The Earnest of Heaven: Rejoicing in Your Spiritual Inheritance

• Identity as Saints [00:04:54 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that every born-again believer is a saint, rejecting 'two-tiered' Christianity found in Roman Catholicism and some Pentecostal schools, defining 'saint' (hagios) as one who is holy and set apart.
• Spiritual vs. Material Blessings [00:06:43 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts the world's focus on money, houses, and health with the biblical reality of 'spiritual blessings in heavenly places,' correcting the misconception that blessings are primarily physical or that they are only for the future.
• Election and Predestination [00:08:36 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that believers were chosen in Christ 'before the foundation of the world' for the purpose of being holy and blameless, emphasizing that salvation spans from eternity past to eternity future.
• Adoption and Grace [00:10:17 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor highlights that believers are predestined to adoption as children, not just servants, emphasizing that this acceptance is based on God's grace (unmerited favor) rather than human works.
• Christ as the Center of All Things [00:12:27 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor asserts that God's will is to gather all things in Christ, noting that salvation comes only through Jesus, and uses an analogy of atoms to illustrate belief in unseen realities sustained by Christ.
• Exclusivity of Salvation [00:12:38 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor asserts that Jesus is the only way to the Father, correcting the cultural desire for universalism by insisting that even Jews and Muslims must come through Christ.
• Christ as the Unifying Force [00:13:43 ▶️ 📄]
  > Using the analogy of atomic forces, the pastor explains that Jesus Christ is the ultimate binding force of the cosmos, just as He is the binding force of salvation.
• Predestination and Inheritance [00:15:41 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor distinguishes between being predestined to adoption and predestined to an incorruptible inheritance, contrasting this with the human desire for immediate earthly rewards.
• Assurance of Salvation [00:21:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor addresses the uncertainty of salvation, warning against superficial faith and emphasizing that true believers have assurance through the sealing of the Holy Spirit.
• The Holy Spirit as Earnest [00:24:15 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains the Greek concept of 'earnest' (arrabon) as a pledge or engagement ring, illustrating that the Holy Spirit is the guarantee and foretaste of the believer's future heavenly inheritance.
• The Holy Spirit as Earnest [00:24:29 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains the Greek word 'arrabon' (earnest) as a down payment or engagement ring, signifying that the Holy Spirit is the firstfruits and guarantee of the believer's future inheritance.
• Spiritual Marriage and Holiness [00:25:49 ▶️ 📄]
  > Using the metaphor of engagement, the pastor argues that being 'engaged' to Christ requires purity and holiness, warning against idolatry and calling believers to be 'chaste virgins' waiting for the marriage supper of the Lamb.
• Avoiding Theological Extremes [00:29:06 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor warns against two extremes: rejecting the reality of God's indwelling presence as heresy, or claiming to be 'God on earth' as a form of pride, urging a balanced appreciation of the power and blessing of the Spirit.
• Understanding vs. Possessing Blessings [00:33:34 ▶️ 📄]
  > Clarifying Paul's prayer in Ephesians, the pastor asserts that believers already possess all spiritual blessings; the prayer is for the 'eyes of understanding' to be enlightened to realize what they already have, not to receive something new.
• Eternal Perspective and Impatience [00:36:42 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the illustration of travel fatigue and the Prodigal Son to contrast healthy longing for heaven with the sinful impatience of wanting inheritance now, warning that premature acquisition leads to loss.
• The Nature of Inheritance and Patience [00:37:42 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the Parable of the Prodigal Son to illustrate the folly of demanding immediate gratification ('I want it now') versus the patience required to receive the eternal inheritance God has prepared.
• The Riches of the Inheritance [00:39:54 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor details the specific biblical promises of inheritance, including inheriting the earth (Matthew 5), the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25), and 'all things' (Revelation 21), contrasting this with the fleeting nature of earthly life.
• The Power of God in Believers [00:46:13 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead resides within believers, enabling them to overcome obstacles, pride, and spiritual opposition as they walk by faith.
• Union with Christ and Heavenly Mindset [00:49:41 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that because believers are the body of Christ, they are seated with Him in heavenly places, and therefore must set their affections on things above rather than on earthly distractions.
• Union with Christ / Crucifixion with Christ [00:50:22 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that believers are 'crucified with Christ' and 'dead' to the old life, yet live by faith in Him, referencing Galatians 2:20.
• The Church as the Body of Christ [00:50:51 ▶️ 📄]
  > He identifies the church as 'his body' and 'the fullness of him that filleth all in all,' emphasizing corporate identity.
• Spiritual Resurrection and Heavenly Mindset [00:51:22 ▶️ 📄]
  > Using Colossians 3, he argues that those born again have 'risen with Christ' and must seek things above, not earthly things, because their life is hid with Christ in God.
• The Necessity of Death to Self for Regeneration [00:52:29 ▶️ 📄]
  > He challenges the congregation, stating that many think they are saved without having truly 'died to self,' asserting that death to self is a prerequisite for being born again.

• Sermon Illustration [00:12:49 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his family in Iraq, expressing a desire for his 300,000 tribe members (Muslims) to be saved, while simultaneously affirming the theological necessity that they must come through Christ alone.
• Sermon Illustration [00:13:11 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses an analogy regarding atomic theory, noting that no one has ever seen an atom directly, yet people believe in its existence based on evidence and theory, to illustrate how believers should trust in the unseen spiritual reality of Christ holding all things together.
• Sermon Illustration [00:16:32 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about a childhood friend who hoped his future in-laws would die quickly so he could receive their earthly inheritance, using this to illustrate the sin of impatience and misplaced focus on temporal things versus heavenly inheritance.
• Sermon Illustration [00:18:43 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses a rhetorical question about buying a lottery ticket that only pays out after death to illustrate the absurdity of seeking earthly rewards when the true inheritance is heavenly.
• Sermon Illustration [00:22:37 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains the ancient practice of sealing letters to illustrate how the Holy Spirit seals believers, ensuring they are preserved and will not be tampered with until they reach their ultimate destination in heaven.
• Sermon Illustration [00:25:27 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of an engagement ring (the Greek word 'arrabon') to describe the Holy Spirit as a pledge of the future marriage to Christ, emphasizing the permanence and security of the believer's salvation.
• Sermon Illustration [00:24:29 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of buying a house with earnest money to explain the concept of the Holy Spirit as a down payment on the believer's inheritance, contrasting it with a pawned item which is not of the same nature as the final payment.
• Sermon Illustration [00:25:27 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the Greek word 'arrabon' as the term for an engagement ring, illustrating the believer's current state as being 'engaged' to Jesus Christ, with the ring symbolizing a permanent seal that will not come off until the marriage.
