Glory of His Inheritance

Introduction: The Focus of Paul's Prayer for the Ephesian Saints

0:02 Paragraph in Ephesians 1, which is the record of a prayer which the Apostle Paul found himself praying apparently constantly for the saints of God at Ephesus. And by means of a careful study of the prayer, we are discovering what God's will is not only for the saints who lived at Ephesus many hundreds of years ago, but what His will is for us, His people, living in this present hour. For this cause I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you, and the love which ye show toward all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you making mention of you in my prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him having the eyes of your heart enlightened that ye may know what is the hope of his calling what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints and what the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe it is obvious that the focus of the apostles prayer is that the Ephesian Christians might receive an increased measure of the spirit's grace and ministry

1:29 as the spirit of wisdom and revelation that is the spirit whose function it is to grant the people of God clear distinct views of divine truth and this text of course is one of the many out of which the perspective of the hymn that we have sung comes Paul is praying that there be greater heat in the hearts of the Ephesian Christians but he knows it will only come as there is greater light by the illuminating ministry of the Holy Spirit and then he is particularly concerned that in his ministry of illumination the Holy Spirit would grant to the Ephesian Christians more distinct, clear, spiritual views of three things first of all the hope of their calling and we spent some five weeks studying that little phrase the hope of their calling and we saw why the apostle was so concerned that they have these enlarged increasingly accurate views of their calling or the hope that flows out of their calling and all of its practical implications now this morning we turn to the Holy Spirit to the second of those things that he prays God would grant to them as the Spirit ministers to their hearts and he calls it

The Relationship of Hope, Inheritance, and Power

2:55 the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints now we have seen in our previous studies that these three things are related one to another the hope of the calling is the hope that is the confident expectation of the future blessings of salvation as that expectation resides in the bosom of the child of God now the object of that hope is the inheritance that for which we hope is the inheritance and the thing that secures the attainment of that hope and the inheritance upon which it focuses is the exceeding greatness of the power of God the power already operative in their conversion will be operative to bring them into the full enjoyment of their inheritance which is the object of their hope and so you see these things are bound together by a very logical connection now we come this morning to the second of these two things the inheritance and what I wish to do if time permits is first of all show the identity of this inheritance what is the inheritance concerning which he prays having done that we shall consider briefly the author of the inheritance and then thirdly and this will be the bulk of our study the nature of that inheritance and then last of all

Identifying the Inheritance: God's Gift to His People

4:23 the recipients of that inheritance all of these four things being derived from the text itself alright in the first place what is the identity of this inheritance when Paul uses these words that ye may know what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance what was in his mind everything everything everything everything everything everything everything everything everything everything as with verse 11 where we find a similar word used in whom we were made a heritage or were given an inheritance there is a difference of opinion amongst commentators as to the precise meaning of the apostles words the words themselves and the grammatical arrangement could possibly be construed to mean that the people of God are God's inheritance and Paul is concerned that the spirit of God would give to the people of God a greater appreciation of all that God possesses in his people now that's a wonderful biblical truth particularly in the Old Testament you will find Israel called again and again the heritage of God the inheritance of God in the New Testament the people of God are also considered as Christ's inheritance Titus 2.14 speaks of them as his peculiar possession Ephesians 5 speaking of the people of God speaking of the church as the bride of Christ

5:50 it's that which he will inherit at the day of his coming in the marriage of the Lamb with his bride and though that is a precious truth I do not believe it is the truth being dealt with here but rather the words will allow that Paul is speaking not of the people of God as God's inheritance but rather he's speaking of that inheritance which is the possession of the people of God now you say Mr. Martin Pastor Martin why have you made the decision in favor of the second well let me give you very briefly three simple reasons first of all because of the unity of the immediate context which suggests that this is the meaning I've already laid before you the progression of the three ideas notice the phraseology that Paul uses he speaks of the hope of his calling that is the calling of which God is the author he speaks in verse 19 of the exceeding greatness of his power the power of which God is the author and it would be a jarring of the whole internal unity of the passage suddenly to introduce an entirely foreign thought you have the calling of which God is the author you have the inheritance of which God is the author you have the power of which God is the author so I say the unity of the immediate contest significance context

