Inheritance in Christ

Re-introduction to Ephesians 1:1-14 and its Trinitarian, Doctrinal, and Devotional Nature

0:02 Four months have passed since we have focused our attention upon Paul's letter to the church of Ephesus. But in looking back over my past notes on our studies in Ephesians, the calendar does not lie. But after four months of digression, we will return this morning and in the subsequent months and probably years to our study in this great epistle of Paul to the church at Ephesus and those other churches in the environs of that great city. Ephesians chapter 1, and I shall read this morning the first 14 verses to refresh in your minds the basic content of this first part of the first chapter. Ephesians 1 verses 1 through 14. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, to the saints that are at Ephesus and the faithful in Christ Jesus, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

1:22 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ, even in the world. Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him. In love having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Christ, through Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. To the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved.

2:04 In whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, making known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him unto a dispensation of the fullness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth. In him, I say, in whom also we were made a heritage, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his will, to the end that we should be unto the praise of his glory, who had before hoped in Christ. In whom he also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of yourself, the salvation, in whom having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is an earnest of our inheritance, unto the redemption of God's own possession, unto the praise of his glory.

3:25 After his normal introduction, as found in verses 1 and 2, the Apostle Paul launches into this paragraph, bounded by verses 3, which is perhaps the most profound doxology in all of Holy Scripture, at least in the New Testament. There are many doxologies in the Old Testament, many psalms of praise, many sections in the prophetic utterances full of praise, and others tucked away in the historical utterances. But perhaps this portion is to the New Testament what Psalm 103 is to the Old Testament. Psalm 103, stands head and shoulders above all the other eulogies, all of the other doxologies, all of the other sections which are pure praise unto God. And so, though there are similar passages in the New Testament, this one in Ephesians stands above all others for the concepts embodied in it, for its comprehensiveness, yea, for its depth and height and breadth and length. And unlike many portions, the Apostle Paul is instructing us in the context of this great hymn of praise to the Triune God. Now, what I want to do in about the next ten minutes

4:52 is simply to underscore the main strands of truth that we have discovered in our very detailed study of the first ten verses, and then seek to come to some understanding of verse 11 in our study this morning. First of all, I'd remind you that the great and essential concepts that are found in this text have again and again centered around these thoughts. This hymn is vigorously Trinitarian in its content. The Father is praised, but He is always praised as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

5:32 The Son is praised, but He is praised as the One who has the power to do all things. The Son is praised, but He is praised as the One who has the power to do all things. given to us of the Holy Spirit. And so all true worship, all true ascription of praise to God is praise to Him as He is, the God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

5:53 But not only have we seen in our studies that it's vigorously Trinitarian, it is profoundly doctrinal in its concepts. The Apostle Paul knew nothing of this dichotomy between head Christianity and heart Christianity. Here's a man who, when he contemplates the magnitude of salvation in Christ, cannot help but breaking into eulogy. I'm personally convinced that when he sat down and purposed to write his letter, it was with reference to expounding the magnitude of salvation in Christ in order to confirm the Ephesian believers in their understanding of the gospel.

6:36 But the more he wrote, the more he contemplated like the writer of the Old Testament while he mused, the fire burned. And so he leaves theologizing and slips over into eulogizing. He leaves pure theology and ends up with doxology. And so as we study this hymn of praise, we should not be surprised to find it profoundly doctrinal, showing us that there is no division of the head and the heart in the doctrine of God.

7:07 It is only the thinking of the apostle and then the third principle and it flows out of the second. It is warmly devotional in its mood. Vigorously trinitarian in its content. Profoundly doctrinal in its concepts.

7:22 Warmly devotional in its mood. Here is a man who's not sitting down and just calculating the various facets of salvation. Rather, he's like a child who's been brought into a room full of torment. Full of worries and gifts that are all said to be his.

7:41 And he goes, Oh, look at this. And look at that. He's just overcome by this great panorama of things that have been given to him. May I reverently say that's the apostle in this text.

7:53 In this passage, he stands back amazed as he thinks of this great salvation of God in Jesus Christ. And we have derived then from those leading strands of thought these two principles that I've hammered home Sunday by Sunday that a non-doctrinal Christianity cannot produce true worship. And secondly, a non-worshipping adherence to doctrine is not true Christianity. If you've forgotten everything else that we've studied, I hope that's gotten into your spiritual hide and under your hide and has burrowed itself down into the substance of your own thinking.

