Turn with me, if you would, back
to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. We've been
going through Matthew on Sunday mornings, but I felt led to be in Ephesians
1 today, and if the Lord is willing, we'll be in Matthew tonight. This message is maybe a little
different format for a Sunday morning message.
I kind of feel like it's a Bible study. I feel like this is teaching. That's what I hope will take
place. I pray that the Lord will teach
us something from his word. This is a subject, what we're
gonna look at is a subject that is very misunderstood. And I feel very led to bring
this message this morning. This is very, very misunderstood
by people. And it's critical. It's so critical.
What we're going to look at is just so critical. This message has come from something
that was said in the Wednesday night message. A couple of weeks
ago, we looked at the story of Abigail. and Abigail went and
made intercession to David on behalf of Nabal and his sin against
David. And David said to Abigail, as
she made this glorious intercession to him, in return, he said to
her, I have accepted thy person. He's saying, I'm appeased. Nabal
had really sinned against David, and David would go in to get
him. And Abigail came and pleaded for mercy, and he said, I have
accepted thy person. And what that represents is God
the Father accepting the person of the Lord Jesus Christ on behalf
of the sinner. The sinner has very much offended
him. And Christ in the sinner's place
goes and makes intercession And the father and judge is appeased. And he says, I have accepted
that person. I'm satisfied because of your
person. That's what it represents. Well,
since then, I've been dwelling on this subject of acceptance
and accepting. And I pray that the Lord will
let us see something about it and teach us something about
it from God's word today. And the reason is because I say
again, there are so many people in this world who are confused
on the matter. This thing of accepting. It is critical that we get it
straightened out. It's critical. All right. For
that reason, this verse of scripture will be our text. If you look
with me at Ephesians one verse six, it says to the praise of
the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us. accepted in the beloved to the
praise of the glory of His grace. Grace means free gift, favor,
kindness, goodness, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein
He hath made us accepted in the beloved. When it comes to accepting, People
think, and it's because they've been told this, they've been
asked this question all their lives. People have been asked
this question all their lives, all their lives. This is the
question. Somebody will stand up and ask people, won't you
accept This person who they call Jesus. And the reason I say that is
because everybody in their mind doesn't have the same Jesus.
Everybody's kind of made up a little bit different. Jesus. A lot of
people don't understand that he is the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord means God. Jesus means man. Christ means
both. That's what it means. And that's
his title, that's his office, that's his name, and he's worthy
of our respect. But this is how the question
is posed. They say, won't you accept Jesus? Don't you want to be saved? Don't you want to seal the deal?
You know, and in them saying that, what they're insinuating
is this is what will seal the deal. Won't you accept Jesus? Now, because people have been
asked that and been told that all their lives, they think that's
how it works. People wrongly believe that their
salvation is dependent on them accepting the Lord Jesus. As their personal savior, they,
that's what people believe. They, why wouldn't they, they've
been told that two things, let's say two things
about that. Number one, that phrase is nowhere in the Bible. There are so many phrases that
sound like men are quoting scripture. Well, now, you know, the Lord
helps those who help themselves as though we're quoting scripture
here. That's not in the Bible. Won't you accept Jesus? You need
to accept Jesus. That's not in the Bible. That
phrase is nowhere in the Bible. There's not a verse in the, in
the scripture that even insinuates that man has the ability to do
that. Not at all. We're going to prove that through
the scripture, through what the word has to say about it. But
that phrase or anything close to that phrase is nowhere in
the scripture. And the other thing to think
about is this, if we understood the reality of our condition
before God, if we really understood what our condition was before
God, we would see that that is not, that cannot be a component
of our salvation, excepting Jesus, excepting the Lord Jesus Christ.
