Transcript for:
Ephesians 1:13,14 -Plutocrats- (Part-3) Pastor Rick Beaudry 2025-12-28

Title of this message, we're on a series, the third part of plutocrats. And so we're in part three, preserved by the holy spirit. So the first part was purchased, excuse me, predestined by the father. The second part, purchased by the son. And the third part in the godhead is preserved by the holy spirit. So would you please stand with me as we read god's holy word together, Ephesians one thirteen and fourteen. In whom you also trusted after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, to whom also after you believed, were sealed with the holy spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory. Father, we're so thankful that we're students of your word, that we can be disciples, that we, Lord, are not children of darkness or of this earth, the earth dwellers, Lord, but we're children of light. And Lord, we do have hope. Our hope is in you. And Lord, we thank you that we're letting go of this world. We are surrendering all. We're not trusting in our retirement accounts, and we're not trusting in government. We're not trusting in anything of this world, Lord. We know it's a time to fix our eyes upon Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. And Lord, I pray that what you're teaching us today would sink down deep within our hearts and the joy and the blessing of meeting the bridegroom at any moment. And Lord, we're looking up knowing our redemption is drawing nigh. And Lord, we thank you that you have predestined us. We thank you that you purchased us with the precious blood of your dear son. And Lord, we thank you that as we're studying today, Lord, we're being preserved. We're being brought to that place of perfecting. The perfecting of us, Lord, as we look for the soon return of Jesus. And so bless, pour out your holy spirit, open the scriptures, teach us, Lord, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen. Would you please be seated? It's very, very sad that I hear the theme around Christmas time is the amount of people, you know, losing hope. And, as I said last week, I had a friend where, his stepson had committed suicide, and I think it's ramping up more and more people as we watch things change economically. And just the whole demonic deception stuff with AI and everything, people losing hope. And I'm so thankful that we have families. I'm so thankful that we're Christians, we have each other, and we have God's word to lead and guide us and help us. I can't imagine getting through this if I'm trusted in the wisdom of men and such, you know? I don't have a formula to make it all go away. I can't make it go away. I can't exhort you. Hey, vote harder. Vote harder. We can fix it. I can't do that. I don't believe that. I'm a political atheist at this point. But what I can do is I can point you to Jesus, and that all this is happening according to plan. Man is reaching the end. He's reaching the end of his ability to govern himself and gonna give himself over, not to God, but to the devil. People are gonna worship Lucifer. They're gonna worship the devil. And, the joy and the blessing as a Christian is the Lord keeps us here to preserve the culture, to stave off the putrefaction and the corruption that's taking place. But it needs to be a church that's awake, a church that's aware, a church that's watching and looking. And so the hope that I would bring people is, hey, Jesus is coming. But if you don't teach prophecy, if 27% of the Bible's prophecy, but you don't teach it, then, you know, how are you going to provide the hope that the people really need? And, you know, that, hey, this has all happened according to plan. The rapture's coming. Jesus is coming. How do you know, Pastor Rick? Well, I can see the beast system being built. I can see the whole infrastructure, everything coming into play. And I want you to know that as a Christian, you've got an engagement ring on. And that engagement rings means that you belong to Jesus. You don't belong to this world. You don't belong to the devil. There's no way the devil's gonna be able to snatch you out of the Lord's hand. So let go of the world. Let go of it, and and and focus more and more upon upon the soon return of Jesus. Don't fall into their their lies of a golden age, a golden era, utopian era, and free money. And what? Are they gonna reverse the curse? If God says, Adam and Eve, you're cursed. Adam, you're gonna have to work by the sweat of your brow. Do you think these technocrats are gonna be able to circumvent the curse? They can promise you that they will. They can promise you you can just sit home and make money and play games all day. They can promise anything. But how are they gonna perform? How are they gonna do it? And then if I look prophetically up ahead, I can see they're a miserable failure, as I said in Revelation six. One fourth of the planet's dead. And then a little while later, one third. So half the planet's gonna die during a very short period of time that the Bible calls the time of Jacob's trouble, the great tribulation period. And so if I'm in that tribulation period, we on my birthday, we showed the kids a couple videos I told you about thief in the night and all, because I want the children, our children, grandchildren, to focus upon the soon return of Jesus. I want them to get excited about the rapture, that he's coming for his bride, he's coming for his church, And that should stave off all the different, you know, ways that the world is trying to bog people down. I don't want people to fall for a false hope, you know, where a pied piper is running along and saying, we're entering into a golden age, you know? And we're gonna we're gonna fix the world and usher in the return of Christ and all that. It's a bunch of lies. It isn't biblical. It doesn't happen that way. The world reaches a place where they're on the brink of complete destruction. And Jesus said, except those days be shortened, no flesh would be saved. But for the elect's sake, for the nation of Israel, the Lord Jesus intervenes. So man is headed for the darkest period of time that any human being has ever gone through. Jesus said it's the time that the world's never seen nor will ever see again. So that's true. It's getting darker and darker and darker. But as Betty showed me her diamond ring, all you need to remember is that diamond ring shines brightest with a black velvet behind it. And this darkness that's happening allows you and I, with the hope that we have, to shine ever brighter to people who are perishing, to people who need hope. And so the hope that we present as children of light is Jesus is coming. That day will not overtake us unaware in first Thessalonians chapter five. But for the others, the others, they, it is gonna overtake them as a thief in the night. They're not gonna see it, and they're not preparing for it. And many in the church today are not prepared. They're not prepared, and they're not preparing for the eventuality of this whole culture collapsing. And gold is up at $4,500 an ounce. Silver's at $75 an ounce. It looks like that when that happens, the dollar is tanking, the dollar is losing its buying power, and people are positioning themselves to get out of paper assets and to get into tangible assets. And, we're talking China, and all these countries are buying up as much as they can. So what's that signal? What's it signal, you know, to everybody else? And so we're living in a in a transitional period. The great reset, the new world order, but the Bible describes it as a time where, it's a time of Jacob's trouble. It's a time of great tribulation. A dark, dark period of time is coming. But, as I