Sealed by the Holy Spirit - Trinidad Padilla

[00:00:01] Speaker A: My sermon for today is entitled Two Seals of God that every Christian should have. These two seals are found in the New Testament, and these seals were not recorded the way they are in the New Testament. By the way, they were not recorded in the Old Testament. And it doesn't say anything in the Old Testament that the children of Israel were sealed the way we are in the New Testament era. So it seems that we are a very special people to God. And this is why the seals are mentioned. I'm not talking about the seven seals of Revelation, which someday, if you want to hear those, I might bring a whole series of sermons on the seven seals, but that's a different story altogether. Of the seven seals as to what these two seals of God are, the two seals that every Christian should have. They should have it. And if you do not have one of these seals, I pray that you will ask God to give it to you, that you will be sealed in such a way that that you will be happy to know that you are a child of God and that you are sealed, especially with what I'm going to tell you. Let's turn to the book of Ephesians chapter 1 and we'll read verse 13. I might not be able to explain the two seals in one sermon, but if I can get to the second one, I'll bring it surely next Sabbath, the Lord willing. This way we can go through and find out exactly what these seals are. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 13. We read like this. If you have your Bibles here with you. If not, you might want to write the Scriptures down in the back of your bulletin, which they come in handy sometimes for you to go through all these scriptures. Again, Ephesians 1:13 says, in whom ye also trusted. If you look about this verse, it is talking about Jesus Christ. It is talking about his saving power. You and I were specially called in this dispensation and that we were called to be children of God. And this verse ends up by saying, in whom you 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 of promise. I want you to notice the steps that are taken here before the sealing work of God takes place, the steps that are taken here in our Christian life. The first one, it tells us here in this particular verse, which I don't know if that will be the first step that anybody takes, but apparently it is the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write this that it says, in whom he also trusted. Meaning that we trusted in the living God. We trusted also in Jesus Christ our Savior. And In Jeremiah, chapter 17, there's a verse that says, blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is. So we first trust, that is number one. We must trust in the Lord. We must do that without trust in the heavenly Father. Without that, you cannot please him, and neither can you live a happy life, a Christian happy life. We must have that real trust. And the Bible tells us here, in whom ye Christians, Ephesians, and also here in Shawnee, Oklahoma, in whom ye also trusted. Then the next part of the next phrase says, after that ye heard the word of truth. Notice here comes the word of truth. That's another thing that we, we did. We heard it. And the Bible tells us in Romans 10:17 that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And this is the word of truth. Now notice that it is very important that we understand the word of truth. The Bible is the truth. If you want to write the scripture down in 17 John chapter 17 and verse 17, it says, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. That's what it says in John 17:17, Thy word is truth. And then in John chapter 4, Jesus told the woman of Samaria, or the woman, the Samaritan woman as she is called, that the Christians, those believers, must worship God in spirit and in truth. The word of truth. We were talking to Ron and Brenda this past week. We've been visiting with them and having Bible studies. And it was really surprising to me and amazing to me how that all the truth that Ron and Brenda have already accumulated in such a short time, the truth that you and I enjoy so much, these gems, precious gems of truth that you and I have and how much they have grown in a short time in learning the word of truth and asking Ron was saying, I don't know why these other peoples or churches and ministers preach the way they do and why do they keep pagan holidays and why they do all these things, you know, deceiving the peoples out there, knowing that the Bible is the word of truth and why deviate and why go or follow traditions? Why do we go away from the word of God? And all the time thinking that we are saved, all the time thinking that we are right with God when we are not, if we are not following the word of truth, we are not right with God. Then the other part says here in the verse, the gospel of your salvation. That's very important to know. The gospel of your salvation. The Bible tells us there is only one Gospel. And in Galatians chapter one, you don't have to turn there if you don't want to. But In Galatians chapter 1, the apostle Paul tells us, Beginning in verse 6 through verse 8, he says that if we, he says, or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel, let him be a curse, anathema, which means a curse. The Greek word is anathema, which means let him be accursed, let him be cursed. Anyone who will dare preach any other gospel other than the gospel of truth that we have right here in the Holy Bible. You might want to write this down In Galatians, chapter 1, verses 6 through 8, where the apostle Paul is telling the Galatians and he says, I marvel he told them they are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel which is not another, he says, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. Now Paul was telling already the Galatians way back there in AD 50, according to my chronology in the Bible, AD 50. Imagine how soon they were already perverting the gospel of Jesus Christ and and they were soon removed from the gospel of Christ to another gospel, which Paul says it is not another, but they have perverted the gospel of Jesus Christ. How soon people begin to distort and pervert the word of God and thinking all the time that they can do that and they can be right with God, and that it doesn't matter, they're going to be in the kingdom anyway. And so many