Wanderers Made Family Members

Transcript

Hello, radio friend. How in the world are you? You’re doing alright? Yes, I use that greeting because you and I as believers on the Lord Jesus Christ are in this whole world. But we don’t have to be of it, do we? No, you don’t have to be tarred with the world’s brush, you could be kept, as Peter says, “Kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.” Thank God for keeping power in a world full of sin, and danger, and need God can make you His clean, shining vessel of blessing and glory. May that be true of you. My dear friend today, I pray that it may be so. Well this is your friend, Dr. Cook, and I’m speaking with you once again concerning the Word of God, trying to put a handle on it so that you can get hold of it for yourself. That’s my purpose day by day to bring something of encouragement and blessing and inspiration that help, and then make it reachable so that you can get hold of it and apply it to your own life. The Bible is forever true, whether or not anyone reads or believes it, it’s God’s eternal Word. Forever O Lord, thy word is settled in Heaven, the Bible is forever true. Whether or not anyone reads or believes it, but it becomes of value to you and to me when we appropriate it for ourselves. That then, is my purpose in speaking with you day by day.

We’ve been looking at Ephesians 1:11, where Paul speaks about our inheritance, in whom we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him, who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. Now you have special reference to the will of God. Verse 5, “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 Christ the beloved.” Then in Verse 9, “Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself. He wants to bring everything together in Christ.” The mystery of God’s will is the centrality of Jesus in all of human history. You wanna remember that? If you want to understand the mystery of God’s will remember, it is located in the centrality of Jesus Christ in the history of the universe.

And so then, in Verse 11, he says, “We have 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.” The counsel of God’s will is that He wants us to praise Him, verse 12. Isn’t that great? Now look at it once again, the good pleasure of His will, is to make us accepted in Jesus versus 5 and 6. The mystery of His will is that Jesus should be the center of all of the universe. Versus 9 and 10. The counsel of His will is that you and I should be to the praise of God’s glory. Now, remember who and what we are, apart from saving grace. We are nothing but candidates for judgment in Hell. The ugliness of sin has defaced and marred that beautiful image of the Divine that God planned when He created Adam and Eve. And so we are far from being praise-worthy aren’t we?

There’s nothing in you or in me that is worthy of praise, but the counsel of God’s will is that you and I who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ should be to the praise of God’s glory. When God is finished with you, beloved, you’re gonna shine and you and I are going to be God’s exhibit A in the glory, and He’ll be able to point to us and say, “That’s what my grace can do for a poor, guilty lost sinner.” The inheritance of the saints in light. Now “in whom we’ve obtained an inheritance.” The last time we talked about that we were remarking concerning Psalm 119:11, “thy testimonies have I taken as a heritage.” Look, for example, at Acts 20 verse 32, where Paul says in his valedictory address to the Ephesian elders, “And now brethren I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified.” The Word of God as your inheritance, has to do with holy living.

The Word of God when properly applied, will produce holy living, that in itself says Paul here, is part of the inheritance of the believer, a dynamic contact with the Bible. Listen to this, and put it down in your own little mental notebook, would you beloved? A dynamic daily contact with the Bible will make your life holy and will enable you then to share in the inheritance that comes to people who are as the Bible says, “sanctified and set apart for God’s special use.” Then in Acts 26, we find these words, “To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them, which are sanctified by faith, that is in me.”

What is the essence of this inheritance that comes to people who are sanctified? Opened eyes: that has to do with perception. Turning from darkness to light: that has to do with the direction of your life. From the power of Satan unto God: that has to do with the power that runs your life. Forgiveness of sins: that has to do with your past record and your present potential. And then he wraps it all up inheritance among them, which are sanctified by faith, that is in me. Somebody is saying, “Well Brother Cook, that’s all very well, and I hear you, but how do I make that real in my own life?” Think with me for a moment of Colossians 2:6, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus as Lord, so walk ye in him.” “Sanctified”, he says, “by faith that is in him.” How were you brought to Christ for salvation? Those of you who really know the Lord, you know you’re saved. How did that occur? Did you pay something, did you promise something, did you do something?

No? None of these is true. What you did was to bring your need to God and trust the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you and to save you and to make you a child of God, right? “Nothing in my hand, I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling, Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee.” Your faith, the faith that saved you beloved, the faith that saved you is the same faith that will sanctify you. The faith that saved you is the faith that will transform your life, the faith that saved you is the same kind of faith, you use in turning any given situation, over to the Lord as you trusted Him as Lord. Colossians 2:6 again, remember it, “As you received Christ Jesus as Lord,” so he said, “in the very same manner walk ye.” That means live every minute of every day, let’s put it that way, “As you received Him as your Lord and Savior, so live every minute of every day in him.” “The inheritance of them that are sanctified by faith in me,” says God.

So today, take the package of life, and all of the pieces of it for life breaks off into little pieces, doesn’t it? You don’t live a day at a time, you live a heartbeat at a time. And take all the little pieces of life and give them one by one to your blessed Lord and trust him risk every situation on God, dare to risk a situation on God. He will never fail you, and He will see to it that the faith you exercise will produce a sanctifying effect in your life and you will be discernibly growing Christ-like because you have turned the business of living over to the indwelling Holy Spirit to give you this inheritance among those that are sanctified by faith in Him. Paul says in Colossians 1:12, “Giving thanks unto the father who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” Worthy to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.

Now what he means by saints in light, I’m not quite sure he could mean those who already are saved and walking with the Lord, walking as John says, “in the light.” “As He is in the light we have fellowship one with another,” 1 John 1:7, it could be that or it could be those who have gone before us, into the blessed land and are already enjoying the presence of the Lord Jesus, the Bible says, “to depart is to be with Christ, which is far better,” so that when you leave this old world your spirit leaves your body, you go to be with the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible says. So that could mean that. In either case, He has made us worthy to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Your faith in the Lord Jesus is what makes you worthy to have a share in the inheritance.
Now, this runs counter to all of our human way of thinking about things. To have a share in the inheritance means that I must have been a member of the family, I must have a demonstrable relationship through birth into a given family setup, must be a member of the family to be an heir. Now, you and I, when we come to Jesus for salvation, we’re not members of God’s family, we’re strangers and aliens and wanderers, “All we like sheep have gone astray”, we’re wanderers. “We have turned everyone to his own way.” We are self-centered, and thus in error as well. All of this being true. How then do we achieve an inheritance? Why, Paul says we have obtained an inheritance, because God has made us members of His family, He predestinated us to the adoption of children, through the Lord Jesus Christ to Himself. And so, we haven’t received, says Paul in Romans 8, “the spirit of bondage again to fear”, but we have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, “Abba Father, Papa God”, I know that I belong to God today, because the Holy Spirit cries out in my heart to God, my Heavenly Father. And so, you and I have an inheritance, with all the rest of the saints in light, hallelujah, for that, aren’t you glad?

Dear Lord, today, grant to us to enjoy that blessed inheritance that is purchased for us through Jesus, Amen.

Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!