who is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory.who is a pledge of our inheritance, to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of his glory.Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.which is an earnest of our inheritance, unto the redemption of God’s own possession, unto the praise of his glory.
13 sermons cite this verse
… salvation, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit, a promise, which is a deposit guarantee in our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession to the praise of his glory. So what does this mean that I am sealed? Well, back in these days when goods were from one place to another. They would be stamped with a wax seal imprinted with this signet ring that would identify a unique mark of ownership. It would be sealed in wax. You would take a signet ring and put it into the hot wax. And so if you saw this document or whatever it was, well, that's important. This belongs to a king. I don't want to open this. this seal. So you have a seal on us. Let's put it another way. You have an ID tag attached to you. And that ID tag says, you belong to Jesus Christ. Years ago, I was traveling, and I picked my suitcase up at the little carousel there, and I'm going away carrying it. And some lady chases after me and says, you took my suitcase. I said, no, ma'am, this is my suitcase. And no, it's mine, she said. And she had another suitcase that happened to me, mine, and I realized both of our suitcases looked exactly the same, but I opened it to check, and my suitcase, which was hers, was filled with women's clothing, so I didn't want to take that for sure, right? So we traded suitcases. If I would have just checked the ID tag, I would have known. And so here's how it works in …
… Okay? This is saying Paul who in Ephesians 1, verses 3 through 14, it's a single run-on sentence in Greek. 12 verses are single run-on sentence in Greek. This is the sort of man Paul is. But here, fascinatingly, he confines himself to only 25 verses and less than 400 words total. But what is interesting is that these 25 verses force us to confront three excuses that I think Christians often have when it comes to remaining in unforgiveness. Three excuses that we will often use to justify why we will not forgive someone. And I want to say this too, I'm speaking primarily tonight to those who have been hurt, those who have been wronged. I'm not directing this message towards the wrongdoer. If that is you, you need to repent, you need to turn to Christ, and you need to seek forgiveness from the person you've wronged. But to be honest, I love you. God bless you. You're not really the focus of what I think we need to talk about. I'm speaking to those who have been wronged. You have been sinned against, and you are struggling to figure out how do I forgive in light of that sin. …
… with us Ephesians 1 verses 13 through 14 tells us that God has given us his Holy Spirit who is a seal, a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. And so our future hope is anchored in the sure promises that come with Christ's resurrection and the present reality of the Holy Spirit who is with us. The one who indwells us. The one who is at work in us now. And so Paul says in Romans 8, if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies that through his spirit who dwells in you. Elsewhere the promise tells us that he will transform our lowly bodies to be like his body. So just stop and put that there's a rear view mirror but put that in the front. Just look at that view. The glorious resurrection that awaits us all as believers. The catechism tells us Christ's resurrection is a sure pledge of our glorious resurrection. …
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he has blessed us, with which he has blessed us in the beloved. in him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will according to his the good pleasure or the purpose with which which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him things in heaven and things on the earth 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 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. …
… Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession, to the praise of his glory. This is God's word. But earlier this week, I guess a couple of you might have been there. Earlier this week, I had a chance to address a group of businessmen. And we talked a bit about the fact that modern men and women feel trapped by time. Recently, there was a survey done of what people's attitude was toward time and their schedule and time management. and when people were asked to choose among a list of nouns that describe time, a very large, significant minority chose the noun, my enemy. One woman CEO said, every book she ever read on time management, and she's read a lot of them and they all cost $19.95, said, revolutionary new approach to time. However, every single book on time management basically says this, make a list, set your priorities, do the most important things first. …
… And I'm just going to read and make remarks tonight on these two verses. Ephesians 1, verses 13 and 14. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession, to the praise of his glory. Now, we've been looking at this chapter. We're looking at Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3 to 14. And we've said that it's all about, the whole chapter is the gospel of your salvation. That's a term that's found in verse 13, see? It says, when you were included in Christ, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, when you heard that and you believed it, you were marked with a seal and you, the promised Holy Spirit. So the point is, the gospel of salvation, the word gospel means good news. This chapter is a kind of inventory of all of the great things that when you become a Christian, you have. It's a little bit like buying a house and going through it to see what you bought, buying a car and driving it to see what you really have there. You bought something, what's really under the hood? …
… verse 12 down to verse 23. Listen. In order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory, you were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession to the praise of his glory. For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age, but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, …
For teaching time, we're going to look again at Ephesians chapter 1. I'd like to call your attention to the entire section that we've been looking at, Ephesians 1, verses 3 through 14. But tonight we're going to look again, in particular, at verses 9 to 12. It's all one thought, and yet there's divisions in the thought. And I'm going to read from verse 3 to 14, but tonight we're in particular going to look at verse 9 to 12. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will, to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the one he loves. In him we have forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. …
at least when I was here we were, I'd like to take a look again at this huge sentence that we started looking at in the late spring and early summer. It's Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3 to 14, and I'm going to show you tonight that there is a second major division in it, and I'd like to give you an overview of it. We've been looking for weeks at the beauty of the first part of that sentence and what it means that we were chosen to be adopted as his children, to be his sons. And we spent a number of weeks on what it means to be adopted. And I want you to know that I don't know if it helped you, but I wrote most of those sermons sitting in a convent on the shores of the Hudson River back in late May, and it changed my life. Just to think about the first part of the sentence. But starting at verse 9, we have a second part, and I'd like to introduce you to that tonight. Let me read you the whole sentence again. Chapter 1, verse 3 through 14. In the Greek, it was all one sentence, even though the English translators have had to break it up just to make it comprehensible. Praise be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ, for he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be …
… We said last week that Ephesians 1, which we're beginning to look at, is Ephesians 1, verse 3 to 14. In the Greek original was one long sentence. boy now what am I doing wrong uh it was one long sentence and uh therefore it's a it's a massive build-up it's a statement in which Paul is trying to give us the entire scheme of how God saves us and I'd like to read just verses uh three to fourteen but we're only going to look at verse three four and five here tonight for a minute Paul says praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will, to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the one he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times have reached their fulfillment to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. In him we also were …
… as his sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the one he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to the good pleasure which he purposed in Christ to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. In him we were chosen having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will in order that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. …
… it's broken into several sentences. Ephesians 1, verse 3 to 14 is one long sentence in Greek. And I'll give you some reasons why I think that happened. It's not good grammar. It's not, even in Greek, to have a sentence that long is not good grammar. It's not good form or style. But Paul was caught up. Let's take a look at this. Ephesians 1, verses 1 to 14. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus, Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, weigh every word. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Christ Jesus in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the one he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ to be put into effect when the times will have …
Now watch this. which is or who is the earnest or guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. Who is the purchased possession? We are the purchased possession. He says until the redemption of the purchased possession. He says on another occasion, our redemption draweth nigh. How is it that you and I can be saved now having been redeemed as a past act? How is it that we can have been redeemed already and then him talking about the fact until the purchase of possession, our redemption. Here's what he means. That God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ, the moment we accepted him as our Savior, saved us, our spirit and our soul. And we are heaven bound, he says, our citizenship is now in heaven from whence we look for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. So while we are saved and redeemed here and now, he says the completion of that redemption is future. And that is when the Lord Jesus Christ comes, what is he going to do? …