Name Change - Part 3 - Sealed

2 Timothy 2:19

Nevertheless, God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: 

“The Lord knows those who are His,” and, 

“Everyone who calls on The Name of The Lord

 must turn away from iniquity.”

Revelation 22:4

They will see His face, and His Name will be on their foreheads. 

Revelation 3:12

The one who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will never again leave it. Upon him I will write The Name of My God, and the name of the city of My God (the new Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven from My God), and My New Name.

    In 2 Timothy 2:19 we are sealed with a great seal, a seal bearing two inscriptions: The Lord Knows Who Belongs To Him and Everyone Who Calls On The Name of The Lord Must Turn Away From Iniquity. Two very important statements in being called a Christian. [Matthew 7:22, 23; John 10:14, 27]

    The first part of the great seal states that The Lord Knows Who Belongs To Him. Just because someone says they're a Christian doesn't mean they're a Christian. Their actions belie their words. Even actions done 'in Christ's Name' does not make a person a Christian. It is the second part of the seal that defines Christianity. 

    How does The Lord know who belongs to Him? God knows our hearts and our thoughts. Therefore, He can see our intents and our motives before ever we take action on them. [1 Samuel 16:7; Jeremiah 17:10]. Since we know this to be true, we must guard our hearts and fill our thoughts with those things that honor God. [Proverbs 4:23; Philippians 4:8]. 

THE LORD KNOWS WHO BELONGS TO HIM

    Many are the passages of Scripture that define workers of iniquity. The Book of Proverbs is filled with the wisdom and knowledge of who these workers are and how to avoid being one of them. Workers of iniquity are unrepentant sinners. They are comfortable in their sin and see no reason for changing their ways. [Psalm 5:5; 1 John 3:4; 1 John 2:4; 1 Corinthians 13:1-3; Matthew 25]. 

    Too many will have attended one church or another, becoming a member of the church denomination, giving their tithes and offerings, serving on the board or teaching in the classrooms. But never giving their hearts and lives to Christ Jesus. Never surrendering fully to God, nor giving Him the honor and glory due Him because He is God. Church attendance does not make us known to God. 

    The Lord is sifting the church, bringing judgment upon the sleepers, who will be chaff in the wind, kindle in the fire. Their 'faith' will dissolve and they will complain to God that they did this or did that in His Name, but He will inform them that He never knew them. Be wheat, not chaff. Be watchful, not sleeping. Know the times in which we live and be ever ready to give a testimony of the gospel and why you believe on The Name of The Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation. [Matthew 3:12; Matthew 25:1-13; Romans 13:11; 2 Timothy 1:8; 1 Peter 3:15].

TURN AWAY FROM INIQUITY

    We guard our hearts when we disallow vain philosophies to enter in. We have set a watch over our hearts when we listen to God's Holy Spirit, Who leads us away from temptations and brings us closer to God, when we maintain a full study life in Christ. We read our Holy Bibles, praying over The Word that God would reveal to us in the passage(s) we are reading, not only Himself, but what He would have us to know. 

    Think: consider, regard, take into account. Now, if we are taking something or someone into account, we are putting some serious thought into what we will do with that something or someone. It is applying deliberate attention to every detail, even the most minute, or what appears to be an irrelevant or obscure detail, and fully laying it out before we make a decision regarding that something or someone. This is how we think on God's Word. 

    What is iniquity? Iniquity is sin. It is disobedience to God's Word and God's Will for us. It is lawlessness. It is evil and wickedness. Iniquity is immorality. It is wrongdoing, misconduct, dishonesty. Iniquity is trespassing. It is corruption. 

    Iniquity takes up residence in both the heart and the mind from birth, through the nature of sin that we are born with. When we reach the age of accountability--knowing what is right and what is wrong and why these things are right and wrong, recognizing truth as truth and lying as lying--then we become accountable to God for how we think and what we believe. 

    When we turn from iniquity, we must turn our hearts and our minds elsewhere. And just where is this 'elsewhere'? In Jesus Christ. He is the embodiment of God's Love to us. He is Truth. He is Righteousness. He is The Right Hand of God. He is Love. He is Light. He is Savior. He is Redeemer. He is The Glory of God and so much more. He is The Good Shepherd Who Knows His Sheep. 

    That's how we are known. That's how we are recognized. When Jesus Christ is our Savior, He becomes our Shepherd and we become His fellow workers of righteousness and His sheep. We are His own. We belong to Him now, for we have turned our backs on iniquity. No more are we workers of iniquity, no more are we living lives of sin and immoralities: we are His sheep: we are Christians because we are following our Shepherd now in this new Life He has given us in Himself, instead of following the main worker of iniquity, of lawlessness, Satan. 

    We are sealed with this great seal, a dual seal of Being Known By God and Belonging To Jesus Christ. We are Christians, Light-Bearers in an ever darkening world, and we are here to tell you about the saving grace of God through His only begotten Son Jesus Christ. "For there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved." [Acts 4:12]. 

    Where the blood of God's Lamb Who Takes Away The Sins of The World has been applied, and where the fire of God's Holy Spirit is evident, the seal has been branded on that person. Are you sealed? 

