Mighty King, help us thy name
to sing, help us to praise. Father, all-glorious, O'er all
victorious, come and reign over us, ancient of days. Come Thou incarnate Word, gird
on Thy mighty sword, our prayer attend. Come and Thy people bless,
and give Thy word success, Spirit of holiness, on us descend. Come, holy comforter, thy sacred
witness bear. in this glad hour. Thou who almighty art, now rule
in every heart, and hear from us a steep heart, spirit of power. ? To the great one in three ?
? Eternal praises be ? ? Himsevermore ? ? His sovereign majesty ? ?
May we in glory see ? ? And to eternity ? Lord, I am the door. Amen. We'll turn back in that
same hymn book back to 203. Hymn number 203. One of my favorite
hymns, The Solid Rock. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. When darkness seems to hide his
face, I rest on his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy
gale, my anchor holds within the veil. On Christ the solid
rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. His oath, His covenant, His blood
support me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives
way, He lives all my hope and stay. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. When He shall come with trumpet
sound, O may I then in Him be found, Dressed in His righteousness
alone. Faultless to stand before the
throne. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. It says his oath is covenant is
blood. The Bible says that God is not a man that he should lie.
So whenever God gives an oath, he confirms it with blood and
his name. And it doesn't ever, it doesn't
ever not happen. It will always happen just as
he has promised. And particularly in the salvation
of his people, not one will be lost. Turn back now to hymn number
511, 511. 511. And you might keep your phone out on
silent, but pay attention to it in case people get lost looking
for the search. 511. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. For my pardon, this I seek, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. For my cleansing, this my plea,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. Nothing can force sin atone. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Not a good that I have done. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Does anybody have a hymn that
you'd like to sing? 426. 426. That's old school.
426 or what? 436. Either one. What a fellowship, what a joy divine. Leaning on the everlasting arms. What a blessedness, what a peace
is mine. Leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning, leaning, safe and secure
from all alarms. Leaning, leaning, leaning on
the everlasting arms. Oh, how sweet to walk in this
pilgrim way, leaning on the everlasting arms. Oh, how bright the path
grows from day to day, leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning, leaning, leaning to
perform all alarms. Leaning, leaning, leaning on
the everlasting arms. What have I to dread? What have I to fear? Leaning on the everlasting arms. I have blessed peace with my
Lord so near. Leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning, leaning, safe and secure
from all alarm. Leaning, leaning, leaning on
the everlasting arms. All right. Well, let's do 436.
That was also requested. My life double dipped. 436. I will sing the wondrous story
of the Christ who died for me. How he left his home in glory
for the cross of Calvary. Yes, I'll sing Sing the wondrous
story of the Christ who died for me. Sing it with the saints
in glory gathered by the crystal sea. I was lost, but Jesus found
me, found the sheep that was astray. Through his loving arms
around me, drew me back into his way. Yes, I'll sing the wondrous
story of the Christ who died for me. Singing with the saints
in glory gathered by the crystal sea. I was bruised, but Jesus healed
me. Fade was I, for many a fall. Sight was gone, and fears possessed
me. But He freed me from them all. Yes, I've seen the wonder story. of the Christ who died for me,
singing with the saints in glory, gathered by the crystal sea. Days of darkness still come over
me. Sorrows of past I often tread. But the Savior still is with
me. By His hand I'm safely led. Yes, I've seen the wondrous story
of the Christ who died for me. Sing it with the saints in glory,
gathered by the crystal sea. He will keep me till the river
roses waters at my feet. Then he'll bear me safely over
where the loved ones I shall be. Yes, I'll sing the wondrous
story of the Christ who died for me. ? Sing it with the saints
in glory ? ? Gathered by the crystal sea ? Anybody else got
a song that you'd like to sing? Well, let's turn in your Gadsby
hymn book, 64. I'm just kind of impressed with all
me lately that We kind of have a, we kind of have a, what would
you call it? A system of worship here where
we have three hymns and an out, preaching. And I don't always
want to follow after something just out of rote, but truly want
to, follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit, and thought
we might sing a few more hymns than we normally do going forward,
and really would like to encourage everybody, you know, whenever
the Bible says that the church come together, that each one
had a song or hymn, song or hymn, and that's part of our worship
as well, is your involvement. It's not you coming to watch
the preacher. So, come prepared with a song that the Lord's maybe
laid upon your heart through the week or something, or one
that you might enjoy singing to praise the Lord. Also, you
men, if you have anything ever that you would, those men who
are members here, that would be you, brothers. But we're always
welcoming any words of encouragement, whether it just be scriptures
that has really blessed you this week and you would like to read
those and share those with the church, or whether there's something
that you'd like to share that the Lord has taught you this
week, that's always welcome as well. I want you to always feel
that liberty, Brother Ed, if you ever want to do that. You're
always welcome to do that. And you ladies, you know, I know
that the Bible speaks that you're not to teach in the church, but
anytime you have a praise that you would like to praise the
Lord or thank the Lord about, we're always welcoming those
as well. But turn in your Gatsby hymn
book, if you would, to hymn number 64. Hymn number 64. And we'll sing God's Decrees, 64. Sovereign ruler of the skies. Ever gracious, ever wise, all
my times are in Thy hand. All events at Thy command. All events at Thy command. His decree who formed the earth,
Fixed my first and second birth. Parents, native place and time,
All appointed were by Him. All appointed were by Him. He that formed me in the womb
He shall guide me to the tomb All my times shall ever be Ordered
by His wise decree Ordered by His wise decree Times of sickness,
times of hell, times of pinnery and well, times of trial and
of grief, times of triumph and relief, times of triumph and
relief. ? Times the tempter's power to
prove ? ? Times to taste the Savior's love ? ? All must come
at last and in ? ? As shall please my heavenly friend ? ? As shall
please my heavenly friend ? Sorry guys, I had a page turned there
and I couldn't get my page turned quick enough. Plagues and deaths around me
fly, till he bids I cannot die. Not a single shaft can hit, till
the god of love sees fit. ? Till the God of love sees fit
? All right, well let's sing one
more song unless somebody has one. And that'll be in the Gatsby,
hymn number 195. Hymn number 195. I don't have a page turner on
this one, so it'll be alright. As long as I don't get lost in
my bifocals. Assist my soul, my heavenly King,
Thy everlasting love to sing, And joyful spread Thy praise
abroad, As one through grace that's born of God. No, it was not the will of man. My soul's new heavenly birth
began. Nor will nor power of flesh and
blood that turn my heart from sin to God. Herein let self be all abased
and sovereign love alone confessed. This be my song through all the
road that born I am and born of God. Oh may this love my soul
constrain To make returns of love again That I while earth
is my abode May live like one that's born of God May I thy
praises daily show, Who has created all things new, And washed me
in a Savior's blood. To prove that I'm a son of God
And with thee appointed I shall come That thou wilt call me to
my home Joyful, I'll pass the chilly flood And die as one that's
born of God Then shall my soul's triumphant rise To its blessed
mansion in the skies, and in that glorious bride of old, sing
then as one that's born of God. Amen. I look forward to that
day. All right, let's bow and have
a word of prayer. Our gracious Heavenly Father,
we thank you today for your mercy and grace. We thank you for the
love and the imputed righteousness that we have in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Father, we thank you today for this assembly that
we have together in today. We thank you for these people
that you've gathered, Lord. We ask that you might bless them
today with your word. speak to their heart, teach them,
Lord. Your sheep, I pray, Lord, that you will draw to yourself
today. Lord, I pray that you might encourage
the hearts of your people that are already born of God. Lord,
that you might give them encouragement in the word, give them encouragement
in this time that we are living in, Lord. May they be blessed,
that they might find remembrance of God's promises and his word
that says that they will never fall, that they will never fail.
