Sunday English Service – 29 AUG 21​

Transcript

Some people sometimes have a dream or a longing, and it goes something like this, instead of suffering like this in this life, instead of struggling my way through life, I wish somebody left me a great inheritance that I can just enjoy and come up in life with. I think all of us have thought those kinds of thoughts sometimes, right? Especially those who are going through tough times, you think things would be a whole lot different if somebody just left me a great big inheritance. If I was an heir to this great fortune or wealth or something. Well, if you are a believer today, I want to tell you that you are heirs of God. That’s how the Bible calls you. And you do have a great big inheritance. And we are going to talk about that today. If you’re a believer. If you’re saved, if you’ve received salvation through the Lord, Jesus Christ, this is true about you. You have a great big inheritance already kept for you and you are already an heir of God. This comes along with your salvation. This is part of the salvation package. Let me show you that this is indeed part of salvation and the gospel, even. If you go to Acts chapter 26, remember we’re talking about our great salvation and we’ve been talking about what’s so great about our salvation. What are these great blessings we’ve received? And I want you to, well today, we’re going to look at this very I believe it’s a climactic truth. I keep saying that about many things, but here is a very glorious expression — glorious part of our salvation. And that is that every believer has an inheritance. Every believer is an heir of God. I want you to look at Acts chapter 26.

In this chapter, the apostle Paul is speaking before king Agrippa and he recounts the Damascus road experience. What Jesus spoke to Paul on the road to Damascus. You remember Jesus appeared to him and said, why are you persecuting me? And that was the moment of Paul’s conversion. And Jesus spoke to Paul. Paul is recounting that episode before this king. I want you to see these words because he narrates the words of Jesus himself. And he says, how Jesus thought about this gospel proclamation and the evangelistic work. Look at, these are the words of Jesus according to the Apostle Paul. Acts chapter 26 verse 17 and 18. Jesus told him. It seems he told him many things and then 17, let’s pick it up, verse 17. Jesus says, I will deliver you from the Jewish people as well as from the Gentiles to whom I now send you, Jesus is telling Paul. I’m going to send you to the Gentiles. To do what? Verse 18, to open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me. Very interesting. 

Jesus tells Paul, I’m going to send you to Gentiles to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light from the power of Satan to God, what will the result be? That they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance, not just forgiveness of sins, but an inheritance as well. Go to Romans chapter 8, Romans chapter 8 is an important passage we’ve been looking at for the last two weeks. And here, Paul talks about the same thing, how we are heirs of God. And here he puts it in the context of the truth that we are children of God. Now remember for the last two, three weeks, we’ve been looking at this truth that we are God’s children and what all is involved in that we are sons of God. We are not slaves, we’re sons. And we are sons means we enjoy intimacy with the father and so on. We’ve been seeing all this. So let’s pick it up again in Romans 8 verse 15 onwards up to verse 17. You’ll notice that most of the stuff we’re going to read, we’ve already looked at last couple of weeks, but then verse 17, we haven’t seen before. We’re going to look at that today. But let’s read from verse 15, Romans 8:15, for you did not receive the spirit of bondage, again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out Abba father, the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God and if children –

Now, this is what we haven’t seen so far. Now, look at this. If children then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him that we may also be glorified together with Him. If we are children, Paul says, then we are heirs, heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ. Now, I want to show you the same thing from Galatians chapter 4 as well. This is our subject for today. We are heirs of God. We have a great inheritance. We’re going to look at this in detail, but let’s first see. I’m just trying to show you now that this is part of what it means to be a child of God. This is part and parcel of our salvation. It belongs to every believer. Look at Galatians chapter 4, from 4 onwards. The subject of sonship comes in, but let’s pick it up verse six. Six and seven. Galatians 4:6 and 7. Because you are sons, God has sent for the spirit of His son, into our hearts, crying out Abba father, therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Verse 7 puts it very succinctly. You are no longer a slave, but a son. We saw what that meant. And then now Paul says, if a son then an heir. So both these passages, Romans 8 and Galatians 4. When he’s talking about the truth that we are children of God, we are sons of God. He develops it in a similar way. And he says, you’re not slaves, you’re sons, you have great intimacy with the father. You can call Him Abba father. And He Himself lets you know that you are His children and so on.

But not only that, if your children then you’re heirs. If you’re a son, you’re not a slave. If you’re a son, you can actually enjoy intimacy like a son. If you’re a son, then you are an heir with a big inheritance. That’s what he’s trying to say. And today we’re going to look at this matter of how we are heirs of God, and we have a great inheritance. Before we get into this, let me just quickly say, how did we become heirs? How did we become heirs? Simply by being children? How can Paul look at every believer and say, you are heirs of God? Because all believers are children of God. If they have children, then they’re automatically heirs. If you’re a child in a family automatically, you are an heir. You get an inheritance in that family. If we are truly children of God automatically, that makes us as if we are truly sons of God, then automatically, that makes us heirs. This is not something we get by earning it. You don’t get inheritance by earning it, by deserving it. No, it doesn’t work that way. Yeah, you can work hard and earn a lot of money. That’s different, but getting an inheritance, you simply get it because you’re part of a rich family. If you get a rich inheritance, it’s not because you work so hard. It’s because you are part of a rich family. You’re a child in that family. And that gives you. That gives you the right to that inheritance. And so we don’t get this inheritance. We don’t become heirs by earning our way to God, by becoming deserving by keeping the law. 

In fact, Paul says that in so many words in Romans 4:13, he says the promise to Abraham and his offspring. Romans 4:13, that he would be heir of the world. Abraham received the promise that he’d be heir of the world. It did not come through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. What Paul is trying to say is, you can’t become an heir through the law. You can become a servant through the law. You can work hard and you can be a good employee by earning it and deserving it. But you can’t become an heir. The only way you become an heir is you become a child. And we are children of God. We have become children of God. How? Again, not by righteousness, not by keeping the law or something like that. But by simply putting our faith in Christ, we became children of God. We are children of God. Every believer is a child of God, by the new birth, and also by adoption. I remember we spoke about these things. The New Testament teaches that we have become children of God. In two ways, we entered the family of God. One is through the new birth. We are born into the family of God, born of God, born again.

But also, we are adopted into the family of God. We have received the adoption as sons. We have received the spirit of sonship and so on. And so that makes us legal heirs. There’s a very legal element there. God has legally adopted us. And also God has made us to be born into his family. The point is we are children. We are children in every sense of the word. We are children in its full sense. We are children, not slaves. We are children. We are really in the home of God, in the house of God, enjoying fellowship with God, calling Him Abba father. But not only that we are children and therefore we are heirs and we have an inheritance being a child of God gives us a right to the inheritance of God. All right, so let’s look at this truth today. We are heirs of God. We have a great big inheritance. That’s what I want to talk to you today about. If you’re a believer, you are not an ordinary person, you are not just somebody out there insignificant with nothing. You may have nothing today, but if you’re a believer today, I want to tell you that you are a child of God. And that means you are an heir of God. You are a joint heir with Christ. You have a great big inheritance. We’re going to talk about that. Today, we’re going to basically talk about — well, let’s split up the sermon into two parts. 