said, the good news is that Jesus is going to take comfort his bride. He's gonna comfort his church cause we're not appointed under wrath. And the tribulation period is a primary period of time to preserve the nation of Israel to as a refiner. They're gonna go through the fire of the tribulation period, and one third remnant's gonna be purified. But it's also a time to pour out judgment upon the devil, the antichrist, the false prophet, and all of the pretenders, all the technocrats, all of them that are trying to hide in these bunkers, and they're they're crying out for the wrath of the lamb to fall up to hide from the wrath of the lamb that's coming. So, Jesus rode into Jerusalem the first time on a little donkey. He came in humility as the babe of Bethlehem in a manger, but he's coming back next time in his Shekinah glory with his brightness and the sword of his mouth, and he's gonna destroy all these pretenders. So that's where my hope is. I hope your hope is there. And this morning, you're gonna see that you, as Betty showed me her ring, that you've got an engagement ring on. You have the seal of the Holy Spirit upon you. And just as the 144,000 in Revelation seven, the devil can't touch them. The antichrist can't touch them, can't hurt them at all, and we see him again in Revelation 14. So too, the devil cannot stop God's plan of salvation for your life. And so, you've received the earnest. You've received a portion of a taste of what it's like to know Jesus. But, one day, you're gonna see him face to face, and he's gonna fulfill, all that he's promised. And so so as believers in Jesus Christ, our God has made us rich, blessing us with all spiritual blessings in heaven heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So as plutocrats, we have been predestined by the father, his idea to save you. We've been purchased by the son, purchased by Jesus, his precious blood. And today, we'll see we are preserved by the holy spirit. The promise the promisor sent the holy spirit, number one, after you believe. Verse 13. He says, Jesus said in John fourteen sixteen, I will pray to the father, and he will give you another comforter. So Jesus told the disciples, it's expedient that I go, and they were they were bummed out that he was saying he was gonna leave them, and they didn't understand. They they just couldn't get it. And Jesus said, expedient, it's profitable that I go, because then the comforter, the holy spirit's gonna come. And he says, that he might abide with you forever. So I can't be with Jesus now, but he's living and dwelling within me by his spirit, and he hasn't left me comfortless. He's given me the holy spirit to comfort my heart in his absence. So even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive. The devil is a liar, and his greatest weapon is lying, propaganda, deception. And you and I have the spirit of truth to lead and guide us into all truth that we not succumb to the propaganda, not succumb to the lies of the wicked one. And so he cannot receive because he because it sees him not, neither knows him. But you know him, for he dwells with you and shall be in you. And so the promiser, the father, sent the comforter, the Paracletas, the one who comes alongside us to witness of the son, revealing the son to us, convicting us of sin, and showing us our need of the savior. Says verse 13, in whom Jesus, who you also trusted after that ye you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that you believed. So the Holy Spirit opened your eyes. Jesus says in to the seven churches, he that has an ear to hear, let him hear what the spirit is saying to the churches. So the Holy Spirit within and upon, the holy spirit, the paracletus came alongside to convict you of sin. You heard the gospel, you felt convicted. You felt, yep, I need I'm a sinner. I recognize I'm a sinner. And so the wages of sin is death. We know that we deserve eternal damnation. But the gift of God's eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And so he came with alongside to to convict, and then he came within. Nick, you must be born again. As you receive Christ in your heart and life, you're no longer body and soul, you're body, soul, and spirit. And then Jesus said, you'll receive power when the Holy Ghost comes upon you. A p, the preposition of p. And so sometimes when we're first saved, when the Holy Spirit comes within that act of conversion where I'm turning that one eighty, I'm repenting from the way I was going, I'm turning unto God, and he's transformed me from body and soul, from the natural man to a spiritual man, body, soul, and spirit. At that time of conversion, in many cases, we also receive what's called the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the empowerment for service. Other times, we don't receive the baptism of the spirit, you know, simultaneously right at that time. It could be another another point in time. And so we can study that through the book of Acts, and we can see where Jesus breathed on the disciples, said, receive you the holy spirit. They could understand the word, and then he told them to wait. He told them to wait after forty days of being with them. He said to wait, you know, ten more days, Pentecost fifty, for the promise of the father to be poured out upon them. So they received the indwelling of the holy spirit. Now he's telling them to wait for the dunamis, dynamic power of the holy spirit that would come upon them, a p, to empower them for service. They were radically changed after the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them. They had the faith, and they had the Holy Spirit living and dwelling within and believing the resurrection, and that radically changed them. And now, they're gonna get the empowerment of the Holy Spirit for service, that God would empower him to his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth. And so faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. The Holy Spirit opened your ears to hear. He that has an ear to hear, let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches. So what's it mean to hear? It means not just the words, but with understanding. The light bulb goes on. A lot of people can accumulate facts and have a pseudo intellectualism, and knowledge puss up, but love edifies and not really know who God is, and not have a relationship with them. They don't have really the understanding. In John 20 verse 22, Jesus breathed on them and saith unto them, receive ye the holy ghost. So this is, as I said, the indwelling. This is where they're born again, the disciples, in John 20 verse 22. But in Acts, he's telling them to wait. He's telling them to wait, you know, for the promise of the father. So at this point, they're born again, the holy spirit breathing on them, and receive you the holy ghost. So when the triune god said, let us make man in our image, it was the breath of God, the holy spirit that gave that gave life. In Genesis two seven, the lord god formed man of the dust of the ground, and he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. The devil is unable to do that. They cannot create. The devil cannot create. The devil needs parts to work with. He needs if he wants to transform and transhumanism and all that, he needs technology. And this morning, I saw where the the scientists have a a tattoo that goes that can go around your hand and your arm right here, and it's it's an operating system, an electrical operating system, radio, and all that. And so prelude to the mark of the beast and all, but the technology's there. God doesn't need to do that from a technology standpoint. He can he can you know, he's changed us from within, and he has the DNA, and