This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Considering the Church” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, June 5, 1994.
About this sermon
Ephesians 1 reframes inheritance entirely: what God gives his people is himself, and what they receive in turn is not a set of blessings but God’s own presence. Joshua and Moses supply the Old Testament pattern this fulfills. The whole shape of Ephesians turns on that double, personal inheritance.
Sermon transcript
This morning we are reading from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, and we are beginning with a reading of chapter 1. This is chapter 1 of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. I’ll give you attention to the reading of God’s word. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.
Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him, 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, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. 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 the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance. until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of His glory. Wherefore, I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Him, 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, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places. Far above all principality and power and might and dominion in every name that is named, not only in this world but also in that which is to come, and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.”
Let’s pray together now. Our God, you graciously give us your word that we might profit, and Lord, we rejoice in that. But we also offer up the prayer that your word would in fact be powerful this day. We know, Lord, that your word shall accomplish your purpose, but we are asking that this day you may show the power of that word in us, but also in other places in the world. Our prayer is for those servants of yours who read and proclaim the word before the peoples of the earth today, that there might be those who are high and those who are low, those rich and poor, those who have prospered and those who are in want, who hear that word and are straightened by it. O Lord, Teach them, the peoples of the earth, by the gospel, the truth with respect to yourself and with respect to the purpose and meaning of life. We pray it in Jesus’ name. Amen.
You can see western Pennsylvania from Ephesus. You can see, quickly, from the summit of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. E. K. Simpson of Oxford once wrote, Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is the Tizgah Survey of the Land of Promise. You will recall that Mount Tizgah is that summit in the territory of Moab, on the east side of the River Jordan, from which Moses, in his last hours, was permitted to see the Promised Land of Canaan, although he was not permitted to enter that land. Professor Simpson’s remark is meant to call attention to the high level at which this epistle to the Ephesians moves. With Ephesians in hand, we are like Moses on Pisgah, capable both of seeing the whole of the camp of God’s people—that is, the Church—and the whole of the anticipated inheritance—that is, the land of promise—to say nothing of the fact that we are enabled from this vantage point to see the entirety of God’s purpose and intention from the foundation of the world. Now, Professor Simpson’s comment is literally compelling and powerful. It is also true as far as it goes. But unfortunately, as good as it is, it falls short of the true heights to which Ephesians would take us.
Those heights are not found in Moses on a mountain in Moab. Interestingly, they are found in Moses’ successor, in Joshua, who, rather than Moses viewing the promised inheritance from a distance, actually entered into that inheritance to possess it. As we stare into the story, then, into the story of Joshua, Moses’ successor, we see clearly the form of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Joshua leads Israel into the blessings of the land of Canaan. Jesus Christ leads us, his Church, into the blessings of heaven. The famous opening, then, to Ephesians, that third verse of the first chapter, makes this connection quite clear. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
And as Joshua passes through the River Jordan to assume his position as prince and judge over Israel in the land of Canaan, so Jesus Christ passes through death in order to assume his position as Prince and Judge over the Church in Heaven. It’s also in keeping with what Paul tells us in this first chapter. In the twentieth verse, Paul says, the Father of Glory raised Christ from the dead. and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.
Therefore, the crossing of the Jordan River by the Israelites in Joshua forecasts the greater crossing from death to life that those serving reunited to Jesus Christ experience. Israel’s crossing brings to them enjoyment in Canaan under Joshua. But as Ephesians 2 verse 6 tells us, the church’s crossing is by a resurrection. We are raised up with Christ, says Paul, and seated with him, not in Canaan, but in the heavenly places, in the regions eternal above. further with respect to this parallel between Joshua and Jesus.
The word about Joshua, by way of the Israelites, reverberates throughout the land of Canaan, so that the potentates and powers of that land, entrenched in it, tremble and are even brought to the brink of destruction. But note how this parallel works itself out with regard to Jesus Christ. The word about Jesus Christ, chapter 3, verse 10 in Ephesians, the word about Jesus Christ is made known through the church, it seems, to the rulers and the principalities in heavenly places themselves. so that these rulers and principalities, these spiritual powers, tremble and are brought to the brink of destruction. And one more parallel in this regard.
Joshua is a warrior. for he leads the people of Israel in a fight against the tribes that inhabit Canaan. The war is against flesh-and-blood enemies for the securing and maintaining of Canaan. It is waged not only by Joshua the leader, but by the people of Israel themselves, both those then with Joshua at the time of the conquest and those in the succeeding generations. They secure and are to maintain the inheritance that has been granted to them in Joshua.
But note now what is said in Ephesians 6 verse 12. That verse states with respect to the Church and our ongoing struggle. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against powers, against the darkness of this world, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. So we see that the Old Testament book of Joshua provides for us a powerful background against which we may view the New Testament letter of Paul to the Ephesians. A background much more appropriate to Paul’s thinking at this point than that found in the Old Testament story about Moses.
