So let's be looking, turning,
if you will, to Obadiah. Obadiah is 21 verses. I mentioned
the first hour, it's tiny. As far as compared to some others
where Psalms 150 chapters, this is just one chapter. So it's
difficult to find, but right before Jonah is Obadiah. Now,
Obadiah has a very clear message, a very clear message of hope.
Hope for God's elect, hope for Israel. But it doesn't give any
hope for Edom, which is the whole nation of Esau, the offspring
of Esau, the people. And it's not just the physical
that he's mentioning here, it's the spiritual. When the Lord's
talking about the destruction, he's talking about their covenant,
what they believe in, what they hope in. Only Israel has true
hope, and that's the Lord's people. Not the blood Israel, and I'm
talking about the spiritual Israel. They that are of Abraham's seed
through faith, through the eyes of faith. We mentioned Wednesday
night that God is very clear on his hate and on his love.
He loves everyone that he has elected, everyone that Christ
died for. Jacob, he's called Jacob. All of his descendants are called
Jacob. It's called Israel. God changed his name to Israel.
And Israel has hope because God said, Jacob, have I loved. Esau,
I have hated. We heard that message Wednesday
night. But understand, there is nothing in Jacob nothing in
Jacob that merited the grace that the Lord gave him. As a
matter of fact, if it's something that is merited, it's not grace,
is it? It's works. Scripture is very clear on that.
Paul was addressing that issue with the Hebrews, wasn't he?
He said, no, if it's by the works of the law, it's not grace. If
it's by grace, it can't be by the works of the law. It's that
simple. So we see the hope is that God chose to love Jacob
and it's all by grace and all by mercy. Now, If I was to declare
unto you what I did Wednesday night by memory as best I can
regarding Jacob's character, he's a trickster. He's a supplanter.
He's a liar. He's a thief. He's all the things
that we are. We can relate to Jacob, can't
we? But you know, the most glorious part is the Lord traded places
with him. Christ was honest. Christ was
truth. Christ was good. Jacob was bad,
he was wretched, he was vile. Christ was full of truth and
grace and did everything perfect. And Christ Jesus chose to trade
places with Jacob. That's our hope, isn't it? That's
our hope. So here in Obadiah chapter one,
let's look in verse 17. But upon Mount Zion shall be
deliverance and there shall be holiness. And the houses of Jacob
shall possess their possessions. And the house of Jacob shall
be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau
for stubble, and they shall kindle in them and devour them. And
there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau, for the
Lord hath spoken it. And they of the south shall possess
the mount of Esau, and they of the plain of the Philistines,
and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, in the fields of
Samaria. And Benjamin shall possess Gilead.
And the captivity of this host and the children of Israel shall
possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath. And the
captivity of Jerusalem, which is Shepharad, shall possess the
cities of the south. And saviors shall come up on
Mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau. And the kingdom shall
be the Lord's." The very first verse we read at the end of it,
it says, Jacob shall possess their possessions. We see here. that it's going to be upon Mount
Zion, there'll be deliverance. And he tells us why right after
that in this verse, he says, there shall be holiness. And
because their holiness, because of Mount Zion being established
by God, and because him giving deliverance there, because them
being made holy, Jacob shall possess their possessions. It says T-H-E-I-R. It's a people,
it's not just a person, we see that. And so he's saying, this
is how it's going to have to happen. You're gonna have to
be purchased You're going to have to be made my purchased
possession. That's what I've titled the message,
purchased possession. In order for something to be
possessed, it must be owned. Isn't that right? In order for
something to be possessed, it must be owned by definition.
In order for it to be owned, either it needs to be bought,
inherited, or stolen. That's the only way that we can
possess something. That's the only way that we can own something
is either for it to be bought, inherited, or stolen. Men think
that they can buy salvation by their works. They think salvation
can be bought. Other men believe that they can
inherit salvation. Lord, you owe me for everything
I've done for you. You owe me. This is my inheritance
for what I've done to you. Proverbs chapter one tells us,
I will also laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh.
