My text this morning is verse
17, and I want, if God will enable me to preach to you on the subject,
heirs of God. Romans chapter 8 and verse 17. The apostle says, if children,
if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. if so be that we suffer with
him, that we may be also glorified together. Now, without question,
Romans chapter 8 is one of my favorite portions of scripture. I think I can safely say that
I could preach from these 39 verses every Sunday for a year
and not come close to exhausting that which is revealed in them.
Every thing in this passage seems to be as a great, overflowing,
inexhaustible mine of gospel truth, just heaping gospel truth,
one on top of another, just overflowing for our souls. Everything in
the chapter echoes grace, grace, grace. Everything here directs
our hearts to the throne of God, to the kingdom of God, to the
glory of God, for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord's everlasting
praise. The Apostle Paul, as he opens
this chapter and goes through it, seems to just get wrapped
up in the subject. It's more like he was preaching
than he was writing. He just gets wrapped up in the
subject that he's dealing with, and he moves from one thing to
the other. In the passage, he builds and
constructs for us a golden ladder, each step ascending a little
higher and a little higher. He begins with our justification
in Christ, declaring that there's no condemnation, and he steps
up to our regeneration by the Holy Spirit, telling us that
we're born again by God's Spirit, led of the Spirit and dwelt by
the Spirit and live in the Spirit And he moves from our regeneration
to our sanctification, how that the Holy Spirit preserves and
keeps us in life and grace and holiness, and moves from that
ultimately into our glorification. And as he does, he pauses right
here in verse 17, telling us that this is the direction he's
moving in. He says, if we are God's children,
if we are born of God, if we're saved by the grace of God, then
we're the heirs of God. and joint heirs with Jesus Christ
our Lord. So that all who believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, all who trust the Son of God, all who are this
day vesting their souls upon the merits of Christ's blood,
His righteousness, His atonement, His grace, and His power, all
believers are heirs of God. and joint heirs with Christ.
Now, what could that mean? What could that mean? What's
the significance of this? I know this. This inheritance
is the only inheritance worth having. It's the only one. This inheritance is the only
one that's satisfied and never disappointed. All the riches
of this world for which men feverishly labor, which we seem naturally
inclined just to keep trying to get and get and get more of,
all of them are vanishing and bring with them care and trouble
and pain. Never is there any ability with
the riches of this world and the heritage of this world to
find cure for an aching heart, ease for a troubled conscience,
or to even relieve the burdens of everyday life. They cannot
prevent sickness, they cannot prevent pain, they cannot comfort
in death, they have no benefit in time of bereavement and sorrow.
Those things cannot even secure temporary happiness and temporary
peace. But there shall never be any
disappointment. There shall never be any lack
of satisfaction among the heirs of God who are joint heirs The
inheritance spoken of in our text is the only inheritance
that can be kept forever. It's the only one. All others
are going to have to be left real quick. Real quick. Howard Hughes didn't carry any
more to the grave than Lazarus carried to the grave. And the
sooner you learn, and the sooner I learn to let go of everything
else here, better off we'll be. This inheritance that's spoken
of in our text, however, is an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled,
eternal in the heavens, an inheritance that fadeth not away. And the
inheritance that I'm talking to you about this morning is
the only inheritance there is that is available, accessible
to everybody who truly desires I'm talking to you about an inheritance
that's available and accessible to every soul who truly desires
it. Most people in this world, no
matter how hard they work, no matter how much they labor, no
matter how much they strive after it, will never attain greatness
of name. or greatness of property, or
greatness of position. Most people in this world just
scratch out an existence in the world, and they live and die
in relative obscurity, and they obtain nothing of the world.
They never get their piece of the pie. They just exist here. Oh, but here's an inheritance,
readily accessible and available to everybody who wants it. I wish you'd hear what I'm saying.