Unlike Jesus, Moses stops short of the promised inheritance and does not lead God’s people into that inheritance. But like Jesus, Joshua enters that inheritance and leads God’s people into its enjoyment. Unlike Jesus, Moses does not organize the people of God for the continuing fight against those who have usurped rank and place in the inheritance. On the other hand, like Jesus, Joshua does nothing less.”
Now, it is in this world of reference and correspondence created by the relationship between Joshua the book of Joshua and Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, that the surpassing excellence of Paul’s message blazes brilliantly upon us. For, you see, it won’t be enough merely to make parallel judgments with respect to Ephesians and Joshua. Such parallel judgments will end short of the great and exceeding excellence that we are to see in the administration of Jesus Christ. That administration going far beyond anything that Joshua could have granted to the children of Israel.
Take, for example, the whole issue of the inheritance. It’s a subject of great concern to the book of Joshua, for you have in that book the parceling out of the land to the tribes, the inheritances granted to each of the tribes as they go into the land of promise. So take this whole issue of the inheritance. In Joshua, the inheritance is the land. In Joshua, the inheritance is the land of Canaan.
But in Ephesians, the inheritance is associated with what Paul calls the heavenly places, and we have listed all the passages this morning, if you are taking note, we have listed all the passages in Ephesians in which Paul mentions the heavenly places. Now, I say that the inheritance in Ephesians is associated with the heavenly places. I am not identifying the inheritance as the heavenly places, but I am saying to you that in Ephesians the inheritance is associated with the heavenly places.
And I say this because Paul does not merely intend to suggest that the Jews with Joshua got the land while the Church with Jesus did not. that is not his intention. In fact, so much does Paul wish to avoid what would become a trite and tired equation, namely that the land in the Old Testament equals heaven in the New, that he turns the references to the inheritance on their heads. He throws into his statements about the inheritance a complication, lest you make that equation, in your own mind, too simply, too easily, and thus dismiss it.
If you look, then, at Ephesians chapter one, verses ten beginning at the end of that tenth verse. You will notice as he moves on, Paul moves on into the eleventh verse, that he makes reference then specifically, explicitly to the inheritance. Now, he has implied it much Previously, he will note that in verse 5, when he speaks about the adoption of children, the adoption of sons, and that brings into view the whole issue of the inheritance. But now, we’re looking at verses 10 and 11, specifically as Paul speaks of the inheritance.
This is what Paul says, “…in him,” that is, in Christ, “…we have obtained an inheritance.” Or, as the margin of one version puts it, We are made to be heirs. Paul, however, does not tell us what the inheritance is. He just mentions it, but he doesn’t identify it. He doesn’t tell us what we are heirs of.
Now I want you to drop down to verses 13 and 14, where Paul once more is going to speak about this inheritance. He tells us in those two verses that Christians have been sealed in Christ with the Holy Spirit of promise. The Holy Spirit, then, verse 14, given as a pledge, the old word earnest used there in the King James, means pledge or down payment. The Holy Spirit is given as a pledge of our inheritance. Now, we might think at this point, at least at this point, now Paul will come right out and tell us what the inheritance is. But even though he hints at it, and the hint is there for us if we have the ears to hear it, even though the hint is there, he does not come out explicitly and tell us what the inheritance is.
But you will note now how he progresses in that fourteenth verse. He goes on to use the most surprising language. in the words that follow as he speaks about this inheritance that is all so important. As I said earlier to you, it is this language then in the fourteenth verse of that first chapter that will turn the usual ways of talking about the inheritance on their heads. In explanation of the inheritance then mentioned there at the beginning of the fourteenth verse, Paul goes on to say, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession.
That’s the New American Standard rendering of it, or as the King James puts it, until the redemption of the purchased possession, a more literal translation. Now, however you translate it, King James or New American Standard, that is indeed an odd way of stating the case, or speaking about this inheritance which we would think of as our own.
You see, as we start out that 14th verse, we in fact do hear about our inheritance. Underscore that word, our. We hear about our inheritance, that is, what we are to possess. But as Paul progresses, instead of telling us specifically what it is we shall possess, he throws us a curve, a complication of language. Instead of telling us what we shall possess, he next talks about what God shall possess. Now, the New American Standard may paraphrase this verse by its translation, but that translation certainly catches the sense of Paul’s meaning with a view so likes Paul, to the redemption of God’s own possession. In other words, rather than telling us outright what we shall inherit, Paul tells us what God will inherit. And what does God inherit? Well, in keeping with the language there, of redemption, he inherits what he has redeemed. And what has he redeemed? He has redeemed us. God inherits us. We are God’s inheritors.
Now, if you are having trouble seeing this point or if it is a bit confusing for you, I want you to look at one more verse, verse 18. Here you have given to you the magnificent, compact statement of the content of Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians. Paul is asking that the eyes of the Ephesians’ hearts may be enlightened. And this to the end, so goes that verse, this to the end, that they might know the hope of God’s calling.