7:18 suggest that the second meaning is the proper meaning but in the second place you have the wider context of this entire passage Paul had barely finished speaking of the inheritance of the people of God in verse 14 he speaks of the Holy Spirit as a down payment of the inheritance of the people of God which is valid until there is the complete possession of that inheritance now if Paul had been treating this subject of the people of God being God's heritage in the previous context then we might assume that when he uses the same word again just a few sentences later he is referring to the same thing however the reverse is true he has used precisely the same word not in terms of God's people being God's inheritance but in terms of the people of God having an inheritance given to them by God and you find as you read through the text you find through the epistle the same usage is found in two other places you have it used again in chapter 3 I'm sorry in chapter 5 and verse 5 for this know of a surety that no fornicator nor unclean person nor covetous man who is an idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdom of God and of Christ so then

8:46 in the general context of the book of Ephesians the inheritance is the inheritance is the possession of God's people and then my third reason is the general usage of this word throughout the New Testament for you Greek students kleronomia is the word that he uses and in every instance it refers to the inheritance of God's people and that inheritance is the consummation of the blessings of being in the kingdom of God hence he uses the concept there in chapter 5 he hath no inheritance in the kingdom of God and of Christ so when I state that the identity of the inheritance is the possession that is committed to the people of God by God I'm not being arbitrary I believe there is good linguistic contextual biblical reason for so doing and why do I take five minutes to tell you that so that you'll learn two things number one don't be guilty of going to the Bible and slapping any meaning on a biblical word that's convenient and number two I hope I've given you a little lesson as to how you go about trying to find the meaning of a word alright having then identified the inheritance as the inheritance of God's people to use the words of Peter 1 Peter 1 4 an inheritance incorruptible undefiled reserved in heaven

The Author of the Inheritance: God Alone

10:15 for us now consider very briefly the author of this inheritance Paul is very careful in each of these things these three things the hope the inheritance the power to underscore who is the author of all three he says I am praying that ye may know what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in or among the saints as God is the author of our hope by calling us out of darkness into light so it is God himself who is the author of our inheritance he conceived that inheritance the scripture says I have not seen nor has it ever entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for those that love him but God hath revealed them unto us by his spirit he has conceived all of the blessings of the inheritance and so in that sense he is the author of it but not only has he conceived it he has prepared it Hebrews 11 in verse 10 says for God hath prepared for them a city there is a city whose builder and whose maker is God then it is his inheritance he conceived it he has prepared it and we may say legitimately is in the process of preparing it

11:44 Jesus said I go to prepare a place for you and if I go I will come again and receive you to myself but more than that it is God's inheritance not only because he conceived it he prepared it but he is the one who has given us title and taste of it verse 14 he says you are sealed with the Holy Spirit who is the earnest the down payment of our inheritance he has given me a title to it and blessed be God he has even given me a taste of it but more than that he is the God who has pledged that I shall come to the full enjoyment of it for he that hath begun a good work in you will perform it or perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ now do you see why Paul called it his inheritance he conceived it he prepared it he has given me title and some present taste of it and he has committed that I shall enjoy the full blessing of it and so the whole matter of the inheritance is just another part of the exposition of Ephesians wonderful three blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ and the inheritance which speaks of the blessings yet to come has stamped upon it God and God alone is

Defining the Nature of the Inheritance: Riches of Glory

13:12 its author and as long as man's eyes are closed to the biblical concept that all that we receive past present and future of the blessings of salvation is totally of grace pure unmixed grace so that poor man cannot enter into the spirit and the whole ethos of the book of Ephesians or for that matter any other portion of the word of God at every point where you turn God has stamped upon all of his blessings grace grace all of grace and he does so by saying he is the author of them alright having identified the inheritance as the future blessings of the kingdom of God that await the people of God having seen that the author is God himself it is the riches of the glory of his inheritance now the heart of our study what is the nature of that inheritance Paul describes it with these words the riches of the glory of his inheritance let me first of all define those key words riches and glory and then seek and that is all I can do seek to point you in the direction of the sense in which he calls it the riches of the glory of the inheritance the biblical word glory speaks generally

