I'm going to continue in Ephesians chapter 1. I'm going to read this section again in my Bible with the headings
that someone just made up. Verse 14 is the end of this made
up section. We're going to be in verses 11
through 14 today, but I'm going to read 3 through 14, which is
everywhere we've been so far. Starting in verse 3. Paul writes,
blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who
has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the
heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before
him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through
Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will, to the praise
of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved.
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
our trespasses according to the riches of His grace, which He
lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to
us the mystery of His will. According to His purpose, which
He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite
all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth. And
then this is where we're gonna be today, verse 11. In Him we
have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according
to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the purpose
of His will, so that we who are the first to hope in Christ might
be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also, when you heard
the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed
in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is
the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of
it, to the praise of His glory. So our approach today is going
to be a little bit different. As we worked through verses 3
through 10, I sort of picked out phrases, and I would examine
a phrase, and then we would work through everywhere else in Scripture
where we could understand what Paul was talking about there.
And there were times where I would spend a couple weeks on a single
verse. Here we're gonna do something
a little bit different. We're gonna try to knock out all of 11 through
14 today. And that's because Paul's really
saying one thing, I think, in verses 11 through 14. And before
we get into it, we're gonna review something I talked about last
week. And that is this idea that scripture interprets scripture. Scripture is its own guide for
interpretation. Scripture is going to teach you
how to read it, and the way you learn from Scripture how to read
Scripture is by reading Scripture. Paul tells us in 2 Timothy chapter
3 that all Scripture is breathed out by God, and is profitable
for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training
in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped
for every good work. So scripture is the highest authority
in all things, right? It's the word of God. God said
it. And it equips us completely. And there's four things there
in 2 Timothy 3, 16, that Paul tells us that scripture is good
for. Teaching, correction, rebuke, and training in righteousness. And those four things sort of
cover everything you need to know. at least in terms of spiritual
matters. Scripture is not a textbook.
It's not going to teach you how to do math. But when it comes
to spiritual things, when it comes to teaching us about Christ,
equipping us to live in fellowship with the saints, teaching us
to lead our families, Scripture is complete and it equips us
for those things. It teaches us. This means that
it in a positive sense tells us what to believe, right? Scripture
tells you these are the things you need to know. It corrects
us, tells us what not to believe, right? These are the things that
are wrong. These are the errors, the heresies
that are in the world today. It also trains us, right? It
teaches us these are the things that you need to do. Right, I've
told you what you need to know and here's what you need to do
about it. Scripture is complete in that sense. And it rebukes,
it tells us that was wrong. You shouldn't have done that,
right? It tells us these things, these positive, negative perspectives,
these things you ought to believe, these things you ought to do. And one of those is that scripture
equips us to read it. The more we read it, the more
we want to read it, the more we are able to read it, the more
we are able to understand it. So that's what we're gonna do
today. Scripture is going to interpret Scripture for us. We're gonna spend a lot of time
in the Old Testament today because Paul's gonna mention something
here in verse 11 that is really referencing the
Old Testament. In particular, in verse 11, he
says, in him we, So we're gonna stop there because
we're gonna finish out by talking about the inheritance that we
have obtained. But first, Paul says, in him, we. Now you might
be tempted to read verse 11 here and think, okay, we, the church,
us, the people of God. That's not what Paul's talking
about. But it's not clear until you
get to verse 13 that the scope of this we is actually pretty
narrow in verse 11. In him we Paul refers to himself
and he refers to the Jews. In him we have obtained an inheritance
having been predestined according the purpose of him. And then
in verse 13 we see that the scope of verse 11 is much more narrow.
