If you'd like to follow along,
please turn to Ephesians chapter one. I'm just gonna read verses
four, five, and six. 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, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. And I'm just gonna stop right
there. I've got written down here for
an introduction that I have to say, and actually
say gladly, say with great joy, that I have absolutely nothing
new today. Because when you stop and you
think about it, nothing we can say about the Father, the Son,
or the Holy Spirit is new. God is eternal. And you understand,
God is right now exactly as he has always been. And the Father,
the Son, and the Spirit are one. Our Lord is one God. and nothing
we could say about Christ's salvation is new. Because right here, it
started before the foundation of the world. It didn't start
with us, but bless God, we're in it. And actually, after having listened
to Walter's message last week, Nothing I'm gonna say new because
he preached the last week part of it. It's okay, it's okay. But I do wanna start with this.
According as he hath chosen us before the foundation of the
world, in him, in him. Folks, that's election. That's what it is. Now I understand
and had heard and other places. That one where we came out of?
That, you know, election's not that big a deal. You know, election's
not really mentioned a lot in the Bible. It's not taught a
lot in the Bible. It's not that big a deal. Well,
I'm sorry, that's wrong. That's wrong. The word here,
chosen, is actually the root word of election. It's also the
root word of elect. It is the verb form. This is
an action. This is an action of God. And the word elect and the word
election are just an addition to this word, the verb chosen. And the word chosen is used 25
times, the word election is used six times, and the word elect
is used 16 times. And that's just the New Testament.
Not counting the Old Testament. Let's see. That's pretty often. That's pretty often. And it's taught, it is taught
in many more places where the word election is not used. But the doctrine is. And for
this, I want you to turn to John chapter 10 for just a moment.
I'm not gonna spend a whole lot of time on this, I don't think.
But by golly, I love this. John chapter 10 and verses, well,
I gotta read verse 14. I am the good shepherd and know
my sheep. and am known of mine. As the father knoweth me, even
so know I the father, and I lay down my life for the sheep and other sheep I have, which
are not of this fold." Folks, that's election. That's election. Other sheep I have, they're not
mine yet, but they are mine. They're mine, but they don't
know it. He does. Why? Them also I must bring, and they
shall, they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and
one shepherd. other sheep I have which are
not of this fold. They're not with me right now.
But what? They will be. They will be, they
shall be. Why? Because I must bring them
in. Now why would he have to bring
them in? There's a very simple answer to that. They're his. They are mine. Other sheep I have. That's election. That's election. Don't use the
word there, but that's what he's teaching. You understand, before
I ever believed Jesus Christ, before I ever actually knew Jesus
Christ, he knew me. Now that might give you a little
bit of chill bumps. And that might also stand a hair
up on somebody else's head. because they might just get mad
thinking I'm saying something like I am something. I'm nothing. That's the glory of it. I'm nothing. Didn't know anything about him,
didn't want to know anything about God. But guess what? God, by Jesus Christ, changed
all that. You understand? I have a sheep
and I must bring them in. I must bring them in. And he
tells us how. That they shall hear my voice
and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. What? You mean
just hearing the voice of Jesus is enough? Oh yeah, it is. If he's talking to you. If he's
talking to you. Because don't forget what Jesus
Christ just said earlier in John chapter five, verse 25. I'm gonna read that. Nope, let me get to the right
place. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
the hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live. Now you understand, it's not
that they might live, might not, no. It's not that they could
live or could not, no. They shall live. Those are the
words of Jesus Christ. When he speaks to you with his
voice, when he called Lazarus by name, Lazarus was alive. at that moment. Although he had
been dead four days, four days, in the ground, and Martha told
him, Lord, by now he stinks. Now understand, we always stank. We always had the reek of death
around us our whole lives. Because there was no spiritual
life in us until Christ speaks with this voice. And yes, folks, that's what we
are chosen to. That's election. He has chosen
us, and this choosing is only in Him. I like what Earl used to say. Election, the choosing, is not
salvation, but is a guarantee of it. Because other sheep I have, them
I must bring. You understand? Yes, you will
come to Christ, but you're gonna come to Christ because he brings
you. And if he doesn't bring you, you will never come. That's
just the honest truth of it. That's the truth of scripture.
