Are You a Joint Heir with Christ? The Truth About Your Inheritance

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick, an Oklahoma rancher and farmer. Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for over 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, good to have everybody in with us again, and I guess this is what, number three? And we'll be turning back to Ephesians chapter one again. For those of you just joining us on television, we are just an informal Bible study. We've got all various groups, I guess, represented, and no one underwrites us. We're totally independent. And we always appreciate your letters, your gifts, because without it, we just couldn't do it. So we'd just like to let you know that all the past programs are available in the little books, and the tapes, and the audios. And we try to keep the cost as nominal as we can so that almost everyone can afford them. So if you're interested, you drop us a note or give us a call. Okay, I think that's enough for announcements. Let's be getting back to where we left off in Ephesians chapter one. And I'm going to touch on verse 10 just a few moments yet. I see Roy's already got verse 11 on the board, and that's as it should be. But we're going to take another quick look at chapter 10, that in the fullness of time, He's going to gather in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, the heavenly, and that which is on earth, the earthly. Everything is going to be brought together under His headship, or even in Him. Now if I can recap on the board a moment. From the call of Abraham especially now, everything concerned the nation of Israel, this is all the prophets, and the Psalms, and everything, were predominantly written for the benefit of the nation of Israel. In fact, let's show you a verse so that you don't say, well, where do you get this? Come back to Romans, chapter 3, verse 1 and 2. Romans 3, verse 1 and 2. What advantage then hath the Jew? What profit is there in circumcision? Do you see what those two questions say? Why was Israel in such a preeminent position? And as I've drawn various analogies, why were they feasting at Jehovah's table? Why, as Paul writes in Romans chapter 11, did they dwell on the root and the fatness of Abraham? Because they were so privileged. And this is what Paul is alluding to. Look at the privileges that the nation of Israel had. They had the beautiful temple early on, the presence of the Shekinah glory. They had the miracle working of power of God. They had the priesthood. But what was the preeminent thing that they had going for them? Next verse. "...much every way, but chiefly because that unto them were committed the Word of God." See that's what put Israel in such an enviable position. All during this time when he was dealing with the nation primarily Jew only, they had the Word of God from 1500 B.C. on, and the Gentiles were out there destitute of any of that. All right, now when you come on this side again, this is why the apostle Paul then becomes the apostle of Gentiles. His church letters are directed primarily to you and I as Gentiles in the Body of Christ, our heavenly position. And oh, what a difference in the language. You know, once in a while people will call me with a question from out in television, out of the Old Testament, and they're all hung up. And I said, look, it would be so simple to understand if you would just realize to whom it's being spoken. Well, it's written to the Jew under the Law, and that makes all the difference in the world, see. But oh, they fret with it, and they fuss with it, and they can't figure out why they can't understand it. Well, we're not under the Law. We're not Jews. Now on the other hand, the Jew today has a hard time comprehending Paul. I mean, he just avoids it like a plague, see, because it's not written to the Jew. It's written to the Gentile. And always keep that in your mind as you're reading these things. Okay, so where were we? Ephesians chapter 1 again, verse 10. So the heavenly and the earthly. Alright, let me recap on the board if I may. And so here's the earthly. The earthly kingdom that was promised to Israel, and they rejected it, and they funneled back into the mass of Gentile humanity. Almost lost their identity. But God kept His finger on them, and so the Jew is still out there. He's still a viable factor to be dealt with. In the meantime, the Body of Christ has been lifted out. They're a unique body or group of people, and whose end is going to be when we're raptured out. Now maybe we should have looked at that more in detail, but for now we'll let it go, because I'd like to move on to the next verse. Because now you see, after the church is out of the way, God has to pick up with the nation of Israel where He left off here, who have now been just floating along, you might say, through human history out there in the nations of the world. But now as we've seen in 1948, they became an independent nation, and now God can deal with the nation of Israel again. The church has to be out of the way, and He'll pick up with Israel where He left off back here, and He will finish His dealings in that seven years that are still future, that are still part and parcel of the Old Testament prophecies. And then when the earthly