he has the Holy Spirit, and he has everything he wants to make you and I into his image, where where we're a three part b in body, soul, and spirit. And he breathed on Adam, He came to life, and then he brought forth Eve from the rib bone of Adam. And the devil can't create. The devil can't do that. But so he wants to counterfeit, and he wants to use technology to try and convince people that they can be gods. Noah, Yuval Harari and these guys boasting that, you know, God's already dead. We just haven't buried his body. Think of how boastful that is. God's already dead. We just haven't buried the body yet. And and boasting that they're never gonna die. They're gonna live, you know, forever. And well, that's the lie within the garden. You shall not die. That's the lie in second Thessalonians two, that because they reject the truth, they're gonna be given over to a strong delusion that they would believe that lie. That's how the devil gains a following is by lying to people, and people believe in those lies. So lying signs and wonders and such. And and so we have the authenticity. We have the real relationship where God transforms and change you and I from within, and I don't need no chip to do it, and I don't need no pill to do it, and I don't need no therapy to see it happen. It's a work of God's spirit, and I'm being transformed by the renewing of my mind. God is changing me from glory to glory into the image of his son. And one day, he's gonna complete that work, and I'll know when I see him face to face that that work is complete. And so Job thirty three four says, the spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the almighty has given me life. Psalm 33 verse six, by the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the hosts of them by the breath of his mouth. And so God just speaks it. When he returns, when Jesus returns to destroy the antichrist and all those armies that are there to destroy the Jews, except those days be shortened, no flesh would be saved. But for the elect's sake, for the nation of Israel, Jesus intervenes, he destroys the devil with the brightness of his coming and the sword of his mouth. Just the word. He just speaks it. He spoke the world into existence. You know? And he had no building materials. Bara, in the beginning, God created heaven and earth. Bara is out of nothing. No building materials. He just speaks it. And so we have a almighty God, all powerful God. And remember, again, the devil is a fallen angel. And Michael the archangel, they're gonna grab a hold of that old devil, Lucifer. They're gonna put him into abyss for a thousand years. At the end of that thousand years, he's gonna be loosed to tempt the people that are repopulating the millennium. And then after that, they're gonna grab hold of him and put him into the lake of fire, Gehenna. And he's not, he's not gonna lead. He's not the leader. There's no leader, you know, within hell. He's he's probably the, one of the greatest, occupants, you know, not not some kind of a leader. So he's gonna be changed. He's gonna be tormented along with the antichrist, the false prophet, and along with the wicked dead, anybody that refuses Jesus Christ, anybody that takes the mark of the beast. There's no plan of redemption for those that would take the seal or the mark of the beast on the right hand of their forehead during the tribulation period. There's no second chance in purgatory or annihilation or reincarnation for those that have rejected Jesus Christ. The only way a person gets to hell is by rejecting Jesus Christ. God does not send people to hell. They go to hell by choice. God finally says, well, not my will, but your will be done. You're rejecting my offer. You're rejecting my son. There's only a fearful looking to of judgment then. There is no other way. And people go and they put their hope and trust in man, and when man fails them, they lose hope. Don't put your faith and trust in man. Go straight to the Lord. Go straight to his word. Go straight to him. You have access unto him and study his word. Allow his word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. In Luke twenty four forty nine, Jesus says, behold, I send the promise of my father upon you, tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high. So you saw where he breathed on them and said, receive you the holy spirit in John twenty twenty two. Now, he's these these that are born again. Now, he's saying, wait. And so, a tyran, they're gonna wait for ten days, and, the promise of the father's gonna come upon you, power from on high, so the baptism of the spirit. He says, wait for the promise of the father, which saith ye, you have heard of me. For I I John for John truly baptized you with water, but ye should be baptized with the holy ghost not many days hence. So in Acts chapter one verse four. And so we see the apostle Paul getting saved in Acts nine, and then Ananias laid hands on him. He he was filled with the Holy Spirit. We see in Acts chapter 10 at the house of Cornelius that when they believed, the Holy Spirit came not only within them, but upon them so simultaneously. And and we see those in, Ephesus in Acts chapter 19 that, what have you been baptized in? Well, we've been baptized in the baptism of John. And so there's believers there that weren't baptized in the Holy Spirit. Paul laid hands on them, and they're baptized with the power of the Holy Spirit. And so, the with, the in, and the upon. We cannot live the Christian life apart from the empowering of the Holy Spirit. That's what makes us different, is we have God, the third person of the Trinity, empowering us to live this Christian life. The greatest witness thereof is love. The power to love, the power to think, the power to discern, to be exhibiting the fruit of the spirit, which is love, and the empowerment of the holy spirit to say no to evil, to be willing to die for the sake of God's glory rather than capitulating or compromising for a few moments of pleasure as we're being threatened by the wicked one. And so we we have a glorious, glorious future in front of us, and we have a God who's helping us sort it out and live this Christian life. It's a walk. It's day by day. We continue to learn. We fall. We get back up, but we do not need to depend upon any man. And so whether it's Noah, Yuval Harari, or any of these guys that think they got it, As I told Vicky the other day, all they need to do is is to prove their gods is be crucified, be buried, and raise himself from the dead three days later. Maybe we'll listen. But until then, they're just talkers. And you gotta be careful in the church today because the enemy is sowing a lot of tares among the wheat, and has been. Goats among the sheep. And part of the way you'll be able to discern who the tares are and who the wheat are, the real believers, the real believers will have humility. The tares will be boastful, proud, standing up, defiant, acting like they know everything. The church of Laodicea. So Jesus allows the tares to grow with the wheat, and when the wheat come up to the point of time of harvest, the wheat fall, they bend over. The tares, the weeds, puff their chest up like Obama's neck, way up there. You know? They're very proud. God resists the proud and he gives grace to the humble. So continue to humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and he'll lift you up. That's the secret of getting through these difficult times, is humbling ourself. When you're faced with that which you don't understand, fall back on that which you do understand. God loves you. He proved it by sending his son to the cross Of Calvary to die for you. And he didn't leave you as orphans. He didn't leave