Sermon Tone Analysis

/In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: 12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted////b//// in Christ.

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, 14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

(////1:11–14////)/

Intro.

In this passage Paul shows us the awesome and wonderful potential of Christian believers.

The apostle gives us a glimpse of the glorious blessings God has planned for and promised to those who come to Him through His Son, Jesus Christ.

·         It is human nature to break promises.

Governments make and break promises.

Advertisers and politicians make and break promises.

Employers and employees, preachers and church members, parents and children, husbands and wives, and friends and relatives all make promises to each other which often are broken.

·         Some are made with the best of intentions, and some are made in order to deceive and exploit.

But all of us find ourselves both making and receiving promises that, for whatever reason, do not materialize.

·         We can be eternally thankful that God’s promises are not like ours.

Every promise He makes, He keeps.

The promises Paul mentions here that our heavenly Father makes to His children not only are wonderful and exciting but absolute and certain.

·         As the writer of Hebrews tells us, “He who promised is faithful” (Heb.

10:23).

Like Abraham, every believer should be fully assured that what God promises He is able and certain to perform (Rom.

4:21), Ours is a God who will not and cannot lie (Titus 1:2).

·         At the completion of this longest sentence in the Bible (Eph.

1:3–14), in which Paul pours out his heart in praise to God for His immeasurable grace, he presents to us the Father’s guarantee of His divine promise to His children.

They are certain to receive the full, undiminished inheritance of Jesus Christ.

·         Just as we have been blessed “with every spiritual blessing,” chosen “in Him before the foundation of the world,” “predestined … to adoption as sons,” given “redemption through His blood,” and shown “the mystery of His will” (vv.

3–5, 7, 9)—so we have also *obtained an inheritance*.

·         Our inheritance is the aspect of salvation which is primarily future.

We were elected, or predestined, before the world or time existed; we have been redeemed in this present age; and we will receive our completed inheritance in the ages to come, when we enter fully into the Father’s eternal heavenly kingdom.

·         Here we are shown the ground, the guarantee, and the goal of our incomparable inheritance in Jesus Christ.

* *

*1.

**The Ground of Our Inheritance*

/In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: 12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted////b//// in Christ.

13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: i/*, *(1:11–13a)

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*a.  **In whom* refers to Jesus Christ (v. 10), who is the ground or source of our divine *inheritance*.

Apart from Jesus Christ, the only ultimate and eternal thing a person can receive from God is condemnation.

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1. God bestows sunshine, rain, and many other good things on all men, the righteous and unrighteous alike (Matt.

5:45).

2. But His spiritual blessings are bestowed only on those who are: *in Him* (cf.

vv.

1, 3–4, 6–7, 10).

/Acts 4:12 (KJV) //12// Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

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3.

In Romans 6, Paul gives the spiritual biography of every believer.

“/Do you not know,////” he begins, “////that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?///” (v. 3).

“/Therefore,////” he continues, “////we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection////”/ (vv.

4–5).

4. By a marvelous miracle that only God can comprehend, every believer has been to the cross of Calvary, been nailed there spiritually with the Savior, and been buried and raised with Him.

Jesus Christ not only was crucified, buried, and raised /for/ every believer but /with/ every believer.

5.

Not only that, but /“////we know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is////”/ (1 John 3:2).

On that glorious day we will finally and fully /“////become conformed to the image of His Son///” (Rom.

8:29).

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*b.      **We have obtained an inheritance* translates a single compound word in the Greek (/eklērōthēmen/).

When something in the future was so certain that it could not possibly fail to happen, the Greeks would often speak of it as if it had already occurred (as here, where Paul uses the aorist passive indicative).

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1.

In chapter two Paul uses a similar Greek tense (aorist active indicative) to speak of God’s having “seated us with Him in the heavenly places” (v. 6), although the apostle and those to whom he wrote had not yet entered into that glorious experience.

Their dwelling eternally with the Lord was just as certain as if they were already in heaven.

