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Jesus, Our Inheritance

All Saints Day is November 1 on the Church's Calendar.  It is also a day of reflection and commemoration as we remember that Martin Luther used this date to bring back to the Church the missing message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Luther had been a troubled monk who had battled in the interior of his soul with the need for God's righteousness - a righteousness that he knew he did not have despite all of the religious works that he had tried to do to earn it.  He was asked to teach - in order that he might know - and in teaching at the University of Wittenberg (Germany) he began to read the book of Romans.  Here, he immediately was confronted with the dilemma.  Paul had written inspired words from the Holy Spirit setting forth the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

 Romans 1:16-17

16  For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17  For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Luther was confounded, for as he read it seemed to him that God's righteousness could never be attained, no matter how many sacraments of the Church he did.  Then it began to dawn on him.  This righteousness was not from him, or within him, but this righteousness was "extra nous" - alien to him, apart from him...  This righteousness was not his righteousness, but the righteousness of Jesus Christ that comes to all who put their faith (believe) in Christ alone.  

Here is the Gospel of Jesus Christ - a Gospel of God's grace and mercy for Sinners who have no hope apart from Jesus Christ, but who IN Jesus Christ have received an inheritance of eternal life.  Spurgeon said it so beautifully:

Jesus:  In him we have obtained an inheritance.   Ephesians 1:11

When Jesus gave Himself for us, He gave us all the rights and privileges that went with Himself; so now, although as eternal God He has essential rights to which no creature may venture to pretend, yet as Jesus, the Mediator, the federal Head of the covenant of grace, He has no heritage apart from us. All the glorious consequences of His obedience unto death are the joint riches of all who are in Him, and on whose behalf He accomplished the divine will.

See, He enters into glory, but not for Himself alone, for it is written, "Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf."1 Does He stand in the presence of God? Christ appears "in the presence of God on our behalf."2 Consider this, believer: You have no right to heaven in yourself; your right lies in Christ.

If you are pardoned, it is through His blood; if you are justified, it is through His righteousness; if you are sanctified, it is because He is made of God unto you sanctification; if you shall be kept from falling, it will be because you are preserved in Christ Jesus; and if you are perfected at the last, it will be because you are complete in Him. Thus Jesus is magnified—for all is in Him and by Him; thus the inheritance is made certain to us—for it is obtained in Him; thus each blessing is the sweeter, and even heaven itself the brighter, because it is Jesus our Beloved in whom we have obtained all.

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 that belong to the saints. Reach the bottom of Christ's sea of joy, and then hope to understand the bliss that God has 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. "All are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's."3

1) Hebrews 6:20
2) Hebrews 9:24
3) 1 Corinthians 3:22-23

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