To open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light,
and from the power of Satan to God,
that they may receive remission of sins,
and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in Me.
And now I commit you to God, and to the word of His grace,
which is able to build you up, and give to you an inheritance among all the sanctified.
Having made known to us the mystery of His will,
according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself,
for the administration of the fullness of times,
to head up all things in the Christ,
the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth;
in Him, in whom we have also obtained an inheritance,
being marked out beforehand according to the purpose of Him
who works all things according to the counsel of His own will,
that we should be to the praise of His glory,
who have pre-trusted in the Christ.In Whom ye also, having heard the word of the truth,
the glad tidings of your salvation,
in Whom also, having believed,
ye have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
Who is the earnest of our inheritance,
to the redemption of the acquired possession,
to the praise of His glory.Wherefore I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is in you,
and the love which ye have towards all the saints,
do not cease giving thanks for you,
making mention of you in my prayers,
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of glory,
will give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation
in the full knowledge of Him,
the eyes of your heart being enlightened,
so that ye should know what is the hope of His calling,
and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
and what the surpassing greatness of His power towards us who believe,
according to the working of the might of His strength,
in which He wrought in the Christ,
in raising Him from among the dead,
and He set Him down at His right hand in the heavenlies.
Dear Lord, we do rejoice in Thy presence, thanking Thee for giving us this opportunity. We have learned, even in the last hour, Lord, that Thou art still mindful of us and wantest to prepare us, ready for Thy imminent return.
Oh, dear Lord, as we gather here, we do pray that Thou wilt give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of God. We do confess, Lord, that by ourselves we cannot—we will not be able—to really understand and to enter into all that Thou hast in Thy heart.
Oh, dear Lord, grant to us Thy spirit of wisdom and revelation, to each one of us, Lord. Enlighten the eyes of our heart, that we may know Thy will and may be brought into all that Thou hast ordained for us, that Thy glory may be praised.
We commit this time into Thy hand and trust Thy Holy Spirit to quicken Thy word to our hearts. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
Well, thank God for giving us such an opportunity. I always feel that any time we are able to gather together in His presence, it is the mercy and grace of God. Who are we, that He should treat us so mercifully?
I believe that everyone here knows what our theme is: spiritual inheritance. Our dear brother Dana gave us a most comprehensive view of what spiritual inheritance is. This morning, by the grace of God, what I would do is try to fit in with some of the details.
Brothers and sisters, spiritual inheritance is not a small thing. It is not something that we, His children, should ignore, because spiritual inheritance is closely related to the eternal purpose of God.
Anything that is included in, or related to, the eternal purpose of God is something of tremendous value—not only to us, but even to God Himself.
We know that even before the foundation of the world, before God created anything, before God did anything, the Bible tells us that before time was, God purposed a purpose in His heart.
And what He purposed is according to His good pleasure, because this is what He wants. This is what pleases Him. This is what satisfies His heart.
As you find in Ephesians 1, He says that what He has purposed, even before the foundation of the world, is that all things one day will be summed up in Christ, in His beloved Son.
God does everything for His beloved Son. He wants His Son to gather up all things. He wants His Son to be the Head of all things. He wants to see His Son be the Heir of all things. He wants all things to express, to manifest, and to glorify His Son. That is the eternal purpose of God.
Brothers and sisters, always remember: we are not the center of the universe. We are not the center in God’s eternal purpose. The center of God’s eternal purpose is His beloved Son.
But thank God, in His beloved Son He has included us. This is why you find Ephesians 1:11 saying:
In Whom, that is, in Him, in Christ Jesus, ye have also obtained an inheritance.
So we know that our inheritance is obtained in Christ and through Christ, according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will. And God will work it out. He ordained that we should be to the praise of His glory, who have pre-trusted in Christ.
Here you find that our inheritance is included in the eternal purpose of God. It is because of His Son; it is in His Son. This is the will of God: that we will all inherit that great inheritance in and with Christ.
He has given all things to Christ, and it is also His will that we will be co-heirs with Christ, that we will receive that inheritance which He has given to His beloved Son.
Spiritual inheritance is not only in the eternal purpose of God, but it is also in the full salvation of God.