The glory and honor of eternal life in Jesus Christ are freely
set before guilty, helpless sinners in the gospel of Christ upon
God's terms, so that whosoever will may be an heir of and a
joint heir with Jesus Christ. You can yourself, right now,
as you seek eternal life, you can obtain it by faith in Christ,
and you can obtain this everlasting inheritance in Jesus Christ. I don't think you understand
what I'm saying. I don't think you've got glory,
honor, and eternal are set before sinners in the gospel, freely
offered to all who will accept them on God's terms, so that
he declares, whosoever will, let him come and take of the
water of life. Whoever will come and grab hold
of this inheritance, and it's yours by faith in Jesus Christ
the Lord. Some of you woke up this morning
under the wrath of God. I shudder to think of it. But
I know it's so. You woke up under the wrath of
God. Children of wrath, even as others. Condemned and perishing,
deserving everlasting damnation. Without Christ, without God,
and without hope. But it may be, I pray that it
is so, that this very day, God intends to work in you that work
of grace that's necessary. to make you the heirs of God,
and joint heirs with Christ. If so, if so, you'll walk out
those doors today, heirs of God, children of God, joint heirs
with Jesus Christ our Lord. All who believe, all who are
the children of God are the heirs of God. Now I want to have you
hold your Bibles open this morning here to Romans 8, 17. And let
me show you the four things that are clearly set before us in
this verse. And then the Lord willing, tonight, we'll pick
up in verse 18, and we'll expound on it a little more. The first
thing I see in this text is the condition, or the grounds, of
airship. Our text reads, if. Now, underscore,
circle, put a star by that word. For now, that's the point of
emphasis. If. If children, then air. If
we are the children of God, then we are the heirs of God, but
if we are not the children of God, then we're not the heirs
of God, no matter what else we are. And the fact is, shocking
as it may be to many, shocking as it certainly is to many in
our generation, not all of us are God's children. Some of you
here are yet children of wrath. Some of you here are children
of the devil. There's no question concerning
that. We are all God's creatures, but we're not all his children.
God made us all, and we're all responsible to him, but he's
not everybody's father. Fatherhood is a special relationship
which we obtain by God's free grace, and only by his grace.
Sonship is a special relationship which we obtain only by God the
Father bringing us into his family by the works of his grace. This
heirship does not come as a result of natural creation. Our text
does not read, if creatures, then heirs. It doesn't come by
family descent. It is not written, if children
of Abraham, then heirs. Grace doesn't run in bloodlines.
Grace doesn't come by family descent. Grace doesn't come by
family covenant. Now, I know exactly what I'm
saying, and I know that I'm dealing with some things that are offensive
to some, but offensive they'll just have to be. I'm telling
you that the grace of God does not come because your mama and
daddy happen to be believers, or because your mama and daddy's
mama and daddy happen to be believers, or because you come from a long
line of believers. Grace doesn't flow in bloodlines. Grace flows according to God's
purpose. Many women are born of God's
Spirit. Many women are made the children
of God because they were ordained of God to this everlasting possession
from eternity without qualification in any natural sense at all.
Listen to the Scriptures. As many as received To them gave
he power. That is, this is the reason that
you received him. If you've received Christ, it's
because he's given you power, the right, the authority, and
the privilege to become the sons of God. Even to them that believe
on his name, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. They are
not all the children of God who are the children of Abraham,
but they are the children of God who are the children of promise.
Promised of God's grace, promised from eternity, eternal life because
of a covenant made between God the Father, God the Son, and
God the Holy Spirit before the world began. This heirship doesn't
come because of human merit. Paul doesn't say if servants,
then heirs. Some folks seem to think they
can They can work for and earn by their merit God's salvation,
God's glory, God's inheritance, but nothing could be further
from the truth. What saith the scripture? Listen, Galatians
4.30. Cast out the bondwoman and her son. Cast them out. Cast out those who look to their
works for salvation. Cast out those who lean upon
the law for their acceptance with God. Cast them out because
the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the free woman.