that he will keep them through all tribulation. And Lord, we
just pray that you would come quickly and remove us from this
wicked world in this flesh that we live in. We look for your
soon return, and Lord, we ask that you might keep each one
of us faithful and looking towards that day. Lord, I pray now that
as we open up God's word, I pray, Lord, that you would help me
to preach, to minister the word of God, to speak in truth, Lord,
I pray that you would open the understanding of everyone here's
ears and heart. Father, I pray that you might
feed us today or sheep that are hungry for your word. We desire
to worship our Savior Jesus in spirit and in truth, and we need
the Spirit's help to do that as well. And so we ask the Spirit
come and help us in every aspect of our worship today, whether
it be in the receiving from you, or whether it be in the giving
unto you. Father, we need you. And I pray
for all those that are watching and listening as well, Lord,
that you might bless and minister to them. For it's in Jesus' name
that we pray. Amen. We'll turn, if you will,
back to Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter one. chapter one this will be the
fifth installment of our series on accepted in the beloved we began looking at this a few
weeks ago and I thought that the last time we met together
was going to be the last portion of but the spirit gave more utterance
for me to share than I had anticipated. And so the message was really
not finished. There were some points left that
I wanted to bring out in this last point. Ephesians chapter
one, I'll go ahead and I'll read the passage again, and then I'll
go back and kind of recap what we've talked about so far, and
then we'll pick up where we left off last time. Ephesians chapter
one, verse one, says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the
will of God to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful
in Christ Jesus. Grace be to you and peace from
God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. according as
he has chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having
predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the
praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted
in the beloved. That's the phrase that we're
looking at. In whom we have redemption, through his blood the forgiveness
of sins, according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known
unto us the mystery of his will, according to the good pleasure
which he had purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the
fullness of time he might gather together in one all things in
Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even
in him. in whom also we have obtained
an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,
that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted
in Christ, in whom he also trusted after that he heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, after
that he 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 began our
series looking at the phrase here, accepted in the beloved.
And we asked the question, who is the beloved in this context? Who is the beloved? We looked
through scripture and we found out that All the elect of God
is referred to as the beloved. However, that is not who is in
view in this text. We also see that the church is
called the beloved. And we see several references
in scripture to the church who was called the beloved, but that
is not who was in context here. And we surely know that the reprobate
is not the beloved with the sheer fact that the Bible says that
Jacob I loved, Esau I hated. Those who have been reprobated
by God are not the beloved. But the context here shows us
that this beloved, this beloved is no more than the Lord Jesus
Christ. No other than the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is the Lord Jesus. who is the beloved. And we looked
at several verses, Matthew 3, 17, 12, 18, 17, five, second
Peter 1, 17, John 15, nine, 17, 23. We looked at all those verses
that showed that Jesus is the beloved, that God has loved him
and he is the beloved. And we are the beloved because
of him. The second thing that we asked
is why is Jesus the beloved? Why is he the beloved? And we
found from scripture that he is the beloved because he has
a divine union as God, that Jesus Christ, the man, is also the
divine God, the three-one God, the Father, the Word, the Holy
Spirit, all in dwell the Lord Jesus Christ as man. And he is the fullness of the
Godhead. He is a God manifested in the
flesh. He is the image of that invisible
triunity of spirit God. And he has a divine union, both
natures, divine and human in one person. Jesus Christ. And so he is beloved because
he is the everlasting father. He is loved because he is the
mighty God. And he is loved because he is
the only begotten son of God. We also learned that he is the
beloved because his mediation for his elect. He is the beloved
because he has mediated for his people. We read in 1 Timothy
2.5, Hebrews 8.6, 9.15, 12.24, and John 5.19, these verses which
put forth Christ as the mediator of his elect. And we're gonna
be talking more about that again today in its actual passages. We also sing that he is the beloved
because God had pleasure in him. In Matthew 3 in verse 13, we
sing where God at his baptism spoke out of heaven and said,
this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. We also see
that in Matthew 17. We see that in Isaiah 42, one,
that God shows that he is pleased with his son and because he is
pleased with his son, he is the beloved. He is also called the
beloved because his elect people love him. The Bible says that
we love him because he first loved us. And so whenever God
extends that love to us in the new birth and whenever he gives
us the experience of that spiritual life that we get from above,
that new creation that we have become in him, Then the Bible
says that his love is shed abroad in our hearts. And so now we
love him and we love his people. We love his word. And so 1 Peter
1, 8, we looked at 1 John 4, 19. We also looked at and seeing
that he is the beloved because his people love him. Then we looked the last time
at what does it mean to be accepted? in the beloved. What does it
mean to be accepted in Christ Jesus? And we first spoke about
the reason why acceptance is impossible and why it is truly
a mysterious thing that this holy God, this divine person
would bring us into union with him. Why this divine God, this
holy God, this righteous God would look upon sinners in love
and look upon us in mercy and grace because the Bible says
that by natures we are sinners and that we are wrathful towards
God always. We've seen that in Ephesians
chapter 2 verses 1 through 3 where it says that in times past we
walked according to the course of this world. We were children
of disobedience. We were by nature children of
wrath, doing the things following after the prince of the power
of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
and walking in the lust of our flesh. That is why it's so mysterious. That's why the gospel is such
a different message than what we hear in churches today. Today
we hear in churches that you have to accept Jesus Christ.
But here in the scriptures, it's totally turned around. The gospel
is the fact that you are a sinner and unworthy of acceptance, but
yet you've been accepted by God if you are His people. You've
been accepted by Him. It's not us accepting Christ,
it's Christ accepting us. Does God accept you? That's the
question. The Bible says that we are enemies
of God, that we are transgressions. transgressors. In James chapter
2, the Bible tells us that, let me get back there. In James chapter
2 and verse 8, the Bible says, if you fulfill the royal law
according to the scripture, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,
ye do well. But if ye have respect to persons,
ye commit sin and are convinced of the law as transgressors. We've all done that. For whosoever
shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he is
guilty of all. So every one of us has transgressed
the law in one place or another, okay? And in doing so, we've broken
every law. So if you think you're gonna
be weighed on, well, I only broke two laws. Well, no, you didn't,
you broke them all. You're guilty of being a lawbreaker. It isn't about how many sins
you commit. It has to do with, did you make
the mark or not? The mark is the glory of God,
and sin is falling short of the glory of God. And the Bible says,
for all have sinned. That's why I know for a fact,
without even having you guys raise your hand, that every one
of you in here are sinners. You've sinned. Whether you think
you've sinned or not is irregardless. God says you've sinned. You've
missed the mark. You have missed the mark of his
glory, and you are not able to keep that standard that he has
set. And so in doing so, you are now
a transgressor against a holy God. A transgressor against a
God who says that the wicked will not be acquitted. The wicked will not be let go.
