In the Saints

Recipients of the Inheritance: Exclusively the Saints

0:02 We continue our studies in this prayer of the Apostle Paul on behalf of the Ephesian Christians. Our attention has been focused for some weeks upon these three particular things that the Apostle longs for the Ephesians to know, things that they cannot know apart from a present, powerful ministry of the Holy Spirit as the spirit of wisdom and revelation to their hearts. And we need constantly to remind ourselves whenever we come to any part of the Word of God that we stand in present need of the help of the Spirit of God. We have studied in some depth the first of those three things, that which Paul calls the hope of his calling. He prays that they may know what the Spirit of God is, what is the hope that derives from the calling of God. Secondly, he prays that they may know what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and we are presently studying that particular matter.

1:18 In our study last week, we considered the identity of the inheritance. Is it to be regarded as the people of God who are God's inheritance? Or is it to be regarded as the people of God or is it to be regarded as that inheritance which God has laid up for his people? And I submitted to you that I believe the latter is the proper understanding of the Apostle's words and I trust gave sufficient biblical reasons to demonstrate the validity of that position.

1:50 Then we considered in the second place the author of the inheritance. It is the riches of the glory of his inheritance. As certainly as the hope derives from his calling, so likewise the glory of the inheritance derives from the fact that it is God who has authored that inheritance. He conceived it.

2:14 In Christ he purchased it. By the Spirit he confers it. And by his own power he will bring us to the full enjoyment of it. And then we closed our study by considering in the third place the nature of that inheritance.

2:30 Paul describes it by these words the riches of the glory of the inheritance. The inheritance itself is marked by glory. There is the outshining of the perfection of that inheritance. But there is so much glory that it piles up into an accumulation of riches.

2:51 Hence he calls it the riches of the glory of the inheritance. And we looked at some of the ingredients of the inheritance that make up the glory of the inheritance. And we looked at some of the ingredients that make its glory a rich glory. It is the glory of unbroken communion with the person of God.

3:08 The glory of undimmed conformity to the image of God. The glory of uninterrupted joy in God and his gifts. And it is the glory of untiring, undistracted service of God. And we showed from Revelation 21 and 22 in particular that these are the ingredients of the inheritance.

3:30 That make it rich with glory. Then time ran out and I suggested that the fourth line of our thought from the text would be the recipients of the inheritance which thought is forced upon us by the words the riches of the glory of his inheritance in or among or in the case of the saints. And I want to enlarge upon that phrase this morning and make that the thread thrust of our study the recipients of this gloriously rich inheritance. You've heard people say no doubt many times well I'm no saint but well may I say this morning if you cannot say I am a saint in the truest biblical sense you have no part nor lot in this glorious inheritance. And so it's vital for us to seek to understand with the word of God before us what Paul meant when he said I'm praying that the Holy Spirit will be given that the people of God may understand the riches of the glory of that inheritance which is found resident among the saints or is to be considered as the possession of the saints. Consider with me in the first place for whom then is this inheritance designated?

Refuting Universalism: The Inheritance is Not for All Men

4:58 When the legal title to that inheritance incorruptible, undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in heaven when the legal title is read who are the rightful and the designated recipients? Who are the designated benefactors or to use the terminology of present insurance structure who are the beneficiaries?

5:27 Is it for all men without distinction? Should Paul have said the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the case of all mankind? Well there has been in the past and unto the present day there exists a cruel and wicked error which has plagued the church even from the second century. It is the wicked error of universalism or sometimes called the larger hope.

