Inheritance
And Assurance
Up-Dated -
Friday, April 04, 2014
Table of Contents
*
What is our inheritance?
*
Inheritance is by Promise of God, not by Law
* God
qualifies and appoints the inheritors
*
Immaturity is not a Sign of Loss of Salvation
* The Inheritance Is
Eternal
* Will
our Inheritance always be Pure & Clean?
* The Guilty are not
Inheritors
* How do We Receive
our Inheritance?
*
Inheritance is not Possible with Mankind
* Assured of
an Ever-present Inheritance
* Our
Inheritance is a Promise to Come
What is our
inheritance?
Kingdom
Mat 25:34 "Then shall the King say unto them
on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the
kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:"
Riches of Glory
Eph 1:18 "The eyes of your understanding being
enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and
what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,"
Eternal Life
Mark 10:17 "And when he was gone forth into
the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him,
Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?"
All Things
Rev 21:7 "He that overcometh shall inherit all
things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son."
The
saved inheritors receive (inherit) the
inheritance from their Father.
Top
Inheritance
is by promise of God, not by law
Gal 3:18 "For if the inheritance be of the
law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by
promise."
We cannot receive our Heavenly inheritance by being
good (keeping the law) it is by faith (promise).
Thank the Lord our inheritance is not dependent upon
our goodness, but we can take full assurance of salvation because it
is by simple faith, not works.
One-time faith gains an inheritance
once-and-for-all. Loss of faith would fall under
not-keeping-the-law. Therefore loss of faith is not a detriment to
the inheritance as one might think but simply another sin that is
already forgiven.
Top
God Qualifies
and Appoints the Inheritors
Col 1:12 "Giving thanks unto the Father, which
hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light:"
We can have full assurance of our inheritance in
salvation because God is the One who makes us appropriate for
inheritance, not us.
If it were up to us, we could never keep it. If we
lost it, it would render God powerless to keep us appropriate.
Top
Immaturity
is not a Sign of Loss of Salvation
Gal 4:1 "Now I say, That the heir, as long as
he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord
of all;"
A child (immature) heir is still an heir. Immaturity
as a Christian is not a sign of loss of inheritance or Christianity,
but only a sign of immaturity as a Christian. Meaning, the person
is still a Christian in his immature state.
Sin is an indicator that shows Christians are less
than mature, not a sign of being lost or losing their inheritance.
Top
The
inheritance is eternal
Heb 9:15 "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."
Christ died to buy the lost and give them an eternal
inheritance.
The lost are bought out of all their sins, past and
future, and given their eternal inheritance. If they were to become
lost again, then the buying-of-sinners-out-of-their-sins transaction
of Christ, must have missed some sins. Of course, neither He nor
his redemption missed the smallest iniquity.
If an inheritance could be lost, it most certainly
could not be eternal. If it was to become eternal on the day we
died, then what is this present possession we have now? And why is
it referred to now as being eternal?
The
saved have an eternal inheritance now and
throughout eternity, because they have been bought out of sin by the
Buyer, Jesus Christ.
Top
Will our
Inheritance always be Pure and Clean?
1 Pet 1:4 "To an inheritance incorruptible,
and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for
you,"
Our eternal inheritance is kept for us individually
and kept from loss or ruination in Heaven.
Our eternal inheritance is reserved for us, not kept
by us. If we kept it, we might defile it, corrupt it, allow it to
fade away. Since God is it's keeper, we can be certain that it will
be there, in Heaven.
Incidentally, if our inheritance was able to be
lost, how could it be called eternal?
Top
The
Guilty are not Inheritors
1 Cor 6:9 "Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor
abusers of themselves with mankind,"
1 Cor 6:10 "Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom
of God."
1 Cor 6:11 "And such were some of you: but ye
are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."
The
saved used to be the unsaved (unrighteous) but
are now washed and sanctified and justified in Christ by the Holy
Ghost and are no longer guilty of their sin.
The righteous (saved, justified) are righteous, not
by the good they have done, but are so, because they are placed in
Christ by the Holy Ghost. All of their guilt was put on Christ.
Those that have not had their guilt of sin washed,
sanctified and justified cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These
can not wash themselves or sanctify themselves or justify themselves
but it must be done by the Holy Ghost at salvation. Had they done
all of this by themselves, then a stumble on their part may lose
that inheritance.
Notice that these verses say that some of the
readers were guilty of the sins listed, but since they are justified
by the Spirit, they are no longer blamable. There is great
assurance in knowing that you are no longer guilty, blameworthy,
culpable.
Top
How
do we receive our inheritance?
By patient faith
Acts 26:18 "To open their eyes, and to turn
them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God,
that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among
them which are sanctified by faith that is in me."
Heb 6:12 "That ye be not slothful, but
followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the
promises."
Faith in Christ is the criteria for an inheritance.
This simply means that we realize we cannot
save ourselves and are
trusting in Christ. The inheritance comes as a by-product.
Some want to say that patience is part of the
process of Heavenly inheritance, but patience is required to await
its arrival, not obtain it.
Our hearts are lifted to full assurance when we
realize that simple faith in Christ is the criteria for seeing the
"Light" and forgiveness of all sin, past and future.
Top
Inheritance is
not possible with mankind
Mark 10:17 "And when he was gone forth into
the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him,
Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?"
Mark 10:27 "And Jesus looking upon them saith,
With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things
are possible."
God is the means to inherit eternal life.
It is very comforting to know that it is not up to
us to inherit eternal life, but up to God.
We previously saw that it is done by faith on our
part, but not a mustered faith. It is a helpless faith in Christ
that is not of ourselves or in ourselves.
Top
Assured of an
ever-present inheritance.
Eph 1:13 "In whom ye also trusted, after that
ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom
also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of
promise,"
Eph 1:14 "Which is the earnest of our
inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto
the praise of his glory."
The Holy Spirit is the earnest money of our
inheritance. If God did not keep His promise about reserving our
inheritance, He would lose His Holy Spirit.
Great assurance is realized when we think of the
impossibility of God the Father losing God the Holy Ghost.
Assets are owned now, inheritances are owned later.
Top
Our inheritance is a promise to come
We should not be concerned about it for now.
Acts 7:5 "And he gave him none inheritance in
it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he
would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him,
when as yet he had no child."
Our present assets will be gone one day, but we will
receive an inheritance to come.
The little of our present possession does not matter
when we consider the inheritance to come later, kept by the Father
and guaranteed by the Holy Ghost.
Top
G. Steven Andres
Psalms 45:17
Missionary Evangelist
Copyright - 1996 to 2010 |
