This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you to day four of our look through Ephesians chapter one and
daily drive time devotions. We're looking at verses 13 and 14 today. Two great
blessings in these verses added to the five we looked at the previous few days.

Let's just review God's blessings for us in Jesus Christ. Blessing one, God
chose us to be holy and blameless. Blessing two, God adopted me into his family.

Blessing three, we are redeemed, we are forgiven. Blessing number four, God has
shown us the mystery of his will, that everything comes together in Christ. And
blessing five, I am chosen for an inheritance and as an inheritance.

And now today we begin with blessing number six, the blessing that I am included
in Christ. The beginning of the verse says, and you also were included in Christ
when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, included in
Christ. That means I am part of the in crowd.

Have you ever not been invited to something you really wanted to go to, the
wedding of the year or some great golf game that you wanted to be a part of, or
your friends got tickets and they didn't get you one? I hate those lists of
what's hot and what's not and who's in and who's out because it always means
somebody's out. This verse tells us that you and Jesus Christ are included.

If you're not in who's who, who cares? Because you are in his who, and that's
the only one that really matters. You are included in Christ.

You are his who are included. You are his who are loved. You are included in
Jesus Christ.

And that is who you are. Don't let anybody today put you down for who you are
because you are included in Jesus Christ. That is God's blessing.

That's the way he sees you. Then blessing number seven in these verses, I have
the guarantee of God's Holy Spirit in my life. Ephesians 1, the last part of the
13th verse in verse 14 say this, "Having believed, you were marked in him with a
seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance
until the redemption of those who are God's possession.

" That's you, God's possession, to the praise of his glory. I just have to note
here as we come to this verse about God's Holy Spirit, you may have picked up on
this. As we walk through Ephesians 1 verses 1 to 14, it's really a hymn in three
stanzas.

You might have noticed that. First, we talked about the blessings that come to
us because the Father loves us. We are adopted.

And then we talked about the blessings that come to us because the Son loves us.
We're redeemed. We're forgiven.

And now we're talking about the blessings because of the Holy Spirit, the seal,
the guarantee of the Spirit. That's the strength of what is talked about here.
The Trinity, the very Trinity, is behind these blessings that God has given to
our lives.

And here's the blessing of the Spirit, "Having believed, you were marked in him
with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. "
There are two pictures of the work of the Holy Spirit in these verses. First,
the Spirit is a seal who marks us.

And then he is a deposit who guarantees our inheritance. He's a seal who marks
us. On some envelopes, even today, you'll see a decorative wax seal on the back.

In the days that the Bible was written, that seal was not just a decoration. It
was more like a padlock. If anyone opened the letter before it reached its
destination, it would be obvious to everyone that the seal had been broken.

Just like those envelopes of past days, God's Spirit has sealed you until you
reach the destination of eternity with him. What does this mean? What does
sealing mean?

Sealing implies two things, ownership and protection. Ownership and protection.
Each person's seal back then had a design on it that was their mark.

It was unique to them. It was a kind of notary stamp of that day. A seal on a
document was a guarantee that it hadn't been forged.

And God decided to mark our lives with the seal of his own spirit. The moment
you are saved, the moment you come to Jesus Christ, God sends his Spirit into
your life as a seal, guaranteeing his love for you and guaranteeing that he's
going to carry you safe to heaven to be with him for all of eternity. Nothing
could be more personal or more powerful.

The seal of the Spirit proclaims that you're not your own anymore. You've been
bought with a price. God owns you now.

Now, you might be a person who feels like you don't have much of a heritage.
I've met a lot of people like that. I've met a lot of people who feel like they
don't really fit in anywhere.

If you feel that way, you are wrong. You're part of God's family. And sealing
means God, God is your Father.

Sealing stands for ownership and it also stands for protection. The envelope
seal protected the document from being opened or tampered with during its
journey. When God has put his spiritual protection over our lives, he's put his
Spirit into our lives.