You remember when God called Paul to be His apostle. He told him that he ought to go to the nations, to open the eyes of the people, to turn them from Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins.
Now, brothers and sisters, I believe we are all familiar with that, and we thank God for that. It is because of our Lord Jesus that He has opened our eyes. He has translated us out of the power of darkness and into the kingdom of the Son of His love.
We thank God that our sins have all been remitted. It is because of the shed blood of our Lord Jesus. We are thankful for that. But, brothers and sisters, there is more than that.
He says, “For remission of sins, and an inheritance among the sanctified.” You see here, it is clearly stated to us that not only remission of sins is in the salvation that we receive, but in the same salvation that God has prepared for us in Christ Jesus, there is an inheritance given to us among the sanctified.
So spiritual inheritance is part of the salvation of God. You remember Acts 20, when the apostle Paul gave his last word to the elders in Ephesus. He said how God would strengthen them by His word of grace, that they might receive the inheritance among the sanctified.
So, brothers and sisters, based on these two things, I think it should give us a very clear understanding: spiritual inheritance is not something that we can neglect.
Unfortunately, this has been the case with many believers. Many of us are joyful, and we thank the Lord for having our sins remitted and for having saved us. But we forget that God’s provision is far, far more than just getting saved. He wants us to share the inheritance that He has given to His beloved Son.
You know, God has had this matter of inheritance from the very beginning. As our brother mentioned last night, even when He created Adam, our first father, He had that in view.
You can see this even more clearly when you come to the life of Abraham. I believe, brothers and sisters, we are all familiar with the story of Abraham: how the glory of God appeared to him, and God commanded him to leave his country, his native place, his kindred, and his land, and to go where God would show him.
By faith Abraham obeyed, and he went forward. Then you find that in the whole life of Abraham, there are two things most prominent: God promised him a seed, and then God promised him a land.
When he arrived at Canaan, the promised land, he discovered there were Canaanites already there. So God strengthened his faith by telling him, “Your seed will inherit this land.” And for that, he built an altar to express his faith in God.
Then again, you find that when Lot chose the best part of the promised land, God comforted Abraham. He said, “Look, raise your eyes. See south, north, east, west; and whatever you have seen is yours. Now get up and walk over the land.” God encouraged him that God would give him that inheritance.
You also remember how, after his war with the four kings and the deliverance of Lot, Abraham had a great victory through the Lord, not through himself. But oftentimes after a great victory, there will be a great letdown.
After he had won the great victory, he began to think, “My, what have I done? Then I will be surrounded by all these enemies, and what could I do?” And you remember how the Lord encouraged him.
God even made a covenant with him to encourage Abraham. Now, we know a covenant is a contract. The reason you find that, in this world, a contract is so important is because men are so unreliable. You cannot trust what they say. You have to put it down in black and white and have it sealed; then it begins to have some effect.
But God is always true. He does not need to make any contract with anybody. What He says, He does. But because of the weakness of our faith, you know how God condescends Himself to make a covenant with Abraham.
He told Abraham that not only would he have a son, but that his seed would be as the stars of heaven. Abraham believed, and this was counted to him as righteousness.
Then God asked him to kill some animals, separate them, and put them on two sides. This is the way a covenant was made in the old days. They would kill some animals, divide them in two, and put them on two sides. The two parties who made the covenant would walk through that sacrifice, and the covenant was sealed with blood.
So God asked Abraham to do the same thing. God covenanted with him that He would give him that promised land, to encourage Abraham. You see how it is the will of God. He knows how forgetful we are, how little we are in faith. Sometimes we waver; sometimes we doubt. And He made a covenant with us to strengthen our faith.
This promised land was promised to Abraham by God. Because it was promised, it had to be received with faith.
But then you find, in the history of the children of Israel, how God delivered them out of Egypt, brought them into Sinai, and there God made a covenant with the children of Israel. He made with them a covenant by the Ten Commandments—the law.
In other words, God gave a law to the children of Israel to make them a nation that belonged to Him. Now, why did God give the children of Israel the law? Would they be able to enter into the promised land by keeping the law? No.
We find that after the law was given, the children of Israel failed to obey the Lord. Because of their failure, they wandered in the wilderness for forty years.