This is what the Lord says to these people that believe they
can inherit it or they can earn it themselves. They can buy it
with their works. He says, I'm going to laugh at
your calamity. When your fear comes upon you, when you bring
your good works before me, he says, I'm not going to, I'm not
going to take your good works and allow you entrance into my
kingdom that I built by my works. No, I'm going to disannoy your
covenant. I'm going to laugh at your calamity. Other men believe
that they can steal the glory of God, rob the glory of God,
or steal salvation for themselves. And the Lord's very clear. He
says, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into
the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same as a
thief and a robber. There's only one door. There's
only one way. Christ Jesus didn't come to make
a way, he is the way, isn't he? I say that often because it's
so true. Men say, well, he made a way
of salvation. No, he is the way of salvation. He is the door
to the sheepfold. Our only hope is that he causes
us to go into the sheepfold as one of his sheep. Tells us in
Revelation, he says that he opens doors that no man can shut and
he shuts the doors that no man can open. Lord, I need you to
open the door. I need you to open the door. because I can't,
I don't have strength. I don't want to earn salvation
because I can't. I can't inherit it based upon
my work and my standing before you. My father Adam's blood is
polluted. I'm not of the bloodline for inheritance. And I certainly,
Lord, don't let me try to steal it from you. Don't let me try
to climb up another way. Lord, you're gonna have to open up the door and
you're gonna have to kick me through it because of the pride
of my heart. This possession, that we're talking
about is spiritual, and it cannot be bought by us because we're
sinful. It cannot be inherited, as I
just mentioned, because we are of our father, Adam. It cannot
be inherited because of our bloodline, because of what we are. Can't
be stolen because God gets all the glory. Yet he says, Jacob
shall possess their possessions. How can that be? How can we possess
the possessions promised unto us if we cannot buy it, if we
cannot inherit it because of who we are and what we've done?
And how can we have it unless we steal it? Well, we can't even
steal it, can we? Because God's going to get all the glory in
it. It's God's. God's going to have to do the
work, isn't he? God's gonna have to do all of the work. In order
for us to possess, possess these promises, possess this salvation,
possess grace and mercy and goodness. In order to have favor with God,
he's gonna have to do all the work in it. Now, possess means
to have and to hold as property. It means belongs to, that's what
possess means. Do you love the thought that
I am my beloved's? And my beloved is mine. Do you
love that thought of the Lord? In marriage, we say to have and
to hold from this day forward in sickness and in health, richer
for poor till death do us part. And I know I've missed a few
of the things we say in that, but you understand what I'm saying
from this day forward to have, to have and to hold. You're going
to belong to me and I'm going to belong to you. We're going
to be one, one flesh in the Lord's eyes. That's what the Lord has
instituted in marriage. That's why it's by his design. This is what he's, what he's
purposed to do. And we see that we do, we say
having to hold his as property, which she's not my property.
You understand what I'm saying there, but boy, I love the thought
that I'm God's property. I hope that he is, aren't you?
Aren't you hopeful that the Lord has made you his? Because I can't,
I can't do anything to become his. Nothing in me is going to
merit me to be His. But oh, His Son, purchased by
His own blood, He owns His people. He tells us that. He says, I
have redeemed you. I have called you. I have saved
you by my grace. You are mine. When I saw you
polluted, as we read, I think it was in the men's study, we
heard it. When we were dead in trespasses and in sin, when we
were enmity against God, when we were dead as sinners, when
we were the enemies of God, that's when He commended His love toward
us. God commended His love toward us in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. Not when we were good, not when
we were alive, not when we were good in His sight. No, when we
were sinners, that's when He redeemed His people. I hope I'm his property. I hope
I've been bought. I hope we've been bought by the
blood of Christ because that is the only thing that will bring
salvation. It's the only thing that purchased
all the possessions that are good is the Lord Jesus Christ
and his blood. Next chapter 20 tells us, take
heed therefore unto yourself and to all the flock over the
which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church
of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. Christ Jesus purchased his bride,
his church, his people, his Zion by his own blood. He purchased
his people. Now, if I go to the store I use
dogs a lot as an example because I have four of them. If I go
to the store and I buy a dog, how foolish would it be to say,
well, you can buy the dog, but unless that dog goes over there
and hits that button and lets you have it, you can't, it's
not really yours. It has to give it, it has to
show that it It wants to be yours first. That's silly, isn't it?
That's just silly. No, no, the Lord, whenever he
bought us, we became his period. It takes us completely out of
the equation, doesn't it? It's not what we've done. He
said, you didn't choose me, I chose you. I chose to redeem you and
I successfully did it. The Lord Jesus Christ successfully
redeemed. When we purchase something, we
take ownership of it. And I love the thought that the
Lord's taken ownership of his people. Even think about your
earthly possessions that you have, your house, your car. Do
we not tend to these things and take care of them? We keep them
clean. We try to maintain them so they'll last with the Lord.