That's the truth of Jesus Christ. He looked at some folks and told
them, you will not come to me that you might have eternal life.
And guess what? They didn't. No one comes unless
the good shepherd brings them in. Why? What happens? Because he has chosen us in him
before the foundation of the world. He tells us right here
that we should be holy and without blame before him, before God. In love, in love, oh my. And Walter said it last week.
Having predestinated us under the adoption of children. I don't want to scare you people,
but I want to go a little deep here, just for a moment. It won't
hurt. But I do want to tell you something. I understand election comes before
salvation. Well, predestination comes before
the adoption of children. I don't know if that's double predestination
or not, Walter. Don't care. I don't care. I like it. Predestinated. having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself. So where do you think these people
here that Paul's writing this letter to are gonna end up? They're
gonna end up by Jesus Christ. Why? Because they are in Jesus
Christ. They are gonna end up holy and
without blame before God in love. That's the depth I got for right
now. Thanks for your attention. You
understand? That's a deep thing to most people.
That's an unheard of thing to a lot of people. You understand? You can go, and you might be
able to go for 25, 30 years. You'll never hear anybody preach
from Ephesians chapter one. Especially not these first six
verses, seven verses, because they can't. They wanna say, well,
God chose you because you chose him. He saw it off into the future.
No, God's choice had nothing to do with anything you would
do. God's choice, the Father's choice only had to do with the
Son. my And then he said this He predestinated
us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself According
to the good works that you would do Know the good pleasure of
his will I Know what people preach. I
just said it And I'm gonna tell you this the
choosing us in him before the foundation of the world, and
having predestinated us under the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to himself, all of that is according to the good pleasure
of his will. Because you understand, God never
works against his will. Never, never, ever. And God always works according
to the good pleasure of his will. And y'all can take that with
a grain of salt, whatever event you wanna put in there. Because
you understand, God knows what he is doing, where he is doing,
and who he is doing it to. And we don't, we don't. You understand what Paul's writing
here is, this was the plan all along. From before the foundation
of the world, God chose to save some people. And God chose to
save those people in his son. And God chose those people to
be adopted to be his children in his son. We're not fit to be anything
to God but dead in and of ourselves. But blessed God, praise his holy
name, in Christ, I am fitted to sit beside the throne. In
Christ, and in Christ alone. Why? To the praise of the glory
of his grace, wherein he hath made us, and here's what I want
to talk about, accepted in the beloved. Accepted in the beloved. To the praise and the glory,
the praise of the glory of his grace, Don't ever try to take any glory
from God Almighty. You understand, if you're gonna
say, and if somebody's teaching, okay, that you do something for
God and God rewards you for it with salvation, no matter what
it is, you're taking the glory of his grace away. You understand? Because if it is of grace, what's
that mean? It is not of works. Now let's be more specific. If
it's of grace, it's not of your works. Oh, it's of his works. As far
as I'm concerned, it ain't nothing but grace. I had nothing to do
with God saving me. I'm gonna say that again. I had
nothing to do with God saving me. By his grace, again, and
for his glory, and by his work, I got a lot to do because he
saved me. Not for salvation, but because
of salvation. That's two different things.
This is to the praise of the glory of His grace and not your
works. And what's it say? According
He has chosen you that you should be holy and without blame before
Him in love. You understand? Being holy and
without blame before Him in love has nothing to do with your works.
It has everything to do with the work of His Son. Who is God
manifests in the flesh. being predestinated unto the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself has nothing
to do with your works. It has to do with the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh. What? To the praise of the glory of
his grace. We are to thank God for his grace.
