Now that we are in Christ Jesus we are to be governed not by our weak human natures but by the Holy Spirit who lives in us. We discuss today what it means to have the seal of the Holy Spirit on our lives.
Paul concluded yesterday's passage by saying that when Christ gave His life for us He condemned sin by His own flesh, "in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit". (Romans 8:4) We have already concluded that we have never been able to fulfill the law, so how is it that the righteous requirement of the law is now fully met by us who are in Christ? The requirement is met because we are in Christ and Christ fulfilled the law. We trust in what He did for us, not in what we can do for ourselves. If we got up every morning of our lives determined to keep both the letter of the law and the spirit of the law, we couldn't do it. We could keep some of it. We might even be able to keep all of the most important laws. But we couldn't keep all of them, so our only hope of righteousness is through Christ who perfectly kept the law and who offered Himself in our place.
Since we now belong to our Redeemer, we have the Holy Spirit to guide us. "Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God." (Romans 8:5-8) Before we knew our Redeemer we lived at a distance from God. We lived for ourselves. This is what Paul means by living according to the flesh. When we don't allow God to be Lord of our lives we actually make gods of ourselves. We can never please God while we live that way. But the one who has been redeemed by Christ has his or her mind on things bigger than anything in this world. The one who loves the Lord Jesus is aware of Him at all times and is taught about Him by the Holy Spirit. This is a life that is pleasing to the Lord: a life that honors His Son.
Paul says to his audience of believers, "You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ." (Romans 8:9) Christ sets His seal of ownership on us when we come to Him, and that seal is the Holy Spirit. How do we know whether we have the Holy Spirit? We can get a clear idea by how we answer the following questions. When we heard the gospel, did the Holy Spirit lead us to believe and accept it? Does the Holy Spirit teach us, guide us, and comfort us? Does the Holy Spirit cause us to love Christ and want to honor Him? Has the Holy Spirit changed our character and helped us to live in ways that make us look more like the Son of God than like sinful and broken mankind? If we cannot affirmatively answer "yes" to these questions, we need to reevaluate whether we belong to Christ at all, for the Bible says this of those who truly belong to Christ, "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's possession---to the praise of His glory." (Ephesians 1:13-14)
The KJV says the Lord has given us the "earnest" of the Spirit, and I didn't clearly understand what that meant until some years back when my husband sold real estate for a while. When a person makes an offer on a house and the offer is accepted, he puts down earnest money. It's a deposit that clearly demonstrates his intention to keep his word and fulfill the contract by fully paying for the house he has committed to purchase. This is what the Lord has done. He has made a contract with those who have accepted His offer of salvation. He intends to fulfill that contract, so as proof of His ability to make good on His promises He has put down the "earnest money" of the Holy Spirit. Just as a man or woman puts down earnest money to guarantee he or she is going to go through with the purchase of a house, Christ has given us the seal of the Holy Spirit to guarantee He is going to go through with everything He has promised us.
If you have any doubts as to whether you are in Christ, you can make your salvation certain by letting Him be Lord of your life. You can pray a sincere prayer of repentance and ask Him to come into your life as your Savior. You don't have to use fancy words and you don't have to try and clean up your life before coming to Him. We've already established that none of us can clean up our life enough to be acceptable in the sight of God, and we don't have to---Christ does the cleaning for us. When you come to Christ you come just as you are right now with everything out in the open. You admit to Him that you've lived in opposition to His righteous laws. You admit to Him that you need Him to do what you aren't able to do. Then, when Christ has become your Savior, your life will begin to display the proof that Christ has marked you with His seal of ownership: the Holy Spirit.
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