2. The passive form of the verb in 1:11a allows for two possible renderings, both of which are consistent with other Scripture.

3. It can be translated “were made an inheritance” or, as here, *have obtained an inheritance*.

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a.

The first rendering would indicate that */we, that is, believers, are Christ’s inheritance/*/./

Jesus repeatedly spoke of believers as gifts that the Father had given Him (John 6:37, 39; 10:29; 17:2, 24; etc.).

Jesus won us at Calvary—as the spoils of His victory over Satan, sin, and death—and we now belong to Him. “ ‘/And they will be Mine,////’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘////on the day that I prepare My own possession////’/ ” (Mal.

3:17).

From eternity past the Father planned and determined that every person who would trust in His Son for salvation would be given to His Son as a possession, a glorious inheritance.

b.

Translated the other way, however, this word means just the opposite: */it is believers who receive the inheritance/*.

Peter speaks of our having been /“////born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for [us]////”/ (1 Pet.

1:3–4).

c.

Both of the translations are therefore grammatically and theologically legitimate.

Throughout Scripture believers are spoken of as belonging to God, and He is spoken of as belonging to them.

d.

The New Testament speaks of our being in Christ and of His being in us, of our being in the Spirit and of His being in us.

“/The one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him////” /(1 Cor.

6:17).

Paul could therefore say, “/For me, to live is Christ////”/ (Phil.

1:21).

e.

The practical side of that truth is that, because we are identified with Christ, our lives should be identified with His life (cf.

1 John 2:6).

We are to love as He loved, help as He helped, care as He cared, share as He shared, and sacrifice our own interests and welfare for the sake of others just as He did.

Like our Lord, we are in the world to lose our lives for others.

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4.

Although either rendering of /eklērōthēmen/ can be supported, Paul’s emphasis in Ephesians 1:3–14 makes the second translation more appropriate here: *we have obtained an inheritance*.

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a.

Our inheritance with Christ is yet another of the amazing and magnificent blessings with which the Father has blessed us in the Son.

b.

As Paul makes clear in verse 3, our inheritance includes /“////every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.////”/

c.

In Jesus Christ, believers inherit every promise God has ever made.

d.

Peter tells us that God’s /“////divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness////”/ and “/has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises////”/ (2 Pet.

1:3–4).

e. Paul says with absolute inclusiveness, /“////For as many as may be the promises of God, in Him they are yes////”/ (2 Cor.

1:20).

f.

Our every conceivable need is met by God’s gracious provision in accordance with His divine promises.

We are promised peace, love, grace, wisdom, eternal life, joy, victory, strength, guidance, power, mercy, forgiveness, righteousness, truth, fellowship with God, spiritual discernment, heaven, eternal riches, glory—those and every other good thing that comes from God.

g.

Paul says, “/The world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God////”/ (1 Cor.

3:22–23).

h.

Because we have been made joint heirs with Christ, we are guaranteed possession of everything He possesses.

We are “///heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ////”/ (cf.

Rom.

8:17).

i. Jesus Christ is therefore the ground of the *inheritance* that *we have obtained*.

Paul first shows that *inheritance* from the divine perspective and then from the human.

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*2.       **The Divine Perspective*

/predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: 12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted////b//// in Christ./*.

*(1:11, 12b)

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*a.      */God’s predestination/.

*/having been predestined according to His purpose/*/./

As Christians we are what we are because of what God chose to make us before any man was created.

From eternity past He declared that every, elect sinner—though vile, rebellious, useless, and deserving only of death—who trusted in His Son would be made as righteous as the One in whom they put their trust.

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1.

As Paul has already established, “/*He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him*/” (v. 4).

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2. William Hendriksen’s comment on this passage is helpful and concise:

/Neither fate nor human merit determines our destiny.

The benevolent purpose—that we should be holy and faultless (////verse 4////), sons of God (////verse 5////), destined to glorify him forever (////verse 6////, ////cf.////