(c): Heirs of a Rich Inheritance

Introduction: The Blessings of Adoption Reviewed

0:08 In Psalm 111 and verse 2, the psalmist exclaimed with a praise-filled heart that the works of the Lord are great, sought out or pondered by all those that take pleasure or delight in them. And surely, among all of the great works of God, worthy of the worshipful reflection of the true child of God, none are greater than those works which comprise what the writer to the Hebrews describes as our so great salvation.

0:51 Having considered God's great work in providing a salvation in Jesus Christ that results in the justification of hell-deserving sinners, we are now searching out. An even greater blessing of God's saving grace, the blessing of adoption into the family of God. We come this morning to our fifth message concerning this provision of redemptive grace, the contemplation of which caused the Apostle John to exclaim, Behold, stand back in wonder!

1:33 What manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God, and we are.

1:46 As we come to the fifth message this morning, what have we discovered thus far in our consideration of this amazing aspect of God's saving grace called adoption? Well, after identifying three crucial distinctions and giving an earnest pastoral warning and entreaty in the opening message, we then follow the following. We have focused on the central place of adoption in the eternal plan, the actual procurement, and the personal application of the salvation of sinners.

2:21 And we saw from the many passages that we studied together that adoption is central in the saving purpose of the living God of heaven. We then examine together, secondly, the basic meaning and significance of adoption. We then examine together, secondly, the basic meaning and significance of adoption. We then examine together, secondly, the basic meaning and significance of adoption.

2:40 And I said, in concluding that study, that I could do no better than to quote the shorter Catechism, the Baptist version, in answer to the question, What is adoption? Adoption is an act of God's free grace, whereby all those who are justified are received into the number and have a right to all the privileges of the Sons of God.

3:07 And then several weeks ago we moved on to this third major category from the central place of adoption in the plan of salvation to the basic meaning and significance of adoption to begin to consider the privileges of adoption. Or what was it that made the Apostle John break out in holy ecstasy when contemplating his adoption and cry, Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God.

3:47 What are the distinct blessings and privileges that come to those who are adopted? Well, I answered that question along. Two lines as we began to consider the many blessings and privileges of adoption. Number one, as justified and adopted sinners we are given an irreversible legal status as sons and daughters of the living God.

4:16 John 1.12 was our key text. As many as received him, to them gave he the right to become the children of God, even to them. That believe on his name.

4:28 And when we come to faith in Christ, we are given this legal status as the sons and daughters of the living God. And a note that I did not sound sufficiently that I want to add as a little appendix to that brief review is that that legal status is never an end in itself. But it is a means to the end that God might have. We have with us and we with him real, felt, intimate, familial communion, son to father and father to son.

5:08 Just as surely as a couple who desire to adopt a son or daughter goes through all of the legal process, all of the forms, all of the examination of their home and of their persons, all of the outlay of money. And then. The day comes when all the paperwork is done and in the family court, the judge declares that that child is fairs. They don't then just walk away and say, now we have a legal status of a child that's taken care of.

5:41 That's it. No, that is all to the end that that mother might hold the little one in her arms or that not so little one sit at her table, that that father might embrace that child that's been adopted. And so. It is with our heavenly father on the basis of what Christ has done to resolve all of the legal barriers to a holy God entering into communion with sinful men and women.

6:11 God takes care of all of those things and gives us the legal status of sons and daughters. To what end? Not that simply we might say we've got a heavenly father and God might say I've got a bunch of adopted kids. But that the living God who made us for himself might enter into true living communion with us and we with him.

6:36 And there are two little phrases in two pivotal passages on adoption or one grows out of that that underscore this in Ephesians 1 in verse 5. Ephesians 1 in verse 5, a text that we looked at when considering together the place of adoption in the scheme. Of redemption, showing that God purposed before the foundation of the world that those whom he would save would be adopted. Notice this little phrase.