The Bible says that all of them will be cast into the lake of
fire. And so that is who we are by
nature deserving of that. But for those who are the children
of God, those who are the elect of God, the people of God, the
sheep of God, they have been given mercy, they have been given
grace, and they have been accepted in the beloved, but not because
of anything they've done because they, like everybody else, are
transgressors against the holy God. And so we looked last week
that why we are accepted or how we are accepted in Christ Jesus
begins in eternity past because we had a surety. Jesus Christ
the Beloved was our surety. And we looked in Hebrews chapter
7 and verse 22. If you want to turn there, we'll
quickly read some of these verses we looked at last week. Hebrews
chapter 7 and in verse 22, the Bible says, By so much was Jesus
made a surety of a better testament. I won't go into going through
all that again about what the Testament is talking about, but
it is a better covenant. That word Testament means covenant.
And he is the surety of a better covenant. Why? Because the old
covenant was made and intended to be a system that would fail, okay? And I know some people may take
take issue with me saying that. You mean, what are you talking
about? God is the one who put forth that old covenant and God
doesn't make anything that fails. Well, he only makes things that
fail that are intended to fail. That was his intent. The intent
of the law was to manifest and show forth the inability of man
to keep the law. And so the purpose of the law
was to not make us righteous, not make us holy, not make us
saved. The purpose of the law was to
grind us in the dirt and show us there is no hope inside of
ourselves. That the only hope that we have
is outside of ourselves in a work that was done by Christ alone. And so the law and what it did
in that old covenant, the Bible says that it failed to do that
it relied on the flesh, okay? It was relying on the flesh and
the flesh couldn't keep it. And so it failed in that aspect. It failed to make men righteous,
but it never was intended to make men righteous. We look back
in Genesis chapter 43 and we saw the type and foreshadow of
Jesus as our surety. And we saw, let me get turned
back there so I don't misquote anything, which is very likely. Genesis chapter 43 and verse
9. Genesis 43 and verse 9. And this is where Judah is before
his father. And they have already went to
Egypt to get food. And Joseph, who they had sold
into slavery, had now become second in command in all of Egypt.
And yet they didn't realize that. And so Joseph sent them back
to get Benjamin. and said, when you come back
with Benjamin, then I'll get you taken care of. And so when
they went back and they told that to Jacob, Jacob was like,
no, this is my favorite child, I ain't gonna send him. And they
pleaded with him and said, this man is a hard man and we have
to send him. And so Judah stepped forward
to Jacob and said, verse nine, I will be a surety for him. Of
my hand shalt thou require him. If I bring him not unto thee
and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever. This is what Christ has done
for us in his surety ship as our head, as our surety. as our substitute. He has went
before God in the new covenant and he has said to God, he has
said, I will be sure to for them of my hand shalt thou require
them. If I bring them not unto thee
and set them before thee, then let me bear the blame forever. So there, brethren, I don't know
if you can see that. We talked a little bit about
it last week, but we see the beauty of Christ's love for his
people in that he said, I will bear everything that is to be
bore on their behalf and they will be brought to you. So whatever
it takes to go and get them and bring them back, that's what
I will do. And if I don't do it, it'll be
my blame, not their blame. You see how solid and sure the
promise of God is for you, Christian? That Christ has promised that
you will come to him. That's why, again, like I said
last week, that's one of the reasons why we abhor the free
will-ism, the free choice-ism, decision-ism gospels. That's
why Arminianism is such an affront to us, and that false gospel
is so egregious. Matter of fact, it's a slap and
a blasphemy to God to say that God wants everybody to be saved,
but yet doesn't bring them all back. Jesus Christ, as I said
last week, would then be a failure And he would be to blame for
them not being there. So if there's one person in hell
that Christ died for, then Jesus is to blame for that. And whenever
he goes before the father, there will be blame given to him because
that was what the covenant was in Genesis chapter 44 verse 32. It says, for thy servant became
surety for the lad unto my father, saying, if I bring him not unto
thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father forever. Now therefore
I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead, and the lad a
bondman to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brethren.
For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? Lest
peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father. So here we see the picture of
the very fact that if Jesus doesn't come back with those that he
claimed as sure to ship over, if he does not come back with
them, that not only would he be a failure, but here even the
father himself that he would become sorrowful, that he would
become, and as it says here, see the evil that shall come
over or the calamity or the sorrow that would come over him because
of that. God would even sorrow over the
fact that not only did his people that he loved with an everlasting
love not be brought back, but that his son was a failure in
doing it. And we know brethren, that that
is not true. And this is the reason why, and
we'll continue today with our message. And the reason why is
because Jesus, as our surety, answered all the law's demands
that was against us. Turn with me, if you would, to
Matthew chapter five. Matthew chapter five. Matthew chapter 5, look at verse
17 with me if you would. It says, think not, this is Jesus
speaking again, think not that I am come to destroy the law
or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but
to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till
heaven and earth pass till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one
tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled."
Now look, if you would with me, at a few things in these two
verses. Jesus says that he has not come to destroy the law,
but to fulfill. That word fulfill there, that
Greek word fulfill, It means, as defined by God's word, if
you look up that place, wherever it's used in scripture, you'll
see that that word means to satisfy. The word means to satisfy. So
it says, think not that I come to destroy the law or the prophets.
I have not come to destroy, but to satisfy the law. I have come to satisfy the law. What is the law saying? The law is saying, destroy them. The law is saying that they are
guilty, that condemnation and God's judgment and wrath must
be poured out. That's what the law says to each
and every one of us here. Because of our sin, the law says
to us, you are guilty and worthy of judgment. You are guilty of
sin, you are a transgressor of God, and that you should be punished. That's what the law is saying,
and the law demands that. And God's law, everything that
it demands, it will be kept. God's law demands justice, and
God, being a just God, will deal with every man, with every woman,
in justice. There is no one who will escape
the justice of God. He is a righteous judge. He will not let anything slip.
We go before judges now, and especially in this day and time,
we go before judges, and these judges, whenever they come and
preside over the court, sometimes they let things slip a little
bit. Sometimes they let things, you know, get to their heartstrings.
and they'll say, well, you seem like a good person. We'll let
you slide on this with a warning and blah, blah, blah, and all
like this. Listen, guys, God is not that way. What the law
demands, the justice of God delivers. If the law of God demands death,
which that's what it says, the wages of sin is death, the righteous
judge will deal out that judgment because he is just. If he doesn't
deal out the judgment according to his law, then he is an unjust
God. And so he deals in justice. And Jesus said here that I've
not come to just destroy the law and say it doesn't matter
anymore. No, the law is still here and the demands of the law
is still here. And the effects of those demands,
which is justice, will be met He says, I've not come to destroy
that, but I've come to satisfy that. I've come to satisfy what
the law demands. The law demands death for the
transgressors. And so I've come to take that
death for the transgressors. And so Christ has come to fulfill
all that the law has demanded on our behalf. But look what
he says in verse 18. For verily I say unto you, till
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise
pass from the law till all be fulfilled." Now that word fulfilled
there sounds a lot like fulfilled up at verse 17. However, there's
a different word behind that in the Greek. The word fulfilled
means come to pass. That the law is gonna continue
to abide until all comes to pass. The law is still gonna stand
as the judgment against all mankind until all comes to pass. Welcome. We are in Ephesians chapter 1. It's where our main text is this
morning. We are in a series of Accepted
in Christ, Accepted in the Beloved, and we are on the subject of
how we are accepted in the Beloved. Now, as I was saying, the reason
that Christ was a successful person in carrying out His suretorship
is because of this very thing found in Matthew 5, that he has
answered the law's demands. If you remember from last week,
a surety is someone who is a guarantor for somebody else. He has stood
before the father and he is guaranteed, as we've seen in the type and
core shadow with Judah and Benjamin, that he is going to go and bring
them back. And if he does not bring them
back, then he is the one to blame. And so we see that there is a
perfect promise of surety ship. He guarantees on his own name
by his own blood. The Bible says that this covenant,
this new covenant is a covenant in blood and it is based upon
his blood, uh, that this covenant will be fulfilled. And so Jesus
here in Matthew five 17, He says that he didn't come to destroy
the law, but that he come to fulfill it, or that word there
again means to satisfy. He came to satisfy the law, and
that law's demand is that you die. All that have sinned come
short of the glory of God, and the Bible says that the wages
of that sin is death. And so God is not gonna let anybody
escape who has committed any sin, and all of us have committed
that sin. And so now, We either are gonna
stand before God in our own stead and be held accountable for the
sin that we have done and the transgression that we have done
against God, or we will have this surety, this advocate that
stands in our place who comes before God and says that I have
come and I have fulfilled or satisfied the law on their behalf.