people are ready for the coming of their King, and that's what He will be. It'll be the coming of the King, and He will establish His rule and reign for a thousand years, and His revelation says so clearly, He shall be King of kings and Lord of lords. And in this thousand year reign then, that tenth verse becomes a fulfilled reality, where all things, the heavenly and the earthly, are brought together in Christ, even in Him. Well, I had some other verses in the back of my mind, but I think we'll move on. Otherwise somebody's going to give up, that we'll never get through Ephesians. But let's move on to the next verse. Verse 11 starts right off with a what? Prepositional phrase, in whom, see? In Christ again, in whom also we as members of this body of Christ, we have obtained a what? An inheritance. Now in order to have an inheritance, what do you have to have? Well, you have to have somebody who is going to share their wealth or whatever with you. Otherwise you've got nothing to inherit. All right, so where are we? Come back with me now to Romans chapter 8. I think it is Romans 8, and where does our inheritance originate? Well, Ephesians already has told us it's in Christ, but let's see where another portion refers to it. Romans 8, and come on down to verse 14, 15, 16 and 17. Romans 8. As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. So if there's no leading by the Holy Spirit, they're not a son. Verse 15. For he says, you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear. Now what's he talking about? Law and legalism. Anytime somebody puts the law on people, it puts them in a place of superstition and fear, scared to death that they're not doing things right, they're not doing enough. And Paul says, we've got none of that. But we have received the spirit of adoption, that is that which places us in Christ, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. We can call God our Father. We have every right to. Now here it comes. The Spirit Himself, the Holy Spirit, that member of the Godhead, the Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit. And what does the Holy Spirit tell us? That we are, not that we hope to be, that we might be, but that we are the children of God. Now then, what do most children, if they have a wealthily set of parents, what do they wait for? Their inheritance. I mean, that's normal. And there's nothing wrong with that. You know, I get a kick out of these people who go south every winter. We're spending our kids' inheritance. Well, that's well and good. But anyway, you know, that's the relationship. That when parents have wealth, the kids have an inheritance. All right? That's where we are. If we're children, and the verse ahead of it says we are, and if we're children, then it follows we're what? Heirs. See? Heirs. Heirs of God. Joint heirs with Christ. Now, goodness sakes, everybody knows what it is to be a joint heir, don't you? What does it mean? Everything's equal. In other words, you're not just going to get a little handout. Everything that's Christ's is ours. Oh, this is mind-boggling. But it's the promises. We take it by faith. See? All right. So if we're children, we're heirs. We are heirs of God. We're joint heirs with Christ. But it's going to have a price, if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together, that is, with Him. So there is a price to pay. Now, of course, we in America really don't know what it is to suffer for our faith. We may come under a little opposition, and of course, I think it's growing. But nevertheless, we're still in a nation that protects our freedoms and our liberties, so we don't know. But you see, there are a lot of areas of the world tonight that are under intense persecution. Thousands of believers are losing their life every day for their faith. But here's the promise that if we do suffer, we're going to certainly one day enjoy all the glory of it, as He says then in verse 18, the next verse. I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to even be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in or to us. So this is part and parcel then of our salvation experience, that yes, we are now children of God. If we're children of God, we're heirs of God. If we're heirs of God, we're joint heirs with Christ. It all just fits together. Back to Ephesians chapter 1. So in whom also, that is in Christ, with whom we are a joint heir, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance. You know, it just reminds me of a gentleman up in Minnesota, and I won't even refer to his background, but he started watching our program a few years ago, and came to know the Lord and what a testimony he's been. He's been in, I think, all our seminars up there, and last summer we were getting ready to speak in another church west of Minneapolis, and a young man came up and, oh, he says, you know so-and-so in St. Paul. I said, yeah, how did you? Well, he said, I used to work for him when I was working my way through the University of Minnesota, and he had a painting business, and I worked with him. And he said, every once in a while I'd ask him, I said, well, sir, are you going to go to heaven when you die? And he'd always say, I hope so. And Mark would come right back and say, then you're not. And he told me