That is, the children of law cannot be heirs with the children
of grace. Those who live by works and hope
by their works to be accepted of God will never inherit the
kingdom of God. It cannot be done. certainly does not teach that
our heirship, our being the children of God and being heirs of God,
comes as a result of religious ritual. The text doesn't read,
if circumcised or baptized, then heirs. Multitudes foolishly imagine
that because they bring their babies to the front of a church
and have some preacher sprinkle a little water on their face,
Or because they bring their babies to the front of a Baptist church
and have some preacher act like a priest and say a little mumbo-jumbo
over dedicating them in a public ceremony, they foolishly imagine,
they foolishly imagine that their children then are the heirs of
God. And multitudes look back to that baptism or that dedication
and they call that salvation. I recall, it's not just once
in a while, I've had it happen several times. Several years
ago I was visiting family that moved in behind us in West Virginia.
They lived down the ridge behind us, a whole mile or so back in
the woods. I drove down there, moved in,
went to visit, knocked on the door. The lady came to the door.
She was about my age, maybe a little older. And I talked to her a
little bit, and I said, Are you a Christian? And she said, Yes,
I am. I said, Is that right? We talked a little more, and
it became obvious that she didn't know anything about Christianity.
And I said, When did you become a Christian? And she said, I've
always been a Christian. I said, that's too long. That's
too long. You haven't always been a Christian.
Nobody's always been a Christian. Nobody's always been an heir
of God. Nobody's always been a child of God. There must come
a time when you are made a child of God by God's saving grace. People are saved because they've
been baptized. They're not saved because they
joined the church. They're not saved because as a baby they
were brought into a covenant family, or because as adults
they came and joined the church on their own. Men and women are
saved because of grace, and by grace and grace alone. The Holy
Spirit tells us plainly that the one condition of heirship
with Christ is this. If children, then heirs. Are you a child of God? Are you
a child of God? We have lots of ways of saying
things in our day that is so contrary to Scripture. Folks
talk about, well, I got saved. I doubt it. I really doubt it. God saved some folks, but you
didn't just get saved. Folks talk about, I've gotten
religion. Well, you may have got that,
but you didn't get grace. Salvation comes by God working
in you, making you his child. That's a change. That's something, Bobby, that
takes place within you that alters you forever. You're never the same again.
Never the same again. Well, how can I know whether
or not I'm a child of God? You don't have to guess about
it. God took the guesswork out of this thing for us and has
written plainly for us in the Scriptures. Those who are born
of God have certain characteristics about them. Certain things, you
can mark it down. This is what a child of God is.
Let me see if I can illustrate it for you. I have certain characteristics
of my father. Some of them I wish I didn't
have, I've just got them. It's just part of the fork in
the blood. It's in the genes, they say.
I have certain characteristics that will betray who I am to
anyone who knows my Father. I'm telling you that anyone who
is born of God has certain characteristics that will betray them as the
sons of God. Let me show you what they are.
First, those who are born of God believe Christ. They believe
it. They believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ unto everlasting life. They look to Christ alone as
Savior and Lord. They look to Christ alone as
their Redeemer. They look to Christ alone for
acceptance with God. Secondly, those who are born
of God are led by the Spirit of God. Led by the Holy Spirit. The Apostle says in this passage
we read here in Romans 8, you're not in the flesh, but in the
Spirit. Now what on earth is he talking about? I'm looking
at folks sitting up in the flesh. Flesh and blood. You're still
in the flesh. I can picture your feeling. Well, how does he mean
that we're not in the flesh but in the Spirit? He's saying you
are no longer living under the rule of the flesh, but rather
under the rule of the Spirit. You're no longer carnally minded,
but spiritually minded. That simply means you trust Christ. God, the Holy Spirit, leads his
people. Look at verse 15. Or verse 14,
rather. For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they're the sons of God. Are you or are you not
led by the Holy Spirit? I mean in the tenor of your life.
In the tenor of your life. Are you or are you not led by
the Holy Spirit? If you're not led of the Spirit,
you're not of the Son of God. You're not heirs of God. You're
not a child of God. Pastor, what do you mean, let
of the Spirit? I don't mean let of the Spirit to hoot and holler
and fall down in aisles and wave their hands and jump pews, all
that nonsense. I don't mean let of the Spirit
to speak in tongues or let of the Spirit to see visions and
dreams or let of the Spirit to walk across the street and say,
I was led of God to come over here to ask you this, that. All
that's just utter nonsense. That's the imaginations of men.
