God works out what God plans. Nothing can change it. If God says, I determine to set my love upon you, Paul says, who shall separate us from that love? If God says, I don't condemn you, Paul says, who is he that condemns? Who shall lay any charge to God's elect?
No but Welcome to Grace to You with the Bible teaching of John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Before you buy a car, a computer, or anything with a lengthy warranty, Make sure you read the fine print. You may think you're covered for any repair or damage or any accident, but few guarantees come without conditions. unless, of course, you're talking about the guarantee that God has given you if you're a Christian.
It's fully paid for by God Himself, and it promises to meet your deepest needs even in your darkest days. John MacArthur unpacks that guarantee today on Grace to You, the title of his study, Richer Than You Think. And now with the lesson, here's John. 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? There is 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 passage is one sentence, the longest sentence in the Bible. He's just pouring out praise, and what he is praising God for is this wonderful promise that God has made in Jesus Christ.
Now, basically, verses 3 to 14 from a technical viewpoint are divided into three parts. 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. And the second word that he uses is redemption. First, it's election.
That's the past part of it, God choosing. Then redemption. In verse 7, we've been redeemed. The third word is inheritance. Let's look at verse 11.
In whom?
Now watch this. In whom also? We have obtained an inheritance.
Now, stop right there.
Now let me talk about this phrase for just a second, verse 11. There are three things that I want you to see. Three things. The ground of our inheritance. The guarantee of our inheritance.
And the goal of our inheritance. 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 you say, but um 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. In fact, the word predestinated is pro-orizo in the Greek. It means to mark out the boundaries. God planned it out, He marked out the limitations.
But I want you to notice the second phrase in verse 11. It says, who worketh all things. After the council of his own will. This is a fabulous statement. The word worketh in the Greek is energeo, from which we get energetic, or energize, or energy.
Listen to this now. Whatever God plans, God energizes. You got that? God doesn't come out on the edge of whatever one day and say, I think I'll create me a world.
Now let me see, how do you do that? Gotta figure that out. I got a great plan here. Just gotta figure out how to make it work. No, all God had to do was say I want to create a world and zap Because God's plan is loaded with energy to accomplish it.
It's intrinsic to it. God doesn't plan something, then figure out how to make it happen. God always energizes whatever He thinks. Listen, a thought on God's mind is energized into reality. That's because he's all-powerful.
He not only predestinated us, but he is energizing the accomplishment of that. Listen to me, beloved. If God in His wondrous grace chose us to be a part of His plan for eternity, Then believe me, he will bring it to pass. Do you believe that? I am confident of this one thing, Paul says.
If I don't know anything else, I know this: that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. That I know. What God starts, God finishes. And you'll notice over in verse 19, the same word, energeo, is used again. In verse 19, it talks about at the end of the verse the working of his mighty power, the energizing of his mighty power, which he energized, it's there again in verse 20, in Christ when he raised him from the dead.
If you want an illustration of how powerful he is, that's the one. He raised Christ from the dead. That's the kind of energy that's working out as planned. God works out what God plans. Nothing can change it.
If God makes a plan, he'll energize it. If God says, I determine to set my love upon you, Paul says, who? Romans 8: who shall separate us from that love? Anybody? Yeah.
If God says, I don't condemn you, Paul says, Who is he that condemns? If God says, I hold no charge against you, Romans 8, Paul says, Who shall lay any charge to God's elect? Nobody. In other words, when God decides something in the plan, He energizes its accomplishment, it's irrevocable. What a secure hope.
Well, from God's side, you see. The ground of our inheritance is being in Christ. From God's side, it is predestination. You say, What about our side? What about our side?
Well, verse 12, it says, the reason God does it from his side is that we should be to the praise of what? His glory. You see, salvation is always presented from God's side so that God gets the credit, you see. People say, well, God is, I mean, does God just want a lot of credit? Yeah.
Yeah, God wants all the glory. I mean, let's face it, who's the competition? Right? I mean, he's worthy. You see, the reason we don't, we kind of, you know, why does God want all this glory and praise for himself?