people are deceived, they are fooled that way by the cunning ways of Satan to blind the mind so that you will believe another gospel and be damned or be lost. And this is what Paul was telling the EPHESIANS in chapter 1, verse 13, the verse that we are here analyzing. We are dissecting this verse here, as I am doing in Ephesians 1:13, after he says the gospel of your salvation. And then he goes on to say, in whom also after that ye believed. In whom also after that ye believed. Notice that it is very important that we believe that we believe the truth. We believe God, that we believe what God has to say in his word. Believe in Jesus Christ, believe in what God has promised us. Believe that then when we do all these things in Ephesians 1:13, he says, then when we do these things, ye you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, you see, then the sealing process comes. After that we have taken or taken those necessary steps of trusting in God. By hearing the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation after we believe with all of our hearts. If we believe the gospel and we practice and we do it, then we are sealed. Sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. That is a seal that each one of us must have. But if you are not doing what it says in this verse, if you are not doing that, then you cannot be sealed, no matter how much good you might do, or you might think you are real good, or you might think your neighbor is a good neighbor. They go to church once in a while, or every Sunday, or every week, but they're not following the word of truth. They're not doing exactly as God says. And maybe they don't know better, but they're not really following. Then we want you to know that you must follow what the Bible says to be sealed with that holy Spirit of promise. What is a seal anyway? I looked it up, you know, I looked it up in various dictionaries. I looked it up in the original Greek, where our Bible was translated from the Greek. And I looked it up to find out other interpretations, other words for seal or sealed. And I found out that it is like a stamp. You put a stamp and it's a private mark, a private mark that you put on. These are definitions given us from the Greek. It is a stamp, like you stamp something with your name or something you stamp, or a private mark. Also, it says about a signet. Letters were sealed back in the olden times with a ring. They were sealed with a special seal on wax, on a piece of paper, or maybe a letter that was folded or something that was sealed. And nobody could break that seal. Only the owner could break that seal, or to whom he was directed to could break the seal and look inside. And so it is with the Holy Spirit. We are sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. And it is a stamp. It is a private mark. And that private mark means that the Holy Spirit has said, this person is mine. This person is mine. Because this person has obeyed this person has done the will of God. This person is willing to follow. And so when you're willing to do all these things for the Lord, then the stamp is put there, the seal is put there so that God says, you are mine. You are private property. Private property. And it's wonderful to know that we are private property, that we belong to the eternal God, the creator of the universe. We turn to Ephesians chapter four and verse 30, Ephesians chapter four and verse thirty. And this verse speaks about the seal, but it also says something that you and I should not do in connection with the Holy Spirit. He says here In Ephesians, chapter 4, and verse 30 says, and grieve, grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Here he said a little bit more that we are sealed until the day of redemption, meaning the day when Jesus comes back that we will be sealed. In other words, until that day our redemption comes. But in the meantime, he says, do not grieve, grieve not, or do not grieve the Holy Spirit. Now, how can you grieve? What is the word grieve? What does it mean? How can you grieve the Holy Spirit? It means that when you make the Holy Spirit to feel sorrow, you know the Holy Spirit feels sorrow or sorry. In other words, we are grieving the Holy Spirit because we do not obey the Holy Spirit. We do not obey God. And because we do not obey knowing the truth, knowing the will of God, and we do not obey, then we grieve the Holy Spirit. And so the Bible tells us here and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. Don't grieve it. Don't make it sorry because you are sealed with that Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption. Don't make it sad in such a way that the Holy Spirit will go away. You might say, well, I have the Holy Spirit in me and it will never go away. Well, as long as you keep in that straight and narrow path, if you keep in that line with God, in line with the word of God, and the Holy Spirit is working with you, no matter how many trials or troubles you'll have in this world, you will always keep on going. You will always have the Holy Spirit with you. But if you begin to grieve the Holy Spirit, then remember that it will, it will go away. The Holy Spirit will go away from you. Let's Turn now to Second Corinthians, chapter one. Two Corinthians, chapter one. And we read verses 21 and 22. Second Corinthians chapter one, verses 21 and 22. It says like this. Now he which establishes us with you in Christ and hath anointed us, is God. Here the word is used anointed us. Anointed. We have been anointed. And then God is the one that anointed us. Then he says here in verse 22, who has also meaning that God, who has also sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. So here we find that we have been established and this is what verse 21 is talking about. Now, he which establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God. God is the one that is doing all this work to establish us in his church, in his work, to help us live a Christian life, and to do his will, to be his representative, to be ambassadors for him is God. Because we have been anointed. We have been anointed by God. And in verse 22 it says, who has also sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. And here we find then that we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit. And so it is very important you and I understand