Ephesians 1. We're in no hurry
to get through this, are we? It's glorious. Just glorious. Look at verse 11. Paul says,
In Christ we have obtained an inheritance. predestinated to
this inheritance, verse 13 and 14. In Christ you trusted after
you heard the word of truth, gospel of your salvation. In him also after you believed
you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which or who
is earnest of our inheritance. In verse 18, this is prayer,
we'll look at soon, that the eyes of your understanding, being
enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling
and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
what that is. And that's my prayer tonight,
that we might know just a little bit better what the riches of
this inheritance are, how blessed we are to be And this inheritance,
now let me just go ahead and say at the outset, okay, I'm
going to declare the end from the beginning. This inheritance
of the saints is to be with Christ in glory. He is the inheritance. Okay? It's to be with Him, to
behold His glory, to hear His voice, to see Him. to walk with
Him, to talk with Him, and the brethren, be with the brethren,
worshiping Christ. That's what everybody's doing
in Glory right now. We're going to read that in Revelation
in a little bit. Our Lord said in John 16, He
says, I go to prepare a place for you. Who's He talking to?
He was talking to His disciples, His chosen disciples, who He
revealed Himself to. He loved them, and they loved
Him, and they followed Him, and they loved being with Him, and
they loved hearing His voice. One time, He had many followers
on earth, and in John 6, said, this is too hard, we can't take
it, we're leaving. And many of His disciples went
away. And He said to His disciples, John and Peter, will you also
go away? And Simon Peter answered on behalf
of every believer, to whom shall we go? Where? Who? What? Nothing. No one. No. You have words of life. You're
our life, is what he's saying. Now, he is or he isn't. And so
he said, I go to prepare a place for you, John 16, that where
I am, you may be also. Everybody wants to go to heaven,
right? And most people in the world just want to go to heaven where
there'll be no pain, no suffering, no troubles and all that. Just
a carnal, material, physical utopia or paradise. We continue
doing the things we do here on earth. Well, that's what's going
to happen. God's people are going to continue
doing what they love to do on earth. If you love what you're
doing right now, then you'll be in glory with Him. Those who
have no interest in Christ right now have no part in this inheritance,
unless God does something for them, unless they hear the Gospel. And that's what we just read
when we heard the Gospel. We trusted and cried, and He
sent the Spirit as an earnest pledge, a token of this inheritance.
You're going to get this inheritance. You're going to get Him. So,
and he said in John 17, remember, he prayed to the Father, Father,
I will that they be with me where I am that they may behold my
glory. And that's for those who've beheld
his glory now, a little bit, a little bit. This separates
those who profess faith. merely profess faith in Christ
and those who possess Christ. And I will quote this several
times in the course of this message. He that hath the Son hath life. This is the record that God hath
given unto us, His people, eternal life. And this life, this life,
it's in His Son. And he that hath the Son hath
life. And this is what Paul said. Listen. He said, I want to win
Christ and be found in Heaven. That's not what he said, is it? I want to win Christ and be found
in Him. Oh, then I might know Him. Didn't
he? He said, for me to live is Christ. To know Him. To follow Him. To
grow in grace and the knowledge of Him. And I can't make anyone
believe, I can't make anyone love Christ, you can't make yourself
do that. The Spirit of God is the only
one who can, and He does. I can only pray, we can only
pray, I can only preach Christ and hope that the Spirit of God
will take the things of Christ and give someone A love for Him,
an interest in Him, a desire for Him. He that hath the Son
hath life. That's a need for the Son, a
desire for the Son. So, you know, Ruth, and I wouldn't
discourage anybody, I'd encourage everybody to come to Christ.
You know, Ruth was a Moabite, living in a Gentile, in another
place, didn't know God. Wasn't interested in the things
of God. Okay? But God had to bring her down.
God had to make her poor and needy and just destroy everything
and everyone around her and bring her to hear her Redeemer's voice. And she happened, by God's grace,
to land in the field that belonged to Boaz and Galene, and we just
looked at that. And you're here in Boaz's field.