• Sermon Illustration [00:30:01 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts the emotional impact of fictional movies (where people cry over fiction) with the lack of excitement some believers show regarding the reality of their salvation and the Holy Spirit, challenging them to be more affected by truth than fiction.
• Sermon Illustration [00:37:42 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor tells the story of the Prodigal Son, highlighting the son's impatience to receive his inheritance immediately rather than waiting for his father's death, using it as a warning against the sinful desire for immediate gratification of spiritual blessings.
• Sermon Illustration [00:37:42 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts the story of the Prodigal Son, highlighting the young man's desire for his inheritance immediately ('I want it now') to engage in 'harlots and fun and feasting,' only to lose everything and end up feeding pigs, illustrating the danger of impatience and the necessity of humility.
• Sermon Illustration [00:38:31 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references lottery winners who win the lottery but lose their money quickly, using this as an analogy for how people who get what they want immediately often lose it just as fast, contrasting this with the eternal nature of God's inheritance.
• Sermon Illustration [00:50:04 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of the church as the body of Christ, noting that just as Christ does not cut off parts of his own body (like an appendix), he does not remove believers, but rather his life flows through them.

• Pastoral Charge [00:21:52 ▶️ 📄]
  > Attend the next morning's service to learn how to know for sure if one is saved.
• Pastoral Charge [00:18:55 ▶️ 📄]
  > Avoid buying lottery tickets (used rhetorically to illustrate the futility of seeking temporal gain over eternal inheritance).
• Pastoral Charge [00:32:22 ▶️ 📄]
  > To understand, receive, and believe by faith that the prayer in Ephesians 1 is applicable to them and will be answered.
• Pastoral Charge [00:42:08 ▶️ 📄]
  > Attend the next service to determine if they are truly born again.
• Pastoral Charge [00:52:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > Direct their thoughts and desires toward heavenly things rather than earthly distractions.
• Pastoral Charge [00:52:51 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor prays for self-examination regarding true regeneration and for believers to have their spiritual understanding opened.

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:00] Amen. You may be seated. Praise the Lord. Excellent singing. Thank you. We're going to read the text, and then I will pray, and then we will preach. Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 1. Of course, we could preach a series on Ephesians chapter 1. Those of you who were here last Sunday morning, of course, Pastor Andy, he preached an overview of the book of Ephesians, but he preached a good bit in Ephesians 1. So for those of you, it should be familiar.
[00:00:37] But we pray that tonight's message will give a good foundation for the rest of the messages which truly are really all founded here in this first chapter.
[00:00:50] Let's read the first chapter and then we'll pray and get into the exposition.
[00:00:55] Ephesians chapter 1, verse 1.
[00:00:58] Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.
[00:01:06] Grace be to you in peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:01:10] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
[00:01:22] 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,
[00:01:36] wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence,
[00:01:49] having made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation, the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ,
[00:02:02] both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him, in whom also we have obtained inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,
[00:02:14] that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation in whom also after that ye believed
[00:02:29] ye 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.
[00:02:39] Wherefore I also after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints cease not to give thanks for you making mention of you in my prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ
[00:02:49] the Father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation the knowledge of him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints
[00:03:02] and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him
[00:03:13] at his own right hand in heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come
[00:03:27] and has put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church which is his body the fullness of him that filleth all in all let's pray the heavenly
[00:03:43] father we do praise you and thank you for this rich rich chapter so much oh lord help us now by your Spirit, that your people may be encouraged, that we might, Lord, that our eyes of our
[00:03:56] understanding might indeed be enlightened to know what you are speaking to us as your children adopted by your grace, through the blood of your Son, by the eternal Spirit working in and through you in us for your glory.
[00:04:09] Help us now, give us ears to hear, hearts to receive, and may we give you praise as As we listen and grow more conformed to the image of the one who loved us and gave himself
[00:04:20] for us, your precious Son, the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world.
[00:04:26] Amen.
[00:04:29] As we begin our exposition, would someone be so kind as to get me a glass of ice water?
[00:04:36] Brother Tony, thank you.
[00:04:39] So, in Ephesians, we have here in the first chapter, Paul opens, of course, with a very brief introduction.
[00:04:46] Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.
[00:04:52] One point right away.
[00:04:54] Every born-again believer is a saint.
[00:04:57] There is no two-tiered Christianity.
[00:05:01] Roman Catholicism tells us that.
[00:05:03] We do not believe that.
[00:05:04] Also, some Pentecostal schools say that.
[00:05:08] We do not believe that.
[00:05:09] You're either a Christian or you're not.
[00:05:10] You're either born again or you're not.
[00:05:12] You're either a saint or you're not.
[00:05:13] The word saint from hagios in the Greek means someone who is holy, who is set apart.
[00:05:20] If you're born again, you have been made holy and set apart unto God.
[00:05:25] And that's not just here, but the assumption that Paul is clearly presenting in all of the epistles that he calls believers saints.
[00:05:36] And that right there is part of the message before us.
[00:05:40] Also in verse 2, grace to you and peace.
[00:05:43] Paul was a Jew, of course, Saul, before he was Paul.
[00:05:47] And what's the greeting of the Jews when they see somebody?
[00:05:51] Shalom.
[00:05:52] And shalom means what?
[00:05:54] Well, notice here, it's grace and peace.
[00:05:57] Peace is good, but grace and peace is better.
[00:06:00] And why grace?
[00:06:01] Because as we see, that's how we're saved, and that's the focus of what's being shared, especially here in chapter 1.
[00:06:09] Grace be to you in peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:06:14] Notice verse 3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath, thank you, bless you, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
[00:06:25] This King James language, hath, it's already done.
[00:06:30] He's already blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
[00:06:37] Now, what we're going to see by the time we finish the message tonight, this is the problem that most people have.
[00:06:43] When we talk about blessings, we talk about money.
[00:06:46] We talk about houses.
[00:06:48] We talk about cars.
[00:06:49] We talk about earthly inheritance.
[00:06:52] We talk about cruises, and we talk about physical health and all that.
[00:06:57] Well, yes, these are blessings, but that's not what he's saying here.
[00:07:02] Notice, blessed be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:07:06] The whole book of Ephesians, and especially Ephesians 1, is in the context of a doxology.
[00:07:10] What's a doxology?
[00:07:11] A doxology is a praise unto God.
[00:07:14] Blessed be, blessed be the God.
[00:07:16] Praise God.
[00:07:17] Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
[00:07:22] Praise Him, all creatures here.
