Well, I've titled our lesson
this morning, Accepted in the Beloved. You may recall that
in the last two lessons, we looked at the blessing of election and
the blessing of predestination. And because of God's election
of a people, because of his predestination of a people, the result of that
is all of God's people are accepted in the beloved. That's what the
apostle writes in verse six. Here's why God's done everything
he's done, to the praise of the glory of his grace. wherein in
His matchless, eternal grace, He hath made us accepted in the
Beloved. Now, if we're gonna look at being
accepted in the Beloved, first thing I believe we've got to
look at is the Beloved, our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ our Savior
is the Beloved. He's beloved of everybody that
knows Him. First of all, in the very beginning,
he's loved by his father as the only begotten son. The father
loves his son with an eternal, immeasurable love. He has been
loved of the father from all of eternity. In Proverbs 8, verse
30, the Savior talking about the time before creation when
only the father and the son existed. And he said, at that time, he
said, I was daily with my father and I was daily his delight.
The father's always found his delight in his son. And the father
loves his son so much that he determined to fill heaven with
the people made just like his son. The father loved the son
so much that he trusted the salvation of all of his elect to his son. The father chose a people to
save. Now, how are they going to be saved? They're going to
be born a sinful, dead people. How are they going to be saved?
Somebody's got to come make them righteous. Somebody's got to
come put their sin away. Somebody's got to come and suffer
the death that they deserve. And the father loved the son
so much, he trusted him to get the job done. The father loved
the son so much, he entrusted all of his glory to his son. Now, the father elected a people
to save. And if all of those people are
not saved, if every last one of them is not presented to the
Father at the end of time, when time is no more and Scripture
says the Son will stand before the Father and say, Father, here
am I and the children which thou has given me. If one of those
children is missing, God Almighty will lose all of his glory. He
won't lose just a little bit of it. You know, you think about
taking a test. I remember different tests. English was a difficult subject
for me. But if I ever got a 99 on an English test, I mean, I
just rejoiced. 99% is not good enough. If he loses even one of an innumerable
host, He loses all of his glory. And he loved his son so much,
he still trusted in his son, that he would not fail to save
his people from their sin. The father loves the son so much,
he's given everything into his hand. Everything the father has,
he's given to the son. He loves the son so much, he
made him the mediator of his eternal covenant of grace. The
father loves the son so much he made him judge of all, of
everything. The father judged no man, all
judgment's given to the son. The father loves the son so much
he gave him a name which is above every name, that at the name
of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue should confess
that he's Lord to the glory of God the father. all of the Father's
love is in his Son. You see that, all these ways
that the Father loves the Son, all of his love is in his Son.
Well, Christ the Savior is also beloved of his people. We love
him, don't we? If you know Christ, you believe
him, you love him, and this is what you'll say, I do love him.
My love's not what I want to be, it's not what I should be,
it's so lukewarm and so fickle, but I love him because he first
loved me, that's why. We love Christ because of who
he is. I'm not just talking about what
he's done for us, I'm talking about who he is. His glorious person. He's righteous, he's holy, he's
altogether righteous. His glorious perfection, and
he's altogether lovely. Altogether, everything about
him is lovely to his people. We love him because this holy,
righteous one, willingly was made sin for his people. He willingly
suffered and died. He willingly took all the wrath,
all the judgment of God for that sin so that he might redeem the
souls of his people. Because there's a price on our
head we could not pay. And God the Son came and paid
it for us. Oh, we love him, don't we? We
love him. We love the Savior. He's the beloved. Because his
mere presence comforts and calms our heart, doesn't it? His presence
is all it takes, just his presence. It comforts our heart in the
worst of times. We love him, he's our beloved
because his word is the word of life, it's the word of comfort,
and it's the word of instruction to us. We love him, he's the beloved. because he's the friend of sinners.
What a mystery that the Holy Son of God could be the friend
of people like you and me. He's not just a friend of Abraham,
he's a friend of all of his people. And listen, he's the friend that
sticketh closer than a brother. We love him because he's faithful.
