Inheritance

Q: What does the Bible say about inheritance?

The Bible speaks of inheritance as a gift from God, primarily referring to eternal life and communion with Him. In Ephesians 1:11 and 18, the Apostle Paul emphasizes that believers have obtained an inheritance through their union with Christ. This inheritance is not merely about material wealth; instead, it encompasses everlasting life, rich fellowship with God, and the ultimate fulfillment of His promises. The concept of inheritance is rooted in the idea of being chosen and predestined by God, illustrating that our rightful status as heirs comes from His grace and purpose.

Q: How do we know eternal life is true?

Eternal life is assured through God's promises in Scripture, particularly through faith in Christ. Eternal life, as discussed in John 11 and Matthew 19, is affirmed through the teachings of Jesus, who identifies Himself as the embodiment of life (John 14:6). This eternal life is characterized not just by its duration but by its essence—an intimate relationship with God, which we can begin to experience now through faith. The Holy Spirit serves as a guarantee, assuring believers of this promise (Ephesians 1:13-14). Our confidence in the truth of eternal life stems from Christ's death and resurrection, which secured our inheritance.

Q: Why is knowing our inheritance important for Christians?

Understanding our inheritance empowers Christians to live with hope and assurance in God's promises. Knowing our inheritance is important for Christians as it influences how we live in the present. In Ephesians 1:18, Paul prays that believers might grasp the hope of their calling and the riches of their inheritance. This knowledge fuels our faith and shapes our identity as children of God, providing comfort in trials and inspiration for holy living. Moreover, it encourages us to pursue a relationship with Christ, as our ultimate inheritance is found in Him, leading to a life of fulfillment and joy, both now and in eternity.

Q: How is our inheritance obtained according to the Bible?

Our inheritance is obtained through God's predestining grace and the redemptive work of Christ. According to Ephesians 1:11, our inheritance is obtained in Christ through the sovereign choice of God, highlighting the doctrine of predestination. Just as a child inherits from a parent by birthright, believers inherit from God as His adopted children, not through personal merit but by His grace. Moreover, Hebrews 9:15 illustrates that this inheritance comes at the cost of Christ's death, making Him the mediator of the New Covenant, thus securing for us the promise of eternal life and fellowship with God.

Q: What is the role of the Holy Spirit in our inheritance?

The Holy Spirit acts as the earnest or guarantee of our inheritance, assuring us of God's complete promise. In Ephesians 1:13-14, the Holy Spirit is described as the earnest of our inheritance. This means He is a deposit or a guarantee of the promises God has made to us. The Holy Spirit not only assures us of our status as children of God but also enables us to experience the foretaste of what is to come—joy, peace, and a deeper relationship with Christ. As we walk in the Spirit, we grow in our understanding of our inheritance and become more attuned to the future glory that awaits us.

