Philippians (Lesson 35)

I greet you once again in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

And I welcome you one more time to the preaching of the cross radio broadcast.

We sure try to make the best use of the time that God has given us.

In fact, sometimes, like on the last program, yours truly gets so caught up in discussing God's word that I lose track of the time.

We just ran right into nothingness on the last broadcast.

I'll try to be a little more careful today, but you just can't make any promises when God's word is so blessed, and God's word contains so many things to encourage and strengthen and help us, it's just uh you just gotta give it all you got.

We are studying the Bible book of Philippians, the Bible book of Philippians, and we are in the third chapter, we are discussing the matter of well, what we have in Jesus Christ, what Jesus Christ wants to make us through the indwelling Holy Spirit as a result of our salvation, and we are, I suppose, for lack of a better way of introducing the subject, we are going to continue today to discuss our inheritance.

Our inheritance.

And let's start for context in Philippians three and verse number eight.

Philippians three, verse number eight.

Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ.

This is the testimony of Paul the Apostle, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

He says, I would take everything in the world and consider it waste in comparison to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 9, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.

And as we saw last time, the righteousness that will get you to heaven is not your living right, it's not your doing right.

When a man, a woman, a teenager, a boy, or a girl puts their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, God, in exchange for their faith in Christ, will impute, that is, give to credit, give credit to the account of that individual, the very righteousness of Jesus Christ Himself.

So I am not counting on my goodness to get me to heaven.

I realize I had none.

I trusted Jesus Christ, and God imputed or credited to my account the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and it is His righteousness that I am counting on to get me to heaven.

How about you?

Then the Bible says in verse 10 that I may know him.

And here is the desire of the Christian.

I am saved by Jesus.

I am righteous because of Jesus.

God did that in a moment of time when I trusted him.

Now I sure would like to get to know him.

I sure would like to develop a relationship with the one who saved me by his grace.

You know, the Bible uses a number of pictures to explain and to describe our relationship with Jesus Christ.

One is in Ephesians 5, the relationship of a bride to a bridegroom or of a wife to a husband.

And this is going to sound a little old fashioned to you, but it's Bible and it's right.

It used to be back in the old days, that a man would set his eye upon a woman and fall in love with her, and he would woo that woman and pursue that woman, and in time she would fall in love with him and they would consent to be married, and after they got married, they'd get to know each other.

After they got married, they'd spend their lifetime building and developing a relationship.

They became man and wife in a moment of time.

But then they worked out that relationship and developed that relationship the rest of their lives as they came to know one another.

In a moment of time, I became saved by the grace of God.

In a moment of time, Jesus Christ became my Savior.

Now I'm going to spend the rest of my lifetime developing a relationship with that Savior, getting to know that Savior.

That's what the Holy Spirit has Paul write about in this place.

Verse ten goes on to say that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect.

That's what we talked about a broadcast or two ago.

I am saved, but I'm not yet perfected.

That is, God has not yet completed or finished the work he's going to do in me, but I follow after.

If that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus, brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark.

For the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Now, I mentioned last time that our inheritance was guaranteed.

And that confused some because there is much in the Bible about rewards that stand to be earned.

And I'm going to show you today that it is indeed a Bible truth that rewards in the thousand year millennial kingdom of Christ on earth, and perhaps even into eternity, rewards are earned by faithful servants, but never is our inheritance spoken of as an earned reward.

It is always something that is granted freely, something that is guaranteed on the basis of our relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Reward and inheritance are entirely different.

In fact, look at the wording here, Philippians 3 13.

I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind.

It's certain, it's definite.

There is a life in the past from which Jesus Christ saved me.

And reaching forth unto those things which are before.

He did not say they might be before.

He did not say I hope they are before.

He did not say I'm working to make it possible so they can be before.

He said, Just as surely as my life of sin is in the past, there is something waiting for me in the future that I haven't got my hands on yet, but it's not a doubtful thing, it's not an iffy thing, it is stated as a certain fact.

Look at verse 14.

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Now he says that mark, that prize, that high calling is his future.

There's no doubt about it.

Is there a resurrection in his future?

Verse 10, yes, certainly.

But he's reaching for it.

Is there a prize in his future, a mark to be met?

Is there a high calling of God in the future?

Sure there is.

And he says he hasn't laid hold on it yet, but it is certain.

I'm running, I'm reaching because I want to get a hold on it now.

I don't want to wait until I die and go to heaven.