[00:07:25] Praise Him above all ye heavenly.
[00:07:28] Praise Him, Father, Son, and somewhere we've heard that before, haven't we?
[00:07:35] Spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
[00:07:39] This is so key because the whole chapter, the whole book is talking about those spiritual blessings. Unfortunately, there's a false Christianity where the blessings that are being propagated are all physical, material, temporal, earthly blessings, and that's what
[00:07:52] it's about. And if we're honest, with these ears physical and these eyes physical, those are the ones we see. But we're supposed to be excited about the spiritual blessings that he says if you're born again, you have right now in heaven. And someone might be thinking, well, it's nice
[00:08:12] there in heaven, I guess I'll get to enjoy them someday. The Bible says we are to enjoy them now.
[00:08:20] What are those spiritual blessings? Notice verse 3, blessed be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. They all come through Christ. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.
[00:08:36] We were chosen by God. Praise God. In Christ. When? Before the foundation of the world. That's a long time ago, isn't it? It doesn't have to be millions, it could be thousands, but it's eternity past.
[00:08:48] It's eternity past. Before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Chosen before the foundation of the earth, eternity past. That we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Are we that absolutely perfect in every way
[00:09:10] right now, but we will be in eternity future. Notice at the very beginning, your salvation is in the context of all of eternity. God has been working for your salvation, if you're a believer, from eternity past until eternity future. And the end point is that we might be holy and blameless
[00:09:30] before him in what?
[00:09:34] Remember, faith, hope, and charity.
[00:09:37] Love.
[00:09:38] These three.
[00:09:39] But the greatest is love.
[00:09:41] Why?
[00:09:41] Because there's no need for faith in heaven.
[00:09:44] There's no need for hope in heaven.
[00:09:46] Only love remains.
[00:09:47] And that's why we will be holy and blameless before him in love for all eternity.
[00:09:54] Because ultimately, he chose us in Christ in eternity past.
[00:09:59] Praise God.
[00:10:00] According as he hath chosen us, yes, verse 4, verse 5, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, we have been predestinated to be his children, not just his servants, but his children,
[00:10:17] the children of the Most High God.
[00:10:19] That's quite a privilege.
[00:10:23] Yes, indeed.
[00:10:23] And to be made accepted, notice, having predestinated, verse 5, us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise, to the praise of the glory of his grace. There's that doxology, to the praise
[00:10:40] that we would be to his praise, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. Some places you go, you're not accepted. Ever felt that way? Ever known it's true? But the most important acceptance
[00:10:53] is with the Father, with God. And if you've been born again, you have been made accepted.
[00:10:58] Not just as a servant or a slave, but as a very child who God embraces, if you will, with love through His Spirit.
[00:11:08] Praise God.
[00:11:09] Been made accepted in the Beloved.
[00:11:11] Who's the Beloved?
[00:11:13] Jesus Christ.
[00:11:15] In whom, that's Jesus Christ, verse 7, we have redemption through His blood.
[00:11:19] Praise God.
[00:11:20] The forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace.
[00:11:23] His grace is rich.
[00:11:24] What is grace?
[00:11:25] Remember, grace and peace.
[00:11:27] Grace, unmerited favor.
[00:11:29] That which we don't deserve, that which we can't earn, this is God.
[00:11:32] When he chose us in eternity past, how much good works have we done?
[00:11:38] We haven't even been thought of yet except in God's mind.
[00:11:41] It's all of grace.
[00:11:42] It's all of God, and it's all to him.
[00:11:44] Even our salvation, even our very existence is to his glory.
[00:11:48] You say, well, I'm not so sure about that.
[00:11:49] I'd like to exist for myself.
[00:11:52] But yourself apart from Christ is nothing.
[00:11:56] But in Christ is everything.
[00:11:57] And we'll see that, everything, in just a few moments.
[00:12:01] Praise God.
[00:12:02] Wherein he hath abounded towards us, verse 8, in all wisdom and prudence.
[00:12:06] How has he given us wisdom, prudence, understanding, or knowledge?
[00:12:10] Having made known unto us the mystery of his will.
[00:12:12] What's the mystery of his will?
[00:12:13] According to the good pleasure, his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth,
[00:12:27] even in him. This is a wonderful thing. Both Jew and Gentile become one in Christ. Everyone who's going to be saved on the face of the earth comes through one place, one individual, Jesus Christ.
[00:12:38] I'm the way, the truth, the life. No man comes to the Father except by me. I'd like it to be different. I wish all Muslims would be saved. In my family in Iraq, 300,000, a tribe could be saved.
[00:12:49] I wish the Jews, poor Jews, could get saved in the boot. They can get saved, but they must come through Christ. This is the only way. It's all through Christ. As a matter of fact, in the book
[00:12:59] of Colossians, we find out that in him, all things consist. You know, they say that there's such a thing as an atom and neutrons and protons and electrons. And we all pretty much believe that,
[00:13:11] right? But you know, it's a theory. Do you know? Go study. Go study if you don't believe me.
[00:13:19] They have never seen an atom.
[00:13:22] No one has ever seen an atom.
[00:13:25] Never.
[00:13:26] They can create computer pictures of the effects, they say, of atoms, but no one's ever seen an atom.
[00:13:32] Say, why do you believe in God?
[00:13:33] You can't see him.
[00:13:34] What's this made of?
[00:13:35] Well, ultimately, Adam.
[00:13:36] You can't see an atom.
[00:13:37] Why do you know it's an atom?
[00:13:39] You see, the Bible tells us in Colossians that in Christ all things consist.
[00:13:43] What are the nuclear forces and the weak force and the strong force?
[00:13:47] Even the greatest scientists don't understand it completely.
[00:13:50] That's because completely and ultimately, it's Jesus Christ, in whom all physical things, spiritual things, the whole cosmos, the whole fabric of everything is bound together and woven and bound up in the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
[00:14:07] And so too, salvation for anyone who wishes to see the Father.
[00:14:13] No man cometh to the Father except by me, Jesus.
[00:14:18] That's what he said.
[00:14:21] So continuing on, this is the mystery.
[00:14:23] People didn't understand that in the Old Testament days completely.
[00:14:26] People today don't understand it, right?
[00:14:28] Now we're not talking about YouTube, the mystery of 666, the mystery of the dragon and the apocryphal books, you know, special books that should have been in the Bible and never got included.
[00:14:40] That's trash.
[00:14:41] Don't listen to that stuff.
[00:14:42] Don't waste your time.
[00:14:43] The mystery is the gospel, the fact that in Christ everything comes together.
