Divine Promises Guaranteed

Ephesians 1:11-14

This morning for our Bible study together, we come again to the first chapter of Ephesians. And I'd invite you to take your Bible, if you don't have one with you there's probably one in the pew rack there that you can look along. It might make your time more meaningful if you follow along as we share. For those of you who may be visiting with us, we're committed, really, to teaching the Word of' God. I believe that what I have to say is; at best, very insignificant, what God has to say is absolutely necessary. So, we spend our time dealing with the Word of God and what a treasure it, is and how grateful we are that He's given it to us.

One of the most wonderful parts of the Bible is the letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus. It's called the letter to the Ephesians. This wonderful letter expresses some tremendous life‑transforming truths. And for us, this morning, I think God is going to really speak about something that is exceedingly wonderful as we anticipate the things God has prepared for us.

I remember years ago when I used to travel in the South and do assemblies and we used to do a lot of ministries in the black high schools, that we would meet with a lot of people who looked at life rather bleakly. And I can remember many, many conversations with young people down in Mississippi and other parts of the South. And they would say to me ‑ John ‑ they would say ‑ Do you think... do you think we'll ever be able to...to amount to what we want to amount to? Do you think we'll ever be able to fulfill our dreams for our life?

We'd have conversation after conversation through those years in those kinds of ways. And, you know, I see that in all parts of life. I see that with young people today and with old people as well who...who really face life with a sense of foreboding, who wonder whether or not there ever will be a fulfillment in life. Who wonder whether life will really turn out to be what it could be. Who wonder whether there is really potential for something wonderful and fulfilling and exciting in life.

That brings me to share with you the thoughts in Ephesians 1: 11 to 14 because they are really about the promise of God in Jesus Christ to everyone who believes. There are some things that can make life meaningful. There are some fantastic things that God has planned for those that are in Christ. Some promises that God will keep.

Now when you use the word promise, you know, maybe some people would be cynical about it because, let's face it, we've all known people who made promises and didn't keep them. And, frankly, we've all made promises ourselves and didn't keep them. Right? And in our society today it's promises, promises, promises, promises.

Governments make promises and break them. Nations make promises and break ‑them. Advertisers make promises and break them. Politicians make promises and break them. Preachers make promises and break them...husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, moms, dads, uncles, aunts, friends, enemies, everybody.

But there is One who makes promises, guess what? Never breaks them. Never. That's Jesus Christ. And the promise that He makes here in Ephesians 1:11 to 14 is above all things, wonderful, incredible, and exciting. And I want to share with you this morning what Paul has to say about it.

Peter said this; II Peter 3; "The Lord is not slack concerning... what? ... His promises." Isn't that great? The Lord is not slack concerning His promises. In fact, the Apostle Paul said; "He is God who cannot lie.

In Hebrews 10:23 the Bible says; "He is faithful that promised."

In Romans 4:21 the Bible says; "What He has promised He is able also to perform."

There somebody who keeps His promises. That's God. God who cannot lie, keeps His promises.

Now listen, Paul is telling us in Ephesians 1 verses 3 to 14, this whole...this whole passage is one sentence. The longest sentence in the Bible. He just goes on and on. And his heart is so full of praise he can't find a period anywhere. It's just a matter of... and then there was ... and then there was this ... and so forth. He's just pouring out praise and what he is praising God for is this wonderful promise that God has made in Jesus Christ. That's what's on his heart.

He says in verse 3; "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ." And then he goes on to recite that ... "He's chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, He's predestinated 'us to be to the praise of His glory," verse 7 as we saw last week. He's given us redemption through His blood, He's forgiven our sins according to the riches of His grace, verse 8, He's abounded to us all wisdom and prudence. He's even made known the secrets of His will. And all of these things in verse 10; ultimately He's going to bring us into one great harmonious union with Himself forever. No wonder he's full of praise. Huh? No wonder.

Now basically verses 3 to 14 from a technical viewpoint are divided into three parts. Paul in chapter 2 kind of explains.... begins to explain how the church operates in the world. We're going to get into that, we're going to see how the church is to work in the world, how we are to live in the world, how we are to touch the lives of other people. That's all a part of it. But in the first chapter he's not in time, he's in eternity. He takes us all the way back as verse 4 says; "Before the foundation of the world." And he lets us watch God master planning history.

And as God is master planning history the basic key to the whole thing is the building of the church. And Paul says ‑ Here is God before the foundation of the world, putting together the church. And three key words separate the three parts to this passage.

First, the pattern that He used or the plan that He used was based on election. Chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. That's what gives us our value, people. That's what gives us our sense of worth. Do you realize that you ‑ that's right ‑ you who love Jesus Christ are in His church, have received Him as your Savior, you were master planned by God into the church before the world began?