The first part we’re going to see, what is the believer’s inheritance? What is the believer’s inheritance? What is our inheritance? We are heirs of God. That means we’ve got an inheritance, that’s the point, but what’s the inheritance. Okay. That’s what we’re going to see first. Secondly, we’re going to see when and how are we going to enjoy this. When and how we can enjoy this. First, I’m going to show you what our inheritance is, how big it is, how grand it is. And then I want to talk about when and how you can enjoy it. And then we’ll conclude with some closing applications. So let’s begin first, what is our inheritance? What is the believer’s inheritance? If you are a believer, you are an heir of God. You got a great big inheritance. Well, what is it, this theme that God’s people have a great inheritance runs throughout the entire Bible from Genesis to revelation, Old Testament and New Testament? If you trace it, from beginning to end, it’ll be an amazing thing. But unfortunately, we don’t have time to do all that. So, I’m just going to focus on the New Testament mainly, maybe make a few references to the Old Testament, but mainly the New Testament. 

What does the New Testament teach about this? What is the believer’s inheritance? According to the New Testament. When you asked the question, what do we inherit as believers. What is rightfully ours because we are God’s children. What is our inheritance? When you put forward that question to the New Testament, it answers it in various ways, we inherit various things. According to the New Testament, let me give you a sample. Let me show you what are the different kinds of things we inherit? Because the New Testament says we inherit this, we inherit that, and we inherit all kinds of things. And I want you to see a few different things. Then only you will get a full picture of it. Somewhat full picture of it. So let’s begin by looking at Matthew 19 verse 29. What is the believer’s inheritance according to the New Testament? Matthew 19:29. Here is one answer to that. Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for my namesake will receive hundred-fold and will inherit eternal life. Jesus saying, if anybody has left anything or lost anything for my sake, for the gospel’s sake, if they — because sometimes that does happen. If they’ve left houses or lost brothers or sisters, family, or lands, for my sake, they will receive a hundred-fold. That means they’ll receive a hundred-fold of what they lost.  

If you lose anything for Christ, He’ll pay you back richly, receive hundred-fold. And on top of that, will inherit eternal life. That’s what Jesus means, receive everything they lost hundred- fold. And on top of it, that eternal life, they will inherit eternal life. In what Jesus is saying in this verse. Eternal life is the highest. It is more than the hundred-fold of what was lost. Eternal life is priceless. It’s invaluable. You can’t put a price on it. You can’t even put a price on this life, on one breath, every breath is priceless really. You can’t buy it. You can’t earn it, no matter how much money you have in the world, you can buy your next breadth, you can’t guarantee a – it’s a gift of God. Life itself is a gift of God. Our life, our breath, our everything is a gift from God, but how much more is eternal life, a greater gift of God. It’s an inheritance. What do we inherit as believers? Jesus says, we inherit eternal life. Let’s go to another passage. Hebrews 6:12. I want to show you different answers that the New Testament gives to this question. What do believers inherit? Hebrews 6:12, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. What do we inherit? What are we supposed to inherit? Inherit the promises. What promises? The promises of God. Which ones? Well, if you say which ones, I think the New Testament will say all the promises of God, because all the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ Jesus, 1 Corinthians 1:20. The New Testament perspective on God’s promises is there are a thousand promises, but because Jesus has come, and because He has lived and suffered and died and rose again, and he rules and reigns all of God’s promises find that yes and amen means all of God’s promises have already begun to be fulfilled in Christ Jesus through Christ Jesus. And because I am in Christ Jesus, because I am in the family of God. I am joined with Christ. I’m an heir of God. I now inherit all the promises of God in Christ Jesus. All of that belongs to me. As a believer, all the promises of God belong to the believer in Christ.

What an amazing thought, what an amazing truth. Think about — I mean, there are thousands of promises in God’s word. All the promises of God are meant to be inherited by believers, through faith and patience. But let’s keep going. I want to show you different answers. The New Testament answers this question about what is the believer’s inheritance in so many ways. Matthew chapter 25, verse 34, we inherit eternal life, we inherit the promises of God. Now look at this Matthew 25 34. Now this is a parable. Again, here, it’s Jesus speaking this parable, in the middle of this parable, He says this Matthew 25:34, then the king will say to those on His right, come you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. And I want you to notice those words carefully. Jesus is — in this parable, if you read it, He’s talking about His second coming, He’ll come back and people will be divided into two groups, one on the left and one on the right. And two those on the right, that is to the true believers. He will say, come you who are blessed by my father. To those who are ultimately proven to be true believers. Those are the ones on the right. 

If you read the parable, it says they’ll split into sheep and goats. And so the ones who are on the right, who are proven to be true believers, he will say, come, you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Inherit what? The kingdom. Just pause for a minute. Think about that. He is not saying, come who are blessed by my father, enter the kingdom. No, He’s not saying that. He’s not saying come you blessed people, become a part of this kingdom. Come you blessed people, start enjoying the fullness of the – No, he’s saying come, you blessed people, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, inherit the kingdom. Do you realize how big this is? Show you related verse in Daniel chapter 7, go to Daniel chapter 7. This idea that the believers will one day inherit the kingdom itself is already prophesied in the Old Testament. That’s why Jesus says from before the foundation of the world, this is God’s plan. It was God’s plan all along and you can find it even in the Old Testament, Daniel 7 is a wonderful chapter that talks about how the Messiah will be a very special person who comes, and because of Him, the condition of the believers, God’s people will be so elevated. Look at Daniel chapter 7, verse 18, Daniel, 7:18, but the saints of the most high. Who are they? God’s people. That’s all. That’s all it means. Saints of the most high means God’s people. In the New Testament, you have to understand the Old Testament using the New Testament. Saints means believers, true believers. All believers are saints according to the New Testament. Saints simply means sanctified one. Another way to say it, it would be sanctified ones. Now, who are sanctified? We’ve already seen this, remember, we have already been sanctified. We’ve already been justified. We’re already been sanctified. We’re already, remember all that. We saw all that earlier. 

So when it says saints of the most, you don’t think some or great exalted saints. The top 1% of believers No, it’s talking about all true believers. The saints of the most shall receive the kingdom, shall receive what? The kingdom and possess the kingdom. Possess what? Possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever. Notice again, doesn’t say, shall enter the kingdom, say shall receive the kingdom, possess the kingdom forever and ever. And then come down to verse 27, elaborate on that. Then the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to who? The people, the saints of the most high. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and all dominion shall serve and obey Him. Daniel 7 is an amazing chapter. Jesus actually quotes it when he’s before the high priest in trial, before going to the cross. And when Jesus quotes Daniel 7, that high priest tears his robe. That’s it, he’s heard enough because Daniel sermon is viewed as a very exalted chapter. The Old Testament talks about how the Messiah will be the greatest. And He’s a very unique and exalted one. And when He comes, God will give Him the kingdom. And not only will He rule and reign, the saints of God, that is the people of God will rule and reign with Him. The kingdom will be given to the Messiah and in and through Him, to His people. All this is in Jesus’ mind. 