7:09 Having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself. That's it. Or ordaining us to adoption through Christ. Unto himself, the heavenly father, desiring that he should have people who were his sons and his daughters.

7:40 And then in chapter 2 of Ephesians, the other direction is set before us in verse 18. For through him, that is through Christ, we both, Jew and Gentile, have our access in one spirit. Unto the father. On the basis of the work of Christ, we have access to the father.

8:05 We have a way into living vital communion and fellowship with him. And so the first great blessing of adoption is that we are given the status, this irreversible status of sons and daughters to the end. That there might be this relationship. That there might be this relationship of intimate, realized, precious communion between us and our heavenly father.

8:33 And our heavenly father and us. And then we saw, secondly, as justified and adopted sinners in Christ, we are given the privilege of becoming the brothers and sisters of our elder brother, the Lord Jesus Christ. For in his saving activity, God is not only building a spiritual temple. Establishing a church.

8:58 Constituting a bride for his son. Creating a kingdom. But he is also creating a family. And according to Romans 8, 29 and Hebrews 2, 11 and 12, Jesus is the firstborn in that family.

9:16 That is the preeminent one. And all of his true disciples are constituted his siblings. The writer to Hebrews says he is not the firstborn. He is not ashamed to call us brethren.

9:29 Paul says that he is the firstborn among many brethren. And what constitutes us siblings in that sense is that we both have the same father. That is what makes people brothers and sisters when they have the same father. And though he is Christ's father in a way that he is not ours.

9:53 It is not a different God who is our father. Hence Jesus could say in John 21. I ascend unto my God and your God and my Father and your Father. Christ is our elder brother who has come into our condition.

10:13 Lived where we live. Experienced temptation and disappointment and grief and even death itself. And we can commune and fellowship and relate to him. As our elder brother.

10:28 Our elder brother in all the strength and power and wisdom of his divine nature. And yet our elder brother in all the sympathy and empathy of true human nature. He is one of our kind. Well then we come to consider this morning the third great blessing or privilege of adoption.

The Fact of Our Status as Heirs Established

10:52 Not only do we have the privilege. Of being given this legal status. With its open door into vital communion with God as our Father. Not only Christ as our elder brother.

11:07 But thirdly as justified and adopted sinners in Christ. We are made heirs. H-E-I-R-S. Heirs of a rich inheritance.

11:22 As justified. And adopted sinners in Christ. We are made heirs of a rich inheritance. And I'm going to attempt to open up this astounding reality under three headings.

11:39 The first is the fact of our status as heirs established. The fact of our status as heirs established. Turn with me please to the book of Galatians. The book of Galatians.

11:56 In chapter 3 and verse 26 we have this simple straightforward statement of the apostle. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. What does this verse tell us?

12:22 Well it tells us. That faith in Jesus Christ. Without exception. Brings the status of sons.

12:32 Simple. Straight forward. If you are not a believer in Christ Jesus. You are not a son or daughter of God.

12:40 But if you have come to what the Bible means by faith in Jesus Christ. Not a mere nod of the head to the facts of the gospel. Not a mere tipping of the hat to Jesus. Not a mere little emotional experience.

12:55 That somehow was connected with Jesus. But you have been brought by spirit wrought faith. Into attachment to Jesus Christ. In all the glory of his person.

13:07 In all the perfection of his work. He has conquered your heart. He has conquered your mind. He has conquered your will.

13:14 He is yours. You are his. That is the Bible's description of what is involved in saving faith. For as many.

13:22 I am sorry. Verse 26. For you are all sons of God through faith. If you have come to faith in Jesus Christ.

13:30 You have the status of a son of a daughter. Now. Look at chapter 4 and verse 7. So that you are no longer a bond serpent.

13:41 And in the context. Paul is talking about matters that have to do with being under the mosaic economy. And that even God's people under that economy. Did not know the liberty that we now know.

13:53 So that you are no longer a bond servant. But a son. Now notice. And if a son.

