Seeking for the help of the Lord, I direct your prayerful attention to Ephesians chapter 1 and reading from our text, verse 6. To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved.

1 and verse 6. It is a vital thing that we at last be accepted at God's right hand. We sung the last line of this hymn, the first verse that we just sung, I receive my soul at last. We are solemn then if we are not received, if we are not accepted.

Very soon after the fall we have the case of the two brothers, Cain and Abel, coming to worship before God. Cain he brought of the fruit of the ground, whereas Abel he brought of the first of his flock, a blood sacrifice. And we read that God had respect unto Abel and to his sacrifice, but not unto Cain. And Cain was upset, he was downcast that God wouldn't have respect to his sacrifice. But God said to him, if thou doest well, shall thou not be accepted? Rather than change the way that he was worshipping, he slew his brother.

those who worship us, and especially with Abel, we have two ways really in which a sinner is accepted before God. One is where it points to what the Lord Jesus Christ has done, His shed blood, the sacrifice That is foundational for the acceptance and it is primarily on that point that I wish to speak tonight. The other way is concerning the works of a believer. Shown in how Abel acted, how Cain acted, the fruit of grace.

not works as making us acceptable because of our works in that sense, but we are accepted in the Beloved through those things that are done as fruits of His grace. On to Lord this evening if we are to really understand the innate of acceptance, firstly our state by nature and without an act on God's part that we could not be accepted before God. And then secondly, what God has done or made us accepted in Christ and that this that He is all to the praise of the glory of His grace, as in our text. And then thirdly, what God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has done to this end, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, what He has done. wherein he has done these things.

But firstly, our state by nature, if we're ever to value the salvation of the Lord, we must know where we come from and what we are without that salvation. One of our hymns says that Sinners can say, and none but they, how precious is the Saviour. Without a felt need, without being as a feeling sinner, we shall never value God's provision, we will never seek after it. We need that first.

We know in natural things Unless someone knows that they are sick or has some symptoms that they recognize, they will never seek for help. They might not know what those symptoms are symptoms of, but where they are painful, where they are discomforting, then there'll be a seeking to know the reason why. When we spoke of Cain, and of Abel. We have two, as very often throughout the Word of God the Lord uses a contrast with two. With Cain he was not accepted, with Abel he was. In the parable our Lord spoke of the two praying in the temple, The Pharisee, though he spout so much of his own good works, was not accepted, but the publican there pleaded for mercy was. And with mercy there is an exclusion of all works and of all worthiness ourselves. Really much of false religion or wrong life stems from a wrong view of the fall and a wrong view of the condition of man. All those that would draw into the Arminian position of free will, that God would have the whole world to be saved and that Christ died to save the whole world, that it's up to us to believe and accept that those are relying that there is some capability and they profess that the Lord in dying on the cross gave us back that capability, gave us back a free will to be able to choose to our own salvation.

Whereas the word of God still stands that we are dead in trespasses and sins. We only need to turn to the next chapter in Ephesians and read the opening verse. And you have the quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. This is New Testament. This is after Christ has suffered, bled and died. This is after those who follow Arminius would say that man has been given some degree of life. He's not dead in trespasses and sins. But the word states that we are.

Our Lord Jesus Christ was emphatic that none come unto him except the Father draw them. That the way of salvation is a bringing up from the dead. It is bringing from a state like Adam and Eve where that hid themselves from the presence of the Lord to those that are then brought nigh and brought into the presence of the Lord. Sin separates. Sin vanishes from the Lord. Sin makes it that we cannot be accepted before God. All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. It needs to be that which is of God's providing to make us accepted.

You have some solemn illustrations in the Word. You have those of Aaron's sons, Dathan and Abiram, offering strange fire, thinking that they were going to be accepted in their worship, bringing fire in their senses that had not been kindled from heaven. The fire from the altar had been kindled from heaven. There were many times in the world where the fire came down from heaven and lit the burnt sacrifice, the altars, and that was the case in the wilderness. That flame never went out, but they were as put forth in another place, walking in the sparks of their own kindling.

But that is never acceptable before God. Anything that is wrought by man is stunned and died with sin, is rejected. That which is for fame is rejected. is not acceptable in God's sight. He's a holy, pure God. He cannot look upon sin without utter abhorrence. And it is this solemn realization, realization that those fallen angels were cast out from God. They were not accepted in heaven. And right through, right through the history of Israel,

Another illustration, David's worship when they were bringing up the ark with joyfulness, but copying the Philistines, putting it on a cart. That was not acceptable before God. And so Uzzah that put his hand to steady the ark was slain. How, as David said afterwards, we ought to worship God in the way that He has appointed and to come before Him in that way in which He will accept us. Because by nature, in our own works, our own righteousnesses, standing on our own, we are not accepted, we cannot stand before God.