He's tending to us. Think about that. He tended to
us on the cross of Calvary, providing everything that we need for our
eternal well-being, our eternal well-being, everything required.
everything, all the grace, all the mercy, all the peace. We
are now perfectly righteous in God's eyes by the merits of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Just like an old car, we get
dirty, don't we? The sin that we are and the things
that we do, we start getting dirty. We need to come and be
washed again, don't we? Lord, we're vacuum out the dust
that's in my heart because I get so cold and indifferent towards
you. Clean me up. Wash me with this pure water
again. Show me that I am in Christ. Make me clean again and show
me that I'm clean. Now, understand something, and
I want to be very clear, in the Lord's eyes, He doesn't see us
getting dirty. He doesn't see sin any longer.
Christ Jesus put it away, but boy, we see it, don't we? And
that's what causes us to come as mercy beggars. Lord, give
me my possessions again that you have merited, because I can't
do anything to possess them. Wash me again, Lord. Give me
the grace and mercy for today. That new manna, feed me you again. Give me a drink, Lord. I'm thirsty.
I'm in a desert, a wilderness. I need to be cleaned up. I need
to be washed again. And he does. He remembers his congregation. Psalm 74 says that. Remember the congregation which
thou hast purchased of old, the rod of thine inheritance. Think about this. We're his inheritance. How does that resonate with you? I am his inheritance? Me? He came to die to save me that
I might be his inheritance? Well, that doesn't lift me up
in pride. That crushes my heart. This dead dog sinner, he came
to save a wretch like me and make me his inheritance. Make
me, make you his inheritance. Is that your hope? Yes. Yes,
that is my hope. I have to possess those possessions,
which he has merited and he bought with his own blood. It's my only
hope. It's my only hope. He remembers his congregation
that he purchased. He remembers the rod of his inheritance,
which he has redeemed. This Mount Zion, wherein we dwell,
wherein he dwells. Every sin, every sin that was
laid upon the precious Lamb of God has been put away. Men look
at the cross and they They see the cross as the Lord died for
the sins of the world. But in that regard, he really
didn't accomplish anything unless you allow him to make the sin
go away, and that's not true. See, understand something. Whenever
God saw sin upon his son, his justice must be enacted. His
wrath must come forth, and it did. The Lord laid our iniquity
upon his darling son, and when he did, the sword of justice
came forth and pierced the heart. His soul was made an offering
for sin for his people. And when that happened, they
were put away. He absorbed that wrath into himself. Think about a fire. A fire that
is quenched, a fire that has been put out. Not one that's
still barely smoldering with smoke and things. No, I mean
completely quenched. It's not even warm anymore. The
fire of God's wrath has been extinguished in the person of
Christ. And in the process, all of the
sin of his people were put away. They're gone. They don't exist. They've never existed in God's
eyes. They've been cast as far as the
East is from the West. This is the possession that Jacob's
going to possess, the good news of the gospel. This is our hope,
isn't it? That it was completely, completely
by the Lord Jesus Christ alone, his work alone. And by his death, by this shedding
of his blood, He purchased something. He didn't just make an offer
to men. He offered himself up unto the
Father freely. And by his own blood, the transaction's
been complete. I don't want to make it sound
deluded by calling it that, but it was a transaction that took
place. He bought his people. He achieved something, brethren.
He didn't try. He achieved it. He really saved
His people. I mean, as far as God is concerned,
we're seated in Christ right this, it's in eternity, so there's
not time, but for us, it'd be right this second, wouldn't it?
Right now, right now, we're seated in Christ, in the Lord Jesus
Christ in heaven. The Lord chose to do this, and
He chose to make us His inheritance. He says in Psalm 33, blessed
is the nation whose God is the Lord and the people whom He hath
chosen for His inheritance. his people are his purchased
possession, and his people are his inheritance. For you are
bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and
in your spirit, which are God's. He owns everything that he bought,
everything. Can you imagine buying something
and someone looking at you and saying, well, you really don't
own that. Well, yes, I do. I have the certificate of authenticity. I have the title and my name
is at the bottom. I bought this, it is mine. I
want you to think about what the Lord Jesus Christ did. He
was given the Lamb's Book of Life, wasn't he? What did he
do with that? He redeemed his people that were
in that Lamb's Book of Life. And that now is his inheritance.
