Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. I invite you to turn with me
to the book of Ephesians chapter 1, and I'm happy to say that
I have very good news this morning. It's wonderful news. Look at
the end of verse six. It says, he hath made us accepted
in the beloved. That's good news, isn't it? That's
wonderful news to somebody who's been outcast as a center. He
hath made us accepted in the beloved. Why? Why has he done this? We'll look
at the beginning of verse six. It says to the praise of the
glory of his grace. Oh, thank you, Lord. Thank you. All praise and all glory be unto
thy grace. We preach grace. Grace is a gift. It's a free gift. The message
of the Bible is the message of His grace, the message of His
free gift. And we don't want any other message,
do we? Everything our God does is to the praise of the glory
of His grace. Everything He does, it's for
His glory. The reason He made us was for
His glory. The true gospel is the gospel
of His glory. That's the good news. It's not
about me being right. It's not about you being right.
It's about Him being right. That's how you'll know whether
the message you hear is the truth or a lie. The true gospel is
the gospel of His glory. His glory. Listen to Exodus chapter
33. It says in verse 18, Moses said
to the Lord, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And Moses
is about to hear the true gospel. The Lord God said, I will make
all my goodness pass before thee. Moses said, show me that glory.
And God said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee. I will proclaim the name of the
Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious,
and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy." Show me that goodness. All right, I will. I'll make
all my goodness and all my glory pass before thee. I'll be gracious. Grace. I'll show mercy. That's the true gospel we preach
and believe, isn't it? That's the gospel of His glory. He gets all the glory. Well,
1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 27 through 29, it says this,
God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise. And God hath chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things which are mighty,
and base things of the world, and things which are despised
hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught
things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence."
No flesh should glory. Our gospel message is this. No other glory but His glory. No other glory but the glory
of God, the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. It says right here
in 1 Corinthians 1 verse 31, He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. That is our message. That's our
goal. That's our aim as believers and
followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's to ascribe all glory to
God in everything. All glory to God in everything,
especially the work of salvation, especially. Well, here in our
text, Ephesians 1, verse 6, the Lord gives us an eight-word message. This is His Word. He is the one
who inspired Paul to write, and it's the Lord's message, and
He gives us an eight-word message of His glory in this thing of
salvation. Here are the eight words. He
hath made us accepted IN THE BELOVED. The first three words
are going to tell us who is the author of salvation. Who is the author? It says, HE
HATH MADE. That is the theme of his entire
book. He started Genesis 1-1 by saying,
IN THE BEGINNING, GOD CREATED. Everything. Everything. God did it. And it's the same
with salvation. Jonah, he thought he was going
to do what he wanted to do. And God put him in the belly
of the whale. And finally, Jonah said, salvation
is of the Lord. He hath made. Hebrews 12, 2 says, He is the
author and finisher of our faith. He's the author of our faith
and He's the finisher of our faith. If faith plays a role
in salvation, He hath made. He's the author of our faith.
John 1, 13 said, Them that believe on His name were born not of
blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,
but of God." If a person is born, if a person believes unto salvation,
if they're born again, they were born of God. Children of God
are born of God. What does that mean? It means
he hath made, he hath made salvation is of the Lord. It's his choosing. It's his doing. And we have no
part in it, no part in it at all. John 15 verse 16 says this. ye have not chosen me. That's the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking. You have not chosen me. You have
not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you
should go and bring forth fruit. You didn't choose me. I chose
you. Isaiah 65 verse one says, I am
sought of them that asked not for me. I'm sought of them that
asked not for me. I am found of them that sought
me not. They were never seeking. I said,
behold me, behold me unto a nation that was not called by my name. You know, many people believe
salvation is based on what a person does or decides. Many people believe somehow man
plays a role in this somehow. Well, let's ask this question.
Did anyone play a role in their own physical birth? Did anyone
have a part? in their own physical birth.