Ephesians chapter 1, while reading
through Ephesians 1, there was one word in this that kept my attention. It caught my attention. And after reading it, looking up in the concordance,
I found that this one word is found 28 more times. It's found three times in the
first chapter, and then found 28 more times in the New Testament. And that word is found in verse
11. Look at verse 11. It says, In
whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated. An inheritance. Look at verse
14. Talking about the Holy Spirit,
which is the earnest of our inheritance. Inheritance. This kept, caught
my attention. And as I kept reading this, and
like I said, it's found 28 more times in the New Testament, the
word inheritance or some form of the word. All right. Verses 15 through 18 will serve
as a text, though. So let's read those again. And
needless to say, the title of the subject of our message this
morning is inheritance, our inheritance. Look at verses 15 through 18
again. Wherefore, and Paul is writing
this, and this is a prayer. He says, after I heard of your
faith, which is a gift, it's a gift of God. in the Lord Jesus
and love. And that's a gift to that he
sheds abroad in the hearts of his people. He says to these
thesians and all saints that I heard of your faith in the
Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints. Which is proof that
faith. He says, I cease not to give
thanks for you. I cease not to give thanks for
you making mention of you in my prayers. praying for you,
and this is what he prays, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom that
you might know some things, some one, and revelation that he might
truly reveal to you or in you. the knowledge of him, that you
might know God, might know Christ. Verse 18, and that the eyes of
your understanding, your innermost understanding, your being, being
enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling. Right now it's a hope. Someday
it will give way to reality. But right now, it is a hope. But it's a good hope. It's a
sure hope. And this is what Paul is saying
here. I want you to know what this hope is. This hope of His
calling, this good hope, this sure hope, this certain hope
that will someday give way to reality. He says, I want you
to know, it's my prayer that you might know what this hope
is, who this hope is, And, look at this, what the riches of the
glory of his inheritance is with the saints when the saints go
marching in. I know that's an old used and
abused song, but it's true. That's what Paul is saying. When the saints go marching in. That train, that heavenly train
of saints, go marching in behind their king in his train. And they fill that temple. Paul
says, I want you to know something about that now. I want you to
experience that now. Now, the inheritance. All right,
let's look at this inheritance. I have three points, very easy
to remember and very easy to take notes. What is this inheritance? First of all, what is it? Secondly,
how is it obtained? How do we get this inheritance?
And thirdly, what is this earnest of the inheritance? All right.
What is this inheritance? What is this inheritance he's
talking about? We'll look over at Matthew chapter
19. Matthew chapter 19. What is this
inheritance? Matthew 19. Now if I were to
announce publicly, say I were to go on the radio or television
and announce this morning that certain, that a certain or certain
individuals, certain people had been left
a vast fortune in houses, in and in money. I will go on TV
this morning or radio and announce that certain individuals have
been left a vast, vast fortune in houses, land, and money. And if anyone is interested in
knowing if that is them, show up at the Central Baptist Church. This building and the parking
lot wouldn't hold. the people, would it? This part of the county wouldn't
hold the people, would it? Look at Matthew 19. Well, that
is not the inheritance that I'm announcing this morning. Matthew
19, verse 29, Christ says, Everyone that hath forsaken houses, or
brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife or children
or lands for my name's sake shall receive an hundredfold and shall
inherit everlasting life." Everlasting life is what this
inheritance is. Well, many people might say,
well, I'm interested in living forever. Yeah, that sounds good
to me. I'm interested in living forever. But that's not what eternal life
means. Living forever, we do, we will. Scripture seems to indicate that
some will live in eternal death. Right? Not eternal life, but
eternal death. Where the worm dieth not. Hell. Most people are interested
in heaven, life after death. Most people believe in some sort
of life after death and are interested in heaven and are really more
interested in heaven being a continuation of what we're doing right now. a kind of a carnal utopia, you
know, a life of endless pleasures, limitless fleshly pleasures. Most people are interested in
that. Turn over to John chapter 11 with me. But the Lord seemed
to indicate that that's not it. He talks about leaving houses
and land, doesn't he? And he said you will inherit
eternal life. Eternal life. Eternal life is
this inheritance. And this eternal life is not
merely the length of it, but it is the essence of it. Now
