Oh, what a great God we have. What a glorious God. It was the
resurrected Lord Jesus Christ who came and appeared to Paul
on that Damascus road. He came as promised from the
foundation of the world. He came in exactly the character
that he had promised to come in. And he came as a promise
keeper and a promise bearer. And here he is. declaring these
extraordinary promises. And here we are today as the
recipients of these remarkable promises. And his promise, of
course, is that there will be an inheritance. The world looks
at inheritances with envy and covetousness generally, I think.
And often people are revealed when When inheritances are spoken
about, the character of people are revealed and they can get
something that they haven't worked for and haven't earned but they
think is theirs by right. And you no doubt are aware of
the number of times that wills are contested these days. But
our great God makes a promise and he makes a promise of an
inheritance. It's the promise of an inheritance to those who've
had their eyes opened, to those who have been turned from darkness
to light. And you've got to remember that
Paul's talking here about the darkness of religion. He was
talking and he openly confessed the religion that he had beforehand
when he was a persecutor, an enemy of the church of God, and
he put them to death and he compelled them to blaspheme. To open eyes and to turn from
darkness to light and to turn people from the power of Satan
under God is not just removing people from the immorality of
this world, it's actually taking them out of the religion of this
world which is the most immoral thing that's here because it
is the most offensive thing to God of all. People standing and
proclaiming him, claiming to be his servants and not being
that at all. But we have We have in these
glorious verses here a great description of what it is to
be a Christian and a great description of what it is to receive an inheritance. To receive an inheritance. See,
those who are forgiven of sins, those who have been turned from
the power of Satan unto God, if you've been turned unto God
by a sovereign work of our holy God, then there is an inheritance
for all of those people. An inheritance. What is the inheritance? I wanted to look briefly in this
first time at what that inheritance is. And secondly, I want to look
at what it is to receive an inheritance. If you're sitting around the
table of some relative of yours that died and there was the will
being read out, there's only one name I want to hear, and
that's my name. There's no point talking to me
about an inheritance. I'm not a part of that inheritance.
This is the inheritance of all the saints of God. It's an inheritance
if you read that verse 26-18. of Acts, it's an inheritance
among them. So you don't receive this inheritance
on your own, you receive it with all of God's children. And it's
an inheritance among them which are sanctified. It's an inheritance
to those who are already completely and perfectly sanctified by God
the Father. And to be made holy, which is
what that word means and declares to us. To be made holy is to
have what this inheritance really is. To have the inheritance is
to have all of the fullness of God and all the delights of his
presence and his company. And the glory of salvation is
that the children of God have it now. The children of God will
have a day when it'll be revealed in the greatest possible way.
But the children of God are no more secure then than they are
now. They are no more holy then than
they are now. They are no more accepted then
than they are right now. This is the inheritance, isn't
it? It's to be in the presence of God as he really is, to be
in his presence and find his presence to be a delight. to be completely free of sin,
to be as holy as he is holy. It's as Paul says to the Philippians,
it's to have Christ, it's to be found in him, it's to know
him as he really is, to be conformed to his likeness, it's to be accepted
in the beloved. to be in the presence of holiness
and not be consumed, to be in the presence of the just one
and to be found as just, to be completely as free from sin as
he is. It's to have life. It's to have
life. It's to be loved as he is loved. It's freedom. It's the liberty
wherewith Christ has set us free, a liberty to love him as he really
is, a liberty to worship him as he really is, a liberty to
delight in his character as he really is, the glorious liberty
to be loved by him at his right hand are pleasures forevermore. One of the glories of the gospel
is that the inheritance The inheritance the children of God receive is
a great reflection of the inheritor. And of course the inheritor,
this one who gives this inheritance, I beg your pardon, he gives an
inheritance. Our God is a gracious giver. So you can't earn an inheritance. Inheritance comes to you because
of what someone else has earned. It comes to you because that
person has died. It comes to you because that
person has left a will and testament and your name is in it. It comes
to you, the glorious inheritance of the saints of God comes to
us because the one who has written the will and died, lives as a
priest forevermore with the power of an endless life to make sure
that his will is never going to be contested and his will
will be done all the time. While you're there in Acts 26,
I'd just love you to look at these words. In Acts 26 20, Paul
speaks to the Jews and he speaks to the Gentiles that they should
repent. But you go down to verse 22, Paul speaks of his continuing
in this life, now jailed, spending the rest of his days in jail
at the hands of the Romans. But he's saying that I've obtained
help from God and he continues to this day, witnessing both
to small and great, saying none of the things and those things
which the prophets and movers did say should come. So we are living here now as
a testament to the promises of God. It should come. Listen to
the shoulds. That Christ should suffer. That he should be the first.