14:01 Then an heir. Through God. If a son. Then an heir.

14:09 326 says, if you are a believer. You are a son of God. You are a daughter of God. And if you are a son.

14:20 Then an heir. through God. According to verse 26 of chapter 3, faith in Jesus Christ without exception brings the status of sons. According to 4.7, the status of sons without exception constitutes us heirs

14:43 by the appointment of God himself. The reading that some of you have in the New King James and the old authorized version, heir of God through Christ, is not what Paul wrote. The best manuscript evidence points to the fact that what Paul wrote are these words, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. That is, you are given this status of sonship, and with it you become an heir on the basis of God.

15:21 The basis of God's decision and God's activity. Notice in this section the things that God the Father does. Verse 4 of chapter 4, when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his Son. God sent his Son. And when the Son is embraced, verse 6, because you are sons, God sent forth the Spirit.

15:51 The Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. God the Father sends the Son. And when people embrace the Son by faith and become his children, God sends the Spirit into their hearts, enabling them to experience and express that new relationship of adoption by crying to him, Abba. The word, not daddy, that's a popular way of trying to express it, no.

16:21 Intimacy, but it's not the word of a babbling little child, Papa or Daddy. It's difficult to bring it over into the English, and men who are much more astute in their understanding of the original languages than I just waffle about trying to give the precise nuance, but this much is clear. The same God who sent his Son to redeem us sends the Spirit into the hearts of the redeemed, but he does more. More than that, this same God who constitutes a Son is the God who makes us heirs. He sent the Son,

17:03 he sent the Spirit, and we who have embraced the Lord Jesus and are his sons and daughters, God has no son, no daughter by adoption who is not an heir through God. That is, by God's determination, by God's decision, by God's activity. And it's interesting that even in the text, the language that is used, and if a son, notice the singular, you are no longer a bondservant. He's not thinking collectively now. He's using the

17:44 second person singular, not plural. You are no longer a bondservant, second person singular. But not sons, plural, but a son. And if a son, then an heir. He's getting away from all the collective, and he's saying

18:02 to every single believer among the Galatian churches, you must understand individually and personally, if you've embraced the Lord Jesus by faith, you are a son. And if you are a son, then you, even you, individually, personally, you are a son. And if you are a son, then you, even you, individually, personally, you are a son. And if you are a son, then you, even you, you are an heir through God.

18:27 Dear believer in Jesus Christ, God has said that upon believing, you're made his child. Having been made his child, you've been constituted an heir, one with a God-given, God-secured right to a God-provided inheritance. And what an insult to God to be indifferent to what this means. What a grief to God to see us unbelieving in the face of being told its meaning. So we move then from the fact of our status as heirs

The Meaning of Our Status as Heirs Explained

19:05 established, to consider secondly, the meaning of our status as heirs explained. The meaning of our status as heirs explained. We must both ask and answer the question, what is an heir? Well, ordinarily, we think of an heir as someone who has a legal or an assumed right to take possession of a promised inheritance, either of possessions or position, at an appointed time.

19:39 In our society, the appointed time is generally the death of the one who appoints the heir. But not in biblical times, and not in the general world. In our society, the appointed time is generally the death of the one who appoints the heir. But not in biblical times, and not in the general world.

20:08 It may be at the death of the one who is the possessor of the position or the possessions. It may be when someone comes to years of maturity, as we have in the analogy that Paul is using in Galatians 7. It may be when someone comes to years of maturity, as we have in the analogy that Paul is using in Galatians 7. in Galatians chapter 4.

20:24 But let's look at a couple of biblical passages where the term appears and we'll get a feeling for its significance in the biblical literature. Its first appearance is in Genesis chapter 15.

20:41 Now I turn there not because I believe that this so-called law of first mention is an accurate way to study the Bible, but often when something is first introduced it gives us a very helpful clue to its significance throughout the Scriptures. Genesis chapter 15. The Lord who's appeared to Abraham and told him to get out from his land to go to a place the Lord would show him. We read, After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision saying, Fear not, Abram.