listen to me, and you need to determine whether or not this
is what you want. If this is the inheritance you're looking
forward to. and will have. It's not the length of it, but
it's the quality of it. Eternal life. In John 11, look
at what the Lord says to Martha. Now, Martha and Mary were two
sisters whose brother had died, a brother named Lazarus. You
know the story. And they were distraught. They
were upset. Their brother had died. We're upset, we're saddened
when someone we love dies. And Martha, as soon as she heard
that Jesus was coming, verse 21, she came running and met
him and said unto Jesus, verse 21, Lord, if thou hadst been
here, my brother had not died. But I know that even now, whatsoever
you will ask of God, God will give it to you. Jesus said unto her, Thy brother
shall rise again. Martha said unto him, Well, I
know he'll rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the
resurrection and the life. I am life. Why would you want to call him
back to this dead place? I am life. In another place,
in John 1, verse 4, it says this, in him was life. And the life was the light of
the world. It was manifest. He said to Thomas
over in John 14, 6, Thomas said, we don't know where you're going.
Where are you going? You're leaving us. Why are you
going? You say, I'm going to prepare
a place for it. Well, we don't know the way you're going or
where you're going or what you're going. We don't know. Thomas,
I am the way. It's not a where, it's a who.
I am the truth. You know me, you know the truth.
I am the life, the life. It says over in 1 John chapter
1, it says, listen to this, listen to these verses, listen as I
read them. That which was from the beginning, which we have
heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked
upon and our hands have handled, of the word of life For the life,
the life, was manifested. And we've seen it. Life. We've seen it. And bear witness
and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father
and was manifested unto us. That life. We've seen it. We've handled life. and declare unto you that you
also may have fellowship with us." Know something about this.
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened. You may know
truly our fellowship that life is with the Father and with his
Son. This is, can one of our young
people quote that? Could they quote it if I asked
one of them to do it? John 17, 3. Would I embarrass
somebody Jennifer's hanging her head. I'll quote it. I'll leave
you alone. But they know it. They've been
taught it. This is eternal life, that they
may know Thee, the only true, Rebecca, you remember? The only
true God and Jesus. This is life. This is life. Real living. This is living the
life of God in Christ, living with and enjoying God. Living with and enjoying God. Before God created it, Steve,
before God created anything, before he created the heavens
The sun, the moon, the stars, the earth, man. There was God,
right? In the beginning, God. The sun,
the Father, the Spirit, God. And they were happy. They didn't
have anything. What do you mean? That's life. That's living. I'm going to try to explain that.
I don't think it's something you really can explain. I think
it's something we have to experience, because it holds no enticement
for those who haven't experienced it. See what I'm saying? Life is enjoying God. Adam. Adam in the garden. Adam didn't
have, as Brother Bell would say, didn't have a TV set, didn't
have a radio, didn't have a car. What else is there? Didn't have
any clothes. Didn't have a house? Then what
else is there that we think is really living? He's living a
good life. What else is there? Anything. What? Somebody say something. I don't know. He didn't have
nothing. What'd he have? God. He was living. He was alive unto
God, wasn't he? That's all he needed. That's
all he needed. Turn back to Ephesians 1. Now,
living with, this is eternal life. Now read it again. Verse 17 and 18. He says, I want
you to know now, this is my prayer, that God will give you the spirit
of wisdom, real wisdom, that you might really know something. What? Well, that it might be
revealed to you this wisdom, this something you need. What
is it? The knowledge of Him. Know Him. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened. That you may know the hope of
His calling, Him calling you. What does it mean? Him calling
you to Himself, to life. I mean, what the riches of this
glory of this inheritance is going to be with the saint. Life. What it's going to be like to
really live someday. We need to start living now.
That's what he's saying. We need to start living now.
That's his prayer. Life. The inheritance. The inheritance. Here it is now.
Let me see if you're interested. I'm going to look at your faces.
what we get. This is the inheritance that
all Christians get, all believers get. You get to live forever
with Jesus Christ. Enjoy Him. Now, the only way
that I can illustrate this is like two lovers. You remember, don't you? Don't
you, Henry? What it was like a hundred years
ago? Back when you met that young, dark-haired woman, young lady,
no, dark-haired, beautiful, you just smitten, weren't you? Smitten. Taken by. You didn't care what kind of
