What Is The Meaning Of Ephesians 1.11-14

“I Am His and He Is Mine” We Are and Have Christ’s Inheritance By God’s Will and My Faith For God’s Glory and My Joy

Eph. 1:11-14

INTRODUCTION What is the Meaning of Ephesians 1.11-14

Turn to Ephesians chapter 1. This is our last message in this hymn text of verses 3-14. Last week, we discussed the future when God sums up all things in Jesus Christ.

We talked about with the Scripture says about the end times rapture tribulation and the judgment seat of Christ and the new heaven and new earth.

And last week as we discussed how God is going to bring everything underneath the leadership of Jesus Christ, we said that we ourselves need to be coming up underneath the leadership of Jesus Christ.

We need to get plugged into God’s program. When I was growing up, I often heard the phrase “get with the program.” What is meant by that is get on board and start participating in the things that are really going on!

We need to get with God’s program as he has revealed that in the mystery of His will, that He has made known to us in verse 9. We saw last week the mystery of God’s will is the gospel of Jesus Christ itself and how God uses the gospel to save Gentiles in this present “age of the Gentiles,” and to finally, in the future, bring all things underneath the leadership of Jesus Christ.

And we need to get with God’s program and get on board and be part of what he is doing in the world. And what we don’t need to be thinking about is how God can get plugged into my life.

The example of a lot of preaching today even in, what we would call good churches, seems to give the example that God can be a great benefit for you if you would permit Him to be a part of your life.

But in fact, He is a great part of your life, in fact he rules the whole thing. He is the Lord of your life whether you think you have made Him to be such or not. God is not your genie in a bottle… And your wish is His command.

But sometimes we pray as if God exists to make my life happier. Now, God exists for his own glory, not for what you may think is your benefit, apart from divine revelation; God is not an idolater. He does not worship man. He brings glory to Himself and as he does that, if you are part of what he is doing, it will also be for your ultimate joy.

We ended last time with the throne room scene in Daniel 7:13-14 ¹³“I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. ¹⁴“And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.

Jesus as the Son of Man has been promised “dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion.”

And all of this will happen in the end times when he comes to rule upon this earth. At that point in history all things will be summed up in Jesus Christ and come underneath his leadership. And we, as Jesus’ people, will not be excluded.

Let’s read Ephesians 1:11-14 ¹¹[last two words of verse 10 … In Him] also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, ¹²to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. ¹³In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, ¹⁴who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.

Our first point is our Mutual Inheritance: We Are and Have Christ’s Inheritance.

First, from this passage we see that As his people, we are Christ’s inheritance. We are Christ’s inheritance.

Mutual inheritance: We Are and Have Christ’s Inheritance

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1. We are Christ’s inheritance

Ephesians 1:11 In Him also “we have obtained an inheritance,” or literally “we were made a heritage.” The NASB in verse 11 has a number two next to “have obtained an inheritance.” In the margin of your Bible you have an alternate way of understanding this, which also happens to be the literal reading. Literal reading again is “also we were made a heritage.”

You can understand this as “also we were made to be Christ’s inheritance.” “We were made to be Christ’s inheritance.”

In Daniel chapter 7, as the Son of Man approaches the ancient of days, the ancient of days gives to the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, people. He gives him people.

Christ has as his inheritance, people. “We were made to be Christ’s inheritance.” So as God’s people, we are his inheritance.

This concept of God having an inheritance may be new to you. But it is clear throughout the Old Testament as it concerns Israel.

For example, I started the service this morning with this verse Psalm 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, The people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance.

Thus under the Old Covenant, the nation of Israel is God’s inheritance. They are the people whom God has chosen for his own inheritance.

Now, Paul’s point in Ephesians 1 when he says that “we were made a heritage” is to say that, not only is Israel God’s inheritance, but now under the New Covenant, God’s inheritance includes Gentiles. Paul can write to the Ephesian believers, “we… We believers …Jew and Gentiles … are made Christ’s inheritance.”