In that parable, when he says, come you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom. Daniel says the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heavens shall be given to believers. Amazing. We will rule and reign with Christ one day, my friend, you know that? The Bible promises way too much. We will rule and reign with Christ. Jesus knows all these. He has all this in mind. And so that’s the way He speaks. Look at Luke 12:32. Here’s another statement of Jesus. The question we are asking is what is the believer’s inheritance? Now, you got to grasp. You got to get your mind around how huge the inheritance is. It’s not just a little, this or little that. In the Old Testament, the Israelites sometimes got caught up with the land and they thought the land is the inheritance. That’s it, that’s all, that’s the big deal, but you come to the New Testament and the inheritance of God’s people is framed in the most widest and the broadest most glorious grander stumps. Luke 12:32 Jesus says, do not fear, little flock for it is your father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Don’t fear because God wants to give you what? Not some blessings, not are everything you need, the kingdom. It’s an astounding thought. We inherit the kingdom. We inherit eternal life. We inherit the promises, all the promises of God. We inherit the kingdom. 

Let me show you another thing. Romans 4 verse 13, the New Testament answers this question in such grand terms, Romans 4:13, look what this versus says. What did we inherit? Look at this for the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world. What was the promise given to Abraham that he would be heir of the world. Think about that. He will be heir, that the world will belong to him. This promise Paul says was not only given to Abraham. Again, people — the Jews sometimes just saw it in a very short-sighted narrow-minded way. They just thought Abraham was promised the promised land, one little piece of land there. And that’s what we get. That’s all. That’s — No. Paul sees the broader picture. No, it was never just about one little piece of land. It was about the whole earth. It was about the kingdom, it was about the world. And that’s why in the beginning itself to Adam, God said, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue the earth, have dominion. Adam lost that of course. And God had to start once again with Abraham. And what does He tell him in Genesis 12, I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you. I’ll make your name great. I bless those who bless you, curse those who curse you, in you shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 

Again, the blessing extends to the whole earth. The people of Israel instead kind of lost sight of that. They got fixated on their own little land and on their own little thing, but it was actually what was told to Abraham, promised to Abraham concerned the whole earth. In you shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Through you, in you, this blessing will go out to the whole earth in Genesis 22, He says, you will possess the gate of the – He tells Abraham, God tells Abraham, you and your descendants, like the stars of the sky, the sand on the seashore will possess the gate of your enemies. Not just your little promise land. The gates of your enemies. The promise to Abraham was that he would be heir of the whole world. And the promise was not to Abraham alone, but to his offspring also, who’s that offspring? It’s you and me, his believers. If Paul would never say Abraham’s offspring is just the Jews. He’d never say that. No. According to Paul, the true offspring of Abraham are those with the faith of Abraham, are those who received righteousness like Abraham did by simply believing. Who are the offspring of Abraham? Galatians 3:29, if you are Christ, then you are of Abraham’s offspring. As according to promise, are you Christ? Are you in Christ?

The previous verse only Galatians 3:28. He says, it doesn’t matter if you’re a Jew or Greek, male or female. All of you are one in Christ Jesus. And then he says, if you are Christ, then you are of Abraham’s offspring, heir according to promise. If you belong to Christ, then what was promised to Abraham belongs to you because you are Abraham’s offspring because you belong to Christ and Christ is Abraham offspring. What do believers inherit? What Abraham was promised. What was he promised? The world. I hope you can begin to see how grand this thing is. How lofty and how it’s difficult to even try to — what do you mean we inherit the world? What does that even mean? How can we even understand or process something like that as if this is not enough. Paul speaks like this, not just in one place. He speaks like this in many places. I’ll give you another example. Look at 1 Corinthians, 3:21, for Paul, the believer, everything, all things he says in this passage belong to the believer, all things. Have you ever seen these statements in the Bible? All things. We don’t take them seriously, do we? Let me show you one such place. 1 Corinthians 3:21. What do we inherit as believers? Are you listening to my friend. So far, we have seen that the New Testament says we inherit eternal life. We inherit the promises of God. We inherit kingdom. The rule and reign with Christ. And now we just saw Romans 4:13 which says we inherit the world as Abraham’s offspring. Now look at 1 Corinthians 3:21, so let no one boast in men for all things are yours. Have you ever seen this statement?

All things are yours.

People look at this it’s like, one of those things. There are some things in the Bible that are just weird and just sound just too much. So people just tend to gloss over it and just keep reading. All things are yours. What does that even mean? And then if you read the next verse, it goes one step more than that. It says, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death or the present, or the future, all are yours. The world is yours. Life, death, present, future, everything is yours. People say, well, what does that even mean? How can it be mine? Here I am struggling to buy one square feet. And the Bible is looking at believers and Saint Paul is looking at Corinthian believers in the Corinthian church who are far from perfect and saying, all things are yours. The world is yours. Life itself is yours. The present is yours. The future is yours. Let me try to explain what Paul means here. If you understand it from the context, you’ll understand better. 

In this chapter, 1 Corinthian chapter 3, Paul is addressing a problem in the church in Corinth. As you know, the Corinthian church had several problems. One of the problems there was divisions within the church. So there were some people in the Corinthian church who aligned with Paul and they said, we belonged to Paul. Another group in the church said, no, we belong to Cephas or Peter. Another group said hang Paul or Peter, have you heard of this Apollos guy? I mean, he’s the best preacher there is, we belong to him. Apollos was known to be a great preacher. And so here are these divisions within the church and each group is just saying, we belong to him, we belong to him. And Paul is looking at these fellas and saying, you guys, you don’t know what Christian, you don’t understand who you are even. You’re fighting about who you belong to. You’re thinking so small, don’t boast in men. Look at verse 21, again, with this context in mind, let no one boast in men for all things are yours. What he’s saying is you fellas are saying you belong to Paul or Apollos or Cephas, but actually you are going beneath yourself.

All things belong to you. You’re saying you belong to Paul, but the truth is all things belong to you. In fact, Paul himself belongs to you, Apollos, Cephas belongs to you. The world itself belongs to you. Life itself belongs to you. Death belongs to you. The present, the future, everything belongs to you. Don’t you realize who you are, believer. You are an heir of God. You inherit what God has; everything belongs to you. And you are going around fighting amongst yourselves saying we belong to Paul, and another group saying we belong to Apollos. 

