Rejoicing in Assurance

Grace to You.org ^ | 1993 | John MacArthur, Grace Community Church

[metmom]

"You were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance" (Eph. 1:13-14).

The Holy Spirit is God's first installment on your eternal inheritance.

The Holy Spirit's ministry in your life is multifaceted and profound. Among other things He brings salvation, conviction, guidance, and strength. He indwells and equips you for spiritual service and gives assurance of your salvation. He is your Helper and Advocate. He is the Spirit of promise, who seals you until the day when your redemption is fully realized (Eph. 4:30).

Sealing speaks of security, authenticity, ownership, and authority. Ancient kings, princes, and nobles placed their official seal on documents or other items to guarantee their inviolability. To break the seal was to incur the wrath of the sovereign whom it represented (cf. Dan. 6:17; Matt. 27:62-66).

A seal on a letter authenticated it as from the hand of the one whose seal it bore. Legal documents such as property deeds and wills were often finalized with an official seal. Those who possessed the sealed decree of a king had the king's delegated authority to act on that decree.

Each of those aspects of sealing is a picture of the Spirit's ministry. He is God's guarantee that your salvation is inviolable and that you are an authentic member of His kingdom and family. You are His possession-having been purchased with His Son's precious blood (1 Cor. 6:20). You are His ambassador with delegated authority to proclaim His message to a lost world (2 Cor. 5:20).

The Spirit is the pledge of your eternal inheritance (Eph. 1:14). The Greek word translated "pledge" in that verse (arrabon) was used of down payment or earnest money given to secure a purchase. Rejoice in the assurance that God, who cannot lie (Titus 1:2), has given you His Spirit as a guarantee that He will keep His promises.

Suggestions for Prayer

Praise God for the security of your eternal inheritance. Praise the Spirit for His many ministries in your life. Be sensitive to His leading today so that your ministry to others will be powerful and consistent with His will.

For Further Study

Read Esther chapters 3, 8. What role did the king's signet ring play in the decree of Haman (chapter 3)? The decree of Ahasuerus and Mordecai (chapter 8)?

[metmom]

Oh good grief, you are one of those expecting people to be suddenly snatched up from whatever their doing and hauled off to Heaven....pilots flying airliners, doctors in the middle of surgery.....please...

Yes, even them.

[metmom]

If you think you can take your wife and family into a strip joint and let them watch silently while you drink and slip dollar bills in a girl's g'string .... you can be saved and sin all you want.

It doesn't mean anyone can sin with impunity without consequences, but if you do, you are still saved.

The consequences of sin are not always loss of salvation.

God will not allow one of His children to continue in sin but will discipline them.

That argument also displays an abysmal understanding of what the new birth is all about and the desire the believer has to NOT sin but live a life pleasing to God.

IMO, anyone who makes that argument is NOT saved.

[Mark17]

I have a Catholic book in my hands that states:

Els, I don't think Catholics pay much attention to the Catholic book you are talking about.
Of course, one of their own, said we could disregard all those dogmas, that they are not dogmatic about. I take that as gospel. I disregard them, all of them, because I am not dogmatic about all those dogmas.

I agree with MHG, the rapture is coming. Don't be left behind. Anyone left behind, will be in deep kimshi. Don't be left behind.

[metmom]

We can certainly be proud as Catholics, but not arrogant.

Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Ephesians 2:4-10 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

We have NOTHING to be proud of in our relationship with God.

Any good that comes about in our lives is NOT our doing but rather the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Pride is what brought Satan down. That was his great sin.

As long as there's pride, there will be no salvation by trusting God because the proud heart will NEVER see its need for God and yield to Him.

[kosciusko51]

Wait, what? How did this get into the conversation?

[kosciusko51]

Well said, thank you.

[ealgeone]

Good grief. Cathokic apologists at work again.

[metmom]

Impossible to be a Catholic without being a Christian

Pelosi, Kennedy, Chavez, Biden, Cuomo......

They're all Christians, eh?

And these guys, too?

