Divine Promises Guaranteed

The ground of our inheritance is Christ, beloved. Christ. You see, there's no way to get anything that God has to offer apart from Christ. There is nothing outside of Christ. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.

I didn't say that. That's what the Bible said. And I believe the Bible to be the authoritative word of God. Welcome to Grace to You with the Bible teaching of John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson.

An old saying goes, He promised me earrings, but he only pierced my ears. In other words, you set your hopes on the promise of blessing, only to be disappointed.

Sounds like many of the promises handed out today. You're told, Do this or give that and you're sure to reach your financial goals or be healed from sickness or meet the man or woman of your dreams or guarantee your place in heaven. But those promises only disappoint. They're hollow, deceptive, even deadly. And yet there is good news of amazing riches backed by the unchanging promises of God's Word.

Find out how those riches can be your riches today on Grace to You as John MacArthur continues his study, Richer Than You Think. But before the lesson, we're so grateful for the work God is doing in the lives of people through grace to you, and I have an example of that that I'd like to pass along. Here's a letter from Dan He writes. I heard John MacArthur for the first time while driving home from work on my local Christian radio station. The sermon he preached really opened my eyes.

I searched the internet for John's ministry when I got home and I downloaded the Grace2U app and began listening to GraceStream every chance I could get. I recently found the sermon archive and found out I could search the website for John's sermons by book.

So fantastic Even though Pastor MacArthur has passed on to glory, he continues to help me know the truth and grow in my faith. I've never felt closer to God in my life. Please keep these tools available as long as possible, and I'll try my best to support Grace to you as much as I can. God bless you all, and he signs it Dan.

Well, thank you for your partnership and for your encouraging letter, Dan. And friends, your support helps ensure that we can reach and minister to people like Dan around the world. Thank you for the vital role you have in our work, and if you've benefited but have never known the blessing of sharing in this ministry, today would be a great day to take that step. I'll tell you how to partner with us before we end today. But now, here's John MacArthur showing you why, if you're a Christian, you are richer than you think.

I remember years ago when I used to travel in the South and uh Do assemblies, and we used to do a lot of ministries in the black high schools. But we would meet with a lot of people who looked at life rather bleakly. And I can remember many, many conversations with young people down in Mississippi and other parts of the South. And they would say to me, John, they would say, Do you think we'll ever be able to amount to what we want to amount to? Do you think we'll ever be able to fulfill our dreams for our life?

We'd have conversation after conversation through those years in those kinds of ways. And you know, I see that in all parts of life. I see that with young people today and with old people as well who really face life with a sense of foreboding, who wonder whether or not there ever really will be a fulfillment in life, who wonder whether life will really turn out to be what it could be, who wonder whether there is really potential for something wonderful and fulfilling and exciting in life. That brings me to share with you the thoughts in Ephesians 1, 11 to 14, because they are really about the promise of God in Jesus Christ to everyone who believes. There are some things that can make life meaningful.

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? And in our society today, it's promises, promises, promises, promises. Governments make promises and break them. Nations make promises and break them.

Advertisers make promises and break them, politicians make promises and break them, preachers make promises and break them. Husbands, wives. Brothers, sisters, moms, dads. Uncles, aunts, friends, enemies, everybody. But there is one Who makes promises?

Guess what? Never breaks it. Never. That's Jesus Christ, and the promise that He makes here in Ephesians 1:11 to 14. is above all things Wonderful, incredible, and exciting.

And I want to share with you. What Paul has to say about it. Peter said this, second Peter 3, the Lord. is not slack. Concerning what?

His promises. Isn't that great? The Lord is not slack concerning his promises. In fact, the Apostle Paul said he is God who cannot lie. In Hebrews 10, 23, the Bible says, He is faithful that promised.

In Romans 4:21, the Bible says, What he has promised, he is able also to perform. 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 just goes on and on, and his heart is so full of praise, he can't find a period anywhere. It's just a matter of, and then there was, and then there was this, and so forth. He's just pouring out praise, and what he is praising God for is this wonderful promise that God has made in Jesus Christ.

That's what's on his heart. He says in verse 3: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. And then he goes on to recite that. He's chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. He's predestinated us to be to the praise of his glory.

Verse 7, he's given us redemption through his blood. He's forgiven our sins according to the riches of his grace. Verse 8, he has abounded to us in all wisdom and prudence. He's even made known the secrets of his will and all these things. And verse 10, ultimately, he's going to bring us into one great harmonious union with himself forever.

