From the MLJ Archive

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The words to which I should like to call your attention this morning are to be found in Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians, in the first chapter and the 14th verse. The 14th verse in the first chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians.

Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of His glory.

Now, obviously this is a continuation of something that the Apostle has already been saying. So we read verse 13 as well.

In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory.

Now we here come to a further addition to this tremendous statement which the Apostle has been making in this first section of this great Epistle.

As I say, he is obviously continuing something that he has already been saying. And if we are to have the full benefit of this particular statement, we must be careful to take it in its context and to see its relationship to that which had gone before.

I therefore would remind you that the Apostle at this point is concerned to show and to display to these Ephesian Christians and others, and therefore to us, God's great plan and purpose, which is as we are told in the 10th verse, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, He might together, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him. That is the grand purpose.

That all things should be reunited again in Christ. That the original harmony, which prevailed before the havoc caused by sin, should be restored. Now, that's the great purpose.

And the Apostle goes on at once to say that this plan is already in operation. God has already started to put it into operation. And there is at hand a very obvious illustration, and that is something which is to be seen. He tells us in the Christian Church itself.

The most astounding thing that has ever happened in a sense was the bringing, the bringing together and the coming together of Jews and Gentiles into one body called the Church. Now that was already taking place.

These very people to whom he was writing were Gentiles. And the thing which thrills the mind and the heart of the great Apostle is that these people who had been enemies and aliens and outside the Commonwealth of Israel have now been made fellow-heirs with the saints and of the household of God.

That is the tremendous thing, but it's only a part of God's great plan. All things, both those which are in heaven and which are on earth, all things are to be brought together even in Him. But immediately, I say, he's concerned with this particular manifestation of that.

And this is a fact. And there need be no uncertainty about this. There were some who did still seem to be a little bit uncertain.

It was a very difficult thing for a Jew. Trained as he was and under the influence of the Pharisees and others, it was a very difficult thing for him to believe that the Gentiles could ever possibly become the children of God.

Traditionally throughout the centuries, they had regarded themselves as the children of God and all others as dogs, outsiders, outside the Commonwealth of Israel. And it was very difficult for them to believe this.

We've got evidence of that even in the case of a man like the Apostle Peter, in connection you remember with the conversion of Cornelius and his household. Peter was given that vision on the housetop, you remember, in order to bring this truth home to him.

And he couldn't quite understand it. He said he'd never eaten anything that was unclean or defiled, nothing common or unclean. But God had to give him this message, that which God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. And so Peter saw the truth. He saw the message of the vision.

So he went and preached the Gospel to Cornelius and his household and was ready to receive them into the Church. But it didn't stop at that.

God gave a positive proof of the fact that the Gentiles really were fellow-heirs. And that proof was the giving of the Holy Spirit, the sealing with the Spirit.

Now, that's why the Apostle introduces this whole subject at this point. He's concerned, I say, primarily to say that God is putting into operation this great plan of unification. Jews and Gentiles are brought together in the Church, and there's no doubt about it.

It's beyond doubt. God has given proof of it by giving to the Gentiles the gift of the Holy Ghost, exactly as He had already given it to the Jewish believers. It was the final proof.

Now, that is in a sense the great message of the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. And how often is the argument put, Peter, you see, was called to count for admitting the Gentiles into the Church? And his only defense was this. He said, when I saw that God had done to them as He had done to us at the beginning, when I saw that God had poured out upon them the Holy Spirit, as He did upon us on the day of Pentecost, who was I that I should refuse water to baptize them?

God, he said, had sealed upon them. God had done this thing, and I could see it. And therefore, all my arguments had vanished, and I knew that God was making them one with us. And the same argument you will find running everywhere through that book of the Acts of the Apostles.

And now here Paul uses the self-same argument. You see, he starts by saying, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance. But then in verse 13, in whom you also trusted and have had the same inheritance after that you heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation.

And here is the proof, in whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. And the thing therefore is beyond any doubt and beyond any question.

Now that is the way, you see, in which the Apostle introduces this whole teaching of his concerning the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer and especially in terms of sealing and in terms of the earnest of the Spirit.

Now we have already been dealing at length with the doctrine of the sealing of the Spirit, and I trust we are all clear in our minds about that.