8:37 In the light of this paragraph, this paragraph of praise, we see that there is no such thing as true worship in a fuzzy doctrinal context. True worship, as we've seen in recent studies, is worship in truth. And therefore, there must be substantial doctrinal content in our worship. But conversely, a non-worshipping adherence to doctrine is something that is not true Christianity.

9:10 And on the one hand, we should not be afraid of the truths of Ephesians 1, 3 to 14, for they lead to worship. And on the other hand, let us not content ourselves with really grasping the truths of Ephesians 1, 3 to 14 unless those truths lead us again and again to prostrate ourselves in the presence of God lost in wonder, love, and praise. Now, so much for the broad concepts. Now, just three or four minutes to stick within my ten minutes, and I'm right on schedule now.

Progression of Thought in Ephesians 1:3-10: Father's Work, Son's Work

9:47 I would remind you of the progression of thought in the paragraph itself. We've looked at the broad concepts that have emerged again and again. Now, just the progression of thought so that as we come to verse 11, we will see it in its context. The Apostle begins in verse 3 with this general statement, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

10:17 And with that verse, he announces the theme. It's going to be a description of praise to God for blessing us with every spiritual blessing in union with Christ. Then the spotlight turns, as it were, upon the work of the Father in that salvation. Especially the work of the Father that predates time.

10:42 And so two distinct blessings are brought into focus in verses 4 and 5. The blessing of election in Christ before the foundation of the world. The blessing of predestination or foreordination to sonship. So there is election unto holiness, predestination unto sonship, which form the tap roots of our great salvation in Jesus Christ.

11:11 Then, beginning with verse 6, the spotlight, as it were, turns from the Father, though light is still shed upon His activity, for there is no division in the activity of the Triune God. In the economy of salvation there is the assignment of peculiar responsibility. And so the focus is now upon the Son. Having mentioned bestowal of grace in the world, in the Beloved, verse 6, he then says in verse 7, in the Beloved we have, first of all, redemption through His blood.

11:46 There is release from the bondage of sin through the blood of Jesus Christ. Then he says there is a second great blessing. There has been this impartation of wisdom through the gospel of Christ, wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom, wisdom and prudence, making known unto us the mystery of His will. And so just as the Father has chosen us in Christ unto holiness, just as the Father has predestined us unto sonship, so the Son has redeemed us by His blood.

12:27 The Son has been the vehicle through which divine wisdom has come to our hearts. And then having mentioned those two blessings, verse 11 comes upon us, in whom also. And so verse 11 is another thought added to those blessings which are peculiarly the blessings conveyed to us in and through Jesus Christ. In Him we have redemption.

Establishing the Proper Translation of 'Inheritance' in Ephesians 1:11

12:58 In Him we have wisdom. In Him also we have been given a heritage. So much then, for the general structure of the paragraph, now we come this morning to address ourselves to verse 11. And the first thing we've got to do is to establish a proper translation of verse 11.

13:21 And I want to do that in a few minutes, and then, if time permits, we will ask several questions about the blessing described in verse 11. What is this added blessing called an inheritance? Secondly, why were we made recipients of this blessing? Thirdly, what was God's purpose in conferring this blessing?

13:46 And fourthly, who can lay claim to having partaken of this blessing? But the first thing we've got to do is establish the proper translation of verse 11. The American Standard renders it, we were made a heritage. If you have a King James Bible, you read, we have obtained an inheritance.

14:10 If you have the New English Bible, you would read, we have been given our share in the heritage. Well, you say, with Greek scholars working on the New Testament translation, how could they come up with such a diverse translation? The translators of the American Standard, we were made a heritage. Something has happened to us, we were made a heritage for someone else.

14:36 For God. King James says, we have obtained an inheritance. Something's happened to us. We have been given something.

14:43 We have been given our share in the heritage. Well, you see, the problem the translators faced is the one that every expositor of the word faces, and it's basically this. The word the apostle uses, in whom we were made a heritage or given an inheritance, is found only one time in the New Testament. And whenever you have a word that's only found one time in the New Testament, you can't look to other places where the Holy Ghost used it to establish its meaning by its biblical usage.

15:14 Well then, when you look to other sources where the word is found, you find that it is used in various ways. And what adds to the complication is that the Bible does teach that the people of God are God's heritage. So if you translate it, we were made a heritage, you're not introducing heresy, you're simply underscoring the truth taught elsewhere. However, if you translate it, we were given a heritage.

