Your Inheritance, Beloved

Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
11In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with thepromised Holy Spirit, 14who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
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I often come to these sets of verses for many reasons, the most important one is it is a brief explanation of the Gospel. It is sometimes missed by our minds when we read over it, but it's true. Paul starts with rejoicing, God has blessed us with everything spiritual in the heavenly places. Amazing as Christians we often go back and forth from a belief in grace to a belief in works. It is shameful that we do this all the time. We even say it in our preaching and even in our prayers at times. Now what do I mean by that? Simple, often times we tell people "do this", "do that" and often when we talk about it, it makes it sound as if doing this or doing that actually maintains your salvation. We hear all the time of people saying "don't drink", "go to church", "don't dance", and so much more, now I understand what these "rules" are trying to do. Don't get me wrong here though, going to church is indeed a good thing, if you struggle with getting drunk or your conscience bares you not to drink then don't, or if every time you dance you look like you could work at a strip club, it might not be good for you.
The point I am hinting out here is that this list that we make up and hold to is often what we come to make our hope for salvation, if not directly, often indirectly. We even start setting a standard of living between us and the person next to us thinking, "oh they drink, they probably aren't saved" or something similar. Here is what I know, every single person you come into contact today.. is a sinner, they will be until death or resurrection. The first person you encounter on a daily basis is a sinner, that person is you. Your set of standards will ultimately forget a few rules during that day and you will want to justify it in some way, "Well, at least I'm not as bad as Hitler" or something else. Here's something to think about and ponder on, God has sent people to hell for less than the sin you have accumulated. You are not without sin and the only way to justify those sins you commit is death. You do not deserve heaven..
But Christ.. That's the gospel, you get spiritual blessings not because of what you have done but because of what Christ has done for us.
Now the passage continues with some of the hardest scriptures that our hearts, as mentioned before, have trouble hearing. He talks of God predestining us in him before the foundation of the world. We were chosen, we are the beloved. Note here, at the time in which we are chosen is well before we choose either good or bad, Romans 9 references Jacob and Esau in the same sense when talking about predestining us. What you have done has deserved you nothing but a torment in hell, but Christ chose you Beloved before the foundation of the world! He chose you in him, Beloved, that you would be holy and blameless! Oh merciful savior, you see a wretch such as I and you saved me regardless. Beloved, this is the amazing Gospel, God did not come to let you earn your way back to him, for that is impossible, God came to save.. He came to bring Glory to his own. He lavishes us with grace and forgiveness. It is amazing. We who deserve the lake of fire just like our neighbor, oh us sinners who indeed rest on Christ's righteousness can grasp this wonderful inheritance.
As the passage continues we find that it is in accordance to His will that we have all these blessing. Beloved, he has willed your salvation, he has brought you from the dark because it was his own desire, a God that saves! Oh glorious be! This is his plan, to save the Beloved, this isn't what he "wishes" would happen, this is what was, is, and will be happening. God's plans cannot be foiled by man's efforts.
The passage continues once more to describe this God who sets plans in motion, who does things according to his will and his counsel. He is the one that brought you the gospel, he is the one that set you to believe in him, amazing! But the passage ends on one of most powerful statements I find, wretched men who are saved by the blood of our merciful savior... He has sealed you.. You know what this passage shows? You see what this passage is telling you Beloved? You, who folly time and time again when you rest not in his mercy, are sealed as a guarantee of your salvation! Beloved, he has made it where you cannot fall away, he put himself in you to draw you home. He is constantly fighting the battles inside of you against your flesh to draw you unto himself! You, the beloved, will indeed see your inheritance, you will see the face of God. Oh praise our savior, praise to his glory! Mighty is our Lord to save his Beloved, he has brought us unto him, Praise be to God.