21:15 I am your shield and your exceeding great reward. I am your shield. I will protect you as you go out in faith in obedience to my directives, but I am also your reward. Abram, what will you receive as the ultimate reward of your faith-impelled obedience?

21:44 You will receive me as your reward. I will be your inheritance. Then we see, the matter of position in a passage such as 2 Chronicles 21, 1-3. 2 Chronicles 21, 1-3.

22:04 2 Chronicles chapter 21, 1-3.

22:12 And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And Jehoram his son reigned in his stead. And he had brethren, the sons of Jehoshaphat, Azariah, and Jehoshaphat, Baal, and Zechariah, and Azariah, and Michael, and Shephatiah. All these were the sons of Jehoshaphat, king of Israel.

22:35 And their father gave them great gifts of silver and of gold and precious things with fortified cities in Judah. But the kingdom gave he to Jehoram because he was the firstborn. Jehoram inherits the position of king because he was the firstborn. There was an inheritance given to the other sons, but to the firstborn was the right of receiving the throne.

23:08 And then in Matthew 21, in one of the parables of our Lord, we have the use of the term heir in a way that would be common, would be part of the general understanding of his hearers. Matthew chapter 21 and verse 31. 33, I'm sorry. Hear another parable.

23:36 There was a man that was a householder who planted a vineyard, set a hedge about it, digged a winepress, built a tower, led it out to husbandmen and went into another country. And when the season of the fruits drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen to receive his fruits. And the husbandmen took his servants and beat one and killed another and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants, more than the first.

24:02 And they did unto, them in like manner. But afterward, he sent unto them his son, saying, they will reverence my son. But the husbandmen, when they saw the son, said among themselves, this is the heir. Come, let us kill him and take his inheritance.

24:23 They recognized that this son was the rightful heir of that vineyard. And they recognized that by getting him out of the vineyard, they would then be in some position to seek to take wrongfully his inheritance, heir inheritance. I've only turned to these passages to try to give you the sense of the flavor of the use of the word. And then I remind you that when Paul deals with the doctrine of adoption and uses that peculiarly nuanced word, hweothesia, the placing of a son, in the Greco-Roman world, adoption was often the means

25:08 by which a couple with no son would secure a legitimate and desired heir by adopting an adult male. One that they judged to be worthy of that position and of those possessions who would be a good steward of both position and possessions. So, when the Scripture says that if the son of God is to be adopted by God, if we are sons then we are heirs, what is it doing? It is underscoring that God's adopted children are put in the position where they become the legal possessors

25:52 of promised inheritance, either of possessions or of position. And they are to come into their inheritance in God's appointment. And they are to come into their inheritance in God's appointed time. So then, brothers and sisters in Christ, children of God, as adopted children of the living God, filled with gratitude for our privilege of our legal status, filled with wonder that the Lord of Glory does not have any reservation about calling us His brethren, come even a step higher and recognize that not only

26:36 do you have legal right and a spirit-wrought disposition to relate to the living God as your Father, Jesus Christ as your elder brother, but you have every right and even a responsibility to recognize that you are an heir by God's appointment, having established the fact of our status as heirs, having spent a few minutes to explain what it means to be an heir, now we come thirdly to the specific of our inheritance as heirs expounded.

The Specifics of Our Inheritance as Heirs Expounded: Heirs of God

27:20 The fact of our status established, the meaning explained, the specifics expounded. And under this heading we'll seek to answer the question, of what possessions or positions are we heirs as a result of our adoption into the family of God? And we're going to look at a couple of pivotal texts, the first of which is Romans chapter 8, verses 16 and 17. Of what am I made an heir as one who has been made a son

28:04 or a daughter? For if I am a son, I am an heir. And surely I would like to know what is my inheritance. Romans 8, 16 and 17.

