Always keeping in mind the warning that God is “providing strong delusion for them who
received not the love of the truth” (2 Thes 2:11), I ask the question, are you sealed unto
the eternal judgemnt once you accept Jesus as your savior? If you truly have the love of
the truth, you will seek the true meaning of each verse in the bible. To do this you must
rightly divide the word of God. 2 Timothy 2:15 “Study to shew thyself approved unto
God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth”. It is
so easy to believe one part of a verse and miss the true meaning that God is trying to
reveal to you. One such verse is Ephesians 1:13 “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”. Many people today teach that once you
accept Christ as your savior, you are sealed forever and cannot be lost. Let’s rightly
divide this verse and see if this is true.
This verse clearly says “after” you hear the truth and “after” that you believe, you then
put your trust in what you hear. How does a person hear the word of truth?
Romans10:14 “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and
how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear
without a preacher?” A person must hear the word of truth. Once you hear and put your
trust in the “gospel of your salvation” there is process you have to follow to become
sons and daughters of God. You must be born again, John 3:3 “Jesus answered and
said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see
the kingdom of God”. After you hear and believe, Acts 8:12 “But when they believed
Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus
Christ, they were baptized, both men and women”. Upon baptism you become a new
creature, 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old
things are passed away; behold, all things are become new”. Just like a newborn baby,
1 Peter 2:2 “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow
thereby”. As you grow in Christ, you will learn that you are in a new covenant with God
and His son, Hebrews 12:24 “And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the
blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel”.
When God establishes a covenant, He uses the “Holy Spirit of promise” to set up a
agreement between Himself and another person or a group of people. Leviticus 26:9
“For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish
my covenant with you”. In the first covenant with the Israelites, God sware a
solemn promise to the Israelites that He would provide them with a land of their own.
Genesis 17:8 “And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou
art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their
God”. God agreed to bring His people out from the bondage of the Egyptian rulers.
Exodus 29:46 “And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, that brought them
forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the LORD their God”.
He brought them out of 430 years of bondage. The seed of Moses and the fathers of
the covenant received the promised land. But because of disobedience to the covenant
they had to spend forty years in the wilderness for disobedience. Exodus 32:8 “They
have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them”. Their was a
punishment for breaching the promise. Numbers 14:34 “After the number of the
days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear
your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise”.
But God showed them mercy, Exodus 33:16 “For wherein shall it be known here that I
and thy people have found grace in thy sight”? But, even after receiving this grace and
the land that God promised, the children of God did not continue in the agreement. Gods
people continued to disobey the statues and commandments of the covenant, so the
consequences agreed upon must be fulfilled. The punishment that the Israelites agreed
upon for not continuing in the agreement were, Leviticus 26:14 “But if ye will not hearken
unto me, and will not do all these commandments; 26:15 And if ye shall despise my
statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my
commandments, but that ye break my covenant: Leviticus 26:16 I also will do this unto
you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall
consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for
your enemies shall eat it”. The Israelites agreed to obey and do the commandments.
Exodus 24:7, “And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the
people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient”. The
covenant was sealed. If either party does not continue in the promises of the agreement,
then the covenant is still sealed. God had to perform what He swore in Leviticus 26:16
above and Leviticus 26:33 “And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a
sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste”. God has to
fulfill His promises. God cannot lie, Titus 1:2 “In hope of eternal life, which God, that
cannot lie, promised before the world began”.
But God in His loving mercy, tried to give the His people another opportunity to walk in
His way. Leviticus 26:41 “And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have
brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be
humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: Leviticus 26:42 “Then
will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my
covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land. Leviticus 26:43
The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate
without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even
because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes.
Leviticus 26:44 And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my
covenant with them: for I am the LORD their God”. Even though God scattered His
people, He left a way for them to return to their home land. But there was a condition.
They had to “humble themselves and accept of the punishment of their iniquity”. As in
every covenant or promise that God has made with His people from the first man Adam
to the end of days, there are conditions that must be kept. Notice in Leviticus 26:41
above, “if then”, and in John 8:31 “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him,
If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed”, John 8:51″Verily, verily, I say
unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. John 15:10 “If ye keep my
commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s
commandments, and abide in his love”. Deuteronomy 30:17 “But if thine heart turn away,
so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve
them; 30:18 I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye
shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to
possess it. 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set
before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and
thy seed may live”, 1 Timothy 2:15 “if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with
sobriety”. When you receive this gift of grace from God, you must continue in it, Acts
13:43 “Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious
proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to
continue in the grace of God”. 1 Corinthians 15:2 “By which also ye are saved, if ye keep
in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain”. If you choose not
to obey the commandments of God and the new covenant, your religion is vain.
2 Thessalonians 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they
should believe a lie: 2:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but
had pleasure in unrighteousness.
The new covenant between you and Jesus is sealed and agreed to upon baptism. This,
covenant is established upon better promises, Hebrews 8:6 “But now hath he obtained a
more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant,
which was established upon better promises”. Hebrews 8:10 “For this is the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my
laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they
shall be to me a people”. Your agreement with Jesus in the new covenant is that you
will obey the word, 1 Peter 1:22 “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth
through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with
a pure heart fervently: 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible,
by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever”. Your conscience will come alive.
You will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, Acts 2:38 “Then Peter said unto them, Repent,
and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,
and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost”. It will tell you when you do wrong by
condemnation. It will fill you with happiness, peace and joy when you do right. It will help
you grow until you reach a point of no condemnation, Romans 8:1 “There is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit”. You will become a part of Gods kingdom, Hebrews 12:28
“Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby
we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear”. For obedience you will
receive eternal life. But if you disobey your promise, God must fulfill His promise. You
will pay the price for which you agreed, Romans 11:22 “Behold therefore the goodness
and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou
continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off”.
The answer to the question, “are you sealed”, is yes, you are sealed by the “spirit of
promise”. To what end is your choice, Joshua 24:15 “choose you this day whom ye will
serve”. Jesus said in Revelation 3:3 “Remember therefore how thou hast received and
heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as
a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee”.
God through Jesus will provide everything you need to overcome this world. You just
need to use what He is providing, Ephesians 6:11 “Put on the whole armour of God, that
ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 6:12 For we wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 6:13 Wherefore take
unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and
having done all, to stand. 6:14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth,
and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 6:15 And your feet shod with the
preparation of the gospel of peace; 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith
ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 6:17 And take the helmet of
salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”: