Heirs of God (Part 1)

Overview

Rev. Rico Magnelli examines “Heirs of God (Part 1)” through Isaiah 46, Ephesians 1, Psalm 68, 1 Corinthians 13, showing how christ, salvation, rewards shape a believer’s relationship with God, daily choices, and service to others.

Transcript

Understanding Heirs of God (Part 1)

Well, God bless you in the wonderful name of Jesus Christ and welcome to this second installment on the Anchor of the Soul for webinars regarding the hope of the return of Christ. We sure are excited to be with you. My name is Rico Magnelli.

This second installment is Heirs of God. Heirs of God. And you can turn in your Bibles to Philippians chapter two, please.

An heir is someone that receives an inheritance or a portion of property or wealth. This is a very common concept in our cultures. As children of God though, we are His heirs.

We’re heirs of God. And as brothers and sisters to the only begotten son of God, we are also joint heirs with Christ. This is our family, God’s family.

Our legacy, if you will, is that inheritance. And our inheritance is spiritual. And along the lines of a fathomless, unending personal relationship and access to God.

Two things stood in our way of this inheritance. First, the sin of Adam that was passed on down through generations, which was resolved by the first coming of Christ. The second obstacle is our corruptible physical bodies.

And at some point will expire unless the return of Christ happens while we’re alive. And this will be resolved at the second coming of Christ. It is our identity with Christ that has and will provide all of this for us.

See, without Christ, we have no access to any of this. In this life, we only see through a glass darkly as first Corinthians 13, 12 tells us. Meaning the full extent of who we are is only partially revealed.

We only see a glimpse. When Christ returns, we shall see face to face. Meaning we will fully understand in the deepest possible sense what God wrought in Christ for us.

On a very personal level, to understand it fully, we must receive a new spiritual body to replace our current natural body. This spiritual body we will receive will be fashioned like the body of Jesus Christ that was given to him when God raised him from the dead, never to die again. It is eternal.

In this installment, I wanna give you an overview what we’ll handle. One, we’ll handle being heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ in two categories, salvation and reward. If you can remember those two things, salvation and reward, basically everything that we handle will fall into one or a combination of those two categories, salvation and reward.

Then we’re gonna handle rewards. God is our ultimate prize. We will also handle criteria for rewards.

And then finally, rewards in terms of crowns. Where and what are these crowns? Where do we receive them and what are they? We’re heirs of God and receiving salvation at the new birth is where all this begins. And then two, what we do with this salvation given by grace till we fall asleep on the return of Christ.

Those are your two basic categories. We receive salvation at the new birth where everything begins. And then what we do with that salvation given by grace till we fall asleep or the return of Christ.

Philippians chapter two in verse nine. Wherefore God also have highly exalted him, talking about Jesus Christ and given him a name which is above every name. God gave him a name which is above every name.

And see for us in many of our current cultures, we do not understand the significance of Hebrew thought. But a name wasn’t just the name of a person. Often it would carry the character or the authority or the dignity and honor that that name represents.

And that’s what it is most specifically regarding Jesus Christ. He gave him a name. He had highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name.

There’s no other name above Jesus Christ. That at that name of Jesus, every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father because God commissioned Jesus Christ to carry out his will.

That’s why it’s a glory to God through Jesus Christ. Wherefore my beloved, as you have always obeyed and not as in my presence only. So Paul is saying, hey, listen, not just when I’m around, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation.

Work it out with fear and trembling or respect at all. We work out our own salvation. This working out means to work down, to make it effective.

You bring salvation to work with you. You bring salvation to play. You bring salvation wherever you go.

You shop, you travel, you bring your salvation with you. We’re eternal beings. We’re heirs of God.

It’s very individual and very personal. People that live their salvation speak the language of salvation. Their words are uplifting and encouraging.

Their actions reflect that they are not tethered to this life, but they understand that there’s more than what you see going on in this life. That’s people that work out and make their salvation effective. See, heirs of God and heirs with Christ, there’s two aspects we need to consider.

One is receiving that salvation at the new birth where it all begins. And second is what do we do with that salvation? What do we do with it? Do we just wait for the return of Christ and do our own thing? No, that’s not what we do. We make it effective in our life.

The Biblical Foundation

Verse 13, for it is God which worketh in you both the will and to do of his good pleasure. That verse is in the context of making your salvation effective. Bringing it down to your day-by-day walk where the rubber meets the road, so to speak.