That should rise from the dead. And should show light unto the
people and unto the Gentiles. That's the light, isn't it? That's
the light that comes. That's the light that shines.
And that light shines upon him. All of what happens in this world,
all of what happens in the eternal covenant of grace is determined
by these great shoulds. It must come to pass. Everything
that happens must come to pass. His inheritance is his. It's an inheritance for those
who are forgiven of their sins. It's an inheritance for those
who are sanctified in the beloved. and its inheritance is given
because our God is the great giver. He is the one that gives
grace and mercy. He's the one that sends Paul
to open our eyes that we might see that what is already there. That's what revelation is about,
isn't it? The character of God hasn't changed from the foundation
of the world, but the revelation of this light that comes shines
a light on him and we see him as he is. And the children of
God, part of their inheritance is that they see him as he is
in all of his sovereignty, in all of his holiness, in all of
his electing love, in all of his redeeming love and grace,
in all of his absolute sovereignty over all things, in all circumstances. And we say, hallelujah, what
a saviour. Take me, take me as he says,
take me and make me Thine inheritance. He gives an inheritance. He gives
an inheritance. As Ephesians 1 says, we've obtained
an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.
See the inheritance comes from our great God who is a giver.
He's earned the right to give because of his finished work
on Calvary's tree. It is the eternal God so it's
called in Hebrews 9.15 it's called an eternal inheritance. He says to his sheep that come
to his right side on that day of judgment, he says, come ye
blessed of my father, Matthew 25, 34. Inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. I love the fact that
it was prepared from the foundation of the world. Because that means
that my sin and my fall in my father Adam and all the sin that
I'm committing, have committed, am committing right now, all
the things that fall short of the glory of God were all there
laid open before him. We're receiving, Hebrews 12,
28, we're receiving a kingdom that cannot be moved. Let us
have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence
and godly fear. We're receiving. What a glorious savior we have. You might turn with me to 1 Samuel
2 or I can read these verses to you. I'd love to see them.
Because this inheritance, I want you to see this inheritance is
all about him, and it's in him, but it also declares his glory,
and it declares his promises kept. As he cried out, it is
finished. All these promises are yay and
amen. We don't have a yes and no gospel
to proclaim to this world. We have a yes and amen gospel.
1 Samuel 2.8, he raises up the poor out of the dust. He lifteth up the beggar from
the dunghill to set them among princes, to make them inherit
the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth
are the Lord's and he has set the world upon them. All of the
foundations of this world are his and he set this world upon
them and everything that happens on them. Our God reigns and rules. Are you poor? Blessed are the
poor in spirit. Are you a beggar sitting on a
dunghill? Or are you a prince sitting in
a palace? He raises up the poor, he lifts
up the beggars, and he sets them, he sets them among princes. And the inheritance is not on
the basis of our activity, he makes them to inherit the throne
of glory. The inheritance comes because
our God, our God is just, and our God is holy, and our God
is absolutely sovereign. Psalm 37, 28, for the Lord loveth
judgment and forsaketh not his saints. They are preserved forever,
but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall
inherit the land and dwell therein forever. Wait on the Lord, keep
his way. He shall exalt thee to inherit
the land when the wicked are cut off. Thou shalt see it. He exalts his people. He exalts
his people. What an extraordinary exaltation
of sinners like you and me is it for us to be made to sit with
him, to be made to be like him, to be declared by God, to be
sanctified and holy. No wonder when Abraham was sent
on that journey, and Abraham's the father of the faithful, and
he was sent on that journey to Canaan. And he looked around,
according to Hebrews 11, he looked around at that land, and he couldn't
find any building there. He couldn't find any city there
that had any foundations whatsoever. And he was looking, he saw what
was around him, and he saw the promises fulfilled in faith.