There is similar wording in verse 14. Ephesians 1:14 [the Holy Spirit] is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to [or until … ok so … The Holy Spirit is given as a pledge of our inheritance until] the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.

And what is God’s own possession? It is his people. God’s own possession is his people. And so that phrase “the redemption of God’s own possession” has an eye to the future. We know that because the Holy Spirit is given as a pledge of our inheritance until this time… the time of this redemption.

This is similar to the wording in Romans 8:23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

There is coming a time when we will fully realize our sonship in Christ. And that happens at the redemption of our body. And when we studied adoption from v. 5, we saw that our adoption as sons will be fully realized when our bodies are redeemed. And our bodies will be redeemed at the resurrection when Christ comes back.

So Paul’s point in Ephesians 1:11 when he says “we were made Christ inheritance” is the same point made in verse 14 when he discusses that there is coming a day for the redemption of God’s own possession. “God’s own possession” verse 14 and that “we were made Christ’s inheritance” verse 11 both point to the fact that we are God’s possession and we are Christ’s inheritance.

TRANS: Now, not only are we God’s possession and Christ’s inheritance, but we ourselves have an inheritance from God. Point B, We have Christ’s inheritance. If you look again at verse 14.

We inherit

Ephesians 1:14 [the Holy Spirit] is given as a pledge of our inheritance, until when? … the redemption of God’s own possession … until the resurrection….

Well what happens after the resurrection then? We receive fully our inheritance. Right now, we just have a pledge, or a deposit.

Just like we just noted from Ro. 8:23. There again, Paul says that our adoption will be fully realized at the resurrection. Romans 8:23 says that we groan within ourselves as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

Our adoption into God’s family will be only fully realized at the redemption of our body. The redemption of our body is the resurrection when Jesus comes back. So upon the return of Jesus Christ, our adoption will be fully realized and we will receive our inheritance.

And the Scripture elaborates on what our inheritance is in great detail. We will inherit the kingdom of God. Jesus says in the beatitudes that we will inherit the earth. Revelation 20:6 says that we will reign with Christ. We will be glorified and incorruptible and there will be crowns: the incorruptible crown, crown of righteousness, the crown of life, crown of rejoicing, and the crown of glory.

We inherit the New Heaven and the New Earth, when Christ says Revelation 21:7 “He who overcomes will inherit these things [the things being the New Heaven and New Earth], and I will be his God and he will be My son.”).

And so, believers are God’s children and thus joint heirs with Christ. Romans 8:17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

We are fellow heirs along with Jesus Christ. What is His is ours! As someone said, “We went from being a condemned criminal awaiting a terrible sentence to that of an heir awaiting a fabulous inheritance.”^[1]

TRANS: So, in God’s infinite wisdom, here we have a mutual inheritance. [for lack of a better word, perhaps a reciprocal inheritance.] In other words, in ourselves, we are Christ’s inheritance and at the same time, we have Christ’s inheritance as His fellow heir.

Now, how did He do this? I read this, that verse 11 I along with all of God’s people am Christ’s inheritance and verse 14 … that God’s people are His possession.

I also see that not only am I His inheritance, but I have an inheritance, verse 14…

…But how did God accomplish this?

TRANS: Next, under Roman numeral II on the handout, we’re going to see, that mutual actions bring this about.

So the first point is the message is our mutual inheritance. We are Christ’s inheritance and God’s possession; but also we have an inheritance as believers in Christ. That’s our mutual inheritance.

Secondly, our mutual actions bring this about. How did this happen? God did something and we had to do something.

We have God’s actions and our actions. God’s action is … His predestination. Our action is our faith and hope in Christ.

Mutual actions: By God’s Predestination and My Faith

First, God’s action, His predestination. Verse 11 Ephesians 1:11 also we were made Christ’s inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will

So, how did God bring it about that we would be Christ’s inheritance? Through His predestination of us.

God’s Predestination

Predestination: If you have trusted Christ and turned from your sin and asked Him to save you, you can have confidence that you are Christ’s inheritance because you were predestined to it.

