Acceptance In The Son

Q: What does the Bible say about God's acceptance?

The Bible teaches that God accepts us based on our faith in Christ, not our works. The Scripture reveals that God's acceptance is contingent upon the righteousness of Christ. In Genesis 43, the sons of Jacob were faced with their guilt and need for mercy, and they learned that acceptance comes through the beloved Son. Similarly, Romans 8 emphasizes that those whom God foreknew, He predestined, called, and justified. Our acceptance before God is not rooted in our merit but solely based on Christ's redemptive work, emphasizing the grace found in the Gospel.

Q: How do we know that Christ is essential for salvation?

Christ is essential for salvation, as Scripture affirms that no one can come to the Father except through Him. The testimony across Scripture, particularly from Genesis to Revelation, insists that access to God is through Jesus Christ alone. The narrative of Joseph illustrates this truth, where the sons of Jacob learned that they could not be accepted without bringing Benjamin, the beloved son. Likewise, Jesus is the representation of the beloved Son of God, and only through Him can we approach the Father. This underscores the biblical principle that salvation is not achieved by our works, but through faith in Christ's sacrifice.

Q: Why is it important for Christians to understand grace?

Understanding grace is crucial as it emphasizes that our acceptance before God is based solely on His mercy, not our efforts. Grace is the core of the Christian faith, illustrating that salvation is a gift, not a reward for works. In the story of Joseph, despite their initial selfish motives, the sons of Jacob experienced God’s grace through the bountiful provision despite their unworthiness. This powerful display sets a precedent for how God interacts with us today. Christians must grasp that grace unveils our helplessness and dependence on Christ, shifting reliance from personal righteousness to God's mercy and love for sinners.

Q: What does it mean to be accepted in the beloved?

Being accepted in the beloved means that through Christ, God sees us as righteous and fully accepts us. To be accepted in the beloved is a profound truth that emphasizes our position in Christ. The sons of Jacob had to bring Joseph's brother to gain acceptance, symbolizing how we are accepted by God. Ephesians 1:6 states that we are accepted in the beloved, which means through Christ's atoning work, we are seen as righteous before God. This acceptance assures us of our identity in Christ, encouraging believers to rest in His grace when feeling unworthy or overwhelmed by sin.

Q: How should Christians respond to God's provision?

Christians should respond to God's provision with gratitude and a desire to share His grace with others. In the narrative of Joseph, the sons of Jacob returned with abundant provisions from Egypt, which reflects God’s provision for His people. As they were told to share the news with their father, Christians are similarly called to rejoice in and share the grace and mercy they receive from God. This gratitude should compel believers to witness to others about God’s goodness. A proper response involves both acknowledging God's generosity and living out our faith in community by encouraging and uplifting one another based on the grace received.