That cannot be a component of our salvation at all. And I want
to illustrate it to you this way. I have a little illustration
that I've come up with, and there is something in this illustration
that's not accurate concerning our condition before God, and
I'm going to tell you what it is in just a minute, okay? But
to start with, in seeing this thing the way
that man naturally sees it to be. Let's say that a man falls
overboard off of a huge ship out into the middle of the ocean,
a huge ship, okay? The crew sees it happen. The
captain sees it happen. Spiritually representing man's
fall. And the all seeing eye of God,
God knew it. This thing wasn't a secret. Okay,
this man falls overboard, the ship's going, he falls overboard
and the ship keeps going. And for now, let's just say that
the man immediately wants to be back in the ship. And he cries
out, come get me, come back and get me. What that is, is that is Him
accepting the ship as His personal Savior. He is saying, I will
have that ship come back and get me. I will have those men
pull me up out of this water. Yes, I will, I accept it. All
right, now, if nothing changes, will He be saved? No. But he accepted the ship. Well, that part doesn't matter. What would it take for him to
be saved? If he was really going to be saved, what would it take
for him to be saved? Here's what it would take. The ship, the
captain of the ship would have to make the decision and do the
work of turning the ship around coming back to Him and pulling
Him out. Meaning this, the ship would
have to accept Him. If we're really talking about
being saved. His acceptance of the ship did
nothing. The ship's acceptance of Him
did everything. It accomplished everything. It's all dependent on the ship. It's all dependent on the ship. For this illustration, what a
horrible lie it would be. What a horrible lie it would
be if the ship kept going, but the crew was hollering to the
man. It's okay. You made your decision. You accepted
the ship. You're gonna be fine. You're
gonna be fine. You accept the ship, you'll be
fine. What a horrible lie that would
be. Do you know that's the lie that's being told as men stand
up and tell people, if you'll just accept the ship, that's
all. You just accept the ship and you're good. You just accept
Christ. You accept this man, Jesus. You
accept him as your personal savior. You'll be fine. You'll be fine.
Listen, if man, if a man understands his true condition before God,
this is what he'll say. No, I won't. No, I won't. It doesn't matter what I accept.
If I'm not accepted, I'm not going to be saved. I must be
accepted if I'm going to be saved. Salvation is not in our acceptance
of God. It's in God's acceptance of us. That's where salvation is. Salvation
cannot be in our acceptance of God. And here's the reason why.
Man by nature in his sinful flesh, He doesn't have the ability to
accept God. He's dead before God. I told you our illustration had
a flaw in it. I told you that something wasn't
accurate. When man fell, he died. It's what the Lord said, spiritually. Physically, he lives his life,
but in that moment, spiritually, he died. And therefore man does
not, man cannot cry out for salvation. He died. He died. Now this may catch us off guard
a little bit. I don't, I don't mean for it
to, I'm not trying to go for outlandish statements. This is
so, all right, this is so. Man does not have the ability
to accept or reject God. You know, somebody who knows
the scripture will hear that and say, what? What do you mean
man doesn't have the ability to accept or reject God? Man does not have the ability
because he is spiritually dead before God. If we don't understand
what happened in the garden of Eden, when man fell, we cannot
understand anything after that. Man doesn't get a slap on the
wrist. Man didn't just hurt himself.
Man didn't just, he died. He died. Man is spiritually dead
to God. Now man naturally rejects God
because he's spiritually dead to God. This scripture, if we took the
time, I could turn to you to scripture, turn you to scripture
after scripture that says man has rejected God. Man has rejected
God because he's dead, because he's dead to God. We're dead
in sins. We will not come to Christ that
we might have life because we're dead. We will not come to him because
we cannot come to him. We cannot come to him because
we're dead, spiritually dead. The deadness of our nature naturally
rejects God. But listen to this. Thank God. Thank God. Man does not actually
have the ability to reject God. Meaning. If God chooses to send
his grace to a center, grace is coming to that center. It's irresistible. Man doesn't
have the ability. He can try. His natural condition
does. But if grace is purposed to come
to a center, the center is going to get the grace. Man will not
be successful in trying to reject it. He is going to receive God's
grace. It's irrejectable. It's irrejectable
grace. A more accurate condition for
our, or a more accurate illustration for our condition is this, okay? A man falls overboard on a huge
ship. And he immediately looks up and
says, don't you dare come back and get me. That's our condition
before God. That's what the deadness of our
sin produces. Don't you dare come back and
get me. But the captain, who is rich in mercy for his great
love wherewith he loved that rebel, turned the ship around,
came back to him and pulled him out. Now that's exactly what
Ephesians 2 says. If you look with me at Ephesians
chapter 2 verse 1, it says, And you hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins. Wherein
in time past you walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, that's the
adversary. The spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience, disobedience, among whom also
we all had our conversation in time past. All of us have sinned.
In the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind and whereby nature, the children of wrath, even as
others. Verse four says, but God who
is rich in mercy for his great love were with, he loved us even
when we were dead in sins. He quickened us together with
Jesus Christ. By His grace, you are saved. And He has 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 and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For
by grace are you saved through faith, and that's not of yourselves,
That's the gift of God, not of works less any man should boast
for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
That's how salvation goes with God. That's how this thing of
acceptance goes with God. Now, I just want to prove everything
I've said to you with some scriptures. We're going to turn back and.