That is that peculiar, exceptional assurance which God gives to His people. It is the Spirit testifying with our spirits that we are the children of God. That's the sealing. And we are sealed in that way by the Spirit. He is given to us, and He bears that witness and that testimony, and we know therefore that we are the children of God.

But the Apostle in his desire to strengthen and to comfort and to build up these Ephesians feels that he can't leave it at that point. Because indeed there is another aspect of this truth which from the experimental and the experiential standpoint is in a sense still more precious.

So he works up to this tremendous climax which we find in this 14th verse. He says, the Holy Spirit, after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, who is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession.

Now it's a great pity that the authorized version and the others put which instead of who. It should be who is the earnest. It's the Spirit Himself. And the Apostle therefore takes us on to this truth.

Now it's very important that we should realize that here he's not just repeating himself. He's not just saying the same thing again in a different way. This is not a bit of tautology. He really is adding to the truth. He's taking us a step further on.

And what he is anxious, I say, to do here is to help us to see something again of the glory of our position in Christ Jesus. It is all to the praise of His glory. And here is another facet, another glimpse, another angle, another viewpoint of that eternal glory which resides in our blessed Lord and Savior.

Now it is interesting to notice how the Apostle almost invariably links these two things together, the sealing and the earnest. You remember that he does exactly the same thing in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians in the first chapter and the 21st verse and 22nd verse.

Where he says, now He which establisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God, who also hath sealed us, and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. That's it. He puts them together.

And then in a sense, he does very much the same thing, although he doesn't actually use the term for sealing, in the fifth chapter of that Second Epistle to the Corinthians and in the fifth verse where he says, now He who hath wrought, wrought us for the self-same thing is God, who also hath given us the earnest of the Spirit.

Now it's important therefore that we should be clear as to the meaning of this great and important term. And important also that we should realize that the Apostle's whole object in introducing it here as he did there with the Corinthians was, to use his own term, to establish us.

And that is why I want to emphasize it this morning. It is only as we understand this kind of doctrine that we can be truly established.

And the whole purpose of doctrine is not merely to give us intellectual understanding or satisfaction, it is to establish us. To make us firm, to make us solid Christians, to make us unmovable, to make us have such a foundation that nothing can shake us.

And surely if there is one need greater than any other at the present time, it is that Christian people should be established. And that we should learn to think of ourselves not so much in terms of particular experiences as in terms of our whole position and that which God has planned and intended for us.

Very well then, let's look at it like this. What is the meaning of this term earnest, which is the earnest of our inheritance? Well, it's a term that is used, of course, in connection with business transactions.

It isn't used as commonly today as it once was, but there was a time when it was a very common term in all business transactions of buying and selling. And everybody is agreed that it has two main meanings.

One meaning is that it is a sort of pledge that is given, or if you like a guarantee. A man might buy a piece of land or buy something else, and he hadn't got enough money to pay for it all. So what he does is this, he promises to pay it all, but for the time being he gives a pledge.

He gives to the other person something that the other one can hold as a pledge and as a guarantee that the purchaser is really going to pay the full price. It's a pledge, it's a guarantee.

But it doesn't stop at that. There is a richer meaning in this term earnest, and that is that it is not only a pledge, but it is also a pledge in the form of an installment, and an installment in kind.

Now I feel it's rather important for us to grasp the subtle difference of meaning between a pledge and an earnest. An earnest is a pledge, but it goes beyond it.

You see, you can give a pledge for something which is not of the same nature as the thing itself. For instance, you may be buying a piece of land, and you can give a pledge of money. It's a pledge, it's a guarantee, but it isn't an earnest.

What is peculiar to an earnest is this, that it is a pledge or a guarantee which is also of the same kind and of the same nature as the thing itself. For instance, if it is a question of a transfer of money, well then, if you give a portion of the money, it is an earnest in addition to being a pledge.

Whereas if in, if it, in that case of where it is a matter of money, if you gave an article of clothing or an article of furniture as a pledge, it would still be a pledge, but it would no longer be an earnest. The characteristic of an earnest is that it is a part of the thing itself. It is an installment. It is a first payment in kind of the very thing itself.

