“11 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, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 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, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
We dove into the first phrase, "in him". Now we must grapple with the next, "we have obtained an inheritance". What is this inheritance? How do we obtain it? What does this mean? How is this connected to sovereign grace?
The inheritance that we we obtain "in him" is that of the Kingdom of God. We have been transferred from the Kingdom of Darkness to the Kingdom of the Beloved Son. You see, by being "in him" we have all that he has. Just take a look at Ephesians 1:3-10 for a sense of the inheritance.
We gain this inheritance by being "in him" and get to be "in him" by his grace. There is nothing that we can do to earn our way into being "in him" we are all broken beyond recognition. That's the way it is. If you don't believe me, look in the mirror. Seriously, can you tell me you're not broken? I know I am. I am broken beyond self-repair.
So, we need help, we need to be brought in and we are done so by his grace. Check out Ephesians 2.
This all means that we have been given something that is bigger than ourselves and we have a responsibility to do something with it. We must act now in response. We don't have to. That is the beauty of sovereign grace. We are not needed but we are wanted. This is significant. It means that we can respond to God in proportion as we come to grips with a deeper more full understanding of his grace.
We can't judge ourselves by others. We can only look at the inheritance and ask, "How am I responding?"
So, how are you responding? What kind of grace have you experienced?
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