14:40 of the brightness or the splendor or the radiance of a person or a thing the heavens declare the glory of God they are a manifestation an outshining of the splendor of God's character what the rays of the sun are with reference to the sun the glory of a thing is with reference to the thing itself the glory of the sun is seen in the rays that this very moment rests upon a blue car that I see outside the window upon a green fir tree and upon some bare willows out there across the street the glory of the sun is seen in the radiance in the beams that go forth from it now the word riches is the word used for superabundance of possessions it's the common biblical word for wealth when Jesus spoke in the parable of the sower in Matthew 13 22 about the thorny ground hearer the man whose response to the word is choked by the deceitfulness of riches this is the basic word that he uses it's the word used in James 5 in verse 2 concerning the indictment of God against these smug rich people now a word that meant in the common parlance the common way of life riches richness was carried over into the spiritual

16:10 realm to speak of the superabundance the overflowing affluence of God's grace to the people of God so it's the word we found in verse 7 in whom we have our redemption through his blood the forgiveness of our sins according to the riches of his grace the affluence the superabundance of his grace it's found again in chapter 3 in verse 8 the unsearchable riches superabundance of Christ found again in chapter 3 in verse 16 the riches of his glory now put the two things together and what do you have the apostle indicates that the inheritance is characterized by glory when you look at it you see a radiance a splendor a brightness going forth from the inheritance it's so inherently beautiful that there is a glory that beams out of it and he says there is so much glory that the glory accumulates into wealth so you have the riches of the glory of the inheritance and he says I'm praying that the Holy Ghost will help you to see the pile of riches that is the accumulated glory of the inheritance that God has conceived that he has conferred and to which he will infallibly bring all the people

The Glory of Unbroken Communion with God

17:40 of God let me put it very practically he's concerned that whenever you as a Christian think of your inheritance you never think of it in terms of just a day that is sort of semi-cloudy or just a day in which there is a patch of sunshine here or there but when you think of your inheritance he wants you to see it as that which is resplendent with the glory of a burning sun at its zenith in a perfectly cloudless day the riches of the glory of the inheritance in or among the saints so it's not enough to know that we have an inheritance that it's good and that it's certain he longs that by the spirit's inward illuminating work there may be this awareness of its rich glory now having given the meaning of the words I shall make an attempt to describe something of the riches of the glory of the inheritance of the saints and the way I want to do this is to refer basically to two brief passages in the book of the revelation and our study can only be suggested this morning it is by no means exhausting revelation chapter 21 verses 1 to 6

19:08 or verse 7 and I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away and the sea is no more the picture of restlessness it is no more and I saw the holy city new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God made ready as a bride adorned for her husband 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 they shall be his peoples and God himself shall be with them and be their God and he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the first things are passed away he that sitteth on the throne said behold I make all things new and he saith write for these words are faithful and true and he said unto me they are come to pass I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end I will give unto him that is of a thirst of the water of life freely what comprises the riches of the glory of the inheritance of the saints let me suggest four things this morning first of all

20:37 the riches of that glory is found in the glory of unbroken communion with the person of God himself perhaps the most predominant emphasis in the word of God concerning the inheritance of the saints the blessings that yet await them in the consummate state of redemption is right here it is the glory of unbroken communion with the person of God himself notice how John emphasized this in Revelation 21 he sees the holy city new Jerusalem the church the people of God coming down out of heaven made ready as a bride adorned for her husband the Ephesians 5 concept and I heard a great voice out of the throne saying now he is going to announce the thing that is the dominant characteristic of the city of God the church of God in its consummate state of bliss and perfection what is it that stands out above everything else of the glory and the grandeur the radiance of that state here it is the tabernacle the dwelling of God is with men and he shall dwell with them and they shall be his peoples

22:05 and God himself shall be with them that is heaven that is the inheritance the living God himself dwelling with his people in unbroken communion and that forever why does John place this as the principal characteristic of the inheritance well just a little sweeping view of the whole theological structure of the Bible is in order when God made man in place in the garden he made him as a creature who could only know his true creatureliness as he had communion with God he was made to know God to hold fellowship with God sin entered and the biggest crime of sin was the rupturing of this relationship so that God in his holiness must turn from the creature and man in his state of sin turns from his creator but now grace has come in Jesus' Christ as this same God moves toward the creature in a way that he himself has designed in which there is sacrifice and the shedding of blood and the sending forth of the spirit so that in his effectual call what is God out to do you must wade through all of the many peripheral blessings