What does it mean to be led of the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit
always leads us away from ourselves to Christ. Always. He leads us away from our sin
to Christ's blood. Away from our righteousness to
Christ's righteousness, so that we don't look to ourselves for
acceptance with God, but look to Christ alone. He leads us
away from self-confidence to confidence in Christ. He leads
us away from our feelings to the Word of God. Those people
look at the scriptures and they interpret the scriptures by their
feelings, and they interpret God's feelings by their feelings.
Will you listen to me? Your feelings and my feelings
are insignificant. The Holy Spirit leads us to the
Word. Martin Luther said, feelings
come and feelings go, and feelings are deceiving. I trust the living
Word of God, not else is worth believing. The Holy Spirit leads
us away from our works. I hear people brag on their works.
Shelby and Bob, y'all know, go to the rest home every Monday
and read and visit with folks. Shelby's been visiting with this
gal. Old lady laying there. Somebody asked her to go see
her. Said she loves the Lord. Shelby talked to her a little
while and found out she loves herself. She loves talking about her works.
Loves talking about what she's done for the Lord. Loves to talk
about all the things He's done for Jesus. Those who are led
in the Spirit are led away from their works to Christ's works.
They don't talk about their works, they talk about His work. They
don't talk about what they've done for Him, they talk about
what He's done for them. Read Matthew 25. Folks on the left
hand in the day of judgment who are cast into hell, they talk
about their works. Folks on the right hand who are
accepted of God, this is what we ever do. What we ever do. The Holy Spirit leads us by providence. He leads us by the counsel of
the word, reading it and hearing it declared. He leads us by the
power of his grace, in the will of God, in paths of righteousness,
and up to the throne of grace at last. Are you led in the spirit
of God? God leads his dear children along. He takes them by the hand, and
he leads Sometimes they wonder where on
earth he's taking them, but he's leading them. And he leads them
sovereignly, affectionately, graciously, and permanently to
Jesus Christ the Lord. He leads them. For another thing,
all who are born again to the power and grace of God the Holy
Spirit have the blessed liberty of the sons of God. Look at Romans
8 again, verse 1. There is therefore now. Now? You surely mean tomorrow. Oh no. Now. There is therefore,
right now, no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.
To them that walk not after the flesh, that is, they don't look
to their works for acceptance with God. He's not talking about
walking after the flesh. He's not just talking about walking
in a sinful course of life. We, by nature, do that. Everybody
does. What he's talking about is those
who lean on their works, who lean on the arm of the flesh
for acceptance with God. They have condemnation, but to
those who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit looking
to Christ, there's no condemnation. How can that be? For the law
of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from
the law of sin and death. So there's no condemnation, because
there's no guilt. And that's right now we're free
in Jesus Christ. Look at verse 15. For you have
not received the spirit of bondage again to fear. Most religious people I know,
most of them, Most people who call me and talk to me, most
who stop by the office, most I meet wherever I travel around
the country and around the world, have received again the spirit
of bondage. Their religion is misery. Their
religion is law. Their religion is works. Their
religion is torment. Their religion keeps them beat
down, beat down, beat down. I talked to a fellow a while
back and he said to me, he said, when I go to church, I just feel
so beat down because of my sin. And I said to him, you ought
to be beat down because of your sin and lifted up because of
God's grace. We've not received the spirit
of bondage again to fear. Look what it says. But you have
received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father. We've been delivered from that
slavish fear of God, which is caused by the guilt of sin. We've
been delivered from that terror of the law, that guilt that calls
Adam to hide himself. When God came in the garden,
Adam tried to hide behind fig leaves, hide among the trees
of the woods. We've been delivered from that
fear that causes us to cringe and hide from God. But pastor,
don't you believe we ought to fear the Lord? Oh, yes. Oh, yes. But not like Cain did. Cain's fear, Merle, caused him
to go out from the presence of the Lord. When Isaiah came to
fear the Lord, he came and bowed down before him. You understand
the difference? The fear of terror causes the
man to dread God. The fear of reverent faith causes
a man to approach God with confidence. Not because of what he is. Not
because of what he's done, but because of Christ's righteousness
and blood. We recognize that we've been
delivered from guilt. We now have peace with God. We
no longer are afraid of him. We're sinners. Yes, we're sinners. We acknowledge it. We acknowledge
it constantly. honestly and universally. But
we're not afraid of God's fullness, his justice and his majesty,
because our sins have been put away. We see God now in the full
glory of his holy being and we have peace when we recognize
him as reconciled to us and us reconciled to him by the blood
of Jesus Christ. We now draw near to God in prayer
and speak to him with confidence. Speak to him with peace as a
child to his father. These children, they are kind
of bashful around me and some of you. They don't talk a whole
lot. You say hello to them, they kind
of clam up and a little bit bashful. And regrettably, that's because
they don't really have confidence in us. and their relationship
with us don't really happen. Mark's two boys, they begin to
warm up a little bit, but they still kind of jump when I speak.
