Accepted - Ephesians 1:6

In our last lesson, we examined two words in [Ephesians 1:5]. You'll keep in mind now that in this first chapter of Ephesians, Paul is telling us our wonderful spiritual possessions in Christ. He gives us the blessings of God the Father in Ephesians 1:4-6. The blessings of God the Son in Ephesians 1:7-12, and the blessings from God the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 1:13-14. God the Father has chosen us, Ephesians 1:4, adopted us, Ephesians 1:5, and accepted us in Ephesians 1:6. God the Son has redeemed us and forgiven us, Ephesians 1:7. He has abounded in all wisdom toward us, Ephesians 1:8-10, and he has given us an inheritance, made us an inheritance, Ephesians 1:11. In Ephesians 1:13, the Holy Spirit has sealed us, and in Ephesians 1:14 he is the earnest or the down payment of our future inheritance. So these are some of the blessings that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now we've examined Ephesians 1:4 that God has chosen us, and Ephesians 1:5 that God has adopted us, and briefly, we looked at that difficult word predestination. We discovered the word simply means to mark off beforehand. This word tells us that God is in control of history. Someone has well said that history is his story. God is never going to be surprised. God is never going to be caught off guard. God is never going to wring his hands in despair wondering what to do next. God has a plan, and God is going to work the plan that he has for this world and for your life and mine. Now you and I need to cooperate with God's plan, and once again, let me remind you that no one can explain the mysterious interworking of man's decision and God's plan.

Someone has compared the Bible to a house. When you're outside of a house, you can only see two walls at one time. If you get inside the house, you can see all four walls at one time. Now today, you and I are outside the house, and we can see two walls of the house. We see through a glass darkly. The truth of the Word of God that we understand, we understand vaguely. But someday, praise God, we shall be inside the house. We shall know even as we are known, and all of these mysterious things that perplex us today will be made clear.

But meanwhile, don't lose the blessing. Don't lose the victory of these truths. Dr. Campbell Morgan, the great Bible teacher of a generation or so ago, once made the remark, "When I cannot understand, then I worship." This is a good truth for us to follow. If you're studying your Bible and you have a hard time understanding some of the truths of the Word of God, and this one truth of election and predestination, this is a difficult thing. Don't worry about it, don't fret over it, just simply worship Almighty God who loves us and who wants to work out his plan in our lives.

We discovered that predestination simply is God's program for his people. God has marked off beforehand certain blessings for his people. For example, we're told here he predestinated us to the adoption of children. The word adoption of children literally means placing as sons. When a person is born again, he enters God's family. You don't enter the family of God by adoption. God doesn't adopt you; he regenerates you. You are born again. But having been born again, you discovered you have been adopted. This means God has given to you an adult standing in his family. Though, as far as experience is concerned, you may be a little baby in Christ. As far as position is concerned, you are an adult in God's family and all of his wealth and all of his power are at your disposal. It's too bad that we continue living as little babies when God has done so much for us. So God has adopted us.

Now this adoption has not yet been seen. One of these days God will complete the process, complete his program for us. And Romans 8:28-30 indicate that all of creation is waiting for the adoption of God's children. Waiting for the day when God shall glorify our bodies and we shall to the praise of his glory enter into eternity with Jesus Christ.

Now Ephesians 1:6 is our verse for today. "To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein," that is in his grace, "he has made us accepted in the Beloved." Let's put these two verses together now, beginning at the end of Ephesians 1:4. "In love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children, by Jesus Christ to himself." You see predestination is not the program of some unconcerned God. It's the expression of his love. "According to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace, whereby he hath made us accepted in the Beloved." Did you notice his will, his glory, his grace? This is salvation. Salvation is not man's will. John 1, the first chapter of the Gospel of John, tells us that we are born not of blood, not of human parents, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. It's to the praise of the glory of his grace, it's according to his will. You see were it not for the will of God, there would be no plan of salvation. Salvation is not something man invented. Now there are plenty of religions men have invented, I'll not name them, but there are a lot of religions you can find out when they started. But you see the faith of Jesus Christ is born in eternity. It's his will, it's his glory, because it's according to his grace.

Now grace and glory always go together. Wherever the grace of God is at work, he gets the glory. Wherever man's will is at work, man gets the glory. This is why some people aren't saved today. They want to work for their salvation. They want people to praise them for their giving, for their church work, for their praying, for how hard they work trying to be religious. And God has condemned all of that. God says everybody is on the same level. The ground is level at the foot of the cross. If you're going to be saved, you're going to be saved by grace, and if it's by grace, it's to the glory of God.