And it was, he, I don't want to sound deluded, but he signed
on the dotted line. It's his, he owns us with his
own blood. With his own blood, he purchased
us. We were bought with his blood. He entered into the covenant
with his father, into the contract stating, I will redeem them.
And the Lord said, I'll give them to you as an inheritance.
I'll give them to you as a possession. I'll give them to you as your
reward. I'll give you a bride. And God became a man. And the
Lord Jesus Christ did exactly that. He redeemed his people.
God chose to buy us. He chose to redeem us. Now did
he choose to redeem everyone? Did He choose to purchase everyone
by His own blood? Well, if He did, they're His.
Ain't that right? If His blood put away the sin,
every sin that He had upon Him, if He died for every sin in the
world, period, all the sin's been paid for. He redeemed everyone.
But that's not what He says, is it? No, He says, eat them,
I'm gonna destroy, eat them. I'm gonna destroy Esau, this
thought that I don't need a substitute. These that are hiding in their
own cleft of the rock. He says, I'm gonna disannul their covenant.
No, I came to save my people. Call His name Jesus. for he shall
save his people from their sin. That's exactly what he did. His chosen people are now perfectly
righteous in his eyes. See, it's God's sovereign right.
He owns the right. Can you imagine owning the right
to something and somebody saying, you don't have the right to do
that? Yes, I do. I have the right, but that's such a weak analogy
compared to God in his sovereignty. God's entitled to do what He
wants to do. We're not entitled. We're not
entitled to anything unless it's found in Christ. And the only
reason that we're entitled to it then is because He said, I
will and you shall. That's the glorious news of the
gospel. He's made us entitled if we're in Christ Jesus. Not
because of what we do. That's not what entitles us.
But God's entitled to do whatsoever He will. To make a vessel of
honor and to make a vessel of dishonor. to make a vessel of
honor and to make a vessel of dishonor. It's his will, it's
his choice of his own will begat he us by the word of truth. By
his own blood, he hath redeemed us by his choice. The Lord Jesus
Christ chose to die. He chose to die for his people
and he did. And he redeemed them back to
the father. See, he owns all and he chose to save some by
his own will, by his own blood. according to his own covenant. Turn with me to Colossians 1.
Colossians 1. Verse 16. For by him, were all things created. What
does he mean all things? It means all things, everything. By him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers,
all things were created by him and for him. And he is before
all things and by him all things consist. Well, that about sums
it up, doesn't it? Everything. Everything's His
to dispose of how He will. And He is the head. He is the
head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that
in Him should all fullness dwell. And here is the glorious news.
This sovereign God that we are speaking about chose to do this.
having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to
reconcile all things unto Himself. By Him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven." See, salvation is of
the Lord. He earned it. He bought it. He possesses it. It is His salvation. David said, restore unto me the
joy of thy salvation. David knew that salvation was
of the Lord by Him alone. We know that too, don't we? We
know that it's all by Him and He owns it. He has the right
to do with it whatsoever He will. It's His. It's His. John chapter
one tells us, them that believed on His name were born, not of
blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
the will of God. It's all His will, according
to His purpose. It is not by ours, not by ours,
but according to His will, we possess all things in Christ
Jesus, according to His will. Turn with me to 1 Peter. I'm
going to have us turn a few places this morning, so bear with us.
1 Peter 1. It's His will, His work, and
His choice. And do you know when this happened?
Before time ever began, before the foundation of the world.
Look in 1 Peter 1. For as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from
your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish
and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation
of the world, but was manifest in these last times for who? You. If you look at the very
first part of chapter one, he tells us in verse two, who he's
speaking to, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father. So who is this for? His elect, the ones that he lived
and died for, the one that he shed his precious blood for.
This is who this is for. So how's Jacob going to possess
what's his possessions? Christ purchased Jacob's possessions. See, that's the glorious news
of the gospel. Christ is the one that purchased these possessions. These possessions are nothing
that we can earn, nothing that we can buy. But by His finished
work, we inherit it. We inherit these possessions.