28:17 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirits that we are children of God. And we will come back to hopefully expound that verse when we come to one of the other blessings of adoption, which is the gift of the spirit of adoption. It's not my purpose to do that this morning, just to get the flow of thought. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

28:44 Now notice. And if children, then heirs. Same certainty as Paul in Galatians 4, 7. If sons, then heirs.

28:55 If children, then heirs. God has no children by adoption who are excluded from the role of an heir. No children who do not have an inheritance. And if children, then heirs.

29:14 Now notice. Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified with him. If children, then heirs.

29:31 Heirs of what? Look at the text. Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. What in the world do those words mean?

29:45 Well, we're heirs of two things. We're heirs of God and we are co-heirs, or joint heirs, with Christ. Now what does the little phrase heirs of God mean? Well, two possible meanings.

29:58 And here you come into the so-called objective-subjective genitive. It's a linguistic thing. But it could mean this. We are heirs of God.

30:08 That is, we are heirs by God's activity, by God's decision, under God's provisions, in the same way we might say of an unusually wealthy man. Who is that man that has such wealth? And somebody said, Oh, he's an heir of Bill Gates. Bill Gates made him an heir.

30:29 His possessions reflect the wealth of Bill Gates. It could be that this man is what the apostle is saying. That we are heirs of God and it would simply be another way of expressing what he expressed in Galatians 4-7. Heirs diaphetou.

30:46 Heirs through God. Heirs of God. There would be no appreciable difference. It would simply point to the fact that our being heirs is not something we conjured up, something we conferred upon one another, something the church or the ministry conferred upon us.

31:07 Almighty God conferred upon us the status of heirs. And that's a wonderful truth. It's taught in Galatians 4. And so in the analogy of Scripture, if someone were to assert that's what it means, that and no more, I'd say, well, it means that.

31:25 But are you sure no more? For responsible commentators, and I find myself moving more and more in that direction in my own thinking. Linguistically, and by the analogy of Scripture, it could be what Paul is saying, if children then heirs, and as though the children say, yes, yes, Paul, and what's my possession? What's my position?

31:51 What is the heart of my inheritance? And he wants to blow them away and he says you are heirs of God Himself. God Himself is your inheritance. And if he did that, he would show that his mind was steeped in a number of Old Testament passages in which that is precisely what God says and what His people recognize in response to God.

32:23 What did God say to Abraham? I am your shield and your exceeding great reward. Abraham, what is your greatest anticipation among all the promises God has given to you? He would say it is the covenant promise.

32:42 I will be your God and you shall be my people. My inheritance, as we shall see, looks far beyond the land of Canaan to a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. But without God there, it would be no inheritance for me. Heirs of God would fit with the promise of God to Abraham.

33:10 You remember the Levites when they divvied up the land? The Levites got no permanent possession of real estate in Palestine. But God says to the Levites, don't feel cheated. You've got something better than a hunk of real estate.

33:26 In Deuteronomy 18 and verse 2, this is what God says to the Levites or concerning the Levites. Deuteronomy 18, verses 1 and 2. The priests, the Levites, even all the tribe of Levi shall have no portion nor inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire and His inheritance.

33:55 And they shall have no inheritance among their brethren. The Lord, Yahweh, the eternal God, God of the covenant, the Lord is their inheritance as He has spoken unto them. Can you imagine a little Levite boy beginning to understand the significance of his tribal identity? And as he interacts with his daddy and begins to understand more fully the peculiar function that was assigned to the Levites, in the worship of God.

34:35 That one day he says, You mean, daddy, when my friend down the other row of tents says that this is the portion of land that he and others in his tribe are going to have, that we've got no piece of land we can call our own? A spiritually minded true Israelite would say with a smile upon his face, Son, God's promised us something far better than a hunk of real estate. Something far more glorious than a pile of dirt in Palestine. He just said, I am your inheritance.