No wonder he's full of praise, huh? No wonder.

Now, basically, verses 3 to 14 from a technical viewpoint are divided into three parts. He takes us all the way back, as verse 4 says, before the foundation of the world, and he lets us watch God master planning history. And as God is master planning history, the basic key to the whole thing is the building of the church. And Paul says Here is God before the foundation of the world putting together the church. 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 chosen in him before the foundation of the world. That's what gives us our value, people. That's what gives us our sense of worth. Do you realize that you, that's right, you who love Jesus Christ, are in his church, have received him as your savior, you were master planned by God into the church before the world began. And the second word that he uses is redemption.

First, that it's election. That's the past part of it, God choosing. Then redemption. In verse 7, we've been redeemed.

Now that simply says that those whom He elected, He redeemed. And the word means to buy back. We were lost in sin, He bought us back. The third word is inheritance. The reason He chose us was to redeem us.

The reason He redeemed us was to give us what? An inheritance. To give us Great and precious promises. That's fulfilling. I remember one time I was up in the mountains at Big Bear.

And there was a young man there who had a withered arm. and a withered leg. Severely so. And we were trying to work with a group of young people at a camp up there, and this young man was way in a corner, and he wouldn't come out of the corner.

So on the second day, I finally thought, I'm going to go talk to him.

So I went over and he would just kind of hide in the corner. And I went over and I said to him, I said, what's your name? He expressed his name to me and I said, I'm John. I said, you know, I noticed you never entered her in. And he looked at me, boy, and he just had a kind of a bitter scowl on his face.

And he pulled his sleeve. He had a jacket kind of can over his head. He pulled his sleeve up and he said, Look what God did to me.

Well, that was kind of hard for me to handle, you know. And I said, all right, Lord, you got to help me get a good answer. Help him to understand. And I said, You want to know something? I said, that's not you.

I'll never forget what he said. Who is it? I said, it's not you.

Well, what do you mean it's not me? I said, it's just the house you live in. That's all. It's just the house you live in. You see, and that's very temporary.

You are a forever person. And I said, not only that. God's got a forever plan for you. And he's also got a new body for you in the future. He said, You're kidding.

I said, No. And I shared Jesus Christ with him. around a little table there, and he gave his heart to Jesus Christ. He'd never come out of this little corner. And then he said to me after that, he said, John, would you play ping-pong with me?

I said, sure, I'll play ping-pong with you. And he walked out in front of the whole group and he played ping pong. You see, he realized that God had some things for him that far surpassed some of the inequities of life. But that's the way God is, see. And that's because God loves us and has master-planned us into an incredible promise that He'll fulfill.

And that's the essence. Of Ephesians 1, 11 to 14. Let's look at verse 11. In whom?

Now watch this. In whom also? We have obtained an inheritance.

Now, stop right there.

Now, the form of the Greek words here is in a passive form. The verb is passive.

Now, that means, in this case, that it can be translated two ways, okay? The passive verb can be translated two ways. Let me give you the first possibility. It can be translated this way: in whom We were made an inheritance. You got that?

In whom we were made an inheritance.

Now, if we take that meaning for the phrase, then it means we are Christ's inheritance. In other words, Christ inherited us. You say, that's no bargain.

Well, it's true though. Christ inherited us. Could it be saying that? It could be linguistically, grammatically, it could say that. And you know something?

That is true. Listen to Jesus' own words. Oh that the father What? gives me shall Come to me. You see, we are the gift from the Father to the Son.

You see, uh When I received Jesus Christ, God was saying, here, I present to you John MacArthur. That's the sense in which we are His inheritance. And you see, God has granted to the Son the inheritance of the church. He's given him the church as a reward for his faithfulness. When Jesus died on the cross and rose again, the Bible says in Philippians 2 that God exalted him and gave him a name above every name, that the name of Jesus, every knee, should bow.

You know that? God not only exalted Jesus because of his wonderful work on the cross and coming out of the grave, God not only exalted him, but God gave him the spoils of the victory at the cross. And you and I are the spoils. He won us at Calvary. And we are his heritage.

We are his inheritance. We are the gift of the father to the son. And that's why Malachi says, and they shall be mine in the day that I make up my jewels. See? You're a gift from the Father to the Son, a love gift.