This is our inheritance. Everything that Christ bought,
everything that Christ accomplished, He gives to you and I as our
inheritance. Because we've been born of a
new seed, not of Adam, but an incorruptible seed, born after
His Spirit. We're family. We're His. What did the scripture say in
1 John 3? Behold, now are we the sons of
God. That's the way the Lord views
His people, is His son. And He's saved us into an inheritance
that's incorruptible, undefiled, fadeth not away. Actually, we're
going to be turning there in a second, so I won't quote the
rest of that. But it was by His own will and His own blood. It
was His choice. He chose to redeem His people.
He chose us as His inheritance. Now, for the remainder of the
time, I want to look at what Jacob, what Israel, what God's
chosen people, His elect, His bride, there's several names
you can call it, but I want to make sure I'm clear on who I'm speaking
of. The ones God chose to redeem, what is their possession? What
is their possession? Well, number one, it is an inheritance,
isn't it? It's an inheritance. Ephesians 1 tells us, in whom
also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. He purposed to give us wretched,
vile sinners. Christ is our portion. Christ
is our inheritance. Salvation is our inheritance.
This is what he chose to do by his own blood. You're still in
1 Peter, look at verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again into a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled,
and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
in the last time. He's given us an incorruptible,
undefilable inheritance that never fades. Now, what do you
do to earn an inheritance? You can't earn an inheritance.
You have to be born into the family, don't you? You have to
be born. That's the qualification of an
inheritance. will inherit every possession
that I have, my wife and children, if the Lord takes me before them.
I'm going to write a will that's going to say everything that's
mine is now theirs. And then whenever I leave the
walks of this life, they can have it. That's all theirs. And
it's as good as done already, as far as I'm concerned. That's
who's going to get it, right? And you're the same with your
children. That's what the Lord did for his people. He made a
written will. We have the blessed word of God
in front of us declaring his written will. The glorious news
of the gospel is, is the one that's supposed to enact the
will is the same one that wrote the will. You and I can't do
that. We write the will, and after we are gone, then the will
becomes to effect whenever the one that's supposed to enact
it causes it to be thus. My wife would honor my will,
and it would be given out. Not the Lord. He's resurrected.
He's gonna make sure that His will is done, isn't He? He's
gonna see to it that everyone that the Lord Jesus Christ died
for will be brought, has been brought, and presented perfectly
righteous unto his father. We are born into the family of
God. Now, how are you and I going
to choose to be born? We couldn't choose to be born
when we were physical. We had no knowledge of life,
and yet we were alive in the Because of the travail that came
upon our mothers, we were brought into this world. This wasn't
our choice, was it? We didn't choose the date. We
didn't choose the time. We didn't choose the hour. The
travail came according to the purpose of God. And we came forth. We came forth. Well, the good
news of the gospel is, is when the time comes, appointed time
that God has ordained before the foundation of the world,
when it comes, this gospel goes forth. And the gospel is mixed
with faith by the Holy Spirit of God. And every one of his
children are born into the family of God, having an inheritance
of eternal life that is incorruptible, that is undefiled, and that fadeth
not away. That's what he's given us as
our possession. That's what he's given us as our portion. That's
what our inheritance is. Eternal life in Christ Jesus. Ezekiel 44. The Lord is speaking
unto the priests and he tells them, it shall be into inheritance. It shall be into them for an
inheritance. I am their inheritance and you shall give them no possession
in Israel. I am their possession. They shall eat of the meat offering
and the sin offering and the trespass offering and every dedicated
thing in Israel shall be theirs. Understand. The lamb is our inheritance. The meat offering is our inheritance.
The sin offering is our inheritance. Every single dedicated thing
is our possession because of what Christ did. Everything that
he accomplished is our possession. Now, is there any way that one
that Christ died for will not possess the possessions that
Christ purchased with his own blood? It's not possible, is
it? It's going to come to pass. God
said, I will, and he cannot lie. I have redeemed you by my own
blood. That's what he said. I've already
done it. So what rest is it to know that it's not a requirement
of me to bring anything to present before him? Christ Jesus presented
everything, and we just reap the benefits of it. We get all
the good things that Christ Jesus earned by his own blood. We get
a perfect inheritance because of what he's done. I love the thought that Christ
made his people his purchased possession. He said, I set my
eye upon you. He looked upon us in mercy. He
said, I came by you in the time of your nativity. The time of
your nativity, you were dead. You were polluted in your own
blood. You were naked. None swaddled you. None had compassion
upon you. None had mercy upon you. And
I said, until you live. And I washed you. I washed you
whiter than snow. I spread my skirt over you, which
is a picture of his righteousness being put upon his people. And he's given us all the benefits
of being found in the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. This
is our possessions. The Lord's caused us to possess
eternal glory. That's our possession. Heaven. Eternal peace, eternal joy, eternal
rest. When. Jacob was on his deathbed. It's going to have his turn here,
but for the sake of time, I'm just going to tell you the account.