I have to hope and pray that you're Aruth. Because he's not
everywhere. The gospel's not everywhere.
He's here. I know that. I'm not presuming
this. I know it because Christ is preached
here. And so I hope and pray that you're a Ruth, and if you
are, He'll bring you down low and needy, and you'll fall in
love like she fell in love with Boaz. These false religions, false
churches, have seen it on their signs, fall in love with Jesus.
You can't make yourself fall in love with someone. Can you? I've tried. I'm going to love
this person. You can't do it. Only God must
shed abroad this love in your heart. That's God's love for
His Son. God loves His... God made everything
for His Son. God made a kingdom for His Son.
God elected people for His Son. God loves His Son supremely and
made everything for His Son. And everybody that's going to
be in God's heaven is for His Son. Loves His Son too. And this is the love that God
puts in their hearts for Christ. There is none. I can't do it. Nobody can do it. You can't do
it. But God does it. And He does it through the means
of what I'm doing right now. You read Paul, he said, He worketh
in me, mine in Him. It's amazing isn't it? The Gospel
is the power of God. What is the Gospel? Christ. I don't want you to just want
to go to heaven. I want you to know Christ. I want you to want
Christ. Everybody in heaven is there.
They know why they're there. Look at verses 2 and 3. Grace
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 has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
and they're all in Christ. It all has to do with Christ. You know, it's all about Him,
who He is, what He's done, what He did for His people, what He
came to do, what He did on Calvary's tree. And this is for those who
feel unworthy. This is for those who are grateful
for His grace. And I may bring up Ruth two or
three times. But Ruth, when Naomi said, Go
and I want you to find grace. And she went and gleaned, and
what did she find? Boaz. Boaz came to her, and you
remember the story. She ended up at his table, and
what did she say? She just couldn't believe it.
She couldn't believe it. All the way from Moab. And then
my poor beggar in the field, now she's sitting at the table
with the great Boaz, the mightiest man. She said, why did I find
such grace in your sight? That's what she said. I can't
believe I'm here with him. He chose me out of all those
gleaners. That's everybody in glory, he
said. As said, he that hath the Son hath life. She needed a Redeemer. And she admired Him. And she
fell in love with Him. He made her fall in love with
Him. He wooed her. Isn't that what the Lord said
He'd do in Hosea? He said, I'm going to bring her.
She had all these lovers. And I'm going to make them all
forsake her. And I'm going to bring her down. She's poor and
needy and then I'm going to bring her into the wilderness and I'm
going to speak to her. I'm going to talk to her. I'm
going to woo her. And she's going to realize I'm the one that did
everything for her all her days. She didn't even know me. Never
gave me a thought. And she's just going to be ashamed
of herself and glory in her Redeemer. Now that's salvation. You see, it's all about the Son.
God did everything for His Son. God loves His Son. He that hath
the Son hath life. Maybe somebody in here hadn't
heard this. It's one of the best illustrations I've ever heard.
Maybe you haven't. If you have, you'll love hearing
it again. There was a rich man with a vast estate. years ago,
a vast estate. He was very rich in houses and
lands and he had priceless works of art and just treasures throughout
his home and everywhere. A rich man. He had one son. He
had only begotten one son that he loved dearly. an obedient
son, a loving son, a son who served him well, and he loved
that son, and he had bequeathed everything to that son. He was
going to be the heir. Well, the son went off to war
to fight for his country, his people, and he died. The son
died. Well, the rich man had a painting
made of his son. He loved his son. He had all
these priceless, so-called priceless works of art by Renoir and Degas
and Monet and Picasso and all these, you know, Rembrandt, all
these hanging all over his wall. But he had this picture of his
son, whom he loved supremely, the heir of everything. He had
it put over the fireplace, over the mantel, where he could behold
the son all the time, whom he loved dearly. And the title of
that picture was The Son. Well, the old man died. The father
died. And since there was no heir,
they auctioned off the estate. And the man gave all the orders
of what was to take place in the auction. And so they came
from far and wide, came from all over the world to this auction
of this vast estate of this rich man, to auction off all these
riches and all these priceless paintings. And people were there
from all over the world to attend this auction in hope of getting
one of these priceless paintings. Well, the auction began and the
auctioneer said, He said, we're going to begin with the first
painting. And he brought out a painting.