[00:14:49] That was a mystery that the Jews just couldn't fathom, and they basically wanted to kill Paul, who was Saul, because of it.
[00:14:58] This is the mystery.
[00:14:59] God has given us, those who are born again, this wonderful, and remember, he said, that doesn't seem so special.
[00:15:05] What about your unsaved loved ones?
[00:15:08] They still hadn't got it yet.
[00:15:10] It's a complete mystery to them, an enigma, and even a mystery why you'd waste your time coming out on a Friday night to something like this.
[00:15:17] But for those of you who know, praise God, he has abounded towards you in wisdom and prudence and understanding for this purpose, that we might worship and honor and live unto his glory.
[00:15:30] Verse 11, in whom also in Christ we have obtained an inheritance, praise God, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his will.
[00:15:41] That word predestinated has now appeared twice.
[00:15:44] First of all, we saw that predestinated appeared in verse 5.
[00:15:49] We're predestined to be adopted, to be the children of God.
[00:15:52] And now here, we are predestined to an inheritance.
[00:15:56] Predestined in time as we are born again.
[00:15:59] We are, right?
[00:16:00] For God so loved the word he gave his only begotten son, only one begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
[00:16:06] and we are born again.
[00:16:08] Being born again means we have a new daddy, the father, right?
[00:16:14] And so now we have been adopted.
[00:16:17] We were predestinated to be adopted, but we're also predestinated ultimately to an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, reserved in heaven for you and for me.
[00:16:29] The problem is we want it now.
[00:16:32] Like my best friend growing up, how sad.
[00:16:34] His first wife didn't last very long.
[00:16:37] He and her, something changed in him when he began to fall for her.
[00:16:42] Some of you heard me tell this story.
[00:16:44] We were driving one day, and he says, yeah, her parents are old.
[00:16:48] They're not in the best health.
[00:16:49] We're just hoping they'll hurry up and die so we can get the inheritance.
[00:16:53] Lord, what is this?
[00:16:55] This is not the friend that I knew.
[00:17:00] Because it's an earthly inheritance.
[00:17:02] The sad irony, we have a heavenly inheritance.
[00:17:07] Ah, well, you know, whatever.
[00:17:08] By in the sky, by and by.
[00:17:11] But no, Paul is saying by the power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit that this should consume us where we're headed because that's for eternity.
[00:17:17] And this life is a vapor.
[00:17:20] Be gone before you know it.
[00:17:24] So that should be where our eye and our focus and our heart is.
[00:17:28] Isn't that what Christ says?
[00:17:30] Doesn't he say, lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and thieves break into steel?
[00:17:37] But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven that cannot rust, moths cannot get, and thieves can't take away.
[00:17:46] And then he goes, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
[00:17:52] Where is your treasure tonight?
[00:17:54] Is it really on heavenly things?
[00:17:56] On the presence of Christ?
[00:17:58] On eternity in perfect bliss and peace and love in front of him, worshiping him for all eternity?
[00:18:05] Is this where your heart is set?
[00:18:06] Or is it in mowing the grass and taking out the trash and the latest trip to wherever or a new car or the sports or the news or whatever else.
[00:18:18] Where is our mind going?
[00:18:20] Where is our heart going?
[00:18:22] This is where the focus should be.
[00:18:24] But that's why Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, 7 that we must walk by faith, not by sight.
[00:18:32] And if you're honest, that's not easy to do, is it?
[00:18:37] Most people would be very happy to have their inheritance now.
[00:18:43] Brother Jimmy, would you buy a lottery ticket that only pays off after you die?
[00:18:48] And only to you?
[00:18:49] And no one else could get it but you?
[00:18:51] I don't think so, right?
[00:18:55] I hope none of you buy lottery tickets.
[00:18:57] But the point is, if you're going to buy a lottery ticket that only pays you after you die, and your family can't get it, that's a waste of money, right?
[00:19:07] But in this case, it's all about after we die in heaven.
[00:19:10] But, as we'll see, this is the focus.
[00:19:14] This is the penultimate.
[00:19:17] This is the absolute climax that never goes down, but continues to increase in joy and beauty and wonder and depths and the riches unfolding before us of an infinite God of love and of beauty and grace.
[00:19:31] Infinite riches will never grow bored in heaven.
[00:19:34] And just gazing upon God himself will be an act of eternity to search out his infinite beauty and his grace and his attributes.
[00:19:47] But right now, we're so easily distracted by such simple temporal things.
[00:19:52] Lord, have mercy upon us.
[00:19:54] Verse 11, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance.
[00:19:57] We already have it, but it's an already but not yet.
[00:20:00] 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 ye also trusted after, now here's the gospel, how do you get
[00:20:15] saved?
[00:20:15] I hope you all are, but if not, after ye heard the word of truth, faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after you believed
[00:20:28] you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, praise God, so faith comes by hearing, we hear the word of God. This is God's ordained method. How shall they hear unless someone preach, right? And so preach
[00:20:39] the gospel, the word of truth, that Jesus Christ, perfect, sinless, Savior, lived the perfect life, fulfilled the law, died on the cross for our sins, took the punishment and the wrath of God that we deserve,
[00:20:49] whosoever truly believes in Him and trusts in Him and repents of their sins and believes that He rose again on the third day shall be saved. Verse 9 and 10 of Romans 10, if thou shalt confess
[00:20:59] with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
[00:21:03] But it must be something in the heart, not just some mental affirmation.
[00:21:07] And then now, where's my inheritance now?
[00:21:10] And one of the things that we're going to be doing here, because most of you I know pretty well, some of you not so much.
[00:21:16] But we don't know who else is coming.
[00:21:18] And I've learned that even those of you who I know pretty well, I don't ultimately know.
[00:21:25] Some of my closest friends in years past that I thought were great Christians turned out to be apostates.
[00:21:31] Just a few of them, but that's enough.
[00:21:33] That's enough for me to learn the lesson.
[00:21:37] And so, we need to understand that salvation is not just, you know, I checked a box, I did this, I did this, I did this.
[00:21:45] Am I saved now?
[00:21:46] No, no, if you're saved, you'll know.
[00:21:50] I mean, you'll really know.
[00:21:52] If there's anyone here who's not absolutely sure, then please make sure that you come tomorrow morning because chapter 2 of Ephesians, the focus is going to be how we know absolutely for sure that we are saved and born again.
[00:22:05] So with that, Ephesians 1 is saying, if you are born again, rejoice in everything that you have and understand the importance of it and put your mind and heart, focus on it.
[00:22:16] Because where your treasure is, Jesus said, there will your heart be also.