Jacob's on his deathbed and he calls for his sons. The first
one he wants to talk to is Joseph. He says, Joseph. The Lord appeared
unto me. He told me, you're going to possess
this land, this land flowing with milk and honey. It's going
to be your possession. It's going to be the inheritance
of God. But he didn't just say you're going to possess it. He
says, I'm going to give it to you as an everlasting possession. Well, if it's everlasting and
it never had a beginning and it never had an end, it can't
be something that's on the earth, can it? Not physical anyways. It has to be something spiritual.
What is he telling him? He says, the land that I'm giving
you, the land flowing with milk and honey is a representation
of what I've given you in Christ before the world ever began.
The everlasting possession never had a beginning. It'll never
have an end. It's forever. It's eternal. It's
the land flowing with milk and honey. Well, that's the word
of God, isn't it? Jesus Christ himself, the life-sustaining
milk that is required for babes. The life-sustaining milk. A baby
can't eat anything but milk, can it? Not at first. Not that's
going to be life-sustaining, like it had the nutrients in
it that it needs. A baby must have the milk. It must. And that's
what Christ gives to his people. And do you know, The milk of
the word is the meat of the word also. I heard somebody tell me
recently, well, you just preach a lot of that meat over where
you're at. We need the milk where we're
at. Or they say the opposite to me. I had somebody say the
exact opposite. He said, well, you're just preaching the milk. We're on
to the meat now. The milk and the meat's the same thing. It's
the gospel of God's free grace. We don't grow past that, do we?
We have to have it as much now, more now than we did yesterday.
It's the honey that's sweet to our taste, but bitter to our
belly. Our flesh hates it, but we've got to have Christ. We've
got to have this milk and honey, this bread of life, this fountain
of living water. This is what he's promised to
give us every time we meet together. He's promised to be there in
the midst where my people gather together, where two or three
are gathered together in my name. There I am in the midst. And
what is he feeding us? We feast upon His body and upon His blood,
the meat and drink of Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, as our
life-giving sustenance, our life-sustaining sustenance. We have to have Him.
We have to have Him. And He is our inheritance. He
is our possession. He's been given to us, and we've
been given to Him. What else did Christ give us
as our possession? Well, he tells us, I go and prepare a place
for you. I've heard men say he uses, they use the verse that
he just said on that. I go to prepare a place for you
right before that. He says in my father's house are many mansions.
If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place
for you." People get hung up on the mansion part, and they
write songs. I could pull out the hymnal and
show you right now. There's one, and the song goes, I have a mansion
just over the hilltop. It has nothing to do with God
whatsoever, nothing to do about the finished work of Christ.
There's no gospel in it. It's all about self. The Lord didn't say,
I go to prepare a mansion for you. He said, there's many mansions
in heaven. Yes, I go to prepare a place.
Well, where is that place? It's the cleft of the rock. It's
the Lord Jesus Christ. I've got to be found in Him.
I don't need a mansion. I need Christ. We see the carnality
of men's mind in heaven. We see the streets of gold. But
I'll remind us that the streets of gold are called transparent. Transparent. You know, there's
a couple of ways you can look at that. Number one, you can
say, okay, well, it's pure, it's the purest gold, but I would
remind you that it's the street, so you're gonna value it like
you would pavement. We wouldn't save pavement and
bring it into our house and hide it and keep it and protect it
to try to have a better future. Pavement's useless other than
driving on, right? Well, that's what he's saying.
It's going to be transparent. You're not going to see the gold
there. You're going to see Christ. That's what heaven's all about.
It's not about the splendor that's going to be there. He's just
giving an example of his finished work and what he's accomplished.
This is Zion, the New Jerusalem that was coming down. That's
a picture of the bride. It literally says that to start with. It's
His finished work and everything there is glorious, but nothing
is compared to the Son that is there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who giveth light there forever. Endless day, endless day. That's who we'll be focused on.