you fatherless. He, showed the intention of giving his son for you as the groom. And showing his intention, his redemption, he sealed you. He's marked you out. He's given you the engagement ring. So you hold on. You don't give that love and that favor, that affection, that worship to anybody but him. Only him. You've been marked out for him. So the Holy Spirit, the relationship of the Holy Spirit within and upon, the three prepositions. So promised the promise of the father, the promiser sent the Holy Spirit of of promise after you believed, and secondly, to mark his possession. Verse 13. You were sealed with the holy spirit of promise. This word seal speaks of a mark. It speaks of God's imprint. It speaks of the custom of the time was to utilize a hot wax seal with a signet ring. And so, you'd have the the ring on your remember when you watched Ben Hur? And Ben Hur's there. He's got his name changed, he's come back. Look at this seal. You know, they're taking their rings. Even the Roman guys were doing that. They're they're taking it, and they put it in wax, and then right there, and that's it. You know? That was one of the things to show authenticity and all. And and so this hot wax signet ring. So four ways that are that were preserved by the holy spirit based upon the seal. Number one is security. So Matthew twenty seven sixty six, they made this sepulchre, sealing the stone and setting a watch. So the devil's henchmen, the religious leaders, they said this deceiver said, destroy this temple in three days, I'll raise it up. They understood what he meant, speaking of his body. So they they helped us tremendously, the religious leaders. They begged for Pilate to put some soldiers there and to put a seal upon that 2,000 pound stone that that separated Jesus from the rest of them. And, and then this criterion of soldiers to guard it, they said, lest his disciples come and steal the body. So one of the things that happened is when that stone was rolled there and the body's in there, now they seal it. They put the Roman seal on it, punishable by death if anybody were to break that seal, enforced by the soldiers. So when the angel came and rolled the stone away, those soldiers were quaking. They were on the ground shaking. You know, they were like dead men there. And and so but it was there to authenticate and to show that you don't mess with that seal. So a point of security, and if you've got an envelope or something that you were gonna send a business wise and it's got that that seal on it, it's for security that if anybody breaks that seal, you know the content's been tampered with, and you wouldn't want that to, to happen. Jesus said in John ten twenty seven, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. 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. So that seal upon you, that security as a believer, the devil can't pluck you out of his hand. The devil can't separate you from God. You are secure. You've been marked. The devil looks at you, oh, I I can't get near that one. That one's got a seal upon them. They've been sealed by the Holy Spirit. And, devil can lie to you. The devil can, get your permission. The demons can get your permission to drag you back into bondage, but the devil cannot overpower you. He doesn't have the authority to snatch you out of the Lord's hand, to steal you away. You are secure in him. Second is authenticity. The seal is God's signature. It's his mark. In first Kings chapter 21, there's a woman named Jezebel. She's a Sidonian princess, and she's married to Ahab. So she's a foreigner, and she introduces the nation of Israel to Baalism and Aphrodite, the the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 to Asteroth, and so for a feminine fertility goddess and all. And Ahab was a whiner, and he began to whine that his neighbor Naboth had a vineyard that he wanted. And and Ahab tried to offer some money, and he tried to negotiate with Naboth, and Naboth's like, no, this is my family plot, my family vineyard. It'd be wrong if I sold this or whatever, sold it to you and all. Well, I'll give you money, I'll give you an even better vineyard and all. And so Naboth wanted no part of it. And so Ahab began to whine, complain, and so Jezebel says, I can get you it. I can get you that. And so she sends a letter of of authenticity to in a plot to murder, to steal Naboth's vineyard. So she sent this letter, and it was sealed of authenticity from the king. And it was describing how, you know, call a call a time of a fasting, a religious kind of a thing, and have two witnesses claim that, just like they tried with Jesus, that Naboth was blasphemous. And then when then then take him out and kill him. And once he's killed, then Jezebel can get that piece of land, that vineyard, you know, for Ahab. So that seal of authenticity, first Kings chapter 21 verse eight. So security, authenticity, and thirdly, the seal speaks of ownership. Revelation three seven three and four, God sealed the 144,000, 12,000 from each tribe of the nation of Israel. And he preserved them. He protected them. The devil can't touch them, and they're able to go around sharing the gospel, the glorious gospel with everybody as evangelists, and they can't be touched. They they're they belong to Jesus. They belong to him, and you and I belong to Jesus. We've been purchased with blood. Know you not that you're not your own? Therefore, glorify God with your body, which is his. He's purchased you. You were a slave to sin. You were in bondage. You were a captive of the wicked one, a captive of the devil, and God is stronger than the devil, paid the Goel price, paid the price of redemption to purchase you out of sin and death and hell and slavery, and put a mark upon you that you belong to him, for you've been bought with a price. So security, authenticity, ownership, and fourthly, authority. In the book of Esther chapter eight verse eight, King Ahasuerus said, write ye also for the Jews as it liketh you in the king's name and seal it with the king's ring for the writing which is written in the king's name and seal with the king's ring may no man reverse. So the authority of the king, you have the authority of king Jesus, where his ring is upon you, where his seal is upon you. And one day, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. So he's in the driver's seat, all these pretenders, all these people talking and and gonna get the real ID. Everybody's gonna need to get the seal of the Antichrist on them. They're counterfeiters. You and I as Christians, we're marked out. We belong to Jesus. And we're not gonna pinch incense and say Caesar is Lord, you know, to live another day. We we obey government to the point that, they disobey God. And at that point, we say we're gonna obey God rather than men, and only the true and living God, the one that purchased us with his son's own blood, is is worthy of our worship. The only one we're gonna worship. And so we're preserved by the Holy Spirit. The promiser sent the Holy Spirit a promise after you believe to mark his possession. And then also, the Holy Spirit guarantees, number one, our inheritance. Verse 14, which is the earnest of our inheritance. That word earnest is the Greek word. Speaks of a down payment, a pledge, a guarantee, securing a legal claim to the article in question. So, if you ever tried to do some business on marketplace, forget it. They said they agreed to a price of something, and then you get your all of your stuff ready to drive over there. Oh, sorry. I sold it to somebody else. They offered me more. Well, in real estate, that transaction starts with that thousand dollar check, that earnest money you put into escrow. It preserves