26-0906p - Detailed Summary

Mike began by saying he wished more people were present that evening. He noted that he had started speaking and that listeners may have noticed him taking swallows of water because his throat was becoming scratchy. He felt that his voice might leave him, but he intended to continue anyway with part 2 of the lesson titled “The Christian’s Inheritance.” He explained that the sermon would now turn directly to the Christian’s inheritance itself and to the biblical references that speak concerning that inheritance. The first passage he directed the congregation to was Acts 20, beginning at verse 28 and running through verse 32.

Mike identified the setting as Paul speaking to the Ephesian elders at Miletus. Beginning at verse 28, Paul exhorts them to take heed to themselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made them overseers, so that they will shepherd the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood. Paul then warns that after his departure savage wolves will come in among them and will not spare the flock. From among the elders themselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things in order to draw disciples away after themselves. Therefore they are to watch and to remember that for three years Paul did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.

Paul then commends the brethren to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build them up and to give them an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. Mike observed that Paul is warning of apostasy after his departure and that the threat includes savage wolves even from within their own number. The three-year ministry of night-and-day warning with tears is recalled, after which Paul commends them to God. Verse 32, Mike said, shows the elders how they can keep themselves from departing from the truth: they are commended to God and to the word of His grace. That word is able both to build them up and to give them an inheritance among the sanctified. The word grants that inheritance when believers obey it, when they read it, look at what God desires for them, and then do what He desires. In that way they may have the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

Mike next turned to Ephesians chapter 1, calling it a wonderful chapter because it reveals much about God and His will. He cited the blessing of the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed believers with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. God chose them in Him before the foundation of the world that they should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Mike stressed that God had planned all of this even before the foundation of the world was laid, so that these verses show how God planned His will.

He then read from verse 11 and following, including verse 18. In Him believers have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, so that those who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. Those addressed also trusted after they heard the word of truth, the gospel of their salvation. Having believed, they were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of their inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. Paul, having heard of their faith in the Lord Jesus and their love for all the saints, does not cease to give thanks and to mention them in prayer, asking that the God of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, would give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, that the eyes of their understanding would be enlightened, and that they would know the hope of His calling and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.

Mike repeated that an inheritance has been obtained and that it was predestined according to God’s purpose and the counsel of His will. Trust in Christ came after hearing the word of truth, the gospel of salvation. Belief brought the seal of the Holy Spirit of promise as the guarantee of the inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. Believers therefore have an inheritance in the kingdom of God, which Mike identified as the church. The Holy Spirit of promise guarantees that inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. That future moment corresponds to what Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 15: when Christ has subjected all His enemies, the last enemy being death, He will turn the kingdom over to the Father. The purchased possession is the same reality named in Acts 20:28, where the elders are to take heed to themselves and to the flock and to feed the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood—that is, with Christ’s blood.

Mike returned to Ephesians 1:18, noting that Paul desired the saints to know and understand the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God. He wanted the eyes of their understanding to be enlightened so that they would know the hope of God’s calling and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. Mike restated that believers have an inheritance in the kingdom of God, which is the church, and that this inheritance exists because of what Christ did. Christ came, shed His blood, and purchased the church. Admission into the church comes because people accepted the gospel, just as the Ephesians did. Paul is telling them that they have obtained an inheritance, which means they have received it, and that inheritance is with them in the kingdom of God. That inheritance is obtained when a person follows the command to believe and to be baptized in order to be saved. Mike cited Peter’s words on the day of Pentecost: repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.

Mike then turned to obstacles that can stand in the way of the inheritance. He recalled earlier discussion of a father, mother, or other close relative making out a will for special people and placing stipulations within the will. Scripture likewise contains stipulations and warnings. He read from Ephesians 5, beginning at verse 1 rather than at verse 3. Believers are therefore to be imitators of God as dear children and to walk in love as Christ also loved them and gave Himself for them as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. Fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness should not even be named among them, as is fitting for saints. Neither should there be filthiness, foolish talking, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting; rather there should be the giving of thanks. For they know that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of God.

Mike first applied this to those outside the realm of Christianity: people who practice the things named in verses 3 through 5 cannot inherit the kingdom of God. He then applied it to the Christian life. Believers are to be imitators of God as dear children. Children imitate their parents in certain ways, and Christians ought to imitate God and walk in love as Christ loved them and gave Himself as an offering and a sacrifice. The sins listed in the passage are things that will keep a person from inheriting the kingdom of Christ and God. Continuing to live the way the world lives and practicing these things can cause a person to be disinherited.

Mike addressed the doctrine of once saved, always saved as it appears in debate. Those who hold that view sometimes say that children will be children and that they do not cease to be children. Mike agreed that they do not cease to be children. Yet Ephesians 5:6 says, “Let no one deceive you with empty words,” because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Before salvation, the same sins are wrong, sinful, and keep people outside the kingdom of God. After a person has truly been saved, that person can still become disobedient. Disobedience does not take away sonship or the fact of being a child of God, but the person becomes a child of disobedience, and that is what will cause him to be disinherited. Therefore believers must live as imitators of God. Mike recalled that on one occasion Paul said to be imitators of him as he imitates God or Jesus. Christians do not imitate Paul because of what Paul himself does; they imitate him as he is with God, and in that way they imitate God.

Mike gave the invitation from 1 Peter 1:3–4, especially verse 4. Blessed be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten believers again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that does not fade away. He contrasted this with the morning lesson on inheritance of a material nature, an inheritance that can be corrupted, stolen, or faded by various circumstances. The inheritance in 1 Peter is incorruptible, undefiled, and does not fade away. Mike called that wonderful and identified it as the kind of inheritance that belongs to the Christian. Believers should be willing and waiting to receive it when the time comes. It is a great inheritance, the inheritance received from God, the Christian’s inheritance, and the passage tells a great deal.

He exhorted the congregation to hold fast to the word and to respond to God in a way that is pleasing to Him. Then, when the time comes that the Lord comes and they stand face to face with the One who gave His life for them, He will welcome them into that place that is their inheritance. That place remains their inheritance as long as they are faithful and live through faith. Those who have become Christians are to hang on and continue, because there is an inheritance that is incorruptible and does not fade away. Mike then invited anyone who wished to say something or to speak about what was on his or her mind to come forward and make it known as the congregation stood and sang.