But he looked around him and he said, I'm looking for something
much bigger than this. And the Lord said to him in Genesis
15, I am your shield. and your exceeding great reward. So that's the reward, that's
the inheritance, Christ himself is the inheritance. He's the
one that earned the inheritance, he's the one that ensures the
inheritance is given, and he's the one who is the inheritance
itself. No wonder he says, he says to
the Levites, and we are all made a kingdom of priests under God,
according to first Peter, But the Levites, that priestly tribe,
they had no land in Israel. They had no land. The Lord said,
I am their inheritance. I am their possession. Priest of God, to have him as
your possession. Let's just turn to that famous
passage of scripture in Ephesians chapter one. And I want you to
be reminded that the most common expression relating to believers
in all of the scriptures of the New Testament is that they are
in him. The word Christian's only used
two or three times in all the New Testament. But in him is
the term that God uses to describe his people. So all that the triune
God has done for us, all that the triune God ever gives to
us, all that the triune God ever requires for us is in Christ. The glory of the gospel is that
everything that God looks to from me, he sees right now in
his son perfectly completed. That's why he says in Colossians
2.10, you are complete. Not that you will be complete
or you can make yourself more complete or you might be complete.
You are complete in him. So let's just read this glorious
chapter to think about the spiritual blessings that we have. Paul
writes as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. He
didn't get there by his own activities as we just read in Acts chapter
26. To the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in
Christ Jesus. I want you to take note of the
in Christ Jesus. If you are faithful, you're faithful
in him. If you're a saint, you're a saint
because of your union with him. Grace be to you and peace from
God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. All's a really
good word, isn't it? It's a word of completeness,
isn't it, and fullness. What can you add to all? Why
would you want to add anything to all? We have. He hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
So your inheritance is a heavenly inheritance and your inheritance
is spiritual inheritance. And your inheritance is seen
through spiritual eyes that are opened, through hearts that are
turned from Satan unto God for those who are forgiven of all
their sins. According as he has chosen us
in him, before the foundation of the world. The inheritance
comes to elect people. We love that word election. It's
a description of our God and description of his purposes.
He's chosen us in him, but election is not separate from him, isn't
it? He's chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. This
is the inheritance of the children of God that the Lord Jesus Christ
has won. Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children. That's how you get the inheritance,
don't you? You're a child of God, adopted
into his family. He's chosen particularly and
especially, he said, I'll have that one as mine. Adopted into
the family by Jesus Christ, And notice the adoption, it's to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. Isn't it extraordinary that the
modern religious world wants to hide the fact that God elects
people, wants to hide the fact of God's predestination, wants
to hide the fact of God's success in all that he does. And they hide those things, they
miss out on the blessings that come. Listen to it in verse six.
You know the verse well, but let's just read it together.
May the Lord write it on our hearts and cause it to be spirit
and life to our souls. To the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted. And that word accepted
is the word graced. Where he has made us graced in
the beloved. In whom we have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of sins. We have redemption. We have redemption. Our sins
were dealt with 2,000 years ago on Calvary Street, and if they
weren't dealt with there, you will be dealing with them forever
when you meet the Lord. They were put away forever. This
notion that somehow we can work in such a way as to reduce the
extent of our sinfulness and make ourselves more acceptable
and pleasing to God and cause him to reward us by our activities
now is nothing less than the religion of Satan. That was the
religion that Paul had when he rode to Damascus and he didn't
have a clue who God was. He had all the religion in the
world and no notion of the character of God. May God protect us from
that and open our eyes. Through his, we have redemption
according to the riches of his grace. So this inheritance comes
because our God is very rich and he's rich in grace. If you
are a sinner, if you are a sinner, you delight in the fact that
God is rich in his grace. Wherein he hath abounded toward
us in all wisdom and prudence. We have no wisdom of our own,
brothers and sisters. But He is our wisdom and He is
our prudence. Having made known to us the mystery
of His will according to His good pleasure which He has purposed
in Himself. He's made known to us the mystery
of His will. He's made known to us the character
and the purpose and the glory of the covenant of grace where
His will is fulfilled and performed. that in the dispensation of the
fullness of time, he might gather together in one all things in
Christ, both which are in heaven and on earth, even in him. There will be a fullness of times
for this earth, won't there? And at the fullness of times,
the Lord Jesus Christ will be seen to be glorious and reigning
as God over all without any opposition. There will be that time, the
fullness of times. In whom, verse 11, it's glorious,
isn't it? In whom also we have obtained
an inheritance. We didn't obtain it by any activity
of our own. We obtained it through his activity,
being predestinated. predestinated according to the
purpose of him that worketh all things. So his purpose, his purpose
is that his people will receive that inheritance. His purpose
is that his people will live in his presence with him forever
and ever. His purpose is that they'll see his glory. They'll
see him as he really is, as an electing, choosing, predestinating,
sovereign God who finished the work of salvation. The works
were finished from the foundation of the world. The works were
finished on Calvary's tree. in manifest glory, according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. Listen to what the counsel of
his own will is. That we should be to the praise of his glory. It is a remarkable thing, isn't
it, that the scriptures say that we are glorified in him, and
he is glorified in us. taking sinners, as we read earlier,
taking sinners from the dunghill and setting them on the very
throne of this universe. We should be to the praise of
his glory. That's our inheritance, brothers
and sisters. In whom you also trusted after
you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also after that you believed, You were sealed with the Holy
Spirit of promise. The Holy Spirit takes as promise
the things of the Lord Jesus Christ and he reveals them unto
us. If you're sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, you delight
in a sovereign God who is absolutely sovereign over all things. You
delight in a God who does his will. You delight in a God who
predestinated. You delight in a God who causes
his people to be accepted in the beloved. You delight in your
union with him. You delight in everything about
his character. That's what Paul said, didn't
he, to those people they accused him of heresy? And he said, I
believe all things that are written. All things that are written.