you. You're the you're in first position. So if you fulfill the contract with that guarantee, that earnest money there used to be a time where you might go buy a car and maybe a used car from somebody, and you give them some earnest money so that they'll take the car off of the market trying to re you know, keep it sold. And so it stops the person. You've negotiated a price. Now you're gonna go down to the bank and get a cashier's check, you know, for the amount agreed upon. But you give them a $500 cash or whatever it might be to secure it, to show your intent that you're serious about buying this car. And if you don't follow through, they keep the earnest money, and then they re you know, put the ad back out there again. And so so this earnest down payment, a pledge, a guarantee, so securing the legal claim to the article in question. So we look at it as an engagement ring that I'm betrothed to Jesus, and he gives, you know, your intention. You ask someone you know, I'd ask Kathy to marry me, and to show my intention, you know, I would give her an engagement ring until I'm able to give her a wedding ring on the day of the marriage. And so the holy spirit living and dwelling within the believer not only seals us as belonging to the Lord, but also guarantees there's more to follow. We're just getting started with that engagement ring. Right? We're just getting started. There's much much more to follow. You know? And so in the giving of the Holy Spirit to us, God is not promising us our financial inheritance, but actually giving us a foretaste of it. We're getting a little taste of it, which is only a fraction of the future endowment. In Romans eight fifteen, for you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together. So a guaranteed inheritance. As plutocrats, we have a guarantee. We're marked out. And all that Jesus has purchased with with his blood, we are joint heirs with him. So the picture is Jesus as creator. He's created everything. And then he makes Adam and Eve. He makes them for his pleasure. And they're walking on the cool of the garden and and all that, and then the serpent comes along comes around, and he usurps that relationship. He undermines God's relationship with humanity and tries to get the, you know, Adam and Eve to rebel against God, and he succeeds in that. She's beguiled, Adam transgresses, and so they die. They're they're separated from God spiritually. They're body and soul, but not body, soul, and spirit anymore. And so, they need to be born again. They need to be born of the spirit. And so, the the devil becomes the little g god of this world, the prince of the power of the air. And he has dominion that was given to Adam and Eve. They lose, they forfeit that dominion, give it over to the devil, and he convinced one third of the stars of heaven, the the fallen angels to come with him. So you've got these demons, and you've got this this power of darkness, these fallen angels warring against God. And these demons Satan wants to be as God. So this whole counterfeit system, based upon God's true system, Satan counterfeits. So he is the counterfeit God the father, the antichrist counterfeit God the son, the false prophet counterfeit God the, you know, the the holy spirit. And and so he wants the the world. He wants to be worshiped. He wants to be his god. And when he tempts Jesus, he says, if you'll bow down and worship me, I'll give you all these kingdoms of the world. And so that's what he's after after, you know, to be worshiped. And Jesus said, it is written, thou shall worship the Lord thy God, him only shalt thou serve. You know, be gone, Satan. No shortcut. Jesus go by way of the cross. So Jesus is the creator, but now he needs to be the redeemer. He needs to somehow redeem us. And the only way to redeem you and I is with his precious blood. He becomes the last Adam, and he lives a perfect life. And it's his precious blood that goes across of Calvary to pay for all of our sins, past, present, and future. And he hasn't come for that purchased possession yet. He owns you. He bought you. You belong to him. But he gives you the holy spirit to show his sincerity, to show his promise, to show his his diligence, and that he's going to fulfill all that he's promised. And so, you can you can bank on it. And your spirit bears witness with the holy spirit that you're a child of God. You have the holy spirit bearing witness with your spirit that you belong. So when the devil comes along and lies to you, know you have the Holy Spirit reminding you of the cross of Calvary. When the devil seeks to condemn you, reminding you of the cross of Calvary, reminding you of the blood of Jesus, that the blood of Jesus, God's son, continually cleanses a man of all sin. You have that positional righteousness already. And this work that God's begun in you, he's gonna continue that work in you because we see faults, we see sin. The devil's right, the devil tells the truth about me. I am a sinner, but Jesus paid for those sins. Past, present, and future, they've all been paid for. To tell us that I paid in full, and I can rest in the finished work of Jesus that one day, he's gonna come back to this field here, and he's gonna receive that treasure within this field, because he went and sold all that he had to purchase this field, to purchase this earth that he created. Now he's gotta purchase it, because Adam forfeited it. And why does he wanna purchase his planet? He's got lots of planets. Because his bride is in this planet. The church is his bride. And he's gonna not stop. He's not gonna stop, as Boaz didn't stop until his responsibilities as a kinsman and redeemer were fulfilled to redeem Ruth and to bring her back into that relationship with God. And so that's that's how our Lord has laid it out for you and I. And so we rest in him knowing that we belong. So the Holy Spirit guarantees our inheritance, and secondly, our Lord's return. He's gonna return. He's not here yet. He's given me the earnest. I have the I have the earnest down payment of the Holy Spirit, and I'm watching, I'm waiting for him to return. He's gonna return Yes. Until the redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of his glory. So we've we've been predestined by the father, purchased by the son, the holy spirit preserves us, and notice, until the redemption of the purchased possession. So he's purchased us, he's redeemed us, but he's gonna come back and take take possession of us. He's gonna take possession. He's gonna come and say, alright, you're mine. So Jesus paid for us in full with his own blood, and he sent the Holy Spirit to be the earnest, the engagement ring, until he returns for his bride. The Holy Spirit is gathering a bride presently. The bride of Christ. So blindness in part has happened unto Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. The Holy Spirit is gathering a bride for the son, and that's the church age, that we presently are are living in. And so, in John 14 verse two, Jesus said well, 14 verse one, he said, let not your heart be troubled. Do you believe in God? Believe also in me. In my father's house where he says, I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again receive you unto myself, that where I am there, you may be also. So in that picture of a Jewish wedding, there's the betrothal, where he's he's betrothed us the predestination of the father. We belong to him. And then there's the the arrangement, if you will. And then there's the fetching we see in Matthew 25, the five wise and the five foolish. The five wise had the oil, which is the holy spirit being being marked out by the holy spirit. And they're watching, they're waiting for the for the groom for