So you find in Galatians 3 that if the covenant was made by God with Abraham through promise, would the law, which was given four hundred and thirty years later, annul that promise? The Spirit of God says, “No.”
But why was the law given? The law was given that we might know transgressions; we might know our sins. Brothers and sisters, the one thing is that we do not know ourselves.
We think we are able to keep the law. We think we are able to do whatever God’s will is. So that is the reason why God’s law was given. The law was given for transgressions.
In the wilderness, they realized how weak their flesh was. They just could not obey God. And if it were only by the law for them to inherit their inheritance, they never could do it.
They wandered in the wilderness because of their unbelief. The first generation died in the wilderness. But thank God, there were two persons: Joshua and Caleb. They trusted the Lord, and because they had a different spirit, eventually they were the two people who entered into the promised land.
There may be another thing that we forget. It is very strange: when the first generation among the Israelites passed away, what about the tribe of Levi, whom God had separated for Himself? It seems to me that eventually, in the tribe of Levi, you find that by the grace of God they also entered into the promised land.
So you find that eventually they entered in, not only by law, but also by mercy. Another covenant God had made with the children of Israel by the plain of Moab—it is law with mercy. So eventually they got in.
Now, brothers and sisters, why do we relate all these things? Because we know that what is recorded in the Old Testament is for our admonition. It is for our benefit, because we are no different from the children of Israel. Even though God has given us a better covenant, yet we are no different from the children of Israel. It is all by the mercy of God.
Now, what is our spiritual inheritance? As our brother briefly mentioned last night, actually our spiritual inheritance is a double, mutual inheritance.
In other words, it is not only that we may inherit, but at the same time, you find that God may inherit. We inherit what God has provided for us, and He has inherited us as His own glory. So, dear brothers and sisters, this matter of spiritual inheritance is of tremendous value.
We have already mentioned that God’s purpose is to make His Son the Heir of all things. But thank God, in Romans 8 He says that we become the children of God, and as children we are co-heirs. If we suffer with Him, we shall be glorified with Him.
So remember, the inheritance basically is Christ. It belongs to Him. But because we are joined to Him in one Spirit, we become His body, and that is the reason why we become co-heirs. We inherit all that He has inherited.
God has given all things to His beloved Son. Brothers and sisters, we can never fathom how full that inheritance is.
All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily,
and ye are complete in Him.
Who can describe the fullness of God? Nobody can. We know God is love, but how much is that love? How immense is that love? How great is that love? How longsuffering is that love? How free is that love? How generous is that love? We do not know.
We have only tasted a little bit of His love, and His little bit almost overwhelms us. But God is love, and all that love is in Christ. And Christ belongs to us.
Brothers and sisters, when we think of inheritance, usually we think, “Well, very well, the kingdom.” One day our Lord Jesus will come back. He will establish His kingdom upon this earth. He will rule over this earth, and we, as His co-heirs, will rule and reign with Him.
Just as the Bible says, “You can rule ten cities,” or, “Five cities.” Together with the kingdom, we think of the crown. We can be crowned with a crown of life, with a crown of glory. We also think of the throne: we will sit on the throne.
Brothers and sisters, we are thinking of all these wonderful things. But to put it in one word, what is our spiritual inheritance? It is Christ. That is our spiritual inheritance, because all the other things are related to Him, and we will inherit all these things with Him.
When we think of our inheritance, we do thank the Lord, because this is something way beyond what we can even think about. That is what God has provided for us.
But this is not something strange, because we know what God is and we know what Christ is. But the strangest thing is that He will take us as His inheritance.
You find in Ephesians 1:18:
What are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints?
Unfortunately, when we read Ephesians 1, most likely when we read about the prayer that Paul prayed for the people in Ephesus—that God would give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of God, having the eyes of their heart enlightened—we think that we may know our inheritance.
No. It says that we may know the glory of His inheritance in the saints. Now, that is something that surprises us.
When you read Ephesians 1:13, we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Now, we know this matter of sealing. It was a practice in the old days.
In old days, when people went to buy wood, they would go to the forest and look at all the trees. The trees they wanted to buy, they would put their seal upon. By that seal, you knew that this tree belonged to a certain company. So when they cut down the tree, they knew where the trees belonged.