The reason we have trouble with that is because we can't understand the pure and holy right to glory because we're sinful and we seek it for the wrong reasons.
So we know that when others seek it, they also seek it for the wrong reasons, but don't project that on God. God seeks it for the right reason. He deserves it. And God wants to be praised and glorified. And the way that he can be glorified and praised in salvation is to say, it's all of me and none of thee.
See? And that gives him the glory. You say, well, what do we do? Just sit around and say, oh boy, I hope I'm predestinated. You know, I'm waiting for some zap.
I hope it happens to me. Like Spurgeon said, run around and pull up people's shirt tails, see if they have elect stamped on their back. No, you see, because you're looking at one side of it. God's side is predestination, but what about the human side? Look at verse 12.
I love this, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first, and the Greek word is hoped in the Christ. You see, the human part of it is that we had to place our hope in Jesus Christ, you see? That's the balance. That's the tension. It's of God, and yet we're a part of it too.
In fact, verse 13 says, In whom you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also afterward ye what? Believed. You see, there's the human part. You believed. Sure.
From God's side, it's predestination. From our side, it's faith. You say, but how could God choose and we believe and they both exist at the same time? I don't know. But as I've told you before, the things that I don't understand in the Bible are the best part.
Because they remind me that God wrote this book. If a man wrote it, he'd resolve all those. God must have written this. And the answer's in his own mind. You know, somebody once said, you look up to heaven, it says, whosoever will may come.
As soon as you get into heaven, the back side of the sign says, chosen in him before the foundation of the world. Don't worry about how you resolve it. Just know this: God gets all the credit, but you must respond in faith. Let God harmonize it. It's too big a problem for me.
As I told you before, you try to figure it out, you'd be under the bed saying the Greek alphabet. But I just know this. He says, You hoped, verse 12. He says, You hoped in the Christ. There's a definite article: the Christ.
You put your hope in the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior, and you believed and you trusted when you heard the word and you heard the gospel. You see, it isn't just predestination. There must be the preaching of the gospel. There must be the hearing of the gospel. There must be the believing of the gospel.
There must be the hoping in the Christ of the gospel. Gospel means good news. In Romans It says faith. Comes, and the Greek says, faith comes by hearing a message about Jesus Christ. Faith comes by hearing a message about Jesus Christ, you see, and faith is our response to God's elective purpose.
The ground of your inheritance, let me tell you this, my friend. God has so many wonderful things for you. And from God's part, He's done His part. He's chosen you before the foundation of the world. Master planned this inheritance.
All He says to you is: Will you believe? Will you open up the pages of this precious book and will you read about the Jesus Christ, God in human flesh who died for you and rose again? The Jesus Christ who paid the penalty for your sin, and if you'll simply believe, you will confirm God's elective purpose and enter instantly into the promise that He's given, and God always keeps His promises. You see, believing is our part. It's a simple thing.
You don't have to do spiritual gymnastics. You don't have to go through rituals. You just believe. For with the heart Man believeth unto salvation or righteousness, Paul said. As many as received him, to them gave he the right to be the sons of God, even to them that what?
Believe on his name. Isn't it correct? You see, that's why God hates. More than anything else, God hates a system of religion that says you can earn your way to heaven. Because that isn't true.
Isn't true. I think there are many people who claim the monarch are born again. Who claim to be Christians? who are not Christians by biblical definition. And consequently, while they're calling themselves Christians, they manifest characteristics that are not Christian and they confuse the issue.
True Christian is one simply Who isn't trying to earn his way to heaven? Because he can't. By the deeds of the flesh, shall nobody ever be justified, Paul said. There is only one way, and that's through faith in Christ. The true Christian simply believes.
You say, well, Doesn't he do good works? Yes. They are the response to his faith. not the effort of his human merit. Big difference.
So It has two elements, this ground of our inheritance. It means being in Christ from God's standpoint, predestination from ours, personal faith. Let me go a step further. Leaving the thought of The ground of our inheritance. Let's go on to the guarantee of our inheritance.