15:40 Why, that's a truth taught elsewhere in Scripture, so you're still safe there. So though we cannot establish with bald dogmatism that has no reservation, no possibility of a change of perspective, which is the proper translation, I have for myself settled in my own mind, and because it's a truth taught elsewhere, I know I'm not teaching heresy, that the Bible is not a proper rendering and that the thinking of the apostle when he wrote was, in the words of the old King James Version, in whom we have obtained an inheritance. I'm presently convinced that that is the most likely of Paul's meaning. Now, why have I come to that conclusion? Simply because that was easier? And it was easier to preach? No.

16:32 And I'll give you the reasons very quickly. First of all, because of the immediate context, Paul is enumerating the blessings which we have received in Christ. Remember the theme, verse 3? Blessed be the God who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing.

16:50 And therefore, anything that follows where it's either something God receives or we receive, and the thing is up in the air, it's up for grabs, we should be predisposed to think that Paul's focus is upon a blessing we receive, because that's the theme announced in verse 3. Not only the context there, but you'll notice in verse 14, he actually mentions an inheritance which is our possession, which is in earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of God's own possession. So, the context, both before and after, leads us to the conviction that Paul is speaking about, something we have obtained in Christ. And then the second reason I've established the King James translation as the proper one is because of the parallel passages in Scripture. In Colossians 1 and verse 12, we read, God has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in life. In other words, when God redeems His people and He applies that redemption with power, He makes them fit recipients of this inheritance.

18:12 Having mentioned that we were predestined unto sonship in verse 5, other scriptures indicate that sonship and heirship are parallel and inseparable blessings. Romans 8, 16 and 17. The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of God, the sons of God, and its sons then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. In Acts 26, 18, forgiveness, that forgiveness wrought through the redemption of Christ and the obtaining of an inheritance are parallel blessings.

Defining the Inheritance: The Kingdom of God, Present and Future

18:52 Paul says, to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith that is in me. So then, those are my reasons for adopting that translation and I'm not taking time to weary you with why I've done it, but I'm trying to teach you something of a biblical method for your own study as well. Then, we're going to approach this blessing under these words. In whom also we have obtained or were given an inheritance having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own word. Having established the proper translation, now the next and normal question is, what is the inheritance? Paul got excited about this. He was that child again, you see, amazed at all of these great gifts and he says, not only redemption in Christ, the forgiveness of sins being the primary blessing of that redemption, not only wisdom that is, overflowed to us through the gospel of Christ, but in him also we have an inheritance.

20:12 Well, what is this inheritance? Well, like so many words in the New Testament, its roots go way back in the old and it would be a wonderful study that could take a couple of mornings just to trace out the biblical concept of the inheritance. But time will not permit an enlarged study on the meaning of the word and so I shall just give to you a beautiful summary of the Bible of its general flavor and meaning as John Brown expounds the meaning of the word in his treatment of 1 Peter. We have an inheritance undefiled that fadeth not away.

20:49 This is what John Brown says about the meaning of this word. When God made ancient Israel his children, brought them into a covenant relationship with him, he assigned to them an inheritance. That inheritance was like the economy to which the world was. To which it belonged material and temporal.

21:10 It was the large and fertile land of Canaan which they were to possess in security and peace but unto which they were not to enter immediately. Not until a long course of wandering in the wilderness. God again and again told his people your inheritance is that land. This was an economy in which God was dealing in that theocracy, in that nation over which he ruled.

21:35 He gave them temples, material blessings. Their inheritance was that land. Now when God brings men into the relation of children under the new and spiritual and eternal economy, he assigns to them an inheritance which corresponds with the character of this new dispensation. An inheritance of which they are not to obtain the full possession till the end come, till the consummation of all things.

22:05 of all things. of all things. of all things. of all things.

22:06 of all things. of all things. of all things. of all things.

22:07 The inheritance here is obviously the celestial blessedness, properly so called the final state of good men. That state commencing with the resurrection and continued forever and forever. So then, what is the inheritance? When Paul says in whom we have obtained an inheritance, what is he talking about?

22:34 Well, the most helpful working definition, simply, the most helpful one that I hope even you kids can go home with is this. The inheritance is the kingdom of God and all of its blessings both now and forever. The inheritance is the kingdom of God and all its blessings both present and future. Now and forever.

