Our Inheritance In Jesus Alone Series

Dr. Bradford Reaves

Crossway Christian Fellowship

Hagerstown, MD, USA

www.mycrossway.org

View this and other messages at: https://mycrossway.churchcenter.com/channels/8118

Today we’re in Ephesians Chapter 1, verses 11 through 14. We’re going through this amazing letter written by the Apostle Paul. In these opening verses, we find an 11 verse doxology in which Paul brings to light some glorious news: that as believers in Christ we are recipients of “every spiritual blessing of God” (verse 3). Over the last few weeks, I’ve walked you through some of those blessings and more importantly directed your attention to your identity in Christ. And we said the primary and first blessing was we were chosen in Jesus Alone to be called children of God. Paul writes in verses 4 through 6, we were chosen “in Him before the foundation of the world” and predestined to be adopted.

Secondly, there is the blessing of redemption. Paul writes in verse 7: “In Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.” Now, as we come to verse 11 we read the final blessing: Our Inheritance in Jesus Alone. Not only were we chosen before the foundation of the world, adopted and redeemed, but we are also heirs of eternal blessings.

Our election happened in the past, redemption is going on in the present, and in the future, we have recipients of eternal and Divine inheritance. All of this is given to us by God in Christ Jesus Alone.

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In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:11–14 ESV)

1. In Jesus Alone We Know Our Relationship with God

What Paul is wanting the church in Ephesus to know - and for us to know as well - is that we have a wonderful and glorious identity in Christ. Unfortunately, there are many believers today that do not understand or live into their God-given birthright as adopted children of God. Believers may think they are undeserving of God’s redemption. Believers that think it is dependent on their own righteousness. Believers that are living spiritually impoverished, do not know they are actually recipients of eternal blessings, but instead are focused on worldly treasures.

We have an identity crisis in our culture today and that includes our churches. Instead of knowing who we are in Christ, people use the things of this world to define themselves and it is destroying people. We use terms like “sexual identity” even to the point of denying our biological gender given to us by God. We use race, political affiliations, age, socioeconomic status, even religion to give us identity. None of those things will fully define who we are because they use things outside of us to define us. All of these things will pass away, but your identity in Christ is something that is eternal. Here’s the amazing thing: that identity is given to you when you are reborn spiritually. Your identity in Christ is not something that is added to you, it is fully who you are with God.

We are now living in a time of incredible deception. You look around at the level of hatred, division, crime, violence, rage, selfishness, immorality, a pandemic, and the wickedness perpetrated by this pandemic including medical malevolence and deception. Our own government supports abortion, childhood sexualization, transition, abuse, and trafficking. We call it the new normal. Is this world we are living in something that should be considered normal?!

Our nation has succumbed to demonic evil and we even celebrate it. We make stars out of people like Harry Potter and worse. Some want to hide their heads in the sand in denial and others say they don’t want the church to face it; we just need to be loving. Is it loving to turn a blind eye to what is abhorrent to God?

Others are asking, “How could a society fall so fast? How is it that we become so easily victimized by corruption, wickedness, and sin?” Well, the same question was asked in WWII, “How could Hitler be so easily able to persuade normal German people to murder as many 31 million people, including a million children, and 6 million Jews?” You could ask the same question about Russia. How could Stalin convince the Russian people to slaughter something over 20 million people? So collectively, 50 million people are slaughtered. You might think the answers are complex; actually, they’re not. The answers to those two questions are pretty simple: All the unredeemed are of their father the devil, who is a liar and a murderer. And unless you restrain that in human life, it will run amok. It’s easy to get people to do evil; it’s the way they’re hardwired. It’s their bent. (MacArthur)