He will never leave us nor forsake us. He's shown us that time and
time again. He'll never cast his people off
in spite of our weak faith, in spite of our sin, in spite of
our repeated sin. He'll not cast off his people
because he's faithful. We love him because we can trust
him. All God's people love the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our
beloved. And that means we love to hear
his gospel, the gospel that tells us all about Christ. We love
to worship him. We love to gather together with
his people and worship him publicly, bowing at his feet. We love to
worship him privately in our thoughts, just praise him and
think on who he is and worship him. We love to sing his praises. I mean, what a savior that we
have. He's our beloved. Oh, how we
love him. I talked earlier about how the
father loves the son. He loves him with an everlasting
love. Everybody, you can see that. Everybody can understand
that, can't you? How the father would love the son. Of course
he loves him. He's perfect. He's glorious. He accomplished
everything that the father sent him to do. Now get a hold of
this. The father loves his people the
very same way he loves his son. with the very same eternal, immeasurable
love. When the father sees his people,
you know what he sees? He sees his son. He sees his
son in his glory and his perfection. And that's why the father accepts
his people in the beloved. It's all in Christ. The father,
when he looks at his people, he doesn't see poor little, sinful,
old, unacceptable us and Christ. So the father grudgingly accepts
us because the son brought him in, you know. Our daughter Holly, when she
was growing up, like all girls, she had a few boyfriends. You know, when my daughter's
brought home a boyfriend, there's a certain relationship between
me and that boy. There's some of them I knew and
really liked before they were Holly's boyfriend. Then they're
Holly's boyfriend. There's a different relationship here. And oh, she
had a boyfriend. Oh, I couldn't wait till this
boy hit the bricks. But he's around a while. Every time he
came in, I grudgingly accepted him into my home. because he's
with my daughter. I grudgingly accepted him. That's
not the way the father accepts his people. Because when the
father sees his people, he doesn't see us and Christ. All he sees is his son. And he's well pleased with his
people because his son has made them perfect. He's made them
just like his son. All he sees is his son and he
accepts them with joy, with love. See, by our Savior's work of
obedience to the law, as the representative of his people,
he's made his elect perfect. So they're accepted. Not acceptable. They're accepted. They've been
accepted from all of eternity in Christ, because he is our
righteousness. By His work of redemption, by
His blood on the cross, our Lord Jesus Christ has made His people
to be without sin. He washed their sin away. He
paid their debt in full and made them perfect. And the Father
accepts them gladly because there's no reason for Him not to. The
Son's made them perfect. I mean, this thing of redemption,
it's no small thing, is it? It's a miracle that by the obedience
and by the sacrifice of Christ, he has made his people perfect
so that the Father gladly accepts them. Oh, you think what our
beloved has accomplished. He loved of his people. He loved
of the Father and loved of all of his people, everybody that
knows him. All right, that's the beloved. The second I want
to look at, what is it that Christ has done for his people? What
is it that he's made them so that they're accepted of the
Father? Well, first of all, God's elect are accepted of the Father
as righteous. I don't even know if I should
use that word as righteous, because you know why the Father accepts
his people as righteous? because they are righteous. He's
not pretending that they're righteous. He's not treating them as if
they're righteous. He accepts them because they
are righteous. That's what Christ made them
to be, righteous. Christ our Savior made his people.
They're sinful people. They're defiled with sin. They're
so guilty. They're born in sin. They're
shapen in iniquity. All they can do, think, or say
is sin, yet he's made his people to be without sin. the all-seeing
eye of Almighty God does not see sin in his people because
it's not there. Now, how can that possibly be
true? I mean, we're just talking about
something that's so high and so far out there, only great
theologians and great minds can understand it. Here's how this
is true, it's so simple. You know, if you think this is
so hard to understand and it's so complicated, it can't be the
gospel. The gospel is simple. The answer
is Christ. The answer to every question
you ask about scripture, about salvation, about righteousness,
about holiness, about eternal life, the answer is always Christ. How can it possibly be true that
a sinner has no sin? For he, God the Father, hath
made him sin for us, him who knew no sin, that we might be
made, what? The righteousness of God in him,
in Christ, because of what Christ has done, made his people as
righteous as God himself, perfectly righteous. Christ our Savior
was made what he was not so he could make his people what they're
not. He made them righteous. And this is no paper transaction.
Brother Walter Gruber used to say, this is not diplomatic immunity.
It's not, well, you're guilty, but we're gonna let you go, because
you got this diplomatic immunity. God did not act like this is
true. He did not act like his son was made sin. He does not
act like his people are made righteous, even though they're
not. No, the only reason the father slaughtered his son The
only reason the father himself thrust the sword of justice into
his fellow, into his son, is his son was made guilty. It would
have been unjust for the father to put an innocent man to death,
wouldn't it? And everything God does must
be just and right. The father made this thing right
by transferring the sin of his people to his son. Even though
he never committed any sin, the Father made him guilty of that
sin. Our Savior felt the guilt of it and the shame of it, and
he paid for that sin with his own life's blood and put it away. By his sacrifice, the Lord Jesus
Christ made his people righteous, and the Father always accepts
perfect righteousness. Now again, the Father is not
acting like this is true. He's not acting like his people
are righteous even though they're not. See, it wouldn't be just
for the father to accept these sinners, would it? If they're
still in their sin. That wouldn't be just, and everything
God does must be just. He accepts his people because
they are righteous, because they are perfect. That's what Christ
has made them. In Leviticus 22, verse 21, it
says, it shall be perfect to be accepted. You won't be accepted
if God be perfect. How's that possible? only in
Christ, in the Beloved. It must be perfect to be accepted.