We won't be looking at the walls of Jasper. We won't be looking
at buildings. We'll be looking at Christ forever. That's who
I wanna look at. My heart cries, Lord, Lord, cause
me to be found in you. Lord, cause me to look upon you
now. that I may look upon you for
all eternity. And even saying it that way,
there's no there's no way to if you say all that's not your
then you're giving it a measure. There's no measure to eternity.
Lord, cause me to look upon you for eternity. Is that your cry?
That's certainly my cry. I go to prepare a place for you.
And where I go, there you may be also because I'm going to
come again. And I'm going to receive you unto myself because
you're my possession. You're my people. And you're
going to possess your possessions that I bought for you with my
own blood." Now, everything, everything he
purchased, grace, mercy, righteousness, sanctification, justification,
glorification, That is what he purchased for his people. That
is what our purchase possessions are. That is the thing when he
says Jacob shall possess their possessions. That is what we
possess in Christ Jesus. Just having him. gives us all
of those benefits I just mentioned. Just having Him, that's what
we want, to have Christ and be found in Him. That's our hope,
Lord, give me Christ. Because I see that that's where
the righteousness that I need, that is required, that's where
it's going to have to come from. The Lord Jesus Christ, He must
be my possession. Well, how do we know if He's
our purchased, if we are His purchased possession? How do
we know that? Well, turn with me to Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter one and verse
one. All an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the will of God to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the
faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace be to you and peace from
God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Here's why. According
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the
praise of the glory of his grace. wherein he hath made us accepted
in the beloved. So literally everything that
I had mentioned this hour to us is in those verses right there.
Being accepted in the beloved, being made his children, being
bought according to his will, everything, being born according
to his choice before the foundation of the world. Now look with me
in verse 11. In whom Christ, in Christ also
we have obtained. Now, wait a minute. we had to
die first in order to obtain it. No, we've already obtained
it in God's eyes. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance,
being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh
all things after the counsel of His own will, that we should
be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ,
in whom also you trusted after that you heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that you believed,
you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. which is the
earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession unto the praise of His glory. Now understand what
he's saying here. We only have a couple minutes
left, so I'll be as brief as I can. But if you don't get anything
else, I hope the Lord causes us to understand this. When we
go to buy a house, we give earnest money, don't we? We give earnest
money. Earnest money is a payment to
confirm a contract. It is a payment to state, I am
serious about this. I am going to buy it. And it
is very difficult, nigh impossible to get earnest money back once
you give it. Most of the time, when you back out of the deal
after that, the earnest money becomes whoever you had given
it to, it becomes their possession. That's how the contract's written
up, isn't it? So you can't get out of it. And I'm sure there's
loopholes and different things in our law, but understand what
I'm trying to say here. When he says in verse 14, which
is the earnest of our, verse right before says the Holy Spirit
of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance. God has given
us earnest. in the Holy Spirit. Just as we
give money when we're going to buy a house, God says, no, I
am serious about the salvation of my people. It's finished.
And here is my spirit as the earnest of your inheritance.
I guarantee you, you're going to possess your possessions because
of what I have done, because of what Christ did on the cross
of Calvary. And here is the promise. Here's the Holy Spirit. This
is what he's given to his people. We're going to possess our possessions
if we're his. There's no other way because
the Lord says, here, here's my guarantee. I've sealed it by
my blood. Here is my spirit. Psalm chapter
16 says, the Lord is my portion. The Lord is my inheritance of
my cup. Thou maintainest my lot. See the Lord's people shall possess
their possessions. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
possession to his people. That's who we want to possess,
isn't it? That's who we want to own as our own. That's who we
must have as the Lord Jesus Christ. And the glorious news is if he's
given you his spirit, whereby you cry, Abba, Father, you shall
possess your possessions. You shall have Christ. as your
portion. Lord, let it be so. Lord, cause
it to be so. Cause Christ to be my portion,
him to be my possession. If you want to possess these
possessions, you can't look to yourself. You must look to Christ.
He's the only one that can give it to you. He's the only one
that it's found in. He's the only one that we hope
in. We cannot look to ourself in any way. We look to what he
has done. Only then can we say, we shall
possess our possessions. Amen. Father, thank you for making
us your purchased possession according to your will, not according
to ours, according to the love that you have for us and your
Father. Lord, thank you. In Christ's name we pray, amen.