This is day 5 of a video series called 21 Days of Once Saved Always Saved Salvation Assurance. It’s January 2022 and, in honor of the new year, my church in Marietta GA has asked us to dedicate 21 days to the Lord to draw closer to Him.  Over these 21 days, I’m going through 1 passage of Scripture a day that proclaims our salvation assurance in Christ and shows how salvation can never be lost or forfeited but is held securely in place for us by our heavenly Father so we can have confidence that we are eternally saved.

Today’s passage is Ephesians 1:13-14:

“… 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 of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory.” (Ephesians 1:13-14 KJV)

This amazing passage is one of those passages that should end all debate over Once Saved Always Saved, for it speaks of God claiming permanent ownership over every believer in Christ to the point where He puts His seal of ownership on each believer. He gives us His promise that this seal will not be broken for all eternity, even until the Day of Redemption, when we will get our eternal bodies and the very presence of sin will be removed.

The passage begins with two conditions for receiving this seal. First, we have to hear the Gospel, which is that Jesus is God’s Son, Who took on flesh, died to pay for our sins on the cross, was buried and rose again from the dead. The second condition is to not just hear it but believe it. That means putting your trust in it. Many people have heard the Gospel but have not believed it, have not trusted in it for their salvation. It’s not enough to hear the truth about Jesus. That truth must also be accepted and believed. You have to trust in it.

Have you believed in Jesus? Have you trusted in Him? It’s not enough to know about Him. You’ve got to believe to be saved.

Just one note about the King James translation. The King James version says “after” you heard and “after” you believed, making it sound like there’s a time element of delay involved where you hear and believe and then. after that, at some point in the future, you are sealed with the Holy Spirit. This word “after” is just a convention that was used in 16th century English, but it is not in the original Greek manuscript. The original Greek does not include any word that denotes “after.” 

In the Greek, the English phrase, “after that ye heard,” is just one word – the word, “akouō,” which means, “to hear.” Similarly, the English phrase, “after that ye believed,” is just one word in the Greek – the word, “pisteuō,” which means, “to believe.” This is a very significant difference because the original Greek makes it clear that we are sealed with the Holy Spirt the very moment we hear the Gospel and believe. We’re not sealed sometime later. It happens the moment we believe.

So, the very moment we believe in Jesus, believing that He is God’s Son Who died on the cross to pay for our sins, was buried and rose from the dead, at that very moment, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit.

This word “seal” is the Greek word, sphragizō. It means, “to set a seal upon,” “to authenticate,” “to attest to the genuineness of something.” It speaks of a finished transaction. Even today, when important documents are processed, the last step is to place a seal on that document to authenticate it and to attest to its genuineness.

The seal also signifies ownership, that Christ has purchased us with His blood and now owns us, as it says in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20:

“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 KJV)

When we believe in Christ for salvation, we are accepting a legal transaction where Christ pays for all of our sins with His blood so that we can be set free. Christ literally purchases us with His blood. From that moment, we are “bought with a price.” We are owned by God and are His property.

Therefore, He puts His seal of ownership on us, authenticating the transaction and confirming ownership of our very souls. That seal is the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit, God’s own Spirit coming to live inside us.

The Holy Spirit is called, ‘the Spirit of promise.” What is the promise? That God will complete the transaction at some point in the future when He gives us our eternal bodies that do not have even the presence of sin. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is called, “the earnest of our inheritance.” 

This word, “earnest,” in the Greek is the word, “arrabōn,” which means, “a down payment to guarantee the final purchase of some commodity or piece of property.”  Even today, when you buy a house, you first put down an earnest money deposit, which is a partial payment, guaranteeing that the full payment will be made in the future. The Holy Spirit indwelling us is God’s earnest deposit, guaranteeing that He will complete the transaction in the future when He gives us our eternal bodies and we inherit eternal life.

Or, as it says in verse 14:

“Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession….” (Ephesians 1:14 KJV)

The Holy Spirit indwelling us is our guarantee that God will complete the process of redeeming us. This is a guarantee that we cannot lose our salvation, for is says clearly that the Holy Spirit is sealed within us “until” the day of redemption. If the Holy Spirit is sealed within us, then we can’t be rejected by God and sent to hell because of sin or any other reason. Sin has forever been dealt with on the cross. Sin can no longer condemn us. God guarantees that this seal of the Holy Spirit will not be broken.  