There shall be no blemish therein. You wanna be without blemish,
without spot? The only way that's possible
is to be in Christ. He's the Lamb of God without
blemish and without spot. And he's made his people just
like him. So we're accepted in the Beloved because they're righteous. Second, God's elect are accepted
by the Father because they're holy. Now again, you know why
the Father accepts his people as holy? Because they are. The Savior has made his people,
verse four says, he's made them to be holy and without blame
before him in love. Christ the Savior's made his
people holy. He's made them without blame. Now there's two reasons for that. God's elect are holy, first of
all, because of the sacrifice of Christ. The blood of Christ
washed away the sin of his people. He made them to be spotless.
He made them to be without any blemish, without any trace of
sin. But in the sacrifice of Christ,
there's a double cure. There's not only a payment for
sin, there's a double cure. And we have a picture of that
in the death of our Savior. Remember the Jews came and told
Pilate, now, we really want this crucifixion, we want this thing,
but boy, this sure is making our holy day look bad. This is
gonna defy, can you just break their legs and kill them and
get over with, so we don't have this ugliness going on on our
high holy day. and Pilate sent a Roman soldier
to break their legs so they'd die quicker, and he came to the
Savior, and he was surprised, he'd already given up the ghost.
But out of pure meanness, that Roman soldier took his spear
and thrust it into the side of the Savior. And John said, this
is not a story, I saw it happen. Out flowed blood and water. That's
the double cure. The sacrifice of Christ gave
us blood. blood to atone for sin, blood
to pay for sin, and water to wash us and make us holy. The
sacrifice of Christ accomplished both. And that means the salvation
in Christ is doubly sure. Sins put away and we're made
holy. I just love to think about that.
Something that's double sure. That just gives me such assurance.
So we're made holy because the blood of Christ washed away our
sin, but there needs to be another work. Sin's been paid for. But
if we're gonna be holy, we've got to be made holy in the new
birth. We've got to be given a holy nature. If Christ just
paid for our sin and said, all right now, now you keep yourself
clean and holy from here on out, we'd sin and mess it up all over
again, wouldn't we? So there's got to be a new nature, a holy
nature that will never sin and will never mar this thing again.
See, God's elect, we've been washed in the blood of Christ,
haven't we? But we've got a sin nature that
can't do anything but sin, and that nature can't change. We
can't just determine we're gonna start straightening up and not
sin anymore. Impossible, because all we can do is sin. So God
sends his spirit. by the preaching of the word.
He takes this word that's being preached, that's holy, that's
perfect, and he uses that holy seed to plant that in the hearts
of God's people and give them a new birth. And that seed, the
seed of the word of God, can only produce a nature like itself
that's perfect and holy and cannot sin. That makes God's people
partakers of the divine nature. A nature that can never sin,
that's holy. And the father gladly accepts
holiness. Always, it's the only thing he
can accept. You think what a blessing this is, that the Lord Jesus
Christ would make people like you and me holy. Holy, oh, he's
the beloved, isn't he? Then God's elect are also accepted
by the father because they're redeemed. They're debt free. The father could never accept
rebels who've rebelled against him and still have a price on
their head. The law has a price on our head
and God's holy justice will never, never allow a sinner, will never
allow sin to go unpaid. It can't do it. He can't, God's
just, He's holy. He can never allow that debtor
to be at peace in His presence. The debt must be paid and we
can't pay it. Even our attempts to pay the
debt, you know what that does? It doesn't pay the debt down
a little bit, it makes it grow. Our attempts at righteousness
make our sin debt grow. Our attempts at righteousness
are offensive to the Father. Because when we attempt to earn
our righteousness ourselves, when we attempt to pay down this
debt ourselves, it's saying I don't need Christ to do it all. Now
remember, the Lord Jesus Christ is the beloved of his father.
You insult his son. You say you don't need his son.
You and the father aren't friends. Impossible, can't be friends
anymore. Well, we can't pay the debt.
So what did the father do? He sent his son to pay the debt
for him. And when he came to pay the debt,
he didn't pull out his wallet and pay the debt. He didn't take
all the gold and all the hills and all the mines that are his
and take that and pay the debt. Because the debt can't be paid
with silver and gold, can it? The son paid the sin debt of
his people by sacrificing himself. by sacrificing everything that
he is so that the father would accept him. That's what verse
seven says, in whom we have redemption through his blood. The forgiveness
of sins according to the riches of his grace. The debt has been
paid by the life glory, by the life blood of God's son. Oh, what a blessing that is.