[00:22:21] Verse 13, in whom you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
[00:22:32] That sealing is a beautiful thing.
[00:22:35] What does it mean to be sealed?
[00:22:37] In the old days, when people used to write letters, not much anymore, they would put a seal on that letter.
[00:22:46] And it's not to be opened until it gets to its ultimate destination, and then that person alone is to open the seal.
[00:22:53] You've been born again, you've been sealed.
[00:22:56] You've been put in that letter, if you will, and a seal of the Holy Spirit has been placed upon you, not to be opened until the receiver, the Father in heaven, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
[00:23:08] Christ, who says, well done, good and faithful servant.
[00:23:12] Enter thou into the joy of the Lord.
[00:23:16] You see?
[00:23:16] We're sealed.
[00:23:17] No one's supposed to tamper with us.
[00:23:19] We have assurance of salvation.
[00:23:22] And by the way, we're on the way.
[00:23:24] What's our primary modus operandi if we're truly born again?
[00:23:28] It's as if we're in a letter on our way to heaven.
[00:23:32] All of our context of our life should be considered, we're on our way to heaven.
[00:23:37] That's the whole idea of the pilgrim's progress, right?
[00:23:40] Sealed.
[00:23:41] But what's more, because it's so important, the Holy Spirit himself being talked about here, inspiring the Apostle Paul in verse 14 to say further, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of his
[00:23:56] glory, which the Spirit can be considered neuter in the Greek, but who? Who is the earnest? It's referring back to the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a person. We believe the Trinity
[00:24:08] is three persons, one God, one Spirit. And so the Holy Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance.
[00:24:15] What is the earnest? You ever had to give earnest money? Give some earnest money on this house you're going to buy, and then that earnest money, have a small, is deducted from the full amount that you have left to pay, right?
[00:24:29] Here, the earnest, earnest separated from a pledge.
[00:24:33] A pledge could be anything.
[00:24:36] You know, here's like a pawn, you know, here's an expensive gold watch, you know, keep that and let know that I'll come by your car later or something.
[00:24:45] No, no. An earnest is of the same nature as what is going to be received later.
[00:24:52] And it is a part of the whole.
[00:24:55] We who have been born again have received the earnest.
[00:24:58] The earnest of what? Notice verse 14.
[00:25:00] The earnest of our inheritance.
[00:25:03] We should get excited about the inheritance.
[00:25:05] We should be awake too.
[00:25:06] And we should be excited, excited because we've already received a foretaste.
[00:25:12] And not just a foretaste, but we've received the fullness of God in the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, who comes inside of us when we're born again.
[00:25:19] We have received the earnest of the inheritance.
[00:25:22] And by the way, that word earnest in the Greek is arabon.
[00:25:27] Arabon is the word that is used for, in Greek, the engagement ring that the husband puts on the bride's ring.
[00:25:40] When you're born again, you're engaged now to Jesus Christ.
[00:25:49] And by the way, it ain't coming off.
[00:25:52] You're sealed.
[00:25:54] You're stuck with it.
[00:25:55] It's a good stuff.
[00:25:56] And you will be married one day.
[00:26:00] Revelation chapter 19, the marriage supper of the Lamb.
[00:26:03] The Apostle Paul says, by the way, who wrote this book, but also in 2 Corinthians chapter 11, a very poignant passage here.
[00:26:15] The first few verses of 2 Corinthians chapter 11, the Apostle Paul talks about being jealous over us.
[00:26:24] What does he mean?
[00:26:25] 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 1, Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly, and indeed bear with me, for I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy.
[00:26:39] For I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
[00:26:51] Praise God.
[00:26:54] But I fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
[00:27:05] We are now engaged to Christ.
[00:27:07] The marriage is coming.
[00:27:09] We don't know when.
[00:27:10] Maybe tonight.
[00:27:11] Maybe next week.
[00:27:11] Maybe next year.
[00:27:12] Maybe 50 years.
[00:27:13] maybe a hundred years, the last day when the Lord returned, the marriage supper of the Lamb.
[00:27:18] But if you're born again, you are engaged to Him.
[00:27:21] And we are called to be chaste virgins.
[00:27:24] Our hearts are not to go after other gods or idols or anything else.
[00:27:28] And we are to be holy and pure.
[00:27:30] And just as a young couple, they're just in love.
[00:27:32] They just can't stop thinking about one another.
[00:27:34] That's the way we should be about Jesus and about the marriage that we're set for.
[00:27:39] Looking forward to that date, making all sorts of preparations, making sure that symbolically we're the bride, he's the groom, making sure that our dress is spotless and pure and white and that everything is just so.
[00:27:56] It should consume us that wonderful day when we see the one who loved us and gave himself for us, our husband.
[00:28:05] This is the picture of the Christian life.
[00:28:08] Blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, each and every one of them in and through Christ who loved us, who gave himself for us, who is our Savior, but who is also, and yes, he's
[00:28:19] our elder brother because we're adopted children. He's the only begotten.
[00:28:23] But also, he's our groom and we're the bride.
[00:28:28] But right now, we're in engagement. And we should be excited because he's given us, it's like he gave us the best man to take care of us, make sure everything is going to be fine until, well,
[00:28:40] It's God himself, the Holy Spirit.
[00:28:42] When we trust in the Father, when we trust in the Son, when we believe on the Lord and trust in Christ, he says that my Father and I will come and make our residence, John 14, in his heart.
[00:28:53] How?
[00:28:53] Through the Holy Spirit.
[00:28:55] And this is the earnest of our inheritance.
[00:28:57] What a wonderful blessing.
[00:28:58] We should be excited about it.
[00:29:00] You say, I've got God inside of me.
[00:29:01] Look out.
[00:29:02] Some kind of heretic over here.
[00:29:06] We need to beware of running into two extremes.
[00:29:09] One is to say, oh, heresy, get rid of that guy.
[00:29:12] Get him out of here.
[00:29:12] He's causing problems.
[00:29:14] The other is to go too far this way and say, that's right.
[00:29:18] I'm God on earth.
[00:29:19] God's inside of me.
[00:29:20] Get away.
[00:29:22] Although there is great power, as we'll see, but we have to beware of the two extremes.
[00:29:27] On the one hand, the devil pushes us into error.
[00:29:30] On the other hand, he pushes us into not appreciating, understanding, and rejoicing in what God has done for us, and we can experience it and enjoy it to the fullest right now.
[00:29:44] You don't have to wait till heaven.
[00:29:48] My question to you is, are you really enjoying it right now?
[00:29:53] Is it really the thing that takes your heart and excites it most?
[00:29:59] I don't know, you know.