23:33 of salvation to see that the heart of it is described for us in 1 Corinthians 1 as we read this morning as Paul thinks of the Corinthians and the they were in before God saved them and all the blessings they have now that they are saved what does he put as the dominant blessing he says in verse 9 of chapter 1 God is faithful by whom you were called unto the fellowship of his son that's it he didn't say by whom you were called away from hell though that was true God is faithful by whom you were called away from your lust though that is true he deals with that in chapter 6 nor does he say God is faithful by whom you were called into peace though that is true nor did he say God is faithful by whom you were called into joy though that is true but he says here's the dominant emphasis God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his son now that blessed relationship of communion with God himself in and through Jesus Christ is known in a measure of reality here and now by all the saints but here's their great burden that communion is often disturbed by sin it's clouded by unbelief there are times when it seems to be almost smothered by the influence of a hostile world and a wicked devil

25:00 the great pain of the child of God in this present state is I've had a taste of what the full inheritance will be I've had an earnest and there are moments when my communion with God seems such that I feel this mortal frame can't hold it and I have to say Lord enough times when communion with God is such that I do wish with Newton that I had a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's prayer but other times if I had to be honest I'd have to say I don't have an ounce of conscious communion with him unbelief sin and these other influences have entered and the great pain to the child of God as someone prayed in this very place Wednesday night oh God forgive us that even this day two, three, four hours have passed and I've had no conscious thoughts of you that's the grief of a true Christian now what's the first facet of the glory the riches of the glory of the inheritance here it is that they shall be with their God and their God shall be with them and in the words of Revelation chapter 22 these are precious words in this same vein verses 3 and 4 there shall be no curse anymore the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be therein his servant shall serve him here's the phrase they shall see

The Glory of Undimmed Conformity to God's Image

26:30 his face and it'll never be clouded with sin never be clouded by unbelief never will the face of God be withdrawn as chastisement for our sin as the disciplinary exercises of the Christian life when there are times God withdraws the light of his countenance to chastise us that's done and blessed be God it's done forever and the child of God will know the glory of unbroken communion with God himself Paul says oh my father give them the spirit that they may understand the riches of the glory of their inheritance that's the first part of the riches secondly it will not only be the glory of unbroken communion with the person of God himself it will be the glory of the unbroken of undimmed conformity to the image of God undimmed conformity to the image of God again a brief theological survey man was made to hold communion with God in a context of moral likeness to God the Bible says God made them male and female and he made them in his own image and after his own likeness what does that mean it meant that man's mind thought is God's mind thought man's judgment was parallel to God's judgment man loved what God loved man hated what God hated

27:59 man reveled in what God reveled in there was this perfect conformity to the moral and spiritual likeness of God but now sin entered in what happened man has become a child of the devil John 8 44 Jesus said ye of your father the devil and the lust of your father ye will do he says now you reflect the image of the devil who's become your spiritual father but now what happens in grace when God lays hold of a man in grace he begins to fashion him again after his own image and likeness look at Ephesians 4 in verse 24 it's the most precise concise statement of this principle in all of the New Testament Ephesians 4 and verse 24 and put on the new man that asked for God that is after the pattern of God himself hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth as he describes the change that has occurred and this could rightly be translated that ye have not making it an exhortation but simply a statement of fact and would parallel Colossians chapter 3 verses 8 through 10 but whether we get into that matter or not the principle I want you to see is this that God himself

29:28 is the pattern of that holiness and righteousness unto which the believer is being recreated in Christ and thank God that work has begun powerfully in the heart of every Christian but but it's the inheritance that will bring the complete fulfillment of that change whom he did foreknow he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son it's when we shall see him that we shall be fully like him and so the great pain to the child of God now there is so much in him it is unlikely to be saved here God has implanted within his breast the longing for total conformity in Christ may I say that that's one of the marks if you're a true Christian you're not satisfied that you've come up to some standard that men have set you're not content that you live a reasonably respectable quote Christian life so that people don't suspect you you know what it is to be pained about the inward sins that no one knows about but you and God because you know it's unlike the Savior when someone speaks ill of you and instead of being able to respond reflexively as the Savior did there was no Kyle in his mouth who when he was reviled