He is saying, we all belong to you because everything belongs to you. If you believers belong to anybody, it’s to Christ himself, don’t lower your own status, he is saying. That’s what he’s saying. Don’t boost in men. When the truth is, everything belongs to you. The word itself belongs to you. The present and the future, life and death, everything belongs to you. You belong to none other than Christ. What do we inherit according to the New Testament? What is our inheritance? Let me recap. Eternal life, the promises of God, all the promises of God, the kingdom, the consummated kingdom. The renewed kingdom, God’s kingdom. The world itself, as Abraham’s offspring, be our heirs of the world itself. All things are yours. All things belong to us. You can hear this and it can just sound just so over the top. And people can go, well, what does that mean? How is that? I don’t get it. I’ll tell you how you can understand it. The only way to properly understand this is you have to understand it in the context of being God’s children, all things are yours because you are a child of God. Everything belongs to you. The kingdom itself, you inherit, the world itself, you inherit because you are a child of God. 

Now I’ll give you an example. If I told you that there’s a five-year-old, who has a hundred billion, now, would you believe that? If I said a five-year old has a hundred billion dollars, billion, that’s hard to believe. You’d say, what do you mean five-year-old. How can a five-year-old have that. But then if I told you the five-year old is the child of the richest person on earth, now then it starts to make sense because that person has that wealth and the child simply owns it by virtue of being the child, the child is not a grown up. The child didn’t do anything. The child — No it’s not about the child. It’s about who the child’s father is. It’s not about whether the child deserves it. It is not about whether the child is up to it or all these things. It’s about who the child’s father is. In the same way, you see when believers hear that they inherit the earth and the kingdom, and they’re going to rule and reign and all things are yours. The world is yours. When you hear that as a believer, just sounds too much, what do you mean? But if you understand it in the context of all things belong to my father, my father is the king of Kings, the one who owns heaven and earth, all things belong to him. And I’m his Child and all things belong to me. You see, I’ll read that same passage. 

In one Corinthians, we read all things are yours. But this time think about this list as God owns all of this, all things are God’s. Now that you’ll agree. Paul is God’s Apollos or Cephas. The world itself is God’s. Life or death, the present or the future, all belong to God. Now, you’ll agree. Everything belongs to God, but you are God’s child. And because you’re God’s child, you’re God’s heirs. And because your heirs, everything God has, you have. Everything God has, you inherit. It belongs to you. That’s your inheritance. What’s your inheritance? Everything God has.

It’s not about how great the believer is. No, it’s not about how deserving the believer is. It’s about whose child the believer is. So great is our inheritance. It’s amazing. If you understand it in the context of sonship, the context of the fact that we are children, then it’ll makes sense. Otherwise, it won’t. But if you understand it in this context that we are God’s child, God owns everything. Therefore, I inherit everything. Then you can not only understand it. You can start to believe it. It’ll make sense and you can believe it and you can, as you believe it more and more, enjoy it more and more. Not only that, you’ll realize actually that the inheritance is even greater, even greater than what I just told you. I just told you that your inheritance is everything that God has.

But let me now tell you your inheritance as a believer is actually even greater than that. You may say, well, what’s greater than that. Your inheritance is not just everything God has. Your inheritance is God Himself. God Himself. Is not just everything God has. God owns the world and everything in it, the heavens and the earth and everything He owns and rules and reigns, everything belongs to Him. And therefore, we inherited everything. But not only that, God Himself is our inheritance. God Himself is our inheritance. This in fact is the climactic way in which the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament presents this theme of inheritance. In the Old Testament, as I said, the people of Israel got fixated on the land. They thought that’s it, that’s the, but then even in the Old Testament, you will see these high points where people of God realized that it’s bigger. The inheritance is bigger and it’s actually God Himself. For example, the Psalmist in Psalm 73, verse 25 onwards, he says, whom have I in heaven but you, nothing on earth I desire besides you, my heart and my flesh may fail. But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. That little line, God is my portion. Have you ever thought about what that means? God is my portion. It means God is — God belongs to me. That’s what it means. It means God is my inheritance. That’s what it means. God is my portion.

Or take Lamentations 3:24. The Psalmist, there are many examples of the Psalmists. God is my portion, but here’s another example. Lamination 3:24. The Lord is my portion, I say to myself, the Lord is my portion, therefore, I will wait for Him. The Lord is my portion. Not just the land, not just the promised land is my portion. The Lord himself is my portion or go to the New Testament. This verse is an important verse, Revelation chapter 21, verse 7, I’m talking about you as a believer, inherit the world, the kingdom, everything, everything God has, but it’s greater than that because you inherit God Himself. And here is one of the best verses Revelation 21:7. We can’t miss this because this is right at the end of the Bible. And it’s after God makes the new heavens and the new earth and gives His people every happiness and bliss, every blessing that they can ever dream of. This is in the new heavens and the new earth. And after that, God says this, look at this Revelation 21:7, the one who conquers will have, or will inherit all things. Let me just read it from there. Revelation 21:7, he who overcomes shall inherit all things. You see that? He who overcomes shall inherit all things. Some translations say, he who overcomes shall inherit all this. This is at the end of Revelation. He who overcomes it means every true believer overcomes. He who overcomes shall inherit all things.

Now, you can say, there’s nothing greater than that, but then there is. And I will be His God, and he shall be my son. This is the last verse I think on sonship in the Bible. And it’s a glorious verse. It says he who overcomes shall inherit all things. And you think there’s nothing greater and then God says, I will be His God, and he shall be my son. You know what that means? He will get all things, and on top of that, I will belong to him. I’ll be His God and he will belong to me. That’s what it means. He’ll be my son. Your inheritance is as great as God himself. Believers, this is your inheritance. So we can be walking around like wishing, oh, I wish somebody wrote me a great big inheritance. No. We have something that is far greater, far more valuable than the richest person on earth could ever dream of having. We inherit everything God has. And God himself is our inheritance. How amazing is this salvation? That’s what the Bible calls it, so greater salvation. That phrase is from Hebrews Chapter 2. If you read the first four verses, the writer says, how shall we escape if we neglect so greater salvation, how great is this salvation? It is so great that you don’t just get forgiveness of sins and just creep into heaven. No, it’s not. No, no people sometimes think salvation is, that’s it.  Your sin is forgiven. And somehow you just scrape into heaven and you just live in one corner of heaven, thankfully you didn’t go to hell or whatever. 

Remember we spoke about what a great thing it is simply to have our sins forgiven. Remember we spoke about that, earlier in the series, that itself is a huge deal. Just to have my sins forgiven, just to escape hell, just to escape the wrath of God poured out on judgment day and hell fire itself is a great thing for which I will be eternally thankful if God had given me only that, but God doesn’t stop that. In addition to forgiving my sin and making me to escape hell and enter heaven, God makes me righteous. He justifies me. God makes me a part of His family. God does much more. Maybe I should go back to that example that we used earlier in the series salvation; you can try to try to comprehend the greatness of salvation with this example. Imagine that there’s a criminal in the court accused of high crimes and the cases before the judge and the judge looks at all the evidence, and yet for some reason, he declares him not guilty and says, I’m going to let you go. You’re not guilty. I’m going to forgive your false. Now that would never happen. 

