1. Many important doctrines are touched upon in these two verses.

• the operation of the Holy Spirit
• the doctrine of the Trinity
• our position "in Christ"

2. We have here:

• God's divine enablement -- "established"
• God's divine endorsement -- "sealed"
• God's divine endowment -- "earnest of the Spirit"

3. It is the Holy Spirit who establishes us in Christ.
4. It is the Holy Spirit who anoints us.
5. And it is the Holy Spirit who seals us.
6. Some cults teach that the Holy Spirit is merely an "emanation."
7. The Holy Spirit is not an emanation (a force). The Holy Spirit is a Person; and the Holy Spirit is God (cf. Acts 5:3, 4).
8. In Scripture, all the distinctive marks or characteristics of personality are ascribed to the Holy Spirit -- knowledge, feeling, intelligence, and will. Any being who knows and feels and wills is a person.
9. Men are said to act toward the Holy Spirit in ways which would be impossible or absurd if He were not truly a Person (cf. Isa. 63:10; Matt. 12:31, 32; Acts 5:3, 4; Eph. 4:30).
10. Acts 13:2 says, "As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them." The Holy Spirit speaks and teaches and guides us.
11. The Holy Spirit directs ministers where to preach. Acts 8:29 says, "Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot." And according to Acts 16, The Holy Spirit directs ministers where not to preach (Acts 16:6, 7).
12. Seven times (in all seven letters) we read: "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches" (Revelation 2 & 3).
13. Our Lord said, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Matthew 28:19). "Name" is singular -- One God in three Persons.
14. If the Holy Spirit were no more than a mere influence or emanation, He would not be mentioned in conjunction with the Father and the Son, whom we all recognize as actual and individual persons (cf. II Cor. 13:14).

I. THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS ESTABLISHED US IN CHRIST (1:21)

1. "Established" (1:21) means "made firm." Many people are not firm in the faith. They are "like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed" (James 1:6).
2. Some are "tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine" (Ephesians 4:14).
3. But if you are properly established, you will stand firm. Colossians 2:7 says, "Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith."
4. If you are rooted and grounded in the Word of God, you will grow spiritually and not be tossed about by false doctrine.
5. Ephesians 3:17 says, "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love."
6. Colossians 1:23 says we are to "continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away."
7. We are established "in Christ" (II Cor. 1:21). The Holy Spirit establishes us in Christ.
8. First, we are convicted by the Holy Spirit. Our Lord said, "And when he is come, he will reprove (convict) the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment" (John 16:8).
9. Acts 2:37 says, "Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart..." This is Holy Spirit conviction.
10. Acts 7:54 says, "When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart."
11. Secondly, we are born again by the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God. Our Lord said, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again" (John 3:6, 7).
12. And thirdly, we are baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ. "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body..." (I Cor. 12:13). This takes place when we are saved.
13. Furthermore, we are sanctified by the Holy Spirit. First Corinthians 6:11 says, "Ye are sanctified...by the Spirit of our God."
14. All these operations of the Holy Spirit are involved in the establishment of a believer in Christ.

II. THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS ANOINTED US (1:21).

1. The Holy Spirit establishes us in Christ. Then next we see another operation of the Holy Spirit mentioned here: “And hath anointed us” (1:21).
2. The Holy Spirit anoints all believers, consecrating them to the service of Christ. The word Christ (OT Messiah) means "Anointed One."
3. Psalm 2:2 says, "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed."
4. In the Old Testament times, prophets, priests, and kings were anointed with oil for service. In the Bible, oil is a picture and type of the Holy Spirit.
5. In Matthew 25:4, our Lord said the wise virgins took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
6. Today the Holy Spirit indwells and anoints every believer in Christ. First John 2:20 says, "But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things." This is for each and every Christian.
7. First John 2:27 says, "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you..." This is for each and every Christian.
8. This anointing is for service and for illumination. As the oil was poured on prophets, priests, and kings in the Old Testament, to signify their empowering for service, so today the Holy Spirit has anointed us for service.
9. I saw a false prophet on TV one time say the anointing of the Holy Spirit was only for a select group of Christians. But that is not what the Bible teaches (II Cor. 1:21).
10. The anointing of the Holy Spirit is not emotionalism.
11. The anointing will not help us if we do not study God's Word, and obey God's Word. Let us consider King Saul as an illustration. David knew King Saul was not right with God, but he still repeatedly referred to him as "the LORD'S anointed" (I Samuel 24:10; 26:9, etc.).
12. David recognized that Saul had been anointed of God to be the king of Israel. Sadly, King Saul was a failure as a king, and after visiting a witch he died a miserable death.
13. And so it is that today -- certain Christians fail in their Christian life, even though the Holy Spirit has established them in Christ, and anointed them, and sealed them.
14. Ephesians 4:30 says, "And grieve not the holy Spirit of God."
15. They may grieve the Holy Spirit, and they can quench the Holy Spirit, but if they are genuinely saved, God can still use them if they repent.

III. THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS SEALED US (1:22).

1. In olden days, when an official document was written, it was sealed. The seal signified a finished transaction. "For by one offering (on the cross) he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified" (Heb. 10:14).
2. The seal signified a finished transaction.We are saved and we are sealed for all eternity.
3. The seal signified a mark of ownership. We belong to God. The Holy Spirit has stamped the very image of God Himself upon our souls (cf. 3:17, 18).
4. The seal symbolized authority. In Esther 8:8, King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen and to Mordecai her uncle, "Write ye also for the Jews, as it liketh you, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's ring: for the writing which is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, may no man reverse."
5. When we were saved, we were sealed by the Holy Spirit, and no man and no devil can reverse that!
6. Ephesians 1:13 says, "After that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise."
7. Ephesians 4:30 says, "And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption."
8. A Christian is sealed the moment he receives Christ as his Saviour. There is only one sealing, and there is only one baptism, and only one indwelling, and these terms should not be confused.
9. There is only one sealing, and there is only one baptism, and only one indwelling, but there may be several "fillings" (cf. Ephesians 5:18).
10. The "earnest" is the Holy Spirit Himself, given to all Christians when they are saved. Second Corinthians 5:5 says God "hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit."
11. This earnest of the Spirit in our hearts is the witness of the Holy Spirit that we belong to God.
12. The word "earnest" (1:22) means "pledge" or "guarantee" or "down payment." People speak of "earnest money" given as a down payment. I remember giving the real estate man a check (deposit or "earnest money") in order to get a binder for this building.
13. Ephesians 1:14 says the Holy Spirit "is the earnest of our inheritance."
14. Romans 8:17 says we are "heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ."
15. First Corinthians 3:21-23 says, "For all things are yours...all are yours; And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's."
16. To whom the Lord gives the pledge, He will give the glorious fulfilment -- our reward in heaven. God keeps His promises (1:20).
17. The Holy Spirit is the present possession of all who have received Christ as Savior, and He is also our pledge of a glorious future -- a great inheritance, an immortal resurrection body, a home in heaven, and the certain fulfillment of all of God's gracious promises.
18. One preacher put it this way: "As a seal, the Spirit assures us of our right to heaven; as an earnest, he gives us a foretaste of it" (Charles Simeon).

CONCLUSION:

1. The earnest of the Spirit is like an engagement ring. It signifies that now the man has given his fiancé a pledge that he will give her all that he has on their wedding day.
2. Therefore, God gives us the Holy Spirit as His pledge that someday all the riches in the heavens will be ours.
3. Blessèd assurance, Jesus is mine!
   O what a foretaste of glory divine!
   Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
   Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood. (Fanny Crosby)