Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

Question:

“J. K. M.” asks, “What is the difference between being quickened by the Holy Ghost, and being sealed; and when are we sealed? “

Answer:

The difference is very great, and is of immense importance; it will account for the different states of soul one meets daily. The difference is that between the state of a saint before, and the proper state since the day of Pentecost, before which there was no sealing of the Holy Ghost on man. The saints prior to that time were born again. A saint now, in his normal state as such, is not only quickened, but sealed. Of old, the Holy Ghost was not given; nor was He given until Jesus was glorified (John 7:37-39).

Quickening, is the Holy Ghost producing by a new nature which a sinner had not before, holy desires, hatred of evil, desires after Christ, the love of what God is, and of what is due to Him. A soul in being born again, receives a nature that it had not before as a sinner. A soul having this new nature, hates what it finds of the old, loves the things of God; before it knows deliverance it often finds itself in the deepest distress ― delighting in the law of God after the inward man ― consenting to God’s requirements in the law ― to will present, but how to perform that which is good finding not; in the deepest distress because it finds it has no strength to carry out the desires of the new nature. Another law in the members wars against the aspirations after holiness of the new nature, and brings it into captivity to the law of sin in its members. All these symptoms may be found in a soul born of God, without the knowledge of redemption. Sad to say that this is the common state in which most real Christians are found. It is not a normal Christian state at all. Many souls in such a state are seeking to get peace by progress and victory over self ― that is, trying by suppressing the workings of an evil nature which is found twisted and knotted round the heart, to follow the desires and hopes for which the new man struggles so unsuccessfully against the old.

What then is to bring the sense of deliverance and set the new man free? The knowledge of redemption ― of Christ’s finished work. God’s righteousness must be submitted to, and peace found by the surrender of every pretension to strength, and by being completely cast over upon Him for deliverance. In other words, the new nature has no strength, and the soul cannot find peace or liberty by progress: but it must find peace by surrender of all hope in itself, and through the work of Another. Then it is, when at the end of itself, and the thought of strength in itself, that it finds that the work of Christ applies to its ungodly, and not its improved state ― that when it was without strength Christ died for the ungodly. Thus cast over upon the victory of Another, the deliverance is complete and the new nature set free. It can thank God through Jesus Christ, in whom, on the cross, God condemned sin in the flesh; i.e., the evil nature which so harassed and distressed the soul.

This will give some idea of the state of a quickened soul without the knowledge of redemption. Now we will seek to ascertain what the sealing is, and when it comes.

In Ephesians 1:13-14, we read, “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest,” etc.

The sealing of the Holy Ghost is the result of believing in Christ for the remission of sins. The Holy Ghost then gives the consciousness of pardon, and joy in the knowledge of the finished work of Christ, in putting away its sins. This is the normal and healthy state of a believer; and is the only normal and healthy state of a Christian known in Scripture ― the full assurance of faith and forgiveness. We have not to pray for the Holy Spirit as a seal; Scripture teaches that the reception of the Holy Ghost as a seal is the result and consequence of having believed in Christ and receiving remission of our sins. Union with Christ ― and thus membership of Christ follows. Union is only by the Holy Ghost; a Christian has life in Christ, but he is united to Christ by the Holy Ghost ― life in itself alone is not union. “He that is joined unto the Lord is one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:17); and it is by the hearing of faith, that the Holy Ghost is received; as we read in Galatians 3:2, “Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?”

We find instances which will illustrate these two states of soul in the Acts of the apostles. Cornelius was a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, and gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always (Acts 10). Here was a soul in which the desires and hopes of the new nature were at work. What he wanted was the knowledge of salvation to bring him into the enjoyment of true Christian state and privileges. Peter is to be sent for that he might hear words of him (verse 22); who, when he comes, preaches salvation, forgiveness, and peace; and the result of the reception of the forgiveness of sins was, that the gift of the Holy Ghost came upon him as Peter spake, and on those in his house who believed. Again in Acts 19, Paul finds certain disciples at Ephesus, whom he asks, “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” They were believers of John Baptist’s testimony which was the announcement of a Messiah to come, who would forgive their sins, and a Holy Ghost which He would communicate. They wanted the further testimony of the rejection, death, and resurrection of Christ, and the efficacy of His work in putting away their sins, and the consequent gift of the Holy Ghost as a seal. The result of Paul’s testimony to them was, that they received the gift of the Holy Ghost.

These instances show the difference between sinners who had been quickened, and believers who were sealed.

How then do we know that a soul is sealed? when it knows the forgiveness of its sins, not merely as a hope but a fact. When is it sealed? when it has believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, and has received its pardon.