5:59 It is a belief which though there are various shades of it has as its basis tenet of conviction and confession that all rational creatures angels and men will eventually enjoy the bliss of heaven. All of God's creatures will know the glory of God's inheritance. Now it has taken many different forms and it would not be to our edification to trace them out but the common stock of this particular perspective and the only one we are concerned with is the one that tries to prove itself from the Bible. It says the riches of the glory of the inheritance of future and consummate bliss and blessing will be the possession of all men because the Bible says as in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive. 1 Corinthians 15 or they may take the text in Romans 5.90 wherefore as by one man's disobedience sin came unto condemnation so by the obedience of one righteousness shall come upon all. Or they may take the text in Colossians 1.20

7:14 where it says that Christ will reconcile all things to himself things in heaven things on earth things under the earth yea I say all things. Hence the confession the evangel the message the proclamation of this larger hope this universalism is that God's great love in Christ is so deep and so broad and the sacrifice of Christ is so extensive in its intent as well as in its inherent power that every single last son of Adam and fallen angels will be restored and will share in the glory of the inheritance. There may be a little hell between death and that time but hell in judgment are only temporary disciplinary measures. So you don't frighten these people when you bring before them the biblical doctrine of hell they claim to believe this doctrine from the Bible all who get it from somewhere else I have nothing to say to them let them stew and be damned in their own ignorance if they will not come to this final court of appeal the word of God. But now you see this text cuts right across the grain of that. As Paul's heart expects expands with the glory of the inheritance yea the riches of the glory of the inheritance and his mind is filled with the wonder

8:44 of what it will be for him and for the people of God to enter that state of unbroken communion with God untiring service to God undimmed conformity to the image of God he is very careful to delineate the scope of those who will be included in that it is the riches of the glory of his life his inheritance in the case of and only in the case of the saints.

Refuting Religious Pluralism: The Inheritance is Not for All Religious People

9:13 That concept was burnt into his own consciousness by the Holy Spirit and marked a dominant note in his own ministry in Acts chapter 20 and verse 32 when we find the apostle charging the Ephesian elders he says I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance among all them that are sanctified among all them that have been made saints you see how he delineates it he marks it off the inheritance is the possession of the saints the only recipients of the inheritance will be the saints of God a similar emphasis is found in Acts 26 in verse 18 Acts 26 in verse 18 the reason this concept was dominant in Paul's thinking was that it formed an integral part of his commission from the Lord Jesus Paul is quoting the very words that Christ spoke to him when he revealed himself on the Damascus road to open their eyes that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them which are sanctified that are made holy by faith in me

10:41 so when the Lord sent Paul out to preach he let him know at the outset that this concept of the larger hope was to have no place in his thinking or in his preaching this tremendously vital dichotomy between the saved the lost the just the unjust the righteous the wicked and the biblical concept that time fixes men in those castles and eternity will never erase never erase them that concept is so vital to Paul that in the midst of what we would call the choicest delicacies for the table of the people of God the riches of the glory of his inheritance he cannot forget that there is another class of humanity who will have no share in that inheritance for they are non-saints they are not the people of God well then if the recipients are not to be regarded as all men without distinction should we in the second place consider it as being the rightful possession of all religious people without distinction you see there are some who would say oh I don't hold that business that everybody will enter that inheritance but I do believe that all who sincerely follow their religious convictions as all roads led to Rome so all roads

12:11 all religions will ultimately lead to that inheritance now that's a lovely thought only one thing wrong with it there isn't a shred of truth in it the text says it is the riches of the glory of the inheritance in the case the saints not in the case of the religious ones but only in the case and as we shall see as we go into a brief study of the meaning of the word one is made a saint a holy one only as he is joined to the holy one the Lord Jesus Christ who said I am the way the truth the life no man cometh unto the Father but by me and here's a clever evasion being taught in our day they say oh we have no dispute with that but since Jesus Christ is the eternal word the Logos and through him all revelation comes he reveals something of himself through the Buddhist something of himself through the Shintoist something of himself through the Taoist through the animist through all the other ists whatever they may be and therefore when the sincere Buddhist gives himself to his religion he is in reality ultimately co-Christ now again that's a lovely thought but it also has that one fundamental problem there isn't a shred

Refuting Decisional Universalism: The Inheritance is Not for All Who Profess Faith