And we need to remember this. We need to remember it so that we see God's ordained way of being made acceptable. We need to remember it as well lest we be disheartened because of our sin. Forever all the time trying to make even those that are seeking that right acceptance to look back to themselves, to their own worthiness, to their own sinlessness, you're tired of saying well you're called now, you're baptised, you're in the church, you're a deacon, you're a pastor, you should walk perfect, you should not have sin, you should not have these failings, you should not have these thoughts. And the Apostle Paul says that the good that I would I do not, and the evil that I would not that I do, a wretched man that I am. He says if I do that which I would not, It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. And we cannot eradicate sin within us. God knows that this side of the grave we will sin, but God's provision, the way of acceptance, takes that into account. It is for sinners.

His name shall be called Jesus, for He shall save His people, from their sins. We should never minimise sin, never minimise this solemn state that we're in, that rather than God leave us in that state, He should send forth His Beloved Son.

Where we fear the Nahru, the hell within, the distance from our God, may it make us more and more desire to hear the message that Paul sends to the Ephesians here so that they might know how it is that they were saved and how it is that they were accepted and to know this side of the grave that when death comes and when we appear before God that we shall be accepted and shall not be rejected.

My line goes to John Bunyan and his pilgrim, and they saw one that was called Ignorance, and they realised that he was trusting, that he would be accepted on his terms, and they realised that he would not be, that they couldn't convince him otherwise. Tom Bunyan pictures his pilgrims, Christian hopeful, being accepted at the gate. But when Eagles came, he was not expected, he was not accepted, and there was a byway to hell. It was a solemn reminder that those that come into God and seeking acceptance must do so on God's terms. and his conditions are not on their own.

So I want to look secondly, that God has made us accepted in Christ and that this acceptance is all to the praise and the glory of his grace. Now he said at the beginning, concerning Cain and Abel, especially Abel, it set forth two ways of acceptance. I speak first on the second way because primarily I want to speak on the first way, that is through Christ and through His blood.

But we have set forth in the Word Peter as the preachers to the Gentiles in Cornelius's house. He says this in Acts chapter 10 and verse 35. Or from verse 34, Then Peter opened his mouth and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with heaven. Here speaks of acceptance, but it is the fruits of grace, not the things that are brought apart from those fruits that is spoken of here. Grace making a real change in the heart, it makes it into life, And so it brings about the fear of God and it brings about working righteousness or godly works and actions that are not sinless. And so that is speaking of the fruits.

We have the sign where the Apostle Paul in his second epistle to the Corinthians in chapter 5 and verse 9 He speaks of those that while we are in the body we know we are absent from the Lord, we are walking by faith not by sight and he said we are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. The grace of God doesn't lead to licentiousness or to loose and careless living, it speaks of fruits. From me, says the Lord, is thy fruit found. And this is what the Apostle is speaking of here, that in his life he laboured, that whether in this life or whether after, beyond the grave, he may be accepted of him, seeking to do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

But we're not trusting in our works, we're not trusting in those fruits. Those fruits are the evidence of what God has done for us and the grace that he has actually given to us.

If we go further on in Ephesians, in Ephesians 5, the Lord gives a picture and it's based upon a husband and a wife. and it is the picture of the Church and of Christ. Christ the bridegroom and the Church is bride. And we read in verse 25 of Ephesians 5, Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish, that it is presented, made acceptable, made fit to be, joined and united together.

And David is the outworking of grace, is the work of God fitting his church to be with him. Years ago when the Prince of Wales was caught in Gatherum, they caught him for some eight years or so. And people wondered, well why so long? But she was coming in not familiar with all the workings of the palace. He knew what his own mother had gone through in going into the royal family and what she suffered. And he was wanting to make sure that his future wife was let in, as it were, gently, taught instructed and brought up first before they marry.

I believe it has been a good strategy, a good way, which in a way, this is what the Lord says he does with his church. He makes them ready. They prepare people for a repaired place. I go to repair a place for you. but here below he's preparing us for that place.

There is that side of it then, there is the fruit, the outworking, there is what men and women see, what the church sees, what is to be expected of a real work of Christ. But the acceptance begins a lot before that. it begins outside of ourselves. And it is that that I want to look at as coming from God.

And this first part of our text, to the praise of the glory of His grace wherein He hath made us accepted in His beloved. God the Father, the Father, as we read in verse 3, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is Him that has made the Church of God accepted in His beloved Son. And that simple statement, that sums up the complete acceptance that a sinner has before God. It is being done by God the Father and it is being done through His beloved Son and His people are the subjects of Him. It is all the work of God.

