Secure Your Eternal Inheritance

Hebrews 12:16-17 “lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.  (17) For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.”

 I mentioned earlier that it is not wise for saints to approach their day of judgement by just “hoping for the best”, and yet sadly most believers approach their day of judgement with that exact attitude. Their viewpoint is, “Well I’ll just hope for the best, and if I am rewarded, great! But if I miss out on my rewards then that’s okay, because at least I know I’m saved”. I want you to think about that attitude for a moment. We are talking about our eternal destiny, because the outcome of this judgement will decide just how we are to spend the rest of eternity in the kingdom of God. In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit gives us the account of Esau and his earthly inheritance. If you read the account in the Old Testament you will see that Esau sold his birth right to his younger brother Jacob. When Esau sold his birth right all he was concerned about was his immediate needs. His future inheritance was the furthest thing from his mind. He was hungry, and when given the choice to give up his birth right in order to satisfy his immediate needs, he chose his immediate needs over his future inheritance. His actions had disastrous consequences, because years later when the time came for him to inherit the blessing he was rejected. The scripture reveals to us that even though he diligently sought with tears to find a way to inherit the blessing it was too late. Don’t forget that Esau was Isaac’s favourite son. And so I’m sure that when Esau made his choice he must have had the following thought, “I’m sure it will all turn out alright, because after all I am my Father’s favourite son”. But when the time came Isaac’s hands were tied, and even though Esau was his favourite son, God held Esau accountable for his decision and he could not receive the blessing. Esau’s actions were an admonishment to us today of how we should view our eternal inheritance. Many believers today concentrate only on this life and give no thought for their eternal inheritance. Their view is that Jesus loves them and He will take care of their inheritance for them, but they fail to realise that Jesus can only reward us for that which we have done according to our Father’s will on that day.

Luke 19:20-26 “Then another came, saying, 'Master, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief.  (21)  For I feared you, because you are an austere man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’ (22) and he said to him, 'Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow.  (23) Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected it with interest?'  (24)  "And he said to those who stood by, 'Take the mina from him, and give it to him who has ten minas.'  (25) (But they said to him, 'Master, he has ten minas.')  (26)  'For I say to you, that to everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”

Sadly some believers will find out on their day of judgement, that because they allowed themselves to become distracted by the affairs of this life, that they would have failed to fulfil the Father’s will for their lives. And so as with Esau, they will find out on that day that it will be too late for them to remedy the situation and their inheritance will be lost for all eternity. In the above quoted passage of scripture our Lord taught us this parable to clearly illustrates this point to us, which is that some saints will have no inheritance on that day, simply because they became distracted by the affairs of this life and chose not to do the will of the Father.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.  (25)  And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.  (26)  Therefore, I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus, I fight: not as one who beats the air.  (27) But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.”

 In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul counsels the saints to approach their day of judgement with purpose. In this passage He likens it to competing in a race, and He tells us that we should compete in such a manner that we are determined to win our race. He goes on to say that just as an athlete who wants to win their race trains and prepares with purpose, so should we. Think about Olympic athletes for example. They train for years and are completely focused on winning the gold medal in their chosen field of sport. And so in a similar manner, if we want to receive the crowns that have been laid up in store for us on that day, then we must have that very same attitude in our Christian walk, for as we will see in this teaching our eternal crowns are not received in any other way.

Philippians 3:12-15 “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.  (13)  Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, (14) I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  (15) therefore, let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.”

In the passage of scripture quoted above the apostle Paul tells us that in his Christian walk that he pressed toward the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Again, we see that the Holy Spirit puts the apostle Paul forward to us as an example of just how focused we should be on attaining the eternal prize that is set before us. I want you to notice that Paul tells us that all mature believers should display this type of attitude. The reason that mature believers should have this attitude is because they should have learnt to determine God’s will for their lives. Baby Christians on the other hand, are still learning how to hear from God and how to follow after the leading of the Holy Spirit, and so they do not yet know what God’s will is for their lives. With regards to mature believers however it should be different, because they should have clearly heard from God as to what works He has prepared beforehand for them to walk in (Ephesians 2:10). And so having learnt from God what it is that He has called them to do, they can now focus on completing those works.

Michael E.B. Maher

Eternal Judgement

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