Now that is, as I hope to show you, a very vital part of the understanding of this doctrine. That it is a kind of first installment of the whole that is to follow, and it is a pledge in that sense and in that way.

There is, incidentally, also another difference between a pledge and an earnest. In the case of a pledge, when you have given a pledge to cover something, well, when you give the thing itself, your pledge is returned to you.

The term pledge, or the term guarantee, or the term pawn, they mean exactly the same thing. You leave your deposit, but then, when the time comes that you can make the payment, you are given your deposit and your pledge back. But that doesn't apply in the case of an earnest.

In the case of the earnest, having given this certain portion, well, you don't have that back, and it isn't given again, but the remainder is given. Let me take a simple illustration. Say that you owed somebody 20 shillings, a pound.

You may give a pledge for that. You may give a book as a pledge. Then, when you pay your pound, you're given your book back. But if instead of that you gave an earnest, you gave a shilling, let us say.

Well, now, when you come to settle up with a man, you don't have your shilling back and then give him a pound. No, you add 19 shillings. You have given a part of the whole. That is the peculiar characteristic of an earnest.

And if we are to derive the rich teaching that is in this statement, we must hold on very resolutely to that idea. And that is why it seems to me such a grievous thing that some of these translations which are so popular today seem to have missed this point completely.

Take, for instance, the Revised Standard Version that has been so popular. It seems to me to be not only weak, but totally inadequate. It seems to have missed the point completely. It translates it like this, which is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.

Well, of course, that's perfectly true. It is a guarantee. But oh, the word used by Paul goes so much beyond that and adds to it.

Which incidentally leads me to say something like this in brackets as I pass along. Let us be careful, my friends, with these modern translations.

Strict accuracy in language is not everything. A bias can come in, and a bias does come in. And it's very interesting to note how men who may be strictly accurate as regards words, when one of two or three words can be used, they may choose a word that's perfectly accurate, but it, it hasn't the fullness of meaning that another has.

So it's rather important that you should observe the theological position and standing of your scholars, who may be perfectly accurate. Yes, but their theological bias comes in, and if they can choose the lesser word, they do, and thereby detract from the truth.

I'm not here to denounce the Revised Standard Version. There are many excellent things in it. But I do notice, and I've called your attention repeatedly in this very section of the Epistle to the Ephesians, to the way in which it seems to almost delight in using the lower word when it might have used the higher.

It uses guarantee here. It is a guarantee, but it's more, it's an earnest. Very well then, I say, let us beware lest we be slaves of fashion and because a thing is new and the latest, it must be the best.

We know the theological position of the men who translated the Authorized Version. And we know the theological position of most of those on the panel who translated the Revised Standard Version, and the difference is often significant.

Very well then, I say that we must realize that this is the earnest. It is something which is given us on account until. That's what he said.

Who is also the earnest of our inheritance until. Until when? Well, now then, we must come to this next phrase. And I am sorry that I have to spend so much time on what may be the mechanics of exposition, but it is so vital. It is until the redemption of the purchased possession.

You notice again how the Revised Standard Version put it, which is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.

Well, again, it's legitimate. It's possible. But you notice the emphasis, don't you? It is the guarantee until we acquire. The Authorized Version says, until the redemption. What a word. It's been left out, you see.

Until the redemption of the purchased possession. Now, what does all this mean? Well, the Revised Version, you notice, is slightly different from the Authorized.

You have the Revised Version before you. It puts it like this, which is an earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption. It's kept the word. The Revised is nearer there. The earnest of our inheritance. It's got the earnest as well. The earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of God's own possession, says the Revised.

Now God isn't mentioned here in the Authorized. What are these two? Well, actually the reference to God is not in the original, and the revisers were at that point interpreting.

It may be a perfectly legitimate interpretation, but I've got to put the two possibilities before you. But take this great word redemption, which the Revised Standard has left out. Now, it's in the Greek, it's in the original. The word is there. There's no question about that.

And, as I say, the revisers have also translated it in that way. What does redemption mean here? Well, obviously, redemption here means the final completion of God's plan.

Take, for instance, an illustration to show it. The Apostle writing to the Corinthians in the First Epistle, in the first chapter, in verse 30, says, "who of God has been made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption."