35:12 That's what the text says. That Jehovah Himself is their inheritance. And true Israelites, those who are not Israelites in word only, could say as we find the Psalmist saying, David in Psalm 16, verse 5, The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup. You maintain my lot, my apportionment, my inheritance.

35:43 The lines, that's language from setting up the boundaries of an inheritance. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places. I have a goodly heritage. My inheritance is God Himself.

35:58 He understood this. And so did Asaph. In spite of the struggles he was having as he saw the prosperity of the wicked and the trials of the righteous, it breaks through in communion with God. And this is what he says in Psalm 73, beginning in verse 23, Nevertheless, I am continually with you.

36:21 You have held my right hand. You will guide me with your counsel and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? There is none upon earth I desire, besides you.

36:35 My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the strength of my heart. What did he say to Abraham? I am your shield, your protector, your rock, your strength. God is the strength of my heart and my portion, my inheritance forever.

37:00 And so the godly Israelites understood this concept that God himself, seeing him face to face, communing with him in the glorified state, the great inheritance of the people of God, is God himself. And if I have not persuaded you from those passages, turn all the way to the end. The book of the Revelation, chapter 21. The book of the Revelation, chapter 21.

37:34 And in the marvelous description of the new heavens and the new earth, what does God say? Verse 3, And I heard a great voice out of the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them, and they shall be his peoples, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. Oh yes, and then growing out of that, here are some of the other perks. He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, death shall be no more, no mourning, no crying, no pain, for the first things

38:18 are passed away. And he that sits on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said, Write, for these words are faithful and true. And he said unto me, They are come to pass.

38:31 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcomes shall inherit these things, and without this these things could bring them no satisfaction. Here is the crowning promise of heaven.

38:58 I will be his God, and he shall be my Son. Adoption will be the first thing that will come to its fullest, most glorious, indescribable glory when God is able to give himself to us, as it were, without reservation, because we will be in a condition that can contain the undimmed vision of God. Anyone, God says, who would see him now, he would be slain. It would kill us if our minds were to be given a contemplation of the magnitude and the glory and the complexity

39:42 of God that we shall know in that state. It would blow our brains out of our heads. It will take a glorified body and a perfected spirit in a glorified heaven and a glorified earth for God to give himself to us without reservation as our Father and for us to relate to him uninhibited as his sons and as his daughters. That's what he says.

40:14 This is the culmination, the new heavens, the new earth, and the voice says, God's dwelling is with men. He will be with them and be their God. I am your shield and your exceeding great reward. Whom have I in heaven but you?

40:34 None that I desire upon earth beside you. Yes, if we are children of God, God is our Father. Jesus said, I ascend to my Father and to your Father. But John says in 1 John 3, it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall be manifested, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

41:02 Paul says in Romans 8, heirs of God, yes, our heirship is by God's design and God's appointment and therefore it is certain, it is sure, it is true, but it is God himself who is the inheritance. Let me ask you, that give you any goosebumps in your soul if not on your flesh? What's that do to you? You sit there and say, oh, that's a bummer.

41:38 Just God? That name? That name spoken about in church that bores me to death? It's a surest indication you're as lost as the devil.

41:52 If the thought of having God as your inheritance doesn't thrill you and fill you with a longing, oh God, hasten the day when I come into my inheritance. But that's not all. Look at the text back in Romans 8. Heirs of God.

The Specifics of Our Inheritance as Heirs Expounded: Joint Heirs with Christ

42:11 And joint heirs or co-heirs with Christ. Now what's that mean? This means that the inheritance promised to Jesus as the reward of the accomplishment of his work of redemption as the firstborn to whom it all belongs, he looks around at his vast family of adopted sons and daughters and says, Father, I want to share it all with them. My joy I want to see mirrored in their joy as I share it all

42:56 with them. Co-heirs. Joint heirs with Christ. Well, what is his inheritance?