You say, I don't understand why the Father would want to give me to the Son, and I don't know why the Son would want to take me from the Father. That's the way God's grace and love works.

So, he bought us at the cross. In fact, Paul says to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 6: What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Spirit of God, which you have of God, and you are not what? your own, but you are Bought with a price. And in that wonderful text that I love so much, talking to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20, 28, he says: the church which Christ purchased with what?

His own blood. He's bought us. We're his inheritance. We belong to him. We're his personal possession.

So that's one thing this phrase could mean, but it could mean something else too, because of the form of the verb. It could also mean the way it's translated in the authorized. In whom we have obtained an inheritance. It can also mean that. It can also mean that we have received Christ as an inheritance.

So, in one sense, we're His inheritance, and in another sense, He is ours. He inherits us, and we inherit Him. And frankly, folks, we got the better deal. We inherit Christ. When you become a Christian He becomes yours.

You know, I love that hymn, I am his and he is mine. That one and the church is one foundation. Those are my two favorites. I am His, and He is mine. That's it.

And both things are true. When I became a Christian, I inherited Him. He became mine. And I say both are true because that's what the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3, verse 21. He says, now watch, for all things are yours.

Whether Paul? Or a palace? Or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours. In other words, he says, you inherit everything. It's all yours.

You have obtained an inheritance in Christ. And in the very next verse, he says this: and you are Christ's. You inherit everything, and he inherits you. It's that beautiful union. You see?

Now, listen. When you become a Christian, according to 1 Corinthians 6:17, it says, He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. One Spirit. You become one with Jesus Christ. And you know what happens?

He becomes yours, and you become His, so that you lose your identity. You really do. A Christian has no identity apart from Christ. For example, the Apostle Paul says, For to me to live is Paul. No.

What do you say? For me to live his. You see, he loses himself. You know, and when you go through the world living as a Christian, you know, the whole idea is to be Christ in the world, isn't it? It's to love like he loved.

It's to help like he helped. It's to care like he cared. It's to share like he shared. That's what it's all about. We're not in the world to take advantage.

We're in the world to lose our lives like Jesus lost his for the good of others. And you know what happens when a true Christian lives the way he ought to live. You can't find out where he leaves off and Christ begins. You understand that? Can't.

You can't see the line. You lose yourself. And so it's true. He is our inheritance, and we are his inheritance, and that's because we're one anyway.

Now, I kind of lean to the fact that in this context, even though both of those points are true, in this context, the second one is the one that Paul is emphasizing. Because he's talking about the fact that we have obtained a promise. He's talking about the things that God has for us.

So, although both of those interpretations are possible, both of them are true theologically, the one that I think he's using here is the one that's translated, in whom we have obtained an inheritance. I think he's talking about what we receive in Christ. And the New Testament talks so much about that. In 1 Peter 1, verse 3, it says that because we have been begotten in Christ, verse 4 says, We receive an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. This inheritance is ours, reserved for us.

It's incorruptible, undefiled, and doesn't fade away.

Now it's not just pie in the sky. When you become a Christian, part of that inheritance is yours right now. Though the fulfillment of it is yet future. We have a limitless inheritance. You say, well, what is it?

Well I mean, what is it? What do I get? I'm thinking about being a Christian. What do I get? What is this inheritance?

Well, are you ready for this? Every promise God ever made. Very good. Ready for that?

Now if you want me to delineate them, we'll be here a while. Every promise God ever made. You say, well. Every promise God ever made, that's right. Every promise.

In Second Peter chapter 1, Verse 4, it says, by which are given to us exceedingly great and precious promises. Great and precious promises. In Second Corinthians 1:20, listen to this. It says this. For all, are you ready for this?

All the promises of God in Christ are yes. Did you get that? Isn't that great? And in him are amen. Isn't that good?

All the promises of God in Christ are yes. If He made it, you can say, Is it for me? And the answer will be, Yes. That good? And then you can say, Amen.

Which means so let it be. Hey, God is in the business of giving, isn't he? Great. Precious promise. What are you looking for?

Peace. That's in there. Love? Grace, wisdom, eternal life, joy, victory, strength, guidance, all your needs met, power, knowledge, mercy, forgiveness, righteousness, gifts of the Spirit, trouble. That's in there.