"To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein," that is in his grace, "he has made us accepted in the Beloved." Now this word accepted reminds us that sinners are rejected. Now God loves sinners, but God hates sin. "For God so loved the world." John 3:16. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13. "But God commended," God proved "his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8. God loves sinners. But you see, God can't let us into his presence and into his glory with sin in our lives. We are rejected. "Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." John 3:20. In several of his parables, the Lord Jesus talks about a door being closed. You remember the parable of the ten bridesmaids, Matthew 25:1-13, five were wise and five were foolish. And the foolish came too late, and the door was shut. They were rejected. In the parable of the great supper, Luke 14:15-24, a man made a great supper and invited many, and he sent his servant out at supper time to bring the people in who had been invited, and they all with one consent began to make excuse. One said, "I bought some oxen, and I have to prove them." And one said, "I bought some property, I have to go look at it." Just excuses. Nobody buys property without first looking at it. Nobody buys oxen without first trying them. One man said, "I just married a wife, I cannot come." And the servant went back and said, "I've invited these folks to come, and they won't come, what should I do?" And the Lord said, "Go out into the highways and the hedges, and you bring people in. You bring in the maimed and the halt and the blind." And God filled up his banquet hall with people who were willing to come, and then the door was shut. He said, "None of those people who were invited shall taste of my supper." Now you see God does shut the door. For 120 years Noah preached. He preached righteousness, he preached judgment, and nobody believed. His family believed, eight people. One day went into the ark and the word of God says, God shut the door. Genesis 7:16. Now one of these days God is going to shut his door. And you may be on the outside if you've never trusted Christ as your Savior. Jesus said, "I am the door." John 10:9. "By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved." John 10:9. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." Revelation 3:20. "If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in." Revelation 3:20. You see Christ wants to come in to you and he wants you to come in to him. He wants to save you.

Now the sinner is not accepted. God cannot look upon sin. When his own son on the cross was made sin for you and me, God turned his back on him. And there at that dark noon hour, Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Matthew 27:46. Why had he forsaken him? Well the word of God says, "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold iniquity." Habakkuk 1:13. You see, God cannot accept us. Now we're, we're not this way. If our children or our friends sin against us, we shrug our shoulders and say, "Well, we'll just forget about it." God can't do this. If God did not do something about the sins of the universe, the universe would blow up. God is a just God, he's a holy God. God must obey his own nature, and his nature revolts against sin. And so the sinner is not accepted, the sinner is rejected.

But here's an amazing truth. Ephesians 1:6 tells us that to the praise of the glory of his grace, God is willing to make us accepted not in ourselves, but in the Beloved. That's a name for the Lord Jesus Christ. When Jesus was baptized, he came up out of the water, the Holy Spirit came down like a dove and lighted upon him, and a voice from heaven, the voice of God the Father said, "This is my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Matthew 3:17. Now God is not well pleased with Adam. He had to cast Adam out of the garden. And all of the descendants of Adam have not pleased God. "There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. There is none that doeth good, there is none righteous, no, not one." Romans 3:10-12. We cannot in ourselves please God. Now human religion is man's feeble attempt to be accepted by God.

I have recently been rereading the life of J. Hudson Taylor, the great missionary to China. I recommend the book to you, it's a tremendous inspiration. Hudson Taylor went to China to open up the inland area. No one had gone in there before, and he did. And wherever he went, he found people who were saying, "Oh, white teacher. We have been looking for years for some way to take care of our sins. We have tried sacrifices, we have tried fastings, we have tried prayers, but our hearts are still heavy. Do you know how we can be accepted with God?" Every place he went he found this. Because the heart of man cries out to be accepted with God. You see it's important that we be reconciled to God. Now God doesn't have to be reconciled to us. God has been reconciled to us through the cross of Jesus Christ. The message we preach to you today is not that God has to be reconciled to you. God has not forsaken you. Why, if God forsook you for one moment, you would die. For in him you live and you move and you have your being. The very breath of your life comes from Almighty God. It's God who gives you the power to work, to live. God hasn't forsaken you. God does not have to be reconciled to you. You have to be reconciled to God. You have turned your back on God. You see, God has not turned his back on you. He turned his loving arms and his loving heart toward you when Jesus died on the cross of Calvary.