The guarantee. See, this sounds so good, John. How do we know it's true? How do we really know that this is ours? How do we know that we can?
You know, I'm going to say, well, maybe I'll be a Christian, maybe I'll believe. I'm going to jump in with both feet. What's the guarantee that this thing is going to work? How do I know that I'm going to jump into this thing, reorient my life, start living in this kind of a way in love with Jesus Christ and serving God, and I'm going to wake up someday and it's all going to be empty or else I'm going to die and I'm going to hit the wall on this deal. How do I know?
Well, God knows that you wanted to know. We're really guarantee-oriented. You know, you buy a car, you buy an appliance or something, you want that guarantee, a little bit of security.
Well, God has a guarantee for you. Because he knows that you need to have that confidence.
So look at the end of verse 13. Just wonderful. It says this. You were sealed With the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. Stop right there.
Now look. We have not yet. Totally been redeemed. We've been redeemed spiritually, but we haven't had our physical body redeemed. Romans 8, you know, the redemption of the body.
We haven't yet gone to heaven, is what he's saying. We haven't had the full possession of all of our inheritance. We haven't got the full schmir yet. You know, we're not in the Father's house in heaven having received everything. That hasn't happened yet.
You say, then how do I know it's going to happen? What's the guarantee? And he says, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. He's called the Spirit of promise because it is this promise that he is there to seal. You see?
And he is the earnest of the inheritance. He is the guaranteeor that the redemption of the full purchased possession will happen. In other words, when you became a Christian, God did a wonderful thing, and me and everybody. He gave you the Holy Spirit. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, Romans 8:9 says he's not a Christian.
So, if you are a Christian, you possess the Holy Spirit. Paul says, Your body is the temple of the Spirit of God. When you became a Christian, God took up residence in your life. That's why the change has taken place, that's why there's something new in your life. The Spirit of God is there.
And he is there not only to empower you, not only to fill you for service, not only to equip you for ministry, not only to function through the gifts that God has given you, but he is there to guarantee your inheritance. He's there to give you confidence, like Romans 8 says, as we have the possession of the Holy Spirit and are led by the Spirit, we know we are the sons of God. You see, He has a confirming work, the Spirit witnesses with our Spirit that we're the children of God. He is a securing force, He is a guarantee. Let me show you what I mean by that.
Now look at the word sealed. You were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
Now what does it mean to be sealed?
Well, that's very interesting. It doesn't mean like the good housekeeping seal. It doesn't mean like a big long piece of wet tape that you stick on it to seal it. That isn't the idea. It is the seal of authority, and we'll talk about that in a minute.
In those days, any official document, you'd pour the wax on that thing, and the king or whoever would stick his ring in that, and it would seal it. to be unbroken.
Now, the Spirit of God is the seal.
Now, what does that mean? Let me show you four things that the seal of the Spirit signifies. Number one, The seal used by princes and kings and nobles in the time of the Bible was a sign of security.
Alright, it was a sign of security. Let me show you an illustration of that very quickly. Daniel chapter 6.
Now, you remember good old Daniel. Daniel was told not to pray to God or he'd get in a lot of trouble, and so he prayed to God anyway. And he got in a lot of trouble. And they threw him in the lion's den. And then in verse 16, we read this.
Then the king, Daniel 6:16, just listen now. Then the king commanded. And they brought Daniel. Here's what Daniel's brought in, and they threw him in the den of lions.
Okay?
Now the king spoke and said to Daniel, Thy God, whom thou servest continually, he'll deliver thee. The king didn't want to put him in there, but he got conned into it by little political games that were going on. But anyway, he threw him in. He says, Boy, your God better get you out of this. I'm believing he will.
Now, watch, verse 17. A stone was brought. They rolled a stone across the front of the lion's den, or the lid of it, whatever, and laid upon the mouth of the den the stone. And the king sealed it with his signet. The signet of his lords that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel.
In other words, when you walked up to that stone and you saw the king's seal in the wax or whatever he used on that stone, nobody but nobody opened that. Den. Why? because the king, the highest authority in the land, had sealed it. It was secure, it was not to be opened.