The early church started out singing
songs like that. You've heard of the Psalter?
That's what that is. songs put in musical form. All right, let's go to Genesis
43 now. Genesis chapter 43. This is a beautiful, beautiful and
glorious story. I hope you read this. If you
did, then you look forward with Great anticipation of this portion. The title of this message is
Acceptance in the Son. Acceptance in the Son. Now, I
have to rebuke, tell the whole council, tell the whole story. They're fully appreciated. You
have to go back to the beginning. Now, these sorry sons of Jacob,
sinners all of them, They came before Joseph with strictly material
purpose, to get some corn. They just wanted their bellies
filled. That was it. But Joseph. But God, in His purpose,
in His marvelous providence, Joseph, in His foreknowledge,
saw them coming. And he knew them, but they didn't
know him. And their salvation didn't depend
on them knowing him, did it? It depended on him knowing them,
and he did. He knew them. And Joseph, though,
in his wisdom, according to his purpose, what he had planned
to do with these men, he made himself strange to them. He hid
himself from them, that is, his true identity, and spoke roughly
to them, spoke hard things to them, spoke lean to them. That's
the way he first dealt with them. Look at chapter 42, look at it
again, verse 7. Joseph saw his brethren, and
he knew them. Our Lord foresaw us, foreknew
us. For whom he did foreknow, he
did predestine. When he didn't predestinate,
he called. Come here. When he called, he
just... This whole story is right there
in that Romans 8. But he knew them, but verse 7
says, made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly, or the
margin says, spake hard things unto them, and accused them of
being spies. What he actually accused them
of was was much less than what they were guilty of. Now, this is how God Almighty
deals with every single son of Jacob, He purposes to say, without
exception. Every single son of Jacob, every
single foreloved one of Christ, of God,
He deals the same way. They don't know Him at first,
but He sure knew them. And in Providence, in God's good
time, they come under the sound of God's Word, like these men. They came for the wrong reason,
didn't they? And I told you my story. It's
probably yours. You came to church. for whatever
reason, a girl like me or a guy or whatever, get a job or trouble,
sickness, whatever. But God in His mercy and grace
purposed to save you and put you under the sound of the gospel.
And the first thing He does, though, is make Himself strange
to you. That's the first thing. Could
be you were religious before you heard the gospel. Most are. And when you first heard this
gospel, when you first heard of the God of the Bible, it sounded
strange to you, didn't it? All you'd ever heard of was God
is love. God wants what all God wants
and tries to. You hear of this absolutely holy
and sovereign and just God who is by no means clear of guilt
and doesn't need anybody and has purposed all things, and
it's not up to man whatsoever? That God is not in man's hands,
but vice versa. You hear of this absolutely holy
and just God who punishes sin. That's the first thing God must
do. A God who punishes sin. That's not being preached at.
And this is strange to you. Say, I've never heard this before. I've never heard God like this
before. And it also speaks rough to you.
When you first heard the gospel, you did not hear how much God
loved you. You heard what this book says
about you. You've heard what this book, that this book calls
you a worm, a dog, a worthless, no good, wretched, vile, hell-deserving,
unworthy. These are Bible words. That there's none good, none
righteous, no not one, all stinking, filthy. They're hard things,
aren't they? Rough language. God speaks roughly. to all his... And I love that portion of scripture
that says, when Christ spoke hard things, someone said, who
can hear them? He's a hard thing, who can hear
them? Every one of his disciples did, and they loved him. Well, every one of these sons
of Jacob did. Hard thing. Our thing. Because you know why? What is the beginning of saving
wisdom? What is the beginning of wisdom?
What must first happen to a son of Adam? What's the first thing
God creates in the heart and mind of a human being? That's right. Fear. Fear. That's the beginning of wisdom.
All whom God saves, the first thing he does to them is make
them fear God. And when you fear God, you start
asking for mercy. You see? Well, these fellas, after he
started talking hard and rough things to them, they began to
fear him. They thought, you know, they
could have had in their minds, well, we're going to come in
here and, you know, you may be glad to see us. We've got as
much right as anybody at this corner. And this Lord, this high
and lofty Lord sitting on this throne began to speak rough to