Now, brothers and sisters, this is what God has done to us. When He saves us, He puts His seal upon us, and the seal is the Holy Spirit.
When you believe in the Lord Jesus, not only is your dead spirit quickened into new life, not only does Christ come and dwell in your new spirit, but everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus has been sealed by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit comes into our new spirit as a seal, that God says, “Now you belong to Me. You are Mine.” That is the reason why the Bible says we are no longer our own. We belong to Him. He has redeemed us. He has bought us with a price. He has put His seal upon us. The Holy Spirit is the seal.
Because He has sealed us, the Holy Spirit has been reminding us all through our lives, “Do not forget: you do not belong to yourselves. Remember, you belong to God.”
In our daily life, whenever we want to do something, wherever we want to go, whenever we want to make any decision, the Holy Spirit, as the seal of God, impresses upon us: “Now, what you are going to do, is it the will of God? What you are going to say, is it what God wants you to say? Where are you going? Is this where Christ wants to go? What you have decided to do, is it what Christ would do?”
Brothers and sisters, we know we all have this kind of experience. Why? Because the Holy Spirit is the seal of God in our lives, and He is claiming us as the One who possesses us.
Now, unfortunately, brothers and sisters, oftentimes we neglect the indwelling Holy Spirit. We do not listen to His still, small voice. We do not walk according to the light with which He has enlightened us.
We have the anointing within us, Who teaches us in all things, great things and small things. If we follow the anointing, we abide in Christ. That is the only way to abide in Christ.
I remember years ago, I was with some young people, and I asked them, “Now, how can we abide in Christ?” The young people gave me different answers. They would say, “Well, abiding in Christ—you have to pray.” Now, for sure, prayer is a channel. “You have to read the Bible.” Yes, that is true.
But, brothers and sisters, to put it very simply, the only way to abide in Christ is to heed the anointing, to let the seal of the Holy Spirit put His seal upon you, reminding you that you are no longer your own. You are His. And that is it.
But strangely, as I read on, I find that in Ephesians 1:14 He says that the Holy Spirit is not only the seal, but He is the earnest of our inheritance.
Now, earnest simply means down payment. I think this is very familiar to us today, because when you want to buy a house, you first put down a down payment. That down payment shows that you are going to buy that house.
Remember, the Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance. You have received the Holy Spirit, and in receiving the Holy Spirit, you have received a down payment to say that this is your inheritance.
Do you realize that the Holy Spirit is the earnest, the down payment, of your inheritance? Now, if you neglect your down payment, you may lose your inheritance.
But because your down payment is already paid, you will see to it that you will make all the other payments in order to really inherit your heritage. So this is another side: we must realize that the Holy Spirit is our down payment toward our inheritance.
You cannot neglect your down payment. You cannot forfeit your down payment. You should continue on, in order that you may obtain that inheritance.
Now, why do I say these things? Because do you notice, in the two passages that we read in Acts about inheritance, it is remission of sins and inheritance among the sanctified? Now, do emphasize the word sanctified.
Our inheritance is God’s promise, and God’s promise is grace. But do not forget, there is the other side. God has promised; God has made every provision for it. Yet on our side, we have to receive what God has provided.
In other words, God has promised, but if we do not believe, if we do not receive, if we do not respond, then God’s promise is still there, but we are not qualified to receive God’s promise.
So here you find the word is sanctified, not only justified, but sanctified. In other words, it is not only because you are saved that, therefore, one day you inherit the inheritance, reign with Christ, have the crown of life, sit on the throne, and share all the glory. No, brothers and sisters. You have to be sanctified.
And by sanctified, it simply means being set apart for God. So are you sanctified?
The down payment is paid, but are you continuing on? If you are not continuing on, you forfeit your down payment.
You find in 1 Thessalonians 5:23:
The God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly;
and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire,
without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So, dear brothers and sisters, you find there are two sides.
There is another way of reading Ephesians 1:14. In verse 13, it says:
Having heard the word of the truth,
the glad tidings of your salvation,
in Whom also, having believed,
ye have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise
(Who is the earnest of our inheritance)
to the redemption of the acquired possession,
to the praise of His glory.