We were made Christ’s inheritance because…here it is, now … we were made Christ’s inheritance because our destiny to this was predetermined.

Now, what is predestination? We studied this term when it occurred in verse 5. Ephesians 1:5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,

So, what is predestination? It is this: God predetermined believers’ destiny. God predetermined believers’ destiny.

And in the Scripture, God predetermined that believers would reach …how many destinies, do you remember? The Scripture teaches 3 destinies …. So, predestination always goes somewhere. God will make sure that His people arrive at 3 different destinations. They are …

That we be adopted as sons (Eph. 1:5)
That we be Christ’s inheritance (Eph. 1:11)

That we ultimately be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ (Ro. 8:29)

Romans 8:29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;

So God predetermined the destiny specifically of believers. The Scripture limits this teaching of predestination to believers only. God predetermined the destination of believers. As one who trusts in Christ, your spiritual destinations are described in Scripture as three things: that you would be adopted as sons, that we be Christ’s inheritance, and that we ultimately be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.

Predestination is God’s predetermining the destiny of believers to something specific … and in our passage, it’s a predetermining the destiny of believers to being Christ’s inheritance.

TRANS: Can you have confidence in this? Yes! How do you know? Verse 11 tells us. Look at it… if you are a believer God’s predestination of you to be Christ’s inheritance is all in keeping with something. God’s predestination of you to be Christ’s inheritance is all in keeping with God’s purposes for everything else. So, yes you can have confidence in this.

Ephesians 1:11 also we are Christ’s inheritance, [because we] have been predestined [to this]. [How do I know this? Well, keep going… we know this because this is all] according to [or in line with] His purposes[s] who works all things after the counsel of His will,

God’s predestination of you to be Christ’s inheritance is all in keeping with God’s purposes for everything else.

That word “works” has the idea of “working toward a goal.” And this is a present tense verb, and here that means that He is constantly doing this. And so here, what we know is that God is … end of the verse 11…. God is constantly working toward the intended goal of all things.

(2 So, you can have confidence that you are Christ’s inheritance because God’s doing that is lined up with how He works to make everything else arrive at its goal. And what is that goal? It is that everything in the end comes underneath the leadership of Jesus Christ. You must willingly and with great longing come underneath the leadership of Jesus Christ. Have you come underneath the leadership of Christ? If you have, then you can have confidence that you are Christ’s inheritance because God doing that for you is exactly what He is doing to make everything else arrive at that same goal, too.

You believe that God is working to make everything come to its completed goal, right? God has a purpose for everything and in the end God’s purpose will be accomplished for everything, right?

Well, you believe that. And Paul is saying that you being Christ’s inheritance lines up with the fact that God is constantly at work bringing everything to that point.

“Believers are Christ’s inheritance because God has predetermined our destiny to this. And this is all in keeping with His purposes as He constantly works to bring everything else to its completed end.”

TRANS: Your destiny has been predetermined for this and this lines up with how he is constantly working in everything else. And so you can have confidence that you are Christ’s inheritance. Not only because of those things, but also because this is not just some flippant whim of God. This has been carefully planned out by God.

In the verse 11, God is constantly at work bringing all things to their completed end and this is, it says there … “after the counsel of his will.”

(3 You can have confidence that you are Christ’s inheritance because of His careful planning.

ILL: I’m on the board of the Colinton Community Centre here. The board members will get together and deliberate and discuss in order to come to a conclusion on something.

That action of discussing is this word “counsel” at the end of verse 11. After careful consideration and planning He does His will. “The counsel of his will.” After careful deliberation and planning he accomplishes his will. And he is constantly at work that in the end he might bring all things to their completed end.

And we know and believe he is doing this. And that is why you can be certain that by his grace alone if you have been redeemed by Him, that you have been made Christ’s inheritance. You have been predestined for this. This is according to his purposes as he constantly is at work in everything else to do the same thing. And this is being accomplished after he carefully planned all of this and then accomplishes his will.

Everything will come to their exact goal after his careful considerations and planning. “God works all things after the counsel of his will.”