car you drove, what kind of clothes you wear. You didn't care about anything
with her, did you? Smitten, taken by her. She said,
that's my beloved. And she said, and he's my beloved.
My beloved is mine, and I'm his, and that's all we need. And that's
how you started, pretty much, wasn't it? When you got married,
wasn't that pretty much how you started? Didn't own a home. Didn't, your car was about broken
down. Some of them are still that way.
But you've got each other, you had each other, and your parish
kind of dissuades you, don't marry him, or don't marry her,
or get you a house first, get you a good car, get you a good
job. No, I've got to have her, I don't need all those, I need
her. That's the only way I can describe this, what it means. And you know, you started living
then, didn't you? As a young boy, kicking up your
oats and all that. So, when you're kicking up your
heels, you thought you were living, didn't you? Oh, I'm living now,
until you met her. You fell for her, and you all
joined in that vital union, that consummation of it, and just,
oh, the ecstasy. And later, the agony. But I'm
talking about that sweetheart, first felt, first found love. what it's going to be like for
an eternity, unending, unbridled, unspeakable, indescribable joy with Christ. He'll just get more and more
lovely to you. You just spend it all with him
in eternity. Does that interest you? That's
what you get. That's what all people going
to heaven get. Now, if I said that, if I said,
if I announced that publicly, well, we'd have, this is all
we'd have. Right here is, however many people, 40 people here.
Listen to this hymn. The hymn writer, I think she
knew, he, Charles, I think he knew what he wanted. When all my labors and trials
are o'er. and I am safe on that beautiful
shore, just to be near the dear Lord I adore, will through the
ages be glory for me. Oh, that will be glory for me. Glory for me. Glory for me. When by his grace I shall look
on his face, that will be glory. be glory for me. Friends will
be there I've loved long ago, that's fine. Joy like a river
around me will flow, yet just a smile from my Savior I know
will through the ages be glory for me." Fannie Crosby, that
blind hymn writer, said, when I look on his face, face to face,
that will be heaven for me. That will be glory. And you know,
I said a while ago, most people are interested in heaven. They
feel like what they want is heaven to be a continuation of what
they enjoy doing here. You know, that's what it is.
It's exactly what it is. It's a continuation of what you
enjoy doing here. Those that enjoy worshiping Christ
will be in heaven worshiping Christ. Those that enjoy hearing
the gospel, they're going to hear it like they've never heard
it before. Those that enjoy fellowship with the saints, there's going
to be a party, a feast, a fellowship, an unbroken time of fellowship. Never end. In heaven. But there's more. There's more. That's the cake.
And here's the icing on it. You know, we get the cake and
get to eat it, too. Revelation 21. But, you know,
I'm not trying to entice anybody with heaven by these things.
This won't be the enticement. The enticement better be Christ. Right? That's right. That's right. Revelation 21,
look at it. Just as God blessed Abraham. You remember when Abraham and
Lot came to the hill, and the promised land was there, and
Abraham being a man of God, he offered Lot, he said, you take
whatever you want. And Lot, I'll take what's left.
How could he do that? Jeanette Abraham did all the
work. Lot was a no good, worthless
nephew, wasn't he? He didn't do anything, Ed, did
he? He didn't even deserve being on this. You'd see it later on. But Abraham said, Go ahead, Lot.
You take whatever you want. I'll take whatever's left. How
could he say that? Huh? He had all he needed, that's
how. That's how he said that. And
later, you know, he later, he got to feeling sorry for himself,
didn't he? Later he said, maybe I shouldn't have done that. Maybe
I should have just gave the lot, the backside, you know, 40 acres,
and I keep some of those well-watered plants. What a lot to get, Henry.
He got the well-watered plain, but he got burned up in the process,
didn't he? And the Lord came to Abraham
in Genesis 15 and said, Abraham, what are you pouting about? What
are you pouting about, Abraham? Well, Lot got, and I'm roaming
around on these old mountains. I'm trying to, I'm a rocky mountain,
trying to get all these rocks out of the soil. Every time I
dig, there's a rock in these mountains. Lord, what do I, Abraham. I am thy portion. You get me? Oh, Lord. And that's what David
said, wasn't he, when he was envious? He said, I was a fool.
I was a fool. I forgot. I forgot. How could I be so foolish? I
forgot. There's only one thing needful
anyway. Revelation 21. But, you know, just like God
gave Abraham himself, later on, John, God gave Abraham He was
a rich man, wasn't he? He gave him a lot. Just like
God gave Solomon, remember, he offered, remember Terry, he offered
Solomon anything, anything you want, make a wish. Solomon said,
I need wisdom. I need wisdom. I think that's
how he could write Proverbs 8, wasn't it John? Get wisdom. Christ's wisdom. Oh, he had wisdom. God gave him that. But, and God
