I appreciate that song. I don't
think you could tell me once too often about substitution,
do you? I never will, I hope, get over
the fact that the Son of God took the place of somebody like
me. That's the most amazing story ever told. Well, if you would
open your Bibles with me to Ephesians chapter 1. As you're turning,
let me and say, as I've so often said before, what a thrill it
is for me to be here. I thank God for you. I'm very
honored that you would invite me to come and preach the gospel
of God's grace and be able for us to worship together. You all
are very, very dear to me. I've titled the message this
evening, Elected, Predestinated, Accepted. Now, I'll just tell
you from the get-go, I'm not gonna be able to do either of
those three topics complete justice. Election, predestination, accepted
into beloved. But I hope that I've been able
to put them together in such a way that when we're done, it'll
bring great peace to your heart and leave us right where we should
be, completely dependent on God, our Savior. Our text begins in
verse three of Ephesians chapter one, Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Our text begins with
a very comforting truth. The Father has blessed his people
with every spiritual blessing that there is. He hasn't withheld
anything. He's not given any of it in just
a portion. He's given his people every blessing
that God has for a sinner. Every spiritual blessing. And
what's more, he's made them easy to find. He put them all in one
place. He put them all in one person.
They're all in Christ. Paul in this chapter talks about
election, predestination, acceptance, redemption, inheritance. They're
all in Christ. That's where they're all found.
My friend, if you need anything from God, if you need any blessing
from God, go to Christ. Look to Christ. Depend upon Christ
because they're all in him. And the first of these blessings
I want to look at is God's election of a people. Verse four, Paul
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. Now if you look back at Psalm
chapter 14, the election, you hear people talk about that a
lot. Let me just start out like John
Gill telling you what this does not mean, if you read his commentary. I always start out telling you
what it doesn't mean, then he tells you what it does mean.
This is what election does not mean. Election is not God looking
down through the telescope of time and choosing a people that
he saw would be good. God did not look down through
the telescope of time and see, well, there's some better than
others, and that's the people I'll choose to save. No, sir,
that's not true at all. When God chose a people to save,
he chose to save sinners. Look here at Psalm 14, verse
two. The Lord looked down from heaven. He did look down, didn't
he? He looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see
if there were any that did understand. Are there any that seek God?
And this is what God saw. They're all gone aside. They
are all together become filthy. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. I'll tell you what God saw when
he looked down on all men. When he looked down on all of
Adam's race, this is what he saw. All men are ruined in Adam. All men are sinners. That's all
they can do. Everything they think, everything
they do, everything they want to do, everything they say, it's
all sin. There were no good people for
God to choose. Well, isn't it a blessing when
God looked on Adam's race and saw that every last one of them
were ruined in sin, that Almighty God chose to save sinners? If
he didn't do that, nobody could be saved. Because left to ourselves,
we'd never choose God. You know, God also did not look
down through the telescope of time and see who would choose
him. So then God chose them. His brother Donny Bell says that's
just God taking credit for what man was already gonna do anyway.
God didn't do that. He chose to save dead sinners
who lacked the ability to choose him, to believe him, or to love
him. He looked down on all men who
were enemies of God by birth, by nature, by practice, and he
chose to save some of them anyway. That's what election is. Now
let me give you a few truths about God's election of a people.
First of all, election always has to do with Christ, always. Paul says here in our text that
the Father chose a people in Christ. Christ is God's first
elect. Let me show you that, Isaiah
chapter 42. See, the father elected, he chose his son to be the savior
of sinners, and then he trusted him to get the job done. Isaiah
42, verse one. Behold my servant, this is the
father speaking of his son, when his son will become his servant,
behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect. in whom my soul delighteth. I put my spirit upon him. He
shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. See, election always
has to do with Christ. The Father chose a people, and
he put them in his Son to save. Number two, election is a loving
doctrine. Now again, I know you hear much
to the contrary, people who don't know any better, They say that
the doctrine of election is a mean, cold, hard doctrine. And here's
why they think this is such a mean doctrine. Because they think
they deserve a chance to be saved. They think election is a hard
doctrine because they think they're good enough to be saved by their
own merit. That's why they think election
is a hard doctrine. They think it's mean because
they mistakenly think they have the ability to decide to let
Jesus into their heart and be their Savior. They mistakenly
think they have some ability to decide all on their own, on
their own steam, to believe on Christ. That's not so. Now listen to me, remember this.