the third part or the second part is the the fetching. The third part is the ceremony, and it's at the father's house. So the groom would come for the bride, she didn't know when, and, and he'd come at at a at a moment she knew not only the father knew, father says, go get him, son. And, midnight, whatever, and then takes her takes this bride to the father's house. He'd been preparing this room adjacent to the father's house for this young bride and this young couple to be living at, and all that's the Jewish picture. And there's the marriage ceremony, and that's the the ceremony where officially they consummate the marriage and all. And then they have the fourth part of the of the marriage, the Jewish wedding, the marriage, is the return to the bride's home for the marriage supper, for the reception with all the friends of the bridegroom and everybody. And so we're at that point where we're waiting. We've been betrothed. We have the engagement ring, and now we're waiting for the fetching. We're waiting for the Lord to take us to heaven, to consummate this marriage and to have the ceremony and the Bema Seat judgment, all the gifts and the dowry and everything laid out for us. And so the engagement ring, the seal is just a fraction of what awaits us when the Lord finally takes us home, when he takes us to his father's house. So Jesus is coming again in first Thessalonians four sixteen. The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God. And the dead in Christ, the church age, in Christ is church age. The dead in Christ, those that have already died since Pentecost to the present, that's the church age. The dead in Christ shall rise first. Jesus is the first fruits of the resurrection, which speaks of more to come. And this more to come is the church being resurrected. And then, and we that are alive and remain shall be caught up in the clouds to join them in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. That's the rapture of the church, the harpazo, the catching away, the catching up. And that's the hope we have, that blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and savior, Jesus Christ. He's coming for his bride. He's coming for you and I, and we know it. We know we're watching. We're we're it's it's getting closer. It's getting closer. We can see the birth pangs increasing in intensity and frequency. We can see it. The sorrow of this world winding down, and we can see the beast system developing. Well, we should be looking up, praying always that we'd be able to escape these things and stand before the son of God. And so, when you see these things begin to come to pass, and look up knowing your redemption draweth nigh. Meaning, he's coming to take possession of that which he purchased with his own blood and sealed, with the holy spirit. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. So today, we're wearing the engagement ring. We're waiting until he comes. Ephesians four verse 30. It says, we are sealed unto the day of redemption. So we're marked out unto the day of redemption. We've already been redeemed positionally, but we're waiting for that day of redemption where he takes possession of that which he purchased with his own blood. In Romans eight verse 23, we have the first fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves grown within ourselves waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body. So the holy spirit is the earnest guaranteeing greater intimacy to follow. So when Paul says, you know, that I might know him, there's a depth of intimacy. When I first married Kathy, you know, we getting started in our marriage, we dated, we're high school, we're friends, but over the last forty four years, you know, there's a greater depth of intimacy of getting to know each other better and better and better. And when we see the Lord Jesus face to face, we're gonna know even as we are known. And so there's so much more to come. In chapter two verse seven of Ephesians, in the ages to come, beyond the church age into the tribulation or into the millennium and even past the millennium in the eternal state, Revelation twenty one and twenty two, we're gonna continue to sit at the feet of Jesus and get to know him multifaceted, like a diamond, all facets, multi. I mean, we can't exhaust. If our goal is to know God, we can't exhaust it. We're never gonna reach a place where where it's over. I know him, you know, completely. Not gonna happen. And, I don't think I'll ever know Kathy completely either. There's always new nuances, new things about her, you know, which makes it fun, which keeps it interesting. Right? And, that's why I don't think any guy's gonna ever be able to understand his his wife's mind, you know. There's There's always new things going on, new things happening. And and so we we marvel, we thank the Lord for making them different. We thank the Lord that they're unique. We thank the Lord that we're to take knowledge of them as husbands, lest our prayers be hindered, you know? And it's that it's that blessing of getting to know them in this friendship. The greatest intimacy that we know in the human plane is marriage, where the two become one. But a greater intimacy is the vertical, in that we're married to Jesus. And he already knows everything about us, and we have the privilege and the blessing of getting to know him. So the Holy Spirit's the earnest, guaranteeing greater intimacy to follow when Jesus comes for his bride. Now, in Genesis chapter 22, God instructed we'll illustrate this a bit if we can. God instructed Abram, Abraham, to offer his son, his only son Isaac, upon Mount Moriah. Mount Moriah is Calvary. Mount Moriah is Golgotha. And, offer your son thine only son. Well, he had another son. His name was Ishmael. But God only recognized the son of promise, not the son that Abraham and Sarah tried to help God out with. And so, God the father in typology, being a type of God the father, Isaac being a type of God the son, and we have a third person involved here, a guy named Eliezer that we meet in Genesis chapter 15, who was one of Abraham's, Abraham's top servant within the house. And so if Abraham doesn't have any children, then this servant would become the heir. So you have God the father, God the son, God the holy spirit. And and so at this point, Abraham obeys God completely. Isaac obeys God completely, and that he lays down on the on the altar. Father, we have the wood. Father, we have the knife. Where's the lamb? God will provide himself. Jehovah Jireh, a lamb for the sacrifice. And Isaac, a type of Christ, complete submission unto his father. Abraham, knowing that God's got a problem because Ishmael isn't gonna do it. If you're gonna call me Abraham, father of many nations, into my seed, all nations of the earth would be blessed, then you've got the problem because you're gonna have to raise this boy. In Hebrews 11, you're gonna have to raise him from the dead. So that faith in God's imputed to Abraham for righteousness. God says, we can see that Abraham won't hold back anything from me. This is the crowning achievement. This is the crowning moment in Abraham and Sarah's life is when Isaac filled their tent with laughter. And now, God, what? Come again? You want me to offer him as an offering? A burnt offering? Come on, man. Doesn't make any sense. But he follows through, and and God stops him. There's a ram caught in the thicket. And and then, God, it was a test at the very beginning of Genesis 22. I'm gonna attempt. I'm gonna test Abraham. God will test you, and God tested him. And he's testing Abraham, do you love me more than Isaac? Do you love me more than anyone or anything else, Abraham? Because you're my friend. You're