TEXT: EPHESIANS 1:3, 11, 14: [This
Book shows Christ as our “All in All”]!
·
Vs 3: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ:
·
Vs 11: In whom also we have obtained an
inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who works
all things after the counsel of his own will:
·
Vs 13:
In
whom you also trusted, after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of
your salvation: in whom also after that
you believed, you were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
·
Vs 14: Which is the earnest of our inheritance, until
the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory.
TOPIC: “POSSESS
YOUR INHERITANCE”!!! (Part 1)
Ephesus was a city of
Asia Minor. It means “desirable” or “appealing”. At one time it was a center of learning and
commerce, but was noted for the temple built there for the worship of Diana (the goddess of fertility). But what was more appealing to God was His greater desire to show His people that they
were not two, Jew and Gentile, but “ONE” in Him through Christ
Jesus. And He wanted them to become
fruitful in Him by the spirit of wisdom
and revelation in the knowledge of Him (Ephesians 1:17).
Ephesians shows great
mysteries in relation to the Body of Christ as being one unit! Paul taught these things to the Gentiles:
·
Ephesians
2:12: That even though at one time
they were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and
strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the
world:
·
Vs 13: But now in Christ Jesus who sometimes were
far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ,
·
Vs 14: For he is our peace, who hath made both
one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
·
Vs 15: Having abolished in his flesh the enmity,
even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of
twain one new man, so making peace.
Because of these great
truths, we all can possess our inheritance of
all spiritual blessings together in heavenly places in Christ! We can
have it right here and right now, Jew and Gentile!
·
Galatians
3:27: As many of you as have been baptized into Christ (not in water)
have put on Christ. (1Corinthians 12:13) For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
·
Vs 28:
There
is neither Jew nor Greek (Gentile), there is neither bond nor free, there is
neither, male nor female: for you are
ALL ONE in CHRIST JESUS!!
In relation to us “possessing
our inheritance”, we can’t own and enjoy it dead, we have to live or
be alive to do this. Now that
Jesus the testator has died for us to have our inheritance, we can right
now declare ownership of it!
In Ephesians 1:14, Paul speaks of the "earnest of our inheritance". Earnest is from the Greek word arrhabon’, meaning to pledge; the purchase - money or property
given in advance as security for the rest; an exchange; the first payment.
Our God has sealed
(sphragi’zo)
meaning to stamp (with a signet or private mark) for security or preservation
as private and genuine, to protect from misappropriation] us with the
Holy Spirit as His own and for His personal use!
·
2
Corinthians 1:22: Who hath sealed
us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts: [not the muscle that pumps blood through the
body but our thoughts; feelings; mind; the middle; understanding; will]. (2 Corinthians 5:5)
The “purchased possession” has
already been redeemed which is the creation.
·
Romans
8:19: For the earnest expectation of
the creature waits for the manifestation of the sons of God: (the sons of God are already manifested in the earth,
preaching and teaching the fullness of the Kingdom of God in us right now): vs 20:
For the creature was made subject to
vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in
hope, vs 21: Because the
creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the
glorious liberty of the children (sons) of God.
vs 22: For we know that
the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. Vs 23: And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of
the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption
(we’re already placed in position as sons), to wit (know) the redemption of our
bodies.
We already “Know that God was in CHRIST, reconciling
the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath
committed unto us the word of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:19). The already manifested sons of God mentioned
in Romans 8:19 are the ones that has taken hold of the baton of revelation truth
God has given us through Jesus Christ by the Holy Ghost and are reconciling
people trapped in the pit of religious order and bringing them back to God!
·
Galatians
3:13: Christ hath (already)
redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, cursed is everyone that
hangs on a tree.
·
Hebrews
9:11-12: But Christ being come an
high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not
made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of
goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place,
having obtained “eternal redemption” for us.
All we have to do is
believe it and receive it by faith because God made and designed us to
live!
·
1
Corinthians 15:51: Behold, I show you
a mystery (secret); we shall not all sleep (all will not die), but we shall all
be changed: vs 52: In a moment in the twinkling of an eye, at
the last trump [the voices with the message of
truth of the fullness of the kingdom being in us that’s being sounded
now]: for the trumpet shall sound
and the dead shall be raised “incorruptible” and we shall be changed
[not out beyond the blue but now]. Vs 53: For this corruptible [that which
decays; perishes; is defiled; withering away] MUST (not optional)
put on incorruption [that which is
undecaying in essence or continuance; immortal - which can happen now], and
this mortal [that which is liable (subject to or
likely) to die (but doesn’t have to)] MUST (not optional) put on immortality
[deathlessness]. Vs 54: So WHEN this
corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, THEN shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
death is swallowed up in victory.