A little bit cringe, because I don't have a relationship with
them, he does. They're not the least bit afraid to talk to him.
Not the least bit afraid to. They call up on his lap, sit
on his lap, tell him anything on their minds. Will you listen
to me? We reverence God our Father,
the judge of all the earth who must do right. We reverence him,
want to honor his name and please him, and there is a dread in
our hearts of doing anything to dishonor him, because we love
him. But believers aren't afraid of
him. Lad, we've received the spirit of adoption. Not the spirit
of bondage. We now serve the Lord our God
not out of a sense of fear, but out of a sense of love and gratitude
and faith. We've exchanged the spirit of
bondage for the spirit of liberty. We've given up the spirit of
fear for the spirit of love. We have put off the spirit of
obligation for the spirit of gratitude and joy in Christ Jesus. And we've dropped the spirit
of the law and taken up the spirit of grace. Here's another thing. Those who are born of God, those
who are God's children, have the witness of the Spirit in
them. that they are the children of
God. Look at verse 16. The Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit that we're the children of God. He that believeth
on the Son, John says, hath the witness in himself. We have the
Holy Spirit given to us as the firstfruits of our inheritance,
the earnest of our inheritance. He is the seal of the grace of
God. And the Holy Spirit sprinkles
the heart. with the blood of Christ. And that word, sprinkle,
in Hebrews 9, when it talks about the sprinkling of the blood,
sprinkling our conscience, sprinkling our hearts, it's talking about
that which took place in the Holy of Holies. Back in the Holy
of Holies in the Old Testament, when the high priest went into
that place once a year with the blood of atonement, he took the
blood and sprinkled the mercy seat. That means he applied the
blood of the slain lamb to the mercy seat to cover the broken
law, and God met with his people at the mercy seat. Now listen,
this is what it says. The Holy Spirit has come and
sprinkled your heart with the blood of Christ. The blood of
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The Lamb slain
at Calvary and has applied that blood to you so that your conscience
says that's enough. The conscience says, not you
men! God's no longer angry. There's
no cause for God to be angry. My sin has been put away. Christ's
blood is sufficient. And the Holy Spirit bears witness
with our spirit in our hearts by the word that Christ is enough. We need no more. One last thing. The sons of God voluntarily take
part in the sufferings of Christ. Read the last part of our text
in verse 17. If so be that we suffer with
him, that we may be also glorified together. This is what this means. All
of God's children voluntarily take up their cross and follow
their master. They follow the Lamb whithersoever
he goeth. voluntarily. That means every day we count
the cost. Every day. What's it going to
cost me to do the will of God? What's it going to cost me to
confess Christ before these men who hate him? What's it going
to cost me to bear faithful witness to my redeemer. What's it going
to cost me to do what I know is honoring to his name? What's
it going to cost me to worship him? What's it going to cost
me to hear his word? What's it going to cost me to
follow the Lamb? Whatever it costs, I pay the
price because I follow the Lamb. The believer moves his life to
the rule of Christ and voluntarily suffers whatever the consequences
are. The condition of airship is just
this, it chilters, it chilters. Do you believe him? Are you a
man of his spirit? Are you one of those who have
the witness of his spirit? One who has the spirit of adoption? The spirit of liberty? Now I
haven't lost my marbles, I'm not repeating myself. Notice
the words of our text. If children, then heirs. This is the teaching. All who
are the children of God are the heirs of God for the same reason,
to the same extent, and to the same fullness. I want you to
get this. All who are the children of God
are the heirs of God for the same reason, to the same extent,
and to the same purpose. Now, there are many who would
teach you that those who believe, while they are all God's children