gave him, oh my, what did God give Solomon? Well, God the Father
gives us, his adopted children, all things with Christ. All this and Christ too. Look
at it. Revelation 21, verse 7. He that
overcometh. shall inherit all things," or
all these things. And he'd been describing some
things in heaven. He that overcometh shall inherit
all these things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my
Son. These things. What are these
things? Well, I've already told you, it's life, it's Christ,
you get Christ is what you get. What about he that overcometh?
Well, John said, whatever is born of God, overcometh the world. And this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh
the world? He that believeth Jesus is the
Son of God. So he that believes Christ is
the overcomer. He that believes Christ shall
inherit all things, all things given to us, given to us. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things?" All things given to us are those
who are found in Christ, accepted in the Beloved. What are those
things? What are these other things that
we get? We get Christ now, and that ought
to be enticement enough. All things are the love of God. Acceptance with God, and this
is not all, this is just a few. Pardon by God, honor with God,
glory, we get to behold his glory, we get to bask in it, we get
to bask in it. All the things, the kingdom,
the scripture says that, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven, there's
never been a kingdom, there's never been a place, wrap up all
the glories, all the beauty, all the excellency of all the
kingdoms, the Babylonians, the Romans, the Medes and the Persians,
David, Solomon's kingdom, all the kingdoms ever on earth, wrap
them all up and they wouldn't even shine in comparison to the
beauty of that kingdom and the riches. and the glory of that
kingdom. And he says we'll be heirs or
have an inheritance of that kingdom. We'll be able to come. He's made
us kings and priests, princes unto God, to come and go in the
kingdom. Everything at our disposal. What's
that? Everything! What does God have?
He has cattle on a thousand hills, all the gold and silver. We don't
need those things. We won't need those things, but
everything, all right? Everything, the kingdom. Now,
I've already said that the primary thing is Him. Did you read that
in Revelation 21? He said, I'll be their God. I'll be their God. God will dwell
with them. Look over at verse 2. There. Are you in chapter 21, Revelation
22? Or 21, verse 2? John, I, John, saw the holy city,
New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven. All right,
here's the new city of God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, here
it is! Zion, what you been waiting for?
The tabernacle of God is with men now, and he's with them. He will dwell with them. Who's
he? Oh, my. Who is he? He it is. Who is he? Who is this? in whom we live and move and
have our being. And it says, He will dwell with
them, and they'll be his people. God himself shall be with them
and be their God. And then the rest of it is just
gravy. That's the biscuit. The rest
of it is gravy. I've said before that the reason
I believe the streets are going to be gold is to show our disdain
of it. Men fight and kill over gold
now, don't they? That's all it means anything
to them now. Well, up there we're going to be walking on the streets
of it to show that it's a big deal. Do we really get taken with and enamored with
asphalt? Y'all excited about asphalt? I reckon Jenny would. If they just had a little bit
of it. John would. I was out on his road the other
day and I sunk to my Man, streets of gold, walking
on it. Somebody's going to say, aren't those streets something?
Oh, I really hadn't thought about it. Yeah, they are, aren't they?
They're beautiful. What about those pearly gates?
Is that what those were made out of? Well, yeah, they're pretty.
I hadn't really given it much thought that somebody else, that
something else is taking my, isn't he pretty? Isn't he beautiful? Would you look at there? He's
calling you. Me? He wants an audience with
you. I don't know. Paul said, I went
there and he said, I heard things. He didn't even try to describe
them. But whatever is in the kingdom,
whatever God has, is ours. Vicki, to freely enjoy. And right now, the earth is ours
to freely enjoy. Using it, but not abusing it.
Don't make it your God. That's idolatry. Don't set your
affection on it. OK? All right. How do we obtain this inheritance?
The inheritance is life. The inheritance is The inheritance is the kingdom,
whatever that is. The inheritance is the earth.
He said, blessed are the meek that shall inherit the earth,
the new earth. And I think the earth, the new earth, will be
much like the old earth, except without sin. We'll be eating
and drinking and enjoying many of the things now, except without
sin. And I can't describe that. No
man can. But when Christ came down after
he rose from the grave, he came back. He had a body, didn't he?
He ate some food, didn't he? He said, give me something to
eat. He said, a spirit doesn't have flesh and bones, didn't
it? He ate something. He had a glorious
body, a glorified body, and he enjoyed being around. He stayed
