Signed, Sealed, Delivered!

Intro

We use seals all the time today.

Seal of approval – more often certified

            Certified organic

            Halal, Kosher, FDA Approved

            Accredited

            Certifications for business  - Microsoft certification,

                        CPR

            MONEY – seal of US

            Passport Drivers License – seal, authentic

            FL Drivers License – seal of Florida, picture to show you

                        REAL ID – extended to May 2023 – need the star to fly

Revelation 7:1–4 (CSB)

1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, restraining the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel rising up from the east, who had the seal of the living God. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who were allowed to harm the earth and the sea, 3“Don’t harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we seal the servants of our God on their foreheads.” 4 And I heard the number of the sealed: 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the Israelites:

(Goes on – 12,000 from each tribe)

Don’t harm the earth, sea or trees (these are the first 2 trumpet judgments -Rev 8

Sealing to protect –

A seal shows ownership and protection

This seal differs from the seven seals on the scroll that the Lamb had been opening. In ancient days, a king would push his signet ring into wax on a scroll or document as a seal to mark his ownership and to protect its contents. God places his own seal on his followers, identifying them as his own and guaranteeing his protection over their souls. Here, God’s seal was placed on the foreheads of his servants. This seal would be counterfeited by Satan in 13:16 (a seal known as “the mark of the beast”). These two marks would separate the people into two distinct categories—those owned by God and those owned by Satan.[1]

Rev 8 – the

Revelation 9:1–6 (CSB)

1 The fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth. The key for the shaft to the abyss was given to him. 2 He opened the shaft to the abyss, and smoke came up out of the shaft like smoke from a great furnace so that the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the shaft. 3 Then locusts came out of the smoke on to the earth, and power was given to them like the power that scorpions have on the earth. 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green plant, or any tree, but only those people who do not have God’s seal on their foreheads. 5 They were not permitted to kill them but were to torment them for five months; their torment is like the torment caused by a scorpion when it stings someone. 6 In those days people will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.

GOD: “THESE ARE MINE!”

2 Corinthians 1:21–22 (CSB)

21 Now it is God who strengthens us together with you in Christ, and who has anointed us. 22 He has also put his seal on us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a down payment.

Ephesians 1:13–14 (CSB)

13 In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. 14 The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 4:30 (NKJV)

30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

BAPTISM Of the HOLY SPIRIT - Sealing

PROMISES TO THE 7 – CHURCHES: Philadelphia

Revelation 3:12 (CSB)

12 “The one who conquers I will make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never go out again. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God—the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God—and my new name.

Revelation 22:3–4 (CSB)

3 and there will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

TOY STORY – ANDY IS BOY OF THE STORY AND HE WRITES HIS NAME ON HIS TOYS. THE TOYS HAVE A SENSE OF BELONGING – THAT’S THEIR OWNER.

I ADOPTED KIDS – GAVE THEM MY NAME.

            “Brandina Riter” – no memory of their former name.

            New Identity

Do you revel in your new identity?

            Has your former name passed away?

1 Corinthians 6:9–11 (NLT)

9 Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, 10 or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. 11 Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

1 Corinthians 6:18–20 (NLT)

18 Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. 19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.

Tattoos – todays markings have meaning or identification

            Ancient days – slaves were tattooed – soldiers on hand, wrist, shoulder or even face. Slaves on face

ARE YOU MARKED AS A CHRISTIAN?

            Wear a cross? Not enough – crosses mean nothing today

            Marked by a gentleness, reverence, peace of God, LOVE???

Ezekiel 9:3–6 (NKJV)

3 Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub, where it had been, to the threshold of the temple. And He called to the man clothed with linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn at his side; 4 and the Lord said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.” 5 To the others He said in my hearing, “Go after him through the city and kill; do not let your eye spare, nor have any pity. 6 Utterly slay old and young men, maidens and little children and women; but do not come near anyone on whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the temple.

The mark is for protection –

Passover – was a mark for protection

Acts 1:4–8 (NKJV)

4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Witnesses = martus (from which we get martyr, one witnesses through their death)

7 SEALS OF Chapter 6

RECAP chapter 6 –

Revelation 6:9–11 (NLT)

9 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of all who had been martyred for the word of God and for being faithful in their testimony. 10 They shouted to the Lord and said, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you judge the people who belong to this world and avenge our blood for what they have done to us?” 11 Then a white robe was given to each of them. And they were told to rest a little longer until the full number of their brothers and sisters—their fellow servants of Jesus who were to be martyred—had joined them.

Matthew 24:9–14 (NKJV)

9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. 10And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

LET’S GET THIS GOSPEL PREACHED EVERYWHERE SO THE END CAN COME!

WHAT STOPS US?

FEAR!!!! REJECTION!

Dual Citizenship – I want to belong to two countries – this world and the next

            I don’t want to surrender my passport for this world

DON’T NEED TO PRESENT THE ENTIRE GOSPEL PRESENTATION EVERYTIME. NEED ONLY PRESENT WHAT GOD TELLS YOU!

Can I pray for you?

Matthew 10:28 (NKJV)

28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Mark 10:29–30 (CSB)

29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said, “there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundred times more, now at this time—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and eternal life in the age to come.

Revelation 17:6 (NKJV)

6 I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.

REALITY? WE ARE GOING TO FACE TRIALS, PERSECUTION

PRO-LIFERS BEING ARRESTED

2 Corinthians 1:8–9 (NLT)

8 We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. 9 In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead.

2 Corinthians 1:10 (CSB)

10 He has delivered us from such a terrible death, and he will deliver us. We have put our hope in him that he will deliver us again

Colossians 1:13 (ESV)

13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

Raise up an army of light – we are in a spiritual battle

            Darkness thinks they are light .

Application

GATES OF HELL WON’T PREVAIL

            PASSPORT – ALLOWS ACCESS

            HOLY SPIRIT SEAL ALLOWS ACCESS

                        GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT

                        FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

                        POWER OF THE RESURRECTION

IF DON’T HAVE BOLDNESS, WHY NOT? WHERE IS THE SHORT CIRCUIT?

WHAT LIES ARE YOU BELIEVING MORE THAN THE WORD OF GOD?

IF YOU ARE NOT SEALED – BETTER GET SEALED!!!

[1] Bruce B. Barton, Revelation, ed. Grant R. Osborne, Life Application Bible Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2000), 81–83.