Go through a few scriptures and then we'll be done here, but
turn with me if you would to Job 13. We're going to look for
a minute at this thing of acceptance. Who accepts who? We must understand
the reality of this. Who accepts who? Job 13. Job 13, look with me at verse
three. Surely I would speak to the almighty
and I desire to reason with God, but you all are forgers of lies. You are all physicians of no
value. He's rebuking what some of these
men were saying wrongly about God and wrongly about these things.
Verse five, he said, oh, that you would all together hold your
peace and it should be your wisdom. He said, if you all would just
stop talking, that would be your wisdom. Verse six, hear now my
reasoning and hearken to the pleadings of my lips. Will you
speak wickedly for God and talk deceitfully for him? Will these
lies. Continue. Will he allow this?
Will he accept this verse eight? Will you accept his person? Will you contend for God? Are
you the one who's going to contend for him? Or is he the one that
will contend for you? Verse nine. Is it good that he should search
you out? Do you believe you're right with
God and perfect before God? Is it good that he searches you
out? Verse nine goes on to say, or
as one man mocketh another, do you so mock him? He will surely
reprove you. And that means correct. If you
do secretly accept persons, if you believe that you have to do that, that's your
responsibility. You're the one who has to accept
him. He said, he will correct you on that. What he's saying
is that's not how it works. That's not how it works. Will
you accept him? That's not how it works. Look
with me at Psalm 119. Psalm 119, verse 108. David said, except I beseech
thee the free will offerings of my mouth. Oh Lord. And teach
me thy judgment. People say, well, there it is.
Free will. Free will. There it is right
there in the Bible. Free will. Let me ask you this.
Does that sound like free will? Really. Look at verse 107. David said, I am afflicted very
much, quicken me. Please quicken me, O Lord, according
unto thy word, except I beseech thee, I'm beseeching thee the
freewill offering of my mouth. This is all I have. I just gladly
give thanks. I gladly give praise. I gladly
beg of you. except I beseech thee the freewill
offerings of my mouth, O Lord, and teach me thy judgment." This
is what David's saying. You're going to have to do it. It's not my will, it's yours.
It's not my work, it's yours. That's not man's freewill at
all. Man does not have a freewill. to demand God's acceptance. This
is where we go wrong as people assume on God's acceptance. You
know, a man falls over a ship and everybody thinks, well, why
wouldn't the ship go back and get him? Of course, yeah. Man assumes
on God's acceptance. Look with me at Jeremiah 14. Jeremiah 14, verse 10. Thus saith the Lord unto this
people, thus have they loved to wander. They have not refrained
their feet. The Lord doth not accept them.
That's the word of the Lord. People think, well, there's nobody
the Lord wouldn't accept. Well, he said, there's a people,
he said, I don't accept them. Goes on to say, he will now remember
their iniquity and visit their sins. Our hope is that in Christ,
God will forgive our iniquity and remember our sins no more.
But he said right here, I'm gonna remember their iniquity and visit
their sins. Verse 11, then said the Lord
unto me. Now watch this. He said, pray
not for this people for their good. Don't pray for good to
come to them. This is a holy God we're dealing
with. Verse 12, when they fast, I will not hear their cry. When
they offer burnt offerings and an oblation, I will not accept
them. It's not possible that the blood
of bulls and goats can put away sin. Sin only is put away by
the blood of God's holy lamb. But he said, I will consume them
by the sword and by the famine and by the pestilence. And then
he goes on from verse 13 to tell His judgment against the false
prophets that have lied to these people. And you can read that
sometime, but they end this. Just look how they end this.
And the good news is, is every sinner who's made to cry this.
We'll receive what he's crying for, but look at verse 19. They
cried, hast thou utterly rejected Judah? Hath thy soul loathed
Zion? Why hast thou smitten us, and
there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, and there
is no good, and for the time of healing, and behold, trouble.
We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness. And God's people do. And the
iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against thee.
Do not abhor us for thy name's sake. Because you came to save
sinners, call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sins. Do not disgrace the throne of
thy glory. Remember, break not thy covenant
with us. They're crying, you made a covenant
with us. You promised, you promised in
the blood of your lamb that you'd have mercy on us for our sins. We're pleading the covenant.
Verse 22, are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles
that can cause rain, or can the heavens give showers? Art not
thou he, O Lord our God? They're saying this is in your
hands, because you're the God of everything. Therefore we'll
wait upon thee, for thou hast made all these things. What they're
saying is we're just going to wait and beg and plead and hope
and see if you accept us, because this is in your hands. Acceptance
is in the hands of the Lord. It's in the hands of the Lord. We need to be asking people,
not, we do not need to be asking people, will you accept Jesus?
