Eternal Inheritance Series

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An encouraging sermon that enables a person to focus on the eternal inheritance while facing difficulties and trials in this world.

Part 1 of this sermon

Everything in this world is time-bound. The world that we are living is aging and its beauty fading. Air pollution, water pollution, volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, wars, nuclear weapons etc has taken away the earth’s beauty. Take the prime of God’s creation, man. We are aging by the day. Man also is facing more problems, struggles, and sickness than he has ever faced since beginning. There are sicknesses like AIDS, cancer, hepatitis etc which shortens man’s lifespan.

When we see all this happening around us, we must understand that we have in the future something that will never age or never pass away. We have an eternal inheritance either in heaven or in hell, and every man can choose either of them.

1 Peter 1:3-5 3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

Peter is writing to a church that is undergoing persecution in the first century. Nero blamed the Christians as the ones who set Rome on fire on July 19, 64 AD. The Christians were persecuted, killed, and stoned. The believers lost their loved ones, property, and had were not given jobs and were in utter poverty and pain. To comfort them, Peter is writing to them to change their focus from this world and look at the eternal inheritance in heaven.

Last week I started this message and I will briefly go through what we saw last week and then proceed to the remainder of this sermon.

What is our inheritance?

Salvation that is Coming.

Biblical Salvation.

Past Salvation. Acts 16:31, Romans 10:9

Present Salvation. 1 John 1:9, Philippians 2:12

Prospective Salvation. Romans 13:11

Elements of our eternal inheritance.

1. Source of our eternal inheritance. God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2. Motive behind our eternal inheritance. Mercy.

3. How do we appropriate our eternal inheritance? New Birth.

a. How does that new birth take place? By looking at the Son of God lifted up on a cross and believing in Him.

b. What is the result of the new birth? A living hope.

c. What has given us that eternal hope? The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Let’s move forward:

4. The nature of our inheritance.

1 Peter 1:3-4 3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you.

Three things “imperishable, unspoiled, and unfading.”

a. Imperishable. The true meaning refer to something that was unravaged by an invading army. In the OT, God gave to Israel their inheritance, their inheritance was the land of Canaan. They had an earthly inheritance, but many, many, many times that earthly inheritance, Canaan, was plundered by invading armies, plundered by enemies, ravaged by enemies. The holy city alone, Jerusalem, was devastated and leveled at least 17 different times throughout history.

The Old Testament inheritance, the land of Canaan, an earthly inheritance given to Israel, was plundered and destroyed; but you have an inheritance that will never be ravaged, plundered, devastated. It’s imperishable. It is a treasure that can never be taken, stolen, robbed, plundered.

You see, that’s exactly what Jesus had in mind in Matthew 6:19-20 19Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

In the early days wealth was stored in homes as gold and silver, grains, and expensive clothes. Thieves would make a hole in the mud house and often steal, moths would feed on clothes, and vermin would feed on the grains.

Illustration: The 2104 FIFA World Cup was won by Germany in Brazil. The cup is made of 18 carat gold costing $15 billion US. Do you know that the world cup was stolen twice in 1966 and 1983. Presently, the winning team is given the world cup for the celebrations but soon replaced with a replica because of the fear of theft. What Germany took back home is a replica of the true world cup.