But I’m saying, imagine if it happened that the criminal will be so thankful, my goodness, that’s more than enough for him. But imagine if the judge went on and said, no, not only are you not guilty, you are super righteous. There’s nobody like you. I mean, you are so righteous, that can never happen. In salvation, that happens because we were criminals before the court of God and God, the greatest judge, not only forgive our sin, declaring us not guilty, but He then pronounces us as righteous. Just not based on our own righteousness, but based on the righteousness of Christ. And He pronounced us as righteous means, He actually approves of us positively. It’s like God saying, you are super righteous. You have done this and this and this and that. You are worthy of acceptance and approval, come, God forgives our sins, pronounces us as righteous accepts us as righteous. But then it goes beyond that. As we said earlier, imagine if the judges pronouncing not guilty and not only that you are super righteous. And then imagine the judge got down from the bench, came down and took the criminal by the hand who is no longer a criminal because the judge has now pronounced him righteous and says, you come with me from today I want you to be my son. You come to my home, live with me, be my son. And imagine he makes him his son legally, adopts him legally, signs the papers, does everything, takes him home to be his son. We can’t comprehend something like that. 

That’s what happens in salvation. God, not only acquits us. God not only pronounces us righteous but approves of us and accepts us as righteous to the righteousness of Christ. He then adopts us into His family. He makes us His own, legally. He gives us legal status as His child, but not only child on paper, not only child legally, He actually takes us to His home. He actually enters into a real relationship, an intimate relationship where there can be real fellowship so that we call Him Abba father. And He embraces us with His love. The holy spirit gives us feelings of sonship, not just the truth that we are sons, but the real feeling that we are sons, the holy spirit gives that. All this is part of salvation. And then it doesn’t stop there. Imagine the judge right, takes the boy home, says from now you are my son, legally you’re my son, every way you’re my son, call me daddy, dad, whatever. And then he looks at his son and says, henceforth, everything I have belongs to you. That’s what we’re talking about today. That is the believer’s great inheritance. The great judge, the king of all the earth, the king of heaven and the earth, the king of Kings and the Lord of Lords has saved us, acquitted us, pronounced us righteous. But then he goes on to make us His own, make us a part of His family, His own child, His own son. And He gives us the intimate fellowship that belongs to sons. And He causes us to cry out Abba father through His spirit who lives within us. And He embraces us with His love. And not only that, He then looks at us and says everything I have is yours. Everything I have is yours. Just think about how great the salvation is. That is why we cannot neglect such a great salvation.

Praise be to God for this amazing salvation. Now, that’s amazing. Now let me go to the second part. This is so great. Our inheritance is so great, but when can it be enjoyed? How can it be enjoyed? Let me be more specific. Can it be enjoyed now? Can this inheritance be enjoyed now or should we wait for later when Jesus returns, when we go to heaven and so on? Can we enjoy it now? Or should we wait to enjoy it? What’s the answer? The answer is both. Yes, we can enjoy it now. And we can enjoy it on a much higher level when Jesus returns. The answer is both. Listen my friend, this is very important. When can we enjoy it? We can enjoy it now, as well as to a much higher level and degree later. There are passages in the Bible that teach both. One set of passages will say that you already have received the inheritance and you can enjoy already. Now in this earthly life, another set of passages will teach very clearly that you have to wait to get your inheritance and it is kept in heaven for you. And it is waiting to be enjoyed later on, not now. Which ones are true? Both are true. Both the passages are in the scriptures and both are true. And you’ve got to understand it the way you got to understand. Let me give you a sample. Here is Colossians 1:12, here is I think an example of how we have already received the inheritance. Even in Romans and Galatians, you can get that sense of already. If children then heirs. You are already heirs. If you’re a son, then an heir, already you’re an heir, already, you’re a son. You’re not a slave, already you’re a son. And that means already you’re an — that sense of already is there. 

But let me show you another passage. Colossians 1:12, giving thanks to the father who is qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved son in whom we have redemption the forgiveness off. I want to notice that the tense here. The past tense, did you notice the past tense. He’s giving thanks to the father who has already qualified. You see that? Not going to qualify you, qualified you now itself, qualified you to share in the inheritance. He is not going to qualify us to share. He has already us to share in the inheritance of the saints. Saints is talking to believers here. Then look at verse 13. Again, He continues with the past tense, He has delivered us. That means already delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved son. Already He has delivered us from one domain and transferred us into another domain, delivered from one kingdom, transferred into another kingdom. This transfer has already happened. Already happened. We are transferred from the domain of darkness or the kingdom of darkness. And we are already in the kingdom of his beloved son. Most probably they say, Paul has the picture of Old Testament. People of Israel in mind here, how they were delivered from the domain of Egypt, they were brought out of there, and then God takes them to the promised land. That was the plan of salvation. 

When He sent Moses, when He called Moses, He told him, I’m going to deliver them from Egypt. Take them to a land flowing with milk and honey. You can see the deliverance from that, old bondage taking to a new inheritance. And in that case, it was the promised land. But for us, it’s even greater. We are delivered from a worst bondage, from darkness, from the devil, and so on, already delivered from the domain of darkness and already transferred into a greater place than the promised land. The kingdom of His beloved son. Already qualified to share in the inheritance. Another verse 1 Peter 1. Now, let me show you another example. Now this verse is going to say, we don’t have it already. We need to wait to get it. It’s kept for us. It’s waiting for us and we need to wait, and in the future, we’re going to get it. 1 Peter 1:3, look at this, blessed be the God and father of our Lord, Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, And unfading kept in heaven for you. Do you see that? God has caused us to be born again, but then he didn’t just leave it like that. Born again, to what? To a living hope. Born again to something greater. What is that hope. To an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading kept in heaven. Where is it kept? Not here, but kept in heaven for you. Who? By God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 

Again, salvation also the Bible says you are already saved, but sometimes it says you will be saved. Already, you have salvation, but sometimes it says, there is another salvation yet to come in the future. And this is that kind of passage. You are being guarded through faith, he says, for a salvation that is not already, but ready to be revealed in the last times. Do you see that? Here the passage implies, you got to wait, there’s something coming. You are already saved, but there’s a greater salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. It’s talking about the redemption of our bodies and so on, and the creation of the new heavens and the new earth and how we will get a much greater inheritance there. Already we have an inheritance, but the fullness of it, we will get later in the future, kept in heaven for us. It’s imperishable, undefiled, unfading. Already, and not yet. Here’s another passage. Ephesians chapter 1, now here’s one, let me show you this passage. In the same passage, both the concepts come. That is the idea that we have already got the inheritance and the idea that we are yet to get a lot more. What’s this? Ephesians 1:11, in Him, we have obtained an inheritance. You see that? In Him, we have obtained, we’ve already got it. Having been predestined, according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will. And let me skip down to verse 13. In Him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of salvation and believed in Him were sealed with the promised holy spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it. Very interesting, these two verses back, He said, three verses back. We have obtained an inheritance. 