We are to praise his name for his grace. Because without his
grace, I wouldn't be standing here before you. I don't know
where I'd be, but I'd be somewhere else. Because I can tell you
this, before he got a hold of me by his grace, I never darkened
a church door and felt just fine and dandy that way. To be honest, I didn't need the
hassle, Mason. All these people want to talk
to me and say something. Don't you love Jesus? I didn't
even know the guy. I knew the stories. I'd seen some of the movies.
And I regret that to this day, but still. I didn't care anything
for God until by his grace, he got a hold of me and showed himself
to me. But here's the thing. He hath made us. And this is
something, seriously, this Paul, Paul wrote this letter to believers. And this is the truth of every
believer now. Every believer now. He hath made
us. accepted in the beloved. I don't know if he did this on
purpose or whether he quoted it on purpose, but Psalms 100
verse three, you don't have to turn there, says this. Know ye
that the Lord he is God. It is he, what, that hath made
us. And here we go, here's the grace.
You wanna hear the grace in the Old Testament? And not we ourselves. You understand, it's grace, not
works. It is he that has made us and not we ourselves. We are
his people. Oh, I like that. And go back
to the good shepherd. We are his people and the sheep
of his pasture. What's that mean in the Old Testament? It means in the Old Testament,
he hath made me accepted in the beloved. You understand? God has never changed. Salvation
has always been in Christ. Salvation has always been in
his son. Before the foundation of the world, he chose us. Now
what's that mean? That means Jew, Gentile. That's
everybody, I mean, Jew or Gentile. Old Testament or new. God is
not doing anything differently. Excuse me. Paul is stating here clearly
and succinctly that if You are in Christ Jesus, it's God that
made you that way. And not yourself, not yourself. And it says that we are accepted
in the beloved. Now, very clearly, the beloved
is Jesus Christ. I know that seems simple, but
some people may not get it. And lo, a voice came from heaven,
saying, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. That's
Matthew 3.17. Matthew 12.18. And behold my
servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul is
well pleased. I will put my spirit upon him,
and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles. Matthew 17 and
verse five. While he yet spake, behold, a
bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the
cloud which said, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well
pleased, hear ye him, amen. The beloved is Jesus Christ.
That's the thing. predestinated us under the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good
pleasure of his will, to the praise and glory of his grace
wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. We are chosen
in him, we are predestinated by him and unto him. And we are accepted in him, in
Jesus Christ. Understand? In the beloved is
life. Without the beloved, without
Christ, is nothing but death. This is the beloved Son of God.
He is God's elect. Our election, just like our predestination,
just like our salvation, is in Him. Is in Him. Oh, I like that. Now, let's be clear. It's not accepted by close affiliation
with him. You know, we're not accepted
by close affiliation with Christ. There's lots of people that name
his name, but he says, they are far from me. He says there are
lots of people, when he was walking on this earth, he said, there's
lots of people that honor me with their lips. honor God with
their lips, but what? Their hearts are far from me.
Hearts are gone. It's not being nearby Christ.
It's not being really close to him. It's not being around him.
And it's not even necessarily, in some ways, following him. You gotta be in him. You have
to be in him. Now, if you are in him, you will
follow him. If you are in him, you will be
in close affiliation with him. But this is the thing. All that
flows from being accepted in the beloved. Because here it is. And I wanna lay hold on this
myself, I really do. But sometimes I think I get a
glimpse of it and I can't stand it. And other times it just seems
like it's nothing. But here's the thing. All believers
are inside Jesus Christ. And that's why we were talking
about being in him. We are inside Jesus Christ. We are his body. He's the head. and we are the members of his
body. Oh my, what's that mean? That
means wherever he goes, if you're accepted in the beloved, wherever
he goes, you go. That's right, wherever he goes,
you're there in him. Right now he's seated on the
right hand of the father, seated on the right hand of the majesty
on high, Right now, I'm there with him. And right now, you
are there with him. In him. In him. Whatever he does, we're in him. Whatever we do, we're in him. I read that last time I was here,
a couple weeks ago. He cannot deny himself. And if you're in him, you're
a part of his self. And here's the other thing. Like
I said, I'm not gonna keep you too long. We're accepted in him,
right? This explains how we, we, Believers, but still sinners,
can be before God, holy and without blame, in love. Why? Because we are accepted in the
beloved. We're accepted in him. How can
we now be the children of God? Beloved, now are we the sons
of God, Paul wrote. How's that possible? Because
we are accepted in the Beloved. How can a fallen, rotten sinner
be to the praise of the glory of his grace? Because we are accepted in the
Son. We are accepted in the Beloved.