ILL: So, as the hymn says … “what have I to dread, what have I to fear, leaning on the ….”

Nothing, I have nothing to fear and nothing to dread if God is the One constantly working to bring everything to its completed end after he has carefully planned out!

Before today, you may not even have known that you, as a believer, were Christ’s inheritance … are you going to worry over this now? Can you control this? No! He is the one who is constantly at work bringing everything to its intended goal after He’s planned it. That includes everything in your life!

You don’t bring anything to its intended goal in this life… nothing at all…noda! That’s God’s job and He’s not hiring! All things will happen according to God’s purpose and plan.

I heard a story about a summer camp counselor talking to her campers at night and she told them, “Let’s go to sleep and put all our cares in God’s hands.”

“Yeah,” said one of the kids, “He’s up all night anyway!” … …. So, let God stay up all night concerned about you! Some of you may need to memorize, meditate, pour and pray over this verse and other verses like it to get freedom from worry.

TRANS: Now, of course, God making you Christ’s inheritance is not without your active responsibility. To be Christ’s inheritance and to be an heir of God …, It requires your response.

It requires your faith…

My Faith

Notice how it is put in verse 12: we who were the first to hope in Christ.”

Also, verse 13 Ephesians 1:13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed (there’s our response), [then] you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,

Hope in Christ (v. 12)

So, your response is first of all that you hope in Christ. You must hope in Christ.

SUMM: Verse 11 to be considered among that number of being Christ’s inheritance you must verse 12 hope in Christ. And we’re going to see that in order to be sealed by the Holy Spirit you must believe in the gospel.

The phrase in the New American Standard “we who were the first to hope” is actually one Greek word and it can also have the idea of “we who already have hope” and I am going to understand it this way.

So this is talking about all believers who have hope in Christ. And hope in Christ is required to be among the number of Christ’s inheritance. “To hope” simply means to have a confident expectation. So to hope in Christ simply means to place your confidence in Christ with the full expectation that he and all his promises are reliable.

Do you have confidence that Christ and all of his promises are reliable? This is what God demands of you.

And if you have hoped in Christ, then you are part of that number that makes up Christ’s inheritance.

TRANS: But someone might say, “Why should I have confidence in Christ and His promise of eternal life for me?”

Because of the gospel! Your response is not only to hope in Christ, but also to believe the gospel of your salvation!

Believing the Gospel (v.13)

Ephesians 1:13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, [which is] the gospel of your salvation—[and after] having ….believed, [then] you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,

And so number one you must have confidence in Christ and number 2 you must believe the gospel.

And you must believe the gospel because that results in what we’re going to talk about in a minute and that is, end of verse 13, being sealed in Christ with the Holy Spirit of promise.

But what is the gospel? Let us not confuse the gospel with our need for the gospel. And let us not confuse the gospel with our response to the gospel.

The need for the gospel is our wretched sinfulness against God. We are all sinners against God and so we have great need. God is righteous and demands restitution for our sin. So, your greatest need is to be forgiven.

Our response to the gospel is what we are saying this morning: hope in Christ and believing, or trust, which naturally includes a turning from sin, or repentance.

ILL: Let me illustrate it this way. To go to Edmonton requires that you leave Athabasca. Just like you can’t go to Edmonton without leaving Athabasca, you can’t hope in Christ and not endeavor to leave your sin. Trusting in Christ requires a turning away from your sin.

Now, to understand the actual gospel itself, I like to think of Romans 1:1-7 and 1 Corinthians 15:3-6. Both of these passages speak of the gospel. The word gospel simply means “good news.”

And if you combine those two passages what you come to understand is that the gospel concerns the Son of God, Jesus Christ. He is both man and God. And this person with two natures paid the penalty of our sin on the cross. The penalty of our sin is eternal separation from God. Jesus paid that penalty at the cross.

And then three days later in order to declare indeed that he is God, God raised Him from the dead. And He appeared to his disciples and even an enemy, Saul of Tarsus.

If you love what God hates, you must turn from that or receive the righteous penalty of your sin against an infinite God: eternal damnation in the fires of Hell.