Election never means that there will be a sinner who comes to
Christ and wants to be saved on God's terms, in Christ alone,
by his merit alone, by his sacrifice alone. They come to Christ begging
for forgiveness, begging for mercy, begging God to save them,
and God won't allow it because he looks in the Lamb's Book of
Life and says, sorry, your name's not here. You can't be saved. I won't have mercy on you. Never. Never, ever, ever will that happen. If you're a sinner, you come
to the Savior. You come to Christ begging Him
to save you. You come to Christ begging Him
to have mercy on your soul. You'll find out right quick,
oh, I came because He was drawing me. I came because he chose me
before creation, and in his loving kindness, he was drawn. Oh, I
see now. I came to Christ because he chose
me first. You'll find it out right quick.
You see, the only way anybody will ever want to be saved on
God's terms is that God elected them first, and then he sent
his spirit to give them a new want to. to give them a nature
that wants to be saved on God's terms. He gave them a nature
that needs Christ to do all the saving for them, and they come
to Christ, because God did that work in them. And if you look
at Deuteronomy chapter seven, I can show you this, this is
so plain. Election is a loving doctrine. Isn't that what it says in our
text? That we should be God-elected people, not because we are holy,
but that we should be, that he would make us holy, and without
blame, before him in love. See, this is a loving doctrine.
Look at Deuteronomy 7, verse 7. The Lord did not set his love
upon you, nor choose you because you are more in number than any
people, for you are the fewest of all people. But because the
Lord loved you and because he would keep the oath which he
had sworn unto our fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with
a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondman from
the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Because the Lord loved
you, he chose you. And that word chosen there means
to choose out for oneself. To choose out as a peculiar treasure
for the Lord's enjoyment. Now I'm telling you, that is
a loving act of God Almighty. What amazing grace, what depths
of love that the Lord would love sinners and choose them to bring
them to himself for his enjoyment. God choosing sinners, that's
a loving doctrine, isn't it? Thirdly, election. is a gracious
doctrine. God's election of a people, God
had to choose a people to save or nobody would be saved. God's
election of a people simply means this, salvation is by grace,
by God's grace, not by man's works. Now if you ever find a
sinner, a sinner will love to hear that. Salvation is by grace,
not by works. I'm telling you, that takes all
the pressure off of me. If I have to be good enough to
be saved, I mean, the pressure just crushes my soul. But salvation
by grace means all the pressure's off. Christ took care of it all. And all that's left for me to
do is rest in him. See, I'm not perfect, but he
is. There's no rest in me or what I've done, but there's rest
in him. Salvation by grace takes all
the pressure off. And this is what God's election
of a people says. Salvation, see, I love this truth,
this doctrine of election, because it puts God where he belongs,
on the throne, sovereignly doing as he pleases, and it put man
where we belong, down here in the dust, helpless at his feet.
Election says this, salvation is the decision of Almighty God,
and it's the work of God. It's not a decision of man, and
it's not a work of man. If it was up to me to talk you
all into making a decision, I'd have stayed home. I mean, if
I had to be a salesman, really, I'd starve. I mean, I just, I'm
not good at it. If I had to talk you into doing
something, Oh, but if God will enable us
to just declare Christ and the Spirit will reveal Christ to
you, you'll come running to Him. You'll believe Him. You'll trust
Him. This thing of salvation is the work of God. Now, when
did God do this? When did God elect the people
into salvation? Wartek says He did it before the foundation
of the world. God elected a people long before they were ever created.
