Garnes, Arthur: Types Of The Holy Spirit-01 ~ Our Seal

Well, shall we pray? Heavenly Father, we bow in thy blessed presence. And how thrilled we are to be here, to remember the Lord this morning, to fellowship together around temporal things, and then to hear our brethren as they extol our Lord Jesus Christ. We give thee thanks. And now for the remaining moments, grant thy leading, thy blessing, as we give thee thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Now, I, I don't know where to begin, because... you remember we've been speaking about the Holy Spirit, who he is, what he does, and more recently about some of his manifestations, and the last talk we had was on speaking, no, one before, speaking in tongues, and then we went on to the types of the Holy Spirit, and we considered oil, and the one thing that we learned from oil, oil doesn't make any noise. So when you go and you see these people falling out and holy left and yelling and screaming, that's not the Holy Spirit. Uh, First John chapter four, please. Verse one. Beloved, believe not every spirit. A lot of spirits around. Test the spirits. And this is important. This is not what I'm going to speak about. But during the last week, I've been reading about some of the various things, uh, that many people are claiming. Uh, slain in the spirit. Anybody familiar with that? Being slain in the spirit? Anybody? Good. Where is it? And then another one's holy laughter. Is it in here? That's why it says, believe not every spirit. Got to be very careful. Now, what I do want to talk on for a little while, we've been speaking of types, and I want to speak for a while on the Spirit as the seal on believers. Now let's read a few scriptures so as to satisfy ourselves that believers are sealed by the Spirit. Then we're going to try to find out what the sealing really means. So first, let us look at second Corinthians one and twenty two, please. Second Corinthians chapter one, verse twenty two. Speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has sealed us and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. Uh, in the will of the Lord, perhaps on Wednesday night, we'll talk about the earnest. We just want to talk about the seal. We have been sealed with the Holy Spirit. Ephesians one and thirteen. Ephesians one thirteen. In whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom, having believed, you were sealed with the Spirit. Believers are sealed with the Spirit. Now, what is the significance of being sealed? There are several things. I only want to take up one for the sake of time. The significance of being sealed. Look with me, please, in Deuteronomy chapter thirty two. And for those of you that are not familiar with my way of presentation, we turn to a lot of scriptures. But you'll find that real nice. You'll get to like it after a while. Deuteronomy thirty two, the significance of a seal. One of the significance, I should say, significance. Thirty two and twenty nine. Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end. Well, we could talk on that for a couple of hours. The latter end. That's the trouble with many of the folks, even believers, they don't consider their latter. I heard very recently of a believer who went out to have what they call fun, you know, in quotation marks. He didn't consider his latter end, and now he has AIDS. Consider the latter end, but that's not our subject. How should one chase a thousand and two put ten thousand to flight, except their rock had sold them and the Lord had shut them up? For their rock is not as our rock, even our enemies themselves being judges. Their vine is a vine of Sodom, of the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter. Their wine is the poison of dragons and the cruel venom of ass. Is not this laid up in store with me and sealed up among my treasures? We seal things that belong to us. Now, beloved, whether you, I, I know you know it, but we don't know. Do you know that when we were sealed by the Spirit, that we don't belong to ourselves anymore? We look, we belong to the Lord. First Corinthians six. We have been sealed, and as a result of that seal, we belong to the Lord. We do not belong to ourselves. First Corinthians chapter six, please, verse nineteen. What? Know you not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, which ye have of God. You are not your own. Beloved, we do not belong to ourselves. We have been bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. Now, this physical body that you brought in this morning, that belongs to God. Well, now some people say, I don't know, that's kind of hard, belonging to God. Well, who else would you belong to? You only have two choices. So you either belong to God or to Satan. Uh, but you know, belonging to God is not at all bad. Read with me in First John. It's pretty good to be owned by God and possessed by God. First John, please. Chapter five, verse three. We are not our own, we belong to God. That seal of the Spirit indicates that we belong to God. First John chapter five and verse three. This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. Now notice the next expression. His commandments are not burdensome. And I want to tell you that Satan's commandments are burdensome. So, since he owns us, we don't have to fear that he's going, you know, be unkind to us. Now, certain things are implied. If we are not our own, we cannot say, it seems to me. You don't have any say in the matter, or I think. You belong to God. You don't, you don't think out things. I go where I want to go. No, you don't go where you want to go. You, you belong to God. The story is