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And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God\u2019s possession\u2014to the praise of his glory.

One issue that faces all religious people is that of security. How certain can we be that we are \u2018in\u2019? Is the god that we worship satisfied with our commitment? Christians struggle with this question too. True, not everyone who grows up being dragged to church by parents may wonder about this. If that is you, let me suggest that you ought to take the question seriously. Are you sure that you are in? As a pastor there is a certain joy in walking with Christians who are dying in the wonderful confidence that they belong to Jesus. However, I have walked with seasoned Christians who have feared death, doubting God would welcome them.

The Ephesian Christians to whom Paul wrote this letter had their doubts. The Pagan religions that the gentiles converted from were notorious for creating doubt in the worshippers. The gods wanted stuff, always more. In those ancient cultures the people often worshipped multiply gods to increase their odds. Religion was sort of like playing the lottery. On the other hand, the Jewish Christians came from a largely law-based system. They had to be circumcised, attend synagogue, and follow the law of Moses. But with the history of the exile still in their collective memory and the Roman occupation of the promised land, there was persistent fear that God was not happy with them.

These are the fears that Paul addresses in our text. There is no need for Christians to be afraid, he writes. You \u2018heard the message of truth, the gospel of salvation, and \u2018you believed it\u2019. As a result, \u2018you were included in Christ\u2019 and \u2018you were marked in him with a seal.\u201d The seal is the Holy Spirit, who is also \u2018a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance.\u2019

Notice that Paul is talking here about conversion, not baptism nor some other experience after conversion. He connects the Holy Spirit as seal and deposit directly to our conversion (it doesn\u2019t matter if you cannot pinpoint when you came to faith). Once you believe the deal is done, nothing more is required. This security is not based on how strong our faith is, nor on how much we know, or how sanctified our living is, nor on how well we practice the spiritual disciplines.

But what does he mean by seal? In ancient days, seals were used similarly to how we use them. Shipping containers and letters were stamped with the owner\u2019s seal. This indicated to those receiving the cargo or the letter that the contents came from the sender and were authentic. The Spirit is the seal in the life of a Christian. We belong to God; we are the real thing.

The trouble is that we often want to see evidence of the Holy Spirit. There are Christian groups who advocate that we need to do this and do that before we can be sure that we are really Christians, that we have the Holy Spirit. When I served as an assistant prison chaplain many years ago, an inmate doubted my claim to be a Christian because I had never spoken in tongues. (True story). There is some heresy here that suggests that some how we need to \u2018get a hold\u2019 of the Holy Spirit.

The teaching of Scripture is not that we must find the Spirit and somehow keep the Spirit around. We do not possess the Holy Spirit; rather, the Holy Spirit possesses us. Paul\u2019s point in our text is that the Spirit\u2019s got us. No need to be afraid, nothing more we need to do, but believe it. When we heard the gospel and believed it, we were sealed with the Spirit. That is the way things stand with us now. The seal cannot be removed, or broken -- for the praise of his glory.

If you have never wrestled with such questions, maybe you should. But not to create doubts and fears in your heart. Rather, that you can praise God for his marvelous redemption and that you can now live without fear \u2013 for the praise of his glory.