I want to get a hold on this thing right now.

But the outcome is not in doubt.

It's not a question of whether or not these things shall be mine, it's just a matter of when shall they be mine now, while they can benefit others or later.

Alright, turn to Galatians chapter three.

Galatians chapter number three.

Here the Bible says in verse 18, 4 if the promise, or I'm sorry, if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise.

But God gave it to Abraham by promise.

This we learn from the New Testament epistles regarding inheritance.

It is not earned by meeting a set of legal requirements.

It is attained because God promised it, and that is the sole basis of our or any run receiving the inheritance.

God gave me a promise.

Do I have eternal life?

Yes.

How do I know I'll have it tomorrow?

God promised me eternal life.

It's not an earned reward, it's a gift of God.

How do we know that we'll have an inheritance when we step on the other side?

Because it's not an earned reward.

It's not a result of keeping laws or meeting standards.

It is given me by promise from God.

And praise his name for that.

318 of Galatians, before we go to another passage.

318, look at it, look at it carefully.

Listen carefully if you can't look, for if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

Okay, Ephesians 1.

Ephesians 1, verse 3.

Ephesians 1:3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

Now look at some of these blessings.

Verse 7, in whom we have redemption through his blood.

Do you have that right now?

I do.

I do.

Number two, verse seven, forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.

My sinning won't bankrupt his grace, my failing won't bankrupt his grace.

I've got that right now.

Number three, verse ten.

That in the dispensation of the fullness 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.

Do you see that?

I'm not working to earn an inheritance.

Now there are passages in the New Testament which instruct me as to how to work for reward within the sphere of that inheritance, but I am not working for an inheritance.

I have already obtained forgiveness.

I have already obtained redemption.

I have already obtained an inheritance.

It is mine.

God said so, he promised it to me.

Number four, the eyes of your understanding be enlightened that ye may know what is the hope of his calling.

That's what we have in Philippians 3, his calling, the high calling of God.

The hope of his calling, what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward 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.

When God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, he made him heir of all things.

Romans eight told me, we saw it just a couple of broadcasts ago, that when God puts me in Christ, he makes me a joint heir with Christ of all things, just as surely as the death of Christ was reckoned to my account, just as surely as the resurrection of Christ was reckoned to my account, just as surely as the righteousness of Christ was reckoned to my account, even so the Bible says the inheritance of Jesus Christ has already been reckoned to my account.

Isn't that amazing?

Listen to me, I'm not working to earn a place in heaven, it's mine.

I'm not working to earn God's blessing and favor in heaven.

He already gave that to me on the sole basis of my trust in Christ.

You know something that that is two things are sweeping our country.

Outside the fundamental Bible believing circles, it's pure humanism.

God serving the lusts of your flesh.

But inside, inside fundamental and Bible believing circles, the frustration over seeing so many abandoned biblical Christianity for non-biblical humanism and self-love.

This is being countered by threatening saved people, telling them that now that they've trusted Jesus, if they don't do enough good works, they're still going to go to hell.

Now God's not going to lie just because you're not doing right.

God is not going to break his word just because you are dishonest or I am dishonest.

If God promised an inheritance, if God promised eternal life, that's what He is going to provide.

Look at Ephesians 5, verse 5.

Ephesians 5:5

Ephesians 5, 5.

For this ye know that no whormonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

That must make the reference to the unbeliever.

If you're a whormonger, covetous man, unclean person, you don't have an inheritance.

You know what that means?

That means you might have walked an aisle and bowed a knee and prayed a prayer and gotten a tank of water, but you didn't get washed in the blood.

Because the Holy Ghost of God will work a change in your life when he moves in.

I didn't say Christians don't sin.

I said this business of an unbroken line of living an unchanged way of life from start to finish, and somewhere along the way you're going to tell me you met Jesus, but it didn't even make a blip on the radar screen.

That's not in the Bible.

That's not found anywhere in the pages of the Word of God.

You got preachers today living worse lives than lost men lived fifty years ago.

Is it any wonder things are going on that are going on in the congregation?

Praise God.

You saved?

Sure.

You washed in the blood?

Sure.

You got any evidence of that?

Yeah, I'm not a whoremonger.

Yeah, I'm not an unclean person.

Yeah, I'm not an idolater.

I don't bow down to money or sell for pleasure or sports day after day, night after night.

Whoremongering gospel singers, whoremongering preachers, whoremongering deacons, whoremongering church members.

What kind of salvation is that?