and are all his heirs, some will inherit a scanty portion from
the Lord in eternity, and others will inherit great, great wealth. Some will They will, as it were,
get into heaven by the skin of their teeth, but they'll have
no jewels in their crowns, and they will spend eternity as sort
of second-class citizens down in the, down in the ghettos of
the New Jerusalem, and down in the slums, because they, they
haven't been quite as good as others have. They, they haven't
fought laborers faithfully. They, they haven't sacrificed
quite as much. Such teaching is altogether contrary
to the grace of God. Now you listen to this preacher,
listen to this book. Our inheritance is not conditioned
upon our works, be they good or bad, but rather upon our relationship. Look at what the text says. If
children, doesn't say how long you've been children, doesn't
say whether you're good children or bad children. The fact is,
we're all bad children. It doesn't say, it doesn't speak
concerning what your particular knowledge is as a child, or your
lack of it. If children, then heirs, heirs
of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. The issue is determined
by the word if. If we're the Lord's children,
then there's no doubt with regard to our heavenly inheritance.
There's no such thing as degrees of reward in heaven. There are
no slums in the heavenly Jerusalem. There are no uncrowned princes
in God's kingdom. Whoever that man was who invented
the doctrine of degrees of reward in heaven knew nothing of the
doctrine of the grace of God in the gospel. The whole system
The whole system is nothing but a remnant of potpourri. It is
just a, it smacks of indulgences, it smacks of the doctrine of
purgatory, it smacks of the idea of works of super-irrigation.
The whole doctrine is a subtle system of works religion, and
puts you to look into yourself for your final reward and glory.
Let me tell you something. If Ron Wood, bless his heart,
my friend Ron, He labors and faithfully serves the cause of
Christ all the days of his life, and he should stand at last in
heaven's glory with one of his top-heavy crowns, you know, so
he can hardly hold the thing up. And I just kind of slip in
the back door. Then Ron Wood, by his works,
has right to pop his suspenders and show off his crown and say,
look, you hear what I heard. There's nothing like that in
the book of God. God's saints all hear the prayer,
and they all cast their crown at his feet, because they recognize
he earned it, and he gave it, and he gets praise of it. Not all of God's children are
prophets. They're not all apostles, they're not all preachers, they're
not all teachers, they're not all evangelists. Not all of them
are even well-instructed, eminent saints of God. Not all of them
are rich in influential and spiritual gifts and works. They're not all strong and useful. Some are always timid. Some are
always lacking confidence. Some are always shaky. Some are always battle. Some sing never to have the blessed
comfort of assured faith in Christ alone. But they are all the heirs
of God, and equally so. I love you. I love you. I have a friend who listened
to me preach for years in West Virginia, Florence Caldwell,
She came and listened for years, for years. And she would, I couldn't
hardly get her to speak to me. I mean, she was just so terribly
shy. She'd talk to Shelby a little
bit, but when she finally got in place, she'd speak to me a
little. But when she'd speak, she'd almost cry every time she'd
talk. Just always lacking confidence, always unsure of herself. But
God finally gave her enough Grace encouraged one day to seek baptism
and to unite with people of God. She's been there ever since. Judging by human standards, and
that's always wrong, I don't know what she's ever done. I
don't know what she's ever done. Well, I do. I know she prays. I suspect she still prays for
this preacher, real record. She gives of her means. She, uh, you open the doors and she's
there every time they're open. Every time they're open. Now, if you want to talk to me
about Walter Gruber, because he spent his life in Mexico and
raised his family in Mexico, having a bigger crown than she's
got in glory, You talk to somebody else, that's nonsense. That's
utter nonsense. And want to tell you so too.
