hlester@bellsouth.net

The scripture I want to point you to today is taken from Ephesians 1:7-14.

I was reminded in reading these scriptures a little bit about direct deposit at the bank. When you set up a direct deposit at the bank you sign a paper telling the bank they can take the money out of your paycheck or your retirement check or whatever the case may be. Your signature is required to make it valid. Well, God’s signature is required to make our name valid in the Book of Life and the only way we can have it is to be blood bought by the blood of the Lamb. A signature speaks of ownership. When you buy a car you have to sign a title. When you buy a house you sign a paper and your name is placed on the deed.  

Are you signed with Christ? Does he have ownership of you? Let me give you a few thoughts about His signature.  

• 1. Written in red (Vs.7) Our salvation was paid in full by His own blood shed on Calvary’s cross. He loved me so much that He laid done His own life for my sins. I didn’t have to be perfect, He loved me anyway. Romans 5:8, But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. That tells us we can come as we are to God and with a repentant heart and He will forgive us our sins.  
  
  
• 2. We have an inheritance (Vs.11) His signature entitles us to become heirs with Him. 2 Corinthians 6:18, I will be a Father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. By being His heir we are entitled to all He has and that includes His power and His strength.  
  
  
• 3. We can look at it this way. God has given us a blank check and we are able to cash in when we reach Heaven because He has placed His signature upon it. It identifies us as His heirs or His children and then the gift is sealed as we see in (verse 13). 
  

I am a notary and I have a seal. Some states will not recognize a notary signature without a seal; therefore if I am notarizing a paper for someone that is going to another state, I must be sure and use my seal that is assigned only to me. That is my signature, so to speak. In olden days Kings used their rings as a signet & that made a paper legitimate. 

When we speak of being sealed, what does that mean to us? By being sealed we have to first accept Christ. By doing so we declare that He has ownership.  

1 Corinthians 6:19-20. Or do you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price: therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. We are sealed. He owns us and we are His.  

(John 10: 27-30) John 10:27-29. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give them eternal life; and they shall never perish.  

(John 6:37-39) John 6:37-39. All that the Father gives me will come to me; and the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. This is the will of the Father who sent me, that of all He has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. The king has promised to “by no means cast out (v.37) the one who comes to Him.  

Matthew 7:21-23. Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of My Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? cast out demons in your name? and done many wonders in Your name? And then will I declare to them, I never knew you: depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.  

The Bible says that you will know them by their fruit. You can’t help but be changed after you receive Christ because you can’t put something that good in something that bad and there not be a change.  

When we get saved, we are saved from the stain of sin. The sins of our past are gone. We are washed clean. We are delivered out of fear.

Luke 1:74. That He would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear.

No longer do we have to fear anything, because greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world. We even can have deliverance from continued sin.

Romans 7:24-25. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.  

Romans 12:1-2. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.  

When Paul speaks of presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice, meaning that we should use our bodies to serve and obey God. Holy means set apart for the Lord’s use; Acceptable means pleasing to Him, and reasonable indicates that should be the least we should do for all that He has done for us. We are not to be conformed to the world. When the world sees us, they should see something different. Renewing our mind. When you renew some thing it is not a one-time thing. We need to daily seek God. We do so by daily talking to Him, getting into His word, and asking Him to use you for His glory.  
 
Copyright 2004 Rev. Betty J. Lester