23:01 You say, Pastor, why did you say the kingdom of God? Well, because of verses like 1 Corinthians 6, 9, Be not deceived. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5, 21.

23:18 They who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Jesus will say in the last day, Matthew 25, 34, Enter into that kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. That's why Peter speaks of us being begotten unto a living hope by the resurrection of Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fainteth not away, reserved in heaven for us. Now let me try to illustrate this idea that the inheritance is the kingdom of God with its present blessings but primarily with its future blessings.

24:04 Here's a man who has a son. This man has been told that he has a terminal disease and that he shall die within a year, perhaps five years at the most. Through the years he's saved up $50,000. Now when he makes out his will, he makes out his will in such a way that his son is to be given immediately upon his death and as soon as the will is cleared in the proper courts, the son is to be given $5,000 to do whatever he wants with it.

24:37 Then, when, when the son reaches age 21, he is to receive the remaining $45,000. Now, the moment the father dies, that son receives the inheritance. All $50,000 is his. But until he's 21, all he'll see of that inheritance is the $5,000.

25:01 Now granted, if he's 12 or 14 or 15, that's a lot of spin money. He can do an awful lot with $5,000. There isn't, much a kid couldn't get to make his little boy hard happy for three weeks anyway. If that long, he'll get $5,000.

25:18 Then when he's 21, he comes into the full enjoyment and full possession of the inheritance. But listen, he does not have in reality any more when he's 21 than he has the moment the father dies. That inheritance becomes his. He comes into the enjoyment of it a little bit now as we'll see in verse 14 in an earnest a down payment and the best is yet to come.

25:43 So then the apostle Paul is excited and thrilled at this thought as he surveys the expansiveness of God's salvation in Christ that we not only have redemption which refers primarily to past bondage from which we've been delivered. Not only do we have wisdom coming through the gospel which refers to our effectual calling when our eyes are on the Lord. Our eyes were opened and we saw the glory of God in the face of Christ. Past bondage broken.

26:16 The gospel has come in power but the apostle says in whom also the future is absolutely secure. We have obtained an inheritance and though we only have a little bit of it now the certainty we shall have it all is the reality of that measure which we now enjoy. Let me say by way of application though this concept of the inheritance is assailed by the world as pie in the sky by and by and much of professing Christendom assails this concept. They say we are a Christianity that is a now Christianity.

27:00 We're the now generation. Give us all our blessings now. Oh John Bunyan encountered that. Remember he had those two little characters passion and love.

27:08 He had those two little characters passion and patience. Passion would have all now but patience was willing to wait for the best things yet to come. Oh let us not be bullied into some kind of stripping away of this rich biblical concept that as the people of God in Christ we have obtained an inheritance and that inheritance according to Peter 1 Peter 1.4 is reserved in heaven.

27:39 The world to come and so that we now experience the powers of the world to come and the kingdom of God here and now is righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. The scripture says it does not yet appear what we shall be. The scripture says again we see through a glass darkly but then face to face we shall know even as we are known. And in a very real sense this is the essential difference between the saved and the unsaved the perspective with regard to things now and things to come.

28:21 You see every unconverted person can be fit into one of two categories. Either a person who is so wholly immersed in present joys and present delights whether they be legitimate joys that of wife and father and mother and children and lands and goods or sinful delights lechery and uncleanness and debauchery so that they are reluctant to leave what they have. Every unconverted person is either in that condition or because life has not smiled upon them they would like to be released from this life by death into what they hope will be a state of nothingness.

29:05 They say I wish I could die what they mean is things are so bad I want to get away from the bad and hopefully it will be better the other side of death.

29:14 And I believe you can say every unconverted person can be put into one of those two categories and both of those fit under this perspective everything is delightful now and I don't want to leave it everything is bad now and I want to leave it into God knows what. Ah, but the mark of the child of God is this no matter what smiling providences he is enjoying now bills all paid white, sweet children children healthy oh everything sweet and nice and kind he knows that this is not his heaven and in the midst of all these things he is homesick and he has to say with the apostle Paul we that are in this tabernacle do grow the best is yet to come and then when he is in the midst of long smiling providences when God is as it were putting him on the rack and God is bringing him and dealing with him and God is allowing circumstances to come which blast all of his temple joys his longings for heaven are increased but not like the perspective of the ungodly this is a mess I want to get out of it anyway he says thank you Lord for these temple reminders maybe I was getting too bound to earth and its joys and its bubbles but I thank you that I have an inheritance there my treasure is laid up where moth and rust do not corrupt and thieves