I can't find that in the Bible.

Come on now.

We're just reading the scripture.

Verse six, let no man deceive you with vain words, for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.

Not the children of God.

I'm a child of God.

I'm not a child of disobedience.

I'm not under wrath.

I'm under grace.

But if my life shows no evidence of a deliverance from sin, and shows only the desire to sin and the love for sin and a longing for sin, I wouldn't let anybody deceive me.

I might deceive everybody else, but God said, Don't let everybody else deceive you.

Hey, I know saved people that struggle with sins, but they struggle with it.

They don't excuse it, try to justify it, get mad when everybody tries to deal with them about it.

You don't care about sin, it doesn't bother you, it doesn't embarrass you.

What kind of salvation is that?

You must have gotten it from Buddha or Muhammad or Confucius.

You didn't get it from Jesus.

He's holy.

Let no man deceive you.

Then the Bible says in verse 7, be not ye therefore partakers with them.

Okay, I'm not one of them.

So I'm not gonna hang out with them.

They're not gonna entertain me.

I'm not gonna watch them.

Live with them, dwell with them, converse with them, participate with them.

We're going to heaven by grace.

It's a saving grace.

And it will change your life.

Alright, Colossians 12.

Let's go there.

I'm sorry, Colossians 12.

That'd be hard, that'd be a hard place to go.

Colossians 1 verse 12.

Colossians 1:12

Now, if you were looking for Colossians 12, stick with us.

Colossians 1 12, giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.

God makes you deserving.

God makes you worthy.

Chapter three, verse twenty two.

Servants.

Obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, and not with eye service as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart fearing God, and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men.

See, that's our life in the eyes of others.

But watch.

Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ.

Look, I know something.

I know I shall receive an inheritance.

I may not receive the reward of lands.

I may not receive the reward of authority.

I may not receive the reward of crowns, but I will receive the inheritance.

God said that.

So I'm counting on it, and I'm happy about it.

Okay, quickly, quickly, quickly.

Hebrews chapter 9.

Hebrews 9 · chapter mention

Hebrews chapter 9.

Hebrews 9 · chapter mention

What is the condition to be met for receiving this inheritance?

Hebrews 9 11, but Christ.

Being common high priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, that's the Old Testament sacrifices, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained, he obtained by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

You see that?

The blood that redeems you in Ephesians, that's eternal.

It's not a temporary thing, it's not a conditional thing, it's a permanent work of God.

When the blood washes your sins away, and when God imparts redemption to you as a believer, that is eternal.

13, 4.

If the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh, religion might make you clean on the outside.

Verse 14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offer himself without spot together.

God purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Look, Jesus will take care of you on the inside.

50.

And for this cause, for this cause, because Jesus shed his blood to make me clean, he is the mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, that's his death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, okay, Jesus died to pay for, to redeem me from all my transgressions with his blood, inside and out.

That's what it said.

Okay, now because of that, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

How do I know that I'm going to receive the eternal inheritance?

Because God promised it to me.

On the basis of what?

Not my service, but Jesus' death for me on the cross.

The blood that Jesus shed secures my inheritance.

That's why we preach the blood of Christ, not good works.

Good works follow, but they won't get you to heaven.

Quickly, quickly, first Peter chapter one verse two.

Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through the sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.

There's that blood again.

Grace unto you and peace be multiplied.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy don't deserve it, its mercy hath begotten us again.

There's the new birth.

Unto a lively hope.

There's something I'm looking forward to.

By the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, that's Philippians three, right?

We're right back where we started.

Now watch.

To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.

On what basis?

Who are kept by the power of God.

Glory to his name.

Not only did I get an inheritance when God washed me in his blood, but he said that inheritance is incorruptible.

He said that inheritance is undefiled.

He said that inheritance does not fade away.

He said that inheritance is reserved in heaven for me.

And God didn't say He's keeping the inheritance.

He said He's keeping me fit for the inheritance.

I am kept by the power of God.

I am kept by the power of God.

The verse goes on to say, through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.

How about that, ladies and gentlemen?

Nowhere in the New Testament does the Bible say that the inheritance is earned.

Rewards may be earned.

Lands, authority, crowns, but the inheritance is always freely given as part and parcel with the gift of God which is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, freely given to all those who put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ and are saved through his precious blood.

Amen.

Glory to God, hallelujah, praise his holy name forever.

Amen and amen.

All right, we're about done.

I'm gonna stop on time today.

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