We are all children of the same father, loved with the same love,
to the same degree, for the same reasons. Because he said, I will
love them freely. There are no degrees to our father's
love. We are all blessed with the same blessings from eternity,
and the scripture says God blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ. Which one does that leave out?
He's not going to take any of them away from us. We are all
accepted upon the same grounds, for the same reason, to the same
degree, accepted in the beloved. We are all equally related to
the elder brother, the firstborn son, through whom the inheritance
comes. We've all already obtained the
inheritance in Christ, representatively. He said in Ephesians 1 and 11
that we have obtained an inheritance in him. You reckon God's going
to give it to you by then and take it away from you? You can
have that, but now wait a minute. Let's take this away and this
away, but you have what's left. Why, that's utter nonsense. Christ
has already obtained it for us, representatively, and he holds
it in our name. But no room for works in the
system of grace. Not in the beginning, not in
the process, and not in the end. I appreciate the way you talk
everything by grace. I hope you understand it just
that way. That's exactly what I mean for you to understand.
You mean that our words don't count for nothing? Not before
God. And you better be glad they don't.
Because if God ever gets to smell them, they're stilted rags. They're
just still threads, and God casts you into hell if he judges you
on your works. Your works are not acceptable
to God except by Jesus Christ the Lord. Now take a moment to
reflect upon the inheritance itself. We are here described
as heirs of God. Just think of the implications
of that for a minute. Our inheritance, James Lee, is divinely great. My dad, bless his heart, he lives
on a little old piece of ground on the hillside in Bluntville,
Tennessee, with a mobile home parked up there. If he moved
it again, it'd break him too. And when he dies, whatever he
leaves me will be purely of sentimental value. He hadn't got a frazzling
thing to leave me. Not a frazzling thing. But he'll
give me an inheritance according to his ability and his capacity. Will you listen to me? Buddy,
our heavenly Father gives us an inheritance according to his
ability and his capacity and he's God Almighty. My soul, what an inheritance.
It is divinely great. Our inheritance, according to
the scripture, is this, he that overcometh shall inherit all
things. All things are yours for you,
Christ. If we're the children of God,
then we're the heirs of salvation. That's what the book says. If
we're the children of God, then we're the heirs of eternal life,
which God, who cannot lie, promised before the world began. If we're
the children of God, we're heirs of the promise of the covenant.
We're the heirs of the grace of life, all the grace of life. And we're heirs of righteousness.
That is to say, we have an inheritance that is righteousness, and an
inheritance that is worthy of righteousness, and an inheritance
such as righteousness as earned and obtained according to Christ's
own obedience. And we have been made the heirs
of the kingdom according to the will and power of God. Now, if
we are heirs of God, our inheritance is an inheritance of infinite
proportions. To be the heirs of God is to
be the heir of all that God possesses. And we poor males. Heirs of all
that God possesses. To be the heirs of God is to
be the heirs of all that God possesses. But God, is God God? Remember, His goodness
is my heritage. Is God God? Then holiness, our
love, is my heritage. Is God holy? Then holiness is
my heritage. We're heirs of all that God is.
To be the heirs of God, is to be the heirs of God himself. To be the heirs of God, to be
the heirs of all that Jesus Christ our Lord, the God-man, our Savior
is. He says himself, the glory which
thou hast given me, I'll give unto thee. All right. One last
thing to be spoken of is the union that subsists between Christ
and his people. If children but heirs, heirs
of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. I don't know any way to do this
except to give a carnal illustration to spiritual things, and they
always come short. But to refer again to my own
family, I have three sisters. I've made four children. And
when mom and dad leave this world and leave us what they possess,
that means we're going to divide it up. Or they've divided it
up already, I don't know. But anyway, it's going to be
divided up. I'll get a little, Jim will get a little, Juanita
will get a little, Pat will get a little, or maybe one of them will get
a whole lot. But anyway, it's going to be divided up. We can't
jointly possess it, because it's a finite, temporal, perishing
piece of dust. That's all it is. But you and
I shall with Jesus Christ jointly possess fully and completely
everything he is and everything he has. As justification is union and
communion with Christ and his righteousness. Sanctification
is union and communion with Christ in his holiness, and glorification
is union and communion with Christ in the glory of his sonship. This is grace indeed. Here I
am, a man, a guilty criminal, condemned. God Almighty has pardoned
me. But he didn't just pardon me,
He took me out of the prison and brought me into his house.