We can have all of
this right now by faith while we walk this earth because it is our “eternal inheritance” given to us
through Jesus Christ!
Possess means to have as belonging to one; own; to have as an
attribute, quality; to gain control over.
Synonyms for possess are: ownership;
dominion; authority; occupy; come to; acquire; retain; endowed with; blessed
with.
Inheritance in
the Greek is kleronomi’a, meaning heirship,
in relation to a patrimony (property inherited from one’s father or
ancestor) or a possession.
·
Romans
8:16: The Spirit itself bears witness
with our spirit, that we are the children (tek’non) [sons produced by
God] of God:
·
Vs 17: And if children, then heirs, (kleronom’os) [partitioning or getting by apportionment; a
sharer by lot; a possessor]:
·
Heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ;
if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
A “joint” is a place or way, in which two things are
joined! When Jesus died on the Cross
and rose the third day, He connected or rejoined “mankind” back to God and made
them one again!
·
2
Corinthians 5:19: To wit (know), that God was in Christ
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them;
and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
·
Ephesians
2:14-15: He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down
the middle wall of partition between us;
·
Vs 15: Having abolished in his flesh the enmity,
even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of
twain one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.
1 John 3 (speaks
of the love of God toward us): LOVE is the determining factor as to whom “the children of God” are and the “children of the devil”:
I’ve heard said that
we are all God’s children and I myself have said it, but have had to recant
that statement because it’s not true. I
believe that we are all God’s creation but not all His children. God has children and so does the devil.
·
Vs 8:
He
that commits sin is of the devil; for the devil sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was
manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil.
·
Vs 9: Whosoever is born of God doth not commit
sin; for his seed remains in him and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
·
Vs 10: In this the children of God are
manifest, and the children of the devil:
whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loves
not his brother.
This verse lets us
know that we are not all the “children
of God”. The devil has “children too”.
John 8 (Jesus is talking to the Jews):
·
23: “You are from beneath; I am from
above: you are of this world; I am not
of this world”.
Beneath is from the root word “kat’o”
or “katoter’o”, meaning downwards; bottom; down; under; and
also “kato’teros”, meaning inferior (locally of Hades); lower. Jesus was saying that they were from “hell”.
·
Luke
16:23 [the rich man]: “In hell, he
lifted up his eyes, being in torments”.
Torments is from the root word bas’ano,
meaning, through the notion of going to
the bottom; torture (infliction of severe pain; any severe physical or
mental pain; agony).
The “rich man” typifying (religious sects - Pharisees; Jews;
Sadducees, unbelievers, etc) being in torments (pain;
grief; sorrow; agony) was in “hell”.
Being in “hell” is not down in the center of the earth. People are
going through, or living in “hell” right
now, with the situations or circumstances they are faced with! This is what
Jesus delivered us from, death, hell, and the grave!
I read some
information from the Encyclopedia Britannica about “inside the earth”. Beneath the earth’s skin like crust
are the hot, lifeless mantle, the outer core, and the inner
core.
The mantle is a thick layer of solid rock below the crust. It
goes down about 1,800 miles.
The upper part of the mantle has a temperature of about 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit (870
degrees celsius). This temperature gradually increases down
through the mantle to about 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,200 degrees celsius) where the mantle
meets the next lower section, the
outer core.
The outer core
begins about 1,800 miles below
the earth’s surface. Scientists believe the outer core is about
1,400 miles thick and is made of melted iron and nickel. The temperature
of the outer core ranges from about 4,000
degrees Fahrenheit (2,200 degrees
Celsius) in the uppermost parts to perhaps 9,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5,000 degrees Celsius) in the deepest
parts.
The ball-shaped inner core lies
within the outer core and makes
up the center of the earth. The
boundary between the outer and inner cores is about 3,200 miles below
the earth’s surface. The center of
the inner core is about 800 miles below this boundary, or about 4,000
miles below the earth’s surface.
Scientists believe the inner core consists of solid iron and
nickel. The temperature in this
core may be as high as 9,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5,000 degrees Celsius).
So now, if “hell” is
down below the earth’s surface” as it has been and is being preached by some, and
when many talk about it they’re pointing downward, I wonder what area “down
there” are people (departed souls),
being sent to. I’m sure most religious
people would say “the center”, where it’s the “hottest”. Help Lord!
This word “hell”
is from the Greek word “ha’des”, meaning unseen,
or the place of departed souls; grave.