what this seal is all about, so that we will continue to have that seal all the time, that nobody will be able to take that seal away or that stamp of private property that nobody can take it away. Because you know in Revelation, Jesus says, when he was talking to the seven churches, he said, take heed that no man take away your crown, because it is possible that somebody else can take away your crown. And the one that is ready to take away the crown of salvation from you, the one that is ready to devour you, is Satan. He's ready. And also another man or a person, anybody can take away your crown if you're not careful. So we must maintain our Christian life all the time and continue with this seeding power of God so that we will continue to be sealed unto the day of redemption. And during that time when Jesus will come back and he'll find that seal upon us, then he's going to say, then you are mine and you're going to be resurrected. If you're dead or if you're alive, you're going to be changed and you're going to be with the Lord. Let's Turn now to First Thessalonians, chapter five. And we read verse 19. This is just a short verse, but here is something else that tells us for us not to do when we have the Holy Spirit. In First Thessalonians 5, 19, a very short verse. But if you will analyze what that is talking about, you'll know that it is very important for us to be careful in our Christian life. It says, quench not the spirit, quench not the spirit. What is to quench? It means to put out. Let's say that you are on fire for the Lord. On fire. We speak about fire being on fire for the Lord. And on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles cloven tongues as a fire set upon each one of them. What if somebody would have said, hey, you stop doing that. And the apostles said, well, we don't want that. And you will quench that Holy Spirit. You will stop it. You would quench it. You would put it out. Then you wouldn't have the Holy Spirit with you. So the Bible here Paul is reminding the Thessalonians, quench not the Spirit. He says, don't put it out. Let it remain in you. Let it burn in you. Let it continue to make you a child of God. To get bigger and bigger in the Lord, not just stay like I usually call it spiritual midgets. A lot of people are midgets, you know, in the Lord they never grow. And last week I was really thrilled and really blessed by the sermon of Brother Ricky and the illustration that he gave, especially the one about the river. The river and these two brothers, you know, on each side, they each had a house. You heard what he told us about what a person can do if he wants to. He can get the bucket of water and you can do all you want to with it, and then you can just sit there and let the river run by and never do anything with it. The same thing about the Holy Spirit, it can just be there. But if you keep quenching the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God tells you, do this and do that and say, well, I'm too lazy or I'm too tired and I'm this and I'm that. You can't constantly quench the Holy Spirit. You are asked to do something for the Lord and you say, well, I can't. I can't do that, or I don't want to. As Brother Ted was telling us about those certain employees, you know, at Tinker Base, where some of them always give an excuse about, well, I can't do it, or this problem or this other thing, and always making excuses. That is quenching the. The. The. The Holy Spirit too. When you're constantly making excuses that you just can't do it, you can say, by the grace of God and by the help of God, I can do it. I can do it. If God be for us, Paul says, who can be against us? If God is with us, who is greater than the whole universe? If God is with us, who can be against us? So we can do all things. And Paul said, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me, I can do all things, he said, because Christ was in him and he was full of the Holy Spirit of God. And I think that in the church of God, we don't talk Too much about the Holy Spirit, but we need to talk a lot about it because we are sealed with it. And without this special seal, we cannot please God and even please the Holy Spirit. In fact, we just don't have it. We just don't have it. One thing that I was mentioning to Ron and Brenda and that From John chapter 16 and verse 13, I mentioned this particular verse. What the Holy Spirit will do also for us in John chapter 16 and verse 13, what the holy Spirit will do for us if we let it. And a lot of people are deceived. I believe they, they are worshiping God in a, in a, in a different way other than the Bible. They're worshiping God through pagan ways or, or tradition, whatever. They are worshiping God in a different way because they do not allow the Holy Spirit to guide them. In John chapter 16 and verse 13, it says like this. How be it when he, the Spirit of Truth is come, he will guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. And he will show you things to come. So notice that if anyone has the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth. And Ron was asking, if these people that read the Bible and they claim to have the Holy Spirit, then why do they worship the way they do? I wonder about those things myself too. And when I was a Roman Catholic, I used to, you know, worship God. I used to worship God, but it wasn't the God of the Bible. It was a God and with an invention connected with God as to how to worship God through tradition by some persons that had kind of invented a former religion. So I was worshiping a God, but not according to the truth of the Bible. So I didn't know better, of course, but when I began to read the Bible and the Holy Spirit came upon me, and the Holy Spirit of God was in my heart and in my life and guiding my life, I began to see almost immediately that I was wrong and that I had to change and get away from tradition, get away from paganism, get away from all the false doctrines and stay right here with the Holy Bible. And I mentioned the fact that this is why. This is why I am in the Church of God today. And let me say, brethren, and I, I said this one time and it, it really shocked some people that were in the church. In fact, they were visiting the church for the first time. And I was preaching and I said, if you can find another church that has more truth, that