Last evening we saw a number of things that God has already done. When we were saved, God gave us His Holy Spirit as the seal. It is not that the Holy Spirit seals a seal upon us, but that the Holy Spirit is a seal upon us; the Holy Spirit is the seal of God upon us. This seal will remain until the day of redemption. Therefore, not one Christian can lose his salvation. Tonight we shall continue to see that the Holy Spirit is not merely the seal given to us by God, but also the pledge given to us by God to assure us of our eternal inheritance. The Holy Spirit is the proof of our receiving the inheritance.
Here we see that there are two aspects to the Holy Spirit in us. On the one hand, God puts His Holy Spirit in us as the seal to prove that we belong to God; on the other hand, God puts His Holy Spirit in us as the pledge, that we may know that whatever God will give us is guaranteed. One can see that these two aspects are different. On the one hand, the Holy Spirit causes God to know that we belong to Him. On the other hand, His Holy Spirit causes us to know that we belong to Him. We have already seen the Holy Spirit as the seal; now, we want to see the Holy Spirit as the pledge.
Let us read Ephesians 1:14, which says, "Who is the pledge of our inheritance." When we believed in the Lord Jesus, God promised us that He would give us the incorruptible inheritance in the heavens. How do we know that God would not change His mind and take it back? We know that God will not withhold it from us because He gave the Holy Spirit to us as a proof or pledge. The word "pledge" in the original language means a deposit. Originally, I should pay someone twenty thousand dollars, but I first pay him two hundred as a deposit. A deposit means giving someone a little today and a large sum in the future. Have you ever paid or received a deposit when you bought or sold something? When you rented a house, did you ever pay a deposit? Originally, one should pay thirty dollars a month to the landlord, but he first pays five dollars as a deposit for the house. When he gives the five dollars, he is saying to the landlord that the other twenty-five dollars will definitely come. God said that He will give you the incorruptible inheritance in the heavens. How do we know that we will definitely obtain that inheritance in the future? How do we know that we will not lose it? This is because the Holy Spirit has been given to us. The Holy Spirit is the earnest money, the collateral, the pledge, and the token deposit given to us by God. When God gives us the Holy Spirit, He is telling us that all the inheritance in the heavens will be ours in the future.