In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:11-12, NKJV)
Growing up, my father always told me that Paul’s letter to the Ephesians was the most spiritual of the letters, and now, after 70 years in ministry, I want to share with you some of the blessings from Ephesians Chapter 1 that I want you to experience and enjoy in a completely new way.
The Apostle Paul wrote in v3, ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.’ To most of us, the ‘heavenly places’ are Heaven itself, something future. But what Paul is saying, is that God has blessed us NOW with all spiritual blessings - blessings which we should now be enjoying! Because in vv11-13 speak of Jesus Christ, ‘in whom we have obtained an inheritance, being pre-destinated according to the purpose of Him who works all things after the counsel of His Will, that we should be to the praise of His Glory…in whom you also trusted after you heard of the Truth, the Gospel of your salvation, in whom, after you believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise, the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession…’ This is so interesting. Paul is clearly saying, we have obtained an inheritance!
Now an inheritance is only received after somebody dies. As believers, we have the inheritance - because Christ died! And we inherit all the Glory and the Power and the Blessing - that Jesus had - and that He would receive - everything! He’s given all this - everything - to us as an inheritance! We need to live in that inheritance now!
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 that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:13-14, KJV)
Paul says that the Truth we have received, v13, is the Gospel of our salvation in Christ Jesus, in whom, after we believed, you were ‘sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance’, Paul is trying to express something very wonderful here! He says that when we received the Holy Spirit, He is the ‘earnest’, or foretaste, of the inheritance! So although we don’t get the full inheritance until we get into the Kingdom, we already have what I like to call the ‘down payment’ on the inheritance!
If the Holy Spirit is the down payment on our inheritance, it works like this: when you buy a car, it is unusual to pay for it outright; you pay a deposit, you buy the car on finance - and it’s yours, even though you’ve only paid the down payment. We’ve only got the down payment through the Holy Spirit, but that foretaste, that deposit, enables us to live ALL in the Glory of God!
Put it another way. The house I built and live in, I had to borrow the money over a period of 20 years, and I think I extended the payments even after that… I think in the end it took me 30 years to actually buy the house. But of course, when I made the down payment, I got the key! I put it in the front door, opened it, and I stood in the hallway. Is that where I stopped? No! I took possession of the whole house, every room, everything! Even though I had only made a down payment!
This is an illustration of the Holy Spirit in us! He’s the down payment, the key to open the door so that we can go in to ALL the Power and the Glory of the Holy Spirit, ALL the Power of God to possess it and enjoy it. We don’t stay in that one room, so that we can just boil a kettle and drink tea and nothing more – that ‘house’ is now ours, we’re living in it, enjoying every room, every part of it! So from that down payment, that key unlocks the whole! This is what Paul is emphasising here with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is literally that down payment, so that now we can enter into the whole!
I want to challenge you: for 70 years this is how I have lived! People wonder how, at my age, I can still preach the way I do, why I see the many miracles, and why God has so blessed my ministry - it’s because I learned, from my earliest days, the significance of this message that the Holy Spirit gives you the key to ALL the Glory and Power of God, the ability to do ALL that Jesus did! What did Jesus say? He said, I’m going to My Father, I will ask Him and He will send the Holy Spirit - and these works that I do, you will do and greater, because I’ve gone to My Father! I want you to understand, we CAN expect the greater miracles, the greater Power, the greater Glory!
The Power, the Glory – it’s ‘expansive’ – it grows, it gets bigger! I don’t mind admitting to you, the house I live in now wasn’t quite as big in those early days as it is now – but in ‘anticipation’, in expectation, I expanded it, I put more rooms on it, at one time I thought I’d never finish this house because I’m always adding to it. It’s a joke in the family that every time I look at it, I’m thinking, what else can I add on, what else can I do… How can I make it bigger, better, more beautiful?
It should be the same with the Holy Spirit! In my life, celebrating 70 years in ministry, this is how I have lived! This is my life’s experience with God! If I feel I have entered into all the ‘rooms’, let’s add some more on! Let’s get more of the Glory of God!
The danger is, our vision can be so diminished. If you live in a tiny little house with only two rooms, as it used to be in the old days in Yorkshire where I live, if this is your spiritual experience, your vision is very limited. But I want to tell you, whatever your limitations down here, when we get into the Kingdom of God, it will expand! BUT – I believe the expansion in Heaven is proportionate to the expansion down here. Only those who understand and live in the Power and the Glory – who live in that ‘house’ and expand that ‘house’ down here – only these will really know the true Glory Christ has! It’s only when we are redeemed into the Kingdom, that we will experience all the Power of God.
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, (Ephesians 1:18-19, KJV)
And I must bring you one last verse, 18, where Paul prays that the ‘eyes of your understanding might be enlightened, that you may KNOW what is the hope of His calling, and what are the riches of the Glory which is in the inheritance IN THE SAINTS’! And I pray that YOUR will be opened, that YOU will KNOW what the hope is, what the riches are – the riches and Glory of God – IN YOU! The riches of His Glory IN US! I want you to enter into the Power and the riches of that Glory! I want you to experience, not just what I have, but more… Ten times more! After 70 years in ministry, I’m still at the beginning, I’m only just exploring, I’m only in half the house, I haven’t got into the final rooms yet, I’ve still so much more to see here, before I finally get into the Glory of God!