The church which is concerned about doctrinal purity, and yet still cares about evangelism and souls is going to pop up on Satan’s radar; it is going to have trouble. But when a church leaves the sword of the Spirit stuck in its scabbard, it may not only NOT have Satanic problems, it may even likely enjoy demonic blessings. Proof of that seen in the Bible where the majority of the churches were opposed and attacked. But a notable exception to that was the church in Laodicea. There was a church “rich, increased with goods and in need of nothing.” But it was also a church ready to be vomited from the mouth of the Lord. It had forsaken its commission – its purpose – and had fled from the battlefield.
The church in Corinth, on the other hand, was right in the middle of the enemy’s artillery barrage. They had more problems than Baskin’s has flavors. Paul’s two letters to the church were attempts to strengthen the church – so its wounds might heal. In doing that, first, he tried to turn their battle-hardened faces of the Corinthians back towards the Lord. “Stop, for a moment, looking at your casualities – their wounds – their blood.” “Take your eyes off your weapons, and look unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.” He said, “Let me remind you that God’s word is as true and certain as God Himself.” All the promises of the Lord are absolute; they are “Yes,” and “Amen,” “So be it.” Some of the greatest of those promises have been made in regard our personal safety. The child of Satan, stolen from the Wicked One by the Holy Spirit of grace … The sinner who has been born into the family of God, cannot be lost or disinherited. The God who cannot lie, has promised us Eternal Life – a promise made before world began. Paul says, “Shoulder your weapons and meditate on that for a while.” We are in a struggle which, ultimately, cannot be lost.
And that is what I’d like us do this morning: Meditate on the Four-Fold Security of the Believer.
Remember, first, that God has ESTABLISHED His saint — in Christ Jesus.
Have you ever heard it said that something or other was “set in stone”? The idea is: if something is set in stone, whatever it is, it is permanent. Well that may be the meaning of the phrase, but in reality it is very rarely ever true. Very, very few things are really permanent. Both man-made and God-made stone, concrete and granite are constantly eroding. Brother Rodney Speers was hoping to resurface the church parking lot in Virginia this week. And remember that we had to replace our sidewalks because the concrete was falling apart. Everything about this world of ours is temporary. “The world passeth away, and the lust thereof.” “Look not at the things which are seen, for they are temporal.” – II Corinthians 4:8. “The day of the Lord will come as a thief in night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and works that are therein shall be burned up.” The man whose affections are entirely set upon the things of this world, will eventually loose everything. Even the durability of diamonds and obsidian will one day vanish. My house on Obsidian Avenue will pass away as well.
But, there is something which is sure – Some One that is sure – Christ Jesus. The word “stablished” has been sometimes translated “confirmed” in our Bibles. God has confirmed His saints in Christ. What does that mean? We could talk about theological things and legal things: We could talk about the nature of justification, adoption and propitiation. But for this morning, let’s lay them aside.
How are we stablished in Christ? As I said last week, the child of God is simply held in the hands of God the Father and God the Son. Christ said in John 10, “And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” Rightly or wrongly, you might think of the Christian in the hand of Christ, and then Christ’s hand is firmly held in the Father’s hand. In the Greek, the Lord has said in another place, “I will never, never leave thee, and will never, never, never forsake thee.” How is the Christian stablished in Christ? He is enwrapped in the arms of the Saviour. “Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young”. – Isaiah 40:10-11 How is the sinner, now saved by grace, stablished in Christ? Also pointed out last week, we have been engraved upon on the hand and heart of the Saviour. “Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted. But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.” – Isaiah 49:15-16. How is the saved man, stablished in Christ? We are covered with the spread of His wing. How is the Christian secure in the Lord? We have been jacketed with the robe of His righteousness.
Why is this all important? Because of the absolute insecurity that there is as the children of Adam. “As in Adam all die,” that is the only sure thing about being children of Adam. “But in Christ shall all be made alive.” That is security. In a world of such short-lived temporality, every soul needs security. But the only genuine soul-security is establishment in Christ.
The Christian’s second permanent security for his soul is HIS ANOINTING.
To a person unfamiliar with the Bible this may be a bit peculiar or bizarre. But on other hand the more one studies God’s word the more of a blessing this becomes. In ordinary private life, anointing oil was important for skin care. Remember that Palestinian temperatures often reach 120 degrees. And the dust of that part of the world was often filled with skin-destroying lime. In other words, anointing with oil was an act of physical protection. And too, oil was a statement of joy. When a person was in mourning, they did not anoint themselves, But in preparing for a wedding everyone was especially anointed.
