Let's pretend you moved to a distant city to pursue a new career. You went through the interview process and landed a promising job that should set you up to flourish financially for the rest of your life.
You move into your new home and quickly begin your new job.
For the first few months, you love your new career. But, one day, your employer calls you into his office, and things quickly change for the worse. Your boss unexpectedly fires you, leaving you in a difficult spot.
You quickly go home and start filling out applications. But this is the middle of a pandemic, and times are tough.
Months go by, and you still haven't found a new job. Your savings are quickly dwindling, and you're beginning to panic. Soon, you can't pay your car note, so you have to sell your car to pay for rent and groceries. Soon, you're unable to pay for utilities. Then you're no longer able to pay for rent.
Next thing you know, you're on the streets. You're bankrupt; the only thing you have to your name is a cardboard box, and you're living under a bridge.
One day, as you're sitting under the bridge, you see a car pull up to the bridge. The door opens, and a gentleman in a suit walks toward you with an envelope. He comes to you, sits on the ground, and hands you the envelope. In it is a letter explaining how a distant relative has passed away, and he's left you his entire inheritance.
Everything he owned will belong to you if you sign the letter. Next week, all of his money will be deposited into your bank account. His car will soon be yours. His house will soon be yours. His business will soon be yours. All you have to do is sign the papers in the envelope.
So, you do what any logical person would do. You joyfully sign the papers.
And, at that moment, staying under the bridge doesn't seem too bad because of the hope of your newfound inheritance. The despair of the cardboard box doesn't seem so bad when you know you will be in a mansion next week. A lofty inheritance inserts joy in the midst despair, hope in the midst of hopelessness.
Brothers and sisters, this is where we find ourselves today as believers. We were all sitting under the bridge, bankrupt in sin. But God, being rich in mercy, has sent His Son to redeem us from sin through his death on the cross. And those who sign on the dotted line by believing in Jesus have received an inheritance far greater than anything we've ever imagined.
Upon belief, the remaining life of a believer is that week in between, where we sign the dotted line and move into our inheritance. Although we're still under the bridge, sleeping on a cardboard box, we have an inheritance kept in heaven for us that we look ahead to in hope. Things will one day be much better than they are right now.
At the conclusion of this opening statement, Paul directs our attention to the future, showing us what we will one day experience because of God's faithfulness in Christ Jesus. And, as he's leading our attention ahead to our future inheritance, he's answering the question of how do we know this is true? How do we know that this inheritance is ours?
In the following verses, the flow of Paul's argument is as follows: if you have believed in Jesus, you have received the promised Holy Spirit, who will never leave you, and who is the guarantee of our inheritance in heaven.
Let's dive in.
"[11] In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, [12] so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. [13] In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, [14] who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory."
As we bring this section to a close, we see Paul point ahead to the future, telling us that "in Christ we have obtained an inheritance." An inheritance speaks of something of value that you will one day acquire. It's something we look forward to possessing.
But, notice the language used here by Paul— "In Christ we have obtained an inheritance." The language here assures us the inheritance we look ahead to is already ours. That which we look forward to already belongs to us. It's something we anticipate in confident assurance.
This brings us to our first point: Christians look forward to heaven because heaven is better. In Christ, we have obtained an inheritance, something of far greater value than anything we currently possess.
This life is good and worth living. It's a gift from the Lord that we should cherish and steward well for God's glory. But, make no mistake about it; heaven is better. It's something we should look forward to with great anticipation.
In Exodus 6, God promised his people deliverance from bondage. He said, "I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment."
But, right alongside that promise, God points ahead and says, "I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession."
So, right alongside the promise of redemption was the promise of an inheritance. They were brought out of one land with the hope of residing in a better land together with God. With an outstretched arm, God would set them free, take them as his people, and lead them into the land that already belonged to them because of the promise he gave their forefathers. Those whom God redeemed had something to look forward to.
Many of us are likely familiar with how the story plays out. Upon their deliverance, did they immediately make it to the promised land?
No. They wandered through the wilderness for forty years. Yet, as they wandered, God remained with them. Therefore, the basis for their hope never dwindled. If God makes a promise, we can trust that he will fulfill that promise. After 40 years of wandering, God's people made it into the land God promised them. God remained faithful to the promise he extended to his people.
Church, the life of a believer is a wilderness journey. It's a life of wandering through the wilderness with the hopeful anticipation of making it to the promised land.
And the beauty of the Christian faith is that God is with us in the wilderness journey. God will be with us in our pain and distress. Therefore, our hope will always remain steadfast. We have an inheritance that we look forward to in confidence because God is with us.
The hope of our inheritance doesn't rest in anything we've done for God; it rests in the sovereign election of God, the fact that we have been "predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will."
In Exodus 6, what does God tell Moses? He says, "I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession."
So, God was saying, "I will bring you into the promised land because I said I would do so long before you were ever born." God was simply carrying out the purpose of his will.
So, how do we know that we will make it to heaven and dwell with God forever? We know this because God is faithful to finish what he started. He will always be faithful to carry out the purpose of his will.
So, we can go all the way back to Abraham and see God promise to bless all of the nations through the seed of Abraham. We can go all the way back to Adam and see God promise to crush Satan on our behalf. We know we have an inheritance waiting for us in heaven because God is carrying out the plan he put in place before the world was created. We know we have an inheritance because God has chosen us in Christ Jesus. It's God's sovereignty that gives us hope as believers. You and I can rest tonight knowing that God is on a throne carrying out his divine will at all points throughout history.