30:57 reviled not again we feel the spirit of Adam within us we want to see even if by the grace of God the words are swallowed and that spirit is put to death before it gives expression in words child of God is grieved that it was ever there and he says oh God for the time when that'll be done and done forever he's concerned about conformity in his thoughts in his attitudes in his motives well child of God take heart the second aspect of the glory the riches of the glory of the inheritance is that it will be the glory of undimmed conformity to the image of God so that the Bible gives a beautiful picture it's so intimate and endearing that it would almost be blasphemous if the Bible didn't give it it says God has predestined his own to be conformed to the image of his son I'm quoting from Romans 8 29 that he might be the firstborn of the image among many brethren when we stand in the presence of God when God is done bringing us into the full inheritance of the saints there will be such such a proximity of moral likeness between the Lord Jesus and all his people that he'll be

32:25 as the elder brother in the family where everybody looks alike that's exactly what the passage means that he might be the firstborn the rightful heir the elder brother the supreme brother the supreme one amongst his many brethren some of you had this experience you walked into a situation there were three or four people and immediately you said well that's the oldest one in the family but look at all the rest they belong to the same family oh there are times when the people wouldn't match me with my savior they wouldn't match you with the savior there are grotesque and hideous features upon our faces spiritually but thank God the time's coming when the conformity will be complete that's part of the riches of the glory of the inheritance of the saints why does Paul want them to know this well John gives us the answer every man that has this hope purifies himself if that's what I'm going to be thank God it's worth it to roll up my sleeves and get on with the job now I'm not about a fool's errand can I dare in Christ's name to cut off right hands pluck out right eyes buffet my body press on in the way of holiness because I'm not in a fool's errand the job is going to be completed and it's in that confidence that I give myself to the disciplines of working out my own salvation

The Glory of Uninterrupted Joy in God and His Gifts

33:51 with fear and with trembling then in the third place trying to describe something of the riches the glory of unbroken communion with the person of God himself the glory of undimmed conformity to the image of God but then the glory of uninterrupted joy in God and in his gifts the glory of uninterrupted joy in God and in his gifts go back to Revelation 21.4 and this seems to be again a dominant perspective regarding the inheritance and he God himself there's the intimacy of communion you see and what will he do wipe away every tear from their eyes how more intimate a picture of communion with God can you get than that something that someone so near to me that he sees a tear starting to come out my eye and takes his handkerchief out of his pocket and reaches over it you mean God will have the eyes of all of his people so in focus that he can wipe away every tear from the eye that's the picture he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the first things are passed away

35:20 now to catch the significance of communion with God the significance of this we come back again to the present state of the child of God it's a stage in which he experiences all of these things that are the exact opposite of joy tears sorrow mourning crying pain now thank God in the midst of those things we have the earnest so Paul says we do not sorrow as those who have no hope but he never said we do not sorrow period we do not sorrow the earnest the down payment of the inheritance is the realization that I can face the stark naked reality of death when it intrudes in the circle of my intimate loved ones and say thank God death shall not always hold its prey but it still holds it I always get disturbed when people read at funerals 1 Corinthians 15 as though it were fulfilled now oh death where is thy sting you read the passage and it says in that day when the Lord comes in a moment in the twinkling of an eye then shall be brought to pass that saying oh death where is thy sting oh grave where is thy victory it has a sting now and it has a victory now we sorrow not as those who have no hope thank God for that but we sorrow we sorrow we do not mourn with the sorrow of the world when it mourns with that sorrow