43:05 Now here you want your mind to be blown? Turn to Hebrews chapter 1. What is the inheritance the inheritance of Christ that he desires and is committed to share with us? Look at Hebrews chapter 1.

43:24 God having of old times spoken unto the fathers and the prophets by diverse or different portions and in different manners, hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in a son whom he appointed heir of all things. Now how would you like to sit at your desk knowing you've got to preach to God's people and you want to be honest with the scriptures and you come across a phrase like this. He has been appointed as the mediator in himself as the one through whom all things are created. Everything is his by right of creation.

44:08 But the writer to Hebrews here is speaking of an appointment that comes to him in reward for his faithfulness as the redeemer of his people and he says he's been appointed heir of all things. And then my Bible says heir of God joint heir with Christ. What's his inheritance? All things.

44:36 What's my inheritance? I can't say the words. It seems bordering on gross presumption if not blasphemy. But what says the scripture?

44:52 He is heir of all things and I am constituted as his son, a co-heir, a joint heir with Christ. Can we break down any of the all things that are his inheritance? Do we have to just leave it hang there as something that our mental fingers try to reach up and grasp but they cannot seem to grasp it? Well let's just look at a passage that will break it down a little bit.

45:29 Psalm 2. Psalm 2. And in the providence of God we met Psalm 2 in our reading in Revelation 2 this morning. Psalm 2.

45:43 The first stanza you have the picture of the kings and the earth conspiring to break away the cords of Messiah's reign. God's going to laugh. Then he'll speak unto them in his wrath. I've set my king on my holy hill of Zion.

46:01 Now verse 7. I will tell of the decree. The Lord said unto me you are my son this day have I begotten you. We won't take the time to look into it but in Acts chapter 13 the apostle Paul said this passage finds unique fulfillment in the resurrection of Christ. When a Jehovah's

46:23 witness comes to you and says yeah see what it says there was a day when he was begotten this day I will tell of the decree the Lord said unto me you are my son this day have I begotten you. There was a day when Jesus was begotten. No, no, no, no, no. The terminology I have begotten you does not mean brought you into being.

46:43 According to the inspired interpretation of the passage in Acts 13 when Jesus is exalted and seated as the messianic king as the reward of his humiliation and suffering and death. When he is installed and officially in his place he is begotten unto that position of messianic king and when God says I have begotten you unto that position from that position the father says to the son ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the uttermost part of the earth for your possession ask of me

47:27 my son here is the inheritance I am prepared to give you the nations and the uttermost part of the earth and in the accomplishment of that coming into that inheritance all within the nations that oppose you I give you right to break them with a rod of iron to dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel until in the new heavens and the new earth there will be nothing but righteousness the father says to the son this is your rightful inheritance the ends of the earth renewed and transformed and

48:11 purged and expunged of all evil and all rebellion it's all yours my son ask for it and I will give it to you come on now can you say it joint air now go to Revelation where we read this morning you say no no no no no that's too much well look what Jesus says look what Jesus says he says in verse 25 of Revelation 2 nevertheless hold fast

48:56 till I come he that overcomes and keeps my works unto the end to him I will give authority over the nations and he the overcomer that's you child of God he says these words he shall rule them with a rod of iron as the vessels of the potter are broken to shivers as I also have received of my father my father said to me this day I have begotten you into messianic kingship and rule and government ask of me my son and I will give you the nations for your inheritance the uttermost part of the earth

49:40 for your possession and in coming into that possession I give you right to crush all of your enemies Jesus says thank you father now I want to share it with all my true brothers and sisters to him that overcomes that's my brothers and sisters who as Paul says though they suffer with me they shall be glorified with me I give to them the inheritance of sharing with me in my conquest of the nations that's what the text says that's what my Bible says and I've been struggling for a week to try to really