That's what grace is. That's what mercy is. That God
out of his love for his people has sent his son to die for them. And then in their stead, he stands
before God as the advocate who says that my blood was shed for
their remission of sin, that there is no more condemnation
to those because they are mine. So the law demanded that, Christ
fulfill all things. But in verse 18, it says that
till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no
wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. Now that word fulfilled
there, like I was just saying, isn't the same as fulfill in
17, which means satisfied, fulfill in 18 means come to pass. Till
all things come to pass. So the law, While we as the people
of the New Covenant and of the New Testament here are not under
law but under grace, that law still abides. The law still abides
and still is the weight of judgment over every man, woman, and child
that comes into this world to show them their inability to
show them their transgression against God and their need for
Christ Jesus. So Christ didn't come and just
say, well, poop, I'm gonna just pluck the law away and it's no
more here. He said, no, for those who I came to redeem, I've come
to fulfill that law for them. And then not one jot or tittle
is gonna pass away. It's gonna, even though I come
and die now, it's gonna continue to be in effect as the source
of judgment until the very end of time, until I come back. And
so we have that given to us by God as a promise. So he answered
the law's demands in that way. Turn with me, if you would, to
Colossians chapter two. Colossians chapter two. Looking at verse 12, it says,
giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in life. Now that
verse 12 is almost a direct parallel to the verse that we're looking
at in Ephesians that says where God the Father has made us accepted
in the beloved. It uses a few different other
words, but the meaning is basically the same. It isn't we who have
made ourselves acceptable to God, but that Christ as the beloved,
as the one sent from God, has made us accepted. That's why
I said at the beginning that this whole entire gospel isn't
about us accepting Jesus, it's about are we accepted of God.
The word accepted there is on His part. Has He accepted us? The only way that we can be accepted
of God is if Christ has bore our sins, bore our iniquities.
That's the only way that we can be accepted because we in and
of ourselves can do nothing good, we can do nothing right. The
Bible says that all of our righteousnesses, it didn't say our unrighteousness,
it says all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. The Bible
says that the flesh profits nothing. It cannot please God. And so
until we are born from above and have spiritual life given
unto us, we cannot do anything spiritually acceptable unto the
Lord. And so we see here in Colossians
1.12, he says, giving thanks unto the Father which hath made
us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints of
light. I grew up preaching and hearing my whole entire life
that it is us that needs to make ourselves fit for God. But that's
not the way that it is. It is God who makes us fit to
be partakers of the inheritance of the saints and liars. Verse
13, who have delivered us from the power of darkness and have
translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. And so we see
that this is a work of God. Now look with me at chapter two
and verse 13. And he said, and you being dead
in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, have he quickened
together with him, having forgiven all your trespasses. Blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances. That's the law. Blotting out
the handwriting of ordinances that was against us which was
contrary to us. See, that's why I was saying
earlier that the law was given never to succeed in the fact
of making men righteous. The law never was given for us
to obey to become righteous or to become saved. God never intended,
when he gave the law to Moses and Israel, he never intended
by that law that any man get saved by it. He never intended
that any man live perfectly by it, Did he command them to obey
it? Absolutely. Why? Because in trying
to obey that, they've seen the failure and the inability that
they had to keep it. And it kept them in this constant
state of having to go and make these sacrifices over and over
in the monotony of all the time being faced with the shamefulness
of their sins, being faced with the falling short time and time
and time again. And so that sacrificial system
was all set up to show them, not only to point them to Christ,
but to show them that they have a need, that they can't do it
themselves, that they are in a predicament in this life, that
they have no ability to be accepted of God except somebody else do
something for them. And so that's why it says right
here in our passage, it says that was contrary, that writing
of ordinances that was contrary to us, Everything that's in that
law is contrary to the nature of Adam, to everyone born of
Adam. It's contrary to us. And he says,
he blotted out that handwriting of ordinances and took it out
of the way, nailing it to the cross and having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a show of them openly triumphing over them
in it. And so we see that Christ in
his surety ship has guaranteed that this would take place for
his people. And so he has come and he has
blotted out the handwriting of ordinances. I'm so thankful that
I don't have to stand on my own stead when I come before God,
not only in future time, but even now. This ought to be a
comfort to you, church, that whenever you sin, there is therefore
now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. to know
that the blotting or that the handwriting of ordinances has
been blotted out on your behalf, that they have been removed,
that your sins and transgressions has been forgiven and that there
is therefore no condemnation unto you. And so that ought to
be an encouragement to us. It ought to be a blessing to
us. It ought to be a motivation for us to love the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Bible says that it's his
love for us that draws us to him, that it's his love to us
that causes us to walk in righteousness. And so we thank the Lord for
that. Look with me, if you would, at
Romans 10. Romans 10. Starting in verse 10. Paul, by the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit, writes this, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Now remember,
this whole writing of Romans is this quandary that they seem
to be in, okay? As Christ has come, we see many
of Israel rejecting Christ. And then we see that there is
a gospel that is being preached that is just foreign to everything
that they seem to know and understand. Although it was very clear, well
I say very clear, it's not as clear as it is now, but it was
preached in the Old Testament. The New Testament tells us that
in the Old Testament the gospel was preached. Not only was it
preached vocally, but it was preached in types and shadows.
And that all those things were written and they knew. He preached
to Abraham, he preached to Moses. These things were preached to
the prophets and they expounded these things. We're gonna see
that here in a minute. in Isaiah. But we see that all these things
were written to Israel, but yet some of Israel was rejecting
Christ, and some was receiving Christ and believing upon Him
and trusting in His righteousness alone and not their works of
law. And that was contrary to the
whole system that they was ingrained with. And so Paul is now writing
a letter to them, and especially as you go from 8, 9, and 10,
in chapter nine where Paul is writing to them and saying, listen,
it isn't as though God's promises has failed. It's not as though
God is failing in what he is doing because not all that are
Israel are of Israel. And so he begins to tell them
about this whole thing of redemption being for the elect of God. And
here he says, now my heart is for these people that they would
be saved. My kinsmen, according to the
flesh, And when we speak of Israel now, we speak of Israel according
to the spirit, that there is a spiritual Israel that is all
the people of God. But whenever we talk about what
we're looking here, he's talking about his kinsmen of the flesh.
And he said, my heart's desire is that they might be saved for
I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according
to knowledge. And brethren, I find that that's
where a lot of people, even in modern Christianity is today.