told of a certain couple, both saved. But this, there was a picture showing in New York City, I forget, one of those places, the Radio City Hall, something like that. And this wife wanted so much to see this picture, whatever it was they were showing. The husband said, no, no. Finally he said, all right, let's go. Went there to the ticket office. three tickets. His wife said, we don't need three. Oh, yes, we do. The Lord said, I will never leave you or forsake you. And they never went. This physical body doesn't belong to us, therefore we must be careful what we put on it. We could talk about that a long time. My wife is complaining that all the styles for the ladies, the skirts are very short, am I right? Is, is that true? Mm-hmm. Remember, what you put on your body, you put on there what God wants you to put on. Well, how about eating? If you belong to God, then you shouldn't eat what you want, you eat what he wants you to eat. Uh, this puts us in a very un- oh, difficult position, doesn't it? But his commandments are not burdensome, and if we follow his commandments, you'd be surprised the joy that we will get. Now, how do you know what his commandments are? We belong to him. How do we know what his will is for us? Matthew chapter, or rather Luke chapter twenty four. We looked at it this morning, and when the brother turned to it, I said, I believe I'm in the will of the Lord. How do you know what the Lord wants you to do? You belong to him. You're not supposed to do what you want to do. How do you know what the Lord wants you to do? Luke chapter twenty four. Let's start at verse thirteen. I think that's where we started this morning. Behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs, and they talked together of all these things which had happened. It came to pass that while they communed together and reasoned, that Jesus himself drew near and went with them, but their eyes were restrained, and they didn't know it. Let's get- now they didn't know it was Jesus. Now read verse thirty two. They said one to another, did not our heart burn within us while he talked? Now, what am I getting at? You don't have to see Jesus with the physical eye to hear him. Some people looking around and want to see. I don't believe what I don't see. Uh, that's dangerous business. A lot of things, uh, let me ask you this. Uh, no, this is not original with me. There was a professor, he said, I don't believe what I can't see. And a little fellow said, professor, have you ever seen your brain? You can get in a lot of trouble if you say, I only believe what I see. And so it is with the lo- word and the word of God. You don't have to see him to hear him. Now turn with me, please, to the book of Habakkuk. I warned you that when we get to the book, we, we turn all over, Old Testament, New Testament. Habakkuk, please, chapter two. Habakkuk chapter two. verse one. Now, read carefully, because I'm going to read wrongly. You remember the Lord asked the disciples, how readest thou? And that's much of our trouble. We don't read what the Bible says, we read what we think is there. So, while I read, don't look at me, just listen and see if your Bibles tell you the same thing my Bibles tell me. Habakkuk chapter two verse one: I will stand upon my watch and set me upon the tower and will watch to hear what he will say unto me. Is that not your Bible? What, what does your Bible say? You're gonna watch to see what he says? How do you see what somebody says? Very easy. If I had, say, a note for Craig over there, I wanted to tell him something, but it isn't convenient with all these people here, so I write it on a piece of paper and ask the folks to pass it to him. Is he seeing what I'm saying? And we see the Lord and his will and his word, or rather in his word. You don't have to see him, but you do see him in his word, and the will of God is in his word. Proverbs six. Remember now, he owns us, and we are to do whatever he says. How do you know what he says? How do you know what he wants you to do? His will is in his word. Proverbs six verses twenty two and twenty three. And this is a nice one. Oh, let's start at verse twenty. My son. Well, that's another nice study. Uh, the number of times and the occurrences of that expression, my son. And not only the number of times that it occurs, what does it mean? And the Bible does not exclude the sisters. So don't worry about ERA. They have it all wrong. The Bible is not prejudice against the sisters. Now, my son, verse twenty of Proverbs six, keep thy father's commandment, forsake not the law of thy mother, bind them continually upon thy heart, tie them about thy neck. Now, verse twenty two, when thou goest, it shall leave thee. The word of God. When thou sleepest, it will keep you. And when thou awakest, it will talk to you. When's the last time the Word of God spoke to you? Oh, I had a good time about three o'clock this morning. Oh, that was good. There I was alone with a book, and the Lord said something to me. Try it, beloved. If you want to know the will of the Lord, you don't have to see him. It's right here in his word. See what he will say. You remember in First Kings, when Elijah was having a pity party? You remember that? I'm the only one left, poor me. And the Lord has several left. And so the Lord spoke in the thunder. The Lord wasn't in the thunder, in the fire, he wasn't in the fire, in the earthquake, the Lord wasn't in the earthquake. You know, people like spectacular things to happen. Now, ladies, how would you like to have an earthquake on the day you're going to get married? You don't want anything spectacular then, do you? All right. So then the Lord spoke in a s- gentle, small voice, or as it might better be translated, a gentle, soft whisper. Now, if you want to hear his voice, you've got to listen. It isn't a matter of taking the Bible up in the morning and reading a few verses, and by the time you get to the bus stop, you don't remember what you read. You've got to sit and listen, and he will speak. His will is in his word. And there is a verse there that I like, uh, Jeff is familiar with, with it. He probably knows it from memory. First Corinthians four and six. Would you read it for us, brother Jeff? When you read the word of God. four and six, yes. Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollo for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, do not go beyond what is written, then you will not take pride in one man over against. Don't go beyond what is written. I heard a hymn. I- I think you all know this hymn. Wonderful things in the Bible I see. Anybody know that hymn? Things that were put there by you and by me. That's how some people read the Bible, what they put in there. And the Lord warns us, when you read the Bible and you're going to listen as to what he wants you to do, you read what's there. Don't add anything. Well, now the question comes up. How do you know what's right from wrong? Anybody? How do you know what's right from wrong? Well, Psalm, let's look at Psalm one hundred nineteen for the sake of time. Oh, time is, the time is up. Just getting started now. That's the point, and I- I- I'm going to be very unkind. I'm going to stay till I'm finished. Because this is the sort of subject I can't stop in the middle. Knowing the mind of God. Psalm 119. How do you know what's right and what's wrong? Psalm 119, verse 97. Oh, I used to like this when I was in school. And for you young folks in school, take this with you. Psalm 119 and verse 97. Oh, how I love thy law. Oh, I trust that everyone here loves the word of God. Not like it, love it. There is a difference. If you don't love the word of God, ask the Lord to give you a taste for it. I remember as a youngster, my dad used to have on Wednesday nights a Bible class. It's about four brethren we'd get there, and I'd listen, and they would say, oh, that's good, oh, that's precious. I said, well, that's funny. They sound as if they're eating ice cream, and I still like ice cream. But you know what happened one day? I asked the Lord to let me s- see what they're seeing. I didn't know, what what's in there? What's making... Oh, that's beautiful, brother. Thank the Lord. It's in here. How I love thy law. It is my meditation all the day. Thou, through thy commandments, hast made me wiser than mine enemies who are ever with me. Do you know that's true? If you follow the word of God, you're smarter than your enemies. Now, I've told this before, so I'm not going to go over it, but my school ex- experience proves it. All those wise guys laughing at you and, you know, belittling you, you'd be surprised. You follow this word, and you're smarter than they. But look at verse ninety nine. I have more understanding than all my teachers. How can that be? How can you know more than the teacher? That's why you're going, for him to teach you. How can you know more than he knows? Well, and this I've told to the saints here. Evolution. Oh, I remember Professor Melander and this tree, and you had the amoeba down here, then they grew a little bit more, and then you had this branch and that branch, and on the top was man, and then at the highest level of man was this man, and then another man from here, and then another man. I said, you're all wrong. I knew more than he did about how we got here. And I want to assure you that if you study the Word of God and follow the Word of God, it's amazing how much you'll know. Oh, I, I'd like to take time on some of these things, but h- here's a favorite one of mine for some of you that haven't been here before. Uh... Uh, how do you resuscitate a, a, a, a person? Person is fainting, you want to resuscitate him. What position do you put him in? Anybody? Lying, li- lying on his back, right. Now, when I went to med school fifty years ago, they said, no, don't put him on his back, put him on his abdomen. And in that fifty years, they learned that you should do it with him on his back. Now let me ask you, when Elisha su- revived that little child, was the child on the back or the abdomen? Oh, you know the answer to that. The child was on his back, the way they didn't teach me. Right in this book, it tells you how to resuscitate a person. Read it one day. No, it's all there. Chest massage, heart massage, mouth to mouth. It's right in this book. Uh, that's why I like the book so much. But I have to go on the time zone. Oh, the word of God is right. Now, tell me something. There's some do's and don'ts that puzzle people. The Bible doesn't say this in the Bible. Tell me this. Should you steal? What does the Bible say about stealing? Does the Bible say anything about stealing? Do not. Do not. Fine. What about gambling? The word isn't in the King James Version. Should you gamble? Is it right? How do you know? What scripture can you show me to prove that you shouldn't gamble? What's that? Yes, that's a form of gambling. All right. Uh... then there's some questionable things. Now I'm going to tell you how you will know about gambling and another... Oh, by the way, there is a scripture about gambling in the Bible. Uh, I'll tell you, it's in the book of Isaiah. Now don't ask me where. In the book of Isaiah. But, uh, read with me in First Corinthians, please. Chapter six. And before we read that, I'm