them. Wouldn't even speak to them,
as a matter of fact. Spoke to them in turn. And man, it had,
His words began to have their and began to break these sorry,
no good sons of Jacob. Yes, the words of the Lord had
their effect. It's a bright thing. At first they denied, at first
they denied what he said about them, didn't he? He made these
accusations, you're spies, and they all denied to a man and
said, no, we're good men, we're true men. But then, after they were put
in the prison a little while, he kept repeating, oh, you're
a spy. No, we're not. What I said, I said. You're a
spy. That's what I said. And they
began to say, Steve, they began to say, we're worse than that. They were sitting in prison.
They said, well, we're guilty of killing our brother. We're not spies. We're worse
than that. And that's the way it is with all of us. After hearing
the first, the gospel of the first, we deny. I don't like
that. I don't like what the preachers
say about me. I'm not that bad. You remember that story, don't
you? That fellow listening to the TV program? My dad preaching
on TV? One Sunday morning, sitting there
and watching the TV. He had a can of Budweiser in
his hand, you know. Back then they had dials. He
turned over there to the preacher. And the preacher was calling
him a sinner. And that man said he jumped up. I ain't no sinner. And put the
dial over and went back and sat down. Sat there a minute and
he said, maybe I am a sinner. Went back and turned it back
again. May have been under the gospel ever since. I ain't no
sinner. I ain't that bad. And the more
you sit under the gospel, the more you hear God's word, the
more you realize I'm worse than that. I'm undone, I'm unclean,
I'm not fit to be called the same. I'm less than the least.
I'm the chief of sinners is what I am." All right? That's what
these fellows began to realize. It's all true and worse. Well,
now here they are, these sorry, broken, sorry but broken sons
of Jacob. They hear from the Lord's mouth,
man, after they've heard these hard things. And after they've
been thoroughly broken, they hear from the Lord's mouth, the
Lord on the throne of Egypt. They hear, now there's one way
I'm going to accept you. There's one way I'm going to
have anything to do with you. Sorry about that. There's one way for
you to dwell with me and dwell in this land and go in and out
and have anything. One way. I'm going to tell it
to you. And I'm going to tell it again,
and that's all I'm going to say to you. Look at chapter 42, look
at verse 15. Hereby you shall be proved by
the life of Pharaoh, by the life of the great Lord. You shall not go forth, you're
not going to leave this place except your youngest brother
come here. I've got to see your brother. Now he said it again, Bring your
youngest brother unto me, and so shall your words be verified. You say you're true men? There's
only one way I'm going to count you true men. Bring that brother,
and you won't die. You won't die. He said it twice. Not once, but twice. And that's
all he had to say. Well, they go home. He lets them
go. Now as tokens of his goodness
and his kindness, as tokens of the certainty of his word and
his promise, and his word's good enough, but he ladens them with
gift after gift after gift, more than they can carry. They have
to have music. more than they could be. They
didn't ask for this. He gave them more than they could
ask for anything. And as a token of his goodness,
they should have believed him. Right there. Should have, could
have taken his word. He's the Lord on the throne.
But not only that, but he just gave them token after token.
When they go home, and what did they do? They hear this, sounds
good now, sounds As a matter of fact, it was so good, they
didn't believe it. It was too good to be true. They were set
free, and here they were coming home with all these gifts, and
all the food they could eat and more. And they thought, this
can't be true. He's setting us up. God's going
to get us. This can't be true. All these gifts can't be. He's
going to take them back and kill them. They all said, He's going
to kill us. That's what He's going to do. All they had to do was bring the Son back. That's
it. Were His commandments grievous?
Huh? Were they hard? Was it tough? Did He lay on them an unnecessary
burden? Did He tell them, Crawl on your
hands and knees, all the way back home? Did He say, Make new
penance for fifteen years? You know what I'm saying? Bring
me back every penny, dime you've made. Bring it all. Just bring
the sun. I just want to see the sun. Now here are tokens. Go home
and tell your dad that. So they did. They went home and
they told their families it. Look at verse 29. They came unto
Jacob their father in the land of Canaan, and told him all that
the Pharaoh did." They were counting in days, really. Look at all
this debt. We've all got our money. And