Do all things without murmurings and disputings. We don’t argue with God. We don’t grumble with God as he works within us as we make that salvation effective because decisions need to be made.

We either become part of this world, its negativity and its fear, or we stand above it in Christ Jesus. That’s a choice. Verse 15, that you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation or generation among whom you shine as lights in this world or in the world.

You shine as a light as you make your salvation effective, as you bring it down to your day-by-day living. It affects your thoughts. It affects your decision-making.

It affects your commitments. It definitely affects the words that come out of your mouth. Holding forth the word of life that I may rejoice in the day of Christ.

That’s the return of Christ, the gathering together of the church that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain. Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all. Paul is saying that you have received the faith of Jesus Christ, his accomplished work.

You’ve received salvation. And he is praying that that labor is not in vain on the Philippian church, that they would make their salvation effective. They would live that salvation each and every day, which changes your perspective.

Absolutely. Look at Ephesians chapter one, where heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, we have salvation and then rewards. In Ephesians chapter one, in verse three, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who have blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

According as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him. In love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. God chose us.

He made a decision and he did this before the foundation of the world. And this phrase is very interesting because it’s actually referring to the casting down of Lucifer, when Lucifer and a third of the angels rebelled against God. It’s even before Lucifer took action against God, we were chosen.

And it says, in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children, he made us his children. That’s salvation 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 the beloved. God’s grace or his generosity, his kindness is activated and on display and produces praise and glory.

Now let’s talk about predestination for a second. So we understand. God chose us.

He predestinated us. God does not orchestrate or manipulate free will, even though some people teach that, but it’s not true. He does not do that because God is all knowing, all powerful and everywhere present.

He’s not restricted to time like we are. God experiences something before it happens. He actually experiences it.

And that’s including our free will. Since he has knowledge of our decisions ahead of time, he determines his responses to our decisions. That’s why he can choose.

That’s right. He chooses because he knows the choice that we’re gonna make. He never manipulates or orchestrates free will.

That is fantastic. See, it says in Isaiah 46, nine and 10, remember the former things of old, for I am God and there’s none else. I am God and there’s none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times of things that are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure.

He’s not like you and me. He experiences things before they happen. That’s why you can never catch him off guard.

No one can surprise him. And the decisions that we make, he already knows those decisions. And then he bases his decisions on what we do.

That’s right. This is all talking about salvation, about salvation. But there’s also predestination with our inheritance as well.

Look at chapter one, verse 10. That in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him. So in Christ, everything will come together.

In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Again, we see predestination. That means God is determining something before it happens.

Why? He does not manipulate or control people. He just knows the decisions that they’re gonna make. And in this light, we understand more and more the rewards that we will receive because God already knows ahead of time.

What we do with our salvation results in rewards as part of our inheritance. God rewards our allegiance and loyalty and love to him. These rewards are what we spiritually accumulate in our lives with what God has provided for each of us in Christ Jesus.

And then we enjoy and share them with God, our father, throughout all eternity. These rewards are very personal. My rewards are not your rewards.

Examples and Spiritual Lessons

And there’s no indication whatsoever, I will know what yours are and you’ll know what mine are because it’s between you and the father. It’s so intimate and so personal. It is what you will enjoy, what I will enjoy with him personally and intimately throughout all eternity.

That’s how specific and how intimate God is. He starts with the foundation of Jesus Christ. And then whatever we do with it, we get rewarded for it.

And we’re gonna see that in more detail. Look at Ephesians chapter four. Let me show it to you another way.

Again, we’re only talking about salvation and rewards. Salvation is by grace. And then through grace, we gain rewards based on what we do with that salvation knowledge.

It’s amazing. Ephesians chapter four, verse seven. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

Every one of us, that means every child of God, every Christian is given grace, the measure of the gift of Christ. That’s how we all start out. That’s right.

The measure of the gift of Christ is given at the new birth. It’s our salvation and our personal potential. In other words, you receive all the accomplished work of Christ at the new birth.

Then it depends on what you’re gonna do with it. That’s right. That’s right.

What we do with it. God rewards whatever we do with it. He pays a lot of attention to what he gives us.

And that’s the greatest thing he’s ever given to us. Then it says, wherefore he saith when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. See, he ascended, Jesus Christ ascended to the right hand of God.

It says, verse nine, now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? That’s where he was crucified and buried three days and three nights. He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things. He led captivity captive.

And another way of expressing this phrase is he led a host of captives. And this ties into the concept when a conqueror conquered a city or a nation, they would lead back a train, a procession of captives. They would lead them back triumphantly.