13:39 of truth in it these are man's attempts to evade the clear teaching of the truth of the word of God ah but someone says that's quite obvious they go a step further and may I say this is the kind of what I'm calling decisional universalism that is the great plague upon evangelicalism today it goes like this they would say a plague on all general universalism a plague on the many roads theology has the inheritance only of those tied for Christ who accept him as savior but once you've made that as it can be so they would reword the text the riches of the glory of the inheritance in the case of all who've decided for Christ in the case of all who've made a profession of faith so I call it decisional universalism if you've made the decision you automatically have the inheritance aha this text doesn't leave you that out it says it is the riches of the glory of the inheritance in the case of not all who profess to be saints but in the case of those who have been constituted saints by the mighty work of God how often is my heart bled when I've had

15:08 to deal with people who had never been infected with the curse of the larger hope what we might call traditional historical universalism nor have they been infected with this more limited kind of universalism that all religions lead to the same place they've been under the sound of the gospel that men are sinners and Christ is the only savior of sinners but they were told that once you've made a sincere decision then the inheritance is certain to do once saved that's hell because it puts together doesn't put together God once saved no matter what you do God says once saved what you do will reflect the reality that you are saved that's two different gospels one is a gospel that magnifies the glory of Christ as the savior of his people who saves them from their sins unto holiness not a nation that saves them from the pebbles and leaves them in the reality without rewards and those are two different gospels they're not shades of the one

16:36 and the same one turns the grace of God into lasciviousness and the other magnifies the glory of our great God and savior Jesus Christ so the text makes it very clear that the only recipients of the inheritance are saints true saints and I was thinking of the words of the old Negro spiritual and ain't everybody talking about heaven going there that's what Paul said there's some good solid theology in that old spiritual see the exclusiveness of the recipients of the inheritance it's the riches of the glory of the inheritance in the case of the saints that's exclusive anyone who is not saint no interest in the inheritance but blessed be God everyone who's been constituted as saint is within the framework of the inheritance having then cleared away some of the rubble and I don't often do that say what the text doesn't mean and spend so much time but I felt it was necessary to do so and I felt it was having cleared that away we've seen the recipients are saints the second thing that we need to consider is what is the meaning of that word saint if only saints have the inheritance and all saints do have the inheritance then the thing turns upon me in a very personal way am I a saint if not

Defining 'Saint': Set Apart and Morally Pure

18:06 I have no grounds to believe that the inheritance is mine but if I am a saint thank God it is certainly mine what then is a saint well this word saint is the very familiar word used to describe the people of God it's introduced in the ninth chapter of Acts and if you just take a concordance sometime and look up saint and go through the New Testament you see it's one of those words that when it's introduced it's like when you start and that's a proper use of like I've been working with my kids on this matter you know like like like like has become the big filler word I'm working my kid brother last week on it all weekend but when you say like you're introducing a simile hence that word is like what happens when you go out to make a snowman I feel sorry for you kids I really do if I could create snow I'd have given you at least a couple of good snowfalls this year because what's a winter when you haven't made one or two snowmen I mean that's not a good winter is it but now when you go make a snowman what do you do well you go out and you pack a ball of snows that you can handle with your hands then you find a nice level spot where you can roll it or a little bit down here then you start to roll it and then it picks up more snow and more snow until you can get a real big snowman like that who needs a good metrical diet for a while and then all the rest now many times words come to us in the Bible that way they start and there's a very limited use but as they roll through the pages of the Bible

19:33 they gather weight and they're fleshed out until they come to us as a full blown concept that God is conveying well that's what happens with the word saint it's introduced in the middle of the book of the Acts gathers momentum used more and more toward the end of Acts and then on into the epistles until some 60 to 65 times in the New Testament the people of God are designated as saints and it's one of the richest studies you can engage in to just look up every reference to the people of God as saints and see what it says about them in the context the parallel words the inferential ideas and I'm not going to do that that would take us off for another 10 weeks on the word saint and I don't want to do that and I don't want to do that suffice it to say that next to the word brethren it is probably the most frequent word used to describe the people of God now why did the Holy Spirit move the biblical writers to describe the people of God as saints what was the mentality behind the use of the word well very briefly it is this the word saint the holy ones has its roots in Old Testament thought in the Old Testament in Old Testament times the initial concept and perhaps the pervasive concept has to do with someone or something being set apart for the special use of God in worship or in things religious

