,
were predestined. By God. To a place in heavenly
places with Christ Jesus. You were predestined
to be an heir of God in the joint heir with Christ
Jesus. You were predestined as a member of humanity
to live a life of victory. He's not willing that
any should perish. If you leave this old earth
at the time of death, when the heart takes its
last beat, you've lived your last day, your last
hour, your last moment. And you'd leave this
earth without the joy of salvation doomed. to
an eternal hell, you'll never be able to blame
God. You were damned because you chose not to
accept Him, not to accept His beloved Son as
your Savior and the forgiveness of your sins.
You chose not. to be an heir of God and a joint
heir with Christ Jesus. And again, I want to
repeat, because sometimes I think we misunderstand
this thing of predestination. There are those
who may believe that some are predestined to
be lost and others are predestined to be saved.
In His perfect will, He has made provision that
all might know the joy of salvation in his plan
for man. He has planned that all creatures should
become his heir and a joined heir with Christ
Jesus. But man was created with free moral agency
and man makes the choice. Let's continue now
with the glorious inheritance. It is for those
who have chosen to live according to His will,
having predestined us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ in Himself. Isn't that thrilling?
Do you really know what it means to be a Christian?
Do you know what it means to be an heir of God?
a joint heir with his Son, Jesus Christ, according
to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise
of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made
us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption
through his blood. Remember, there is no redemption
possible to any human being. There can be no
forgiveness of sin except through the divine
son of the living God. Anything less is not redemption.
This is the word in whom we have redemption.
and in him and him alone is there redemption
through his blood the forgiveness of sins according
to the riches of his grace wherein he hath abounded
toward us in all wisdom and prudence having made
known unto us the mystery of his will according
to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in
himself that in the dispensation of fullness
of times he might gather together In one, all
things in Christ, both which are in heaven and
which are on earth, even in him, in whom also
we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all
things after the counsel of his own will. His
will did these things for his children. Look
what you're missing. Look what you're really
missing if you're outside of the family of God.
But there's still more. That we should be to
the praise of his glory. You and I were made
and created to be to the praise of his glory.
You were not made for defeat. I was not made
for defeat. Man was made to be the praise of
his glory who first trusted in Christ. I've wept
many tears over this. You'll never know. Probably
that's the reason my poor Bible is in pieces.
I've wept over it. I've rejoiced in his promises.
It's the living, vital part of me. Take it from
me, I have nothing. I've wept many tears over
that glorious portion of the word. When he speaks
of the Father and says, He who first trusted
in Jesus. Do you realize? that Jesus could have
blown the whole thing, the whole plan of salvation.
Often you've heard me speak of Jesus having offered
himself first through the Holy Spirit to be given.
Knowing that he'd have to take the form of flesh.
Knowing he would come to earth in the form of
flesh. Having been possible for him to have yielded
their temptation, he knew that one day, in the
form of flesh, he would stand face to face with
Satan, the adversary, he knew. He understood.
And that is the reason that, first of all, before
he consented to take this position, he offered
himself to the Holy Spirit to be given. He knew
the power of the Holy Spirit. He knew he couldn't
do it of himself. But there was even more. There
was that trust. There was that confidence that
the Father, God the Father, had in his Son. God
knew that Jesus coming upon the flesh would debilitate.
To yield to temptation could blow the whole thing.
I know not how better to phrase it. But he trusted
in Jesus. He had confidence in his son that he
wouldn't blow it. I weep because... He has that
confidence in you. He has that confidence in
me. All the responsibility that's ours. Sometimes
that responsibility is so overwhelming. When
I know that there's a Heavenly Father who's called
me. A Heavenly Father who has given a work for
me to do. And He's depending on me. He's depending
on me. He's depending on you. In exactly the
same way that he trusted his son. How often I've
looked up and I've said, Wonderful Heavenly Father,
trust me. Please trust me. For years I used to
pray, bless me. I no longer pray that prayer.
Now I pray. Trust me, will you please? I'll do
my best not to betray that trust and that confidence.
But as Jesus had the power of the Holy Spirit
to take him through Victoria State, there's something
more in the word. in whom ye also trusted after
that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of
your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed,
ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit, the promise,
that wonderful sealing of the Holy Spirit, that
glorious sealing of the Holy Spirit, that divine
seal of the Holy Ghost. Do you know what he's
talking about? A seal. Remember, Daniel in the
lion's den, and the king put his seal, his seal,
upon that incident. Not that the seal could not
be broken, but it... took one with greater power
than the king to break that seal. Remember what
the Roman government did to the tomb of Jesus.
The government placed its seal upon that tomb.
It meant it was a seal of authority and only
one that had greater power than the Roman government
was to break that seal. The child of God and
as the seed of the Holy Spirit. At that time
of that wonderful experience of the new birth.
His spirit, the Holy Spirit, bears witness with
your spirit. That you've passed from death unto
life. There is an identification. You are identified
with him. That glorious seal of identification.
I fear not of the unknown future. I tell you
the God's truth. I know that it's getting darker.
I know Bible prophecy. I know what to express.
I know that we're on the very threshold of the
darkest night the world has ever known with suffering.
Such as no generation has ever known, the Bible
teaches it. Decry peace, but there is no peace.
I'm not afraid of the unknown future. I tell
you the truth. I'm not afraid of tomorrow. I
walk with my head up. I can smile unafraid. Because
of that glorious seed of the Holy Spirit, I am
identified with Him. And no one can break that
seal except one who has greater power than the
power of our God and the power of the Holy Spirit.
And there is no greater power. The cattlemen
in Texas will tell you that for years they have
tried to get a foolproof means of branding. Because
as of now, they tell me that it is possible for
brands to be altered. Satan's great masterpiece
will be the branding during the time of the rule
of Antichrist. Satan's brand, his mock. will
either be upon the forehead or on the palm of
the hand of those who would serve him. But my
Lord and my God has an identification that Satan
can never get to. For Satan can never get to
the heart and he brands you and he brands me.
The heart. I'm branded. Can never be altered.
His brand. His mark. I am identified with him.
I know to whom I belong. Oh, just to know to
whom you belong. When you belong to Him, you
can face tomorrow and all of the tomorrows of
your life unafraid. Wonderful Jesus, forgive
us for not being able to tell it better. May
the Holy Spirit speak to that heart. For Jesus'
sake. Amen.