Before they could ever do any good or evil, God chose a people
to save. It's just like God loved Jacob
and hated Esau before those two boys were ever born. Before they
could ever do any good or bad, that the purpose of God according
to election might stand. See, God's election, if you're
a sinner, this is good news. God's election has absolutely
nothing to do with our goodness or our works. It's all according
to God's purpose and God's will and the work that he'll do for
and in his people. Election just says this, salvation
is by grace and grace alone. All right, here's the second
thing, God's predestination of people. Verse five, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will. Now this word predestinated,
it means to determine beforehand or to decide beforehand. In predestination,
all it means is this. God has a will and he has a purpose
that he determined he would do before the foundation of the
world. Then God created the world, created Adam, put Adam in the
garden, and everything that God has done since, everything that
God has done and is doing in human time, you know what it
is? It's God carrying out His will and His purpose that He
determined before He created anything. That's all it is. Let
me give you a few truths about God's predestination of a people. I know people in the flesh want
to argue against it, but I'm telling you, we gotta get this
settled. Predestination is God's sovereign
right. It's his right as God. Paul says
here, it's according to the good pleasure of God's will. And since
God is God, that's the way it ought to be. Since God is ruler
over everything in his creation, it's only right that God predetermines
a merciful outcome for the sinners that he chooses to save. It's
he that made us, not we ourselves. Isn't that right? That's what
scripture says. Well, since God created us, he owns us. We're God's to do with as he
pleases. It's his right to do with us as he will. He's our
creator, he's our God. Look back at Jeremiah chapter
18. Jeremiah, the weeping prophet. One day, the Lord told Jeremiah,
he said, Jeremiah, get up and go down there to the potter's
house, and I'm gonna teach you an important truth. And this
evening, I'd like for you and me to go with Jeremiah down to
the potter's house. May the Lord teach us something
here. Jeremiah 18, verse one. The word which came to Jeremiah
from the Lord, saying, arise and go down to the potter's house,
and there I'll cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down
to the potter's house and beheld, and behold, he wrought a work
on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of
clay was marred in the hand of the potter, so he made it again
another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then
the word of the Lord came to me, saying, O house of Israel,
can I not do with you, as this potter, saith the Lord? Behold,
as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand,
O house of Israel. And you know, we're here watching
this potter. Nobody ever thinks to question
the potter. He's got him a lump of clay,
and he divides it into two pieces. He takes one piece, and he makes
a chamber pot. Y'all know what a chamber pot
is. That's what Jesus did. And he takes the other piece,
and he makes it into a beautiful vase. And he paints it, and he
puts it in the kiln, and he glazes it, whatever the potter does.
I mean, this vase is just like a, it's so beautiful, it's like
a beautiful piece of art. That piece of art came from the
same lump that the chamber pot came from. The difference is
just what the potter decided to do with it. And nobody ever
thinks to question the potter. Why did you do that? That's not
fair. I mean, nobody thinks that. And
the potter's a man just like you and me. Then why do we question God?
That says something about our nature, doesn't it? If you look
over Romans chapter 9, We're going to get Paul's commentary
on what Jeremiah saw down there at Potter's house. I tell you,
we need to be mighty careful about ever questioning God. Because
look at what Paul says in Romans 9, verse 20. Nay, but, O man, who art thou
that replyest against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it? Why hast thou made me thus? Hath
not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make
one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? Paul says, who
art thou that replies against God? This is what he's saying.