for 40 days, didn't he? Stayed for 40 days, fellowshipping
with his... So that tells me that the new
earth is going to be Much like this one, except without sin.
And there's nothing wrong with this one. Except for sin, isn't
it? Except for sin. All right, how
do we obtain this inheritance? Well, look back at the text,
Ephesians 1. How do we obtain this inheritance?
Look at verse 11 again. It says, In Christ, also in him
in whom We have obtained an inheritance. How do you? Let me choose somebody
here. Let me just pick on my wife here.
My wife here, her father, when he dies, her father dies, he
may have left in his will an inheritance, right? Some things
for her, an inheritance for her. How does she get it? How did
she get this inheritance? By being a good girl? By working real hard to be in
her father's favor? By trying her best? By being moral and so forth?
How did she get it? She's her father's daughter.
She gets it by virtue of being her father's daughter. And she
didn't have anything to do with that, did she, Joe? Huh? She
didn't make her decision to be born, did she? And neither do
we. Neither do we. God made that
decision. He decided who was going to be
in his family. That's what all of Ephesians
1 is about, isn't it, Terry? He decided. That's what predestination
is. As I've said before, it's planned
parenthood by God Almighty. It's God Almighty saying, I'm
going to have a family. I've got one son, I have one
boy, one only begotten, well beloved. Oh, he's a beauty. God
said about his son, oh, he's a beauty. And God decided one
day that he would have a whole family, just like that boy. Isn't it? We'll have a whole
lot of them. And they're all going to have
to be like him, because I'm not going to settle for second best from
here on out, after you've had the best. You won't settle for
less. And so God said, I'm going to
have a whole family just like him. I'm going to elect, I'm
going to choose a people. And he did, Joe. He chose a people
before they were ever born, before the children had done any good
or evil that the purpose of God according to election might stand.
Romans 9-11. He chose a people. Election. And he put them in Christ. Put
them in Christ. He found them in Christ. They
were accepted in the Beloved. They were predestinated to be
conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Chosen by God. That's
how we get this inherited. Chosen by God. Adoption. Talks about it. We're made heirs
by a spirit of adoption. Adoption. Christ was the only
begotten Son of God. We're adopted. I know at least
one person in here who knows something about adoption. And
he was mighty glad that somebody chose him. Being without parents. Mighty glad that somebody chose
him. He didn't have any problem with adoption. Has he? He's thankful
for adoption. And so is this old sinner. Huh? I'm not the child of God by nature.
I'm a child of wrath, even as others. Aren't you, Terry? I'm
mighty thankful for adoption. that one day God Almighty chose
me out of the mass of humanity. He didn't have to choose anybody.
Praise God, He included me. He adopted me. Now, I'm not going
to get mad and argue over the fact that He didn't choose somebody
else. I'm just going to praise Him from here on out that He
chose me, adopted me, and made me one of the family. Adoption. And the new birth. Peter said,
this is a mystery. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us." That's the new birth. Christ said you must
be born from above. Except a man, a woman, be born
from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God. He can't get
in it. Except a man be born of water and spirit. That is, born
the first time of your mother. You know when a water breaks
and you come out? That's born of water. Physical birth, the
first time you have to be born, it would be a human being. Well,
God will save you. He didn't save the angels. He
saves humans. Born the first time and of spirit,
of water and of spirit. Born the first time, born the
second time. Born by His Spirit, by the Word, and that's a mystery.
That also means born of water and spirit, born of the Word
of God, which is the water of His Word, and born by the Spirit
taking that word and washing you, bathing you, giving birth
to you. We also get this inheritance
not only by adoption, by God's choice, by adoption, by birth,
but look over Hebrews 9 with me. Now hurry. Hebrews chapter
9. Thirdly, we get this inheritance,
Hebrews 9, look at verse 15. Hebrews 9, 15. We get this by being sons or
daughters of God. We don't have anything to do
with that. God chooses us, gives us faith in Christ. But it also
comes by death. It comes by birth, by choice. It comes by birth. It comes by
death. Right? You get an inheritance,
John, you're not going to get it until your daddy dies. Or
your mom would die, whoever it is that gives you inheritance.
You don't get it until they die, are you? Well, there was a death
that was necessary for our inheritance. Look at verse 15. For this cause,
Christ is the mediator of the New Testament, that by means
of death, for the redemption of the transgressions, they that
were under the First Testament, laws, they which are called might
receive the promise of eternal inheritance. Where a testament