He says in him you also when you heard the truth, the gospel
of your salvation and believed in Him were sealed with the promised
Holy Spirit. So because Paul here in verse
11 is talking about himself and the Jews, we need to talk about
Israel. Now one of the themes that we've
seen over and over and over again here in Ephesians 1 is God's
election, right? God's predestination of his people
according to his purpose, according to the counsel of his will, according
to his wisdom and insight. And so to understand what Paul's
talking about here when he talks about Israel, we are going to
examine God's election in the Old Testament. He's speaking
specifically of the saints among the nation of Israel when he
says, in him, we. In particular, we can look at
the election of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, the fathers of
the nation of Israel. Each of these men represents
types. A type, a microcosmic representation
of God's election. Each of these represents, shows
us a picture of God's election of the nation of Israel. And
in turn, these things, God's election of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob and God's election of the nation of Israel shows us the
reality of the gospel and God's election of his people from every
nation. Right? That was the promise of
Abraham. You will be the father of many nations. So let's talk
about Abraham. Abraham, the father of Isaac,
the father of Jacob, the father of all Israel. To understand
who Abraham was, I'm actually going to go to Joshua, one of
these histories. They mention something about
Abraham. And then we're going to jump
into Genesis chapter 11 and 12. In Joshua 24-2, Joshua says to
all the people, this is the Lord, the God of Israel. Long ago,
your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father
of Abraham and of Nahor, and they served other gods. So from that mention in Joshua
and some of the things that we know about the history of the
ancient Near East, we conclude that Abraham, at least his father,
They worshipped the moon. They were pagans. They had no
eyes to see. They had no ears to hear. Until
we get to chapter 12. In Genesis 11, we've got sort
of the At the end of chapter 10, you've got the genealogy
of Noah after the ark is settled. Chapter 11, we've got the Tower
of Babel and the descendants of Shem. And then we arrive at
the end of chapter 11 to Abram. And then in verse 12, with absolutely
zero context, God speaks. Right? We've just got, you know,
it's been hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years since the
last time God had anything to say to his people, right? Since
Noah, you've got the descendants of Noah. And then we get to chapter
12. Now the Lord God said to Abraham, well, to Abram, he's
not Abraham yet. The Lord God said to Abram, go
from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the
land that I will show you. And I will make you a great nation.
I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be
a blessing I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors
you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth
shall be blessed. So what has Abram done? Nothing. What has he done to earn God's
favor? Nothing. And yet, God speaks,
gives him this promise. Why? Paul would tell us in Ephesians
1, so that the purpose of God might stand. Paul would tell
us that this is the wisdom and insight of God. This is the plan
of God. Again, in Genesis 12, 7, the
Lord appears to Abram and says, to your offspring, I will give
this land. In chapter 13, the Lord said to Abram, after Lot
had separated from him, lift up your eyes and look from the
place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and
westward. For all the land that you will see, I will give to
you and to your offspring forever. I'll make your offspring as the
dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the
earth, your offspring also can be counted. Arise, walk through
the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it
to you. We keep seeing these promises. Genesis 15, the word
of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, fear not, I am your
shield, your reward shall be very great. And then in Genesis 15, six,
we see something that brother Mike read for us today out of
Romans four, and he believed the Lord and he counted it to
him as righteousness. So here in the beginning of Genesis,
we just see the Lord speaking to Abraham with all these promises,
right? And when God tells Abraham to
do something outrageous, Abraham just does it. He trusts, he believes
in God, and that is what is counted to
Abraham as righteousness. That's what brother Mike read
for us from Romans 4. What then shall we say was gained by Abraham,
our forefather, according to the flesh? For if Abraham was
justified by works, he has something to boast, but not before God. For what does the scripture say?
Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. And then in Genesis 16, Abraham
takes matters into his own hands, right? He does not trust God. God has said, I will make you
the father of many nations. And he has said it many times.
And Abraham says, I'm really, really old. And my wife is really,
really old. Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had
borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant
whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, behold
now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go unto
my servant. It may be that I shall obtain children by her. Abraham
listened to the voice of Sarai. So after Abram had lived 10 years
in land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife took Hagar, the Egyptian,
her servant, and gave her to Abraham, her husband, as a wife. And he went into Hagar and she
conceived. When she saw that she had conceived, she looked
with contempt on her mistress. And Sarai said to Abram, may
the wrong done to me be on you. This was your idea. I gave my servant to your embrace,
and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with
contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me. All right,
so they hatched this scheme to have kids according to their
own plan. And Hagar bore Abram a son, and
his name was Ishmael. And then finally, in Genesis
17, we see God's purpose of election in the promise of Isaac. Genesis 17, verse 15. God said to Abraham, as for Sarai,
your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall
be her name. I will bless her, and moreover,
I will give you a son by her. I will bless her and she shall
become nations. Kings of people shall come from
her. And Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to
himself, shall a child be born to a man who is 100 years old?