[00:30:01] People go to movies, fictional movies.
[00:30:04] And come out crying.
[00:30:08] It's a fiction.
[00:30:10] That's how affected they are.
[00:30:12] People come and hear my sermons, not Pastor Andy's, but mine.
[00:30:22] Maybe I'm not preaching the Word of God.
[00:30:24] I don't know.
[00:30:26] Maybe I'm not doing this stuff enough.
[00:30:28] I don't know.
[00:30:29] But the point is, it shouldn't matter how well we preach.
[00:30:33] We should preach faithfully.
[00:30:34] It should matter how you are so excited about God and about Christ and about the Holy Spirit and what he's doing in us, and that this time together in his house, around his word, filled with his spirit, with his people, before his throne,
[00:30:47] is the closest thing to heaven and the inheritance that's laid up for us that you'll ever taste on earth, and we should be greatly excited.
[00:30:55] And that doesn't mean you have to have a multicolored wig and a bare chest and, you know, teams painted on your, you know.
[00:31:02] I'm not saying go like you go to the football game.
[00:31:05] I hope that's not you.
[00:31:06] You don't know.
[00:31:06] but people go to you know crazy and get drunk and take the whole day and this and that and then church pastor better make it quick I gotta get out of here I gotta get on the lake
[00:31:16] to me that person now God can judge them okay not me but to me when I hear that this person is not saved why either they're not saved or they are very ignorant of who they are in Christ
[00:31:35] and what they have in Christ and that's what this chapter is here to inform you about. Amen? Continuing on. Well, we're not in 2 Corinthians, we're in Ephesians.
[00:31:47] So, we were talking about the sealing and the inheritance that is the Holy Spirit of God, the earnest of our inheritance. Chapter 1, continuing in verse 15. Now, interesting enough, in the Greek, verse 3 to verse 14 is one sentence. That's a long sentence. It's like some kind of
[00:32:11] Puritan writing, John Owen or somebody. But if you listen to it and you read it, you can see that it is. Now in verse 15, it changes. In verse 15 to the end of the chapter, now the apostle Paul is
[00:32:22] going to pray for the Ephesians. And if you're a believer, he's praying for you and me. And before we leave here today, we need to understand that this prayer is for us. And we need to understand
[00:32:33] what the prayer is, and we need to receive that prayer, and by faith, believe that it will be answered in and through us, I pray, even tonight. What's the prayer? Ephesians 1, verse 15.
[00:32:46] Wherefore, I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints.
[00:32:53] Now, that's not just a bunch of people that have little figurines in Rome.
[00:32:58] This is every true believer, every born-again believer, wherever they are, okay?
[00:33:03] Love to all the saints.
[00:33:06] Cease not, verse 16, to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.
[00:33:10] What's the prayer?
[00:33:12] This is for you and me, brothers and sisters, if you're a believer.
[00:33:16] That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you.
[00:33:22] Oh, here it comes.
[00:33:23] What am I going to get?
[00:33:23] may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.
[00:33:31] Someone might be led to say, oh, so I'm not getting anything.
[00:33:34] No, he's not praying that you'll get something more like that you don't already have.
[00:33:39] Because remember, we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings.
[00:33:43] It says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath, it's already done, it's already completed, hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
[00:33:53] It's done, praise God.
[00:33:54] So what else do you want?
[00:33:56] Well, how about a little down here?
[00:34:01] Listen to the prayer, and we'll address that before we end.
[00:34:05] That he may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of him, that the eyes of your understanding would be enlightened, that you may know what is, number one, the hope of his calling.
[00:34:17] Number two, the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.
[00:34:23] And then number three, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe?
[00:34:30] How? According to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.
[00:34:41] Where is that in relation to everything else?
[00:34:43] Far above all principalities and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and has put all things under his feet,
[00:34:59] and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.
[00:35:07] What's the prayer?
[00:35:10] Not that you'd get more, but that you'd understand what you got.
[00:35:14] And not just understand, oh, okay, yes, that was a good sermon.
[00:35:19] Theoretically speaking, I understand that I have these things in Christ.
[00:35:23] How wonderful.
[00:35:24] Now, where are we going to eat?
[00:35:27] You didn't get it.
[00:35:29] This is a revelation God wants you to have.
[00:35:32] It is that the eyes of your understanding, notice that verse 17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.
[00:35:48] It's like, wow, I didn't really, I hadn't got it until now, but now I got it.
[00:35:53] Praise God, I'm excited.
[00:35:55] Let's go.
[00:35:56] Go where?
[00:35:56] To heaven.
[00:35:57] Well, are you going now?
[00:35:59] I don't know.
[00:36:00] Praise God.
[00:36:01] Are you ready to go to heaven now?
[00:36:04] I didn't get a real exciting amen on that.
[00:36:06] Because you're thinking, does that mean I have to die, Pastor?
[00:36:13] You don't have to answer.
[00:36:15] Are you ready and willing to go to heaven right now?
[00:36:18] Well, I mean, you know, I guess if that's what God really wants to do.
[00:36:23] No.
[00:36:23] Are you excited to go to heaven right now?
[00:36:28] If not, there may be some kind of problem.
[00:36:32] And the problem is that the eyes of our understanding have not yet been enlightened to know what's laid up for us.
[00:36:42] You ever been traveling a long way and you get very tired?
[00:36:47] Sometimes, not so long.
[00:36:49] Some Canada, Michigan, I see some people here from distant places.
[00:36:55] You drive, you drive, you drive.
[00:36:57] And sometimes you're more tired than others.
[00:36:59] and you just can't wait to get there.
[00:37:01] You just do anything you could to just, I just wish I could just push a button and be there.
[00:37:07] And that's just to go home or to your destination.
[00:37:12] Isn't heaven greater than that?
[00:37:14] Don't you realize that we're on the way and that this is just the way and that the destination is heaven?
[00:37:23] Don't you want to get there as quickly as possible?
[00:37:27] I'm not saying commit suicide.
[00:37:29] Don't get me wrong.
[00:37:32] We need to understand.
[00:37:33] Now, the one who doesn't in the Bible, who's somebody who wanted it all right now in the Bible?
[00:37:42] Prodigal son.
[00:37:43] Boy, this is a good congregation, I tell you.
[00:37:46] And so Luke chapter 16, right?
[00:37:48] We're going to go there, but you know the story.
[00:37:50] The man has two sons, this young kid.
[00:37:53] He's not interested in what he's going to have as an old man when dad dies.
[00:37:56] I want it now.
[00:37:58] I got lots of places to go, people to see, harlots and fun and feasting and gluttonous and wine-bibbing to do.