down in verse 33 and 34, and a man, the lord of the country,
now he said this unto us, though. He said, Hereby shall I know
that you are true men. Leave one of your brothers here
with me. Take food for the family of your household, and be gone.
But bring your youngest brother under there. Then shall I know
your most pious. So will I deliver your brother,
and you shall traffic in the land. What the Lord of the land
said to us, I will, and you shall. Just bring the brother. I will, and you shall. That's it. And you know that's the way it
is with everyone. And if you're a sorry, you feel
yourself to be a sorry, no count, worthless son of Jacob. It was
one of the worst sinning. You think it's too good to be
true. I believe God has mercy, but I don't believe it would
be for me. Anybody in here like that? Were
like that, and are like that? Yeah, I believe God will have
mercy on sinners. I believe Christ died for sinners.
I believe God is gracious and fair and gives it not for me.
It's just too, no, I'm just too great a sinner. Well, you know, about all we
know when we first hear the gospel is this. I'm a great sinner. God sold me. But he said, he did say, when
I see the blood, I'll pass away. He did say that you come to me
by my son and I'll receive you. He did say that. That's about
all we know at first, you know. We're accepted in it, beloved. Verses like that quickly become
your favorite verse. And these fellows repeated this
over and over again. That's all they knew, Dan. That's
all they could say. Look at chapter 43 now. Chapter
43, you know, the famine was sore in the land, and they had
to go back for more corn. And that's the picture of us.
We're poor and needy. We need mercy daily. Well, what does it say about
His mercy? About every day, about every morning. What does it say?
It's new every morning. He can come. How can you come
to this throne of grace? Huh? How can you come to this
throne of grace to find help in times of need? How? Boldly. What's the requirement to come? to receive this righteousness
and hope and mercy. What's the condition
needed to receive mercy? Guilt. Well, they had to come back.
And they're scared. They are. They're scared. And
Dad's scared. They're all scared. But they're
needed, you see. They're needed. They've got to
go or they'll die. They've got to go back where
they, they've got to go back and get the same thing they got
in the first place. The beginning of their food. Well, verse 2, they came, they
came to pass, they'd eaten up the corn, the father said, go
buy us a little. Verse 3, Judas said, now, now,
now dad, the man did solemnly He said, he protested, this is
all I can think about. We've got to take our brother.
We're not going. The man said, except I see his
face, your brother with you, you're not going to see my face
again. And to a man all over, now they'd seen him, they'd heard
him, they'd seen this great Lord. And they knew he meant what he
said. We got to take our brother with
us. And they said, verse 4, If thou wilt send our brothers with
us, we'll go down and buy food, if not, we'll not go. We dare
not go without our brothers. Verse 5, If thou wilt not send
him down, we'll not go down. The man said, You shall not see my face, except
you move in it." That's all they knew. Huh? You know, I was thinking,
these fellas kind of remind me of us trying to witness to people.
Trying to talk to people about the gospel. If all you're able
to tell them is this, brother Henry, that's all you need. That's all they need to know,
right? God's holy. And God can't have anything to
do with us outside of Christ. I mean, that's it. That's it. We're accepted in
the blood, but it's not us, it's the blood. Well, that's all they
can keep inside. Now, I'm glad that was instilled
in me. And I'm glad that's instilled
in me. God's Word says one thing over and over again. You know
that? God's Word says one thing from Genesis to Revelation. God's
Word says one thing. Line upon line, line upon line,
precept upon precept, precept upon precept, prophets, apostles,
preachers, they all say one thing. The prophets repeated what God
said to them. The apostles repeated what the
prophets said to them. We repeat what the apostle said
there. God will receive us one way. One way. One way. From Genesis to Revelation,
this book says you can't see God without Jesus Christ. This
book says when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. Period. Not
when I see your work. Not when I see your faith. When
I see the blood. Over and over this book says
that. repeats it over, not by works of righteousness which
we have done. God will receive all that come unto him one way,
by Jesus Christ, and by him alone. Now, we can't come to God any
other way. There's only one way, and there's only one begotten,
well-beloved Son, in whom God is well-pleased, and the Scripture