Why is it “unseen”? It’s unseen because it’s the “judgment fire” of God at work inside of us to purify or cleanse us and make us like Him. John the Baptist stated: Matthew 3:11:I indeed baptize you withy water unto repentance: but he that comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.
·
Hebrew
12:29: Our God is a consuming fire.
This is the drinking
of the “cup” Jesus spoke of in the garden: Luke 22:42, saying, “Father, if thou be willing,
remove this cup from me:
nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done”.
Cup in the
Greek is pote’rion, a drinking vessel; the contents thereof; a
lot or fate.
·
Matthew
27:34: They gave him vinegar to drink
mingled with gall: and when he had
tasted thereof, he would not drink.
Jesus purposely
didn’t drink the vinegar because vinegar was used customarily as an intoxicant to
alleviate pain, and He refused it. But
in John 19 (Jesus receives the vinegar):
·
Vs 28: After this, Jesus knowing that all
things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, "I thirst".
·
Vs 29: Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a sponge with vinegar
and put it upon hyssop and put it to his mouth.
·
Vs 30: When Jesus therefore had received the
vinegar, he said, “It is finished":
and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost.
VINEGAR is
from the root word oxos, meaning
sour wine. It goes to another root
word oxus’, meaning “acid”;
keen; rapid; sharp; swift. ACID
is defined as a chemical substance that
neutralizes alkalis, dissolves some metals, and turns litmus red; a corrosive
or sour-tasting liquid. Why did Jesus now receive the “vinegar” or “acid”? Because He was taking within Himself “A” (our abominations) [detestations; idolatry]: “C” (our
condemnations) [guilt]: “I” (our imaginations) [false images]: and “D” (our damnations) [death sentences]!
This was the “cup of testing”, the baptism with which
He had to be baptized with.
·
Luke 12:50:
But
I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be
accomplished!
It was the "judgment fire" of God that is "not seen" with the physical eye that Jesus had to experience for our sake. That’s why it is called “hell”. Why
hell? Because “hell” as stated earlier is
“hades”, meaning unseen or the place (state) of departed souls;
grave. Our God is a consuming
fire.
The “rich man” said that he was “tormented (grieved, in pain,
distressed) in that flame” (Luke 16:24).
It is a torment that is unseen
because it is a spiritual fire. God is Spirit
(John 4:24), and He is Fire (Hebrews
12:29).
Jesus experienced what it was to die without God. He was experiencing torment of the soul after death! That was the "giving up of the ghost" (ekpne'o) (soul) in Mark 15:37, not the spirit (pneu'ma).
·
Matthew
26 (In the garden of Gethsemane Jesus
said to Peter, James, and John):
(Vs
38): “My soul is exceeding
sorrowful, even unto death”.
David spoke of the sufferings (crucifixion) of the Messiah (Jesus Christ) in Psalm 22 and the resurrection of Christ in Psalm
16:10: Thou wilt not leave my soul
in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
·
Acts
2:25: David spoke concerning him, I
foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I
should not be moved:
·
Vs 26: Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my
tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
·
Vs 27: Because thou will not leave my soul in
hell, neither will thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
HELL is “hades” – it is a torment that is unseen. Matthew 12:40: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Jesus experienced on the cross what sinners experience when they die without God. This was the fear He felt spoken of in Hebrew
5:7, “Who in the days of his flesh,
when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto
him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared”.
·
Matthew
27:46: “E’li, E’li, la’ma sabach’tha-ni”?
That is to say, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me”?
Look at what Jesus said while hanging on the cross before He died: Luke 23:46: (Jesus said): “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit, it is finished”!
The spirit Jesus
commended back unto His Father was the “eternal
life spirit” of the Father Himself, the pneuma, the wind, the
very breath of God Himself that couldn’t die. This spirit
(pneu’ma) was the God part of Jesus.
The “giving up of the ghost”
(ekpne’o) [the sensitive, emotional
aspect of man], was the “soul”,
part of Jesus (Mark 15:37, 39). This
is the part of Jesus that went into the “judgment
fire” of God or “hell”
after He died on the Cross. But it
didn’t stay there! Psalm 16:10: Thou wilt not leave my soul (not
His spirit) in hell.
·
1
Peter 3:18-19: For Christ also hath
once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: by which also he went and preached unto
the spirits in prison!
Back to 1 John
3:10, “God having children” and the “devil having children”.
Again I say, “We are
not all God’s children”! We are all God’s
“creation”, but we are not all God’s children! The devil has children too!