because he took my sin in his body and he gave me himself. He took your law breaking in
his body on the tree and he gave us his obedience. He took our lying and coveting
and cheating and stealing and he gave us his righteousness. We believers are accepted in
him, in the beloved. And that is exactly where I want
to be. In the beloved, in the beloved.
Because this word accepted, you understand, this ain't like your
kid brings home a friend who is just horrible. and you let
them in your house when you'd rather run them off with a shotgun
or something. And I'm not even talking about
boyfriends and girlfriends or anything like that, but it doesn't
matter. This is not a grudging acceptance
by God. You understand? God looks at
you. If you believe Christ, if you
are in Christ, God looks at you and he sees his son. That's what
accepted means here. It means what? Highly favored. You understand? It's not like
me when Jason would bring some friends home and I'd be really
glad when they're gone. That's not the way this is. God
looks at us and he sees his sons. We are inside him. We are happily We are joyfully
and we are lovingly accepted by the father in his beloved
son. What a grace that is. What a
glory that is. Believers are holy and without
blame before him in love. Believers are the children of
God by adoption in his son. And believers are all this according
to the good pleasure of his will. He chose you in his son before
the foundation of the world, and the son must bring you in
if you are one of those that are chosen. Oh, I like this. Because I do
wanna be clear. Being chosen in Christ is not
the same thing as being in Christ. But it's a guarantee of it. It's gonna happen. Why? Because
you're predestinated. People hate that word. They hate
predestination, they hate election. You know why? Because it takes
everything out of their hands. And I'm gonna tell you something,
until God humbled me, I'd have hated it. The only reason I didn't
hate it is I never heard it before. And when I did run into it, it
really kind of stuck in my craw for a little while. But God got
me over that. You understand, this is the only
way man, woman, or child can be saved, is by the work and
the power of God. in Jesus Christ to himself. But here's what Paul's saying
in this little short passage. And this is what I wanted to
tell you. What I wanted to tell the people out there. There is
no way, shape, or form to be accepted in the beloved, except
by the election and the predestination and the work of God. That's what
we got here, folks. I mean, Paul says it plainly. Just the fact that those other
sheep that I have, Christ Jesus is bringing them in. And there is only one fold And
one shepherd. Election and predestination are
unto salvation. And that means that election
and predestination are unto being accepted in the beloved. Ah, how can you not like that? You understand? God knew what
he was gonna do from the beginning. So is it that great a step? I
mean, almost anybody will admit to that, okay? But is it that
great a step to jump to the fact that God knew his people from
before the foundation of the world? That God chose them in
Jesus Christ. And he predestinated us to be
made in the image of his son. It's there, folks. It's there. There's no way to be accepted
in the beloved unless God chose you and predestinated you unto
us. I know it's a hard thing, some
people. And some people may have a hard time with it. But I understand
that. Well, the question is, do you
believe the scriptures? Do you believe the words of Christ
himself? Other sheep he had, which were not of the fold. Them I must bring. And he did, and he does, and
he will. Because what God has done, God
is doing. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday
and today and forever. He is bringing in what? Many
sons unto glory. He's bringing in many sons accepted
in the beloved. My father, thank you for this
time. Oh. Thank you so much for your
work, for your salvation, which you have given to us freely in
your son, our Lord Jesus Christ. In his name we pray, amen.