Did anyone have a say? Did anyone decide to be born? The answer is no. It's the same
with spiritual birth. The apostle Paul said in Romans
9, 16, it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth,
but of God that showeth mercy. That's it. That's it. He hath
made is the truth, the true message, the true gospel, the true testimony. Is it what I have done for God
or what God has done for me? Think about that. Think about
that. Is, is it really what I have done for God or is it what God
has done for me? Well, I do know everything He
does is for His glory, so whichever one gives Him more glory is the
truth. Is it what I have done for God
or what God has done for me? I've heard this question asked,
is salvation a cooperation or an operation? Whichever one gives
Him more glory is the truth. It's the truth. He is the author
of salvation. He hath made. Now the next word in our text
is the subject of salvation. It says in Ephesians 1 verse
6, He hath made us. Us. Really? Us? Me? What does the Scripture say about
us? Well, if you have your Bibles open across the page from Ephesians
1, look at Ephesians 2, verse 1. It says we're dead in sin,
dead in trespasses and sin, us. Ephesians 2, verse 2 says we
don't walk in paths of righteousness. It says we walk according to
the course of this world. We follow right along with the
course of this world, right along with the flesh. Ephesians 2 verse
3 says, we are partakers of this world. And it goes on to say,
we're by nature, children of wrath, children of wrath, us. Verse 4 says, but God, but God. You know, reading all that we
could never be the author of salvation, never. But God who
is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us,
even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with
Christ by grace you're saved by grace. The US are those whom
He has quickened together with Christ. It's by grace that we're
saved. We preach grace. Back in Ephesians
1, verse 4 says, According as He hath chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love. Verse 5 says, Having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will. The us are those whom He chose. The us are those whom He predestinated
to be conformed into the image of His Son, adopted into His
family. He hath made, He's the author. Us, we're the subject. And the next word in our text
tells us what is the great blessing of salvation, our great blessing. It says in verse six, Ephesians
one, verse six, he hath made us accepted, accepted this word
accepted. It doesn't mean anything to a
person who doesn't realize what it truly means to be rejected. Until a person really understands
rejection, they can't understand and enter into acceptance. There are so many reasons for
God to reject us, to reject sinners. Now let's just look at a few
of them. And these are common. These are still common among
men today. The first one is concerning Esau. the man Esau. Turn with me to
Hebrews chapter 12 and let's look at verse 16. It says, "...lest
there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel
of meat sold his birthright. For you know how that afterward
When he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected. For he found no place of repentance,
though he sought it carefully with tears. No place of repentance,
no change in the outcome. He just didn't care. He didn't
care. He rejected his birthright and
God rejected him. rejected him. That's shocking,
isn't it? That's shocking. All right, now
let's look at Saul, the king of Israel for a time. Saul. Turn
with me to 1 Samuel chapter 15. 1 Samuel 15 and let's look at verse
23. It says, For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and
stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry, because thou hast rejected
the word of the LORD. Saul rejected the word of the
LORD. He hath also rejected thee from
being king. And Saul said unto Samuel, I
have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and
thy words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.
Now therefore I pray thee, pardon my sin and turn again with me,
that I may worship the Lord. And Samuel said unto Saul, I
will not return with thee, For thou has rejected the word of
the Lord and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel. Saul rejected the word. He didn't
believe the word of God and God rejected him. Isn't that something? Let me give you one more. Romans
1 verses 21 to 25 says this. because that when they knew God,
they glorified Him not as God. Neither were thankful, but became
vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible
God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds
and four-footed beasts and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave
them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts,
to dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who changed
the truth of God, changed the truth of God into a lie, and
worshiped and served the creature more than the creator who is
blessed forever. Amen. They didn't give him all
the glory. They made themselves equal to
God. That's what they did. And it
says they changed the truth. They gave themselves a part in
salvation. Nowhere in this book, does it
say that nowhere? Romans 128 says, and even as
they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave
them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are
not convenient. He told his disciples concerning
the Pharisees, leave them alone. Leave them alone. That's rejection. It's just rejection. But the
good news of the gospel is this. He hath made us accepted. Accepted. You know what that truly means?
It means highly favored. Highly favored. He hath made us highly favored. What is the proof of our acceptance
with Him? What has He given us to prove
our acceptance? Well, Ephesians 1 verse 6 says,
"...to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath
made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption."