Well, Jesus Christ, when he ascended into heaven, he led captivity captive. That’s right. He led a host of captives.

And that’s exactly what Ephesians 1, 20 and 22 state. Because when he ascended up on high, he was ascended far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world, but in that which is to come. See, anything and any avenue that captures you, that puts you in some sort of bondage, he led it captive when he ascended into heaven.

Salvation is eternal life, but what we do with it depends on how we move in these categories because what can happen is a child of God can be born again, can have salvation, and they live in bondage their entire life. Mental bondage, physical bondage, financial bondage, emotional bondage. That is not the will of God.

He led everything captive when he ascended into heaven. There is no need to be in bondage any longer. That’s right.

It’s so interesting that this is actually a quote, verse eight is actually a quote from Psalm 68. I’m not gonna read you the whole Psalm, but I’m gonna read you parts of it. In Psalm 68, verse six, and then 18 through 20.

It says, God set up the solitary in families or a household. He bringeth out those which are bound with chains. People have too many chains in their lives and in their hearts.

God doesn’t want you fettered. He doesn’t want you imprisoned in your own mind. He doesn’t want you to be captivated by fear and anxiety and doubt and worry.

He wants to release you from those chains. He sent Jesus Christ to free you. That’s right.

Then it goes on to say, thou hast ascended on high. Thou hast led captivity captive. Thou hast received gifts for men.

Yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord might dwell among them. God wants to dwell among his people. So he sets them free.

Blessed be the Lord who daily loatheth us with benefits. Even the God of our salvation, say long. He that is our God is the God of salvation.

And unto God, the Lord belong the issues. The word issues is crossroad or way out from death. He has a way out.

You don’t need to live like this anymore. See, you can have a Christian believer, wonderful, beautiful child of God that’s been saved and yet they live in bondage their entire life. That is not God’s will.

Faith in Action

Absolutely not. See, this is where rewards come in. God rewards you for living in newness of life and in the freedom of Christ.

That’s why he gave ministries to help us in verse 11 and gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. You’re already perfect in Christ Jesus, but they help to mend our walk, to help us because often people live in a tunnel. Have you noticed? They live in their own little world, even though they live amongst people.

And we need that iron sharpening iron. We need that rubbing in. We need that perfecting, that mending in our walk, our lifestyle, sure.

And how long will this continue? It says, till we all come. Till means there’s a limit here. It’s implying that the action will terminate.

There will no longer be needed apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Till we all come in the unity of the faith, the faith of Jesus Christ, the family faith. The faith of Jesus Christ is that accomplished work of Christ we all share as brothers and sisters in the family of God.

It’s his faith and of the knowledge of the son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Now, wait a second. In verse seven, we’re talking about the measure of the gift of Christ given at the new birth.

It’s the measure of the gift of Christ. We all get the same measure, but here in verse 13, it’s not talking about the measure of the gift of Christ. It’s talking about the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ given at the return of Christ.

This is our personal contribution we get rewarded for personally because Jesus Christ is not here. We have ministries to serve, to help us fulfill what God has begun in us. We’ll be back here.

Look at Philippians chapter one. See, God began this good work in you at the new birth. Philippians chapter one, verse three.

Paul writes, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making requests with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. Watch this, being confident of this very thing that he, God, which has begun a good work. He began a good work.

Whenever you see good work, you know God’s participating. You know that grace is involved. He began a good work in you.

We’ll perform it until the day of what? That means right up to the very day of the return of Christ in Ephesians chapter four. See, we start out with the same measure of faith. We start out with the measure of the gift of Christ and we’re rewarded by God, which we’ll get into more detail in a bit.

We’re rewarded by God and it contributes to the building of the body until the body of Christ reaches its pinnacle at the return of Christ. That’s the measure of the fullness of the stature of Christ. Amazing, fantastic.

In Ephesians chapter four and verse 13, till we all come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of God. This knowledge of the son of God in verse 13 is very emphatic in terms of its participation. It’s a knowledge which the knower participates in and it’s of the son of God.

It does not say the son of man, says the son of God. And there is a very clear distinction here because the son of man is a phrase that is not used in light of the Christian because the son of man is in reference to natural lineage and judgment. That’s why the son of man is not used in reference to Christians because we’ve already been justified through Christ.

Our natural lineage already has been overcome when our old man was crucified with Christ. We now have a spiritual lineage and in addition, we have lineage of faith through Abraham. Fantastic.