21:02 and maybe you had an old potter pan that you used to like to run around the backyard and bang it and play play parade with it or something else well if that potter pan happened to be taken up to the temple and the priest was going to use it in the sacrifice or use it in some form of the worship the moment it was put into the hands of the priest and was either sprinkled with the elements for cleansing ceremonial cleansing or dipped or whatever was done that pan the one that was all beat up where you've been banging on it with a stick suddenly became a holy pan not holy with holes through it but holy holy now what made it holy the fact that it was now set apart from common use you weren't out in the backyard going around like you were in a parade banging on the pan the priest was now using it in the service of God it became a holy pan and the priest had now become a holy person there was an apartness a being set apart consecrated to the use of God and very few times is the idea of anything intrinsically sanctified in the vessel entering into the picture and the priest no infused sanctity is foreign to the basic concept of holy it means set apart for ceremonial use

22:31 unto the service of God so there is holy ground Exodus chapter 3 Moses take your shoes off the place where on you stand is holy ground now it's just plain old dirt if you picked up a handful and rubbed it on yourself it'd be dirty if you picked up a handful and tried to eat it you'd spit dust out of it in your mouth it was just plain old dirt in the back side of a wilderness but God says holy ground why because in that ground God had been pleased to reveal himself and that ground as it were was set apart for a revelation of God it became sanctified it separated from common ground so there was the holy place the holy garments the holy days Israel was called a holy nation Exodus 19.6 now certainly she wasn't an inwardly purified nation but she was a holy nation she was set apart for the purpose of God but now follow closely it's the same word used of the character of God that he is holy he is apart from that which is sinful God is light and in him is no darkness at all so the word also includes the concept of moral purity and it's the very word used in 1 Peter 1 be ye holy God says for I am holy as I am set apart from evil and sin and moral defilement

23:58 so be ye holy therefore though the fundamental concept is one of position a man is a saint when he's placed in a certain position in relationship to God that position always results in a practical separation from holiness from ungodliness and uncleanness in the life so the positional results in the experiential the inward and the personal so then in the Bible when God through the pen writers through the penmen of the New Testament addresses the people of God as saints notice the other terms that flank it on the left hand and on the right we'll only have time to look at a couple of examples notice Romans 1 and verse 7 who and what is a saint? to all that are in Rome of God call to you in peace our Father you see what phrase is used next to saints it is beloved of God a saint is one who has been the object of the distinguishing particular electing love of God none are saints but what they are loved of God

25:26 beloved of God become saints as the result of that love efficaciously working in their what? notice the word before saints called saints and the to be is in italics it's not there in the original so it's not so much beloved of God who are designated as saints we call that thing thus and thus but it has to do with God's effectual calling you are saints made saints because the God who loved you called you effectually by his spirit so then a saint is one who having been loved of God has discovered that love in his own effectual calling parallels with 1st Thessalonians chapter 1 remembering Paul says without ceasing your work of faith labor of love patience of hope knowing brethren beloved of God your election how? our gospel came not in word only but in power he says we know you were chosen and loved because you were effectually called and it's in that particular orbit that the word saint occurs hence the saints are the objects of the intercessory work of Christ Romans 8 27 he maketh intercession for the saints alright? have you got the idea now? synonym to a called one synonym to one beloved of God or not synonym that's the wrong word but it's in the same ballpark

26:53 they're identified one with the other if you have one you have the other it is in that whole framework of the peculiar designation of the people of God so then this is what the word saint means one to whom the gospel has come one to whom the gospel has come with power one who has responded to that gospel by the enablement of the spirit in repentance and faith and has been set apart for fellowship with God for the knowledge of God for the service of God and the consequence of that is he begins to walk in the way of God which are the ways of holiness so that he becomes saint not only in position and in name but in heart and in experience now if that's not true of you I say as clearly and as tenderly as I know how up to this moment in time you have no grounds to say you have any part in the inheritance that we've described it is the way of God it is the way of God it is the riches of the glory of the inheritance in the case of and only in the case of the saints now quickly consider with me