Now, there is a tendency on the part of some people to think of redemption only in terms of forgiveness of sins, but it isn't. It is sometimes, and the context will generally make it perfectly plain as to which it is. But obviously, in that quotation I've just given, redemption means the final consummation.

The end, he is wisdom, he is righteousness, there's your justification and forgiveness, he is sanctification, and redemption. The whole thing, the completed purpose, the entire emancipation and deliverance.

And, of course, the word that the Apostle uses is a very particular and a very technical term. Redemption does mean, after all, deliverance by means of the payment of a ransom price.

And if you turn up even Greek English lexicons, you will find that the really great ones and standard ones bring out that as they explain this word, it is the ransom price of the blood of Christ that has been paid for our final redemption and deliverance. That's the thing the Apostle's talking about.

The Holy Spirit is an installment given to us until we receive in all its fullness. I don't like the word acquired. Until we receive in all its fullness what Christ has purchased for us by His own precious blood.

Oh, how important it is that we should keep our eye on these various translations and versions. Well, now then, but the Revised, you notice, is slightly different.

The Revised says, which is the earnest of our inheritance, and to the redemption of God's own possession. In other words, you can look at this in two ways. You can look at it either from God's standpoint or from our standpoint.

There is God's plan to gather out a people, the fullness of the Gentiles, the fullness of the Jews. He is gathered out, known unto God are all His. The foundation of God standeth sure. The Lord knoweth them that are His. Very well. He's got his perfect plan. There's a perfect number.

And redemption is when all those have been safely gathered in. And they are God's possession. The Lord's portion is His people. That is God's possession. That's one way of looking at it. And obviously, the translators of the Revised Version took that view of it.

Now that is, incidentally, the view that the Apostle himself puts forward in verse 18 in this chapter. He prays that the eyes of our understanding may be enlightened, that we may know what is the hope of His calling, and listen, and what is the riches of the glory of His, God's inheritance in the saints.

There is a picture of the saints as God's inheritance, as God's heritage. And it is a legitimate way to view this particular phrase.

And yet it seems to me that the Authorized is right. And the only way in which you can decide is not in terms of linguistics. You decide only in terms of the context and in terms of doctrine.

What is the Apostle concerned to do here? Well, I say, he's concerned to give comfort and consolation. And therefore, I suggest that he is really putting it from our side rather than from God's side.

He is saying that God has given us something as it were until we have the whole. So it seems to me that that translation, which is in the Authorized, falls more naturally and comfortably into the entire context.

Of course, in the last analysis, it doesn't make the slightest difference to the meaning. The day when you and I shall have entered fully into our inheritance will be the day when all God's possession in His people will also be complete. It comes to the same thing in the end.

Very well then, let us now come to the message, to the doctrine itself. What's the difference between the seal and the earnest? Well, let's look at it like this.

The seal is that which assures me that I am an inheritor. It gives me an assurance with regard to myself with respect to the inheritance. That's a seal. That's what the sealing of the Holy Spirit does.

What then is the inheritance? Well, if you like, the inheritance, the earnest is that which gives me an assurance with regard to the thing itself.

It gives me something of the thing itself. I've received the shilling. I know the 19 are coming. It's a part of the very thing itself, so it's an assurance in that sense. And you see that there is an obvious difference between the two.

The sealing is directly with regard to myself and my position and my relationship to God. The earnest has a more direct reference to my relationship to the very inheritance itself.

And therefore, this, it seems to me, is the Apostle's teaching. The Holy Ghost has been given to me. And He by bearing witness with my spirit has assured me that I am a child of God. I have been sealed.

God as it were has said to me, "Thou art My son," that He's peculiarly interested in me in Christ. Yes, but He is also the earnest of the inheritance.

First of all, let's have a glance at that as it is a pledge. I told you that that's the first meaning. How is the Holy Spirit an earnest of my inheritance in this sense?

Well, I believe the best way of looking at that perhaps is to look at it in the way in which the Apostle expounds it in some of the verses of that great eighth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, which we read together just now.

Take, for instance, the 11th verse. "But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you." Now, that's a most important statement.

It's a part of the Apostle's great argument in that chapter, you remember, to the effect that we have a fight and a struggle against sin in this world because the body is not yet redeemed.