Now, here, what is said in conclusion, not only that they might know the hope of God’s calling, but that they also might know the riches of the glory of God’s inheritance in the saints.” Underscore those words at the end of verse 18, “…the riches of the glory of God’s inheritance in the saints.” Paul does not say, at this point, the riches of the glory of Ireland. Rather, he says, the riches of the glory of God’s inheritance. God here is portrayed as the imperator. He is the heir. The inheritance is his.
We don’t ordinarily think like that. We don’t even talk like that. Ordinarily, when it comes to the matter of inheritance, As we give religious consideration to that subject, we are thinking about our inheritance, what comes to us. We are the inheritors, we are the heirs, are we not? The heirs of those things that God has intended to give us. But here, God is portrayed as the inheritor, as the heir. in view is the inheritance that he has in his saints.
Now, the question rises as to why, why in the world would Paul put the matter like this? Why would he turn this language about inheritance on its head? Well, there are a couple of answers to that. We don’t have time to go into all of them this morning, but just a couple for you, for your consideration. First of all, Paul is endeavoring to set before those who hear him the priority of God in everything. even before you are an heir. Precisely against the background of that inheritance that is yours is set the fact that God himself is air and in parable, and this to underscore the absolute sovereignty and supremacy of God.
Is there anything like Ephesians chapter 1 in setting that in front of you? Have you not often read Ephesians 1 and just been swept up with the statements here that come in crescendo fashion concerning God and His greatness, His glory, His magnificence? Are you not overwhelmed at times by what you see here with respect to God? I invite you merely to look at verses 5 and 6. of this chapter.
He predestined us to the adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace. Now, that’s what he says at the beginning. You’re swept around by that at the conclusion of the chapter. and overwhelmed by the priority of God, and that, to the intent that you might have impressed upon you, the absolute sovereignty, the absolute sovereignty and supremacy of God in all things. Paul will not diminish God. Even when it comes to this matter of inheritance, God has the priority. We are even driven to think of Him first. But there’s another reason why the statement comes as it does, in this fashion, the focus upon God’s inheritance, the fact that He is there, rather than the reverse.
And this is because we are tempted to think about that inheritance that comes to us in terms of things. And Paul is going to preface on this point by taking up the matter of God and His inheritance first, that we might be disabused of that kind of thinking.
You see, under Joshua, God’s people inherited what seemed to be earthly possessions—things, things that they could handle and touch, things that they could carry around, things that they could amass, things that could prove to them how important they were. Under Joshua, then, God’s people inherited things, seemingly. Under Jesus Christ, God’s people are tempted to think that their inheritance consists simply of heavenly things. The temptation then is to think of our inheritance, moving along this analogy from Joshua to Jesus.
Our inheritance must be of things, heavenly things, but things nonetheless. But it is precisely here that the excellency of the revelation given us in Jesus Christ, and the excellence of the redemption we have in Him, shows itself. In Jesus Christ, the greatness of that inheritance, that which exceeds what Joshua could deliver, comes through. And to press home the point, Paul talks about God’s inheritance, not of things, but of us, persons. And starting there, you see, he is obviously implying the alternative consideration. starting with God’s inheritance of us. He is pushing us, then, to consider that our inheritance does not consist of things, even heavenly things, but it consists of God. You are an heir of God. as a child of God, as a son of God, you are an inheritor of God. God is giving himself to you that he might be your possession.
We are forced then to this conclusion when we consider the flip side of Ephesians 1.18. Yes, as Paul says, we are to know the riches of the glory of God’s inheritance in his saints, but we are also to know the riches of the glory of our inheritance in God.
God is my fortune. God is my inheritance. forever. My goal is to enjoy God forever. And that through the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is mine, and I am His. The comfort and encouragement of this truth, specifically that we are God’s inheritance, is nothing short of overwhelming. You see, God will not be robbed of his inheritance. God will not be robbed of his inheritance. Now it is amazing to me that so many of you can sleep through this message.
I’m embarrassed for you. Because it seems as if even the thought of the inheritance that God is for you, it is not sufficient to stir your soul to pay attention for a short time on Sunday morning. Do you know that it is a sin to sleep in church? And you will be judged for that just as much as the adulterer the fornicator and the adulterer and the idolater. Now we turn on the fans so you can all stay awake and I put up with the noise and I have to speak above the din of the fans that it is incomprehensible to me. that I can stand here on a Sunday morning and watch half of the congregation go to sleep while the word of God has been proclaimed. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves.
Especially when you are considering the facts. that your God will not be robbed of his inheritance. And you see, that means he never goes to sleep. Our Father in Heaven, we ask you that you may set before us the excellence of that inheritance which you have in your saints, in us, your children. We pray, our Father, that we would appreciate to the depths of our souls the magnificence of that inheritance which we have in you.
Please, O Lord, stir our souls that such things as we read out here in Ephesians chapter 1 would grab hold of us, lest we come to that day, that day in which Christ shall appear, and we would find ourselves as those devoid of a spirit capable of response to those very things that are spoken of here.
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