     

    

Statements of Faith - Sealed

 

EPHESIANS 1:13. 14 

In Him you also trusted, after you heard The Word of Truth, the gospel of your salvation; in Whom also, having believed, you were sealed with The Holy Spirit of promise, 

Who is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory. 

    Who is Sealed? The born again believer, whether they are God's chosen elect - the Jews - or they who have been grafted into The Vine - the church - we are all sealed by The Holy Spirit of God when we come to Christ Jesus for our salvation and redemption. 

    How are we sealed? The validation of our salvation is the mark which God has placed on His people. Though not visible to the naked eye, it is completely visible to God. 

    What marks a Christian that makes them visibly different to other people? It is not our words, nor our actions: they who are also faithful followers of Jesus Christ can see, even from a distance, the glow of The Holy Spirit upon us. I've had people come up to me, total strangers, and say, 'I know you're a Christian. I can see Jesus in you.' And they hug me and smile and then walk away. 

    I, we, are sealed and set aside to be used for God's glory. We have chosen this path of service to our God and as long as we focus on The Word which is directly in front of us, not worrying about what's ahead, nor regretting what has passed; not allowing ourselves to be distracted by what's on the left of our view, nor what tempts on the right. We maintain our walk of faith one step at a time. 

    Eve, in the garden of Eden, allowed herself to get distracted when she listened to the serpent beguile her with his malicious deceitful words, causing her to answer him instead of ignoring him. He questioned God's Authority and questioned Eve's understanding of God's Word.

    That's why it is so important for each of us to know and understand, through God's Holy Spirit, the Truth of God's Holy Word. It is a moral imperative to be able to live God's Word that we must first read and study to know God through His Word. We must pray to God and seek Him out, with desire to draw closer to Him than we are now. The strength of our relationship with God is in Christ. 

    If Christ is not in us, then we cannot be in Christ; nor is it possible to draw near to God, nor even enter His presence with worship. God knows our hearts: if our hearts are not right with God on God's terms, then we have failed to understand the most basic imperative: there is only one God and He desires to be first in everything we do, including our worship. 

    In Exodus 20, the very first commandment tells us this. God rebukes idolatry and then goes on to describe what idolatry is. He demands absolute worship from us when we recognize that GOD IS GOD. God will speak to people in dreams and visions, He will pour out His Holy Spirit upon His sons and His daughters. (Joel 2) He will reveal Himself to those who are seeking Him. Now is the time to seek God and live. For the day is fast approaching when people will seek God in fear, but lacking understanding, they will not find Him. 

    It is The Holy Spirit and the church who are calling people to salvation through Jesus Christ. When we leave, what will you do if you don't leave with us? Now we pray that The Holy Spirit fill us and burn away everything not of God, leaving only that in us which God will accept. 

    If you don't know where to start reading your Bible, start with The Book of John. And let The Holy Spirit direct your steps where to go next. 

 BURN IN ME - Paul Wilbur

A Crucified Life - - Is A Sealed Life

 

2 Corinthians 5:5

And God has prepared us for this very purpose and given us the Spirit as a pledge of what is to come.

*Strong's Ex. Conc. No. 728

Pledge: installment,  down-payment

From the Greek word 'arrabón' (pronounced 

ar-hrab-ohn'):  a large part of the payment, given in advance as a security that the whole will be paid afterwards.

SEALED WITH HIS PROMISE

    A life lived on purpose in Christ is a life worth living. 2 Corinthians 1:22-23 "Now it is God who establishes both us and you in Christ. He anointed us, placed His seal on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a pledge of what is to come." 

    Ephesians 1:11-14, specifically verse 13 as relates here: "And in Him, having heard and believed the word of truth—the gospel of your salvation—you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit." 

    Abraham believe God before God gave him the sign of circumcision (Romans 4:10), which was an outward sign of what God was doing on the inside, on Abraham's spiritual heart. 

    Romans 4:11 "And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them." 

    Why is this important to know and understand? An uncircumcised heart is a heart that does belong to God. But when a person believes God for his or her salvation, then God circumcises the believing heart from the body of sin and death.        Circumcision is a cutting away from, a removing from. It separates the clean from the unclean. Just as Christ in the mercy of God separates the believers, His sheep, from the unbelievers, the goats, when we come to Him for our salvation (Ezekiel 34:16,17; Matthew 25:32,33). 

    As David wrote in Psalm 23:1, "The LORD is MY Shepherd, I shall not want (lack)." He was able to say this because He believed God, and like Abraham, David's faith was counted to him as righteousness, though the Righteousness of Christ had yet to be revealed.

    We who live now live in the Age of Grace, a time when the outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God is prevalent and fills all believers that we might walk in the power of God and accomplish His purpose in us and for us. It is now that the Spirit of God prepares us for what is to come. 

    And what is to come? Life, an eternal life which has no end. Life in Christ is lived in Christ. And as I stated in the beginning of this discourse, A life lived on purpose in Christ is a life worth living. 

    Let us live that life with God's Seal upon us.

SEALED LIFE 

Welcome Holy Spirit

Let The Weight of Your Glory Fall

Holy Spirit

Come Holy Spirit Fall On Me Now

O Lord Send The Power Just Now

Holy Spirit Rain Down