True Blessing 3 – Inheritance

I’m going to start us off by having us read. I will read for us this entire song of praise just to make sure we’re seeing how all of these fits together. But as I read through it, notice how often we see this key phrase that I’ve put in red on the screen. The phrase, “in Christ”, I mentioned for our first sermon in this series that we could see in Christ is really the theme of the entire letter that by faith Christians are joined to Jesus we’re so united to him. We have a union with Christ, which means that, what Jesus has accomplished through his death and resurrection and ascension. What he’s accomplished is now applied to us. It’s considered ours because we are joined with Christ. So, here is I read the word of God, how in Christ all of these blessings are ours and notice, particularly the end of the reading when we come to the blessing of our inheritance. (Ephesians 1:3-14), “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained on inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the council of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 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, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”. So, if you are in Christ, if you’ve been joined to him by faith, you, we together this morning is seeing, that we’ve been bless with an inheritance.

I. The Background of our inheritance.

Now, as we consider what this inheritance is, let’s start first by looking to the Old Testament to see what the background is for this inheritance, that Paul is describing for us. We find the concept of inheritance in the early chapters of Scripture and what we find interwoven throughout the Old Testament is two different ways that inheritance is described. First of all, inheritance is described in relationship to God himself. We read that this entire planet, the whole universe, everything is God’s possession. He owns it all. But then specifically, we read that God desire, that there would be a special people that he would call his inheritance. We could say this special people was his wealth, was his possession that comes to him. And as we read through the Old Testament, we see this special people was the family of Abraham that grew into the ancient nation of Israel. God says Exodus 19:5, “Therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples for all the earth is mine.”. The story comes along to the period of Moses and we see this special place then, that the people of Israel had as God’s people. It came about, this nation was formed we saw last week when God rescued them, when he redeemed them out of slavery in Egypt and as he brought them out, God says there’s going to be many blessings for you. But before he gets to the blessings for them, he says how they themselves are his inheritance. Deuteronomy 4:20, “But the Lord has taken you out and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day.”. One more example, Deuteronomy 14:2, “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who were on the face of the earth.”. So, this is one way we see inheritance in the Old Testament. God’s people were his possession. Those he loved were God’s inheritance. That’s one way and then there’s a second way we see inheritance being described in the Old Testament, and it has to do with this same people. These same descendants of Abraham, the same nation of Abraham. As God called him out, God gave them many promises of blessing, including this land that they were to inherit the promised land we read in the New Testament Book of Hebrews 11:8, by faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance and when we come to the time of Joshua. We see this promise starting to be fulfilled as they moved into this promised land. So, Israel received this promised inheritance. This possession from God, while at the same time this people was called God’s possession God’s inheritance and both of these themes were inner lapping over weaving with each other the same thing we’re going to find in our passage this morning in Ephesians 1:11-12. But before we get back to Ephesians, for a bit further background, let’s continue reading some versus here in Hebrews. We read it at the time of the new covenant after Jesus came. Looking back at this period that Israel actually didn’t fully receive this inheritance, they only partially received it. At the end of Hebrews 11:39-40, we read of how these people of faith, including Abraham, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised because the promised inheritance was more than just land. The physical inheritance that the nation did receive was looking ahead to a greater eternal spiritual inheritance that awaited them and all of that that the people receiving this final blessing is also what makes up God’s inheritance. This people belong to him and we see the joining of these two parallel themes, God’s people inheriting and as they do, there are God’s inheritance, we see both of these themes combining themselves in Jesus himself. Jesus came to our earth, born as an Israelite as a Jew. And Jesus perfectly kept the law the law that the nation had failed to keep and thus Jesus himself inherited from God the father what had been promised to Abraham, Hebrews 1:2, “but in these last days he(God) has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.”. So, the fulfillment of the inheritance isn’t Jesus himself. And now the beauty of the gospel is for all people from any nation, Jews and any nation who comes and is now in Christ. We are joined to him and we receive this inheritance that God had been promising ever since the time of Abraham, Hebrews 9:15, “Therefore, he (Christ) is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, ……..”. See also, Galatians 3:29, “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”. So, in Jesus we have this inheritance. We are heirs with him and as we receive these spiritual blessings, we God’s people are also called God’s inheritance. We belong to him, Titus 2:14, “(Jesus Christ) gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession.”, 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, ………”. So, what we find is the same twofold teaching about inheritance from the Old Testament continues on in the New Testament. God’s people receive this inheritance, and we then are his inheritance.