That full knowledge of the son of God will come at the return of Christ. Keep your finger here and look at 1 Corinthians, please. In 1 Corinthians 13 in verse nine.

For we know in part and we prophesy in part. God does not reveal everything to us but a day will come when he will. But when that which is perfect is come, that’s the perfect man, that’s Jesus Christ and the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child. I understood as a child.

I thought as a child. But when I become a man, when I become an adult, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass darkly.

It’s hidden to us, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known. Wow.

These words know mean a full and complete experiential knowledge. You and I shall know. It’s very personal.

Paul puts it in the first person here by revelation. He says that I know in part, but then shall I know even as I am known. It’s very individual.

It’s very personal. You are known experientially by God. He knows everything about you.

And when we come face to face at the return of Christ with a new body, we will have that ability to know even as we are known. This absolutely will come to pass because that face to face is a phrase that reflects an intimacy and an understanding. We will see the full picture of what Jesus Christ accomplished for us and in us.

We’ll see the full picture. But you and I couldn’t handle it. Not now.

Walking in Love and Confidence

Back to Ephesians. Back to Ephesians four. See, we’re talking about salvation and reward, right? Well, it starts with the salvation and then whatever we do with it.

Do we make it effective in our life? Does it actually change the way that you think? Does it change the way that you make decisions? Does it change your commitments? Does it change the words that you speak? It should. But when it does, then we’re on the road to what Ephesians is talking about. Verse 13 of Ephesians four.

Again, till the edifying of the body of Christ, the work of the ministry and the perfecting of the saints will end till we all come in the unity of the faith. That’s the family of God and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. See, at the new birth, we receive the measure of the gift of Christ, but at the return of Christ, we receive the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Every time we act on behalf of Christ, we’re helping our brothers and sisters and ourselves as well. We’re contributing to the body every time. Unto a perfect man.

A perfect man here is really referring to an adult. We reach the pinnacle of our spiritual maturity, if you will, at the return of Christ, but we can only contribute while we’re alive. We reach that adulthood, if you will, because the perfect man is you and me at the return of Christ.

We have reached adulthood in Christ individually. Everyone is given the same potential of Christ. Then what we do with it builds unto a perfect man.

And for our effort, we are rewarded. The measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ is given at the return of Christ, the perfect man. It is our personal contribution in love, which God personally rewards us for.

Amazing. Then we can understand why verse 14 says that we henceforth be no more children. Children here is a babe, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive.

Once we understand that we will reach full maturity at the return of Christ and that we can contribute to all this and be rewarded for it, we don’t even consider these other doctrines. We don’t waste our time. We don’t even think about it.

We’re not children. We’re not babies. Look, but speaking the truth in love may grow up in him in all things, which is the head even Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supply according to the effectual working and the measure of every part make an increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

God takes every individual contribution according to his will. Each individual is rewarded and then it reaches its pinnacle at the return of Christ. Amazing.

And fantastic. But see, your rewards and mine are very personal. They’re very intimate with God.

And we’ll see this. See, that’s why I say it’s about what we do with our salvation in this life. It’s about our newness of life walk and the freedom we live in Christ now.

Now, what’s gonna stop us from gaining this ground? What’s going to get in our way? Let’s take a look. Look at Romans, please. Our identity in Christ is central.

Our identity in Christ is central to our inheritance because our inheritance is both a conclusion and a beginning. We no longer can gain rewards once the return of Christ happens. It concludes with either the end of our life and then we wait for the return while we’re asleep or while we’re alive, Christ returns.

Can’t add any more after that. It ends. But it’s also a beginning.

The conclusion is God’s good work through grace. He began in us at the new birth till the day of Christ. The beginning is our spiritual adulthood in Christ.

We are rewarded and we enjoy with our heavenly father on a personal and intimate way throughout all eternity. What an incentive, Romans chapter eight, the conclusion, his good work through grace that he began in you at the new birth till the day of Christ. Then the beginning is our spiritual adulthood in Christ.

We’ve taken everything that Christ did and by free will, we each did something with it. And we’re rewarded to enjoy with our heavenly father those rewards on a personal level. Romans chapter eight, please.

What’s gonna stop us? Well, here it is right here. In Romans chapter eight, verse 14. For as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

The spirit is the down payment that we’ve received for this inheritance. For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, that it’s what’s gonna stop us. But you’ve received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

The spirit of bondage is a spirit from Satan that specializes in tethering people to an earthly identity. It specializes in tricking people and deceiving people that all there is, is this life. So they invest themselves in careers, in money, in all these sorts of things.