[00:38:08] So the father lets him do it.
[00:38:09] And isn't this a picture?
[00:38:11] Because this child has an inheritance.
[00:38:14] He doesn't want the inheritance whenever dad gets old.
[00:38:19] He's so young and he's so ready to go, that's so far away, he just can't stand it.
[00:38:24] I want it now.
[00:38:25] Give it to me now.
[00:38:27] And he gets it.
[00:38:28] He got it all right.
[00:38:29] And he lost it quick.
[00:38:31] I understand people that get the lottery won.
[00:38:33] They lose it quick.
[00:38:34] And then when he's lost everything, and to be a Jewish boy and to be eating a slop with the pigs, that's about as low as you can get.
[00:38:46] There he is.
[00:38:48] And then it says, and he comes to himself.
[00:38:50] What does it mean he comes to himself?
[00:38:51] Hey, the servants in my dad's house have it better than this.
[00:38:56] Let me go back and repent and just say, look, I'll be a servant.
[00:38:59] Just let me have bread.
[00:39:00] Instead, God has shown him that what he had laid up for him was infinitely and eternally better than what he was demanding right now.
[00:39:15] But the difference is he had to come in humility.
[00:39:19] He had to come in patience.
[00:39:22] He had to come in the posture of a servant and a slave.
[00:39:28] And when we do that and trust in Christ completely, he doesn't receive us as a slave or a servant, but as a child of God, adopted as a very child of the Father, an inheritance that we now joint heirs with Christ.
[00:39:54] What is it, this inheritance?
[00:39:57] Well, we have about 12 minutes left or so.
[00:40:00] What is the inheritance?
[00:40:02] Well, in Matthew chapter 5, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, I believe in verse 5, the meek shall inherit, that's a pretty good inheritance, isn't it?
[00:40:15] The earth.
[00:40:16] And then in Matthew, I think we talked about it earlier or alluded to it, in Matthew chapter 25, and then verse 34, the sheep and the goats.
[00:40:28] For the sheep, those who have truly been born again and believed in Jesus Christ, Jesus tells them, the king, Jesus, in verse 34 of Matthew 25, then shall the king say unto them on the right hand,
[00:40:41] Come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you, when?
[00:40:49] From the foundation of the world.
[00:40:52] Can you imagine God's been working on your salvation since before the foundation of the world?
[00:40:56] And he's continuing, he who began a good work in you, he will see it through through Christ Jesus unto completion and to eternity future that you might be holy and without blame before him in love hallelujah
[00:41:12] inheritance also in Revelation 21 7 he who overcomes shall inherit you remember 21 7 he who overcometh shall inherit take a guess all things what more do you want than all things Can you mention anything besides all things that you'd like to have included in?
[00:41:37] All things.
[00:41:38] What more do you want?
[00:41:40] That's made up for us, if you're a born-again believer.
[00:41:45] Should we get excited about it?
[00:41:46] I think so.
[00:41:48] Are we excited about it?
[00:41:49] I don't think so.
[00:41:51] Why?
[00:41:52] That's the real question.
[00:41:54] Why?
[00:41:56] And before we end, there's only a couple reasons.
[00:41:59] Number one, we're not truly born again.
[00:42:03] And we don't have this inheritance.
[00:42:07] God forbid.
[00:42:08] Come tomorrow morning to find out.
[00:42:11] Chapter 2 is how we understand whether or not we are born again.
[00:42:16] The second possibility is that we are born again, but the eyes of our understanding really haven't been opened.
[00:42:24] Because he's praying for that to happen.
[00:42:27] Why pray if it's happened for everybody perfectly?
[00:42:29] It hasn't.
[00:42:30] And we're so dull, I'm putting me first, we're so dull, our finite minds, that we walk by sight and not by faith.
[00:42:38] And we're so distracted by everything around us, and behind us, and our past, and what other people think, and this and that, and the other things, and money, and cares of this world, and riches, and politics, and this and that, and the other thing, and it
[00:42:51] chokes out the word, instead of being able to look past and far beyond into that life that God has given us.
[00:42:59] This is going to be gone just like that, a vapor, and then all of eternity.
[00:43:03] 70 years, 80 years, I don't care, 120 years, wonderful, congratulations.
[00:43:07] What's next to eternity?
[00:43:08] a vapor, nothing. Tomorrow we go. And so the prayer that you may know what? Number one, the hope of his calling. The hope of his calling. Remember in the Romans chapter 8, that beautiful passage, God calls us all things to work together for those who are in Christ Jesus, who love God
[00:43:37] and who are the called according to him.
[00:43:41] Romans 8, verse 28.
[00:43:44] And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God and those who are the called according to his purpose.
[00:43:53] That you may know the hope of your calling to those who are called according to his purpose.
[00:43:59] That all things work together for good.
[00:44:01] When in heaven?
[00:44:02] No, now.
[00:44:03] Even the bad things?
[00:44:03] Absolutely.
[00:44:04] Is everything good?
[00:44:05] Is everything bad?
[00:44:06] Everything good?
[00:44:07] No, we got good and bad.
[00:44:08] But if you're a believer, the promise is that God can work everything, even the bad things in your life, to good for his glory until we get to heaven and there's nothing but good in his presence forevermore.
[00:44:21] And so number one, that you would know the hope of your calling.
[00:44:25] And it's a wonderful and glorious hope.
[00:44:27] And we should live by that hope as we continue on.
[00:44:30] Number two, the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.
[00:44:34] to understand the riches of what is laid up for us in heaven.
[00:44:41] I don't know how to tell you, but just remember, in verse 4, we're chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
[00:44:48] Verse 5, we're predestinated to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ himself.
[00:44:52] Verse 6, he's made us accepted in the beloved.
[00:44:54] Verse 7, we have redemption through his blood.
[00:44:56] We have forgiveness of the sins according to the riches of his grace.
[00:44:59] Verse 8, he's given us all wisdom and understanding.
[00:45:02] Verse 11, in Christ we've obtained an inheritance.
[00:45:04] In verse 13, we're sealed with the Holy Spirit.
[00:45:06] In verse 14, we've received the earnest of our inheritance, the Holy Spirit inside of us.
[00:45:11] We've been engaged to the second person of the Trinity that we will one day be married to Christ.
[00:45:19] Heaven itself, the earth, all things, the kingdom of God.
[00:45:23] What more do you want?
[00:45:25] Well, I sure would like some supper right now.
[00:45:32] This ticket might be the one.
[00:45:34] I might get millions.
[00:45:36] What is it?