All right, third, now we looked at the beloved. We look at what
Christ has made his people, why that they're accepted in the
Father. Here's a third thing I wanna look at, and I think
this is very important. Why is the believer's acceptance with
the Father sure? Now, there's no doubt about this.
This is absolutely sure and certain. God's people are accepted in
the beloved. Well, here's why that's sure.
Because the Father can't change. He can't go back on his word.
He can't change his mind and cast his people out. He can't
say, oh, I never foresaw this sin coming. This is too much,
I'm gonna cast them out. He can't say, oh, this sin, I
sent my son to pay for sin, but this one's too much. The blood
can't pay for that. He can't say that. Because the
blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanses us from all sin. No matter how vile we think it
is, no matter how heinous we think it is, all sin is vile
and heinous to God. It's all equally sinful to him. The father can't go back on his
word. He can't cast out his people
because his glory depends upon it. His glory depends upon it. When the father determined to
save a people, he wasn't saving a people because he said, well,
I just want to be kind to somebody. The father determined to save
a people to glorify his son, to glorify himself. That's why
the father chose a people to save. And when he chose a people
to save, he chose to glorify himself by saving the most wretched,
the most vile, the most undeserving sinners. That's who he chose
to save so that he would be exalted when they're saved. So that he
would be exalted when these vile sinners are made holy and righteous. And when he chose out people
to save, he didn't just say, well, I'm gonna choose out some
people to save, I'll send my son, meh, we'll see who accepts
him. The father chose an exact number
of sinners to save. And not just a number, he chose
his people by name. By name. and he's gonna get glory
to himself for saving the people who could never save themselves.
He's gonna get glory by showing mercy to the worst sinners that
he could find. Nobody else would save them and
nobody else could, but God did. That's what he determined to
do. and the father sent his son to redeem those people from their
sin, by his sacrifice for them as their substitute, by taking
their place and dying the death that they deserve, by taking
the wrath that that sin deserves. In the fullness of time, when
it pleases God, He sends his spirit and comes and gives life
and faith to those people through the preaching of the gospel.
Somebody is bold enough and brave enough to declare Christ and
Christ only, to have no agenda but for people to know Christ,
to have no agenda but to glorify the Savior. And the Holy Spirit
takes that preaching that tells sinners about Christ and he reveals
Christ to their hearts. And he draws them to Christ irresistibly. Now don't mistake this irresistible
thing. He doesn't drag people by the
hair, the head, and they come because he's dragging them against
their will. No, he makes them willing. He makes them willing
in the day of his power by revealing Christ to them. They can't stay
away. They come to him. They come to
him. And the Spirit is gonna keep those people. The Lord Jesus
Christ is gonna keep those people till the day that they die. He's
gonna keep them by His power. And by the same grace that chose
them, the same grace that called them, the same grace that revealed
Christ to them is gonna be the same grace that keeps them to
the end. And at the end of time, when
the Father wraps this thing up, the dead in Christ will rise.
Those who are alive and remain will be changed in the twinkling
of an eye. And scripture says that the angels are gonna come
and gather God's elect from the four corners of the world. They're
gonna meet Christ in the air. At that time, Christ the Savior
is gonna stand before the Father and say, Father, I'm the children
that thou has given me. Now they're all here. Not one
of them is missing. Father, count them and see. Well,
Father counts, it's the right number of people. Father, call
roll. Make sure every one of them's
here. And the father opens the Lamb's book of life and starts
calling names. And every single time a name
is called, somebody says here. They're all there, not one of
them's missing. God didn't lose his glory, did
he? God's glory won't even be tarnished. Won't even be tarnished. Jay and I decorated our tree. whenever we did a week or two
ago, sometime. And on our 25th wedding anniversary,
I bought her this silver bell that hangs on our Christmas ornament,
hangs on our Christmas tree. And we got out this year, she
said, ugh, this doesn't look so good, this is tarnished. And
she took whatever he'd used and man, that thing looks like new.
I'm just, wow. God's glory wasn't tarnished
and he had to shine it up again. It never was tarnished. Oh, His
glory is gonna be seen by all of creation in this way. Not only did the Father choose
to save a people that didn't deserve it, that couldn't save
themselves, He didn't lose one. Now I wanna leave you to think
about this statement. This is something good to think about
this week. Almighty God tied His glory the saving sinners
like you and me. Oh, he's the beloved in me. I
hope the Lord bless that to you.