In other words, you find the connection: the sealing with the Holy Spirit of promise is with the redemption of the acquired possession, to the praise of His glory. That is to say, it has to do with His inheritance. But in the parenthesis, you have this: “Who is the earnest of our inheritance.”
If you read it that way, I think it will make more sense of verse 18.
The one thing that really surprises me is this: if we really have the spirit of wisdom and revelation, and have the eyes of our heart opened, what will we see? We will see the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. Now, do we see this?
I think we will see the riches of the glory of our inheritance in Christ. I think we see this in part. I would not say we see it all, because we are continuing in seeing it.
But to think that one day we will see the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints—now, who am I? If I know myself, will I be the riches of the glory of His inheritance? Do I not feel like a wilderness, a barren land?
So I often think that in that exchange, we got the better part and God got the worse part. We have Christ. What riches is that? What glory is that? But He has us, and what are we?
Even though, by the grace of God, we are saved—barely. Just like one brother said, “If my two feet were within the gate of heaven, I am satisfied.”
Poor Lot—nothing there, no riches, no glory, full of shame. So think of that: that He will consider you, He will consider me, as glory—not only glory, but the riches of glory.
What love must be behind it. What grace must be behind it. How much working of the Holy Spirit in us must be behind it. He can make a desert a Beulah land, and He will consider us as His treasure, as His inheritance. And He feels Himself glorified in us. Can you think about that?
That is something that often makes me wonder. This is the will of God. This is what God wants for His Son.
You know, humanly speaking, I wonder if anyone here has that faith that it shall be done. That is true.
So when you read Ephesians 5, what do you see there? We see that one day God will present the church to His beloved Son—a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
In other words, one day the church will be a glorious church. Today, when you look at the church, what do you see? You see shame all over. You see spots everywhere. You see wrinkles hanging—weakness, all kinds of weaknesses.
But the Lord says He will continue to love us. He will continue to wash us by the washing of water with the word.
In other words, the Holy Spirit who dwells in us will continue to speak to us, to plead with us, to bring the word of God to our memory. His life within us will continue to cleanse us and wash us until all these spots are gone, all these wrinkles are gone, all this shame is gone, and nothing is left but glory.
A glorious church fit for the glorious Christ. Now, is that not marvelous? That is what God wants to do with us.
When you think of New Jerusalem, in that New Jerusalem not only does everything speak of God—the glory of God—but you find everything is so transparent, with nothing hidden.
Everything is life: tree of life, river of life. Wherever you go, that river goes. Wherever you go, the tree is there.
Brothers and sisters, this is our blessedness. One day He is able to fulfill that.
So, dear brothers and sisters, may the Lord give us such a revelation—something that we see beyond ourselves—that we really see that one day the grace of God will so work in each and every one of us that we may become a glorious church, fit for the glorious Christ. And one day we will be a part of the New Jerusalem.
So, brothers and sisters, this morning all I want to share with you is simple: by ourselves, we cannot do it.
But not because by ourselves we cannot do it do we give up. Do not forget: God is able. He is able to do the impossible. We are the impossibles. We can confess that and allow Him to do His work in each and every one of us.
Brothers and sisters, you will find that glorious end. So it is, here we are. The question is: with God, nothing is impossible; with us, nothing is possible.
But if we can really give ourselves over to God and let Him work in us, He will be possible. So may the Lord strengthen us and give us that desire—not just hearing a message, but giving ourselves into the hands of God and letting Him work out His full salvation.
Not just for our own sake, brothers and sisters, but for the sake of God. Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, oh, give us a vision—a vision of Thyself, a vision of what Thou hast accomplished, and a vision of what the Holy Spirit in us will accomplish.
Oh, Lord, we confess we are nothing, worse than nothing. But Thou art truly everything to us.
We pray that Thou wilt exercise our hearts, that we will no longer depend upon ourselves, no longer neglect so great a salvation, but be inspired by the Holy Spirit, that we will really surrender and put ourselves totally into Thy hand.
Allow Thy skillful hand to work out that marvelous work, to satisfy Thy heart. And in that, Lord, we are more than satisfied.
We give Thee glory in Thy precious name. Amen.