II. A Description of our inheritance.

With that background, let’s come back to Ephesians now and see a description of what this inheritance is all about. Opening line of verse 11, “In him” (In Christ), we have received or obtained on inheritance. Now for considering these two categories, I just described our inheritance or God’s inheritance of us. This line in English seems pretty clear. It’s talking about what we receive. I’ve put up here the English translation, we normally use the English Standard Version, however, just to be aware that if we were going to the language that the New Testament was written in the Greek language of the first century. That was very common. The grammar in it is, at least to us 20 centuries removed, a bit ambiguous. It’s not really clear exactly whose inheritance is being described here. So, if you go to other English translations, for instance, the CSB you read this, “In him we were also made his inheritance,…”, referring to this other category of inheritance, which is fully biblical. We saw they’re both in the Old Testament. They’re both in the New Testament, and this same sort of ambiguity is found in two other verses here in Ephesians 1:14, notice Verse 14, “The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.”. But then Ephesians 1:18, “that you may know what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,” and if you go and compare some other English translations, both of these verses, there’s variation. Some English translations think, one verse stresses our inheritance that other translations, God’s inheritance, and it’s a bit confusing if you’re trying to compare different translations and that’s because when we go to the Greek in which this was written, at least for us today it’s still a bit ambiguous. We’re not exactly certain, and maybe this was intentional on God’s court. Maybe he had Paul write in such a way that we would be aware. Throughout Scripture, there’s these both aspects of inheritance, what we have in our savior. And as we receive it, we are therefore God’s inheritance, very likely present throughout Ephesians Chapter one, both of these aspects. Having said that, lest I confused myself anymore and confused the rest of us, we’re going to focus primarily on this category for the rest of the message. What are these blessings that we have in Christ? What is this inheritance that we received when we are united to Jesus? There are many verses throughout the New Testament that describe these blessings. This the riches of an inheritance we have in Christ. I’m just going to give this simple definition for our inheritance that I put on the screen. Our inheritance is everything that Jesus has promised us both in this life and in the life to come. Here’s a short summary of many of the passages in the New Testament which used this terminology of inheritance, calls us heirs, Hebrews 1:14, talks about the inheritance of our Salvation. Mark 10:17, describes an inheritance of Eternal Life, James 2:5, the inheritance of the Kingdom of God, Colossians 3:24, a Reward connected to inheritance, Revelations 21:7, the inheritance of a New Heaven and a New Earth when Christ returns and there will be a restored perfect relationship both with God and with each other. Notice, even on this short summary list, we see some of this inheritance as things that we experience right now as Christ followers and other aspects we’re waiting for Jesus to return. Notice again, the opening phrase of Ephesians 1:11, “In him we have obtained on inheritance, …….”. Now just basic grammar, this is a past tense verb, isn’t it? There’s an inheritance in Christ Jesus we have right now and yet we are waiting to receive the fullness of this inheritance when Jesus comes back. Now, I think we can understand this If we compare this to our own experience, I mentioned already probably some of us have already written out a legal document, a “Will”, that states when we pass on, our children will then receive the inheritance what we owned. However, while that has to wait a day in the future, already perhaps some of us your son’s already running the family business and calling the shots. Or already you’re giving a large monthly allowance to your child at university. She’s your heir in the future but already there’s the benefits of being the heir, she’s experiencing it today. Similarly, because we are in Jesus today, we’ve begun already to receive these good gifts. These benefits, this inheritance we have in Jesus and as we go on thinking about that this morning, would we consider again this morning the beauty of the gospel? This inheritance that we’re talking about is not an inheritance that we’ve earned that we’ve deserved. It’s the exact opposite, isn’t it? Each one of us in this room for much of our lives have dishonored God. What we deserve is God’s judgment. We don’t deserve this inheritance that we’re talking about. But the mystery and the power of the gospel is this. God rewards us for what we have not done, yet because we’re united to Christ, we are rewarded for what Jesus has done and his inheritance we received. And so, would we see a reminder this morning brothers and sisters, of the privilege status we have as sons and daughters of God. Maybe the last three sermons, as we’re talking about all of these spiritual blessings in Christ, maybe some of us would say, Adam, I don’t really feel blessed by God in my current situation in life. And I would just want to gently urge you this morning and say, regardless of your feelings, this is true. Those who are united with Jesus are heirs. We have received this inheritance, and because sometimes we doubt this because sometimes, we’re not sure about this. This is one of the reasons the Holy Spirit has been given to us, Ephesians 1:13-14, continue to describe this inheritance, “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.”. Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory? I really hope these two verses sound familiar, because I think it was only five Sundays ago, we preached just on these two verses, so less the preacher, be discouraged, we won’t take a show of hands if these verses sound familiar. But we took a whole sermon on this as a conclusion for our series on the Holy Spirit. How we can know we’re saved, how we can have an assurance of salvation because the Holy Spirit like a seal, he’s marked us permanently. We belong to Jesus and the Holy Spirits. This guarantee he’s a deposit, the first payment of our inheritance, assuring us that the final inheritance one day will be ours. In Christ we are already heirs and when he returns one day will receive the fullness of this inheritance. So, the fullness of this blessings, the fullness of Jesus promises being completed await his return. But we can already enjoy much of the inheritance today. So very relevant question this morning is that, do we or are we aware of this inheritance we have right now? And are we enjoying and benefiting from this inheritance we have right now? I already said we love the storyline of the rags to riches story where someone receives an inheritance and that changes everything. That’s exactly what happens when we’re in Christ. Remember the phrase we used last week? We strike it rich. But how about the sad and the tragic story line when someone just flat out ignores the inheritance that’s rightfully theirs? There’s, a story told it’s an old one. Maybe you’ve heard it, of a man by the name of Stanley William Walker. He was the son of a wealthy British businessman. He was a graduate from Oxford. His future was very bright, but he started to leave it all to abandon his family and everything connected with them. He ran away from England and nobody knew where he was going. Several years later, he found himself just living on the streets of Chicago in the U. S. A. He made a mess of his life, alcohol, drugs and crime. Several years passed and his father died, leaving his son a fortune, millions of dollars. No one knew where his son was, and so a search began to be made looking for him so, he could receive this inheritance. Finally, they found where he might be in the States, maybe Chicago. The British Council connected with the police department in Chicago looking for this man. So, he could receive his inheritance, but when the police finally found him, it was too late. According to the newspaper report of this event, on a cold and wintry night, the police found this man’s dead body lying outside on a doorstep right along the road, a man who had inherited millions and he died in rags. We hear that story, what a tragedy, it happened more often than just one story I’ve given example. But consider this morning how much worse, how much more tragic it is when we as followers of Jesus who have already been given all of this inheritance in Christ and there’s much more a waiting for us. How tragic when we are either unaware of this inheritance or flat out ignore the blessings we have in Jesus. And I think one cause of this of how we can either be unaware or ignore this inheritance is because we’re so short sighted. We’re focused on pursuing the temporal on pursuing the physical when this life we’ve been given by our Creator is meant to be preparing us for the eternal to be preparing us for a true relationship with our God. Right now, this inheritance we have because we’re in Christ, we can know the God of the universe. We can love the God of the universe. And yet, sadly, many of us think that that more satisfaction in this life is going to be found in possessions, in accomplishment, in being noticed by other people that in connecting with our God. Would God graciously through his word this morning opened our eyes that we might see that we might see the greatness that we might see the privilege of being heirs of God. That all of the promises in Jesus are being fulfilled for his people. We read in our scripture this morning by Lindie from 1 Peter 1:3b-4, “God has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you,”. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing, including this inheritance. We have in Christ.