It was covered with a cloth. It was hidden. A veil. And he unveiled it. And it was the sun. And he put
it on that easel there under a bright shining light for all
to see. He said, who wants the sun? Who will bid for the sun? And
I went. The auction is for the sun. Who
will have the sun? And somebody said, we don't want
that. Bring on the Rembrandts. Bring
on the Picassos. Who needs that? Bring on these
other paintings. A little few minutes went by
until finally an old man in the back spoke up. He said, I'll take the sun. I'll
give $1,000. And he wasn't very rich. It turns
out he was a servant of the old man in that estate. He was a
faithful servant who loved the son. He knew the son. He watched
the son grow up and he admired the son. He loved the son like
he loved the father whom he served. And that old servant said, I'll
take the son. And he bid everything he had for that son. And the
auctioneer said, sold to that man. And then the auctioneer,
and the people said, okay, get on with the rest of it. He said,
no. The auctioneer said, the auction's over. As the father stipulated in the
will, that whoever got the son, got everything. He that hath the Son. Are you
interested in Jesus Christ? Do you want Jesus Christ? Do you love Jesus Christ? See,
not as I should, but do you need Jesus Christ? Do you believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you want to know Him? Do you
want to love Him? You know, here's my advice, my
counsel to everyone in here, all of us. Ask. Ask. In the Song of Solomon,
the woman, and that's a whole progression, Song of Solomon
of the beloved and his bride, and you know, she at first, she
was lazy and sleepy and she lost him and so forth. Well, you know,
the Lord said, ask and you'll receive. She asked, do you know
where my beloved is? That's what she said. Do you
know where he is? And they said, well, he's down in his garden,
feeding among the lilies. That's where you'll find him.
Seek. And the Lord said, you'll find. She went there. She went down
to that garden, looking for him. Knock, he said. And he opened. I want in. Let me tell you. Ask. Lord, I want to know Christ. I want to believe Christ. Seek. Read. Pray. Listen. Knock. Would you let me in? Can I come
in? Can I be in your kingdom? Oh,
he delights. He delights to receive all that
come to God by him. Look at all these things again.
We're talking about the Son. He had the Son and His inheritance
in Christ. It's all because of Him. Verse
3, blessed and heavenly places in Christ. He chose us in Christ. Chose us in Christ, that is,
we're His bride. We're going to be His everlasting
companions. Predestined in the adoption of
children by Jesus Christ, that is, predestined to be just like
Him. I had one daughter and we love
her dearly. We wouldn't change a thing about
her. We just love her. If we had another one, I wouldn't
mind if another one would be just like her. Well, God's son. It's altogether lovely. And it's
His predestined purpose to make every single child of His just
like Jesus Christ. Do you want that? Is that what
you want? Are you tired of that old person
that you've been carrying around all these years? Do you want
that person dead and gone? Do you want to wake up and walk
in a newness, a new creature, just like Jesus Christ? Do you?
That's love for the Son. That's admiration for the Son.
You want to be like Him. You want to be with Him. Look
at verse 6. You're accepted in the Belief.
Accepted. Old Mephibosheth knew why he
was sitting at Solomon's table, didn't he? David's table. He knew why he was there. We
all heard that again, didn't we? It was an Australian accent. Could you ever hear that enough?
That's us, isn't it? The bishop never got over the
fact he's sitting there with the greatest man on earth at
his table as one of his sons. What did he do? Nothing. Why
is he there? Jonathan's sake. Ask any saint
and glory, why are you here? For Christ's sake. Does it hurt you to hear this
world take His name? You hear people say, oh, for
Christ's sake. Oh, man. They just don't know, do they?