In spirit we are already redeemed. We are dead to the law, we are dead to sin. We are in Christ. We are risen with Him. We are seated in the heavenly places with Him. Yes, but sin remains in this mortal body.

He's just been saying that. "If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness."

Ah, but it doesn't stop there. "Don't be discouraged," he says. "It's all right. If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you," what does it mean? It means this. "He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you."

If the Spirit is in you, you've got an earnest. You've got a foretaste. You've got a first installment of what's going to happen to you completely. There is a day coming when your very body shall be entirely delivered from sin, and you've got a guarantee of that by the presence of the Spirit within your body. Your bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost.

And because the Spirit is in me, I know that my body is going to be delivered. Take it again in the 23rd verse, where he says exactly the same thing.

"Not only they," he says, referring to creation, "not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." It's exactly the same thing.

"We've got the firstfruits of the Spirit. That's the earnest of the Spirit. Yes, but though we've got that," says Paul, "we groan within ourselves." Ah, of course, modern Christians don't. They're already perfect and they're, they don't know groaning. Modern Christians don't groan. They're too happy to groan. They don't like this sort of doctrine. But the Apostle groaned within himself.

And he teaches that if we are truly Christian, we should know something of this groaning. Though we have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. Yes, and the presence of the Spirit as the firstfruits within us is a guarantee that that is really going to happen, and that our bodies really are going to be finally redeemed from all sin.

And indeed, in that fifth verse of the fifth chapter of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, you've got exactly the same thing. You remember the argument. "If our earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

"For in this, this body, we groan." Same thing, you see. "Earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven, if so be that, being clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened."

"Sin in the body, sin in the flesh, the law of the members. We groan being burdened, not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing, that's His purpose, is God, who also hath given to us the earnest of the Spirit."

The Spirit within me as an earnest is a guarantee that though I am thus groaning now, I am going to be delivered in the body and clothed with that house which is from heaven, the building of God. You see, it's the same thing.

Very well then, there is some conception of the earnest of the Spirit as a pledge. But let us go on and look at the other aspect before we close. I can merely hint at it. But how glorious it is.

The Holy Spirit within us, says Paul, gives us a foretaste of heaven. And Christian people, that's what you and I should be enjoying this morning. A foretaste of heaven.

Our coming together like this should be a foretaste of heaven to us. Here we meet to consider these things and to talk about them and to discuss them. It's only a foretaste. It's only a gathering of the firstfruits. The Spirit brings it all to us.

Well, what's it mean? Well, you can look at it like this. What is heaven? What is heaven going to be for us? What does it mean by saying that we look forward to the enjoyment of heaven?

Well, we can't answer the question, but I can say this much. I'll tell you the chief things in heaven, the two chief things in heaven: seeing Him and becoming like Him. That's heaven. That is the very essence of heaven.

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when He shall appear, we shall see Him. We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." That's heaven.

To see our blessed Lord and Savior face to face. To see God. That's heaven. It's beyond our comprehension, we can't grasp it, it's so glorious, but that will be heaven for us. To see God. To look into the face of your blessed Savior who died for you.

Yes, that's heaven. But what now? Well, all we have now is the firstfruit, the foretaste. And remember this is the thing I'm out to emphasize. We ought to be enjoying the firstfruits and the foretaste now.

We ourselves, says Paul, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit. Well, what is it? Well, again, let me, let the Apostle expound himself. Listen to how he puts it again in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, in the third chapter, and the 18th verse.

"Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Listen, but we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." That happens now.

No, no, we don't see Him yet face to face. But we do see Him with open face as in a glass, with open face beholding as in a glass, as in a mirror. It's a reflection. We're seeing at the moment, but we are seeing a reflection of the glory of the Lord by the Spirit. That happens now.

But he also puts the same thing in his first Epistle to the Corinthians, in the 13th chapter and the 12th verse. Listen to it, you're familiar with it. "But now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face."

"Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known." You see, the whole doctrine is there. "Now, then." "Now we see through a glass darkly, a riddle and an enigma," as somebody has translated it.

It's not clear. Yes, we are seeing it. We are seeing the real glory itself, but as in a glass darkly. The face of the mirror isn't shining sufficiently. It can't catch the full glory. We are seeing the glory, but only as in a glass darkly.