This is why David says, Although my house be not so with God, Yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure, and this is all my salvation and all my desire, although he make it not to grow." He looked at that which was before he was born, everlasting, there was the foundation. There is the whole secret of acceptance. It is what God did and that we were the beneficiaries of. And it is all to the praise of God's grace.

The free and sovereign grace and merited favor of God. And it's good for us to really realise this, where our acceptance is. It cannot change, it cannot be taken away, it cannot be touched, because it is in God. We are the beneficiaries of it. I want to look then thirdly, at what the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has done to this end.

Now text says, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved, wherein he hath. And he sends the report forth, are to thee, glory of his grace. This is what is being lifted up. This is what is being extolled here. Praising His grace, the glory of His grace, of His favour to sinners.

Grace is different than kindness. When I show kindness to someone, as long as their kindness is back to us, it remains. But if then someone is not kind to us and damages our goods and we still show kindness, that is grace. Grace to those that don't deserve the kindness. Grace that is free and unmerited and is sovereignly given, not to be taken away.

The Hebrides says it gave us grace. Christ His Son before He spread the starry sky. Were these four points that I bring before you here in the context.

The first way wherein He has made us accepted in the Beloved that is to the praise of His ways is where He has blessed us as in verse 3 who have blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. We have his picture of the people of God in heavenly places, that is before the world was, and he is blessed in the person of his beloved Son, he has blessed his people with all spiritual

We read in Colossians, It is almost as we could picture Joseph and the storehouses. Before ever Jacob's sons had the need and went to Egypt, God had seen the need. had sent Joseph before. The storehouses had been made, had been filled. You might say, well they were for Egypt. But later Joseph says, God sent me before you to preserve your lives.

In a way it's a picture of the blessings on this world The ungodly has the benefit of a lot of them, the natural blessings, but this world, it exists for the primary good and blessing of God's people. Here it emphasizes spiritual blessings, something that the world doesn't value, doesn't look for, doesn't want. And the natural man receiveth not the things of God, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

But going back to the picture of Joseph, he had all those storehouses, and when there was need, and when his brethren came, the storehouses were opened, and they received of them those things, and pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. All those blessings, the blessings of grace, the blessings of the love of God, the peace of God, the blessings of forgiveness and pardon and repentance that He's exalted to give.

Every blessing, every favor comes to us through Jesus' precious blood. The Hymn writer sums it up in that way. It's like a a cup of blessings or a store of blessings that is then given out through life but in the grace of God he has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. A blessed storehouse. And of course It's emphasised that it is in Christ.

These things come to us through His blood. We'll look at it a little bit later, one of the other points. But without His death, without His crucifixion, without the blood shedding, none of these blessings can flow to a sinner. but when he died and then rose again they all sealed for the benefit and good of the people of God.

Another hymn says the fullness resides in Jesus our head and never abides to answer our need. This is the store for these spiritual blessings Something that, by nature, you have no felt need of. And yet, one of the first lessons, of course, is calling and quickening and giving that saving grace, giving eternal life. All of these lessons, they are all traced beyond before when we were born, traced to our Lord. This is to the praise of the glory of His grace, that He should do that before time.

Then we have secondly, verse 4, according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world. And this has an end, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. That brings in the second part, doesn't it? The fruits, the working out. But the grace that is the source of that and where all of that flows from is the choice. And again, it is centered in Christ. He's not just chosen. It is chosen us in Him. In what He was to do and suffer and bleed and die, we've been chosen in Him. This is the foundation truth, before the foundation of the world too.

Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you. that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain. Now choosing of God, all that are within are called and chosen and faithful. And this choice is all of the grace of God. These are things that call forth praise and give to grace a real glory, a glory that this is from eternity and cannot be touched in time.

I do like how in God's ordering of the plan of salvation, these things upon which our eternal safety and comfort belong, are secured before time, they couldn't be touched in time, not even through the fall. He saw me lost and ruined in the fall, and loved me not, but is standing for me. An everlasting lover, I love thee with an everlasting love, and therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee.

And then the other side, when our Lord rose from the dead, He didn't stay in some part of this world. He ascended up into heaven. None can assault Him. None can change where He is. He will come again. And He is in control here below. But, in one sense, He's out of reach of man. And the Lord prays that, Father, I will that thou hast given me be with me where I am." To those who are given, those who are chosen, the Lord will have to be with them in heaven. This again is the glory of His grace, that choice of us in Him.