the friend of God. And God's gonna test you and I from time to time. Jesus doesn't want to share the marriage bed with anybody else. You're his bride. He wants you he's a jealous God. He doesn't want you falling in love with anyone or anything. No idolatrous relationship. He doesn't wanna come in second. Ephesus, you've left your first love, is what Jesus said. He wants to be that first love. So after the picture there in in Genesis 22, in chapter 23, Sarah dies, and there's no mention of Isaac since the sacrifice. Total silence. So on to the chapter 23, Sarah reaches the age of one twenty seven, and she had had Isaac when she was 80 and nine, 90 just about, and Abraham was a 100, 99 to a 100. This time next year, you'll have, you know, have a son. So she's got, what, like, almost thirty years, twenty seven thirty seven years to be with Isaac. And then Isaac, and and dad, they take off and they go, and there's no mention, chapter 23, of Isaac being around. And, Sarah dies, and then Abraham goes and negotiates in Hebron with the guys for a burial place called Mephilah at Hebron, a cave. Abraham didn't own any real estate. He was a pilgrim, a sojourner, a stranger, looking for a city whose builder and maker is God. And he's got his beloved Sarah, and he's gonna weep, he's gonna groan, he's gonna he's gonna grieve over his beloved Sarah, his princess. And the Lord has saw fit to take her home. And so in Genesis 24, Abraham instructs his servant, Eliezer, a type of the Holy Spirit. He instructs Eliezer in Genesis 24, an unnamed servant at this point. Genesis 15, we we discover his name's Eliezer. His name means comforter. So he's a type of the holy spirit. And he's sent to gather a bride for Isaac. There was no bride suitable, in and around the area where Abraham was, and so gonna send him back home. And, Isaac being a type of Christ, and Eliezer, a type of the holy spirit. So remember in the church age, we talked about the holy spirit goes out gathering a bride for the son. Right? And and so you see the picture there of Eliezer, and and he goes he goes and he meets a woman who's drawing water, and her name is Rebecca. She has a brother, Laban, and so she's a cousin. This is a cousin of Isaac. And Abraham one of Abraham's brothers, the wife Milkah, she had several children, and one of them was a daughter named Rebecca. And and so Eleazar draws near to her. She begins to get him some water, and he begins to ask her, you know, who her family was, and he realizes the holy spirit. He prayed a short prayer, and he realizes the Holy Spirit, this is the one, and he gives her a ring. And he gives her jewels, he begins to deck her out, which are representative of his master, representative of the bridegroom that's coming. So she has a dowry. She has an engagement ring. She's got the stuff that shows the intention of of the bridegroom, and the bridegroom can't go back. She's gotta come to the she's gotta come to him. The Holy Spirit's gathering her unto him, and so she will be a plutocrat one day. So he travels away from the house of the sun to Mesopotamia. He has 10 camels with him, carrying gifts for the son's bride to be. She's gonna be a plutocrat. She's gonna be receiving every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. He gives her costly jewels and seals her for the son by giving her an engagement ring. Rebecca has never seen Isaac. She's never seen him. But agrees to go in faith to be wed to this prince of a man in a far country. Isaac goes to her in the field. He meets her in the field. So he's looking from afar, waiting for Eliezer and the camels to be coming, and knowing that the Holy Spirit's bringing a bride unto him, and and he runs to her. He goes to her. He meets her in the field. And I Matthew 25 verse six, behold, the bridegroom cometh. The five wise virgins are waiting for the bridegroom to come. They're waiting for the fetching. They're looking out the window. He's gonna come at any moment. And and so too, Isaac is is the bridegroom. He's coming to her. And so Isaac takes her home, and he consummates the marriage. Genesis twenty four sixty seven. And so the Holy Spirit preserves her unto the day of redemption. Behold, the bridegroom cometh. And so are we ready for when the bridegroom cometh for you and I? We're plutocrats, and we have the seal of the Holy Spirit. Or are we losing our faith and starting to get back into the world and the things of the world and love with the world, and we're losing our our zest, our zeal, that excitement, that anticipation that, hey, I'm engaged. Are we going out on the Lord, gonna date other people because he hasn't come just yet? We don't know the hour. We don't know when. But we've been betrothed to him our whole life. We've been pre pre you know, we've been predestined by the father. We belong to Jesus. God the father has made this marital relationship, this arrangement, if you will. And then the holy spirit brings us to him in the sense that we come to a saving faith in him, and we receive the holy spirit as the earnest down payment and as the engagement ring, the proof thereof. And now, in the waiting, are we earnestly looking? Are we excited? Are we excited about the rapture? Or are we a part of those who say there is no rapture? There's no blessed hope. None of it's coming. It's all doom and gloom. We're gonna all go through the tribulation period. I heard one preacher this morning saying, it's all conjecture. It's all conjecture. You know, tribulation's been around forever. People are in tribulation presently, but he's a very ignorant preacher. Because we're not talking about tribulation in the general. We all agree, tribulation in the general. Jesus promised us, in this world, you will have tribulation. But we're talking about the definite article, the tribulation period that Jesus warned about. An epoch, a period of time that the world has never seen nor will ever see again. And so we recognize that we are not subject under wrath. We've been saved from the wrath to come. And, because of the cross of Calvary. And so my thought when this guy was saying that was, you need to follow your statement up by proving your point. But they don't. They can't prove their point. They just simply move on and tell people there is no rapture. There is no rapture. You know? Well, that steals people's hope. What happened to the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and savior, you know, Jesus Christ? So the Holy Spirit preserves her under the day of redemption. Behold, the bridegroom cometh. Are we ready? How did God do this? Ephesians one verse five, according to the good pleasure of his will. Why did God do this? Under the praise of his glory. So we are plutocrats, predestined by the father, purchased by the son, and preserved by the holy spirit. Behold, the bridegroom cometh, and we would say, even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. If I don't have the hope of Jesus coming for me, if you take that away from me, the hope that I have of, man, he's coming at any moment. And the Lord's made it that way. He's made it where it's imminent. He could come at any moment. And so I'm gonna be about my father's business. I'm gonna be about what he's called me to do. But there's a day where the dead in Christ are gonna rise first, and we, which are alive and remain, should be caught up together with him in the clouds, and so shall we ever be with him. Be with the Lord. And that's the hope. That's the blessed hope of Titus two thirteen. The blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and savior. And so behold, the bridegroom cometh. That should be the mantra of the church. That should be the greatest thing we're talking