Now, he’s saying the holy spirit whom we received as a seal when we heard the gospel and believed is the guarantee of our future inheritance. Did he see that? Our inheritance until we acquire possession. We have not acquired possession, until we acquire possession of that future inheritance, the holy spirit has been given to us is a guarantee. That what guarantee can be understood as a down payment. The very idea of a down payment says what? That a significant amount has been paid, but a greater amount is yet to be paid. Go to car, shop, or car dealers want to buy a car. Most people can’t pay the full amount. They give a down payment. And once the down payment is given, the fellow gives the car. After the down payment is given if you ask the dealership, did you receive the money? What did they say? They’ll say, well, we received the down payment, we received a significant amount of it, but there’s a lot more to come. That’s exactly how we should understand inheritance and our enjoyment of it. We have received a down payment, the holy spirit himself, the third person of the Trinity himself. And through him, all these blessings, every little blessing you can think is the down payment. We have received a down payment that is, we have received a portion of it, you may say a foretaste of it now itself, a down payment, but there is a lot more pending. And the holy spirit that we have already, whom we have already received is the down payment. The guarantee of the lot more to come.

I think that idea of down-payment is a good way to understand this. When do we enjoy it. Now, or later? Well, we’ve got the down payment. We can enjoy the down payment, but you got to wait for the fullness for the full payment. All right. For the full inheritance. It’s very important to get this right. To understand it right? Because let me — so let me phrase it another way. One way is you think of it in terms of down payment and full payment. Here’s another way, you can enjoy the taste of it now, but the fullness of it later. Can we enjoy the inheritance now or later? The foretaste you can enjoy now, the fullness of it, you can enjoy later. I say this because people get this wrong and you’ll see, sometimes in Christianity, people going to two wrong extremes. On one extreme, there will be people saying Christian saying, good intention. Christian saying, yeah, we got a great inheritance. We got the world kingdom in all things and God himself and all this, but we can enjoy much now. Pretty much all of it is for later. Nothing, you can’t have anything in this life. Wait. In heaven, you can have everything, the streets of gold and the mansion and this and that and everything. What they are saying is you can’t enjoy, none of it now. You don’t have none of it now. You wait for all of it. Now because this extreme was exerted too much influence. Now, people have reacted to this extreme and gone to another extreme. Now, so we have another group saying forget about waiting to heaven and all that. I don’t want to wait to go to heaven and all that. We can have all of it in its fullness. Now it’s — there are people who preach it like that that or who think of it like that. We can have all of it in its fullness now itself.

That is wrong. We can’t have all of it in its fullness now itself. That is why I said, you got to understand this. You can enjoy the foretaste of it now, but the fullness in the future, when Jesus returns only. Foretaste means what? That very word implies this is only a small taste of it. It’s a taste. It’s not the full thing. It’s a taste. It’s like a sampler. It’s not the full thing. For the full thing, you got to wait. Foretaste means you’re getting something now, but it’s not all of it. Fullness means you’re not just getting a taste, you’re getting the whole thing. It’s much greater than the foretaste. Now, don’t get discouraged because only the foretaste you can enjoy now, because the foretaste itself can be very great. This idea of just sampling things, getting a sample of things that itself can be very satisfying. If you go to a hotel, for example, a restaurant, to place to eat. And sometimes they have so many varieties have, just in starters, they’ll say, they’ll have tandoori chicken and mutton kebab, and grilled fish and this and that and you get overwhelmed with all these choices. 

And so you ask the waiter, you know what is good? And he says, well, you don’t have to choose any one. We’ll give you a sampler. In the sampler, we’ll give you one from each. Have you ever had one of those. You think it’s a good idea and you order it and you think it’s only sampler, but finally, the plate is huge because now they’re giving you one from all the 10 different items, one piece each. And by the time you eat the sampler, you’re so full. When it comes to our inheritance as believers that God gives us to enjoy now, I believe it’s like that. The sampler itself will make us full, satisfied, happy, victorious, and so on. But there’s still a huge difference between ordering just the sampler and ordering all the 10 dishes full plates. Isn’t there? Imagine you do that. Imagine you say no, no, I don’t want the sampler. I want all 10 items full plates. And that’s not just one plate. That’s 10 plates. The whole table won’t be enough maybe. The difference between the sampler and the fullness is huge. That’s how much the difference between the foretaste and the fullness is. You can enjoy the foretaste now, it’s great, but it’s only a foretaste of fullness is later. 

Now let me give another example. Another like a story to maybe help you understand it. I think sometimes stories help us. Imagine that a child is born to a great king. A little baby is born to a great king and when that baby is like three, four years old, the baby doesn’t realize who he is. So he just acts like any other baby. He doesn’t know that his father is the king. He doesn’t know he’s the son of a king, nothing. He just acts and walks and talks like any other baby. But then as he grows up a little more, he begins to learn who his father is. He begins to realize his father is not like the other guy. His father is superior to everybody else. He’s the king. And he begins to realize that he’s the only one calling his father, daddy, other guys in the palace are bowing before the king, but he’s boldly going to the king. He begins to realize my father is special. And so am I. I’m his child when others are not. And slowly, he begins to realize and more and more, he begins to realize and learn the greatness of his father and there for his own special status as child, the more and more he realizes that, the more and more he begins to change the way he acts and walks and talks. He begins to act and walk and talk like the son of a king a little bit. Previously, maybe he was throwing tantrums and complaining and murmuring just be getting upset. But now he realizes, oh my goodness, I got what others don’t have. I’m a son, and which means things belong to me that don’t belong to others. Which means I can claim things that others can’t claim, which means I can enjoy privileges than others. And the more he realizes it, the more he exercises it and the more he begins to enjoy the privileges of being the King’s son and grows up, imagine to teenage years, and he, then he learns that not only this, he’s not only the son of a king and he’s already beginning to enjoy more and board, but he begins to learn that one day is coming soon. The king has set a date soon. 

And on that day, the king is going to crown his son, make him to sit on the throne next to him, and rule and reign along with him. I imagine when the son hears that, what that will do to him? So far he started himself as a son, but now he hears that soon one day, I’m going to sit on a throne next to my father and rule and reign along with him. Imagine what that’ll do to him. He begins to live for that day. And on the one hand, there is a nervousness on the other hand, there’s an excitement. And so he begins to prepare himself. He begins to expect that day. He begins to long for that day. He begins to eagerly, anticipate that day. And imagine when the day comes, his father, the king calls him up and crowns him, gives him a certain glory that he never had before in front of the entire nation and makes him to sit on a throne next to him and rule and reign with him. I told you this story, because this, you can understand how we enjoy our inheritance with this story. The moment you got saved, that very moment, you became a child of God. You’re born into God’s family. That very moment, not only were you a child of God, you became an heir of God and you had the right to inheritance. That very moment, the inheritance is yours in a way. But of course, when we get saved, we don’t know anything. And so we act like others. We don’t know who we are. We don’t know how great our father is. We don’t know our special relationship to him. And so we live and act and walk and talk like anybody else sometimes. 