Then, in verse 12, Paul does something interesting that has led to a division among commentators. He says, "So that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your 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, to the praise of his glory."
Here, in a very inclusive passage, Paul carefully distinguishes himself and his readers. So, who are the "we's" and "you's" of verse twelve? Who is Paul making a distinction between?
There are two interpretations here.
The first interpretation is that Paul is making a distinction between the Jews and the Gentiles. In the book of Romans, we see Paul talk about salvation being offered first to the Jews and then to the Greeks. When Paul would go into a city, he would often go to the temples in the city and preach to the Jews first and then branch off and go to the Gentiles.
So, Paul is saying, "Hey, we (Jews) placed our hope in Christ first. But, you, too, heard the gospel and believed and were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. Our timing may differ, but the testimony is the same. We heard the gospel, believed in Christ, and were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, to the praise of God's glory."
The second interpretation is a bit more straightforward. This interpretation simply differentiates Paul (and those with him) and the church. So, the "we" would be Paul and those with him, and the "you" would be the church (Jews and Gentiles). Paul believed in Christ first, then he went to Ephesus and shared with them the gospel, and they, too, believed in Christ.
I lean toward the first interpretation here. I think Paul is alluding to the distinction between the Jews and Gentiles to show that there's, in fact, no distinction. In Chapter 2, Paul revisits the distinction between Jews and Gentiles to show that they are one in Christ.
But either way, the main point remains the same. Although the timing of our conversion may be different, the testimony of our conversion is the same. We are all in the same boat. We are all saved by grace through faith; we are all sealed by the promised Holy Spirit, and our salvation is ultimately for the glory of God.
This reminds us that there's no favoritism in the kingdom of God. There's no elitism in the church. We are all uniquely different. But we are all also the same. You may be older in the faith, and I may be younger in the faith. But, we are both in the faith. We're both in Christ, sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.
Now, look at verse 13. In verse 13, we see a progression of hearing leading to believing, which leads to sealing. Only those who have believed in Jesus will be sealed with the Holy Spirit. And to believe in Jesus, you need to have first heard the gospel of Jesus.
There are two things I want to draw our attention to here.
First, I want us to see how the Bible balances the tension between God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. Throughout these verses, we've seen God's sovereignty highlighted. We have been chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, predestined, and elected according to the purpose of God's will. But, here we see that those who have been predestined are those who have believed. Those who have believed are those who have been predestined. God's sovereignty and man's responsibility are not at odds with each other. God is both King and Judge.
So, God's sovereignty is never an excuse not to evangelize. Instead, it should be an excuse to evangelize. If God has elected to save sinners, we should preach the gospel so that sinners might believe and be saved. That brings me to the second thing I want to highlight here: the importance of gospel proclamation. You cannot believe in Jesus unless you have first heard the truth about Jesus. Those who have believed have heard. Therefore, we need to tell others about Jesus so that others can believe in Jesus.
Living out the gospel is important, but preaching the gospel is essential. If we want to see men and women come to know Christ personally, we must be willing to open our mouths and preach. If we want others to believe in Jesus, we must be willing to tell others about Jesus.
There are people all throughout this world who have never heard about Jesus. So, I think a healthy goal for us this upcoming year as a church would be to introduce people to Jesus who have never heard about Jesus, both in our city and to the ends of the earth. We must be willing to go and take the gospel to those who have never heard.
When was the last time you shared with someone the word of truth?
Next, I want to draw our attention to what it means to be sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. Paul says that those who have believed have been sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. If you've believed in Jesus, you've received the promised Holy Spirit.
For something to be promised, it needs to have been spoken of beforehand. In John 16, Jesus promised his disciples another helper would come whenever he left. He said that it would be to their advantage if he left them. The promised Holy Spirit will come and convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He will guide his people into all truth and glorify Christ.
We find Paul also telling us here that the Holy Spirit seals us. All who have believed have become sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. The word sealed can mean two things: closure and belonging.
In Matthew 27, for example, the soldiers seal Jesus' tomb with a stone, which implies closure and security from outside dangers. No one could get in and take the body from the tomb. So, your salvation is as secure as a sealed tomb. You're unable to lose it. The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.
In Revelation 7, we see an angel ascending from the rising of the sun with the seal of the living God. With a loud voice, he says, "Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads." This seal was a marking placed upon someone for the purpose of making a distinction. So, God has set us apart to belong exclusively to God.
Think of a king sealing a letter. We know the letter belongs to the king because of the seal placed on the envelope. Think of a married couple who wears a ring. We know someone is married because of the seal placed upon their finger. In the same way, we know that we are wholly and authentically God's because the Holy Spirit has sealed us. We have been marked with the Holy Spirit, signifying our exclusive belonging to God. The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is how we know we have an inheritance in heaven.
Now, how do we know we have the Holy Spirit? What must we do to receive the Holy Spirit?
The answer is simple. We don't have to go through a three-month course to receive the Holy Spirit; we must simply believe upon Jesus. Those who are sealed are those who have believed and trusted in Jesus.
Those who have been sealed with the Holy Spirit will experience conviction of sin; they will experience comfort amid calamity; they will experience power whenever they share the gospel; they will begin to walk in freedom from sin; and they will begin to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit.
As these verses come to a close, we see that the ultimate purpose of our salvation is God's glory... to the praise of his glory.