Top 10 Most Wicked Popes

http://listverse.com/2007/08/17/top-10-most-wicked-popes/

1. Liberius, reigned 352-66 [Catholic Encyclopaedia]
2. Honorius I, reigned 625-638 [Catholic Encyclopaedia]
3. Stephen VI, reigned 896-89 [Catholic Encyclopaedia]
4. John XII, reigned 955-964 [Catholic Encyclopaedia]
5. Benedict IX, reigned 1032-1048 [Catholic Encyclopaedia]
6. Boniface VIII, reigned 1294-1303 [Catholic Encyclopaedia]
7. Urban VI, reigned 1378-1389 [Catholic Encyclopaedia]
8. Alexander VI, reigned 1492-1503 [Catholic Encyclopaedia]
9. Leo X, reigned 1513-1521 [Catholic Encyclopaedia]
10. Clement VII, reigned 1523-1524 [Catholic Encyclopaedia]

Top 10 Worst Popes in History

http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-worst-popes-in-history.php

1. Pope Alexander VI (1431 - 1503)
2. Pope John XII (c. 937 - 964)
3. Pope Benedict IX (c. 1012 - 1065/85)
4. Pope Sergius III (? - 911)
5. Pope Stephen VI (? - 897)
6. Pope Julius III (1487 - 1555)
7. Pope Urban II (ca. 1035 - 1099)
8. Pope Clement VI (1291 - 1352)
9. Pope Leo X (1475 - 1521)
10. Pope Boniface VIII (c. 1235 - 1303)

How absolutely and totally hypocritical to condemn the security of the believer as a license to sin when Catholicism has leadership like this and when they or the pedophile priests are mentioned, suddenly, it's *We're all just sinners*, *They're sinners just like the rest of us* (NO they are NOT!), and *Nobody's perfect*.

[ealgeone]

That's why I say, if you ask 30,000 Catholics, you will get 30,000 different opinions.

are you kidding? We see it on this board every day. We even have one cathokic who claims to be more knowledgable than the pope himself!

[Mark17]

Almost without fail, the very worst were the ones in KoC.

My dad was KoC. He was VERY Catholic. Lost as a goose, but very Catholic.
My two sisters, who I led out of the Catholic Church, told him he better get right with the Lord before he died. I hope he did, but he might have died a Catholic. I just don't know for sure.
Anyway, before I got saved, when I was still a Catholic, I not only looked down on those Christians (navigators) but I hated them. I thought they were a bunch of religious fanatics, a bunch of religious interlopers, who were only interested in getting me to stop committing all those mortal sins of sacrilege.
I loved sinning , I didn't want to stop. After 3 months of preaching to me, I figured out they were telling me the truth. I got saved, and 3 weeks later, I dumped the church, never to look back.

Maybe many Catholics do not hate Christians, but I sure did. Things are different now.

[metmom]

Beats me because when it’s THEIR clergy, they’ll excuse any abominable, reprehensible behavior.

[knarf]

My comment was a sarcastic reply to the "saved but you sin all you want" crowd which I had read into Mark's reply and the timing was all wrong for THIS thread ...

But my illustration is one Christians never want to hear because a Christian is not supposed to be able to have that imagery (I guess)

I've only just passed the amount of time saved as lost (saved at 33, now 68) and the imagery in my illustration fits my understanding of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit

[knarf]

How is that a Catholic apologetic ?

[Mark17]

are you kidding? We see it on this board every day. We even have one cathokic who claims to be more knowledgable than the pope himself!

Yes, some of these dudes are a laugh a minute. One of them said the Holy Spirit agrees with him.
I was giving another one a hard time for interpreting scripture without a priest. He said he did not interpret scripture, he just read it and then told me what it said.
Another dude told one of the born again females, that he did not think that Christian women should teach Catholic men anything, since women were to remain silent.

I can assure you, I am not making this stuff up.

:-)

[metmom]

OK. Sorry about that.

I misunderstood what you were doing.

I’ve seen that argument so seriously thrown out there so often that it’s just gotten a little old, I guess.

I’ve passed the half way mark years ago and am still lamenting that I am not as far along as I thought I’d be by this stage in my life.

The more light you get the more dirt is exposed and it feels like one step forward for every two back.

I KNOW I’m making progress in some areas of my life, but I was hoping for more.

[MHGinTN]

I, for one, look forward to meeting you int he clouds, Brother. See you soon ...

[PeterPrinciple]

The thread is turned into an excellent Bible Study!

---

So what has caught your attention?

[metmom]

We know.

We’ve seen it.

[Mark17]

I KNOW I'm making progress in some areas of my life, but I was hoping for more.

Don't we all wish we were further along than we are. Maybe you have heard this before, but I say I am not what I should be. I am not really even what I could be, but praise God, I am not what I used to be when I was in that WBR.

[Elsie]

There's such a superior to thou attitude among Catholics.

Well; not ALL of them.

And CERTAINLY it is not found in any FREEPER Catholics!!