is much better than the Church of God Seventh day that has more truth according to the Bible. Don't waste your time here. Go out there and join that other church if you can find it. But remember, it has to have, have more truth. It has to be more closer to the Bible than we are. It has to be a church that is really following the Bible the way it says here. And then if we're not, then go ahead and look for another church. I mentioned that one time when I was preaching a pastor in another church and these people are visiting for the first time. And you know what? They were shocked. And they said, we have never heard a minister say that. Most of the times the ministers say, don't visit that other church, don't go over there. They're going to twist your mind around, they're going to deceive you. Don't visit that other church. I tell you, you visit any church you want. But be sure and compare everything with the Bible. Compare everything with what the Holy Spirit had to say in the Bible. Compare the church with the Bible and you put it in the balance and see what they're doing. And if you find anything wrong with that particular church, then get out, spit it out and you'll find that you'll be pleasing God. Brethren, I mentioned to you the other day, I believe it was that I have a book called A Handbook of Denominations. It has just about every denomination on the face of the earth, all different denominations, who started that church and why do they believe the way they do, and so on. I have that book and, and I've gone through all these different, various denominations and brethren, I am in the Church of God because I believe in this. I believe the Bible, the truth, and I believe that we have brethren, the most truth in the world today. This is why I'm in the Church of God and I intend to stay in the church. May God help us all, brethren, as we continue to live for God. And let that Holy Spirit of God guide you and lead you. Let the Holy Spirit of God continue to use you and let it just guide you in the path of righteousness. And if you don't feel that power of God, if you don't feel the Holy Spirit, then pray, Pray for it. Pray for it and God will give you the Holy Spirit and he will also seal you with that Holy Spirit. But remember, you must be willing to follow, willing to leave. Father, mother, husband, wives, relatives, possessions, leave, in other words, all these things that are against God. You'll be willing to leave all these things and follow the truth when you do that. Then God is ready to use you. As long as we cling or we hold on to something that is against God, something that is pagan or something that is against the will of God, he won't use you. God has nothing to do with you. In fact, I mentioned this one time before that God really doesn't need us. He doesn't need us. God can do without us. You know that. The Sabbath school lesson for today. Some of you do not come to Sabbath school, but if you will study those lessons, it says there that Jesus Christ is God's what? Gift of love. In other words, God so loved the world. God doesn't need us. We need Him. And it is only because of his love, because of God so loving the world that he wants for us to be saved. But he's not going to force you into it either. And God wants for everyone to come and be saved. But he can do without us. In fact, he existed before he ever made any one of us. And he can always exist and always be God without us. He doesn't need us. We need Him. And brethren, Jesus came so that we can be reconciled to God and so we can have eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. That's the gift of God. When he gave the lamb to be sacrificed, and when Jesus was hanging there on the cross, dying for us, shedding his precious blood, he cried to the Father, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? God had to kind of put his hand over and not even look. When I think of that, it just. Just makes me feel, what. What did I do to deserve that? I'm nothing but a worm. I don't deserve anything. Why did Jesus have to die on the cross for me? It took real love. It took love. God bless you. [00:31:59] Speaker B: Hello. Today is February 15, 2023 and my name is Ben Williams of Edmond, Oklahoma. For those of you that might be enjoying this podcast and taking dear Pastor Bedia's sermon message to heart, I would like to share a few scriptures with you. At the local Westside church, we began to question if the Heavenly Father ever covered his face from seeing His Son, or ever turned away from him as he died in pain on the cross. It may be that an unnamed individual in the church alluded to this thought during a sermon or presentation, and that saying has become a generally accepted idea or teaching among some, even in the Church of God. Perhaps we should consider the following bible verses. Psalms 1:16, 15 says, Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Even Jesus himself said in John 8:29 and he that sent me is with me. The Father hath not left me alone, for I do always those things that please him. And Lord, a voice from heaven saying, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. That was Matthew 3:17 while he yet spake behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. And that's from Matthew 17:5 concerning the darkness while Jesus was being crucified. Matthew 27:45 reads, now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour, Matthew 27:46 and about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, eli, Eli lamas bachtanach. That is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Let's notice what First Kings 8:12 and 2 Chronicles 6:1 say about darkness. Then said Solomon, the Lord hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. Now there are indeed at least a couple of passages where the Almighty did say that he would hide his face from Someone. In Deuteronomy 31:17 we read, Then mine anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say, in that day are not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us? And Then do Deuteronomy 32:20 reads like this and he said, I will hide my face from them I will see what their end shall be, for they are a very froward generation children in whom is no faith. These are some verses that I just wanted to share because I feel that they are worth considering. Thank you and may God bless.