36:48 that Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians the sorrow of the world worketh death when a man's conscience so tormenting him for his sins he can't see he can't stand it anymore and he goes out and commits suicide no we don't sorrow with the sorrow of the world but Paul does say ye sorrowed with a godly sorrow unto repentance not to be repented of Jesus said blessed are they who mourn we don't mourn with the hopelessness of a man whose conscience is tormented and who knows no way of release he either has to run the route of searing his conscience and abandoning himself to sin or destroying himself drowning himself in drugs or dope or drink or sex or something else but in spite of the fact God's delivered us from the sorrow of the world that is death we still have sorrow though God has delivered us from that mourning that is hopeless we still mourn and though we know something of the presence of God in pain we still have pain and the fact that the Holy Ghost dwells in your body doesn't neutralize the signals that go out from a tortured limb or a tortured internal organs and the pain of a Christian can be as real as the pain of any sinner and what do those things do the present mourning over sin the present grieving over the loss of loved ones the present twinges of pain what they do is they interrupt our joy in God and in our enjoyment of his gifts but thank God

38:18 a time is coming when that's going to be done that's what it says there shall be no more death mourning crying the riches of the glory of the inheritance is found in this the glory of uninterrupted joy in God and in his gifts we'll never abuse those gifts to our spiritual pain we'll never enjoy them in the midst of the pain that is a constant reminder that this is a cursed world some of you may have seen the advertisement in the New York Times and I imagine it was in some of the other papers of the latest religious rage in the New York area Reverend Ike that charlatan who ought to be consumed by God's anger and wrath and his ad goes like this if your religion promises pie in the sky by and by Reverend Ike is not your man but if you want pie now with lots of ice cream on it Reverend Ike is your man verily they have their reward Paul prays that the saints may know not pie in the sky by and by but the glory of uninterrupted joy in God and in his gifts the glory of undimmed conformity to his image the glory of unbroken communion with himself and then in the fourth place the glory of untiring undistracted service to God

The Glory of Untiring, Undistracted Service to God

39:47 look at Revelation 22 3 and there shall be the curse no more and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be therein and his servants shall serve him now again you go back to the original purpose of man why was man put in the earth to be God's servant to accomplish God's will to bring glory to God in the total function of his life so that when Adam was out hoeing the garden as God commanded him he was glorifying God by dressing the garden keeping it arranging it having full expression of his native God given ability and desire for creativity and accomplishment God was to be glorified and when he embraced his wife and God blessed them with children they were to be reared to his glory what was the whole purpose that man might serve God and therefore bring glory to God in his creation sin has come and man has turned from a servant of God to a servant of his own lust and a servant of the devil but when God saves a person what does he do you read Romans 6 at your leisure today he says God be thanked that ye who were the servants of sin have been made servants to God there's no such thing as a man being saved without a man being made a servant no such conversion is recognized in the Bible

41:15 that merely gets a man loose from the penalty of sin but leaves him a willful deliberate bondservant of his sin but it's still a mixed state though I've been made his servant and without any embarrassment I say with Paul putting my name in so and so bondservant of Jesus Christ there are times when one grows weary in that service he's in a body still afflicted with sin and his heart would run out and serve God 24 hours around the clock but his body taps him on the shoulders and says hey buster you better hit the sack for a while and he sees work undone areas where he knows he can glorify God and he's not able to because of the limitations then he's distracted by the cares of this life the cares of this life at times choke out his zeal for service and then his service is crippled because of the because of sin because of weakness and illness both of soul and of body but thank God when the inheritance comes in its full measure there will be no more of this it is the glory of untiring undistracted service to God his servant shall serve him and there seems to be clear indication that since there is no night nor day in that state that awaits us

Application: Does This Inheritance Sound Glorious to You?

42:43 there will be no need for sleep I wouldn't be dogmatic I'm just saying there seems to be the suggestion and what a wonderful thing it will be to have a heart so filled to the brim with all the effects of grace so that there's no distraction of motive no devious trickery of my own heart so that my service in the name of God is really service of myself all of that done away with to have a heart leaping with desire to serve him and a body responding with alacrity day and night forever and forever the riches of the glory of the inheritance I say this is only a suggested list of what comprises the riches but isn't that enough isn't that enough to make you say from the depths of your heart blessed be God for Jesus Christ blessed be God that he should ever purpose such an inheritance for me the glory the glory of unbroken communion the glory of the glory of complete conformity to him the glory of unwearied service the glory of undisturbed joy in God in his gifts let me press a question upon your conscience this morning does what I've described sound glorious to you or could you sit back and say what in the world is that crazy guy