says, without doubt, you're accepted one way, in the blood. You're accepted. Tall, short, young, old, black,
white, male, female, Jew, Gentile, it doesn't matter one way or
the other. You're found in Him. You don't want your own righteousness.
You want to be found in Him. Because when that Father sees
the Son, that's all He knows. Now, you remember their doubts,
don't you? They're going home. And all that he did for them
should have convinced them. It sure should have. And the simplicity of the message,
you know, he didn't require too much of them. That should have
convinced them. That's all he said, according
to Proverbs 8. Well, Jacob, all right, verse 11. Jacob, he represents,
well, Let's read, Jacob verses 11 through 14. Their father,
Israel, said unto them, Well, if it must be so now, if we have
to, let's do this too, let's do this. Okay, you're going to
take Benjamin, that's fine, but let's do this too. Take the best fruits in the land
in your vessel. Carry the man present. Take a
little balm, a little honey, and spices, and myrrh, and nuts,
and almonds. Double money. Take double money
in your hand. Take more money than is necessary. The money that he brought, that
you brought back in the mouth of your son. Take that back.
Maybe it was an oversight. Maybe he really didn't mean that.
Take all that you can. All right? And take your brother,
too. And go to the man. And God Almighty
give you mercy. Yeah, that's what's going to
have to happen before the man, that he may send away your other
brother and Benjamin. Well, they take all this, all
this stuff. You know what I thought of what
Sam said, right? That's what Sam said. I wish
y'all would switch seats. I wondered, where'd they get
all this stuff? This was the time of famine.
Joseph came. Brother Henry, they were bringing
back what he'd already given them. I thought, what a picture
of us, huh? And, you know, believers do,
in gratitude, and no matter we believe Christ, yet we still
think, I need to do this, I need to do that, I've got to... Right? Huh? Huh, Sid? Huh? Reuben? Huh? It's the car. Anybody? Still, I've got to bring
this. And in gratitude, we do. A believer
seeking mercy and gratitude, he wants to return the best. He bestows, wants to bestow the
firstfruits unto his Lord and his God who's revealed the truth
to him. Gratitude. But there's only one thing that
is needed. There's only one thing the Lord's
looking for. Look at our, here they come,
these sorry sons of Jacob. Look at verse 15. And the men
took the present, and they took double money in their hand, and
Benjamin, and Benjamin, and rose up, and went down to Egypt, and
stood before Joseph. Here they stand. And they're shaking. Huh? You reckon they're shaking? Guilty, vile, wretched they be,
but spotless Son, named Benjamin, is he. Worthless sons of Jacob,
every one, but with them comes the beloved Son. Will the Lord's
wrath on them fall? Will they be accepted? trembling,
fearful, with desperate plea, what saith the Lord? They shall
see. Verse 16, And when Joseph saw
Benjamin, he was looking for one thing, when Joseph saw Benjamin, not
the money, not the gift, He saw the Son, the beloved Son, in
whom he was well pleased. He said to the ruler of his house,
bring these men home. Bring them to my house, he said.
Bring them to my house. Slay, or that is, kill the fatted
calf. Make ready, make preparation
for these men. They're coming home to dine with
me. Now, from the oldest to the youngest,
every one of them has one hope. Simeon. Here's Simeon standing
back. He's the oldest. Reuben. Which
one? Reuben. I forget. Anyway. Who
is it? Somebody tell me. You son of
a bitch. Here. Test for you. Reuben or Simeon? Fire. Reuben or Simeon? Fire. Vicki. I think it's Simeon. Somebody tell
me. Who cares? He's standing there.
All right? The oldest one. He's called the
strongest, the mightiest. It's Reuben, that's who it is. He's called the strongest, the
mightiest. He's probably the one that looks most like his
father. He's tall, he's dark, he's handsome,
he's strong, he's virile, he's a mighty man. What's his hope?
Huh? Surely the Lord is going to look
at him and say, what a fine man you are. He doesn't even look
at him. He says, well, there's boots. Come on in, Reuben. Down to the smallest one, hit
the car, whoever the last one is. Trembling, frail little mama's
boy, skinny, no good to look at, doesn't know anything, can't
do anything. Rotten to the core, you know. Surely he ain't going
to be let in. Well, there's been. Come on in,
hit the car. who may ever want to accept it. Except in the world. So are we. So are we. Was Joseph true to his word? He sure was. He was before and
he is now. How firm a foundation, ye saints
of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent word.
What more can he say to you than he has said to you who for refuge
to the Lord Jesus has fled? Fear not, I am with thee. Don't