III. The Foundation of our inheritance.

All right, let’s unpack this little further with two more important truths we glean from our passage. Let’s think a little bit about the foundation of this inheritance, the foundation of these promises that Jesus is fulfilling for his people. Ephesians 1:11, “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the council of his will.”. What is the foundation? What is the basis for our inheritance? God’s sovereignty. His control over everything. What’s that word in Ephesians 1:11, He has predestined this to be the case, we already saw this word up in Ephesians 1:5. We define this; Predestination means that God beforehand makes decisions. He determines what will happen before it does. When we look at verse five, we saw in that context predestination was speaking specifically to our salvation to our election that God chooses who will be safe. He calls us to be saved. He predestined our salvation. But here in verse 11 we’re refined predestination. A second time that the meanings a bit broader. Yeah, it includes our salvation here, But, notice how verse 11 continues on and talk about how God works all things according to his purposes. And that’s a part of his predestination. What he has determined in advance. I’ve underlined three words here; Purpose, Counsel, and Will. Other English translations for counsel have the word decision. These three words in this context are probably being used together as synonyms, altogether giving us this clear picture, saying the same thing that God is involved in everything that happens on this planet, all things in the past, he’s already predestined what will happen and in the present, he is working and planning with a purpose. He’s working in such a way, even in the small details of life, that his will, what he desires, what pleases him will ultimately be accomplished.