50:24 believe it and I said to say Lord if this thing really gets in my gut and I believe it Dorothy's going to wonder what that noise is upstairs because I'm going to have a glory fit and I'm going to run around this study dancing for joy saying Lord it's too good to be true but I believe your word I believe your word listen to one commentator who's written a helpful little book on adoption who writes as heirs of God we await a glorious inheritance just as inquisitive children cannot wait for their father to tell them a delicious secret so we yearn to ask our father what will our inheritance be like

51:09 Romans 8 17 is the key when Paul calls believers heirs of God he means not merely that believers are heirs of what God has promised but of God himself that we are heirs of God means that we'll inherit God remarkably this is similar to what God already told Abraham in Genesis 15 1 do not be afraid I am your very great reward and there is more Romans 8 17 teaches not only that we are heirs of the father but co-heirs with Christ we have the same father as Jesus we belong to the same family and by virtue of our union with the son of God his

51:53 inheritance is ours because everything belongs to Christ his inheritance is the whole world all believers therefore will inherit God and the world the Trinity and the new heavens and the new earth I can't read you folks I think you're experiencing what I've experienced sitting at my desk saying oh God give me faith to lay hold of what is clearly revealed this is our inheritance if we are sons and daughters we are heirs

The Nature and Implications of Our Inheritance

52:37 heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ this is why when we open up our Bibles in other places we find language like this Matthew 25 34 Jesus will say to the righteous on his right hand come you blessed inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world or Peter in 1 Peter 1 3-5 blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead unto an inheritance incorruptible it can't be touched

53:21 by death undefiled it can't be touched by sin and that fades not away it can't be eroded with time reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time we have a death proof incorruptible sin proof undefiled time proof unfading burglar proof it's reserved in heaven it's fail proof we are kept for that inheritance time is gone children of God this is the truth it will keep you cheerful in suffering

54:05 that's why Paul goes right on in Romans 8 17 to say this will be true of us if we are real sons of God and if we are then we'll suffer with him that we may be glorified together and then he says for I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be conferred with the glory that shall be revealed in us or to us do you want to be cheerful in suffering meditate upon your inheritance do you want to be free from an inordinate attachment to the stuff of this world it's all going up in smoke I'm going to have the world in its glorified state why cling to it in this

54:50 present decaying sin marred condition if God's my inheritance why try to stuff my heart with stuff when I can stuff it with God himself blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God whatever a pure heart is it's a heart kept free from an inordinate attachment to stuff what kept the patriarchs read Hebrews 11 it wasn't that they were yearning and drooling over a piece of real estate yet to come it says they looked for a city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God they saw beyond Palestine

Warning to Unbelievers and Concluding Exhortation

55:35 and that's what enabled them to remain true to him but to you who are not believers it's amazing to me as I've studied these passages that use the word inheritance how God makes it plain again and again the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God first John I mean first Corinthians 6 and verse 9 be not deceived the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God Galatians 5 21 Paul lists the works of the flesh and says they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God Ephesians 5 5 and 6 and no sooner does John give us that culminating description

56:19 in Revelation 21 7 I will be their God and they shall be my sons but the unbelieving liars whoremongers idolaters their part shall be in the lake of fire dear people as glorious as the inheritance of the people of God is what awaits you out of Christ is horrific beyond description and I plead with you go to Christ because in Christ all of these wonderful promises are yes and amen well may God help us

57:03 as his children to appreciate in new ways the blessed privilege of being an adopted son or daughter of the living God let's pray our father we confess that our minds and our hearts seem unable to stretch and expand to encompass what you have promised help us oh help us we thank you for the prodigality of your provisions in grace

57:46 surely Lord it would be enough to have sent your son to live the life we should have lived and did not and die the death we deserved but dare not and settle all our accounts in the court of heaven but oh to think you've gone beyond that and on the basis of your justifying act you have chosen to adopt us and place us as sons and daughters calling us your own and giving us the privilege of calling you our father in Jesus Christ our elder brother and then co-heirs with him and heirs of yourself bless your word enable us

58:29 to embrace it internalize it by faith and to live in its light amen