But then face to face. But thank God what I am seeing now is a part of the same. It is an installment, it is the firstfruits, it is the foretaste, it is an earnest. It's not only a guarantee. It's a part of the thing itself. I am entering into the glory in a measure even now.

That's what he's saying. Seeing Him and enjoying Him. It begins here. Imperfectly. Only a small proportion, only a small percentage, but real nevertheless, the thing itself, as much as I can stand and bear.

The second aspect I say is becoming like Him and sharing His life. What does that mean? Well, we all know that. It means perfection. It means absolute perfection.

Without spot, without blemish, without wrinkle, or any such thing. Jude in his great benediction says, "Now unto Him that is able to keep us from falling and to present us faultless, without any fault at all, before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy."

But let me give you some descriptions of it given in the Book of Revelation. Listen to this from chapter 21, verse 8. "But the fearful and the unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." Outside, not in heaven.

Or listen to it in verse 27. "There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie. But only they which are written in the Lamb's book of life."

Or take it in the 22nd chapter, the last chapter of the Bible, verse 11. "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. And he that is filthy, let him be filthy still." That's hell, outside heaven. He remains what he was, filthy still.

"And he that is righteous, let him be righteous still." You see the difference. "And he that is holy, let him be holy still."

Oh, take it in verses 14 and 15. "Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city, for without are dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie."

"Nor defileth, shall enter in." It's utter absolute purity. That's what we shall be. When we shall see Him as He is, and we shall be like Him. But, my dear friends, we get a foretaste of that also in this life and in this world.

The Holy Spirit is an earnest of our inheritance. We are to be beginning the enjoyment of even that here on earth, in this life, and in this world. Yes, holiness. We are to know something about the joy of holiness.

The hatred of sin, the abomination of the world and all its ways, and all its desires, and all it stands for. We must learn to hate it as He hates it. And to enjoy holiness and purity and righteousness.

And every thought of holiness, as the hymn puts it, is His alone. Do you know what it is to enjoy holiness? To feel that His commandments are not grievous, but to delight in the law of the Lord. To love it because it is what it is.

We are to have the foretaste of that here. And likewise, love. It's a great characteristic of heaven. When we shall see Him, we shall love Him altogether. But we are to begin to love Him here.

Paul prays for these Ephesians in the third chapter, "that being strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, they may begin to know something of the depth and the height and the breadth and the length, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that we might be filled with all the fullness of God."

Do you love God? In heaven, you'll love Him absolutely. Do you begin to love Him here? We are meant to. If you have the firstfruit, you must. To know His love to us, to love Him, and to love one another.

In heaven, we shall all love one another. It's to begin here. If you've got the firstfruits in you, you'll begin to love one another because you belong to Christ. Love, and the same with joy.

The joy of heaven is unmixed. It's described again to us in this great chapter, at the end, in these great chapters at the end of this Book of Revelation, "and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away." Unmixed joy.

But, my friends, it's to begin here. The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. "Whom having not seen, ye love, in whom, though now we see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with a joy unspeakable and full of glory." Now, Christian people now, filled with this rejoicing that is unspeakable and full of glory. And if the Holy Ghost is in us, we'll know something about that.

And that is why the Apostle keeps on appealing to the Philippians. "Rejoice, and again I say, rejoice." And to know something of the peace of God that passeth all understanding. Heaven is perfect peace and bliss. But we are to know something about it here. So that whatever circumstances may be doing, we may be at peace.

Whether we are abased or abounding, in wanting need or full and in abundance, always enjoying this perfect peace of God.

Well, there's the doctrine. By and through the Holy Spirit within us, as an earnest, we are to begin enjoying heaven, even here. Celestial fruits on earthly ground from faith and hope may grow.

Children of the heavenly King, as he journeys, sweetly singing. We are going home to God, in the way the fathers trod. They are happy now, and we soon their happiness shall see.

But though we don't see it all, God in His infinite grace and kindness and compassion has given us a foretaste. Are we enjoying it? Do you know Him? Do you see Him with an open face as in a glass? Has His glory ever been revealed to you?

Do you know something of His love and do you love Him? Do you know the joy of holiness, and of purity, and of sanctification? And are you a partaker in the peace of God that passeth all understanding?