going to ask you another question. Should you smoke cigarettes, pipes, or anything else? Does the Bible say you shouldn't smoke? Doesn't spell out not smoking, no. Doesn't say that. So you look and you won't find it. Well, maybe I should smoke. Maybe it's all right. Well, it's fascinating. Now, my father never smoked, okay? And this was long before, I forget the name of the doctor from Louisiana, but he gave a lecture at the New York Academy of Medicine in which he proved beyond any doubt that smoking contributes to lung cancer. Absolute one hundred percent proof. What do you think happened at the end of the lecture? He came down and looked at one of the doctors, said, do you have a cigarette? Funny thing, isn't it? Funny thing about human nature. But the point is, should you drink alcohol? A little wine for your stomach's sake. All right. Oh, by the way, uh, we don't have time to look at it now, but uh, if you look in Proverbs... uh, chapter thirty three, I think it is, you find a perfect description of a drunkard. Oh yes. It tells you, uh, how he, like a boat at sea, reeling. Have you ever seen a real drunken man reeling? It's there. And there is a something we used to call delirium tremens. I don't know what they call it now. We call it DTs. When you're seeing things. Oh, I remember one time we had, uh, a few drunks in, and one saw a wagon with six wheels, and the other said, no, it has 3. And they were arguing about this imaginary thing. That's what you call the DTs. That's described right in this Bible. And you know what else is cri- described in the Bible? In that same chapter? Chronic alcoholism. The man is battered up, he's beaten, but he goes back for more. And it's right in this book. Now, how do you know that you s- how do you know you shouldn't take drugs? Anyone? How do you know you shouldn't take... should you take them? How do you know you shouldn't? From the Bible. All right, First Corinthians six, please. Uh, Ah, First Corinthians six. let me see. Yeah, verse twelve. All things are lawful to me. I can do anything I want to do. Right? That's what he says. Everything's lawful. But. But, fine, thank you. But all things are not expedient, profitable. Fine. Now the next one. I will not be brought under the power of many. Alcohol brings you under its power. That's why people who drink are so foolish. Drugs bring you under its power. Gambling brings you under its power. Pornography. Do you know why so many of these men around here attacking children? Pornography is at the background of a lot of it. It's an addiction. It brings you under its power. And so the apostle tells us here, don't you bother with anything that brings you under its power. And it's amazing, you know, you say, well, that's for the man in the street. Oh, no. I remember going to a hand conference in California, and one of the things that they they advertised was, uh, oh, what did they call it? All the ladies walk around with no bra. They have a name for it, I don't know. Topless. Topless, thank you. And this doctor said to me, let's go over to the... I said, what do you want to go to a topless place for? You're a doctor, you've seen all that. He said, well, I'm going. I said, fine. I saw him the next day. They said, well, how'd you make out? He said, there's nothing to it. I said, I told you that. But it's the greed, that flesh that wants to bring you under its power, and you look at enough of those things, and you'd be surprised what'll happen, so that we don't do certain things because they will bring us under their power. Well, some people say, I go by the circumstances. Should you go by the circumstances? Oh no, you're getting, uh, Jonah chapter one. Now, when you get home, you'll have to look up some of these. It it they, they're fascinating. Going by circumstances. Jonah went by circumstances. Moses, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah. Ah, Jonah chapter one. Are we all there? Jonah chapter one, just the first three verses. You don't go by the circumstances, you go by the divine will, by the word of God. Jonah chapter one, the word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh. Go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before me. But, but Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord and went down to Joppa. And what happened? He found a ship going to Tarshish. Well, that's where I want to go. Maybe the Lord didn't really want me to go to Nineveh, and he provided this ship to take me exactly where I want to go. That's how some of us reason, you know. And the next thing you know, he was in trouble. Uh, this... Oh my. Uh, let's read verse nine, uh, verse eight. Now, you know the storm came up. They said unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil has come upon us. What is thine occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? Who are your people? And he said, I'm an Hebrew, and I fear the Lord God of heaven, which had made the sea and the dry land. Then they were exceedingly afraid and said unto him, Why have you done this thing? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord because he had told him. Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee that the sea may be calm? Can you imagine a believer causing the sea to be raging? And when we disobey the Lord, do what we think is right, do it the way we see it, that's much of the trouble that we have on the outs. A believer contributing to the unrest in the world because of disobedience. You want to improve your neighborhood? Just obey the Lord. Don't go out there and join them and do what they do. Now, I'm not telling you shouldn't be civic-minded, but if you want to improve your neighborhood, you just live Christ. You'd be surprised what would happen. I'm fifty minutes over time. All right. Don't go by the circumstances. Second Samuel chapter five. Now, some of you won't be here on Wednesday night. I'm going to give you back the time. Well, I usually do that. Uh, the local folks here will testify to that. Well, uh, that- that's fine. Suits me fine. Second Samuel chapter five. Now, this is another favorite of mine. You don't go by the circumstances, and you don't go by what did God did the last time. Well, the last time he did so and so, so all I done, I know what he's going to do. You don't know anything. Let's read. Second Samuel chapter five verse eighteen. The Philistines came and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. David inquired of the Lord. And that's what we need to do. You don't need to go out there and fight them. Shall I go up to the Philistines? Will you deliver me into their hand? The Lord said unto David, Go up, I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into thy hand. Fine. Now read verse eighteen again, please. The Philistines also came and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. Verse twenty two, Philistines came yet again and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. Now, what would you do? I don't have to ask the Lord. He, last time he told me what to do, I'll just do the same thing, right? Let's read. Verse nineteen. David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go to the Philistines? Wilt thou deliver them into my hand? And the Lord said unto David, Go up, I will doubtless deliver the Philistines. You notice I say Philistines and Philistines. There are two pronunciations, and I get lost in them. All right. Now, verse twenty three. When David inquired of the Lord, he said, you shall not go up. And the circumstances were exactly the same. You don't go by circumstances, you go by the word of God. He tells you exactly what he wants you to do. Now, there's some others, but we can't take time for them. The time is up. One final thought. Remember, in all of this, as servants of the Lord, sealed with the Spirit, owned by him, directed by him, don't forget the role of the Holy Spirit. He is the teacher, and where he is grieved and where he is quenched, there's no room for teaching. But where there's communion with the Holy Spirit, and you get that in Philippians two and also in second Corinthians thirteen— there is such a thing as communion with the Spirit. Or as one brother has written a beautiful hymn, I think it's in the same, nothing between. And when there's nothing between us and the Lord, nothing between us and the Holy Spirit, he'll speak to us, and he'll guide us, and he'll tell us. But we don't go by our own opinion, what we think, how we feel, how it looks, that we don't go by those things. We go by the word of God, and there's a word of God for every single thing. Did I say that was the last? All right. This is the last. This is a track, God's rule for measuring questionables. Some things, we say there's nothing in the Bible, I don't know what the Lord's mind is. Will it glorify God? You know, sometimes we get very angry, and we say, I'm going to give that fellow a piece of my mind. That's dangerous. You need all your mind that you have. However, will it glorify God if I give him a piece of my mind? You don't do it. Can it be done as unto the Lord? Can it be done in the name of the Lord? I'm going to straighten that person out. Can you do it in the name of the Lord? Brother, I come in the name of the Lord to straighten you out. Can you? How would it look to others, especially other younger believers? Would it hinder a younger believer, or for that matter, any believer? If I go and do what I have in mind, how will it affect a younger believer? The story is told of a certain missionary, and uh, she had a maid, and uh, one day the maid said, you know, I, I don't like Mrs. So-and-so. And the missionary said, you shouldn't say that. And the maid said, well, you don't like her either. She could tell by her behavior. So you have to be careful how your conduct affects another. Does it compromise us? Is this God's will for me? Oh. Would I want my children to do it? You know, there are a lot of things that we do, we don't want the children to do. You remember the story of the... I come up with these stories all the time, of the father that was going to work, and every morning he stopped, oh, they didn't call call them bars then, but anyhow, he went in there to get to get a drink. It snowed the night before, and here's daddy trudging through the snow, and just as he was about to turn into this saloon, yes, he heard a voice behind him, Daddy, I'm walking in your footsteps. Did he go in there? Not that morning. So we have to be careful how our conduct affects other believers. I think that's enough. Oh, by the way, how will you face it at the judgment seat of Christ? That's another thing. Shall we pray? Holy Father, again we bow in thy blessed presence. How we thank thee for thy word and the truths in thy word and the richness of thy word and the blessings that we can derive. Our thoughts have been few and not well expressed, but bless thy word to each one here. We thank thee for the presence of each one here, ask thy blessing. Some will be leaving. Take care of them and bring us up again as it shall please thee. We commit ourselves now into thy care and keeping, asking thy blessing in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Now, if you come on Wednesday night, you'll get the time back. That is, if you want it.