Redemption. That means He bought us with
His own blood. There's a song that says, sing,
oh, sing of my Redeemer. With His blood, He purchased
me. On the cross, He sealed my pardon. He paid my debt and He set me
free. If He made you accepted, you're
bought with a price. Bought with a price. You're bought
unto God. Bought from the earth. We're
not our own. We belong to Him now. And He's
given us this gift of redemption. He paid our price. Verse 7 says,
in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins. He's given us forgiveness. We've
been forgiven. Now our sins, they couldn't merely
be forgiven. That's why he gave us redemption. He paid the price and the paying
of that price is what forgave our sins. What is the proof of
our acceptance? He's given us a knowledge of
his will. He's revealed the mystery of
his will to us. Look at verse nine, having made
known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good
pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself. He's revealed his
heart to us, revealed his will to us. There was a man in the
old Testament named Manoah and he and his wife saw God. God met with them. God came to
them and told them his purpose and will. And Manoah was afraid. They were both afraid. And he
said, God is going to kill us because no man can see God and
live. And Manoah's wife said, no, he's
not going to kill us. If he was going to kill us, he
would have never shown us all these things. That's a proof
that we've been accepted. He's revealed his will to us. How accepted are we? He's made
us sons and daughters. Verse 11 says, in whom also we
have obtained an inheritance. We have an inheritance. Children
receive an inheritance. He hath made us accepted. That's wonderful news. With the
last three words in our text, give us the ground of our salvation. It gives us the hope of our salvation. It gives us the confidence in
our salvation. It says he did all of this. He hath made us accepted in the
beloved in the beloved. That is why we're accepted. It's because of the Beloved.
Who is the Beloved? God the Father said in Matthew
3 verse 17, this is my Beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. Our hope and our confidence is
in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where it is. There's no ground for salvation
in ourselves. There's no hope for salvation
in our works, in the things we do. There's no ground in our
righteousness because we don't have one. Everything we do that
we think is a good thing, a good deed. The scripture says it's
putrefying sores in the eyes of God. It's not by our works. I'm so thankful for that. I know
there's nothing good in me. I have no good works. I'm so
thankful. It's such good news to me that
it's not by works. It's not by religion. It's not
in our desire to straighten up and fly right, to do better. It's only in the Beloved. Verse 7 says, through His blood,
through His blood. Verse 10 in Ephesians 1 here,
it says, In the dispensation of the fullness of times, he
might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which
are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him. It's in him, in the beloved. The gospel is a message of good
news. It really is. The truth about
us, the fact that we're helpless sinners and we're lost, That's
nothing but bad news, but that's what makes the good news so good.
So I want to remind us of three wonderful promises that the Lord
has given us here in his word. He's given this to sinners as
we read this word. And as we see our sin and we
see our rejection from God and our fallen state in Adam, here's
a glorious promise. Here's a good news that God has
given to centers. The first one is God delights
to show mercy. He delights to show mercy. We read it earlier in Exodus
33. He said, I will have mercy. I will. He hath made the father
hath made us accepted in the beloved. in showing mercy
through the Beloved, Jesus Christ. The scripture says, He ever liveth
to make intercession. He ever liveth for that. He lives
for that. If somebody loves to do something,
we say, He lives for that. Well, the scripture says, He
ever liveth to make intercession. He delights to show mercy for
all who need mercy. The second thing is God, the
Son, Christ died for sinners. I need that. I'm a sinner. And
a sinner delights to hear that. A sinner gets happy when he hears
that. It's good news. The apostle Paul said, Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, real sinners. Not just the righteous sinners,
not just the better sinners, true, deep sinners. And the third thing is God, the
Spirit, the Holy Spirit, whom God has sent, he called him the
Comforter, is here to call out his sheep. That's why he's here. He said, my sheep will hear my
voice. As long as the world is turning,
there's hope for one more sinner. Dear center, if you feel you're
in a place that you have no hope, as long as the world is turning,
there's hope for one more center. He hath made us accepted in the
beloved. And He's done every bit of this
to the praise of the glory of His grace. That's why He did
it. It's all for His glory. It's
all for His honor. Thanks be to God, it's all for
our good. Until next Sunday, may the Lord
God bless this Word, His Word to our hearts. You have been listening to a
message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of Sovereign Grace, you can write
to our physical mailing address at 905 Yadkin Street, Kingsport,
Tennessee 37660 or log on to our website at kingsportsovereigngracechurch.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning at 10.30
a.m. and 6.00 p.m. Wednesday evening
at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next Sunday morning
at 8.30 for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.