John 8 (Jesus
talking to the Jews):
·
Vs 23: And he said unto them, “You are from
beneath (from hell); I am from above (heaven – not from beyond the
blue, but from the higher realms of spiritual elevation): you are of this world (the systems [organized set ups] of men
(social; economical; religious; political; ecclesiastical): I am not of this world! [The
things Paul warned us about in Colossians
2:8].
·
Vs 43: Why do you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear my word.
·
Vs 44: You are of your father the devil,
and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and
abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his
own: for he is a liar and the father of
it.
·
Vs 45: And because I tell you the truth, you
believe me not.
·
Vs 46: Which of you convinces me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do you not
believe me?
· Vs 47: He that is of God hears God’s words: you therefore hear them not, because you are not of God!
Those of us that "hear" God's Word and receive it and obey it, those that get the revelation of His Word, are of God, and is "an inheritance"!! Hallelujah!!
Back to Romans
8:17: And we being “heirs”:
·
Vs 16: The Spirit itself bears witness with our
spirit, that we are the “children (sons) of God”:
· Vs 17: And if children (sons), then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
Glorified in this verse is sundoxa’zo, meaning to exalt to dignity in company with. Dignity means honor, quality, worthiness, high position, rank, appearance,
or manner. We must possess our inheritance now!!
Being “in Christ”
we have been raised to the place of “glorification”
by the power of the Holy Ghost and are become God’s glory in the earth. Isn’t that “good news”, knowing that we
don’t have to die to “go to glory” because we are already God’s glory! That's an inheritance!
John 17 is an
awesome prayer Jesus prayed to His Father and our Father:
·
John
17:10: All mine are thine and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them!
·
Romans
8:30: Moreover whom he did predestinate,
them he also called: and whom he
called, them he also justified:
and whom he justified, them he also glorified!
·
Ephesians
5:30: We are members of his
body of his flesh, and of his bones.
·
Colossians
2:9: In him dwells all the fullness
of the God-head bodily: (somati’kos)
[corporeally or physically].
·
1 John
4:17: As he is, so are we, in this
world!
Luke 8:11: The “seed” is the word (log’os) of
God.
SEED is from the root word spor’us, meaning “seed sown”. A “spore” is a small reproductive body produced by algae, ferns, etc, and is capable of giving rise to a new individual!
·
St
John 1:1: In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God:
·
Vs 2: And the same (you and I) was
in the beginning with God:
·
Vs 14: And the Word was made flesh (Jesus)
and dwelt among us!
·
1 John
4:17: As he is, so are we, IN THIS
WORLD!!!
So were we made flesh
and God dwells in us. We are His seed or offspring (Acts 17:29). We are His agents
in the earth as Jesus was or still is in flesh form in us! We are become "new individuals" that God has raised up in the earth as His representatives and ambassadors! 2 Corinthians 5:17: If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (creation): old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (present tense).
·
John
12:24 (Jesus said): “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a
corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone: but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit”.
Had Jesus remained in
that flesh body, He would’ve remained the one Man Jesus and that’s who was hung
on the cross, the one Man Jesus! But
when He rose, He was a many-membered body called Christ! He needed us to be Christ! 1 Corinthians 12:12: As the body is one and hath many
members and all the members of that one body being many
are one body: so also is CHRIST!!
·
Hebrews
9:15-16: And for this cause he is the
mediator (intercessor) of the New Testament that by means of
death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the
first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of
necessity be the death of the testator.
For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while
the testator lives.
Praise be to God our Father
that Jesus Christ our Testator has died, but the good news is, He didn’t stay dead, He rose from the dead!!!
This is an “eternal inheritance". An aio’nios
inheritance, meaning, perpetual
(of past time, or past and future as well); everlasting; since
the world began; forever, "inheritance"!
·
Hebrews
9:11: But Christ being come an high
priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not
made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;
·
Vs 12:
Neither by the blood of goats and calves,
but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place having obtained
eternal redemption for us.
·
Vs 15:
And for this cause he is the mediator of
the New Testament that by means of death, for the redemption of the
transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might
receive the promise of “eternal inheritance”!
·
Vs 16: For where a testament is, there must also
of necessity be the death of the testator.
·
Vs 17: For a testament is of force after men are
dead: otherwise it is of no strength at
all while the testator lives. [Thank
God He rose]!!!
And because our
testator (Jesus Christ) has died and
rose from the dead, that means we have rights as “heirs” to our “inheritance”,
not out beyond the blue, but right here and right NOW while we’re yet alive so
that we can enjoy it!!!
Pastor Gracie Perry