And then in the third place in verse 5, we have, having predestinated us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. Predestination. Many times when people speak of predestination, they think of being predestinated to heaven. In one sense it is true because all predestinated will go to heaven. But it is pointing to this world. It is predestinated that in this world they shall be adopted as children of Jesus Christ. They shall be as He was in this world. If they have done these things in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry? They persecuted me, they shall persecute you. We are to take up our cross as He took up His.

And the predestination is these people, when they come into this world, they come like all others, born in sin and shaven in iniquity. But God has said they will not continue like that. They will be changed. They will be adopted. They will be called by grace. They shall be brought into the living family of God. They shall suffer rejection from the world. They shall be separated from the world. They shall be made of my children and taught and instructed and that they shall in this world be as a people formed for myself that shall show forth my praise. And we are predestinated to that image. to Christ's image as He was on earth. He shall give, we read in Psalm 84, He shall give grace and glory. The two go together and this, our text, is the praise of the grace. The grace that we were predestined to receive and to have here below.

the next chapter by grace, i.e. saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works that any man should boast, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, and two good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in. or predestinated us to walk in them. And that is to the praise of God's grace again, because that which is wrought out in time, and many of us, we can look at when we were called by grace, and we can go back in the days of our own regeneracy, and we can see providence after providence, things that we never prayed for, things at a time we never recognized as God's work, and yet things which were essential to our call by grace, the timing of God in our lives, and we cannot but realize that while we hated God or were far from Him, He had still loved us. And He was making all things work together for good, quite apart from us, without any aid from us. He was working it and doing it. And when we are called by Christ, then we do seek Him, then we do thank Him, but then we can look back and we can see the hand that guided and overruled and that held us and that kept us and that

And so when did that begin? That began in eternity. And even, as the hymn writer said, his parents, native place and time, all appointed it were by him. And all to the praise and glory of his grace.

The fourth one that I bring to you is in verse seven after our text. Speaking of the Lord Jesus, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, again emphasised according to the riches of His grace. Redemption through His blood. This is to the praise of the glory of His grace. For whom did the Lord

Now the Lord says that I lay down my life that I might take thee to gain. He says I lay down my life for the sheep. To the Jews that were speaking against him, who could not receive him, He says you are not of my sheep. He says I have power to lay down my life, I have power to take thee to gain.

One of the beautiful doctrines that we hold fast in the doctrine that those that follow the free will system will reject is that of particular redemption, that the Lord knew for whom he died. It was a limited atonement, an atonement that had an everlasting love to each soul for whom he bared their sins. And as he suffered in their place and bore their sin, the love that he had to each one of those souls, and the certainty that each one for whom he suffered and for whom he paid that debt and settled that debt shall be in heaven.

Some people say, well, in Christ's blood there was an infinite merit to save the whole world. It sounds good, but it's not scriptural. because it never was the will of God to settle a debt and then have that debtor to be punished eternally. He shall not demand two payments for one debt. In Proverbs and Ecclesiastes a just weight and a just balance is of the Lord. The writing of our Lord from the dead shows the debt was settled, was put away, that those for whom He died, their sins have been put away, they have been redeemed, they have been set free by the payment of a price. That redemption is through His blood and bound up with that is the forgiveness of their sins. all of grace. How do we know that Christ died for us? When we are redeemed, redeemed from Satan's grasp, from this world, when we are given life, when we are called by His grace, this is why the Apostle is seeking to set before these Ephesians these Ephesians who were blessed, were called.

And it makes them to understand later on in this first chapter that it was the same power that God wrought in raising up Christ from the dead that was put forth in them to quicken them into spiritual life. And every song is a miracle of grace. that they should be arrested, that they should be given life, they born again and raised to newness of life.

When that is so, we know that these things have gone on before. The grace that we receive is before that calling. Why in Romans 8 we read of the foreknowledge of God. Those whom he foreknow, them he also did predestinate. Whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he also glorified.

It's a beautiful chain, and the middle link is the calling. Our election is known by calling. But when we are called, and we are chosen, when it is grace that makes a new creature in Christ. We are to understand that all that is done for us and has been done is to the praise of the glory of His grace. And it is through this that He has made us accepted in the Beloved.

Quite, you might say, separate from our works even as fruits. The acceptance is in Christ, is in what He has done and what has been provided for us in the covenant before time began. May we be able to realise this, be held to praise the grace of God, to give glory to His name, to praise Him for what He has done. and through what He has given to us to show us that He has done that for us.

When we ask maybe through the hymn, show me a token Lord for good, the tokens of His grace, if we have tasted that grace here below, why here in our text it opens up an ocean of grace, fullness of grace, all in the Lord Jesus Christ. For the Lord blessed the Word to us, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted. In the Beloved. Amen.