The signet and the seal was the mark of the king.
Now listen. Only someone higher than the king. could break that seal. That was the sign of security. This is locked by the king.
Don't open it. Give you another illustration. When they buried Jesus Christ in the tomb, they rolled the stone across and what did they do? They seal it with the seal of Rome, which was to say, no. Tower Can dare to open the seal unless it is a power greater than Rome.
You know what happened? A power greater than Rome. Broke the seal. But it was the sign of security. Listen, when you became a Christian.
God put His Holy Spirit in you. Stamped his signet, which is the Holy Spirit, and said, This is secure. And no one can ever Touch this life. unless he be a higher authority than Almighty God. And there isn't it.
The seal is the sign of security. People say, Do you believe that we're secure in Christ? Yes. That's what it's saying. The Spirit is that seal.
Second. The second use of the word seal is as a sign of. Authenticity. Authenticity. Now you know something beautiful about that?
When God gives us His Holy Spirit, it's as if He says this. Don't mess with this person. This is an authentic child of the king. Isn't that great? The only authentic Christian.
Is the one who possesses the Holy Spirit. Who's sealed? with a mark of authenticity.
So, the seal speaks of security, never be broken. Authenticity genuine. Child of God. Thirdly, It's also used in the Bible as a sign of a completed transaction. And I'll tell you this little story without looking up, but you can read it yourself: Jeremiah 32.
Dear old Jeremiah. What a heartbreaking guy. The Lord says to Jeremiah in the first chapter, Jeremiah, you're going to be my man, Jeremiah. You're going to go out and you're going to preach all your life, and you're going to pour out your heart, and you're going to announce the things that I want you to say. And by the way, Jeremiah, nobody, no time is ever going to listen to anything you say.
But go to it, brother. You know how far? You gotta be king. And dear old Jeremiah went out there and he wept and he cried and he stood up and he preached and he did all this stuff. He was quite a guy.
Oh, he's a such a faithful guy. And he set about to buy a field. Buy a piece of property. God told him to buy a piece of property. Jeremiah 32, Jeremiah buys it.
You know when he got all done, what he did? The Bible says he sealed the transaction. You know what the seal means? It is a sign of a finished transaction. Isn't that great?
It's a sign of a finished transaction. Beloved, We are not in the process of getting saved. See. When you put your faith in Jesus Christ, God gave you the Holy Spirit and said, that is a finished transaction.
So It's a mark of security, it's a mark of authenticity, it's a mark of a finished transaction. Lastly. It's a mark of authority. It's a sign of authority. And there's a sense in which, listen.
When God gave you the Holy Spirit. He said, look, world. See this guy? See this lady? They Speak.
with my authority. Isn't that great? So the gift of the Holy Spirit The spirit of promise. guarantees the inheritance. It secures us.
It authenticates us as genuine. It delegates to us divine authority. And it symbolizes a finished transaction. Beloved, when God gave you the Holy Spirit, He gave you the guarantee and all the guarantee you'll ever need that every promise in Him is yes. Amen.
And lastly, We've seen the ground of inheritance in him. We've seen the guarantee of inheritance, the spirit of promise, now the goal of inheritance. Why does he do it? Why does God do this? The end of verse 14.
Unto the praise of what? His glory. God wants to be glorified through you. Hey We're not Christians for our own glory. Listen, the day you start to seek to be somebody.
The day you start to push yourself up. The day you start to set yourself up as some authority, or to make somebody famous out of yourself, or to be some kind of a hot dog. Is the day you enter competition with the eternal God. And you know what? You lose.
That's right. Yeah, we're servants. We're servants. I don't know about you, but I'm humbled by God's grace, aren't you? What he has done for us to the praise of his glory.
All I want to do in this world is lift up Jesus Christ. Just lift up Jesus Christ, just lift him up. And so God has done these things for us. Let me just add one. Closing thought.
Look at verse 14, the beginning of the verse. It says the Spirit is the earnest. of our inheritance. Until the time of the purchased possession being redeemed. What is the earnest?