All of this is:

“…unto the praise of His glory.” (Ephesians 1:14 KJV)

God deserves all the credit for our salvation, and we deserve none of it. This again speaks of the fact that we don’t earn our worthiness before God by our own obedience. We don’t prove ourselves to God. Our own obedience counts for nothing toward our salvation. For rewards? Yes. Our obedience does count for eternal rewards. But salvation is not a reward. Salvation is a gift by God’s grace, or unmerited favor. So, our obedience counts nothing toward our salvation. We are saved by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

This same concept of believers being sealed with the Holy Spirit is repeated in chapter 4, where Paul says:

“And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” (Ephesians 4:30 KJV)

If we are sealed until the day of redemption, then nothing can break that seal. How would we grieve the Holy Spirit? By sinning. But this says, even when we sin and grieve the Holy Spirit, we remain sealed. Our sealing of the Holy Spirit cannot be broken by sin. Sin has no power over us anymore to condemn us. We remain saved even when we sin. Therefore, Paul says, “don’t grieve the Holy Spirit, Who has sealed you, guaranteeing your eternal inheritance.”

Lordship Salvationists who claim you can lose your salvation hate this clear interpretation of Scripture, for it tears down their entire theology and shows that what they believe is false. I had one person adamantly tell me, “No, this verse doesn’t say, “until the day of redemption,” but “unto the day of redemption,” that it just means we’re sealed “for” the day of redemption, without any guarantee that the seal will stay in effect forever. 

This person had obviously never looked at the Greek text. 

In chapter 1, the English translation does use the word, “until.” So, you have “until the redemption” in chapter 1, and “unto the day of redemption” in chapter 4. The amazing thing is, it’s the exact same Greek word being used in both verses, the Greek word, “eis,” which means, “to the point reached or entered.” It means the sealing of the Holy Spirit remains in effect to the very point of the day of redemption.

And it doesn’t go away even then. The sealing of the Holy Spirit, in fact, remains within us forever. For Jesus said in John 14:16: 

“And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever;” (John 14:16 KJV)

The indwelling Holy Spirit will never leave us. This means we can never lose our salvation. Even if a believer gets confused and drifts toward apostasy or unbelief, the Holy Spirit remains sealed inside that believer, with the express purpose of teaching that believer and leading that believer back to the truth. That’s why there’s no such thing in the New Testament as a saved believer who becomes an apostate or unbeliever. God will work through His indwelling Holy Spirit to continually expose the truth, so that believer does not become apostate or become lost. 

Therefore, the indwelling Holy Spirit seal is the guarantee of our inheritance, that our eternal salvation can never be lost. Some translations even use the word, “guarantee,” in chapter 1. Bottom line: We can never lose our salvation.

The question is: Do you have the Holy Spirit in you? Are you sealed? 

If you are not sure, you can be sure. It comes down to believing the Gospel, that:

Salvation = God’s Grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

Nothing more. Nothing less. There are no other requirements to be saved than to believe in Jesus.

Once you believe, you are born again, and you are forever a child of God. He is a good Father Who will never abandon you but will preserve you in the faith, even sealing you with His Holy Spirit as a guarantee that He will save you. 

If you are not certain about this, time is getting very late. Don’t take the chance of missing out on God. Prophetically, the current “Age of Grace” where God is giving people time to turn to Him for forgiveness is almost over. When it ends, it will be too late. God’s judgment is coming. Those who are not saved will be separated from God for all eternity. Don’t take chances with God. Don’t play with Him. Take Him seriously.

If you are not 100% sure you are saved, don’t put it off any longer. You can know with certainty that you have eternal life today. Do it now before it’s too late.

Making Sure You Are Saved Is As Easy As ABC

Admit to God that you have sinned.

Believe that Jesus, God’s Son, died to pay for
your sins 100%, was buried and rose from the dead.

Call upon Jesus and ask Him to forgive you and save you.

If you make that decision to call upon Him, God gives you this assurance:

“For whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13 KJV)

If you are still not sure, I’ll include a link to a video I did called, “What is the Gospel (in 6 Words)?”

Thank you for watching.