They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. They're
just out there running around preaching the gospel that isn't
according to the word of God. They're conducting church that's
not according to the New Testament. There's all kinds of things that's
going on, and they just have this zeal for God, but it's not
according to knowledge. And here we see the Israelites
definitely had a zeal for God in their law keeping and in all
their ordinances, but it was not according to knowledge. It
was all to point them to Christ. And it says in verse three, for
they being ignorant of God's righteousness. And see, that's
where the robe lies. That's where our faith is misdirected. Whenever we think that it's about
what we do, the works that we are, any conditions that we have
to keep, then we are ignorant of God's righteousness because
the righteousness of God is in Christ. It's not in your words.
The righteousness of God is not in him imparting it to you, an
ability to do what Jesus did for you. That's not the gospel. The gospel is the fact that Jesus
did it. He did it on your behalf and
he will get the glory for it. He will apply it to you you will
experience that salvation, but there will be no glory given
to you or me in that salvation. We see that being ignorant of
God's righteousness is thinking just like how Adam and Eve thought
that whenever they sinned against God, they went out and made for
themselves a suit of fig leaves. And they thought that that covering
would be enough to please God and what happened whenever God
come walking around. You know, he laid it all bare. I know what you've done and no,
that's not good enough. And so the Bible says that God
killed an animal and he took the skins of that animal and
he clothed them. See, you can't clothe yourself
no matter how well you make yourself up, okay? You can't clothe yourself,
only God can clothe you. And that clothing is Christ's
righteousness. And so what do we look to? We
look to imputed righteousness. We're looking at imputed righteousness.
God accounting us for Christ's righteousness. Taking Christ's
righteousness and laying that to our account. And when Christ
came as a sacrifice, God laid our guilt on his account. So he became sin for us, not
actually. He became sin for us by imputation. God accounted him as a sinner
and punished him as a sinner. God accounts us as righteous
and treats us as never have sinned. Now, that's amazing to me. That's
mysterious. That is unfathomable. But that's
grace. That's what grace is all about.
He says, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going
about to establish their own righteousness, and that's what
the Jews were doing. They were trying to establish
their own righteousness by keeping the law. They say, he says, have
not submitted themselves under the righteousness of God. And
that even goes today. If you think that your acceptance with
God or even your right standing with God comes by your law keeping,
then you have not submitted yourself unto the righteousness of God.
Submitting yourself to the righteousness of God is resting on the finished
work of Jesus Christ on your behalf, not only legally in heaven
to make you accepted of God and to give you that eternal salvation,
but also experientially, that it is experientially yours. He's
given you all things for life and godliness here. He is the
one who is keeping you. For it is God who works in you
both to will and to do, His good pleasure. Faithful is He who
has called you, for He will do it. So even the experiential
part of your salvation is all by Christ and Him alone. But
any acceptance or right standing before God is always accounted
because of Christ. Because if it ever comes to us,
As we read in that passage just a few minutes ago, if you're
guilty of one, you're guilty of them all. The Bible says that
no man is gonna keep this law perfectly because if you're guilty
of one, you have broken them all. So we needed somebody to
satisfy or answer the law's demand for us. And so whenever Christ
did that for us, whenever he answered the law's demands, he
satisfied justice. I was speaking to you about God's
justice. that he is just and he is not going to quit evil.
He's not going to let sin go by, that he will deal out justice. But look with me, if you would,
back at Isaiah. Isaiah is my favorite prophet
of the Bible. And this passage in Isaiah 53
is probably one of my favorite passages in all of scripture. Isaiah 53. And I'm gonna be reading down
through the whole chapter. It's only about 12 or 13 verses
here, but I wanna read this to you and maybe help pull out from
what the text says here about satisfied justice. And I want
you to think as we're talking about these things, think about
this system of gospel that is out there today and that it's
all up to man and the conditions that men have to keep before
God will do anything for them. But look at what God says, it's
all about what Christ is doing. It says, who hath believed our
report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Now, those
of y'all in the church here, you've heard me preach on this
before, that those questions there are actually answering
themselves. Who hath believed our report? Who hath believed
what we've said about Christ? Well, the one to whom the arm
of the Lord has been revealed, the word arm there, arm of the
Lord, the strength of the Lord. A lot of times the word arm is
referring to the strength of the Lord. When the Lord exerts
his strength in grace by giving you the new birth and giving
you spiritual understanding, then we are able to believe his
report. So who has believed our report
and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow
up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground,
he hath no form nor calmliness, and when we shall see him, there
is no beauty that we should desire of him." Now again, this is talking
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It says, he is despised and rejected
of man, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we
hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs,
carried our sorrows, Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted." See, they didn't think he was anything
because God punished him. But see, they didn't realize
what he was doing in all that punishment. And so they just,
you know, deemed him as nothing. It says, but he was wounded for
our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities,
not for anything that he had done, but for what we had done.
It says, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with
his stripes we are healed. He says, all we like sheep have
gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord
has laid on him the iniquity of us all. That's the imputation
that I was just speaking about. He has laid upon him our iniquity.
Jesus in no way, in no wise, ever committed any iniquity.
Jesus was perfect, impeccable. The Bible says that he was a
spotless lamb, that he could not have ever sinned and that
in doing so, that made him worthy to be the sacrifice for us, because
if there was iniquity, then he would not be able to be that
perfect sacrifice for us. He says, all we like sheep have
gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord
has laid upon him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and
he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought
as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shears
is done, so he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison
and from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For he
was cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgressions
of my people was he stricken." So there again, we see this is
a particular redemption. It's a redemption for his people.
And he says, it was for them that he was stricken. But notice
if you would there in verse eight, he says, he was taken from prison
and from judgment, and who shall declare his generation. What
is that talking about? Who shall declare his generation? Well, if Christ dies, the promise
was that from this seed there would be many seeds come. Okay? That was the promise to Abraham,
that from this one seed, there would be many seeds come. All
the children of faith would come from this one seed. Okay? And so if this seed dies, then
who's gonna declare that generation that was spoken of? The promise
of God that was given. That was a promise that God made.
And again, God cannot lie. So how is he gonna fulfill that
promise? So that was the question. Who's
gonna declare his generation if he's cut off out of the land
of the living? And it says, and he made his
grave with the wicked and with the rich in his debt, because
he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Here it is, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. And he hath
put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for
sin. He shall see his seed, he shall
prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hand. Now that's a promise as well.
The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. What is
the pleasure of the Lord? Well, the pleasure of the Lord
was in that all that the Father hath given me shall come to me.