The Visible Church as a Gathering of Visible Saints

28:20 some very basic observations and exhortations based upon the previous exposition in the light of what we've studied thus far this text is a reminder of the nature and identity of the visible church of Jesus Christ what is the visible church of Christ to be according to the scriptures it is to be a gathering of visible saints when Paul wrote his letter to the Ephesians how did he address himself to that people notice the words that he uses Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 3 I'm sorry verse 1 Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ to the will of God to the saints that are at Ephesus he regards the church as a visible community of saints or better yet a community of visible saints he does the same thing in addressing the church at Philippi the wording is almost exactly the same Paul and Timothy servants of Christ Jesus to all the saints in Christ Jesus that are at Philippi how does he regard the church as he sits in that Roman prison and conceives in his mind those to whom his epistle is going he says they are a body of visible saints gathered together

29:49 in their God given sainthood now you say I don't see anything to get excited about with that well I hope you will before I'm done this tells us that none are to be considered invisible saints loved of God and called in and make my lot to be part of the people of God the ways of God and the word of man becomes a visible saint and no one is to be considered a visible church and there is no middle ground there is no middle ground the counterpart of that statement none are to be considered part of the church who do not declare themselves visible saints none are to remain a part of it who do not evidence

31:18 the reality of their sainthood hence the doctrine of church discipline the evidence that the church has no power to read men's hearts and discover hypocrites who confess the right thing and walk the right way that's not their jurisdiction but when people who profess sainthood don't believe the right thing and do not walk according to the word of God the church is responsible to purge such from her midst first Corinthians chapter five is the great new testament commentary a commentary on this principle the great new testament commentary on this principle Paul says purge the old leaven that man outranks why? this is to be a body of visible saints not in name only but in practice and in confession therefore we must never raise the standard for church membership higher than God does what does a man need to know and be and do to become a visible saint? does he need to be a theologian? who can expound the London Confession of Faith?

32:31 no he needs to know enough of God of himself and of Christ to be able to say from the depths of his heart I know I'm a sinner accountable to the God of heaven and I know that I can't make up that account myself and I know the Bible teaches that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life and I have believed on him unto salvation I believed on him who is the Christ of God who is God and I have trusted him and do trust him as my savior and purpose to walk with him and with his people may know nothing more than that but if he confesses to know and believe that and there is not a gross contradiction of that confession in his present experience he's not making that confession with a harlot hanging on each elbow he's not making that confession with his pockets overflowing with stolen money then the church must open its arms and receive him as a visible saint it has no right to set up a standard beyond what the word of God does hence if that confession is made by a seven year old such should be received or by a seventy year old such should be received the church is to be a communion a visible gathering of saints or a gathering of visible saints

Implications for Church Discipline and Membership

34:00 and whatever is necessary to constitute man's saint is necessary and no more to see him constituted a part of the church of the visible church ah but the moment that boy that girl that man that woman begins to deny the essential saving truth about God or Christ necessary to be a saint he is to be purged as a heretic from the church whenever in life he begins to deny the inward reality of his sainthood and begins to abandon himself or herself to a course of conduct inconsistent with the regenerating work of God we are not even then saying he's not saved we don't know the heart we are saying that conduct is inconsistent with visible sainthood therefore you must be cast out of the ranks with the prayer that this will bring you back to visible sainthood and then we'll receive you back again and that's exactly what happened with the man at Corinth oh dear ones that's the heart of the teaching of the word of God on church discipline and I say this without any rancor and I trust those to whom it may come as a contended point will realize I'm not bullying you because I have the pulpit and you don't but I'm constrained to say this in the light of this teaching we must not allow infants to be regarded members of the church

35:28 simply because they are the physical seed of saints this is why we stand intransigent against the position that the church is comprised of all believers and their children no child is made a saint because he's born of a saint God has no grandchildren this is why we love and nurture and pray for and with as Mr. Spence prayed for our children but we want them to grow up knowing and if we regard them because the apostles always and if we regard saints already in any degree they'll regard themselves and plunge into hell with the curse of presumption just two days ago at the conference on preaching at Westminster a dear young man came to me and poor confirmation of this very principle