[00:45:37] nothing absolutely nothing less than nothing to what God has promised if you're born again you already have right now awaiting you in heaven and by the way you have days of heaven on earth and the fact of the Holy Ghost who is the
[00:45:50] earnest of our inheritance because in heaven we get the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost here the Holy Ghost primarily inside of us but there are the full hundred percent inheritance and how wonderful how glorious we need to be
[00:46:03] excited about it, to know the hope of his calling, to know the riches, how rich the glory of his inheritance of the saints. And finally, what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us who
[00:46:13] believe? Praise God. According to what? What kind of power? According, as the word says, to the power that God wrought in Christ, in Jesus Christ, when he raised him from the dead. That's a lot of power.
[00:46:28] The Romans did everything they could to keep him down. The Jews did everything they could to keep him down you ever heard you can't keep a good man down they couldn't keep christ down the demons and the devil wanted to keep him down but up from the grave he goes
[00:46:45] with a mighty triumph for his foes amen i want to test that voice too much tonight i'm excited anyone else here excited a couple of them the mighty power he says this power is for
[00:47:06] you if you're born again. What kind of power is inside of us? It's inside of us now. It's working in us. It's available to us. God has given it to us. We couldn't dream it up. We couldn't make it
[00:47:16] up. I wouldn't dare say it. It'd be blasphemy if the Bible didn't say it. But the Bible tells us that the very power that raised Jesus from the dead is inside of me. And so when the devil comes
[00:47:28] or whatever it is, get out of my way. Why? Because I'm on a mission for the Lord. And anything in the way to heaven, get behind me. Whatever it is, even if it's my own pride or whatever it is that we
[00:47:46] struggle with, get behind me. Get out of my way because the very power that raised Jesus from the dead is inside of me and it's that power that sustains me and upholds me step by step, higher
[00:48:02] and higher, more and more conformed from grace to grace, glory to glory in the image of Christ Jesus until when we see him, the Bible says, we'll be like him.
[00:48:15] The hope of his calling, whom he called, he also justified, and whom he justified, he also will glorify.
[00:48:25] That's that glorification, being made like Christ.
[00:48:29] When we see him, we'll be like him.
[00:48:31] Oh, what kind of power.
[00:48:33] The power, the exceeding greatness, verse 19, of his power to us who believe according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places.
[00:48:44] That's a lot of power.
[00:48:45] Not just up from the grave he arose to the ground, but 40 days later, earth couldn't hold him, ascended up to the very right hand of the Father.
[00:48:53] Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
[00:48:57] Footstool, that's why we read Psalm 8.
[00:48:58] I'll put thine enemies under thy feet, all principalities, all powers, presidents and kings and authorities, demons and angels, and even Satan himself under the feet of Christ Jesus, who is at the right hand of the Father, even now. But before we end, instead of just simply saying,
[00:49:19] hooray for Jesus, amen. Yes, however, remember, and hath put all things, verse 22, under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.
[00:49:41] If Christ is currently at the right hand of the Father and he is the head and you, church, are the body, then where are we?
[00:49:51] At the right hand of the Father, that the eyes of your understanding might be enlightened.
[00:50:03] We are his body.
[00:50:04] and whatever part, the toe, the finger, the eye, the appendix, Christ doesn't do surgeries.
[00:50:11] He doesn't cut off parts of his body.
[00:50:14] His life is in us.
[00:50:17] And in as much as we walk by faith, his life is our life.
[00:50:22] And that's why Paul says in Galatians 2.20, I'm crucified with Christ.
[00:50:27] In other words, I'm dead.
[00:50:28] Nevertheless, I live.
[00:50:30] How?
[00:50:30] The life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of him that loved me and gave himself for me.
[00:50:43] You see, this is because his body is us.
[00:50:51] Notice, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.
[00:50:56] I want to end with a passage in Colossians.
[00:51:00] Colossians is very similar to Ephesians.
[00:51:03] Let's look at chapter 3.
[00:51:04] We're out of time, so I just need to read this and we need to close.
[00:51:08] Colossians chapter 3, just these first few verses.
[00:51:13] This will be, I think, a great segue into tomorrow morning, Ephesians 2.
[00:51:18] Colossians 3, notice the first word, very important.
[00:51:22] If, if, if ye then be risen with Christ, if you have been, really, if you truly are born again, that's what he's saying, to who?
[00:51:35] To the church.
[00:51:37] How dare he tell me that?
[00:51:38] I'm a member of the church.
[00:51:40] Paul is saying, if you're really born again, church, then if you be risen with Christ, if you be risen with Christ, we'll see that in Ephesians 2, born again.
[00:51:52] We're part of his body.
[00:51:53] We're at the right hand of the Father.
[00:51:54] Somehow we've been raised up, haven't we?
[00:51:57] If you've been risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
[00:52:03] Listen, folks, how do we get this?
[00:52:05] How do we get it?
[00:52:06] Set your affection and minds on what?
[00:52:10] On things above.
[00:52:12] and not on things on the earth.
[00:52:14] Why?
[00:52:15] For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
[00:52:25] If you're truly born again, let me just say this.
[00:52:29] Before you can be born again, you have to die.
[00:52:34] I think that there's lots of people in churches around America and around the world, as sad as it is, who think they're safe, who think they've been born again, that they've never truly died to sell.
[00:52:47] And until you do, you cannot be born.
[00:52:51] I pray no one leaves here in that state.
[00:52:54] And I pray if you are a believer that God will open your eyes of your understanding and mine afresh to see who we are and what we have in Christ Jesus laid up for us in heaven,
[00:53:08] imperishable, undefiled, awaiting to receive you and me and all who believe.
[00:53:15] in the very presence of our triune God.
[00:53:18] For all eternity, we might be before him without blame, holy, and in love to the praise of his glory and his grace.
[00:53:30] Amen?
[00:53:32] Dear Heavenly Father, I praise you for blessing us with all blessings in spiritual places, in heavenly places, spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus.
[00:53:43] Thank you, Lord, for enabling me to preach after a bout with infirmity.
[00:53:48] Thank you, Lord, for defeating the devil.
[00:53:51] Thank you, Lord God, for giving us this glorious inheritance and all of these blessings.
[00:53:56] Open the eyes of our understanding, I pray.
[00:53:58] Help us to get excited and be filled with joy and your spirit and your fullness as you have given us this privilege of inestimable value and worth to be the very body mystically of your son
[00:54:15] even now at your right hand far above every other creature and dominion and name that is named we might be to the praise of your glory in Christ's name we thank you Lord Amen now our final hymn
[00:54:33] when we all get to heaven just remember it is wonderful and glorious and nothing better