And all that come to me in no wise shall be cast out. The promise
that was given to the surety was that if you go in their stead
and bring them to me, I will acquit them and justify them
before myself that they will be not found guilty. That was the promise. And so
the promise was made to the seed And therefore, everyone who is
in the seed receives the same promise. If you remember back
in Genesis, whenever God was creating everything, and He created
the trees and the animals and all such things, and He said,
and He created the tree, and it said, and He created it with
its life in it, that the life was in the seed, and he created
and it reproduced after its own kind. The same thing with the
animals, after its own kind, then he made Adam and he reproduced
after his own kind. But yet in Corinthians we find
that there is another seed, not of the seed of Adam, not of the
seed of Adam who is of the earth, earthy, and of the flesh, who
can profit nothing and can do nothing, but yet out of that
same lump of Adam, there was also another seed that came,
and that was the seed of Jesus Christ, who the Bible said is
the man from heaven, and that this seed is the seed from the
heavenlies, and it's not of the earth, it's of heaven. And so
we who are the people of God are that seed, and because the
promise was made to the seed, all subsequent seeds will have
the same life as the first. See, if I plant an apple tree
out here, and it grows up, and I pull an apple off there and
get a seed out of there, and I plant that seed, then another
apple tree pulls up, right? Not a peach tree, right? You
ain't gonna get a peach tree out of an apple tree. And then
whenever that apple tree bears fruit and I pull it out and I
go and I take all the seeds out of those apples and go plant
more trees, then a thousand more trees are gonna pop up with thousands
of more apples and then thousands of more seeds are gonna, and
thousands of more trees. But every one of those trees,
no matter how far away from the first it comes, every one of
those derives its life from the original seed. And the Bible says that we are
the seed of Christ. And this seed is not of the earth,
it's of heaven. He has loved us with an everlasting
love. And the Bible says that our lives,
now that's the life of us that we receive in the new birth.
Now we don't have it at first. We don't experience it at first.
Because all that we have is that life in Adam that we know. But
yet at the time of love when God comes and causes us to be
a new creation in the new birth. He brings that life and that
life is called eternal life. That life comes down and it comes
into us. And then now we are a new creation
in Christ Jesus. But the Bible says that that
life that we have was hid with Christ in God before the foundation
of the world. And so we have this life given
to us and it's eternal life. Let me ask you a question. I
ask this quite often to people when I speak about these things. We
know that whenever we are born again, we receive eternal life.
But is that when life began? If it's eternal life, it doesn't
start then because it's eternal. That means that that life that
you receive is a life that was already there. Your experience of it is there.
That's why we read in Second Timothy that he saved us and
he called us with a holy calling, not according to our works. Look
with me, if you would, at 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 9. Who has saved us, past tense,
and called us, past tense, with a holy calling, not according
to our works. It's never according to your
works. But look what it said. Who hath saved us, past tense,
and called us, past tense, with a holy calling, according to
His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. See, this grace and mercy, this
salvation, this calling is before the foundation of the world,
before Adam ever sinned. God called this people to Himself.
give them to Christ, and Christ stood as their surety from all
the foundation of the world. But look at verse 10, it says,
but now is made manifest. What does the word manifest mean?
It means to bring to light, to come forth, to show. It was something
that was already there, but yet it's now being shown. It hadn't
been seen yet, but now it's being shown, okay? I work in the x-ray
business, and we do installs, I go to do install like one I'll
be doing tomorrow, there'll be a big giant truck that rolls
in and the guy's gonna get out of there and he's gonna hand
me this manifest, this piece of paper. And that manifest is
telling me everything that's inside that truck. And I'll look
at that paper and I'll say, you mean tell me all that's inside
that truck? I can't see it, don't know it. How can I even believe
that? I don't even see it yet. But whenever he opens that truck,
he makes manifest everything that was on the manifest. It
was already there. I didn't know it. I didn't see
it, but it was already there. It had just been made manifest
now. Now I see it. Now I know it. Now I experience it. There it
is. That's what this is saying here, brethren, that this salvation
was there, but yet is now made manifest by the appearing of
our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and hath
brought life and immortality to light through the gospel."
Not to life. So many people are preaching
that it is by the preaching of the gospel that men are brought
to life. The life is given so that we
might understand and know the things freely given to us. Isn't
that what Corinthians tells us? It says that the spirit has been
given to us so that we might know the things freely given
to us. So the things that's given to
us in the gospel that we learn in the gospel, whenever those
things are told to the child of grace who has just been born
again, and that gospel is preached to them, then they begin to believe
that. Why? Because they now have the spirit
telling them that that's true. Before they were at enmity with
God and they didn't like those things. They thought it was foolishness.
And so it says here that our salvation was something that
began in the counsel of God before the foundation of the world.
Turn back to our passage in Ephesians. Again, we reiterate the fact
that verses, our verses here in chapter one,
corroborate this. Verse three, blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed, past
tense again, us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places
in Christ. Where was the blessing of all
spiritual blessings? Again, I want to remind you.
Is justification a spiritual blessing? Sanctification a spiritual
blessing? Is grace and mercy? Is redemption? All these things
are spiritual blessings. It was given to us in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus according as He had chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world. That's what 2 Timothy was saying.
Not according to our works, but according to His purpose before
the foundation of the world. According as He has chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love. See, He stood as
our surety before God, saying, I will go and I will get them
and I will bring them back. And if I don't bring them back,
then I'm the one to blame, not them. That's what Judah said
to Jacob. And he went with Benjamin to
Joseph and did such that was asked of him. And so we see that
the promise was made before the foundation of the world. And
that promise cannot be broken. That's why we have an assurance
of hope. That's why we know that we are
secure in Christ Jesus and that salvation cannot be lost. It's
because he has promised to fulfill all these things according as
he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.
That's why God can look upon us as his people before the time
that we're even born again and not have wrath upon us is because
he is looking upon us in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus is standing
as our surety even before the time of grace that we even know
of our salvation. He is keeping us and he is holding
us and he is advocating for us in that. It says, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself. And look, what's it according
to? According to the good pleasure of his will. I mean, we find
in every verse in this passage here that it's not according
to anything that we do, but it's according to God. It's according
to the pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the blood. He
has made us accepted in the blood. in whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sin, according to the riches
of his grace. It's not according to my choice
or decision or life or law-keeping. It's according to the riches
of his grace, wherein he hath abounded towards us in all wisdom
and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will,
according to the good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself. So again, it's what he has purposed
within himself. It's wonderful to be saved, amen?
I am thankful for salvation. But in the end, salvation wasn't
about you. It was about God. It was about
bringing glory to Christ Jesus. That is the foremost part of
salvation. Your salvation, if you have salvation,
it was for Christ's glory. It was for himself. And you come
in kind of second, okay? Now, that's also grace. The fact
that we are saved and the fact that one of these days that the
Bible says that we are going to be joint heirs with Jesus,
that we are going to be made like him. Brethren, that is amazing. But that's because Jesus satisfied
that justice. He says. That in the dispensation
of the fullness of time, he might gather together in one All things
in Christ, both which are in heaven, which are in earth, even
in him, in whom we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated."
That word predestinated, not a word to get all worried about,
okay? It's a biblical word, it's biblical
teaching. If we wanna be biblical, we gotta
deal with biblical things. There is predestination. He is
predestinated. That means to lay out the destiny
beforehand. He says, in whom we have obtained
an inheritance being predestinated, not according to what he saw
down time, according to the purpose of him who worketh all things
after the counsel of his own will. So it's after the counsel
of God's will, not ours. That we should be to the praise
of his glory, who first trusted in Christ and whom he also trusted,
after that he heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation, and whom also after you believed you were sealed
with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession." Here it is again,
unto the praise of His glory. So it's all about His glory and
not our glory. Now, I know I jumped around a
little bit, but back to Isaiah chapter 53. Because I wanted you to see that
the reason that his generation would be declared was because
of the suretyship of Jesus Christ. And that it pleased the Lord
to bruise him and that the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hand. Why? Because it was determined
before the foundation of the world, according to the determinate
counsel of God, that all these things would come to pass. He
did that and it shall prosper. Look at verse 11. He shall see
the travail of his soul and be satisfied. Now that's what we're
talking about, satisfied justice. See, God's gonna be satisfied
by what he sees Christ do, not what he sees you do. You get
that? God is satisfied with what Christ
does Not what we do. That's why we rest in his righteousness. That's why we rest in his work
alone. He says he shall see the travail
of his soul and shall be satisfied by his knowledge. Shall my righteous
servant justify many for he shall bear their iniquities? The reason
that we are justified before God is not because of a condition
that we keep. It is because Christ bore our
iniquities. That's where justification lies.
