(11) In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: (12) That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. (13) In whom ye also trusted, 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, (14) Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
I will only detain the Reader with short observations, on what remains to be considered in this Chapter, though full of the most important points, because I have already far exceeded my limits. In those verses, amidst many other blessed things, we have two great subjects of doctrine spoken of: the first is, that the Church is predestinated to the Lord's glory, by trusting, in Christ. And the other is, that after this predestinating act of Jehovah, to the belief in Christ, the Holy Ghost is said to seal the persons of believers, as that Holy Spirit of promise. Reader! do behold the safety, and blessedness of the Church, under those two immense points of security!
In relation to our trust and belief, it should be always carefully remembered, that these acts of ours, are not the cause of our safety and blessedness, but the effect. Christ is the great object of trust and belief. And wherefore? Because, what Christ wrought, and accomplished, was the result of God's everlasting love, in Christ; Hence, Christ is said, by himself to have purged our sins. Hebrews 1:3. This, then, is the cause. Our dependence upon him, and what he hath done, is the effect. It is, indeed, always blessed, to live in the comfortable enjoyment of these things by faith. For the promise, in the charter of grace, runs in these words: Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee. Isaiah 26:3. But then, our faith is not the cause of safety, but the fruit. Christ is all, and in all.
We rise higher, however, in the second great point of doctrine, in relation to the Spirit's sealing: for this is not a mere effect, but a cause. It is true indeed, in one sense, both Christ's redemption, and the Spirit's sealing, may be called, the fruits, and effects, of the original, and eternal purpose of Jehovah, in his threefold character of Persons, towards the Church; because, none are redeemed, or sealed, but what are in the everlasting choice of God, the sonship in Christ, and acceptation in the Beloved, and this before the foundation of the world. Nevertheless, our trusting in Christ, and our being sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, differ as much as effects from causes. Reader! pause to admire, what a sweet testimony it is, to the souls of the Lord's people, when they have received the earnest of the Spirit? A work, in which they are altogether passive. And, how plainly do they prove, the certainty of their being sealed, when, from the same Almighty Power, they are enabled to trust in Christ, for the salvation of their souls? Here they find, what is called in scripture, a good hope through grace: And, hence they learn to trace their mercies to the fountain-head of mercy, in discovering the whole to flow from the everlasting purposes of God in Christ. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate, to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Romans 8:29-30.