Now how can a man be accepted with God? Is it by good works? Of course not. How can you and I with our feeble flesh ever do anything, anything to please God? Anybody who says by his good works he can be accepted with God is speaking blasphemy. To think that Almighty God in his holiness should ever accept the feeble works of sinful men is foolish. In fact, back in the book of Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah says all of our righteousnesses, plural, are as filthy rags in his sight. Isaiah 64:6. Now look, if our righteousness is filthy rags, what must be our unrighteousness in God's sight? It must be so vile and so putrefying and so ugly that God can't even describe it.

Now God wants to make us accepted in the Beloved. In ourselves we are not accepted. But once we are in Christ, we are accepted. There are two beautiful illustrations of this truth in the Bible, one in the Old Testament, one in the New. In 2 Samuel 9, when David had become the king, he was anxious to do anything he could for the sake of those who belonged to Jonathan, his friend. You recall that David and Jonathan were great friends. Oh, how they loved each other, and Jonathan was killed along with his father Saul. When David became the king, he said, "Is there anyone to whom I can show some kindness for Jonathan's sake?" They said, "Yes, there's a crippled boy here." Jonathan had a crippled son named Mephibosheth. "And he's kind of poor." And David said, "He's poor no longer. Not for his sake, but for Jonathan's sake, he is accepted in my court." And from that day on, that crippled boy sat at David's table. He ate of David's food, he lived off of David's treasury. He was accepted for Jonathan's sake. It's a picture of us. We're poor crippled sinners. We have nothing whereby we can please God. But one day Almighty God said, "I'm going to save you not for your sake, you aren't worth it. But I'm going to do it for my son's sake because I love him. And because he died for you, and you are now accepted in the Beloved."

Over in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul is in Rome in prison. One day a slave shows up. And lo and behold, this slave belonged to a friend of Paul's, a man by the name of Philemon. The slave's name was Onesimus. Now you can read this story in the little book after the book of Titus in your New Testament, the book of Philemon. Philemon was a rather wealthy Christian man who had a slave. The slave, Onesimus, had robbed his master and fled to Rome. But by the over-ruling providence of God, Onesimus was brought face-to-face with Paul, and Onesimus had been saved. Now according to Roman law, Philemon could kill Onesimus. A slave was a piece of property. Now Onesimus was a Christian. And Paul wrote this letter to his friend Philemon, saying to him, "When Onesimus comes home, receive him as you would receive me." That's what Paul's talking about here. He says, "Of himself, Onesimus may not be accepted. But I want you to accept him for Jesus' sake and for my sake. And furthermore," said Paul, "if he owes you anything, I want you to charge that to my account. I'll pay for it." That's a wonderful picture of Jesus Christ. You know, someday when we stand before God, we can think of all of the things we've done wrong. We've disobeyed, we've sinned, oh, the debt that we have to pay. But Jesus Christ is going to step up, and he's going to say, "Father, you see these wounds in my hand? You see this wound in my side, these wounds in my feet? I died for that one. Now in himself, he's not accepted. But he's in me, he's trusted me as his Savior. I want you to receive him as you would receive me." Isn't that remarkable? When God looks at me, he sees his son. We are dressed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We have none of our own. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "God hath made Christ to be sin for us, he who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." Isn't that remarkable? When a person is saved, it isn't just a cleansing process whereby the past is washed away and he starts all over again. There's more to it than that. Every sin is forgiven and then God dresses us in the righteousness of his son. This is why over and over again in the book of Ephesians, you're going to find the little phrase "in Christ, in Christ, in Christ." What does it mean to be in Christ? It means to be united to him by faith. It means that we belong to him and his righteousness is our righteousness, and God has made us accepted in the Beloved.

Now there's another side to this truth that I want to just drop in your heart before we close. Back in 2 Corinthians 5, the Apostle Paul is talking about Christian service. And he says this, "Wherefore," 2 Corinthians 5:9, "wherefore we labor, that whether present or absent," that means whether alive or dead, "we may be acceptable of him." Now the King James Version says accepted, but it ought to be acceptable. You see, I have been accepted by faith. I need to keep myself acceptable by faithfulness. Now every Christian is accepted in the Beloved, this will never change. When you go to heaven, you're not going to be accepted because of your church membership, your baptism, your good works, or anything else, you're going to be accepted in Christ. But while we're here on earth, we have the responsibility of being acceptable, of living a life that pleases the Lord and glorifies him. "To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved." We thank thee, Father, that our salvation depends not on what we do, but what Christ has already done for us. And we pray that some today will cease trying to make themselves accepted, cease from their own works, their own foolish vain striving, and by faith enter into the ark. Enter into Christ, and there be accepted in the Beloved. For we pray in his name. Amen.