Now, if you’re not a Christian, talking about God’s sovereignty sounds a bit limiting. And some of us might even be tempted to say, why does God keeps sticking his nose in my business? I wish he wouldn’t be so involved. But if you know Jesus, if you are in Christ, the truth in this verse is so encouraging. In your difficult marriage, God is at work. In the job that you hate, God has plans that you be there, at least for the time being. With the sickness that’s been devastating a family member, God has a purpose. I know whenever we talk about the sovereignty of God, it raises all sorts of legitimate questions in our mind. But what about the existence of evil? What about the apparently innocent people who suffer? Those are hard questions that we all wrestle with that mankind in every era has wrestled with and I think probably we won’t find full, satisfactory answers until eternity, when God himself describes for us. But this first, should give such assurance to God’s people this morning. God is not surprised by anything that’s going on in your life right now. God is always in control, no matter what’s going on in the news on our planet and he has a purpose even in the midst of evil. Even in the midst of our trials of our sorrows, nothing. No one can stop the plans of God. Listen how God describes this himself, Isaiah 46:10, “declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,”. This is where our inheritance comes from, all of the promises in Jesus we don’t receive them because of our own effort. They’re not some random last second decision that God just kind of decided to throw in there to make us happy. From before creation, God predestined that in Christ this inheritance would be ours. Now most of us have been Christians for a while. We know this truth, at least theoretically, we know that God is in control, but we so easily forget that and get off track. Kind of like a child’s toy train set when the engine falls off the tracks and what does the child have to do, to go in and pick up the engine and set it back on the tracks so that it be going in the direction it’s supposed to. That’s what God’s word is like for us, God, you’re such a gift to us. Individually, we have it all throughout the week, but even more so a gift to us corporately every Sunday. We come here together as the people of God, and we sit underneath the word of God. We hear God speaking and as he speaks by his spirit, God gets our lives back on track as we submit ourselves again to his truth. And he’s reminding us this morning I am sovereign. Remember the goodness of my purposes and my plans and some of us as we hear that this morning, the proper response is we need to humbly accept this is true. God is calling us to submit to him as Lord, to acknowledge that he has the right to stick his nose into our business. He is the Lord of the universe and with some of us, humble ourselves before him as Lord. But for many of us, as we consider the sovereignty of God this morning, would we rest? And would we rejoice in this truth? This planet, this country, our church, your family situation, fill in the blank, God’s got it, and when we truly understand that and when we trust in the sovereignty of God, contrary to some critics of sovereignty, this doesn’t lead us to apathy. This doesn’t lead us to laziness. Rather, when we grasped the sovereignty of God, this leads us to confident praying because we know God is at work. And we know from his word that God’s plans often unfold in response to his people asking. To his people calling out there trusting the sovereignty of God also then leads us to bold obedience, as we seek to care for the poor, as we seek to stand up for the need of the refugee, as we look to minister to the orphan. Understanding the sovereign plans of God leads us to bold obedience in speaking of Jesus to all ethnic groups because we know God is working and calling people from every nation to himself. More personally, when we understand the sovereign working of God, we do understand, there’s a purpose for our existence. There’s a purpose for your life situation today. Expatriates, there’s a purpose for your time here in KL. Maybe it’s only going to be six months, maybe it’s only going to be one more year. With a plan God has brought you to this city, it wasn’t just your employer who said you had to be here for a set time for your job. God is in this. Find out during this period of your life, how can you make much of Jesus? How can you serve him? How can you love others? No matter if you’re here for a short period of time, or if Malaysia is home for life. Understanding the sovereignty of God leads us to bold obedience. This is the foundation of our inheritance, God’s got everything planned out for his people. The basis for inheritance we’re receiving now, our inheritance in the future.