So, place your confidence in Christ in order to be Christ’s inheritance and, as we’ll see next at the end of verse 13, hope in Christ in order to be sealed in Christ with the Holy Spirit of promise.

TRANS: So by God’s grace, believers in Christ share in an inheritance. We ourselves are Christ’s inheritance and we have and share in His inheritance. There is a mutual inheritance.

This was all brought about by God’s predetermining the destiny of believers to the same degree that he is bringing everything else to its completed goal.

We being Christ’s inheritance was also brought about not only by God’s activity, but by our activity. There are mutual actions. God predestines but at the same time we must believe the gospel and hope in Christ.

Now, third point of the message, to what end is all of this? Where is all of this headed or what is the purpose of all of this? What is the purpose of God’s people being Christ’s inheritance? And what is the purpose of us being joint heirs with Christ?

All of this has a mutual triumph. It’s all for God’s glory and our joy! You remember how I began the message that God does not exist for your benefit; God is not in idolater. He brings glory to Himself and as He does that, that also happens to coincide with what gives man his ultimate joy. What brings God glory in the end gives man his ultimate joy.

Mutual triumph: For God’s Glory (exaltation) and My Joy (exultation)

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1. God’s Glory: “To the praise of His glory” (1:12b; 14b)

The goal of you being Christ’s inheritance: the praise of His glory (v. 12b)

The goal of you being sealed with the Holy Spirit: the praise of His glory (v.14b)

First, this is all for God’s glory. We have this twice in our passage. Once at the end of verse 12 and the other at the end of verse 14: to the praise of His glory.

Let’s get Paul’s train of thought … We verse 11 are Christ’s inheritance because we have been predestined to this … Our destiny has been predetermined to be Christ’s inheritance. This is all …keep going in verse 11… this is all according to or it lines up with God’s purpose who is working to bring everything to its completed goal after he carefully plans and considers. And when he does that, he accomplishes his will. He works all things after the counsel of his will.

And all this has a goal verse 12. To the end or with the goal that we who already have hope in Christ …. And here’s the goal that we would be to the praise of his glory. That’s the goal. The goal of God making us to be Christ’s inheritance is that we would be to the praise of his glory.

And likewise the same wording at the end of verse 14 … To the praise of his glory. To lead into that, the end of verse 13 now, the Holy Spirit of promise … verse 14 is given as pledge of our future inheritance “with a view” or “until” the redemption of God’s own possession, …until the resurrection … And us having the Holy Spirit of promise is given to us with the goal of the praise of his glory.

This is all for the praise of his own glory. The goal of you being Christ’s inheritance is the praise of His glory (v. 12b) and the goal of you being sealed with the Holy Spirit is the praise of His glory (v.14b)….sealed, what is that. Let’s talk about this lastly now.

TRANS: What is for God’s glory, is for my ultimate joy.

My Joy: I have the promise of the inheritance: The Holy Spirit

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1. The Holy Spirit is God’s seal
2. The Holy Spirit is God’s promise
3. The Holy Spirit is God’s pledge

There are three facts that are for my Joy. They all have to do with the Holy Spirit.

First, the Holy Spirit is God’s seal in verse 13 and second, the Holy Spirit is God’s promise at the end of verse 13 and third the Holy Spirit is given to us as a pledge of our future inheritance.

Quickly …

God’s Seal

A seal is most likely a piece of wax that has been pressed into by a signet ring. A ring with kind of stamp on it.

The seal is that piece of wax with an impression on it that would be attached to a rolled up scroll, for example. So to seal something in the ancient world was to take an object like a stamp and press it into clay or wax. The purpose of this was, among other things, to verify ownership.

Whoever made the seal owned whatever was sealed. This says that if you have believed the gospel as we have preached that this morning, you have been sealed in Christ. You are His. When he died, he died to redeem you, to purchase you… You are His now …you have been bought with a price and you are not your own.

And the way God seals us is by giving to us the Holy Spirit in our hearts. The Holy Spirit indwells his people.