Shall Sarah, who is 90 years old, bear a child? And Abraham
said to God, oh, that Ishmael might live before you. God said,
no, but Sarah, your wife, shall bear you a son, and you shall
call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant
with him. as an everlasting covenant for
his offspring after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard
you. Behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and
multiply him greatly. He shall father 12 princes and I will
make him into a great nation. But I will establish my covenant
with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you this time next year. So here we see the first of these
choices that God makes. God chooses Isaac over Ishmael. In Genesis chapter 21, Isaac
is born. And then in Genesis chapter 22,
we see this interesting episode where the word of the Lord comes
to Abraham. He's commanded to take Isaac
onto the mountain and sacrifice him. I won't read this whole passage,
but I will make some observations here. Remember I said, when the
Lord tells Abraham to do things that are outrageous, Abraham
listens. But when Abraham is expected
to trust that when God said, your wife will give you a son,
he takes matters into his own hands. But here in Genesis 22,
we see the great faith of Abraham. And we see the election of Isaac. And we relate this election of
Isaac to the election of God's people. The command of God required
that Abraham kill Isaac, did it not? But God provides a substitute
in Isaac's place. And in the same way, the law
of God and God's justice requires death. And God instead provides
a substitute. Isaac is the chosen one of God,
not Ishmael. And this ram is provided in the
place of God's chosen one, just as Christ is provided in the
place of God's people. Isaac grows up. He has children
of his own. Genesis chapter 25, verse 21,
and Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife because she was
barren. Seems to run in the family. The
Lord granted his prayer and Rebecca, his wife, conceived. The children
struggled within her. That must have been alarming.
She said, if it is thus, why is this happening to me? So she
went to inquire to the Lord, and the Lord said to her, two
nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall
be divided. The one shall be stronger than
the other. The older shall serve the younger. When her days to
give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb.
The first came out red, all of his body like a hairy cloak,
which they called him Esau. And afterward, his brother came
out with his hand holding Esau's heel. So his name was called
Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when she
bore them. When the boys grew up, Esau was
a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet
man dwelling in tents. Isaac loved Esau because he ate
of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. Rebekah loved Jacob. Esau was
a man's man, right? Esau was the man that the father
wants to see his boy grow up to be, right? Big, strong. He's a hunter. He brings home
meat to eat. And Jacob stayed at home with
his mom. Jacob was mama's boy. And yet God's purpose of election
stands in Jacob. We see this also in the selection
of David as the king, right? They didn't even bring David
in from the field to be evaluated for king. What we see here is God's election
of Jacob. And in particular, turn to the
prophet Malachi, very last book of the Old Testament. If you get to Matthew, you've
gone too far. Prophet Malachi tells us something about Jacob
and Esau, which Paul echoes in Romans chapter 9. The oracle
of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. I have loved you,
says the Lord, but you say, have you loved us? Is not Esau Jacob's
brother, declares the Lord? Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau
I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country
and left his heritage to jackals of the desert. Paul echoes this in Romans chapter
9. But it is not as though the word
of God has failed, for not all who are descended from Israel
belong to Israel. Not all are children of Abraham,
because they are his offspring. But through Isaac shall your
offspring be named. This means that it is not the
children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children
of the promise who are counted as offspring. For this is what
the promise said, about this time next year I will return
and Sarah shall have a son. Not only so, but also when Rebecca
had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though
they were not yet born and had done neither good or bad, in
order that God's purpose of election might continue. Not because of
works, but because of him who calls, she was told. The older
will serve the younger. As it is written, and here Paul
quotes Malachi chapter one, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. In each of these instances, we
see God's sovereignty and fulfilling his own purpose, rather than
some sort of convention, some sort of expectation being followed. None of them earned God's favor.
None of them were even particularly nice people. Except sometimes
I feel bad for Ishmael because he seems like the one who didn't
really do anything wrong, right? But that's the expectation that
Paul is trying to knock down when we get to Romans 9, right?
We have these expectations of what we think that God ought
to be doing. We have these expectations of
how we think God ought to go about saving people. We come
up with these schemes. And that's the objection that
Paul addresses in Romans 9. What shall we say then? Why does
he still find fault? Has the potter no right over
the clay? To make with one lump vessel
for honorable use, and with another lump, a vessel for dishonorable
use. None of these people earned God's
favor. And as we read in Romans 4, it was their faith that was
counted to them as righteousness, not of works, but of God. And this is the mystery of the
gospel to the Jews. We talked about this here in
Ephesians. This was the mystery. This is what the Jews missed
when Jesus showed up. This is the misaligned expectations
that Israel had in the incarnation of Christ. They expected Jesus to come.