IV. The Purpose of our inheritance.

Final consideration for this passage. Now consider the purpose of all of this. This is an important question. We should regularly ask this as we’re studying Scripture. The why question? Why has God given us this inheritance? And the primary answer is not simply because he loves us. The primary answer is not simply because he wants us to be happy. He does and he does love us. But the primary reason is much bigger. The main purpose of our inheritance is that all of this gives glory to God. Starting again from verse 11. In him, we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the council of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his Lord. That’s the purpose of this inheritance we have, all of these promises in Jesus ultimate purpose. This brings glory to go that final phrase to the praise of his glory. We find three times, if you want to look in your text up in verse 6, also down in verse 14, similar phrases being used. What a proper conclusion to this song of praise. All of these blessings are ultimately so that God’s name is glorified. Now verse 12, does make a bit of a distinction, and God’s people verse 12 says to that we were the first to hope. So, Paul’s starting with the first generation of Christians, he’s going back to Jerusalem. He’s going back to people of Jewish descent, there the 1st one saved to the praise of God’s glory. And now the rest of the Ephesians, beginning in verse 13 is going to start being showing how this has now been extended to you and Ephesus and this has been extended to people of all of the nations. You too can be saved and together this is all for the glory of God. You see, when we’re forgiven, when we’re rescued, when our lives are dramatically changed by the Holy Spirit. All of this shows, how great our God is. This inheritance, the blessings we receive, they shout out, God is love! God is gracious! God is good! That the church is meant to be a trophy of God’s grace. In perfect, though we are. When people see the power of God at work, they proclaim. Look how great God is. That’s how trophies work, right? Hopefully there hasn’t been too much ego in this, but when you run the marathon, you get the nice medallion, you participate in the Viper Challenge, and I hear if you do all three, you’ll get a real fancy medallion. It shows what you did. It shows what you accomplished, and that’s what God’s people on this earth radically changed by the grace of God do were a trophy to his grace, and it proclaims, what a great God he is, what a great savior Jesus is. Christians throughout the century have acknowledged that this is the primary reason we exist. God didn’t make us because he was lonely. God didn’t create us because there was something lacking in him. Christians throughout the centuries have recognized, even in a form of a cataclysm, have answered, What’s the chief end of man? What is the main purpose of our existence. That we would glorify God and enjoy him forever as he shares his goodness with his people and so, at the very core of our existence, we were created to be worshippers. And I don’t mean primarily the Sunday morning service as important as that is, we were created to exalt, to praise to lift up. Now we get this, because think outside of the context of church, outside the context of God, just think how on a daily basis everyday people are praising things. We’re devoted to things. We speak highly of some new technology we just purchased. We can’t get enough of a certain K pop group or some other artists, we’re talking about it all the time. Our friends are tired of hearing about the latest Netflix show that we’re so hyped up about. We can’t stop recommending our favorite restaurant to our friends. We’re exalting where we’re praising things that are beautiful and meaningful and desirable to us. We were created to do that we were created to exalt and to worship. Every day we do this. Would we understand that at the root of that is what we were created to do with our God. We’re created to see how great he is and when we love him and enjoy him and desire him. Well, that’s why we want to exalt him. That’s why we want to worship him. That’s why I want to talk about him to others, God’s best worship when we want him, when we see his greatness, that’s the ultimate purpose of this inheritance we’ve been given that it all might be to the praise of his glory. And so, I ask us again this morning. Believers, have you considered this morning the inheritance you have? We have together in Christ. Some of us, in response to God’s word, might need to conclude this morning by confessing God, I’ve neglected this inheritance. For years I’ve been living more for physical inheritance that I have for a true and lasting inheritance in Jesus. Parents, I think this would be an excellent application of God’s word this morning, before God start making a more of a priority in your home that your kids would discover their inheritance in Christ. Up until now, there’s been more of a priority on securing a stable financial inheritance for your kids. What is the inheritance that we are living for as God’s people and then maybe some of us this morning are wondering, if it’s too late to receive this inheritance. Some of us have really messed up our life. Some of us have been ignoring God consistently now for quite a while. Some of us who are pretty ashamed this morning of how I’ve been living. Is it too late for you to receive his inheritance? And so, I end with this story, the story that Jesus told, many of you will recognize it. It’s the story of a son who didn’t want to wait for his father to die, to get his inheritance. And so selfishly and shamefully he goes to his dad and says I want my inheritance now. Brokenhearted, the father does what the son want, gives the sum all of the wealth that was to be his. And the son abandons his father and moves far away and he goes to a foreign land and he wastes it all. Much like the earlier story we’re told that the man in Chicago the short period of time he’d lost everything he was a despair. He was without hope story. Jesus told her the famine He doesn’t even have food to eat. So, one day wakes up and thinks that the only possibility for me to survive is maybe I can go back to my dad’s house. What were the servants living? And maybe I could be a servant. At least they’ll be a place for me to sleep and food. Most of you know this story, Jesus is telling that the father and the story represents God. You and I were the rebellious son, and the son went back to his father. Prepare to be a servant, hopefully just to survive. You know what happens when this rebellious, shameful son returned to his father? His father welcomes him back into the family and he forgives him and he restores his honor despite how foolish he’d been, despite how he wasted the inheritance that had been granted. You, who have strayed far from your God, would you see the grace of our savior this morning, and would you return home. Would you return home to our God, of mercy. Jesus’s death in our place, Jesus’s resurrection, conquering our sin, is a declaration that all who will humbly return to God. All who will cry out trusting in Jesus alone will be forgiven, will be loved and will be restored to an inheritance that God has prepared for his people. And this is all for the glory of our great God and Savior. Let’s pray together.