But then, when we start learning this truth, that I am just not anybody, I’m a child of the living God, He is my father. The moment you hear that, and then the more and more you learn that, and you grow in your awareness of that, the more and more you start to claim things that you never used to claim, the more and more you start to ask for things and claim and ask and enjoy these privileges of being the child of a king. And imagine you grow in that enjoyment.

The more you become confident about who you are and the how great your father is, the more you enjoy the privileges of being his child. But then one day you hear that your father, this. Great king. I’m talking about how father. The king of Kings has set a date. And on that date, soon, the Lord Jesus Christ will return in His glory, and when he returns, you also will be transformed into a glory like unto Him. The Bible says the dead in Christ will eyes first, and those who are alive will be caught up together in the air, and will be transformed. We will see Him as He is. That day will come, it’s coming soon. Jesus is coming again. And we will see Him in His glory. And that will transform us to be like Him. We will receive a glorious body, an imperishable body, an immortal body. We will have a glory about us. I’m talking real glory. I’m talking shining glory. Jesus says the righteous will shine like the star in the kingdom. Can you imagine that? I mean, if you look at Jesus today, I believe there is a visible glory around him. If you’re able to see. But one day, we’ll come, there’ll be a visible glory around us because we will be so transformed to be like him. I’m not saying we’ll become equal to him, but I’m saying we will reflect his glory. And then not only will we be transformed into a glorious being, the whole Hertz will be transformed into a glorious creation, a new creation, a new heaven and a new earth. And in that new heaven, and new earth, God will cause us to rule and reign with Him, forever and ever, the saints of the most high will be given the kingdom and the possession of it. That’s what Daniel said. 

It’s an amazing thing. I think that story is helpful because it helps you understand how you can enjoy now. Yeah. But you can also enjoy later. And it also helps you understand that enjoying later is on a much higher level. It also helps you understand that. Now you can grow in your enjoyment. Listen to me carefully. In this earthly life, I said, you can enjoy the foretaste. And let me say now, you can even grow in enjoying the foretaste, meaning you can enjoy more and more and more and more of the foretaste. A lot of believers, they don’t claim the rights of their son ship. They don’t claim what is there. They don’t realize that everything God has belongs to them. They don’t realize that they can rule and reign now in a foretaste kind of way. If you’re going to rule and reign one day, you can do the same thing now in a foretaste kind of way. You can have that foretaste. There’s a difference between the foretaste and the fullness, but the foretaste itself can be great. For example, when God renews the whole earth and the heavens and new heavens new earth and all that in that fullness, that full inheritance, there will be no sickness. There will be no sickness in the new heavens and the new earth, the new earth. That’s not going to happen now. I’m talking, there’ll be no sickness in the entire world. There’s a day coming like that. It’s going to happen when God renews all of creation. That’s the full inheritance. Imagine that this is one part of that full inheritance, is that there’ll be no sickness. There will be perfect health. Now, that’s the full one part of that fullness. Now, what we’re saying Is you can enjoy a foretaste of that now. What is the foretaste? The foretaste is healing, the foretaste of perfect health is healing. That’s what Jesus, when he came into this world, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, the good news of the kingdom that the Kingdom has arrived. The kingdom of God is at hand, repentance and so on. He’s the king and He has arrived. And so if the king has arrived, the kingdom has arrived. Basically, it has arrived the moment He entered. It’s already broken through like the rays of sunshine break through those gaps in the morning. It broke through when Jesus entered this world, and the moment it broke through, He is preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and you’ll see everywhere he preaches about the kingdom, He also heals the sick. Why? Because healing is the foretaste of perfect health in the fullness of the kingdom.

In the fullness of the kingdom, there’ll be perfect health. The foretaste of it is because Jesus has already come live, died rose again. That is already healing. There is already healing. Jesus healed wherever He went. So you can  enjoy more and more of healing. In this life, you can enjoy more and more of prosperity. In this life, you can enjoy, prosperity, you take that as an example, you can enjoy prosperity now as God’s child, because you’re already in the king in a way. But the thing is in the fullness, when the fullness of the kingdom comes, there will be no poor. There will be not one poor person. There’ll be not poverty, anywhere for anybody. That’s the fullness, right? The foretaste of it is you on a personal level can enjoy prosperity and you can grow in that. The more you are aware of who you are, that you are a son of the most high God, a daughter of the most high God, everything He has belongs to you, you begin to ask with faith, you begin receive, you begin to enjoy more and more. Everything is like that. Even intimacy with God, like, last week we spoke about intimacy with God. We can enjoy intimacy with God on this earth, but there are several barriers. And the more you kind of pay attention and the more you give yourself to God and the more you draw near, He draws near and all that is possible, but about the fullness one day, we’re going to see Jesus face-to-face. We will see Him as He is.

Jesus prays in John 17, father I pray that they will be with me where I am to see my glory. One day, we’re going to be right where Jesus is. That’s a different level of intimacy that we’re going to see his face in its glorious fun. Now you can’t even see if you see your eyes will go blind like the apostle Paul, but that day, your eyes itself will be perfected to see that perfect glory. You see the difference. That day, the level of intimacy we will enjoy with God is on another level. But today, until we get into the foretaste of it. Today we shall call Him Abba father. And He embraces us through the holy spirit. You see what I mean? The foretaste itself is great. And if you pay attention to it, if you grow in your knowledge of this truth, if you grow in your awareness, and if you live out of this awareness that you are God’s child, everything he has belongs to you and you can enjoy the inheritance now itself more and more, you will enjoy more and more. You should enjoy more and more. Well, let me tell you, though, no matter how much you enjoy, it will never become equal to what you are going to enjoy. That’s why I said in that story, the son can enjoy more and more and more, but it will never be equal to that day. When the father makes Him to sit on that throne, gives Him a glory that He never had before. That is on a altogether higher level, different plane.

So my friend enjoy the foretaste now, eagerly anticipate that glorious day. Look at that glorious day, what will happen. Look at the Romans 8. The people who get hung up on only the foretaste and never think about the full enjoyment, they’re missing out on something huge. They think this is all you can enjoy. No, Romans 8, as soon as Paul says in 17 that we are heirs of God and joined heirs with Christ, then he says, if indeed we suffer with Christ, that we may also be glorified together with Him. He’s saying sometimes suffering is part of the deal, because if you joined with Christ and if you become a part of God’s family, well don’t you know that the Supreme person in God’s family, meaning the Supreme son, God’s only son suffered. He had to go through suffering. And so sometimes suffering is part of the package deal, but don’t worry, Paul says, if we suffer with Him, we will also be glorified together with Him, with Him like Him. If we suffer, we will be glorified with Him, like Him. Now, look at verse 18, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to become paired with the glory, which shall be revealed in us. What a statement. And look at those words carefully. The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory, which shall be revealed in us. He saying there will be a certain glory revealed in us, in on us, in us. It’ll be so great that you’re suffering now, how great, no matter how great it is, it is nothing compared to that glory. What glory is he talking about? Verse 23. You can see what Gloria he is talking about. Not only that, but we also have the first fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves grown within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our bodies. This is what he’s talking about. 