30:44 do not break through to steal let me ask you a very pointed question this morning can you get excited about the thought of an inheritance in the world to come now I have no question if I asked you could you get excited about a temple inheritance suppose I said that I have here in my pocket a duly constituted will that has your name in which you are to come in to such and such an inheritance involving X number of dollars would you get excited about that well I would frankly I would pay off my dental bill get a new car I'd sure get excited there's nothing sinful or carnal in getting excited about something like that that's just being human but let me ask you something can you get just as excited about thinking of that inheritance obtained through the redemption of Jesus Christ is your relationship to this life and all that involves such that you know the best is yet to come and you long for that which is to come in the heart of every true Christian the consciousness of inheritance is a source of great delight well the apostle then goes on immediately to address himself to a second thing what is this great blessing an inheritance but then why were we made

Why We Receive the Inheritance: God's Predestinating Purpose and Sovereign Work

32:11 recipients of it and the apostle Paul's answer is this in whom we have obtained an inheritance having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his will having been predestinated according to purpose now this word that Paul uses is exactly in the same family of the word used in verse 5 and it means to mark out beforehand we've obtained this inheritance he says and then as though he anticipates the question why did we obtain it he says because we were marked out for it beforehand the same word used in Romans 8 29 and 30 whom he did predestinate then he also called whom he did mark out beforehand now what's bound up in the use of that word may I say two things very clearly first of all the substance of that inheritance is no afterthought if God marks us out for that inheritance beforehand then he must conceive of that inheritance in his own mind so that he can mark us out for it go back to that man if that young man is to have that inheritance

33:40 when he receives it and the will is read out he knows two things number one there was an inheritance which his father could entrust to him there had to be the fifty thousand dollars you can't will nothing to someone there must be something there and then secondly he knows that the father thought of him before that inheritance ever came to him and so when the apostle Paul thinks of the question why were we made recipients of the inheritance he says we were marked out for it beforehand that inheritance was conceived in the mind and purpose of God before the world was ever formed that's why Jesus says come ye blessed inherit the kingdom prepared for you when from the foundation of the world I marked out the inheritance for you it is no afterthought in the mind of God and just as the substance of the inheritance is no afterthought so the control of the inheritance is no accident of human choice it comes to those for whom it is prepared and planned and so Paul says having obtained this inheritance why we were predestined to it according to divine purpose now once more by way of application you see how this

35:09 thought that is recurred again and again in this paragraph comes up once more the apostle cannot contemplate the magnitude of salvation and the specific blessings of salvation without tracing them to the father's benevolent design to the son's sacrificial work but he goes beyond that he goes back beyond the death of Christ back beyond the love manifested in the sending of Christ and he traces these blessings back into the eternal counsels of God and he acknowledges that the fountainhead of every blessing is the sovereign elective purposes of God in Paul's thinking the glory of salvation is bound up in an understanding of the sovereignty and the freeness of salvation I am not saying a man cannot appreciate his salvation until he has come to understand and embrace the doctrine of election what I am saying is he cannot rise to the heights of pure praise to which Paul rises in this paragraph until he sees not only that salvation is by the father through the son no merit of his own merit of his own but it comes from the

36:38 father through the son consistent with absolute unbounded sovereignty and free grace and so he traces this great blessing of the inheritance back to the predestinating work of God now when he does that he takes off and says in essence and this brings us to the latter part of the verse that what God did in sovereignly choosing these people unto the blessing of this inheritance was simply an application in one realm of what he does in every realm notice , predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his will in short what Paul goes on to say is that the reason for receiving this inheritance by predestinating purpose is but an illustration of this specific this principle in a specific realm the general principle is God works all things according to the counsel of his will therefore when he's working salvation which brings an inheritance he will also bring back according to the counsel of his own will