I know that the great Protestant Reformation says justification
by faith, and there is justification by faith preached in the gospel,
taught in the gospel, but not as many teach it, okay? Justification, the ground of
justification, the reason why God declares you righteous is
not because you exhibit faith in Him. He declares you righteous
based upon the faith of Christ, the faithfulness of Christ. Because
of his work right here, he bore their iniquities. Christ was
faithful in bearing their iniquities as he promised to do as the surety
before the foundation of the world, to go in their stead to
get them and to bring them back. Thus God justifies them based
upon that. And so our legal justification
is based upon Christ alone. And then our experience of justification
is by faith. Whenever the Lord gives us faith
to believe, that is a justification that Christ has bore our iniquities. And so there is a justification
that we experience by faith, but that in no wise is the grounds
in which God justifies us before himself. And he goes on to say,
he says, Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great,
and he shall divide the spoiled with the strong, because he hath
poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the
transgressors, and he bare the sin of many." Notice he said
the word many twice there, not all. And made intercession for
the transgressors. He has made intercession for
the transgressors. So Christ, as our surety has
answered the law's demands, he is satisfied justice, and now,
brethren, He has brought us into favor with God. Turn with me,
if you would, to Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1. Look with me, if you would, down
to verse 12. Colossians 1, verse 12, it says,
giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints. I read that earlier,
I'm sorry. Ephesians 2, 6, that's where
I wanted to go. Ephesians 2, 6. Sometimes you can't distinguish
my own chicken scratch up here on my nose. Ephesians 2, verse
6. It says, and have raised us up
together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. So Christ has brought us into
favor with God, that while we were dead in sins, he had quickened
us together with Christ, says in verse five, by grace you're
saved and have raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come, he might
show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards
us through Christ Jesus. And so we see that Christ has
brought us into favor. Look also back again at the passage
we were just reading, and I'll reiterate in verse six. He says, to the praise of the
glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
beloved. To be brought into favor with
God is a work of Christ alone. Look at 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3 and down at verse 18
if you would. He says, For Christ also hath
once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might
bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened
by the Spirit. So by the offering of sin, Christ
sacrificed for us the just for the unjust. He brought us to
God. In Ephesians 2 again, look with me down in verse 13. But now in Christ Jesus, ye who
sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. It wasn't because you sought
him, but you were brought nigh because of his blood. He brought
you nigh. He drew you to himself. Jesus said, no man can come unto
me except the Father draw him. Look if you would at verse 14
there. He says, for he is our peace. who hath made both one
and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us,
having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments
contained in the ordinances, for to make himself of twain
one man, so making peace, and that he might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby,
and came and preached peace to you, which were far off unto
them, that were nigh, for though we both have, through Him, we
both have access by one Spirit unto the Father." And again,
he's preaching there to Gentiles, and Paul was saying, listen,
I know you guys have heard it all your lives that The Jews
and Israel is God's chosen people, and you all were considered dogs.
You guys were considered the outcasts. But what Christ has
done by that one sacrifice is he has made both Jew and Gentile,
the elect of God, they have been made one. So there is no more
Jew or Gentile. There is no more Gentile. Gentile or Jew or Israel of the
flesh. It's not the children of the
flesh who are the children of the promise, but the children
who are of faith. And so Paul here is telling them
that you have tapped in and been engrafted into this same root
and are receivers of the same promises that all of Israel had
been given back in Abraham, that your promises that the promises
are to you just as much as it is to them. And so there is this
wonderful joining of both Jew and Gentile, and that in this,
the whole nation, the whole world, everybody of every tribe, nation,
language, tongue, there will be representation in the people
of God. Now, the fifth thing I want you
to see on how we're accepted or why we're accepted in Christ
Jesus is because Jesus brought us into the family or adopted. Again, we read in Ephesians chapter
one and verse five. Ephesians chapter one and verse
five. having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ himself according to the good pleasure of his will. So here we see that in the predestination
of God, he has predestinated those people that was given to
Christ to be adopted as children. You know, we are in Adam, we
are from Adam, but yet he adopts us as his children. In Ephesians
chapter three and verse 15, he says this, Sorry, verse 14. For this cause I bow my knees
unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family
in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according
to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with my body,
spirit, and the inner man. And so we see here again that
we are brought into the family of God by God Himself. Galatians chapter 4, verse 5. We're just about done, brother.
Galatians chapter four and verse five. Actually, I wanna start reading
verse four. It says, but when the fullness of time was come,
God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law to
redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the
adoption of sons. So again, we see that the, that
the receiving or the adoption of sons isn't about some condition
that we do. It was predicated upon the finished
work of Jesus Christ. It was by him, he says, to redeem
them that were under law that we might receive the adoption
of sons. The putting Christ under the
law and being made man and being brought under the law and then
suffering all the things that we were to experience by the
hand of the law, we have been given adoption of sons. It is by that work that we are
adopted. And it says, and because ye are
sons, now this is a pretty particular verse for you guys visiting. I've mentioned to the church
here all the time. We believe that this is God's
inspired inerrant word. that every bit of it is true.
And we believe that every word counts, that God doesn't just
throw in words willy-nilly here, but every word counts. And what
we see in verse six is sometimes backwards to what we hear in
a lot of TV preachers, radio preachers, and maybe a lot of
churches around the town. It says, and because ye are sons,
God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father. You notice there that you were
sons before he ever sent his Spirit into you. It was because
you were sons that he sent his Spirit into you. See, that goes
back to what I was saying earlier. This adoption was before the
foundation of the world, based and predicated upon our surety
who said, I make the promise to go and make it all right and
I'll come back with him. And upon that, that was good
enough for God to say, okay, they're justified. I'm gonna
set them apart as a people, so they're sanctified. I'm gonna
set them apart for our use. And then I will raise them up
at the last day. Jesus said, all that the Father
gives me shall come to me, and all that come to me, I will not,
no wise cast out. And then later on, he said that he would raise
them up at the last day. And so we have that promise there.
