Title Guarantee (Ephesians 1:13-14)
There are times when the life of faith is really difficult. It's so hard that sometimes I just feel hopeless when I don't believe it. In life, we all have moments of such pain and despair. But what we need to be clear about is that we have a promise. As we will see in the last time, it is clear that there is a new country. It is that there is a clear kingdom of Jesus that is different from the standards of this world and different from the values of this world. We know this, but in real life, it is a reality that we always fall. How could this be us? Look at Abraham. He also received a promise directly from God. I will give you Canaan, and I will give you children. However, after 10 years had passed, he had no children, so he gave birth to Ishmael. This is human. He was the one who had the promise, but tried to survive by deceiving his wife as his sister. All of the faith in the Old Testament could exist because of God's holding on to all people in the midst of such a fall. So are we.
Today's text lets us discover how amazing the assurance God has given us. Verse 13 says it is in him. What does it mean here? It means in Christ. You Gentiles also have heard the gospel of salvation and believed, and have been sealed by the Holy Spirit. What is meant by the sealing of the Holy Spirit here? Sealed means stamped. In other words, to verify ownership. So what does it mean to be sealed by the Holy Spirit? Simply put, the Holy Spirit has come. That is, the Holy Spirit dwells within me. Why is the Holy Spirit in us? It is said in the text that the endorsement to our enterprise is. The term “guarantee” here means a down payment. In other words, the Greek word for an engagement ring. In simpler terms, it is a deposit. To say that the Holy Spirit is a guarantee to us means to guarantee that later we will live with God, that God will be with us and that He will give us an inheritance, a new kingdom and a new earth.
It is to give you a taste of the existence of heaven and to guarantee it. I'll sort it out. He sent Jesus Christ to save us, perfect us, and make us glorified, and He placed us in the place of His children. So we believe it too. We will be given an eternal kingdom and a new heaven and a new earth. How can we know that it will come true, how do we know that this work of God does not fail, and what can assure us that God's plan does not change. It is called the sealing of the Holy Spirit in the text. That is, the Holy Spirit dwells in me. The fact that the Holy Spirit came to this earth on the day of Pentecost and that the disciples experienced the coming of the Holy Spirit while they were there is evidence that God's plan has not changed at all and that God's plan is clearly fulfilled and he drinks it.
It means that God placed the deposit with the Holy Spirit. To put it simply, you make a down payment in the sense that you will buy this house to buy a house. That's it. The fact that the Holy Spirit has come is the proof that the plan of the end of this world and the unification in Christ will be carried out without any setbacks. To put it simply, John 16:4-15 talks about the Holy Spirit in detail. Why does the Holy Spirit come in that text? He will convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. In other words, the Holy Spirit did not come for a magic show. You can make strange words, guess the future, cure sickness, of course, you can do enough of that. But that's not the main task. He is coming to rebuke (revenge) why he killed Jesus. So the coming of the Holy Spirit is a proclamation that you are now finished. I mean, what do you mean you're done? This world is hopeless now and he wants to establish a new nation.
The reality is so gloomy, dark, difficult and painful. But they see the reality and there is no heaven or no God loves me. I don't think so. The fact that the Holy Spirit has come has been confirmed by itself. Don't Look at Your Environment Don't Trust Your Feelings Your emotions change all the time. However, it is clear that the Holy Spirit has come to this earth. The proof is this letter. This is Paul. This is Peter. Now we have to be just that in this world. The proof that the Holy Spirit has come must be shown through the way I live in this town. That is why people who see me should be able to say that when they see them, there is really a heaven and there is really eternal life. That is to glorify his glory.