Pain, suffering? Fellowship with the Trinity, instruction from the Word, truth, spiritual discernment, heaven, a room in the Father's house, eternal riches. You name it. You see, because this is the great thought. Because when you became a Christian, you are one with Jesus Christ, and when you're one with Jesus Christ, you receive everything the Father gives Him, because Paul says you're heirs with Christ and joint heirs.

You're the inheritors of all the promise. Oh, what a deal You know, you present Jesus Christ to somebody. You're really offering him everything. Everything.

Now let's look at the text. 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. Why? You say, I don't understand how we get this, I don't understand how we can be sure we keep it, and I don't understand why God's doing this. That's what I want to show you. 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 stop there for a second. The ground of our inheritance is Christ, beloved. Christ You see, there's no way to get anything that God has to offer apart from Christ. There is nothing outside of Christ. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.

I didn't say that. That's what the Bible says. And I believe the Bible to be the authoritative word of God. And God says it's in Christ. It's in Christ.

In whom, look at it in verse 11, in whom we have received an inheritance. In whom?

It's being in Christ, it's being one with Christ, it's that indivisible union. Verse 3 says, we are blessed because we are in Christ. That's really the Christian's spiritual biography. Let me show you that. Go back to Romans 6 for just a minute.

The book of Romans, chapter 6, and I'll show you something interesting there, verse 3 and following. One of my favorite chapters. I remember one summer, I spent three months studying the first 11 verses of this chapter, and just a tremendous experience. But I want to just, I'm not going to. tell you everything I learned that three months, but I'll just tell you a couple of things.

In Romans 3.6, 6.3 rather, it says, Know ye not. That as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death.

Now, it's not talking about water baptism, it's talking about union with Christ, talking about being placed into Christ. As many of us as believed in Christ and were then brought into a spiritual union with Christ, as many of us as did that, We're baptized into his death.

Now, watch. We were baptized into his death.

Now, the next verse: We are buried with him by baptism into death, that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.

Now, notice that. Listen, here's a fabulous thought. When you became a Christian, Somehow, by some marvelous miracle that only God could do, you, as if it was done as if this happened, were taken right from here and transported 2,000 years back, nailed to the cross, buried with Christ, you rose with Christ, you're one with Christ forever. That's the way it worked. God performed an incredible miracle.

God put you in union with Jesus Christ. You died with Him, so your sin was paid for. You rose with Him, you walk in newness of life. You are now one with Him to receive all the inheritance that God could ever give His beloved Son. That's Union with Christ, that's being in Christ.

It's different than following the teachings of Jesus. It's different. It's dying with Him, it's rising with Him, not just listening to Him. It's putting your faith and trust and confidence. It's a real union.

And ultimately, the wonder of all wonders is the Bible says that someday when you see Jesus Christ, you will be what? Like him, 1 John 3.2. Did you know that Romans 8 says that he wants to conform us to the image of his Son? Incredible. But you see, that's what happens when you're saved.

You are one with Christ. You die to the old, you live to the new, you inherit everything He has. You are in Christ to obtain an inheritance that is His inheritance. And as I say, As you begin to live for Jesus Christ, you find out you can't tell where you cut off, and he begins.

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.

Now stop right there. It happened, first of all, from God's side because God predetermined it.

Now this is a wonderful thing. Go back to verse 4. He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world. See? It happened from God's side because he chose.

He predestinated. Boy, I that just boggles my mind. I don't suppose I'll ever understand that. Why would God choose me? A sinner?

Inadequate. Useless Why would he set his affection on me? That's in the counsel of his own mind. And that's That's part of being in Christ. You see, from God's side, He predestinated according to the purpose of Him, it was His plan.

And that's a mystery. In fact, the word predestinated is pro-oridzo 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 counsel 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? 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? Verse Romans 8, who? shall separate us from that love. Anybody? No.

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.

You're listening to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. John's current series is titled Richer Than You Think.

Now, friend, going back to what I said before the lesson, thank you for the love that you demonstrate in supporting this ministry, and thanks especially for your prayers. If you'd like to help make verse-by-verse Bible teaching available to people in communities like yours across the globe through our apps or books or television, the internet content, and these daily radio broadcasts, get in touch today. You can mail your tax-deductible donation to GraceTU. Box 4000, Panorama City, California, 91412. You can also give online at gty.org.

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Now for the entire Grace to U staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Remember to watch Grace to U television this Sunday on DirecTV Channel 378 and join us again tomorrow for another 30 minutes of Unleashing God's Truth, one verse at a time. on grace to you.