2 Corinthians 1:22 [God] sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts ….He indwells us, that’s the seal.

Holy Spirit of Promise.

And we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is Himself God’s promise to us…. And God’s promise to us is verse 14 the promise of our future inheritance.

Verse 14, the Holy Spirit has been given to us as a pledge, or a deposit of our inheritance.

In biblical Greek this word for pledge is used to refer to a deposit: a small amount of money to indicate that a much larger amount of money is coming.

In modern Greek, so I am told, this same word for pledge is still used and it refers to an engagement ring. An engagement ring is a promise, a promise of future marriage.

And so what must this inheritance be like if the Holy Spirit himself is just a deposit? And so what must this inheritance be like if the Holy Spirit himself is just a deposit? The greatness of an inheritance is in keeping with the greatness of the deposit.

If I died and put you in my will and when I died my lawyer gave you a penny and told you that more is coming, you would not be that impressed. But if when I died my lawyer gave you $1 million and told you that this is just an initial deposit, you would start to get excited.

And Paul tells us here that the Holy Spirit Himself is our deposit. What must our inheritance be like?

CONCLUSION What is the Meaning of Ephesians 1.11-14

Believer, know for certain that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory awaiting us.

Christ, after careful deliberations, proceeds to work out all things according to His plan. Within His plan, we trusted Christ willingly for redemption. The Holy Spirit is the deposit of our inheritance that’s coming.

To the degree that you organize your life and get it in step with Christ’s plan for the ages, to that degree you’ll long for and await your future inheritance, and thus you’ll live godly in this present age. “You’ll be so heavenly minded that you’ll be very earthly good!”

But, let me ask, how would we know if we have lost sight of God’s redemptive plan? Paul applies this sealing of the Holy Spirit to our speech. If we really understood who seals and what He has sealed us for (our inheritance), would we talk the way we do?

Ephesians 4:29-30 ²⁹Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. ³⁰[but if you do let unwholesome words proceed from your mouth, you Eph. 4:30 says …] grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Do you know who it is who has sealed you? The Holy Spirit.

Do you understand for what he has sealed you? The day of redemption, or the resurrection. He is the deposit of our inheritance.

If my lawyer gave you a cool $1million, would you trash it? Then with your speech would you grieve the Holy Spirit who is your proof that you are owned by God and the initial deposit on your inheritance? If you have trouble with your speech, you need to understand the doctrine of the sealing of the Holy Spirit and Him being our pledge.

Let that sink in. If you let that sink in, by God’s grace you will not let unwholesome words to proceed from your mouth. But, you will fail and have failed Him, but with God’s mercy there is forgiveness.

When Jesus died, he did so to redeem, he purchased us.

When he did, he gave us all his rights.

We are now his inheritance and His inheritance is now ours. We are joint heirs.

And He appears in the presence of God for us.

All the rights you have before God are only found in Christ.

You’ve been forgiven, yes, but only through Christ’s blood.

If you have trusted Christ, you are righteous? Yes, righteous before God! But only because of Christ’s righteousness that is given to you. And you do not fall away from God b/c you are kept by your own power, no … you are kept by the power of God.

And even your access to God in prayer is not on your own merit, but you must pray “in Jesus name” …by His authority.

Now, then, your inheritance in Christ and you as His inheritance is for certain, inasmuch as our salvation is a work of God…we are redeemed in Him, forgiven in Him, sealed in Him, justified in Him, and we have our inheritance in Him. It’s all because of Him!

And so Spurgeon asks, “Where is the man who shall estimate our divine portion? Weigh the riches of Christ in scales, and his treasure in balances, and then think to count the treasures which belong to the saints. Reach the bottom of Christ’s sea of joy, and then hope to understand the bliss which God hath prepared for them that love him. Overleap the boundaries of Christ’s possessions, and then dream of a limit to the fair inheritance of the elect. Go ahead and see if you can do that and then know that as Paul says 1 Co. 3:21-23] “All things are yours, for ye are Christ’s and Christ is God’s.”

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