is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
Death. All the blessings of God come,
are bestowed upon us, come to us because God's Son died. Because he died. Died on Calvary's
tree. He's the firstborn He's called
the heir of all things. We're called joint heirs with
Him. Joint heirs. And everything is bestowed upon
us because Christ died. The firstborn died. And the Scripture says, God hath
chosen our inheritance for us. David said, lines fell into me
in pleasant places. He chose it for me. Christ. You get Christ. I've told you
this before. That God gives people what they
want. And like I said, heaven will
be a continuation of what you enjoy doing here. God gives people
what they want. You want God? Do you want Christ?
That's what you get. That's what you get. You want
the world? That's what you get. And what
the world gets. With the world. But we get Christ,
and God chooses our inheritance for us, and the lions fall in
pleasant places. We're going to see it someday.
And Christ, God chose us. Christ purchased it. This is
how we got this inheritance. Christ purchased it. He bought
the field. He bought the field with his
own blood. He bought the people, purchased with his own blood.
All right, last look. That's how we get the inheritance.
Inheritance is Christ in the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom
of earth and life. And how we get it is God chooses. God gives birth to us and Christ
died to obtain it. The purchase position. Look back
at the text now one more time. Look at it again one more time.
Ephesians one. Look at verse. Eleven. I mean, I'm sorry, verse 13. In whom in Christ you trusted
after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.
In whom in Christ also, after you believed, you were sealed
with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance. The Holy Spirit is the earnest
of our inheritance. All right, now listen. Give me
a couple minutes and I'll finish this. An earnest. If any of you have ever bought
property, you know what an earnest is, okay? Don't you? An earnest
is when you go to somebody and you give them like earnest money. Right? Have you ever given any
earnest money down on something? Have you? Like a down payment.
Earnest money, what it is more, it means more than that, this
word. Earnest money is something given
to show somebody, hey, I'm serious about this. And generally, it's
a big sum. Today, the down payment is higher
and higher than it's ever been. Some places charge 20% down payment
to buy something. That's a big lump, isn't it?
That's a big sum. And we give it to say, hey, I'm
serious, I'm going to buy this. I'm going to buy this property.
Here's the earnest. Here's the money. Here's a token. I'll be back to get the rest
later. And the earnest is God's spirit. Now, we're bought. We're
here. He said, you're not your own.
You're bought with a price. You're bought and paid for. I'm not
saying he put down a down payment. No, he bought and paid for. But
the Holy Spirit is an earnest given to us. Come on, I got blank
looks on faces here. Now, the Holy Spirit given to
us, and this is what Paul Barber is talking about there in Ephesians, that you
might know what this inheritance is. The Holy Spirit is the one
that makes you know. All right? I'm going to try to
explain it right here. The Holy Spirit is something
God gives to us to show us that, hey, you're mine. You're mine. You're bought with a price. You
inherit Christ. You get Christ. But you know,
the Scripture says that, Paul quoted it in 1 Corinthians, 2
Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 2, and it was in Isaiah 64, it says,
I hath not seen, neither hath ear heard, neither have entered
into the heart of man the things that God hath prepared for them
that love him. You see, if I could make you understand right now
what it means to inherit Christ, you wouldn't be sitting down
right now. If I could explain it to you,
this is the Holy Spirit, I can't do it. The Holy Spirit has to
make us experience it. It's an earnest. He tells us,
You get Christ. You are mine. I bought and paid
for. You're mine. You get life with
Christ for eternity. Some of you got a little glimmer
of that a while ago. Just a little glimmer. I saw a little glee
on your face. Just a little bit. That's the
work of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit says, You're
mine. You're bought and paid for. Wait
till you see what's coming. Wait till you see the rest. The
best is yet to come. And the Holy Spirit is earnest.
He gives us the Holy Spirit to dwell with us for a time, as
a comforter. When thingsâ€”oh, no, no, no. Honey,
honey, don't you worry now. You've forgotten what's coming,
what you've got, who you are, what's coming. Lookie here, lookie
here, honey, lookie here, what you get. Look here what you get
and you look again, oh, what did I worry about? He's the earnest,
you see, the token, the token of it, of what's coming. The
Spirit is a pledge and assurance of things to come. The Spirit takes the things of
Christ and shows them unto us. That's what he does. And you
know why we don't get excited? Well, why are we dull of hearing? Didn't Paul say, isn't it because
you're yet carnal? You're still dull of hearing