38:07 you see if you have problems with the sovereignty of God in the realm of applying salvation and providing salvation it's because you have a problem with the broader doctrine of the sovereignty of God in every realm Paul says don't think it's strange that you should be marked out beforehand to the blessing of a heritage why he says that marking out of God in sovereign grace is but a specific indication of what that same God does in every realm he works with all things not just your salvation not just the imparting of this inheritance he works all things after the counsel of his own will now let's look at those words in detail for a moment he worketh and that word worketh is a very strong word some of the translators I think it's Weymouth who actually translates the use of that word whose might carries out in everything the design of his will the same word used in Ephesians 120 which he wrought in Christ speaking of the resurrection which he effectively and energetically worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead it's the word used in

39:37 Ephesians 320 unto him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us Philippians 213 God is at work in you same word used so you see the whole connotation of that word is not some distant working but a present active in working and so the apostle says the God who has chosen you to this great blessing of the inheritance is the God who is actively ordering and disposing and energetically accomplishing all things in his world according to the counsel of his own will according to the actings of his own purpose and plan as one man has so simply and yet I think wisely said God's providence in time is as comprehensive as his decree from eternity surely the Bible teaches that in so working all things in every realm heaven and earth man and devils and angels no violence is done to the will of the creature God uses second causes granted all of that is true and is taught elsewhere in scripture

41:06 but we must not seek to escape from the unmistakable affirmation of the apostle Paul that the God at whose feet Paul lays the praise for his salvation is the great unfettered sovereign of the universe who has an all embracing plan and who is actively accomplishing that plan in the earth he has a counsel of his will and he's efficiently working all things according to that counsel he has a plan he is implementing and effecting that plan now by way of application let me remind you that this sweeping statement of divine sovereignty comes in the context of praise to God for his salvation therefore we must never look upon it as the iron clad steely cold and distant fate of some heathen deity that's the concept of predestination and foreordination of heathen gods no this is the purpose of a gracious and merciful God the God who at great cost to himself has put forth his hand to rescue sinners it's in that context that he says this God worketh all things

42:34 after the counsel of his will then notice also that though the context of this statement of unfettered sovereignty divine purpose and divine working though the context is salvation the statement of his so bold and sweeping that the apostle Paul has no problem in his mind praising the God of grace and mercy and worshipping at the footstool of absolute sovereignty oh may God make us more simple in our faith that we like Paul may bless God for his mercy and for his grace but in our blessing him never relinquish the fact that he is the God of unfettered and of absolute sovereignty so he answers the question why did we receive this inheritance it was according to his own predestinating purpose which in that realm was simply an application of the principle upon which he operates in all realms now the third question what is the ultimate goal of God in conferring this blessing the blessing conferred is the inheritance the reason he conferred it he predestined us to it but now what is his goal in conferring it upon us verse 12

God's Ultimate Goal: The Praise of His Glory

44:02 to the end that we should be unto the praise of his glory to the end in other words all he has done in conceiving this blessing and in conferring this blessing consistent with his own sovereign counsel has as its specific goal that we should be to the praise of his glory now what do those words mean well they mean simply this that we should be the means of causing his divine excellencies to be praised the glory of God is the sum of all of his attributes or any one of those attributes shining forth to men that's the glory of God so then the ultimate goal in God's salvation so planned and applied is that there should be this manifestation of his attributes particularly his attributes of grace and mercy so that men beholding that grace and mercy in the people who receive the heritage might praise the God whose mercy and grace is thus revealed but he uses a very interesting term he says that we

45:31 should be to the praise not that we should praise but that we should be to the praise of his glory now that can have two possible meanings it could mean that simply what we become by grace in our total person will be such a reflection of the glory of grace that just being that will be an occasion of praise being rendered to God he deals with that in the third chapter in verse 10 in verse 11 that now unto the principalities and powers in the heavenly places might be made known through the church the man of all wisdom of God listen we do not meet in one another's presence alone this morning we do not simply meet in the presence of each other the preacher under the canopy and protection of these walls and this ceiling we meet in the presence and under the eye of those unseen spiritual beings called in Ephesians 3 the principalities and powers in the heavenly places and what do they see well they look here this morning and they see some people like myself reared in the Christian home under the sound of the gospel year in and year out month in and month out until humanly speaking we had rendered ourselves gospel proof nothing could touch us the terrors of hell