Education, nothing wrong with those things. There’s everything right with those things, but it’s not who you are. They invest themselves in family.

They invest themselves in all these different things that are to be a blessing for us, but they’re not who we really are. That’s right. Who we really are is who God called us to be in Christ Jesus.

And that’s what stops us. The spirit of bondage just tethers people to an earthly identity. Verse 16, the spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are, not we’re gonna be, we are the children of God.

Applying the Teaching in Daily Life

And if children, then heirs. We’re heirs of God himself. We inherit everything that comes from God and God owns everything.

He doesn’t need to detail it out for you in that sense, because your inheritance is in him and he owns everything. But to enjoy things, it’s through him and with him. That’s the point.

And join as with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. That’s an important point. There’s sufferings in this life.

There’s challenges in this life. And that’s what Jesus represented. He took all the sufferings and challenges of life to the cross and the glory is referring to his victory and that spiritual dignity and brilliance of victory that we have in Christ.

So when you put Jesus together with Christ, you have the sufferings of this life, which we all deal with, but then you also have the victory, the brilliance and the dignity of being elevated to the right hand of the throne of God. See, it is when Jesus is separated from Christ. Now, I know you can, in the Bible, sometimes the name Jesus appears by itself, sometimes Christ, I understand that.

You can’t really have Christ without Jesus. But the problem becomes when people emphasize Jesus at the expense of Christ, they go together. When that happens, when Jesus is separated from Christ in teaching, in thinking, in action, in decisions, in commitments, then unnecessary suffering occurs and victories over evil are weakened, become less frequent and even do not even occur.

That’s right. That’s something that’s happened to Christianity over the last 2000 years. The word uses Jesus and Christ separately, no problem.

One is emphasizing, like Jesus emphasizes his earthly ministry and the suffering and his sacrifice. But Christ, which is his title, when alone, it’s emphasizing his victory and triumph over sin and the enemies of God. And you need both.

You need both. My goodness, this is unbelievable. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not to be worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.

It’s not to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. Fantastic. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God, the creation is waiting for the return of Christ because as we learned in the previous installment of our webinar, that’s when the timeline begins.

It sets in motion what will happen as we learned in the first webinar. For the creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who has subjected the same in hope. In other words, God knew that free will by the angelic realm and by man would mess things up, but he gave us hope and told us it’s gonna be okay.

I’ve got this. Because the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. The second heaven and earth, the heavens and earth that we are in, including our physical bodies will all corrupt.

It will all be gone. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travails in pain together until now, and not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the spirit. See, we have eternal life now abiding within us, but it’s not fully realized until the return of Christ when we get the new body.

Even we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption to wit, the redemption of our what? Our body. That means you get a new body, and with that new body, everything that we’ve done in this life gets put together, and that is the inheritance. For we are saved by hope, or we were saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope.

For what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? Amazing. Look at Genesis, please. Genesis.

Salvation and rewards. Our reward actually is God himself, is unending, unfading, unhindered access to him completely and totally forever. He’s that big.

He can give you access and me access to him all the time, 24-7, without getting his wires crossed. He’s God, and he’s figured this out. But look at Genesis 15.

God says to Abraham in verse one, after these things, the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, fear not, Abram, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. Look at Hebrews 11, please. In Hebrews chapter 11, in verse six, but without faith, and faith is just to believe God, it is impossible to please him.

For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, not only that, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. All rewards from God follow this heart. They come when we seek him out.

They come when we draw nigh unto him, he draws nigh unto us. He rewards you for coming to him, opening your heart to him, trusting him, asking him for wisdom, praying, he rewards you. He’s a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Look at Proverbs, please. Proverbs chapter two. He is our prize, if you will.

Proverbs chapter two. So many scriptures describe these truths to us. In Proverbs chapter two, verse one, Solomon writes, my son, if thou will receive my words and hide my commandments with thee, so that thou incline thine ear, incline thine ear.

It’s talking about obeying unto wisdom. Wisdom is the right application of knowledge, and apply thine heart to understanding. Yea, if thou cryest after knowledge and lifteth up thy voice for understanding.

In other words, these are the things that really float our boat. These are the things that are most significant and important to us. If thou seekest her as silver and searches for her as for a hid treasure.

How many people really consider the knowledge of God a hid treasure? Something to seek out, something to search. That’s where the separation comes. You got people that are saved, but they don’t seek him out anymore.

