Your Inheritance, Part 4

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Jesus shared the parable of a man who, after finding a treasure in a field, sold all that he had to buy the field. Christ is the great treasure our hearts long for. When we realize the inheritance we have in him, we loosen our grip on everything else. He's our highest good and our deepest satisfaction. Let's look at 1 Peter 1 through 5 as Rich shares the message titled, Your Inheritance. You're listening to the final part of this message titled, Your Inheritance, first preached on July 17, 2022. He is asking Jesus to show every reason why he is the one that is worthy of trust.

He does believe Jesus, but there's another part to that. He's saying, remove everything else that is an unworthy object of trust so that I trust nothing but you alone. That's what is meant by help my unbelief. Because you and I have other factories pumping in our chests.

We want to trust something that we can see and manipulate. We're idolaters and we need to be rescued from that idolatry. And when I confess that before God, I am asking him to remove everything that is an object of trust to me so that there is nothing left in my life that I trust but Jesus Christ. So the good news is that in Christ, you are not hanging on.

He's got you. This is what Peter is saying to his readers. If you've surrendered yourself in faith to Jesus Christ, he's got you.

No one can pluck you out of his hand, not even you. And that's the confidence in the security of our inheritance. This inheritance that we have is the only thing that you have that cannot be taken away.

It's it. This inheritance of which Peter speaks here in these three verses is the only thing that you have that cannot be taken away. Everything else is to be held with open hands and engaged for his glory.

Now you start naming those things. All of these are the things that could you be a potential object of trust in a potential object of trust for you. Everything that God has entrusted to you, all of it held with open hands. What does holding it with open hands means? It could be snatched out of my hand at any time. Wealth, a family member, children, your health could be snatched out of your hand anytime.

But you're holding it with an open hand. You're not grasping it. Mine. Why? Because these things don't define you.

They are not your security. Only Christ is. That's our inheritance.

And this inheritance is the only thing that cannot be taken away from me. When Andrea and I were at the cove at the end of April during sabbatical, we were listening to Jim Cymbala. And Jim Cymbala has one major theme for when he preaches that challenges him. And it has two questions to it. Number one, what has God said? Number two, what are you doing about it? So we've come now to the so what portion. So what? This is good information.

This is good to know. And we've not spoken about any imperative that Peter has addressed here in this text in these three verses. There's no imperative in there. Why is it so important that he's giving us this information? Because Peter knows that what you know about the future impacts how you engage the present. Do you know what your inheritance is? What has God said?

What has God made known? Remember last week I had a frame up there that had a line on it. Let's draw that line again from that wall to that wall represents all of eternity. Now put your life on this earth on that line.

How much is that? But a tiny, tiny speck. And what he's saying is don't live for the dot. Don't live for the speck.

Live for the line. That's how we need to understand life, what the Bible talks about life. Because when this body gets buried in the grave or gets left behind when the Lord comes, you know, I might buy the farm someday.

That means I have a six by six plot in the ground. It doesn't mean I cease to exist. I will be with the Lord.

More alive than I am now. And that's our inheritance. And even better, when the Lord comes back, my body will be resurrected brand new just like the body that Jesus had after his resurrection. I'm going to walk through walls.

Not that I'm going to have to, but you know walls won't be necessary in glory. Am I living for the line or am I living for the dot? Here's a question that I want to pose to you that'll help you determine that and really challenge you in that.

And it goes like this. Am I living for the dot or am I living for the line? The way that I can make that assessment for myself is, the way you can make it for yourself is, how do you handle loss? How do you handle loss? Loss of a job, loss of a loved one, loss of your wealth, loss of a home, loss of reputation.

How do you handle loss? When we consider our inheritance, if you take, if you take two people for example, and one person is a multi-hundreds billionaire, we have a few of those on earth right now, right? But unless you know, it's numbers that we can't imagine. But you are a multi-hundreds billionaire and that's your inheritance, right? And then there's another person over here that is a 100 error. They have a hundred dollars. And if this person over here were to have a hundred dollars taken from them, that's everything. Even if they have taken ten dollars taken from, that's ten percent of everything they have. That's so, that's a lot to them. But if this person over here had a hundred dollars stolen from them, what would that be? Nothing. When you know your inheritance, it's going to impact how you handle loss under the sun. How do you handle loss?

Are you living for the dot or are you living for the line? This is Peter's challenge to his people, to the readers, the Christians of Northern Asia Minor at the time. Would you bow your heads with me for just a moment please? I'm going to invite you to contemplate the gospel. Christ's death, his resurrection.

If you are in Christ, that history is yours. You share in his death and his resurrection and his ascension because you're seated with him in the heavenlies. So contemplate the gospel. Contemplate your future, your home in Christ. And that's way more than you can contemplate right now.

I understand that. But how are you going to contemplate that? Again, I strongly encourage you to get Elise Fitzpatrick's book Home and it'll lead you to the scriptures that inform us of our inheritance. That's for those of us who've been reconciled to God. But if you were here this morning and you do not know that you have been reconciled to God, if you have not surrendered yourself in faith to Jesus Christ, I invite you now to faith. I invite you to know God through Jesus Christ, to entrust yourself to him, to receive his forgiveness, to acknowledge your sin and receive his forgiveness. You need to be reconciled to God.

But when it comes, loved ones, Christians, I'm talking again to you now. Your inheritance, the gospel and your inheritance, the more it captivates your attitudes and desires, the freer you will be to engage your present in ways that glorify God and perplex unbelief. Would you take a moment now before God, be honest before him, say, Father, I have to confess I'm not really feeling homesick, but I know that what you have for me is far better than what I can even imagine here under the sun. Are you willing to ask the Father to rescue you from finding your security and your definition in the things here under the sun? Are you ready to confess to the Father that everything he's entrusted to you, you hold with open hands?

I've been grabbing on a little too tight. I've been finding my security and my definition in things that will pass away. Father, work in our hearts this morning that we indeed will be your people, a people of hope, people who live as people who are free, free to engage the present in ways that glorify you and leave the unbelieving world just baffled. Father, thank you for who you are, for what you have done for us in Jesus Christ. Thank you for the gospel of grace. Fill our hearts and our minds and captivate us, Father, with the wonder of your grace and your glory and the glory that is to come for us. We pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. We're so glad you've joined us for Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You can hear this message and others anytime by visiting our website, www.delightingrace.com. You can also check out Pastor Rich's book, Seven Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's Word the very purpose for which you were designed. Seven Words That Can Change Your Life is available wherever books are sold. As always, tune in to Delight in Grace weekdays at 10 a.m. you