They expected him to come with a sword ready to strike down
Rome. Ready to strike down their oppressors. To kill Herod, to kill Caesar,
to sit on the throne of Israel. And so when Jesus showed up as
a dirty, ugly man from Nazareth, nothing good
comes out of Nazareth. They said, that's not him, that's
not my king. And that was the mystery of the gospel to the Jews. So
when the Pharisees claimed that Abraham was their father, what
were they saying? We are Isaac. We are not Ishmael. We are Jacob, not Esau. We are
the chosen sons of God because Abraham is our father. And they were right, Abraham
was their father. They were descended from Abraham. Who else was descended
from Abraham? Esau and Ishmael. Esau was Abraham's son. Ishmael
was Abraham's son. And just as Paul tells us in
Romans 9, it is not the children of the flesh who are the children
of God, but the children of the promises. Pharisees thought that they were
Isaac and Jacob, the chosen sons of Abraham. They thought that
they were so because of their good works, their works of the
law. But they were not the chosen
sons. They were Ishmael and Esau. The children of Abraham, according
to the promise, are Isaac and Jacob. And they are those who
are born according to the Spirit, which we learn here in Ephesians
1, which Jesus tells us throughout the Gospels includes the Gentiles,
right? The people of God from every
nation. And so in 111 of Ephesians, In Him we have obtained an inheritance,
having been predestined. Paul is talking about those children
of Israel who are children of the promise. Those children of
Israel who are born of the Spirit. So that we, who are the first
to hope in Christ, might be to the praise of His glory. He's making a division in Israel
right here. There are those who are the children
of Abraham according to the promise and those who are the children
of Abraham according to the flesh. The ones who are children according
to the promise are the ones who have hoped in Christ. Right, and this is the whole
message of the epistle to the Hebrews, right? Turn to Hebrews
10. Hebrews chapter 10, for but the
law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the
true form of these realities. All right, the Pharisees didn't
get that. All right, the Pharisees thought
they were the good things to come. Right? Because they followed
the law. The law has but a shadow of the
good things to come. Instead of the true form of these realities,
it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered
every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would
they not have ceased to be offered? Since the worshipers, having
once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness
of sins. But in these sacrifices, there
is a reminder of sins every year. It is impossible for the blood
of bulls and goats to take away sins. Consequently, when Christ
came into the world, he said, sacrifices and offerings you
have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me, and
burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then
I said, behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is
written of me in the scroll of the book. So these sacrifices of the Old
Testament are not in themselves effectual. Right? Just as Abraham believed
God and it was counted to him as righteousness. So it was that
the faith of the observer of the law was what was counted
to them as righteousness. God is not pleased in the blood
of goats. God is not pleased in your sinner's
prayer. God is not pleased in your baptism,
in your church membership, in your relation to someone who
gave a bunch of money to the church in 1967. These are all
things that I have heard people reference when I ask them. How
do you know that you were saved? Some years ago, Brother Jesse
and I were out knocking on doors to teach the gospel to anyone
who would make the mistake of answering the door. And Jesse
asked one lady, how do you know that you're saved? She just said,
I'm a member of this church. These are the schemes that people
come up with. What is your hope in? I would pray that your hope is
in the gospel, the work of Christ. How do you know that you are
saved? Because Christ is faithful. How do you know you are saved? Because it pleased God to satisfy
his wrath against me in the death of his son. How do you know that
you are saved? Because Christ was raised for
my resurrection. How do you know that you are
saved? Because the promises of God are
true. And in him you also, now Paul
speaks to us, speaks to the Ephesians. In him you also. Back to Ephesians one. In him you also, when you heard
the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed
in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. So in the same way that the saints
of Israel have hoped in Christ, you also now hope in Christ.
That's the mystery of the gospel, that salvation hasn't changed.
