A Predestined Inheritance – Ephesians 1:11
Ephesians 1:11 emphasizes that through union with Jesus Christ, believers have already obtained an eternally secure inheritance. This inheritance is not a mere possibility for the future; it is a current reality for those who are saved, granted through adoption as full children of God rather than “stepchildren”. This lavish gift includes the total forgiveness of sins, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and the promise of a future where all things are made new. Because believers are co-heirs with Christ, even future blessings like the resurrection are considered already owned, ensuring that there is no way for a child of God to fail to receive what has been allotted to them.
This certain inheritance is rooted in God’s sovereign providence, as it was predestined according to His unchangeable purpose before the foundation of the world. God’s will is the only truly free and perfect will, and He actively works “all things”—from the course of nations to the beating of a human heart—according to His own wise and deliberate counsel. Even suffering and seemingly random events are carefully orchestrated by God to accomplish the ultimate redemption of His people. Understanding that God is in total control should lead believers to live with humility, patience, and bold confidence, knowing that the God who began a good work in them will surely bring it to completion.
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In Ephesians chapter 1, last week we looked at verses 8 and 9 again. We looked at the fact that God lavishes His wisdom and insight on us. We focused our attention on the fact that the Holy Spirit is the one who enlightens us, who opens our blind eyes. In our unredeemed state, we are unable to understand the mystery of God’s will in Christ Jesus. But Holy Spirit, through the proclamation of the gospel in His time and in His way, opens our eyes to see Christ as that treasure, as that pearl of great price, and we, in that moment, believe in Jesus and are saved. Today, we are still in the same sentence in the original Greek. Remember from verses 3 through 14, it’s all one long sentence. It is just word vomit from Paul all at one time on his worship of God. It is his wonder at the salvation that God has given to us who believe. It is just one long doxology of theology as we have stated along the way. Verse 11 is a continuation of that same sentence, and Paul now comes in verse 11 to show us one of the great outcomes of God’s sovereign plan.
And it is that we have obtained an inheritance in Christ, and that inheritance is eternally secure. This verse teaches us about God’s sovereign providence. The main truth for us here today is that the God who predestined our inheritance is the God who actively works all things according to the counsel of His will. Nothing is outside of God’s control. Every moment, every detail of all of existence from the rising and then setting of the sun to the beating of your heart, to the, as scripture says, the fall of a sparrow, the course of governments and nations, all things are governed by God’s providential plan. Amen. And especially so in the context where we are in this long sentence, that God is sovereign in bringing about the eternal inheritance that He has prepared for every one of His chosen, adopted children in Christ. So if you will stand with me for the reading of God’s Word.
Once again, as the context clearly demonstrates, the “in Him” here is Christ, is Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, the second person of the Trinity, God Himself. In Him, in Christ Jesus, the one who will unite all things in Him, in things in heaven and things on earth. We just read about in verse 10. In Him we have obtained an inheritance. Who’s the “we”? This is Christians. This is Paul, the apostle, writing to fellow Christians, those who have been saved. Once again, teaching them what their salvation means, how it came about, what it means for us, what the benefits are. This is one of those benefits. If you are a believer in this room, if you are a saved individual, you can state this phrase honestly: You have obtained an inheritance. That is true of you in this room already, if you’re a Christian. There’s not a “will be,” there’s not a “maybe.” You have obtained an inheritance. Because we have been united with Christ, in Him we are made heirs, co-heirs with Him of all the spiritual blessings, of all the inheritance that God has for His chosen people.
Remember earlier on in verse 5, he talks about us as being adopted, correct? So what comes along with being adopted into a family? All the benefits of inheritance. We have those now because we are His. We have been made heirs. We have obtained an inheritance. That word in Greek carries the idea of being allotted or it’s appointed a portion by God Himself. In the Old Testament, Israel was called God’s special inheritance, His treasured possession that He pulled out of Egypt to be a people for His own name, which you can read about in Deuteronomy 4 and 32. And now, in the new covenant made by Christ’s blood, believers, both Jews and Gentiles, are also claimed by God as His portion, His inheritance. And because we have been made His portion, we have been made heirs to receive of His portion, of His eternal riches. And I think we have explained the richness, the lavishness of all the grace that God has bestowed upon His people.
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say then that His inheritance is also rich and lavish beyond all measure. Your inheritance is not like you get point one percent. “Now, this guy, he gets 99% because he’s really good. But you, you just kind of squeaked by.” No. It is full. It doesn’t say obtained a portion of an inheritance. It’s an inheritance, a full inheritance as a son and daughter. This inheritance would include things like the forgiveness of all of our sins. So I’m glad that the inheritance is not a portion. Amen. It’s all our sins. He has adopted us as sons and daughters. We’re not stepchildren. We’re not just people that kind of lived in His home for a little while, so we’re like, “We adopted Him. He’s part of the fam.” No, no, no. We are His children. Full inheritance. We have been given the Holy Spirit Himself, which we’ll talk more about in the next few verses. We’ve been given the promise of what we talked about last week or two weeks ago, that in the fullness of time, all things are going to be united in Him, things in heaven and things on earth.