He didn't just bring me into his house, he adopted me as his
son. He hasn't just adopted me as
his son, he's made me to be his heir. And not just his heir,
but a joint heir with his only well-beloved son. An inheritance
with Christ is an inheritance worthy of the Son of God. Our worthiness to obtain the
inheritance is Christ's worthiness to obtain the inheritance. I wish we could get hold of this.
Our only worthiness, let us to approach God, ever, our only
worthiness, to call on God in prayer, is our only worthiness
to come to God in baptism. Our only worthiness, our only
worthiness, to come to the Lord's table. Our only worthiness to
enter into heaven's glory is Jesus Christ. But being one with
Christ, we are all together worthy through his blood of tongues
and his perfect righteousness imputed to us, which is now ours. We are totally worthy to approach
God and call him our to come to God through the waters of
baptism and confess Him as our God and King, to come to God
at the Lord's table, eat the bread and drink the wine in remembrance
of our Savior, and honor me, honor me, right now, to come
to God as heirs of God. Right now! He hath made us meet
Colossians 1-12. Right now, meet! to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints. But what about our sin? Hadn't
you been listening? He put it away. But how's he
going to deal with it? He dealt with it in Calvary! Our everlasting inheritance in
glory with Christ is a matter of absolute certainty. Our union
with him secures it. His title deed to glory is our
title deed to glory, the two are indivisible. His prayer claimed
it for us. He said, Father, I will, but
they also be with me where I am. Do you reckon God will give him
what he asked for? He's not asking for anything.
He's speaking to God on the basis of what he has said. And he says,
Father, this is my claim now. This is my claim. I claim for
Don Fuller, on the merit of my blood, on the basis of my righteousness,
because of my obedience on his behalf, I claim for him a place
with me on your rock. That's our heritage. He has gone
into heaven to take possession of it. and to prepare a place
for us in the heritage itself. And he's coming again to bring
us into the blessed possession of it. Now, I don't really know
what to expect when we have obtained that inheritance. It does not
yet appear what we shall be. But I know this, we're going
to be raised incorruptible, then it transformed, transformed totally
into the glorious likeness of the Son of God. We're going to know even as we
are known. We shall in that day enter into
rest, all glorious rest, and yet That rest is not idleness,
for we shall forever serve him day and night before his throne,
but serve him without toil, serve him without labor, serve him
without any kind of thing that would in any way impinge upon
our joy and our happiness in him. In that day there will be
nothing, nothing, nothing to sadden our hearts. in our spirits, to be mingled with our joy, to
make our inheritance in any way less than the perfection of glory
in Christ. Because God will wipe all tears
from our eyes. We're going to say goodbye forever to see it. Goodbye forever to see it. And live in perfect holiness. In perfect communion with Jesus
Christ. in perfect communion with one
another, in perfect pleasure and satisfaction
at thy right hand of pleasures forevermore. Then shall I be
satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. All these things shall
be ours as the heirs of God. it is written in the scriptures, they shall see his face. Now we see through a glass broccoli,
but if they see the bright square in Mark Henson's face back there,
see the face of a friend, sometimes smiling, sometimes
concerned, sometimes I read in his face trouble, sometimes I
read in his face happiness. Always read in his face a friend.
Will you listen to me? Soon this will be the glory of
our heritage. We will look on the Son of God
face to face forever with nothing between. We'll know Him, we'll know Him
even as we are known by Him in the perfection of love and fellowship,
communion and holiness. If children and heirs, heirs
of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Amen. Now, the Lord willing,
this evening, I'm going to preach to you on the subject, the magnitude
of our heavenly heritage. My text will be verses 18 through
23, so you be here tonight. I pray that God, the Holy Spirit,
has spoken to your heart, given you faith in Christ, and that
you can walk out of here this day confident that you were one
of God's children, adopted from eternity, brought into the family
this day, and an heir of God, joint heir with Jesus Christ.