about in these last days is Jesus is coming. He's coming for his bride. All these other guys are counterfeits. Don't believe them. Don't fall for it. Expose their lies. Expose them. Don't get entrapped in there. And don't lose hope. Don't lose hope. I I think in many cases, I'm hearing that people that don't believe in the rapture, they they present themselves as super Christians. That they're just more super than us because they're gonna be able to weather the tribulation period, you know. And and I say with them, well, I don't wanna be that super. I I wanna pray always that I'm worthy to escape those things, Jesus said, and stand before the son of man. Right? I wanna be those in Revelation three, you know, verse verse 10, that he would keep them. And the and the Greek word is keep from. If you want one verse, there it is. Revelation three ten. He will keep you from this hour of trial that's gonna come upon the whole earth. It's not keep you through it, keep you from from it. And so that's that's my hope. My hope. I'm I'm looking. Beloved, now are we the sons of God. It does not yet appear what we shall be. We know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And that's that that's that consummation. That's that place where we're transformed in our new glorified bodies as we meet the Lord in the air. And so I'm very thankful for this hope that God has given us that we're gonna meet the bridegroom very soon. Soon and very soon, we're gonna be with the Lord. This world is passing away, and I want you to have the hope that God intended for us to have as the church, as the bride, that the bridegroom's coming. He's coming. And everything's being prepared. Everything's happening, falling into place as he planned. Just like he planned. If you if you wanna be a super warrior Christian and go in the tribulation period, I guess that's up to you. But, maybe not. Maybe the Lord will take it kicking and screaming. No. I wanna show him how tough I am. No. Let me stay. I know I'm really weak. I know I see you guys going through some of your physical infirmities and things, and and I go visit Joe, and I see what people are going through, and I know I'm weak. I know that I know that I know I'm weak. And and so I don't I don't wanna I marvel. I marvel at your strength, tremendous strength you have, and hope the Lord never tempts me in that way. Hope I get raptured before before you have to go through these things that that remind you of your humanity or remind you of and think of think of the intensity that begins to take place of like Joe's saying, Jesus is coming for me. And like my dad did, my dad was ready to go. The body was the body was breaking down. And they didn't lack hope. Joe's not lacking hope. Everything he's ever lived for, everything he's ever believed is happening. It's happening right now. And the Lord's coming for him. And so, we rejoice that the Lord has given us the earnest of the Holy Spirit to let us know that he's coming for this purchase possession. And we're not appointed under wrath. God's not appointed under wrath. And we've been saved from the wrath to come of the tribulation period, the seventieth seven of Daniel, the time of Jacob's trouble, a time that Jesus said the world has never seen nor will ever see again. And and so that's where we stand prophetically, the time frame in this dispensation. It's a dispensation of grace. We are in the church age. And the church age ends with what? When the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. Romans eleven twenty five, blindness in part is happened unto Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles come in. And and we also have to recognize one last thought. We live in a time of apostasy, where much of the church, the professing church today, are the tares. They're not the wheat. They're the goats, not the sheep. So don't be confused by the difference. Can't pluck them up. Gotta wait for the time of harvest, and the Lord will make it known. Some are gonna hear, away from me, I never knew you, you that practice iniquity. Others are gonna hear, well done, thou good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a few things. I'm gonna make you a ruler over much. Enter into the joy of the Lord. Right? And so we wanna be faithful. So father, thank you so much. Thank you for the hope that is ours, nobody can steal, nobody can pluck away. We have we know that we know that we know, because we have the earnest of the Holy Spirit. We know that we're one way before we met you. We remember those days. We remember those days as BC before before Christ, before we knew you. But Lord, something radical took place at that moment of conversion, where you came to live and dwell within our hearts as you sent the Holy Spirit. And Lord, our eyes were open, our ears were open, and Lord, there's been a love just just flooding our heart, and a love affair, Lord. Just a love relationship with you. And and Lord, a hope, the hope that you give us a confident expectation that soon, very soon, Jesus is coming for us. And we're watching, we're looking up, and Lord, we just continue to ask you for the power of your Holy Spirit to be able to share the gospel in such a way that people's hearts will be moved and touched and changed the way ours have been. And Lord, give us an open door that no man can shut. And Lord, help us to give a answer to people who are losing hope, but the hope that's within us with with meekness and with fear. And Lord, that we would be students of your word, not ashamed. Unashamed, Lord. Not ashamed of the gospel. Unashamed because, Lord, we are able to rightly divide the word of truth. That we study to show ourselves approved unto God, workmen that need not to be ashamed, Lord. That we could share with people prophetically the more sure word of prophecy. Give them a sense of where we're at prophetically and how this is all happening according to plan. There's no reason to lose hope because our God is a God of hope. And Lord, you're coming for us. You're coming for your bride. And Lord, you're coming for those that are looking up, those that want salvation. And while your heads are bowed and your eyes are closed, if there's anybody here this morning and you've been hoping in something other than Jesus or someone other than Jesus, And the Lord, by the power of his Holy Spirit, is showing you Christ and showing you the cross and showing you his love for you and tapping on your heart. Just respond. Respond in in in love. Respond to his love with love. React with love. Lift your heart unto him. Say, Lord Jesus, be merciful to me a sinner. Come into my heart and life. Give me the Holy Spirit. Give me that earnest of the spirit that I know that I know that I know that I'm saved, Lord. Take away all the confusion, all the doubt, all the the uncertainty, Lord, and let it be a a solid, authenticating, and security, and know that I'm secure in you. Anyone here this morning? You don't have that kind of relationship with the Lord, but you want to just lift your heart, lift your hand up. Anybody on Facebook or streaming, just just pray. Because in John one, it says, as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to those who believe in his name. So believe, trust in him, and watch how the holy spirit begins to loom in your heart and mind that God had predestined you before the foundation of the earth to be his. That God sent his son and purchased you with his blood, that God is presently pouring out his holy spirit upon you and within you, marking you out, sealing you as his for all eternity. So father, thank you once again. Bless, we pray, as we partake in communion. Thank you for this time together in Jesus' name. Amen.