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Jude the Obscure
Posted on Monday, May 22, 2000 - 5:49 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Are you aware of this fact: Thereís not so much as a single jot or tittle of biblical evidence that ìSunday worshipî is ìthe mark of the beastî?
Jtree
Posted on Saturday, November 18, 2000 - 9:25 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

SALVATION SECURED BY A DIVINE SEAL
Ephesians 1:13

"In whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." Ephesians 1:13

The sealing work of the Spirit is mentioned after the experience of faith because our salvation is attested to and revealed only after we believe. Many twist and pervert the Word of God, wresting the Scriptures to the eternal ruin of their own souls and to the eternal ruin of those who follow them. Ephesians 1:13 is one of those texts which is commonly abused by such men, by those who handle the Word of God deceitfully.

Specifically, OUR FRIENDS who teach a different view point.

Paul is not talking here about a second work of grace. He uses the word "after" not to suggest a time sequence, but an experience sequence. We came to trust in Christ after we heard the Word of Truth. And we were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise after we believed.

Actually, a careful reading of the Word of God reveals that we were sealed in Christ by the Holy Spirit before we believed; but we knew nothing of the Spiritís seal experimentally until after we believed. Every believer has a threefold seal from God.

The Seal of The Fatherís Foreknowledge (2 Tim. 2:19).

The Seal of The Sonís Love (Song. 8:6; 4:12; Rev. 7:3).

The Seal of The Spiritís Work of Grace (Eph. 4:30).

As circumcision was the seal of Godís covenant in the Old Testament, under the law, the Spirit of God is the seal of the new covenant. A seal is a mark of ownership. A seal is that which keeps something legally secure. A seal suggests permanent freshness. A seal means everything is okay.


Blessed be His name, Godís seal, that seal of the Holy Spirit, the seal of grace can never be broken! Godís elect are not sealed temporarily, but until the day of the resurrection of our bodies with Christ. Paul calls this "the redemption of the purchased possession" because Christ purchased the bodies as well as the souls of His elect; and our redemption will not be complete until we are forever with Christ in glory.
Max
Posted on Saturday, November 18, 2000 - 10:20 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Dear SDA friend,

If you still think Sabbath-keeping is the seal of
God, read the following passage:

NIV John 6:25 When they found him on the
other side of the lake, they asked him, "Rabbi,
when did you get here?"
26 Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, you
are looking for me, not because you saw
miraculous signs but because you ate the
loaves and had your fill.
27 Do not WORK FOR food that spoils, but for
FOOD THAT ENDURES TO ETERNAL LIFE,
which the Son of Man will give you. On him
God the Father has placed his SEAL OF
APPROVAL."
28 Then they asked him, "What must we do to
do the works God requires?"
29 Jesus answered, "The WORK of God IS
this: TO BELIEVE in the one he has sent."

Nor be deceived back into thinking that the
"work" (such as Sabbath-keeping) Jesus
speaks of here is the earning or maintenance
of salvation by works.

For it is clearly stated that "the work" is "to
believe."

Nor is this "work = believing" a kind of toil that
demands wages, for the text also clearly
states that "food that endures to eternal life" is
GIVEN by the Son of Man, not EARNED by
works such as Sabbath-keeping.

Max of the Cross
Cindy
Posted on Saturday, November 18, 2000 - 12:20 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Joshua, Thank-you...absolutely wonderful. I hadn't thought of the seal of God being a three-fold seal, the Father's Foreknowledge, the Son's Love, and the Spirit's Work of Grace. I really like that!


And the idea that "we were sealed in Christ by the Holy Spirit before we believed; but we knew nothing of the Spiritís seal experimentally until after we believed."

I know about 6 years ago when I really started studying "the Sabbath issue" as the "seal of God", those texts in Ephesians were puzzling to me. How could the Holy Spirit be our "seal"? How could we be marked by the "seal of God" by SIMPLY believing!!?

We were always conditioned (brainwashed?) to believe that the Sabbath had all the "elements" of a true seal of God...showing His ownership of us as Creator because it says, "for in six days the Lord made..."; and, also, that the Sabbath command was in the very heart of God's Moral, Eternal Law...

These following texts are great!

"And you also were INCLUDED IN CHRIST when you heard the Word of Truth, the Gospel of your SALVATION. HAVING BELIEVED, YOU WERE MARKED IN HIM WITH A SEAL, THE PROMISED HOLY SPIRIT, who is a deposit, GUARENTEEING OUR INHERITANCE until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to the praise of His glory." Ephesians 1:13

"And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom YOU WERE SEALED for the day of redemption." Ephesians 4:30

Grace always,
Cindy
Cindy
Posted on Saturday, November 18, 2000 - 12:55 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Max, very good!!

(?) Maybe in some ways we could be said to have the "seal of God" by our "keeping the Sabbath"...by our BELIEVING and RESTING in our TRUE SABBATH REST--JESUS!!

"Now we who have believed enter that REST..." Hebrews 4:3

But this is missing the point of true Adventism...Of course, this is not how they would think you can keep the Sabbath "Holy"!...

The 24-hour period from "sundown to sundown" is actually "holy time"! A mystery to me--as to what is considered "holy", and thus proper to do on the Sabbath, and what is "unholy" and not permissable to do.

Praise God for the Holiness and Rest in a PERSON--JESUS!, who makes all time holy for me!

Grace always,
Cindy
Bruceh
Posted on Saturday, November 18, 2000 - 6:18 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Jtree

---The Seal of The Father1s Foreknowledge (2 Tim.
2:19).

The Seal of The Son1s Love (Song. 8:6; 4:12; Rev.
7:3).

The Seal of The Spirit1s Work of Grace (Eph.
4:30). ----

I like this one Jtree.

The Holy Spirt seal is the same as entering the
Sabbath Rest, remember God asked where is the
place of MY rest. It states it very clearly that
God dwells in us in the Holy of Holy's, in us.

This is the power that God has given us, "Christ
in you".

So Ephesians 1:13-14 states that we know have a
guarentee of our inheratence, and a promise Phil
1:6 that CHrist will finish what he has started,
and I thank God for this promise because he stll
has a long way to go with me but I do see Him
working in my life and I believe that he will
finish his work (I do not mean I will be without
sin you guys, OK!, I am not a Ellen White
perfectionist, HA HA).


Bruce Heinirch

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