So the inheritance, the legacy of Jesus, is bigger than this; but the inheritance He speaks of - and I'm going to show you two or three scriptures that make it absolutely clear, that part of your inheritance in Christ - is the Holy Ghost. It's the Holy Spirit.
Jesus' legacy consists of a number of things, so I'll explain what they are, but we're going to focus on one of them….
1) His legacy was His example. He lived a life that we model our life on. I like to be like Him. God wants me to be like Him. God's plan is for you and me to be like Him; so He left an example, rather than a book, or anything else.
He actually came and He lived out a life. He showed us how a man filled with the Holy Ghost lives their life! Don't you go fussing over what other Christians are doing - they do all kinds of stuff. If you focus on them, you'll be offended, disheartened, discouraged.
What you're called to do is: to be a follower of Christ, who set us an example: that we would follow in His footsteps, be imitators of Him.
So one of the greatest legacies, He shows what it looks like, on earth. Read the gospels again, and see what it looks like to be a man filled with the spirit - how you treat people, how you relate to God, how you handle pressures, how you handle conflicts, how you live out the life of the kingdom.
So the first thing is: He left us an example. An example leaves an impression!
2) He left us His words.
A powerful part of your legacy is what you say. One of the things I encourage people to do: speak words into your children - words that impart destiny, and hope, and life into them. It's a powerful legacy you can leave to your children: what you see in them.
Jesus left us pages of His words, which outline the principles of the kingdom He was living in. Nicodemus came to Him, and He said: no one's ascended into heaven, except the Son of man, who was in heaven. That's a weird statement.
He's saying listen: even though I'm physically standing in front of you, I'm connected by the Spirit of God to the unlimited resources of heaven; and as I speak ,I share with you the words, the life, the values, the attitudes, the principles of that kingdom – His words. That's why some Bibles have them marked in red, they're that important.
3) He left us His Holy Spirit. He left us the power to live and become like Him.
Without that power, without the person of the Holy Ghost, you have religion. Religion is what is left when the Holy Ghost is gone.
A lot of people striving and struggling, working hard, frustrated, failing, and feeling guilty about it - and trying to smile, “praise the Lord, brother”; but there's no life, in reality. The only way you can get the life, in reality, is through the life and reality of someone in you. That's why He's called our inheritance! How about that?
So Jesus' legacy was simply: His example; His lifestyle; the words He spoke; His death and resurrection, which set us free from sin; and here it is: the gift of the Holy Ghost.
In Galatians 3:13-14 it says this: “Now He has redeemed us, or purchased us - paid the full price to redeem us from all the curse of the law…” What for? He paid the price of the cross, but it's all to get something else to happen. It's the ‘something else happened’, that's the big deal.
The death and resurrection is to remove the problem of sin. God is not worried about your sin; you are, and religion is, the devil is - he will hound you about your sin, and your failures, and your lacks, and try to get you to live like you're not born again. But Jesus said: “the word says: He's redeemed us”, totally redeemed or purchased us, rescued us out of the curse, out of all the consequences of sin - and now we're positioned to get something.