44:12 getting so excited about I thought heaven was going to be all the bills paid and no taxes and streets of gold and a pen knife in your pocket and cut off a chunk and cut off a piece and cash it in and go to the celestial Florida during the winters and all the rest beloved I'm amazed at how many so called Christians have a purely materialistic pagan view of heaven we've described the bible heaven this morning the fulfillment of the inheritance has your heart leaked within you and said oh God hasten the day or have you sat there cold and dead and indifferent to the whole thing listen my friend if your response has been the latter there hasn't been genuine spiritual excitement I'm not talking now about those of you who through weariness or present afflictions of conscience or mind have not been able to respond with the same emotional delight that you wish you could I'm not talking about that that's part of the burden of even a child of God when he sees the truth that his mind says that ought to excite me but I feel this no I'm not talking about that but I'm asking that as these things have been expounded if your heart has been in a state of deep mental intellectual indifference to all of this my friend as sure as you sit in that pew you're slated for the pit and until you repent and flee to Jesus Christ there's no hope for you

The Exclusive Recipients: The Saints

45:40 there's no hope for you I can only suggest what I'd hope to say on the fourth point the recipients of the inheritance and I must close with this to whom does this inheritance come notice how careful Paul is to limit it he says the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints or in the case of the saints which is a legitimate use of the little preposition N in this context and I have no lesser authority than Roberts and the great Greek authority to stand behind me in that it's the inheritance in the case of the saints now I don't have time to go into that word maybe that's what we'll do next week but suffice it to say by using that word Paul is both being inclusive and exclusive who's going to have to have that inheritance somebody that after he's been dead for 30 years and a group of men get together and elevate him to sainthood not on your life all whom God makes saints by effectually calling to his son weak saints ignorant saints stumbling saints this inheritance is in the case of all the saints so take courage weak saint fearful saint trembling saint stumbling saint

47:08 the inheritance is purchased for all the saints it's inclusive but it's exclusive it's for the saints and only for the saints and the saints are the haggis the holy ones those who've been set apart unto God by the mighty work of the spirit those who have begun to evidence this internal change of heart and mind the saints have the inheritance not all who make decisions not all who make professions not all who have the benefit of a covenant upbringing only saints are you a saint are you a saint in the biblical sense you've been called into fellowship with Christ you've been radically severed from the basic attachment to the world of sin and lust and pride and rebellion wonderfully brought into a relationship of basic subservience to and trust in the Lord Jesus if not my friend the inheritance is not for you when you read right into the Bible in this passage John was conscious of it and I'll close with just reading those words notice how in the midst of the glory of the inheritance what he says verse 7 Revelation 21 he that overcometh shall inherit these things the things we've been describing but verse 8 says but the fearful

48:36 the unbelieving the abominable murderers fornicators sorcerers idolaters liars liars their part shall be in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone John was ever conscious as he writes and the Lord speaking through the angel who was the messenger of God to John that there is this division this classification to save the lost those shall inherit the glories of the redeemed and those who shall sink into the terrors of the damned my friend God help us if we can ever let our rejoicing in our inheritance become irresponsible indifference to the awful specter of the doom and the destiny of the impenitent God help me as a preacher if I would irresponsibly be carried away with the glory of this and together as God's people feeling it without warning you that as elevated as is the glory of the saints in direct proportion is the terror and the horror of the state of the damned you say how can I be so how can I become a saint well thank God you don't need to go out and behave yourself and hope that a few people will put your name up 200 years from now right now by fleeing to Jesus Christ and saying God I'm everything but a saint my heart is meshed with sin

50:05 I love my sin I've wanted my own way but I see that I wasn't made to go my own way I see that I wasn't made to do my own thing I was made for you to obey you to glorify you and I've messed it up and I can't God for Jesus' sake have mercy upon me God I do want to turn from all of that and unto everything and anything that you desire me to be that's repentance and faith that is casting yourself upon your son who's promised him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints may the Holy Spirit give us to know it more fully because of our study today let us pray