And the second word that he uses is redemption. First that its election, that's the past part of it, God's choosing. Then redemption in verse 7; "We've been redeemed." Now that simply says that those whom He elected He redeemed. And the word means to buy back, we were lost in sin He bought us back.

The third word is inheritance. The reason He chose us was to redeem us. The reason He redeemed us was to give us...what? ... an inheritance. To give us great and precious promises. That's fulfilling.

I remember one time I was up in the mountains at Big Bear and there was a young man there who had a withered arm and a withered leg, severely so. And we were trying to work with a group of young people at a camp up there and this young man was way in a corner and he wouldn't come out of the corner. So on the second day I finally thought ‑ I'm going to go talk with him. So I went over and he would just kind of hide in the corner and I went over and I said to him, I said ‑ "What's your name?" He expressed his name to me and I said, "I'm John." And I said, "I notice that you never enter in." And he looked at me, boy, and he just had a kind of bitter scowl on his face and he pulled his sleeve, he had a jacket kind of over his head and he pulled his sleeve up and he said, "Look what God did to me."

Well, that was kind of hard for me to handle, you know. And I said, "All right, Lord, You've got to help me get a good answer, help him to understand." And I said, "You want to know something?" I said, "That's not you."

I'll never forget what he said. "Who is it?" I said ‑ "It's not you." "Well, what do you mean it's not me?" I said, "It's just the house you live in, that's all." It's just the house you live in. "You see, and that's very temporary, you are a forever person." And I said, "Not only that, God's got a forever plan for you and He's also got a new body for you in the future."

He said, "You're kidding?" I said, "No."

And I shared Jesus Christ with him around a little table there and he gave his heart to Jesus Christ. Held never come out of this little corner.

And then he said to me after that, he said.... he said, "John, would you play ping‑pong with me?" I said, "Sure, I'll play ping‑pong with you." And he walked out in front of the whole group and played ping-pong.

You see, he realized that God had some things for him that far surpassed some of the iniquities of life. But that's the way God is, see. And that's because God loves us and has master planned us into an incredible promise that He'll fulfill. And that's the essence of Ephesians 1:11 to 14.

Let's look at verse 11. "In whom," now watch this, "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance." Now stop right there.

In whom also we have obtained an inheritance. This is the word of God to us. He's saying we have obtained an inheritance. Now what tense is that verb? Past tense, I remember that even. Past tense. That means it already happened.

You say - Well, wait a minute, we've already received this inheritance. That's right. The moment you invited Jesus Christ into your life the inheritance is yours.

I'll tell you an interesting thing about the Greek language. And the New Testament was written in Greek, but whenever the Greeks wanted to say something in the future that was so sure it couldn't be changed, they said it in the past tense. In other words, there is what is known as a past‑future in the Greek. When they wanted to say something so secure for the future about what God was going to do they said it as if it had already happened. For example do you know that the Bible says ‑ You're already seated in t e heavenlies? You say ‑ No I'm not; I'm seated in Grace Community Church. Yeah, right, but someday you're going to be seated fully in the heavenlies and it's so true and it's so irrevocable that God says it as if it already happened and that's exactly what it means here. If you're a Christian you have already received an inheritance.

You say - Is it like a human inheritance, you don't get it until you're 21? Well, part of it you don't get until you get to heaven but some of it is yours now. We'll see that in a minute.

Now let me talk about this phrase for just a second, verse 11. Stay with me because we're going to move fast now. In verse 11 it says; "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance." Now the form of the Greek words here is in a passive form. The verb is passive. Now that means, in this case, it can be translated two ways. Okay? The passive verb can be translated two ways.

Let me give you the first possibility. I can be translated this way; in whom we were made an inheritance." Have you got that? In whom we were made an inheritance. Now if we take that meaning for the phrase then it means we are Christ's inheritance. In other words, Christ inherited us. You're saying‑‑That's no bargain. Well, it's true though. Christ inherited us. Could it be saying that? It could be, linguistically, grammatically, it could be saying that. And you know something? That is true.

Listen to Jesus' own words; "All that the Father ... what? ... gives Me shall come to Me." You see, we are the gift from the Father to the Son. You see, when I received Jesus Christ God was saying ere, I present to You John MacArthur. That's the .sense in which we are His inheritance. And you see, God has granted to the Son the inheritance of the church, He's given Him the church as a reward for His faithfulness. When Jesus died on the cross and rose again the Bible says in Philippians 2 that God exalted Him and gave Him the name above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. You know that? God not only exalted Jesus because of His wonderful work on the cross and coming out of the grave, God not only exalted Him but God gave Him the spoils of the victory at the cross. And you and I are the s oils. He won us at Calvary. And we are His heritage. We are His inheritance. We are the gift of the Father to the Son. And that's why Malachi says; "And they shall be Mine in the day that I make up my jewels." See?