It's been the same from Adam to today to when Christ returns. Your father Adam was saved because
he hoped in Christ. Abraham was saved because he
had faith in the promises of God. Jacob was saved because the father
was pleased to pour out his wrath on Christ. And we can know that
we are saved because we have hope in Christ. This is the mystery
of the gospel that the Jews didn't get. Now, back in verse 11, Paul talks
about an inheritance. And we should not make the mistake
of thinking that this inheritance is salvation, right? It's an
easy mistake to make. You read this, we have obtained
an inheritance, we have obtained salvation. It's not what Paul
is talking about. He's talking about something
else. He's talking about something far off. He's talking about something
eschatological. There's your vocabulary word,
eschatology, in times. In Luke chapter one, verse 31,
The angel appears to Mary. Behold, you will conceive in
your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.
And the Lord will give to him the throne of his father David,
and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of his
kingdom there will be no end. So remember, this inheritance
that is promised to us is not Salvation, right? This is something
that comes after salvation. This is something that is promised
to us in the future. And to understand it, we need
to understand the inheritance of Christ. We're gonna read Psalm
chapter two. Psalm chapter two speaks of Christ
and his inheritance. Why do the nations rage, and
the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against
his anointed, saying, let us burst their bonds apart, and
cast away their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens laughs,
and the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in
his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, as for me,
I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. I will tell them of
the decree. The Lord said to me, you are
my son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make
the nations your heritage, the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces
like a potter's vessel. Now therefore, O kings, be wise,
be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and
rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son, lest he be angry
and you perish. in the way, for his wrath is
quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. And so Christ is slated to inherit
the nations of the earth. When Christ returns, he will
be set as the king over all the nations and he will judge them
with a rod of iron. That's what we see in Revelation
19. We also see in John 17, Yes, I am going to John 17 every
week for the rest of forever. You should know what we're gonna
talk about in John 17 by now. I really think I have talked
about it every week, haven't I? John 17, Christ speaks about the glory
that he had before. He lifted up his eyes to heaven
and said, Father, the hour has come, glorify your Son that the
Son may glorify you. And so Christ as King is set
to inherit glory. That is the inheritance of Christ
as King, the nations and glory. 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 11,
if we have died with him, we will also live with him. If we
endure, we will also reign with him. Romans 8, 16, the spirit
himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of
God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs
with Christ, provided that we suffer with him in order that
we may also be glorified with him. Remember when we talked about
adoption? By what authority do we claim
to be sons of God? Is it because we are children
of Abraham, as the Pharisees claimed? No. Is it because we
have followed the law, as the Pharisees claimed? No. We claim to be children of God
on account of the bridegroom. We are the bride of Christ, and
by that we lay legal claim to sonship of the Father. Right? But Christ is the King,
and if we are the bride of the King, that means we get everything
the King gets, right? We are heirs with Christ. We are to be glorified in Christ. We are to inherit the nations
with Christ. Because He is the bridegroom
and we are the bride. And finally, we were sealed with
the promised Holy Spirit. Right? Same thing we read in
Romans 8.16 there. The Spirit himself bears witness
with our spirit that we are children of God. Ephesians 1.13, we were
sealed with the promised Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of
our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise
of his glory. So all of this that we have said
about God's sovereignty, all of this that we have said about
his wisdom and insight, about the purpose of his will, All
of this is given for our assurance. All of this is given for our
hope. And in all of this, the spirit
bears witness with our spirit. The spirit seals us with Christ. So those of you who are in Christ
have confidence that we will one day share with Christ in
his inheritance. The Spirit of God testifies to
our hearts and to our consciences to give us assurance in these
promises. Gives us hope, gives us confidence
to do those outrageous things, right? Those things that Abraham
was told to do. And it was counted to him as
righteousness. We heard the word of truth, which
is the gospel of our salvation, and we believed in Him. And if
you have believed in Him, then you are now sealed by the Holy
Spirit. We can have confidence in these
promises. Because our salvation was not
because of what we did. We didn't have to earn it. And
because we didn't have to earn it, we couldn't earn it, it's
not up to us to keep it. That's what sealed means, right? We are sealed by the power of
the Spirit. The Spirit of God testifies to
our hearts. Let's pray and then we're gonna
take the Lord's table. Lord, we thank you that from
your word we can see your sovereignty, your faithfulness, and your election from start
to finish. We thank you that your spirit testifies to our
hearts to give us hope, to give us peace, and to give us assurance that you are faithful to fulfill
your promises. Lord, as we take of this small
meal, grow our faith, strengthen our
faith. Give us hope in the body of Christ. Give us hope in the blood of
Christ. We thank you and we praise you.
We pray these things in the name of Christ. Amen.