The Father Knows We Need Proof We Are Acceptable To God
Some things are just hard to believe. We’ve all heard stories of the huge fish that got away and of sure-fire ways to get rich. Perhaps you’ve been burned and as a result have been disappointed or perhaps it cost you money. Many of us are rightly cautious so that when something incredible comes along we want proof.
One of the most incredible things you will ever hear is that as Christians we are acceptable to God. This is hard for us to believe because there are so many things that tell us that this can’t be true.
- Our sinful past life – We’ve done horrible things and still feel shame.
- Our sinful heart – Even if we’re forgiven for our past we still have evil desires.
- Our family upbringing – Growing up we were told we aren’t any good. We can’t shake that thought.
- Our experience – We’ve never experienced genuine acceptance from anyone.
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The Father, Son and Spirit love us with a love that is greater than any sin past, present or future and have worked hard to let us know this. In recent posts we’ve seen what Jesus did to make us acceptable to God. Today let’s see what the Holy Spirit has done to make us acceptable to God. The Apostle Paul tells us
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. Ephesians 1:13-14 ESV
The Holy Spirit’s Role In Making Us Acceptable to God
- We were sealed with the Holy Spirit. In the Roman world a seal was a sign of ownership and protection. A Roman seal on a bag of grain meant it belonged to Rome and would be protected by the Roman Empire.When we trusted in Jesus as our Savior the Trinity decided we needed to be marked as part of the family of God. The seal of this, the proof of this is the third member of the Trinity.
- We were given the Spirit as a down payment of our salvation. In Greek the word translated guarantee is “arrabon.” In modern Greek the word is used of an engagement ring. In the New Testament it also had the sense of a down payment. If a person gave a down payment for some property and then backed out of the deal the person kept the down payment.The Spirit of God, who is living in all Christians, is our permanent down payment of our salvation. He is with us every moment of every day and will be until we are fully saved in heaven!
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