Boy, we do, don't we? It's only for Christ's sake that
God doesn't smite them and kill them right there. Would you take
that if they were doing that with your child's name? It wouldn't
take you very long. God is long-suffering. Some of
these blasphemers, like Saul of Tarsus, some of these blasphemers,
He makes them love the Son. Praise His name. Verse 7, we
have redemption through His blood. The Son laid down His life that
these worthless, no good prodigal sons might live. The forgiveness
of sins. That interest anybody? Forgiveness
of sins. Why does He forgive us? For Christ's
sake. For Christ's sake. the riches
of His grave, bounded toward us in wisdom and prudence. The
dealings with us are just amazing. He's made known unto us the mystery
of His will according to His good pleasure, the purpose He
made in Himself before the world began. Here it is, that He might
gather in one. And when it's all over, He's
going to gather together in one all things in Christ, in heaven
and earth. All things, even in Him. This gathering, some of you went to the conference,
you know, in Kingsport. Did you enjoy that? What did
you enjoy about it? Food? That was good food, wasn't
it? What if they hadn't served any? The food was upstairs. Really
good food. And it was good, wasn't it? Oh,
what was it? The bread of life. The word of
life, Christ. Christ. You know, we have a Bible
conference every Sunday and Wednesday. Same exact meal served. God's
people gather together, and we worship the Son, don't we? If
God is pleased to bless us, there's nothing like it. Nowhere I'd
rather be. I've been coming here a long
time now. I still look forward to it. I don't look forward to
preaching per se, but I look forward to meeting with you and
worshiping, singing these hymns and hearing about our Lord. I
really do. I really do. And he's gathered
together, and in glory, he's going to gather everybody together
in Christ. In Christ. And verse 11, in Christ
we've obtained an inheritance predestinated according to the
purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his
will, that we should be the praise of his glory. In inheritance. And go on, it says, in Christ
you trusted after you heard the word of truth. We don't know
Christ until we hear the gospel, the gospel of our salvation.
And we believe on Him. It says He gave us the Holy Spirit. We're sealed. I like that. Don't you? Sealed. That means God made a covenant,
He said, and signed this covenant. And Christ came and ratified
this covenant with His blood. And the Holy Spirit sealed His
people. They're shut up to faith. They're
in cry. He brings them and puts them
in cry. And they never get out. Like Noah and his family in that
ark. They can never get out. And it just remains for it to
be delivered. Signed, sealed, delivered. It
says down in verse 14, till the perch is possession. Till Christ
comes for those He died for. But let's look just a few more
minutes at this earnest of our inheritance. It says the Holy
Spirit is the Spirit of promise that He sends to those who love
the Son, who have the Son, and He's the earnest of our inheritance. Earnest. What does that mean?
Well, earnest means a pledge. It means a token. It means something
that's given to you. a portion of what is to come,
just a small portion, something gold or silver or whatever
it is, a small portion of some vast treasure that's to be yours,
okay? Alright, we, the Holy Spirit
comes through the preaching of the gospel, we preach in part,
we know in part, we have this treasure in earthen vessels. I'm trying my best right now
to glorify Jesus Christ, but none of us have seen Him with
these eyes. I'm trying my best to glorify
Him and honor Him and tell you who He is and what He's done. And I want you to love Him, but I
can't. With man, it's impossible. But
the Holy Spirit does. He does. Only He can. And He
gives us a little glimpse, a little foretaste of glory divine, a
little pledge, a little earnest of this inheritance. And as said,
It's those who love the Son, those who love for Christ right
now, those who love to worship Him, those who love to hear the
Gospel, those who love to sing His praise, those who love this
right now are going to be with Him in glory someday, doing it
perfectly. If someone on this earth, I don't
care what they profess, if they didn't want to be with God's
people, worshiping God and rejoicing in Christ, they're not going
to be there. They're not going to be there. Alright, so I want you to turn
and show you something. Isaiah 65. Just a few scriptures. And then I'll close. Okay? Heaven is for those who love
Christ. Heaven is all about worshipping
Jesus Christ. Isaiah 65. Now, no doubt, you
know, there's going to be a new heaven and a new earth. And no
doubt, it's going to be a material earth. Okay? Perhaps similar to this one,
only infinitely greater. He said it's going to be so great
that the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.
This earth still retains some glory. It's still amazing. It
really is. It still shows His handiwork.
But the new heaven, And no doubt it'll be more beautiful than
this one and a material creation and things will be that we'll
eat and drink. Our Lord said that. We'll eat
and drink in the Kingdom of Heaven. But we won't be doing those things
out of need. We won't have the flesh. The
flesh lusts for flesh, for things. The flesh needs these things.
The flesh wants these things. The flesh craves these things.
The flesh desires these things and can never get enough of these
things. And the flesh lusts against the Spirit. The Spirit wants
heavenly things. The Spirit wants God, wants Christ,
wants holiness. The flesh doesn't want any of
that. And we're not going to have this flesh to contend with. But we won't be eating because
we need to eat. You understand? It'll be the finest
food ever prepared. But we'll eat it, so that's good.
Look at him. When you go to eat with those
you love, do you go there for the food? You go there for the fellowship.
You go there to be with them, don't you? If the food's bad,
that's okay. If there's no food, it's okay.
So, you see, there's no need for these things, no consuming
desire, but God gives us all things richly to enjoy. But God's
people enjoy Him. Look at Isaiah 65, verse 17. Behold, I create new heavens
and a new earth. The former shall not be remembered,
nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice forever
in that which I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem
a rejoicing, and her people a joy. Rejoicing in what? Joying in what? Joying in the
Lord. Rejoicing in the Lord. That's
what Philippians 3 says. This is the true circumcision
that worship God in the Spirit. We don't have all these trappings
of religion, do we? We don't come here to see the
choir. We don't come here to see the building. We don't come here to do anything
but see the sun. They worship God in the Spirit,
from the heart, by the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus. What God's people say is, get
to the Son quickly. Get to the Son. That's who we
want to see. And have no confidence in the flesh. Get this flesh
out of here. I create a new people rejoicing
and joy. And look at verse 19. What does
God rejoice in? I will rejoice in Jerusalem and
joy in my people. These are the ones I love. You
know why God brings your loved ones home, those that know Him?
You know why God took your beloved husband home, your beloved father
home? He said, bring my son home. I want to rejoin. They'll say,
want? How do we say it? God said, I
love you more than you do. And it's time for him to be with
me. That's the reason. And you're going to be, you're
right behind me. Right behind me. And the voice of weeping shall
be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying." It's like
when the Beloved is gone, weeping and crying, but when you see
Him and be with Him, there'll be no more partying over there. Look at Revelation 7. Revelation
7. You know these verses. In light of this inheritance
and this... Oh, my. Let's see if you want to be here.
Let's see what they're doing in heaven. John was there. He
said, who are these people? What are they doing? He saw heaven
open. Verse 9, I beheld a great multitude,
no make a number, of all nations, kindreds, and people, and tongues,
You know, we heard Brother Angus Fisher from Australia preach,
and he has a funny accent. He speaks the same language. What was he saying? He was speaking
about Christ. We understood him completely.
They're in a different language. You can be from New York or North
Carolina. Look, look, look at this, poles
apart. We all speak the same language. We all have the same
love. We're here because one person
brought us here. And we love him. That's why we're
here. See, that's earnest. That's how
you know you'll be there. What were they doing? Verse 9.
They stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed
with white robes and palms in their hand, cried with a loud
voice, Salvation to our God! He sits on the throne, and unto
the Lamb. Verse 12, Amen. Don't you love
to say Amen? Something blesses you. I love
to hear it. By the way, I'm hard of hearing, so if you say it,
say it louder. I need to hear it more than anybody. That means, amen say, that's
the way it is. Amen, so be it. Amen means, that's
the way I like it. It's so. Amen. Let the amen sound from his people
again. Everybody can say that, male
and female, old and young. Amen. Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honor and power might be unto our God forever
and ever. Amen. One of the elders said
unto me, what are these that are arrayed in these white rows?
Where did they come from? What are they doing here? How
did they get here? I said, sir, you know. Tell me.
He said in verse 14, these are they which came out of great
tribulation. Like the children of Israel going
through the wilderness. They've washed their robes and
made them white in the blood of the Lamb. That's why they're
here. And they're before the throne of God. What are they
doing? Serving Him day and night in
His temple. Does that interest you? And he
that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall
hunger no more. Thirst no more. Neither shall
the sun light on them. The Lamb, verse 17, is in the
midst of the throne, shall feed them, lead them, a fountain of
waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. I'm here. That's what He's going
to say. He said, I'll never leave you.
And you don't have to leave here. Tell me, do you sometimes enjoy
this so much that you don't want to leave? Not always, I know
that. But sometimes you think, oh,
I wish we could just stay right here. I remember when the Lord
first dealt with me, reading the book of Acts, chapter 2,
and all of them, they said they were all together and had all
things common. I thought, that'd be good. They weren't living together.
There's no place that could have held all those people. But wouldn't
that be wonderful? We can't do it now because we're
sinners. We're male and female. We're
sinners. And after a while, we get on
each other's nerves. We just would. But not there. No male, no female, no sin. We're all just like Jesus Christ. A land wherein dwelleth righteousness. No jealousy, no envy, no hatred,
no malice, only love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, meekness,
Christ. Does that appeal to you? One more scripture, Ephesians
5. You see, this relationship with Christ is a marriage. That's
what it is. And I'm going to quote this,
Kara, at your wedding. I always do. Are you looking
forward to that? I wish everybody could see her
face right now. Wait until you see our faces. I was going to
read Revelation 19. Blessed are they that are called
to the marriage supper of the Lamb, We're all going to look
just like her face. It says in verse 31, For this
cause a man leave his father and mother, leave them, and join
unto his wife. That's what Christ did. That's
what the Bridegroom did. And that too shall be in one
place. It's a great mystery, he said, but I speak concerning
Christ and the Church. Marriage is union, isn't it?
Two become one. What brings them together? Love. Love. They love each other, don't
they? They live, they want to live
with each other forever. That's why you get married. You
love that person, you fall in love with that person, they love
you, and you want to live with them. You don't want to leave
them. You want to go to bed and wake up with them, and walk with
them, talk with them, and commune with them, and eat with them,
and drink with them, don't you? Don't you? In the beginning,
you don't care if you had a house. Me and I lived on a little 400
square foot duplex. Our landlord lived right
next door to us. Just a wall between us. We didn't
care. We had each other. Living on love. Seriously. Didn't you? He didn't need anything. Man, he wasn't the greatest cook
in the world. I don't care. Seriously. When you first meet
Christ, what do you need? Nothing. What happens? What gets
in the way? Things. Stuff. Separates people. Strife. Division. worries and cares,
and paying for this, and causes strife, and pulls people apart. The only thing to hold together
is love. Love. And see, finally, you get
older, and you finally get older, you come back and realize, I
need one thing. I need one thing. I need one
person. I'm the only step. It's just been a hindrance to
me. It's been a trouble to me. Food
and rain, that's all I need. But I sure need Christ more than
anything else. That's love. When you come back,
we all lose our first love. Every one of us. We go out to
thank. And we all become rich and increased with goods and
have need of nothing and become lukewarm. And all those things
that the people did in the churches. We do it, don't we? But bless
God. He loves us. And if we truly
love Him and He's given us the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit
will bring us back. And we'll realize. I've got it all. I've got Christ. That's who I need. Okay, stand
with me.