this himself, see, and he used to shake me up. But he said, then when I heard your program, and the Lord just opened my eyes to the gospel, and he'd just become a real testimony of God's grace. And so he was the one that was telling me this, see. And so he said, whenever he would ask me if I would go to heaven, he said, I'd say, I hope so. And he'd tell me, then you're not. And I said, you know what happened? That young man sowed the seed. I was able to reap the harvest, because had this young man not approached him time after time in the process of working for him, he would have never listened to me. But, oh, he did, and the Lord opened his heart. And so these things are exciting. But you see, it's not a hope so. It's not a religion. It's a position that we enjoy in Christ. And like I told you in a previous program, how do we know we're in Christ? By faith. The Bible says we are, and we believe it. We trust it. All right, now let's move on. So enjoying this inheritance, finding out that we're a joiner with Christ, now then it follows that we are predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. Now I've got so many references that come flying through my mind, I don't know where to go first. Really, I don't know where to go first. According to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. I think I'm going to look up the word counsel first. C-O-U-N-S-E-L Go back to Acts chapter 2. Though you've been with me for years and years, you know what the verse says. The counsel, the C-O-U-N-S -E-L. What's a good definition of counsel? Well, a meeting of the minds. See, you can appoint a committee to accomplish something. And so they meet. And out of that meeting comes some real concrete results. So what do you say they did? They counseled. They had a meeting of the minds and they agreed, okay, this is the way we're going to go. All right, now look what happened in the Godhead. Back there in Acts chapter 2, verse 23. And Peter is saying this. Peter is preaching to these Jews there on the day of Pentecost. And he says, "...him," speaking of Christ, "...being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and by wicked hands are crucified and slain." Do you know what that verse is saying? That's telling me that sometime way back in eternity past, before anything was ever called into being, there was still nothing. Remember, the Hebrew word in Genesis 1-1 is bara, which means, Dick can tell you, he knows the Hebrew and the Greek better than I do, out of nothing. Out of nothing. See, all right, when it was still nothing, the triune God had a counsel. They counseled with one another. And I always have to emphasize, since they were all members of the Godhead, they didn't have to deliberate for a half an hour. But nevertheless, the Trinity came together and in a counseled agreement set everything in motion. The three persons of the Trinity agreed that they would create the universe and that they would put one little planet down there, just like a speck in the midst of it. And on that planet, they would put the human race. And the human race would sin. It would fall out of fellowship with their Creator, and immediately He could promise a Redeemer. We get this all in Genesis chapter 3. And then the Redeemer is being prophesied all the way up through the Old Testament, all according to the predetermined counsel of God. And then one day, here He came, on the exact right moment in time. And when you analyze history, nothing would have ever worked out right, had He come a hundred years sooner or a hundred years later. But He came at just the exact right time, according to that predetermined counsel of the Godhead. See that, how beautiful everything fits? And then His foreknowledge, He says, "...you've crucified and slain." What does that tell you? God knew it. It was all in that predetermined plan of the ages, way back before anything was ever created, that Christ would go to the cross. Everything, see? Alright, now if you'll come back to Ephesians chapter 1. So everything that has been unfolding now for 6,000 years of human history, not to mention however long it was before that, that the universe was already out there spinning around. But whatever, everything was predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after that predetermined counsel in Acts chapter 2. You see that? Everything has been right on schedule. We don't know when the Lord's coming, but He does. And it's not going to be one hour too late. It's not going to be an hour early. It's going to be right on schedule. Alright, what is this purpose? Now let's go to 2 Timothy chapter 1. Boy, all these verses are always so good, I never know where to start. I just, I really don't. But let's go in at verse 7. 2 Timothy chapter 1, and let's just start at verse 7. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear. Now isn't that a comfort? We don't have to sit here and shake in our boots, scared to death of what's going to happen tomorrow, or the next day, or down the road away. We're not living under a spirit of fear, see? But we do operate under a spirit of power. Now you want to remember, our God is the one who spoke the Word in the universe. You know, I read an interesting little thing in our Sunday magazine, a parade, I don't know, some of you may get it. But there's an interesting gal in there, I read her almost every Sunday, Ask Marilyn, maybe some of you have seen it. Brilliant, brilliant woman. Somebody wrote and asked her that since he had told his little kid one day when they were having some recreation time on the beach, he had told his little 5 or 6 year old that for every grain of sand, there was also a star out in space. And then after he was done, he wondered whether his little kid would finally back him into the corner and say, Now Dad, prove it. And it is quite a statement. But you know what her answer was? The old scientist, I think he's dead now, Carl Sagan, had determined scientifically that in every handful of sand, now forgive me if I give the wrong figures, but I think it was 10,000 grains of sand. In a hand. And from that he determined that there are more stars out in space than there are grains of sands on all the beaches of this world. Now you think about that for a while. You think about that. Now I'm not saying that he was right on, but I would think that he wasn't just spitting into the wind as we say. I think that there's validity to that. That for every grain of sand, there's a star out there in space. Because the Scripture implies that as well. See, but whatever, this is the God that you and I belong to. And then we fear. My, we have nothing to fear. You know, Roosevelt even had that right. We have nothing to fear but fear itself. And, uh, no, it's Churchill said it. Go on West quote. Churchill said that we have nothing to fear but fear itself. Or did Roosevelt? Was it Roosevelt? Okay, I want to give credit where credit is due. But nevertheless, you know, our God is so powerful that we have nothing to fear. And here it is. See, we are not under a spirit of fear. We're under his power. All right, let's read on. We're not even close to the verse I want. We're under power and love of a sound mind. Now then, Paul says, Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner. But be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. Now, whenever you see that word power from this point on, you know what I want you to think of? The vastness of our outer space. And that God's in total control. I've never yet read an account of an astronomer who sees a star crashing into a star. Have you? No, I've never read of it. Now, they see explosions out there in the beginnings of still another new star. But I have never yet read the account of someone seeing through the Hubble or anything else an event such as one star colliding with another one. Why? Because my Bible tells me that the Creator not only created everything, but He holds everything exactly where it belongs. Now listen, if He can keep track of as many stars and celestial bodies as there are grains of sand on the beaches of this world, then I know He keeps track of me. And you can rest assured that He's keeping track of you. I mean, that's a God that's beyond human understanding, but that's the God of this Book. Alright, let's read on. Verse 9. Here it comes now. This God, with all of this power being manifested, has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose. And where was that purpose originally generated? Back during Acts chapter 2, when the Godhead came together and precipitated everything according to their counsel. And here it comes, see. And according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus. Now this is why I took you back to Acts. When? Before the world began. This was already in the mind of God in that counsel that predetermined everything that you read about in Acts chapter 2. That's where God already had us on His mind. That's why Paul could write in Ephesians that He is choseneth in Him before the foundation of the world. I mean, it's just mind boggling. The only thing we can do is take it by faith. I can't understand it, I can't comprehend it, but it's what the Word declares. Alright, so we were called, not according to our works, but according to His purposes, which of course is completely wrapped up in the grace of God. Okay, let's go back to Ephesians. I think we only got a minute or two left. Ephesians chapter 1 again. Oh, doesn't it thrill you when you see how the whole book fits together? How that we were predestined according to the purpose, which is all under the control of the power of God. And so we are predestined according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things, everything, out in space, up in the heavens, on the earth, wherever. Everything is working according to the counsel of His own will. See that? Alright, now then verse 12. All of this is for one purpose. This is why we are what we are. This is why we are who we are. That we should be to the praise of His glory. Oh, if believers could just get a little excited about this fact, that the reason we're left here, the reason God gives us breath day after day, is that we might bring praise to His glory. Now I just thought of a verse, but we haven't got time to look at it. But in Hebrews, Hebrews speaks of that I may offer unto Him the sacrifice of praise, the what? The work of my lips, which is praise to God. This is what He's looking for, and that's the whole purpose of everything. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.