After the private things we come to the religious use of anointing oil. When kings, priests and prophets were inaugurated into their offices, they were anointed. That anointing was a declaration of separation and sanctification unto the Lord.But even more important than that, the act of anointing, done under God’s direction, was symbolically and sometimes actually the communication of God’s Holy Spirit to that person. “As Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither. And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward” – I Samuel 16:11-13.
Isaiah 61:1 makes an additional important point about anointings. In a prophesy about Christ, His anointing was directly related to his ministry. “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;” You are probably aware that the word “Christ” is the Greek form of the Hebrew word “Messiah” Are you aware that “Messiah“ literally means: “Anointed One”? God’s Son was anointed, set apart, sanctified – to “seek and to save that which was lost.” We could spend quite a bit of time studying Christ as the Anointed one. But our theme this morning is that the Christian, also, is an anointed one. And the point is – in your anointing you have been established in THE Anointed One. The sinner, saved by Grace, is related to Christ in His anointing, as well other ways.
Christian, you belong to Lord; He has claimed you and marked you as His, with the oil of His Spirit.
Third, the saint has been SEALED unto Christ.
Everyone knows that when we mail letters, it is important to seal that letter shut. Lick the glue that is on the flap of that letter and firmly press it down. If you neglect to do that your letter may never arrive, especially since there is so much mechanization in the post office these days. In so many things: to be sealed means to be secured.
But that is only the hem of the garment of this Biblical idea. In those days, if an important man was sending an important document it had some melted wax poured on it to seal, and then into that wax was placed the official stamp or seal of that man. It was done for security reasons and for identification as well. That leads us to the doorway of several applications. Ephesians 1:13 speaks of Christians being “sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.” But this verse doesn’t actually describe how we are sealed. Are we like an envelope, over which the Holy Spirit has been poured – sealing and protecting? Or are we the wax, into which the Holy Spirit impresses His perfect image? Since the Scripture doesn’t say, perhaps we can rejoice in both.
Every sinful soul which has ever been redeemed has been first worked upon by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit convicts, He rebukes, and He convinces of sin. And finally, that sinner is regenerated, that is, born again of God’s Spirit. That soul is now pliable, malleable, and able to receive the shape of the Spirit. And as that new Christian matures, the more and more he bears the likeness of Christ and His Spirit. Yes, we are secure like the tomb of Joseph, with the seal of Pilate on door. But we also should bear the image of the Governor in our souls and in our lives.
But what if that professing Christian doesn’t bear that image? Then there is reason to doubt his profession.
The Christian also has the blessing of the EARNEST OF THE SPIRIT in His Heart.
The word “earnest“ refers to a surety or pledge; a down-payment in more modern terminology. This is a non-refundable deposit made upon the agreement to buy a piece property.
Every person who is a Bible Christian, has been “born again” by the operation of God’s Holy Spirit. And that Spirit, doesn’t just initiate that new life in Christ and then depart. The Bible teaches that although a person can stifle the presence and blessing of the Spirit, it is quite impossible for that person to cause the Spirit to actually forsake him. Every Christian is permanently indwelt by the Holy Spirit. And that indwelling is here described as the earnest of our further inheritance. The Lord has made the Holy Spirit Himself the down-payment and guarantee of the completion our salvation. And when will that completion be complete? When we shall be changed, caught up in the air to forever be with Lord.
The repentant sinner is given, among innumerable others, the blessing of a four-fold security. That is: establishment in Christ and the anointing, sealing and the earnest of the Holy Spirit. It is something like days between the second Tuesday in November and Inauguration Day in January. The President/Elect has been established by electoral vote as President of the United States. He possesses presidential security, and the promise of the keys to the White House. But he has yet to enjoy the office. As Christians, we have much to enjoy today, but there is whole eternity of greater things to come.
What is my purpose in these thoughts this morning?
To give opportunity to all those who know the Lord, to praise His holy name. Christian, don’t despair when either sin or Satan rear their faces once again in your face. Fear sin, hate sin and flee sin, but you are safe in the arms of Jesus. But how can you dare entertain thoughts of deliberately sinning against such grace. And, if your life only consists in things of this earth, I offer you more. “If in this life only, you have hope,” then you are miserable, whether you know it or not. “For all that is in the world, the lust… is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will God abideth for ever.”
And what is the will of our God? That you repent of your sins. That you thoroughly renounce your allegiance to sin and Satan. And that you place your faith and love upon Jesus Christ, the Saviour. Salvation is expressed in repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Don’t leave this building without God’s four-fold security.