36:46 brought up in the ecclesiastical structure where the gospel is maintained in its purity no liberalism but with that view that he was a member of the church who only needs sure and not wasn't till a year God began to show me that all of that was not enough and God graciously called me by his grace and saved me and has made me this is why dear children we will not put the water of baptism upon you or plunge you beneath it because baptism is taking the badge of sainthood yes it is and to that even our Presbyterian friends consent read the formulary in the back of our books believing them to be members of the church we therefore baptize them it's right there there's no argument that baptism is the badge of membership in the church I don't know the intention is that that badge belongs only to the one who has one we have reason to believe it is there by the credible profession of faith and so you children when you believe God has wrought upon you and called you and made you a saint you come to the elders and you tell them I want to confess the Lord in the waters of baptism there's nothing that says those waters forbid any under twelve any under fourteen

Critique of Romanism and Encouragement for Believers

38:15 no no no no but we love you too much to put water on your forehead or as the eastern church does water over your whole body they immerse the Greek church immerses because to the Greek mind to say I baptize thee and put water on the forehead is incongruous when they say I baptize there's only one thing a Greek can do hence they still plunge their little ones right up to the neck in the Greek Orthodox Church but in either case we refuse to do it why? because we don't want to rob you of the inestimable privilege of saying the Lord has made me a saint and I want to declare it you see? and then the second implication exhortation based upon the text is this this text is a revelation of one of the cardinal fallacies of Romanism with its system of faith plus works law and gospel mixed Rome shows her system at every point and when she waits for a man to die and after two hundred years assessing all the good things he did and all the virtue he had elevates him to sainthood what is she doing? she's showing that at the heart of her system there is no understanding of the grace of God when is a person made a saint? as we hinted last week not after two hundred three hundred four hundred years when people can assess all the things I've done

39:43 but when a man casts himself upon who Christ is and what he's done immediately he's elevated to sainthood and all he can do is grow in the faith of God grow in the graces and gifts conferred upon him graciously in sovereign mercy dear ones let's not be deceived by Rome's new face I'm not a catholic hater some of my dearest friends after I was converted were people who still remain Roman Catholics and if you're here this morning as a Roman Catholic please don't go out and say oh that man's a catholic hater no no I don't hate Catholics but I abominate and hate the system of Romanism which obscures which obscures the glory of free grace and clogs up the way of a sinner in his approach to Christ with so many things that God has never instituted the whole concept of elevating a person to sainthood and then having him in some sense be able to have a store of grace that can be conferred upon others hence prayer to the saints it shows that the basic perspective of Romanism is the perspective of Galatian heresy that would add a plus to Jesus Christ and then I close with this brief word this text should be a great and solid encouragement to all the people of God what constitutes a man a saint? God's work

41:11 he's called of God listen carefully now if I have reason to believe I'm a saint God has called me I see so much in me as a saint that's unlike him so many tendencies to turn aside here and there and I wonder at times Lord am I going to make it ah listen it's the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the case of the saints the weak ones the fearful ones the stumbling ones because and here's the fundamental principle they never became saints by their own doing it was God who loved them God who called them and it is the same God who will bring them to their inheritance how I take great comfort he doesn't say the riches of the glory of the inheritance in the case of the mature saints in the case of the strong saints in the case of the knowledgeable saints in the case of the experienced saints there's no other adjective it is in the case of the saints he that hath begun a good work in us will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ oh beloved it is sure as you sit upon that pew this morning if you're a saint the inheritance is going to be realized it cannot fail of its realization because almighty God who conceived it and purchased it for you in his son

42:39 has committed himself in all his eternal love and his omnipotence to bring you safely to it that's the teaching of the word of God and one day every true saint will be a living and an eternal amen to the truth of what I've just told you oh Lord hasten the day when we shall become such eternal amens to the truth of his own word who are the recipients of that inheritance rich with glory it is the saints are you a saint if not the word of God comes to you repent believe the gospel flee to Christ he alone can make you a fit recipient of that inheritance but he can that's why he lives and died and rose and now lives at the right hand of the father to continue to make saints until that day when all the saints are made that he's going to make and then the inheritance will come to realization let us pray