But we see that the adoption of sons took place even before
the Spirit was sent in. And it was only because we were sons that God sent forth
His Spirit that made us cry out, Abba, Father. That caused us
to believe and to call upon God. As a matter of fact, if you look
in Acts chapter 13, Acts chapter 13, this is one
of the verses that several years ago completely obliterated my
theology and caused me to completely and totally have to re-look at
everything that I once believed and preached. In Acts chapter 13 and verse
48, this is whenever Paul and Barnabas were preaching in Antioch
And it says in verse 48, And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as
many as were ordained to eternal life believed. I spent many years
preaching just the opposite. As many as believed were ordained
to eternal life. But that's not what God's word
says. God's word says that as many as were ordained to eternal
life believed. We just read back in Galatians
that we were given the Spirit because we were already sons. Jesus, whenever He was preaching
to the religious leaders in John chapter 6, He told them, He said,
You believe not because ye are not my sheep. He didn't say just
the opposite. You're not my sheep because you
don't believe. He said it, the reason for your unbelief is because
you're not my sheep." That word sheep is interchangeable with
sons. It's all talking about that we belong to Christ. And
the reason that we believe, the reason that we are adopted, the
reason that we have any of these Ephesians chapter 1 spiritual
blessings is because we belong to Him. We were given to Him. And so we see that this believing,
this receiving, we see this It's like Siri had something
to say. All this believing and receiving
is all because we were already made sons. God has already done
that. We truly have an eternal salvation. So one of the reasons why we
are accepted in Christ is because Christ, through his sacrifice,
brought us into the family as being surety for us. One of the
things that I'm very thankful about, and if you want to start
turning to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, one of the things I'm thankful
about is that one of the things that Christ has done to cause
us to be accepted in the beloved is He has performed all our duty. All the duty that God demands
for us, Christ has done for us on our behalf. In 1 Corinthians
chapter 1, look with me at verse 30. It says, but of Him, this
is speaking of Christ, But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, I'm
sorry, that's God the Father speaking of Christ Jesus. But
of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God, speaking of Christ
Jesus, is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption, that according as is written, he that gloryeth,
let him glory in the Lord. We're not going to stand before
God and say, I was smarter than somebody else. That I chose you
because I was able to figure it all out, or that I was smarter,
or that I was better, or that I did more work. We're not going
to be able to stand that. If we stand before God, there's
going to be one that stands in our place. Because when the righteous
judge stands there, we have an advocate to speak for us. If
you're speaking to God at the judgment of God on your own behalf,
the condemnation has already come to you. There is going to
be no, let's talk this out, type of situation. Okay? The Bible
says that whenever Christ comes again, that he's going to separate
the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the tares, and that
on his right hand, whenever he puts the sheep on his right hand,
he's going to say to them, enter in. But those who are on the
left hand, he's going to catch them into hellfire. And whenever
they come and give an account, the Bible says that there are
gonna be many who say, Lord, Lord, did we not do all these
miraculous works on your behalf? Listen, they cast out demons
in his name. There's a lot of people that
we see on TV today, that we hear on the radio today, that we hear
in churches today that claim to do a lot of these things. But Jesus says, depart from me
ye doers of iniquity. He didn't say, depart from me,
you unbelievers, although they are unbelievers. But he said,
you doers of iniquity. They were coming to God and trying
to be accepted of God based upon what they were doing, even zealous
religious works. They thought that was going to
get them entrance into heaven. And what was it that predicated
on whether or not they entered in or they did not? The fact
that God knew them. See, that's why I was saying
earlier, it's about being His sheep, being His sons. It's about having His life given
to us. It's about being His chosen people. It's about being Christ and His
only. Those are the ones that He will
cry out and say, enter in to the joy of the Lord. And then
lastly, brethren, the reason that we are accepted in the beloved
is because we have a promise that there is acceptance of us
in heaven. Look, if you would, at Hebrews
chapter 2. If only three books of the Bible
were given for you to read, I would say Isaiah, Romans, and Hebrews. If there's a fourth one, the
book of John. Those are at least my favorites. and I think that
they are chock full of gospel, chock full of Christ honoring.
Of course, the whole Bible is Christ honoring, but especially
in the work of Christ. Hebrews chapter two, and look
if you would, verse 10. It said, for it became him, Jesus,
for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in
bringing many sons unto glory to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through sufferings. For it became Him for whom are
all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons
unto glory." Now remember, we were sons even before we knew
we were sons. And Christ declared to God in
the New Covenant that I will be a surety unto them. I will
go and by my hand, if I do not bring them back, then I'll be
the one to blame. I will bring your sons back to
glory. And bringing many sons to glory
to make the captain of their salvation perfect their suffering.
For both he that sanctified and they who are sanctified are all
of one." Now that's another amazing statement of Scripture, brethren.
The one who's sanctified, that's God. And the ones who are sanctified,
that's us, are all of one. Can you imagine being one with
God? It's one thing for Jesus to say, I and the Father are
one, because He is perfect. He was God in the flesh. But
for us to be able to say that I and God are one, that's an
amazing statement. I'm almost fearful to even say
that to some degree. But the Bible says it's true.
The Bible says it's true. And I surely don't go around
exalting and praising myself because I've got that. I surely
don't go beating my chest and I say, ah, I'm the elect of God. I'm the chosen. I'm the redeemed. I'm, you know, I'm the one who
is sanctified. I'm one with God. You know, I
surely don't boast of that quite because what did we just read?
That we don't glory in ourselves. but the glory goes to Christ.
See, one thing that sovereign grace does is it brings a humility
to the people that are the recipients of it. One thing that God's grace
does is it brings humility. That's why we see in that passage
of scripture where Jesus is looking on and you see that religious
man and he's praying, Lord, I thank you that you've not made me like
this guy right here, that I'm doing all this good stuff. But
yet you see this guy over here and he's saying, You know, have
mercy upon me, a sinner. And Jesus said, who do you think
the one is going to be that goes down justified? It's that guy.
Why? Why is he justified? Because
he's been given to know his sinfulness and his inability to perform
and have a righteousness before God and is pleading and looking
and resting upon Christ alone. It says, surely I will declare
thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the church will
I sing praise unto thee. And again, I will put my trust
in him. And again, behold, I and the
children which God hath given me." There again, there's that
reference to children being given to Christ by God. For as much
then as the children are protectors of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise partook of the same, that through death he might destroy
him that had power of death, that is the devil, and deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lives subject
to bondage. For verily he took not on the
nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore,
in all things, it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For
in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to
succor them that are tempted. Brethren, we are accepted in
Christ in the beloved. and we are accepted only because
He first made us accepted. We have that blessing because
of His work alone, and we give Him praise, we give Him glory,
we give Him honor for all that He has done. Does anybody have
any questions or any comments that you'd like to make this
morning? Anything that you'd like to add? Any corrections
or rebukes that you'd like to? All right. Let's bow and we'll have
a word of prayer. Our gracious Heavenly Father,
what a blessing it is once again to be in the house of the Lord.
Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for this time
together. Father, we thank you for these
visitors that have come. We pray that you have blessed
them and encouraged them more. We pray that in their travels,
Lord, that you give them safety and ask Lord that you just Be
with us now in this time coming, as we eat, to bless the food,
to the nourishment of our bodies, bless the fellowship around the
table. And Father Lord, I just pray that you would be with us
as we go out this week, that you might enable us and help
us, Lord, to be witnesses for Christ. We might testify of Him
and His gospel. And Father Lord, we pray for
Sister Loretta today and that you might continue to Be with
her and her healing from her surgery, from her stroke. Lord,
we pray that you would continue to uplift her and encourage her
in this time as she's not able to have visitors coming into
the assisted living place. Lord, we know that that can be
very sorrowful and that depression can easily sink in whenever you're
not able to be around your loved ones, especially in this time
of pain and rehabilitation surgeries and such. So Father we ask that
you would lift her up and give her joy and peace and that Lord
that you might even use her to be a testimony of Christ even
through the pain and suffering and hardship she's going through
that to those that are around her they might see the joy of
the Lord in her. Father Lord I pray that as we
minister from afar that you might encourage her even today. Father Lord we pray that you
would just be with our church Lord that you might Grow it as
you see fit. We pray that you might minister
here in Joplin through it. And Lord, we just thank you so
much for all that you've done for us, and especially for the
Lord Jesus Christ and the life that we have in and through him.
And it's in Christ's precious name that we pray. Amen.