be not dismayed. I am thy God. I will give thee
aid. What more can he say? He's been true to every son of
Jacob from the very beginning, from the first son, from Adam. And every one of Adam's rotten
loaves of sun that came with Christ. He said, Come on in. Come on in. It's all prepared
for you. You're going to dine with me,
like family. And it was done, look at verse
seventeen, it was done, the man did, as Joseph bade. The man
brought the men into Joseph's house, what a picture of the
Holy Spirit this is, huh? The Lord on the throne sent somebody,
give them, fetch them, kill them, kill the calf, make ready, bring
them in. That's the Holy Spirit sent by
our Lord. It was done, Christ said, I've
spoken it, I'll do it. Verse eighteen. But they were
afraid. They were afraid. They were still
afraid. Because they were brought into
Joseph's house. And they said, First they were going home with
all they could carry. They couldn't even carry it.
They had mules. They couldn't even carry it at
all. All they could carry. He's going
to kill him. He's going to kill him. Now they
go in and they have all this bounty of potatoes spread before
them, all the goodness of Egypt spread before them, and the king
on the throne gives express orders to bring them in and do for them,
do good for them, and they sit in there eating big chunks, big
old chicken leg in their mouth and say, it's going to kill us.
It's going to get us nothing. No, he's not. Why? There's his Benjamin. There's
his Benjamin. Joseph kept looking at Benjamin. As long as Benjamin was sitting
there, now everything was all right. All right. But they pour
out their hearts to the steward. The steward of Joseph. They pour
out their hearts to him, verses 19 through 22, and I'll read. They came near to the steward
of the house, and they were some privates. They came and communed
with him at the door of the house. Oh, sir, all we wanted was food
when we first came here. And now we're a mess. We didn't
come here for all this. We're just, we're tore up. All
we wanted was food. I was just coming to church.
What do you say? I was just coming to church. Verse 21. It came to pass, we
came to the end, we opened our sack, the whole of our money
was in the sack, the money full of weight, we brought it again,
and other money was brought down in our hands. We don't know who's
to blame. We just don't know what's happening
to us. That's what they were saying. We don't know what's happening
to us. We just want something. And this, and we're just, our
lives have turned upside down. And listen to this message. Now,
the first thing they heard when they came to Egypt was rough
things. Hard things. Scared them to death. And all these things, goodness,
promises and all that, yet they're still there for fear of it. Okay?
Now listen to what they hear. All right? Now listen to what
they hear from the mouth of the steward who represents the gospel
preacher. of the grace of God. Look at
verse 23. He said, boys, peace. You sons of Jacob, peace. Fear not, your God is doing this. I tell you who's doing this,
your God. Your God. They've given you treasure. Oh, we have this treasure. Huh?
No way. In earth and in heaven. Who did this? Your God. Excellent. Praise be unto you. Peace from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. He has blessed us with
all spiritual blessings because the Son is with us. Because of
His purpose concerning the Son. And he brought old Simeon out.
Simeon, you come out, too. And the man brought, look at
this, verse 24. And the man brought men into
Joseph's house. A steward brought the men, gave
them water, washed their feet, gave them bonkers. And it ain't old men. But I can tell you this, they
lived happily ever after with Joseph. And all our hope is because of
this beloved son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom God
is well pleased. And he sees the sun, no matter
how weak the faith, and he says, Our Father, thank you for your
Son, our Savior, our Sister, our Lord and Jesus Christ. Thank
you for him. Thank you for revealing him to
us as if you do it for someone else in Christ.

Acceptance In The Son

What does the Bible say about God's acceptance?

How do we know that Christ is essential for salvation?

Why is it important for Christians to understand grace?

What does it mean to be accepted in the beloved?

How should Christians respond to God's provision?

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Acceptance In The Son

What does the Bible say about God's acceptance?

How do we know that Christ is essential for salvation?

Why is it important for Christians to understand grace?

What does it mean to be accepted in the beloved?

How should Christians respond to God's provision?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

Comments

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