There’s a future awaiting us when all things are made new. But he wrote it in such a way that he says we have obtained an inheritance, that even the things that we have already obtained, things like forgiveness of our sins and things like that, but even things that are coming in the future are already ours, even though we don’t have them yet. He’s written it in such a way that he’s saying there’s no question and there’s no way to not receive the inheritance. You have obtained it. So even though we don’t fully possess it yet, we already own it in Christ Jesus. It is already ours in Him. Because He’s there, we’ll be there. Because He resurrected, we’ll be resurrected. All of those promises are bound up in Christ. They’re already ours. Scripture confirms this again and again and again. What belongs to Him belongs to us. I can’t wrap my mind around that. I can’t fully explain what all the implications of that are. But if we are co-heirs with Jesus, we have the inheritance that Jesus has. That is no small thing.
In Him, we have obtained an inheritance, and then Paul immediately puts that inheritance into the eternity past. We talked about it a minute ago with Matthew Chapter 26, but having been predestined according to the purpose of Him. Our salvation and our inheritance were not decided in time. Again, He’s not watching your life and going, “All right, you get a little bit here, you get a little bit here. I’m going to take a little bit back there. You just screwed that one up, buddy.” Boy, I wouldn’t have nothing left by the end. It’s not happening as time goes on. What does it say? Having been predestined. We talked about this word already, remember, back in verse four and five? He predestined us. Well, if He predestined us, then He also predestined our inheritance.
It goes together. It’s not He predestined us, and then He’s like, “All right, you got to just really try really hard, and then I’ll get you the inheritance if you work at it.” Both. They’re not based on anything God saw in the future. It’s not based on our works. It’s not based on our faith. It’s not based on our decisions that we make. It says before the foundation of the world, having been predestined. That’s what predestined means: destined pre. Well, pre what? Pre me? No, pre everything. Predestined according to the purpose of him. Before the foundation of the world, God set his eternal purpose upon a people for himself. And that purpose, according to the purpose of him, is the same one that we saw back in verses five and nine. This is when talking about God’s purpose, it is fixed. God’s purposes do not change. It is the unchangeable decree of Almighty God, and He does not change. So we were predestined according to that purpose, the successes, the sufferings, the seemingly random events are all carefully orchestrated by God.
Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” So God works, first of all. Second of all, He works all things, but third, He works all things according to the counsel of His will. They’re not random. They’re not by chance. The things that are working out in our life are not just arbitrary. It’s not blind fate. The word counsel speaks of a wise, deliberate, thoughtful plan. And if it’s God’s counsel, then it’s perfect in wisdom and insight. And the will emphasizes that His plan flows from His own good pleasure alone, according to the counsel of His own will. God is not pressured by any kind of outside influence. He’s not persuaded by our human merit. He’s not impressed by your faith. God doesn’t have advisors or counselors. No one is forcing God to do one little thing. God’s will is the only will.
Let me say this as boldly and as clearly as possible: God’s will is the only will that is free. Every other will is subservient to His. God’s will is free, but it’s not just free in that He can do whatever He wants. He can, but it’s holy, and it’s unchanging. God’s will is perfect. And I know we can get off into the question of free will and man’s free will and all this kind of stuff, but here’s what I want you to get through your thick skull like I want through my thick skull: Who thinks their will is better than God’s? I don’t want free will. My free will is stupid. Okay, I’m not the only one. I want a perfect, holy, immutable God. I want His will. I want His will to take place. Listen, what we’re looking at here is the doctrine of God’s providence. God is the one that upholds all things. He’s directing all things. He governs all creatures and all things by His wise and holy providence, at all in accordance with the infinite knowledge that He has and the unbounded and immutable counsel of His own will, so that even the sinful actions of men are bounded and overruled by Him for His holy purposes without God ever being accused of being the author of sin.
God is sovereign over all things, hear me, and at the same time, man is held responsible for his thoughts, actions, and intentions before God. Well, how is that possible? I don’t know. I said I can’t wrap my mind around my own thoughts sometimes. How am I going to wrap my mind around God’s thoughts? All I can go on is what He has said. God is sovereign over all things. Everything is working out in exactly the way that He has purposed it. Genesis 50 verse 20: “As for you,” remember Joseph and his brothers. Remember that? They’re all sitting there at the end thinking after their father has died, “Joseph’s going to kill us all because of what we’ve done to him.” And Joseph said, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring about that many people should be kept alive.”
To bring about, to accomplish this predestined inheritance in Christ and to bring us ultimately and finally to our safe redemption. God is not only preparing the inheritance for you, He is preparing you for this inheritance. And praise the Lord, nothing’s going to keep Him from accomplishing His purpose. He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. Beloved, in Christ, we have obtained a secure inheritance because we have been predestined according to the purpose of the God who sovereignly works all things according to the counsel of His will. We’ve seen three things this morning. First, that in union with Christ, we’ve received a glorious inheritance. It’s already ours. We already are forgiven. We are already adopted. We already have the Spirit. We already have what is promised to us in the future. All of it is ours in Christ. And second, this inheritance was not just planned in time as you went along. It was eternally planned and predestined according to His unchangeable purpose, not based on anything you do.
But even when all these things are coming on us and it feels like everything is chaotic and out of control, God is in control. He is working all things according to the counsel of His will. So be patient. Be hopeful. Trust in God’s providence. And finally, that should cause us then to live as those who have already obtained an inheritance. It’s in Christ. It’s already mine. It’s already yours. We’ve already been made holy, so we should live holy. God has already given us all of the inheritance. It’s already promised to us, so we should be thankful and we should live boldly, not in ourselves, not because we’re awesome, because we’re not, but our confidence is secure in the God who cannot and will not fail. Amen.
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