We believe. We believe who he is. We believe
what he's done. We believe his word, we simply
in childlike faith believe. And we're sealed with that holy
spirit of promise. He sets his seal upon his people. He's begun a good work and he's
going to complete it until the day of salvation, which is the
earnest of our inheritance, the down payment of our inheritance.
We have now the delight in looking through the eyes of faith at
our inheritance. But we have a down payment, the
Holy Spirit, which is the earnest of our inheritance. That which
is kept in our possession to bring the one who has made the
promise to seal that promise to our hearts again and again,
we have it. We have it by faith, simply trusting
who he is and what he said. the redemption to the praise
of His glory. Wherefore also, when I, after I heard of your
faith in the Lord Jesus and love to 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 the spirit of wisdom and revelation and
the knowledge of Him. This is all part of this earnest,
isn't it? That the eyes of your understanding being enlightened,
having been enlightened by God in such a way according to the
original of that language that he can't undo it even himself. Such is the power that he talks
about. in that verse in Acts 26.18 that
we're reading, that power to turn us from darkness to light,
that power to take us out of the kingdom of Satan and bring
us into the kingdom of his dear son in the saints of light. But
you may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches
of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. And what is the
exceeding greatness of his power to us would What an inheritance
we have, brothers and sisters. People crave and long for the
inheritance of this world, don't they? The things that they can
get their hands on and they can have and they can hold. But all the faith children look
at this world as Abraham did at the world of Canaan. He said,
there's no city here. There's no place here that has
any foundations. He's looking for a city whose
builder and maker is God. You could have, you could be
the heir of all that Bill Gates has, and you're infinitely better
off being a pauper in this world. We inherit all things. That's
what he says in Hebrews 7. We inherit all things. We are
joint heirs and co-heirs with Christ. We inherit all things. We are not poor, brothers and
sisters. We don't need to scramble after the things of this world.
We are the inheritors, the riches of the glory of his inheritance
in the saints. which he brought in Christ when
he raised him from dead and set him at his own right hand in
heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might
and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world
but also in that which is to come. And he hath put all things
under his feet and given him to be head over all things to
the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth
all in all. If you have him, you're full. If you have him, you have everything. If you have him, you have everything
in time. If you have him, you have everything
in time and all that ever matters in eternity. And if you don't
have him, you have absolutely nothing. May God cause us to
find the giver delightful. If we find the giver delightful,
we'll find the gifts of the giver delightful. And we'll be content
in this world. We'll be content for the Lord
to call us his heritage. Sealed. Sealed, a heritage that
is kept in heaven for us. Nothing gets into heaven any
longer that's not perfectly holy and perfectly pure. What a place
for your treasure to be kept. But what a person your treasure
is. No one had a friend like this
friend. No one had a husband like this
husband. The saints of God have all the
spiritual blessings that God has to give and they have them
right now. What do the saints do? They rest. They rest. One day they'll lay
their heads on their pillows for their last time and they'll
rest. And they'll awake and the one
thing that hinders their communion with their great and glorious
God will be taken away from them. What did David say in Psalm 17?
I'm gonna be satisfied. When I awake in His likeness,
I'll be satisfied. No one in this world is satisfied.
We're the most unsatisfied bunch of people, and the more that
they have in this world in terms of material possessions, the
less satisfied they are. The more they have, the more
they want to cling to it. The more they have, they're more
afraid that it'll be taken from them. The more they have, the
less they have. It's exactly the opposite for
the children of God. The less they have here, the
more they have. They have Him. They have everything. May the
Lord bless His word. Let's have a break for a few
minutes.