He’s saying, we already have first fruits of the spirit. We already have some inheritance. We already are enjoying certain things, but we grow within ourselves, eagerly waiting for something else we don’t have. What do we don’t have? We don’t have this redemption of our bodies. We are waiting for a day when Jesus returns and our bodies will be transformed to be like Jesus’s body, a glorious, imperishable, incorruptible, immortal body waiting for that. I mean that happens. Creation itself will be restored. And when that happens, that is when our inheritance can be enjoyed in the fullest possible way. 1 Corinthians 15:50. 1 Corinthians 15:50 is an amazing passage here. It’s familiar passage, but oftentimes people miss this verse, the importance of this verse. 1 Corinthians 15:50. So I say these brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, no as corruption inherit incorruption. He is saying flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. He’s talking about the future kingdom. Even kingdom is like that. Sometimes you’ll see it’s already here. Sometimes it’s future, not as corruption inherit incorruption. Now look at verse 51 from this, you will see how familiar it is. If you are a Christian, you would have surely heard these verses. Behold I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible and shall be changed for this incorruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 

What am I trying to say? I’m trying to say, go back and look at verse 50. He’s talking about the day when Jesus returns, our bodies will be turned into incorruptible, glorious and imperishable mortal bodies. But look at verse 50 again. Now this I say brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. What he’s saying is flesh and blood. The state we are in now is flesh and blood. This flesh and blood in this state cannot inherit the kingdom of God. That future kingdom, the fullness of the kingdom cannot be enjoyed by this present state. This body, this flesh and blood, not as corruption inherit incorruption, that glorious incorruptible inheritance kept in heaven for you cannot be enjoyed by this corruptible body, this fading body, this body prone to damage and all that. And then he says, but I tell you a mystery, this body is going to be changed from corruptible corruption to incorruption, from mortality to immortality, from this present state of flesh and blood to a different like the body of Jesus. You know what Paul is saying? Paul is saying the inheritance that God has for us in the future is so great that it cannot possibly be enjoyed in this present state. That’s why I said you can’t see the glory of Jesus now and appreciate it as much as you can then, because now your eyes will go blind. You’re not ready for it. But one day your body itself will be transformed into a glorious body. You will shine like the stars like the sun.

Jesus will shine bright than you. You will be given perfect eyes. Your soul will be perfected. You’ll be perfectly sanctified. It be a different experience altogether. You will have a perfect love towards God. You will have a perfect worship of God. You will have a perfect obedience toward God. And on that day, you will enjoy your inheritance, which is kept for you, which cannot possibly be enjoyed today. You realize how great the salvation is my friend. It is too great. Some people would say, this is just too much. How can we believe this? So great is the salvation. God has saved us to a great inheritance, not just enjoying the foretaste now, but enjoying the fullness of it. The glory of it. We will inherit literally glory because glory belongs to Him. Everything that belongs to Him belongs to us as His children. This is what God has for you. If you’re a believer, God has such a great inheritance for you. This should blow your mind. This should amaze you. Your heart should be filled with this. What’s the use of all this if you’re not going to enjoy the fullness now? We’ve got to live in this as some people call this world, God forsaken world. It’s not godforsaken, but that’s how they call it. What’s the use of all this great and lofty truth when we’re going to go out and face this world? It’s so useful my friend. 

Let me just show you one example of how the New Testament applies this great lofty truth to everyday challenges in life. Look at Luke chapter 12, we read this, but now look at something you didn’t look before. Luke chapter 12, people think, all this is when we go to heaven, we’ll enjoy, and this will happen that, we’ll have the streets of golden, the mansion and see the glory of God and this. All that is fine. But what’s the use of it now. Well look, 12:29 familiar passage, but now let’s look at it. Do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, or have an anxious mind. Jesus is saying, don’t be worried about what you will eat, what you will drink. I don’t go after that. All these things, the nations of the world seek after, and your father knows that you need these things. He’s saying don’t be like the people in the world who go after their needs being met. Their whole concern is in life is. They need to meet their needs. They need to solve their problems. That’s that? Their needs must be met. They should be well, the family should be well. That’s all they seek in life and they go after it. Don’t be like the people in the world. Don’t worry about these things. Don’t keep these things as number one and go after them. Verse 31, but seek the kingdom of God. And all these things shall be added to you. You be different. You see God’s kingdom, first and all these things shall be added to you. 

Now, I want you to look at verse 32. This is where the point is. Do not fear, little flock for it is your father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. You know what he’s saying? He’s saying little flock, worried flock, fearful flock, anxious flock, anxious about all kinds of things in life. Don’t you know who you are? You are children of your father and don’t you know what belongs to you. Don’t do you know what you’re going to inherit, the kingdom itself, not good things of the kingdom, the kingdom itself, the rule and reign of the kingdom itself. God is going to give you one day, the kingdom itself. Don’t you know this, it is your father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. You know what he’s trying to say? Little flock, worried flock. If God wants to one day give you the kingdom itself. He will not give you the other things that you need. Meet your meats, all these other things, what you eat, drink your salary or job, your this, your that, will he not meet those needs. That’s what he’s saying. If God is going to give you the world, will he not give you a few things? Meet a few needs of yours? Don’t think big about your needs, he is saying, seek this kingdom that one day, you’re going to get, seek it first and all of these things. Here’s another beautiful place where it comes. All these things, literally everything, all these things will be added unto you, starting now, going to forever. 

The outlook that Jesus is trying to give the ordinary people going through life’s struggles and challenges, He is saying live this life with that in mind, with what in mind? One day, I’m going to get everything. I’m an heir of God. I inherited the world. One day, everything belongs to me. Live it like that. One day, God is going to give me everything. And then your prayers and your outlook on your present needs and challenges itself will change. They cannot pull you down. Look at one more passage quickly, Romans 8, again, Paul himself, 8:17, he says we’re heirs. Verse 18, he says, I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory, which shall be revealed in. When you have in your mind’s eye, the future glory, that is going to be yours, the present suffering, no matter how great it is, will not be able to pull you down, will not be able to discourage you so much. If it is discouraging you, that means you’re not keeping this in view. You’ve forgotten this. You have neglected this. You have neglected so great the salvation. The book of Hebrews is written to people who are suffering believers. And the writer says, how can we escape if we neglect and think of our suffering greater than the salvation we have received, and we are going to receive. This greater inheritance. Paul is saying with the glory in sight, the suffering is nothing. The suffering is a big deal. If the glory is not insight, but with the glory in sight, the suffering is nothing compared to the glory that will be revealed in us. My friend, live with a sense of the glory that is soon to come, it’s coming soon and when it comes, it will envelop you and it will envelop the whole world and you will enjoy something you have never even imagined in your wildest dream. This is what God has for every believer. This is where salvation goes to a climax I believe. Let’s thank God for this great salvation. Let’s thank God for this amazing work of grace. We don’t do anything to deserve it. We simply believe in Jesus and we became children and heirs to the greatest inheritance anybody can ever imagine. Let us praise Him.