160821 Our Inheritance In Christ

Ephesians 1:11-14  In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, ¹² so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. ¹³ In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

These four verses begin and end with a statement about “an inheritance”! It is very important to the heirs that they understand what they have inherited and when they will receive it. The first statement categorically states that we have obtained an inheritance! The second statement speaks of the Holy Spirit who is the down payment on our inheritance and implies that our possession of it is yet future. We need to look into what it means to be an heir in God’s economy.

Our original inheritance comes to us at birth. We inherit our physical appearance from our parents, and their parents, back through all the generations. We also inherit a lot of our emotional makeup and idiosyncrasies from our ancestors. Just as we are born sons or daughters of our family…

We are born members of the family of Adam and Eve. Look at Romans 5:12. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden and given one rule that they could break. They were told not to eat from the tree in the middle of the Garden — the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They were told that when they ate of it, that day, they would surely die. Not immediately die but surely die. When they were deceived by Satan, and ate of the fruit, sin came into the world. All their unborn children died along with them when they bowed down to Satan and disobeyed their living Lord. Because all of us are descended from Adam and Eve…

As such, we inherit sin, death and hell. Look at Romans 6:23. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Though Adam and Eve did not immediately die they did surely die. Death began to work in them immediately. They became aware of their nakedness and were ashamed! They hid themselves from God! We need to remember that we cannot hide from God and there is no need to fight against Him.

Too often we fail to remember that the wages of sin is death. Not just physical death but extreme death — eternal separation from the presence of God! God thought of us all as having sinned when Adam disobeyed. From the time of Adam until the time of Moses men did not have written laws and therefore could not have broken God’s law. Without the law they still died proving that God counted people guilty on the basis of Adam’s sin. We existed only in the DNA of Adam and Eve when they sinned. Therefore we, along with Adam and Eve and the rest of the human race, needed a Savior. We needed one who could deliver us from the curse of sin — inherited sin as well as sin committed by us…

In order to free us from that curse we are born again. Let’s look at Jesus’ words found in John 3:14-15. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

Born once we die! Born twice we live!

When the people of Israel were in the wilderness they rebelled against God’s provision for them. God sent poisonous snakes in among them in order to improve their focus on trusting Him. When they cried out for relief, and repented of their sin, God told Moses to raise a bronze serpent on a pole. Whenever a person was bitten by a snake they only had to look at the bronze serpent and they would live.

In the same way, people today, lost in their sin only, need to turn their eyes towards Jesus.

Helen H. Lemmel wrote a hymn about it. The chorus goes like this:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace.

Can you imagine a person in the wilderness after they had been bitten by a poisonous snake saying, “I don’t believe that bronze serpent can help me at all” and then refuse to look? Something very similar happens every day when a person is encouraged to look to Jesus! And they say something like, “What good would it do”? We have the promise of Jesus that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.

When we believe in him…

Our family relationships changed in Christ. Look to Colossians 1:11-14. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, ¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. ¹³ He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

When a person comes to believe in Jesus the process begins and, I believe, will never end. I praise God that He has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. Once we were in bondage to sin now God has come into our lives to deliver us from the domain of darkness ruled by Satan himself and place us in the kingdom of His Beloved Son. There is more than that! In John’s Gospel, the first chapter, we are told that those who believe in His name are given the right — the privilege — to become children of God! (John 1:12)

When a person is born again that person is no longer a subject of Satan instead that person becomes a member of the family of God. Scripture promises us that, having come to Christ, sin will have no dominion over us. (Romans 6:14) For me this is one of the greatest promises in Scripture. I often feel defeated and need to know that my stumbling and falling along the way is not a normal life pattern for me. Sometimes it looks as though sin will rule over us as we struggle along. But God’s word says, “That’s not so.”

Because…

We now are fellow heirs with Jesus. Look at Romans 8:16-17. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

We have received the Spirit of adoption and are able to say, “Abba! Father!” Jesus, the Son of God, has become like us in every way except for sin in order that He might deliver us from that domain of darkness. He has come into our lives in such a way that we are able to join with Him in our inheritance. It is difficult for me to understand fully what God has gained from this. I know that believers have gained salvation. God has gained us while we gain Him!

Amazingly, this has been God’s plan eternally. Our inheritance in Christ is more than just something being added to us personally. Our inheritance in Christ is none other than Christ Himself!

In John’s first little letter we are given the assurance that He abides in us because He has given us His Spirit (1 John 4:13). The Holy Spirit witnesses that we are not only God’s children but also that God abides in us as we abide in Him. This is more than our intellect — the Spirit comes to give us assurance through our feelings. Ultimately God’s Spirit will be with us throughout our lives on earth and will deliver us to heaven. All of this is…

According to God’s purpose for us. Let’s go to 2 Timothy 1:8-9. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, ⁹ who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.

Paul was not concerned about the fact that he was writing to Timothy from prison. He urged Timothy not to be ashamed of him or of the gospel. Instead we should recognize that the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:16).

When the Bible tells us that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4), and that we were predestined to live for the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1:11-12), we are being assured that God has a purpose for us. As God talks about our holy calling that was given to us before times eternal we are encouraged to believe that God thought of us in a special relationship with Christ before time began.

Now that we are born, and born again to salvation in Christ, we are no longer a thought in God’s mind. He is in the process of bringing us to a place where the benefits of salvation can be applied to our life. The Scriptures tell us that God’s purpose is seen in our dying with Him having been buried with him and being raised to a new life in Christ. What a magnificent blessing that is. (Romans 6:5-11)

We are so important to God that…

The Holy Spirit is our down payment. Let’s look at 2 Corinthians 1:20-22. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. ²¹ And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, ²² and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

The Holy Spirit comes to us in salvation. That Spirit immerses us into one body (1 Corinthians 12:13) and gives us a united front with all believers everywhere. From the very beginning of creation the Holy Spirit has been finishing and maintaining what God the Father has planned for us. The Son of God is seated at the right hand of power in heaven. That power is the eternal manifestation of God the Father. It is the Holy Spirit that dwells with us and shows us the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus. He is God’s guarantee, or down payment, on our eternal salvation. It is not our good works that guarantee us heaven it is the purpose and power of God that gives us that guarantee. This is not a concept shown only in the New Testament.

Even the Old Testament predicted the blessings that would come from God through the Holy Spirit. Isaiah predicted the time when the presence of the Holy Spirit would bring abundant blessings from God. He spoke of the Spirit being poured out upon us from on high turning the wilderness into a fruitful field. (Isaiah 32:14-18) Joel spoke of the time when “your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.” (Joel 2:28-29)

Everything is designed to glorify God. Look at Romans 11:36. For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

God does not need us or anything else! Yet we and the rest of creation, glorify Him and bring Him joy. We must always remember that God is absolutely independent and self-sufficient. God does not need anything from mankind. In Jesus’ high priestly prayer (John 17) He asked the Father to glorify Him with the glory that He had with the Father before the world was made. Only God exists by virtue of his very nature. He was not created He did not come into existence He always was and always will be. Although God did not need us He chose us to glorify Him. (Revelation 4:11)

When we come to faith in Christ we are transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. We become children of the living God and have all things that pertain to life and godliness. Having been brought into the family of God we are given everything we need to “grow up” to Christian maturity. Peter tells us about the qualities we need to be sure of our salvation. (2 Peter 1:3-10)

I hope that you have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and are now growing in your relationship to Him. Put your faith in Him. Today can be your day of salvation!

All scriptures quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.