47:00 the glories of Christ and his salvation the wonder of wonders dubbed it and our blind eyes were opened and our rebel wills were subdued and we've been sitting here this morning from the heart some of us singing hallelujah praise Jehovah oh Jehovah praise and what's happened by just being these new creatures we have been to the praise of the glory of his grace and those principalities and powers in the heavenly places have had to take note of what God has done in us they've seen some of you blind self-righteous Roman Catholics for years going through your mumbo jumbo tending to the blasphemy of the mass now they behold you this morning stripped of all that external form or ritual and from the heart glory in Christ crucified having one priest Jesus your great high priest and what's happened just by being here this morning you have been to the praise of the glory of his grace other to you part of national Israel for years part of that ethnic group to whom Bob has given blindness of mind and heart and yet you sit this morning and your confession is Jesus is my Messiah just by being here with the name of Christ upon your lips

48:29 you are in your person to the praise of the glory of his grace that may be the meaning just as a little just as some exotic flower in some place where no man ever sees it just by being there is a display of the wisdom and care of God just by being what you are in Christ you are to the praise of the glory of grace but then the second thing could be maybe the two shouldn't be divided it could mean that you are to the praise of the glory of his grace as you as Peter says show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness as you speak forth as you seek by grace to live in obedience to the word of God and part of that obedience is the duty of praise and of testimony and of witness in all of those activities you therefore render praise to the glory of his grace I believe that's the meaning of the apostle now will you notice what he says about that he says the ultimate goal for which God has conferred this blessing of the inheritance is his own glory now that's exactly what he said in verse 6 that the glory of God revealed received and praised is the

49:58 ultimate goal in all that is connected with human salvation human safety is not the goal the manifestation of divine glory is the goal that's the goal he said back in verse 6 to the praise of the glory of his grace he says in verse 12 that we should be to the praise of his glory and he concludes the hymn with the same stanza in verse 14 unto the praise of his glory how can God make it more clear that the ultimate goal of conferring every blessing of salvation from election and predestination in the past to the actual obtaining of that inheritance in the world to come is the creature should fall at his feet and cry from the heart of him through him and unto him are all things to whom be glory forever and forever amen dear ones if God has made that his goal in conceiving providing and applying salvation then he says to you and me make that your goal in the enjoyment of my salvation so that whether ye

Who Can Claim the Inheritance? Those Who Hope in Christ

51:28 eat or drink or whatsoever ye do do all to the glory of God why has he called us out of darkness into marvelous light first Peter 2 9 that we should show forth the excellencies of the one who has thus called us well I close now with just this very practical question who can claim to be a recipient of this great blessing of the inheritance who can claim to be one through whom the glory of grace is displayed well Paul answers that question in the latter part of verse 12 we who had before hoped in Christ though there is much discussion as to what Paul means when he switches to the we and then says in verse 13 the you I'll not go into that discussion this morning but this thing is clear the ones who receive this blessing of the inheritance are the ones described in verse 11 as in Christ in whom we have obtained the inheritance they are described at the end of verse 12 as those who trust in Christ so then the only ones who can lay claim to this blessing of the inheritance are those who are in Christ those who are in vital union with Christ that is the redeemed Messiah God's prophet priest and king

52:58 the only mediator that God has appointed for sinners and how are they in Christ they are in Christ by a living faith in whom he trusted and that union is established from the human perspective by the believing sinner when quickened by the spirit he embraces the Savior that union is established in his own experience and therefore if you are not trusting in Christ if you are not this very moment leaning the whole weight of your soul upon him as he is offered in the gospel you have no inheritance neither its present nor its future blessings but all believing that inheritance can be yours and we have gone into the mysteries this morning of predestination why? because the text drove us there but thank God we can come out of the graduate school of predestination into the kindergarten of faith and union with Christ and therefore I would close this morning urging anyone in this building young or old if you are not in Christ and a new creature in him then believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ he is set before you in this passage as in all passages as a willing and an able Savior

54:26 but you say am I predestined that's not the right question to ask the question to ask is this am I a sinner the second question to ask is Jesus a Savior of sinners the third question to ask does he deceive sinners who come to him and in every case the answer is yes without any equivocation you are a sinner Christ is a willing and an able Savior and he will receive you for he promised him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out and coming in faith and trusting in him then you know that you are in him and then in him you can rejoice in the inheritance and to augment your rejoicing you say where did it come from and you say why God had this all planned back in eternity now if you start at any other end and reason to that you're going to rest the scriptures to your own destruction may God grant that we with the Apostle Paul may rejoice this morning and say from the heart blessed be God who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ in him we have redemption in him we have wisdom in him we have obtained an inheritance let us