Now if you're struggling around with a sense of a lack of self worth, just realize that you are important enough to God for God to take you, to win you and to give you back to Jesus as an inheritance. You're a gift from the Father to the Son, a love gift.

You say I don't understand why the Father would want to give me to the Son and I don't know why the Son would want to take me from the Father. But that's the way God's grace and love works.

So, He bought us at the cross. In fact, Paul says to the Corinthians in I Corinthians 6; "What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Spirit of God which you have of God and you are not ... what? ... your own but you are bought with a price?"

And ‑‑‑ that wonderful text that I love so much, in Ephe ... in talking to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:28 he says; "The church which Christ purchased with ... what? ... His own blood.‑ He's bought US. We're His inheritance. We belong to Him. We're His personal possessions

So that's one thing this phrase could mean. But it could mean something else too because of the form of the verb. It could also mean the way it's translated in the Authorized, "In whom we have obtained an inheritance. ­It can also mean that. It can also mean that we have received Christ as an inheritance. So in one sense we're His inheritance, and in another sense He is ours. He inherits us and we inherit Him. And, frankly, folks, we got the better deal. We inherit Christ. When you become a Christian He becomes yours.

You know, I love that hymn; "I am His and He is mine." That's ... that's ... that one and "The Church is One Foundation," those are my two favorites. I am His and He is mine. That's it. And both things are true.

When I became a Christian I inherited Him. He became mine. And... and I say both are true because that's what the Apostle Paul says in I Corinthians chapter 3 verse 21, he says, now watch; "For all things are yours whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas,  or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours." In other words, he says ‑ You inherit everything. It's all yours. You have obtained an inheritance in Christ. And then in the very next verse he says this; "And you are Christ's."

You inherit everything and He inherits you. It's that beautiful union. You see? Now listen, when you become a Christian according to I Corinthians 6:17 it says; "He that is joined to the Lord is one spirits." One spirit, you become one with Jesus Christ and you know what happens? He becomes yours and you become His so that you lose your identity. You really do. A Christian has no identity apart from Christ.

For example, the Apostle Paul says; "For to me to live is Paul," No, what did he say? "For me to live is Christ." You see, he loses himself. You know, and ... when you go through the world living as a Christian, you know the whole idea is to be Christ in the world, isn't it? It's to love like He loved; it's to help like He helped. It's to care like He cared. It's to share like He shared. That's what it's all about. We're not in the world to take advantage; we're in the world to lose our lives like Jesus lost His for the good of others.

And you know what happens? When a true Christian lives the way he ought to live you can't find out where he leaves off and Christ begins. Do you understand that? You can't. You can't see the line. You lose yourself.

And so it's true, He is our inheritance, and we are His inheritance. And that's because we are one anyway. Now I kind of lean to the fact that in this context, even though both of those points are true, in this context the second one is the one Paul is emphasizing. Because he's talking about the fact that we have obtained a promise, he's talking about the things that God has for US. So although both of those interpretations are possible, both of them are true, theologically, the one that I think he is using here is the one that is translated; "In whom we have obtained an inheritances.'' I think he's talking about what we receive in Christ.

And the New Testament talks so much about that. In I Peter chapter 1 verse 3 it says that because we have been begotten in Christ, verse 4 says; "We receive an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you." This inheritance is ours, reserved for us, it's incorruptible, undefiled and doesn't fade away.

Now it's not just pie in the sky. When you become a Christian part of that inheritance is yours right now, though the fulfillment of it is yet future. We have a limitless inheritance.

You say, - Well, what is it? I mean, what is it? What do I get? I'm thinking about being a Christian, what do I get? What is this inheritance?

Well, are you ready for this? Every promise God ever made. Period. Are you ready for that? Now if you want me to delineate them, we'll be here a while. Every promise God ever made.

You say - Well, every promise God ever made? That's right. Every promise.

In II Peter chapter I verse 4 it says; "By which are given to us exceedingly great and precious promises." Great and precious promises.

In II Corinthians 1:20, listen to this, it says this; "For all," are you ready for this? "All the promises of God in Christ are yes. Did you get that? Isn't that great? "And in Him are amen." Isn't that good? All the promises of God in Christ are yes. If He made it you can say ‑ Is it for me? And the answer will be ‑ yes. Isn't that good? And you can say ‑ Amen. Which means ‑ so let it be.

Hey, God is in the business of giving, isn't He? Great precious promises.