We need to be asking people, will the Lord Jesus Christ accept
us? Will he? Will he accept us? To find the answer to that, let's
consider three things. I'm going to be quick, all right? Three things. This is in closing,
headed toward closing, okay? Number one, how does God accept
sinners? Turn with me to Ezekiel 20. How
does God accept sinners? Ezekiel 20, verse 40. For in mine holy mountain, in the
mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall
all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me. There will I accept them. And there will I require your
offerings and the first fruits of your oblations with all your
holy things. Verse 41 says, I will accept
you with your sweet savor. And that means savor of rest. When I bring you out from the
people and gather you out of the countries wherein you've
been scattered and I'll sanctify you before the heathen." How
does God accept sinners? Only with a sacrifice. Only. He does not accept people
because of their good deeds. We don't have any. There's none
that do with good. No, not one. He does not accept
people for being sorry for their bad deeds. There are two reasons
why men and women naturally think they'll be accepted before God.
Number one, it's if they do good deeds. And number two, it's if
they're sorry for their bad deeds. He does not accept people because
of their good deeds. And he does not accept people
because they're sorry for their bad deeds. There has to be a
sacrifice. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission for sin. Not only does there have to be
a sacrifice, Leviticus 22 says it has to be perfect. It has
to be spotless, absolutely spotless, or it will not be accepted. Where
can a sinner find a perfect, spotless, holy sacrifice for
his sin? Behold the Lamb of God. Behold
the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ the Lord, the sacrifice that
God of His own decision and will did the work of providing for
His people, the one God provided for His people. The Apostle Paul
said in our text, he said, we are accepted in the Beloved. We are accepted in the beloved
son of God only. The apostle Peter said, we have
been made acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. The precious blood
of God's land. That's how centers are accepted
by God. Men and women ought to know that
they ought to know that, you know, Cain should have known
the same thing Abel knew. They were both told. Cain should
not have brought the works of his hands to God. He was told
the same thing Abel was told. We need to know this. We ought to know this. For some
reason, men still try to bring the works of their hands. They
won't be accepted. God will not accept it. He only
accepts the blood of His Lamb. When will God accept sinners? How will God accept sinners?
Only by sacrifice, the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. When
will God accept sinners? I'm gonna speed this up. I was
gonna have you turn, but we're not going to. He said, there's
an acceptable time. He said this in 2 Corinthians
6, verses one and two. He said, there's an acceptable
time and it's right now. Today is the acceptable day.
When will God accept sinners? Right now. If you have a heart to be accepted,
it means you are accepted. And here's the reason why. Man
by nature is dead, feels nothing of desire and acceptance. Man
by nature is a rebel and does not want acceptance. Man by nature
is everything that is unacceptable before God. So if God has put
a heart in you that cries, Lord, I see that this is in your hands.
I see your sovereign in this and I see this is your decision,
not mine and your work, not mine. And I'm begging like those. Brethren
did there in Jeremiah, we're just begging. We've sinned against
you and we're begging and we'll wait to hear your answer. If
you have that heart, you're accepted. God put it there. God put it
there. If he put that heart there, run
to the Lord Jesus Christ right now. You'll be accepted. I need God's lamb. Who is God's
lamb? Jesus Christ. Run to Him. His blood. His blood. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. That means they will be accepted. They will be. Let's cast our all on Christ
and let's beg God to cover us in His blood and accept us in
His person. Right now, I mean right now,
today, today. Lord, I plead acceptance through
the blood of Jesus Christ. Please accept me today. Everybody
thinks someday, today, today. All right, how does God accept
sinners? Only in the blood of Christ. When will God accept
sinners? Right now, last one. Why will
God accept sinners? In closing, go back to the text,
Ephesians 1, Why will God accept sinners?
Really, why will God accept sinners? Ephesians 1 verse 6, to the praise
of the glory of His grace. The end of verse 7 says, according
to the riches of His grace. Verse 12 says that we should
be to the praise of His glory. Why will God accept sinners?
It's because He's a gracious God. He's holy. He must do what's
right. But He provided a sacrifice for
sin. He's a gracious God who must
be praised and glorified, and nothing has brought Him more
praise or more glory. Then the glorious salvation that
he's brought to his people by accepting them in the beloved
son, the person and the blood of his beloved son. If God brings
this understanding of acceptance to us, and if he causes us to
believe it and to bow to it and to trust in it, then it means
he has accepted us. all to the praise of the glory
of His grace." That's what all of God's people say, all praise
and glory be unto Him. Oh, please accept us in Christ. Every person who cries that will
be. Amen. All right, Brother Eddie, you
come.