it. How could Paul say when he's in prison, oh, I'm so happy? The Spirit has given to us, and
what do we do? For the most part, we're all
guilty. We quench him. We despise the spirit of grace.
We grieve the spirit given to us
constantly, constantly. We forsake this. It says how much more should
we Help one another, so much more
as you see the day approaching, not forsake the assembling of
yourself. You're coming to hear the inheritance. Coming to hear
about the inheritance. We're coming to hear about the
inheritance. Huh? And when we come and hear it,
every time we come to hear it, we get excited. A little bit,
anyway, don't we? Now, this is what I'm talking
about. The foretaste, the Holy Spirit is a foretaste. What's
that song? A foretaste of glory divine.
Air of salvation, purchase of God, born of His Spirit, washed
in His blood. This is my story. This is my
song. Praising my Savior all the day
long. Visions of rapture, and I burst
on my own. Words like that. The Holy Spirit
is a foretaste of glory divine. Have you ever had little tastes?
Like I said a while ago, somebody had a little taste, just a little
taste. We have this treasure in earth and vessel. Who is sufficient
for these things? I'm groping right now for words. You ever had sweet tokens? That's
what I'm talking about. The sweet token. Mindy was reading
to our ladies the other day, little love notes. She read to
Teresa and Deborah poems that I had written her. She still
got them. What does she want with those?
Huh? She's got me. What does she need
with them? They're just little tokens of love to her. You ever
had little sweet tokens? Huh? You're not going to part
with them. You're not going to part with them. Oh, and he wrote
more than a few. And they're sweet tokens. You
ever had any? That's the Holy Spirit. That's the earnest of
God's Spirit saying, my love, my dove, my child. Fancy parts. This is the Holy
Spirit saying to you, oh daughter, God Almighty, your maker is your
husband. My daughter, be a good cheer. I'm coming to get you, honey.
In the meantime, just touch up and let me tell you something.
Let me tell you a story before you go to bed. That's what it
is. Tokens of his spirit, gifts of
the spirit, which make you long for that which is... Does that
make you long for more? Huh? Do you ever get inexpressible
joy upon hearing the gospel? Just inexpressible, you just
can't... And you go try to tell it to somebody, it just falls,
it just falls. It had to have been there. Have
you ever had that? That's the earnest of his spirit.
You ever had that? Anybody? I'm telling you, this
is God saying, you're my child now. You're the inheritor. This is God's. Have you ever
had that, Vicki Patton? Has the gospel ever just been
the sweetest thing, sweetest note of seraph's song, sweetest
name on mortal tongue? Has it ever been that way to
you? Ever? One time, that's the earnest of God's Spirit saying,
Vicki Patton is one of my children. And she's going to live with
me in a sweet by-and-by and listen to that gospel with inexpressible,
indescribable, eternal joy, unspeakable joy. That's what the Scripture
talks about. Unbroken communion. Have you
ever had a little bit, just a little bit? We haven't had much, and
it's the reason, like I said, Right now, as we hear about these
things, we're not just going, whoopee, whoopee, whoopee. It's
the reason some of us are just jumping down this aisle. Whoopee,
whoopee, I'm ready to go now. Because, oh boy, we're just so
dead, aren't we? So dull, so carnal. There's little tokens every now
and then, just every now and then. Some of you don't know
what I'm talking about at all, but some of you do. Those little token, that's earnest
of God's spirit. That's earnest. And he's in earnest. And he says, now what I've started,
I'll finish it. And in the meantime, I'm going
to give you this little token every now and then. And really,
I believe why we remain cold, not only is it our fault, If we were altogether spiritual,
we couldn't stand this place. We couldn't stand it anymore. We couldn't stand it. We couldn't
work our jobs. We couldn't live with, you know,
if we were soaring with eagles, we couldn't live with turkeys. But little tokens every now and
then, you soar, don't you? You soar. You'd like, you'd feel like in
it. I'm red open the gates, so here I come. And a little token
of those earnest. I sure am thankful for those
tokens, aren't you? Makes life worth living. And tonight we're
going to, we're going to shout hallelujah. If I don't get a
shout tonight, one little shout. Brother Joe, come on up, man.

Inheritance

What does the Bible say about inheritance?

How do we know eternal life is true?

Why is knowing our inheritance important for Christians?

How is our inheritance obtained according to the Bible?

What is the role of the Holy Spirit in our inheritance?

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Inheritance

What does the Bible say about inheritance?

How do we know eternal life is true?

Why is knowing our inheritance important for Christians?

How is our inheritance obtained according to the Bible?

What is the role of the Holy Spirit in our inheritance?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

Comments

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