A Life Shaped by God’s Word

That’s a decision. I have no criticism for them, love them, but I would encourage them in another direction. Then it says, then, then shalt thou understand the respect, fear is respect of the Lord.

Watch this, and find the knowledge of God. And find means to discover. We discover the knowledge of God.

This is an experiential knowledge of God. Meaning we don’t just know him intellectually or academically, we experience his love. We experience his peace.

We experience his wisdom, his joy. We experience him in the day by day because we bring salvation into our day by day living. Look at John 17, please.

John 17, Jesus Christ in this tremendous prayer explains more about eternal life. And he says in verse three, and this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ who now has sent. What a statement.

We will know him. And this word know means to experience him. But we have to reach that spiritual adulthood.

Now we only experience him in part, but we will experience him fully. That’s right, at the return of Christ with that new body and the rewards that we will be given. And we experience Jesus Christ, meaning we will fully experience his accomplished work.

We will fully understand actually what he did in its totality. Amazing, absolutely amazing. We will experience it.

That’s what it means in Ephesians. Till we all come in the unity of the faith and to a knowledge of the son of God unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, we will fully appreciate, fully understand, fully recognize what Jesus Christ accomplished that has ushered in eternity into our life and made access to God, a personal and intimate relationship with him throughout all eternity. That is amazing.

Look at Hebrews chapter 12. God rewards us for what we do in light of eternal life. But see, here’s the thing, it’s between you and him.

It’s between you and him, me and him. And he can handle every single one of us. See, he’s unlimited.

He’s fathomless. He cannot be contained. It’s an endless access to his limitlessness.

Hebrews chapter 12, verse two. Looking unto Jesus, the offer and finish of our faith for the joy that was set before us. Doesn’t say that.

It says the joy that was set before what? Him. That means that God showed him something very personal. It was the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame that is set down the right hand of the throne of God.

He didn’t show it to everybody else. He showed us from the scripture, his accomplished work. But there’s more than just what his accomplished work did because he had a personal relationship with God himself.

Look at Revelation. That’s right. Revelation 19.

We’ve been given insight into Jesus Christ and his accomplished work that pertains to us and is applied to us. But there’s a personal and intimate side between Jesus Christ and the father simply reserved for them. Like for you.

It says in John 21, 25. John 21, 25. It says, and there are also many other things which Jesus did, the witch.

If they should be written everyone, I suppose not that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen. Everything we need for understanding salvation and what we need to move ahead has been written down for us.

But there’s personal things that Jesus was involved with that are between him and the father. And it’s a precursor. It’s just to show us that you and I have a very unique future.

Sure, as we will all be gathered together, but what we put into this life does reflect in eternity. Revelation 19, look at verse 12, speaking about Jesus Christ. His eyes were as a flame of fire and on his head were many crowns.

Crowns are given for recognition and dignity and honor. And he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. You know what that’s referring to? We know the name Jesus Christ.

It’s referring to the dignity and the honor and the authority that is very personal between him and God. It’s just reserved for them. That’s right.

That’s why it’s so important to understand that eternity isn’t just like we get up to heaven and we’re a big mob moving around like as one. It’s not like that. You have a personal investment in heaven.

And that personal investment is directly to God himself, you and him, and you will be rewarded accordingly. Fantastic.

Key Takeaways

• We reach the pinnacle of our spiritual maturity, if you will, at the return of Christ, but we can only contribute while we’re alive.
• It concludes with either the end of our life and then we wait for the return while we’re asleep or while we’re alive, Christ returns.
• And then two, what we do with this salvation given by grace till we fall asleep on the return of Christ.
• And then what we do with that salvation given by grace till we fall asleep or the return of Christ.
• That’s salvation 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 the beloved.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the main message of “Heirs of God (Part 1)”?

Rev. Rico Magnelli examines “Heirs of God (Part 1)” through Isaiah 46, Ephesians 1, Psalm 68, 1 Corinthians 13, showing how christ, salvation, rewards shape a believer’s relationship with God, daily choices, and service to others.

Which scriptures are central to this teaching?

The teaching draws especially from Isaiah 46, Ephesians 1, Psalm 68, 1 Corinthians 13, Genesis 15.

How can believers apply this teaching?

That’s salvation 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 the beloved.

Scripture References

Isaiah 46; Ephesians 1; Psalm 68; 1 Corinthians 13; Genesis 15; Hebrews 11

This text was prepared from the teaching audio or source document. Please verify scripture references against your own Bible.