This is beautiful. The Greek word is araban. Ereban. It means two things. One, it means down payment, okay?
Down payment.
Now listen to this. God says, MacArthur I'm going to give you all my promises. And just so you'll know, I'm not within you. Here's the down payment. The Holy Spirit.
Isn't that great? You gave me the down payment already? He's in too deep now to reneg on arrest. It's a big down payment. And you know the second thing the word Erebon means?
It means in the Greek engagement ring. Isn't that great? People say.
Well, these Christians are always talking about pie in the sky and going to heaven and meeting with Jesus. You know, the Bible does talk about that, and it says there's going to be a marriage supper. Christ is the bride-groom, the church is the bride, and you say, Well, how do you know that wedding's going to come off? And I always say, Because he gave me an engagement ring. Thank you.
Listen, girls, when a guy comes up to you and he says uh Boy, I really like you a lot, honey. I really love you. I'd like to marry you. Take it with a grain of salt. If he comes up to you and says I'd like to marry you and hand you a $600 diamond.
You can believe it? Take it to a jeweler and make sure it's a diamond, and then you can believe. W C There's a commitment there. See, there's an investment, and that's exactly what God is saying. Hey, I've got a promise for you.
I've got an inheritance for you. I've got something laid up for you that's so incredible. And just so you'll know, I'm not kidding, here's my down payment. Here's my engagement ring. Here's my spirit of promise.
And beloved, the spirit lives within us to constantly confirm to us that we're the sons of God who are in the process of seeing the fulfillment of all the promises of God. Yeah. My heart is filled with praise for one who would be so gracious to such a sinner. And it all comes to the praise of His glory. You're listening to Grace to You, the Bible Teaching Ministry of John MacArthur.
The title of John's current study, Richer Than You Think.
Now, today John gave compelling reasons that Christians can be sure that they are saved. Still there can be moments when a believer might question his salvation. And those moments are pretty normal. The question is: how do you know when doubt is the normal fleeting type, or perhaps an indicator of a serious problem? That maybe you're not really saved.
Here's how John answered that important question.
Well, I suppose, simply answering the question, you would know that doubt is kind of normal fleeting if it flees away. If it kind of comes and goes, Particularly if it is related to times of sin and disobedience. Because if you, as a believer, are in a pattern of sin and disobedience to the Lord, you'll forfeit your assurance. Because assurance is a gift of the Holy Spirit to the obedient believer.
So you're going to know that this is a fleeting kind of thing. You're going to know that in some cases it's a temptation because it it goes away when you step into a pattern of confession and repentance and obedience to the Lord. If it is a constant nagging, gnawing, Discontent that produces anxiety, produces fear, produces a doubt from which you really can't escape. You may not be a Christian, and you need to know the difference. I've written a book called Saved Without a Doubt.
Through the years, maybe this book. has helped more people on this subject than any resource I know about. Saved without a doubt. How to be sure of your salvation. That's right.
Friend, don't let fear smother your joy or hinder your worship or paralyze your service for God. See the amazing blessing that comes from knowing that you are saved without a doubt. Order John's book by that title when you contact us today. You can reach us by calling 800-55 GRACE. or visit our website, gty.org.
Saved without a doubt costs $10.50 and shipping is free. This book will be particularly helpful for a new believer or someone who's been plagued by doubt for years. Order saved without a doubt when you call 800-55 Grace or go to gty.org. And don't forget to let us know what you're learning from our radio broadcasts. Maybe you're grateful for a recent study like Why is Preaching Worth Fighting For?
or the current study, Richer Than You Think. We want to hear about it, and so you can tell us how God is using grace to you in your life. By writing to Grace2U. Box 4000, Panorama City, California. The first thing is that the USB is a very important thing or you can send an email to letters at gty.org.
One more time, that's letters at gty.org. And thanks for mentioning this station's call letters anytime you get in touch.
Now for the entire Grace DU staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Make sure you're here tomorrow when John MacArthur continues showing you how to use the amazing riches that God has given you in Christ. Don't miss the next 30 minutes of Unleashing God's Truth one verse at a time on Grace to You.