What a you looking for? Peace? That's in there. Love? Grace? Wisdom? Eternal life? Joy? Victory? Strength? Guidance? All your needs met? Power? Mercy? Forgiveness? Righteousness? Gifts of the Spirit? Trouble? That's in there. Pain? Suffering? Fellowship with the Trinity? Instruction from the Word? Truth? Spiritual discernment? Heaven? A room in the Father's house? Eternal riches? You name it. You see, because ‑ this is a great thought ‑ because when you became a Christian you are one with Jesus Chris and when you are one with Jesus Christ you receive everything he Father gives Him because Paul says ‑ You are heirs with Christ and joint‑heirs. You're the inheritors of all the promise.

Oh, what a deal. You know, you present Jesus Christ to somebody and you're really offering him everything. Everything.

Now let s look at the text. That was the introduction, now I'm going to preach the sermon.

There are three things I want you to see, three things; the ground of our inheritance, the guarantee of our inheritance, and the goal of our inheritance.

Why? You say, ‑ I don't understand how we get this. I don't understand how we can be sure we keep it. And I don't understand why God's doing this.

That's what I want to share with you.

First of all, what is the ground of our inheritance? What is the basis for this? Why does God do this? And how? And what is it that makes it real?

Verse 11, let's look. First two words, "In whom," now this modifies Christ in verse 10. Christ, "In whom we have obtained an inheritance." Now we'll stop there for a second. The ground of our inheritance is Christ, beloved. Christ. You see, there's no way to get anything that God has to offer apart from Christ. There's nothing outside of Christ. "Neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." I didn't say that, that's what the Bible says. And I believe the Bible to be the authoritative word o~ God. And God says it's in Christ. It's in Christ.

In whom Look at it in verse 11; "In whom we have received an inheritance'' In whom, it's being in Christ, it's being one with Christ. It's that indivisible union, verse 3 says; "We are blessed because we are in Christ." That's really the Christian's spiritual biography.

Let me show you that, go back to Romans 6 for just a minute. The book of Romans, chapter 6 and I'll show you something interesting there, verse 3 and following. One of my favorite chapters. I remember one summer I spent three months studying the first eleven verses of this chapt ... of this chapter and just a tremendous experience.. But I want to just ... I'm not going to tell you everything I learned that three months, but I'll just tell you a couple of things. In Romans 3:6 or 6:3 rather, it says; "Know ye not that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death."' Now it's not talking about water baptism, it's talking about union with Christ, talking about being placed into Christ. "As many of us as believed in Christ and were then brought into a spiritual union with Christ, as many of us as did that, we're baptized into His death." Now watch. We were baptized into His death. Now the next verse. "We were buried with Him by baptism into death that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should also walk in newness of life for if we have bee planted together in the likeness of His death we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection."

Now, notice that. Listen, here's a fabulous thought. When you became a Christian somehow by some marvelous miracle that only God could do, y u as if it was done as if this happened, were taken right from here and transported two thousand years back, nailed to the cross, buried with Christ, you rose with Christ, you're one with Christ forever. That's the way it works. God performed an incredible miracle. God put you in union with Jesus Christ. You died with Him so your sin was paid for. You rose with Him, you walk in newness of life, you are now one with Him to receive all the inheritance that God could ever give His beloved Son. That's union with Christ. That's being in Christ.

That's different than following the teachings of Jesus. It's different. It's dying with Him. It's rising with Him. Not just listening to Him. It's putting your faith and trust and confidence, it's a real union.

And, ultimately, the wonder of all wonders is the Bible says; That someday when you see Jesus Christ, you will be...what? ... like Him, I John 3:2. Did you know that Romans 8 says He wants us to conform us to the image of His Son? Do you know that God doesn't just love  enough to bring us into His family, He loves us enough to make us I exactly like His Son. Incredible.

But, you see, that's what happens when you are saved.     You are one with Christ, you died to the old, you live to the new, you inherit everything He has, you are in Christ to obtain an inheritance that is His inheritance. And as I say, as you begin to live for Jesus Christ you find out you can't tell where you cut off and He begins.

Now you say - But, how did this happen? How? Okay, look back with me, Ephesians chapter 1, let's see how. Let's look at God's side for a minute.

How did it happen? Verse 11; it happened from God's side because we were predestinated according to the purpose of Him who works all things after the counsel of His own will. Now stop right there.

It happened, first of all, from God's side because God predetermined it. Now this is a wonderful thing. Go back to verse 4; "He has chosen s in Him before the foundation of the world." See? It happened from God's side because He chose, He predestinated. Now I don't know if you've been with us the last few weeks but if you have you know how I've emphasized the fact that the wonderful thing about us is that we are what we are because of what God has chosen to mike us, long before we were ever born. Boy, I ... that just boggle I my mind. I don't suppose I'll ever understand that. Why would G d choose me? A sinner, inadequate, useless, why would He set His affection on me? That's in the counsel of His own mind. And that's ... that's part of being in Christ, you see, from God's