He's there with you through the day to say, "I am with you. " In every
circumstance that you face in the journey of life, you are sealed in his Spirit.
The Spirit is a seal.

He is also a deposit. In terms that we would use today, the Bible is saying here
that the Holy Spirit is God's down payment in our lives. God is saying this, "I
have this great promise of heaven for you and I want to let you know that I'm
not going to let you down on that promise.

" And so in order to let you know this, that the promise is real, I want to give
you something now, a deposit guaranteeing what is to come. And what does he give
us? He gives us himself, the Holy Spirit, God's Spirit.

The depth of God's commitment to us in this promise, it's almost beyond belief.
A deposit is something that is given as a pledge for a promise. It's earnest
money guaranteeing that you'll keep your promise.

And when the Bible was written, this deposit was taken very seriously. If the
promise wasn't kept, the earnest money that was paid was lost. If you put down
the deposit on land and then you backed down on the deal, you lost your deposit.

If you gave an engagement ring as a pledge of your intention to marry someone
and then broke the engagement, you lost the ring. God has guaranteed your
eternal salvation, our eternal salvation with no less than his own spirit, his
very self. That's obviously a deposit that God cannot lose.

That is how deeply he assures us that he will not take his spirit from us, that
he intends for us to be with him for all of eternity. Now, why? There's that
phrase again that we've come across in these verses.

He does it to the praise of his glory. The word "glory" is used, it's used 295
times in the Bible, it's used again and again. But there's a change between the
Old Testament and the New Testament.

In the Old Testament, God's glory was seen in the plagues against Pharaoh, the
dividing of the Red Sea, God speaking out of the fire in the heavens. And very
often it's seen in the appearance of a cloud. God's glory is in that cloud.

In the New Testament, it all changes. God's glory is seen in you as a believer
in Jesus Christ. You are a living, breathing opportunity for people to see the
glory of God.

Why? Because you are so handsome, so beautiful? No.

Why? Because you're so perfect? Obviously not.

Why? Because you're so forgiven. Because God has lavished his grace on you.

Why? Because you're so redeemed. God has set you free.

Why? Because you are so loved. God has adopted you.

That is the glory of God in your life. That's what you glory in. And what God
has done in you and for you, and then what he can do through you.

See, the life lesson from Ephesians 1 to 14 is this. I am blessed. Whatever
circumstances I'm facing in life right now, and they may be terrible, I am
blessed.

That's how God sees you. I am blessed. I am blessed with God's gifts.

I am blessed by God's grace. And I am blessed for God's glory. Let's take a
minute to talk to him.

God, as we think about the blessings that you have given into our lives, the
riches that you've given. It is so easy. It's easy for me.

It's easy for all of us to see ourselves in light of the circumstances around
us. What's happening in my life today. What somebody said about me today or to
me today.

How my job went today. Whether I feel like a success or a failure in what
happened today. It is so easy to see myself in light of those things.

But those things aren't going to last. What is going to last are these blessings
we've talked about and looked together at in your word these last few days. Who
we are in Christ and what we are in Christ.

And because of that, the glory that comes to you. And so Lord, I pray. I pray
for myself.

I pray for everyone listening to this prayer. That you do a miracle in our
lives. The miracle of us beginning to see life, see ourselves in a brand new
way.

We can't do that on our own. But in you we can. And I pray that these riches
that we've talked about, they wouldn't just slip out of our minds as easily.

Let me start that sentence again. And I pray that these riches that we've talked
about, they wouldn't just slip out of our minds easily. They would stick in our
hearts.

Letting us know God that this is what is true about us. This is how you see us.
And because this is how you see us, this is how we can live.

And no matter what anybody else says, no matter what anybody else does, no
matter what happens to us today, we can count on these blessings in Jesus
Christ. Give us the faith to do that. Give us the faith to do that today.

We ask this in Jesus' name, Amen.