Who do you think you are? Who do you think you are to question
God Almighty? You and I are just creatures
of the dust, are we? And we predetermine what we're
going to do with things that belong to us. When you get in
your car, there's not one person here gets in that car and closes
the door and says, all right, now let's see where this car
is going to go. I don't want to violate its free will and
take it where I want it to go. Let's just see where the car
decides to go. If you did that, you'd still be sitting in your
garage. The car's not going to go anywhere. We got in that car
and we predetermined the destination for that car and then we directed
it where we predetermined for it to go. Now you and I predetermined
what we're going to do with the dead objects that haunt us. Why
would we ever think God does not have the right to predetermine
what he's gonna do with our dead flesh? Today the reason we think that
is we have no concept of who God is and who we are. That's
the only reason we would think that. We predetermine to do things. Whatever it is, you know, I've
got plans tomorrow. I have to say to Lord willing
I'm going to do this, that, or the other. Lord willing, in the
morning I'm going to get up, me and Jan are going to drive
home. I'm going to finish my notes for the midweek service
in Ashland. And Lord willing, I'm going to
preach that. I predetermined to do that. Now, I have to say
to the Lord willing, don't I? But I predetermined what I'm
going to do. I tell Jan all the time, you've
got to have a plan. You've got to have a plan. Just
flying by the seat of your pants, almost never produces good results. Let me tell you, God Almighty
does not fly by the seat of His pants. God's just not waiting
to see what you and me do and then reacts to it. No, God's
doing what He predetermined before to be done. That's what predestination
is. It's God's sovereign right as
God, as King. Number two, predestination, just
like election, has to do with Christ. Predestination does not
have to do with the place. Predestination is not God predestinating
somebody to heaven and somebody to hell. Listen, God didn't have
to predestinate somebody to go to hell. You and me do a fine
job of that all on our own. Predestination had to do with
the place. It has to do with the person. If you're there in
Romans 9, look back a page in Romans 8. The father predestinated
the people to be made just like his son. See, it all has to do
with Christ. Romans 8, verse 29. For whom
he did foreknow, whom he elected. He also did predestinate to what? Be conformed to the image of
his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. God predetermined to make a people
just like his son. The father loves his son so much. Oh, he's the beloved. Oh, he
loves his son. And he determined to fill heaven
with a people made just like him, just exactly like his son. Now, what a blessing God's predestination
of a people is. You and I cannot imagine what
it will be like one day to not be like Adam anymore. We think, oh, that's a great
blessing. And we haven't even begun to
scratch the surface on what a great blessing it will be to not be
like Adam anymore. but to be made just like our
Lord Jesus Christ. It's just an unspeakable blessing
that you just, you can't express the greatness of this blessing
with human language. That one day, you who believe
Christ, we're going to be made perfectly holy. We'll have a
body and a nature without sin. We can't even imagine what it's
gonna be like to not even have thoughts of sin, not even to
have desires of sin, but to be made just like the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's the purpose of God's predestinating
love. Tell me about that all you want,
all you want. All right, here's the third thing.
Look at Acts chapter four. Now the father predetermined,
he predestinated the Savior, And then he predestinated the
way he'd save his people by the sacrifice of that Savior. Acts
4, verse 26. The kings of the earth stood
up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done. They didn't gather together to
do what their hand and their counsel determined to be done.
They gathered together to do whatsoever God's hand and God's
counsel determined before to be done. Now I know at Calvary,
Wicked men did exactly what their wicked hearts wanted to do. I
know that. They wanted to torture and kill
Jesus of Nazareth, and that's what they did. And when they
killed him, this was what was behind it all. They wanted to
be rid of this man who's upsetting their religious apple cart. They
thought they had a fine system all set up by man's works and
man's righteousness and man's ceremony, and he's messing that
up. Telling people it's not by works,
but it's by faith. And they wanted rid of this man.
So they put him to death. And you know what they ended
up doing? Everything God predetermined before would be done. The Father
predetermined the sacrifice of the Savior would save his people
from their sin. And the sacrifice of Christ is
successful. The sacrifice of Christ did indeed
save everyone for whom he died. You know why I know that? Mark,
God's will is always done. That's why I know that. The father
determined that the price would be paid by the blood of his son.
And it's paid. Now again, we're thankful. Aren't
you thankful for the salvation of our souls? Aren't we thankful
that Christ, our substitute, died in our place? That we might
never die, that we'd have this salvation freely given us of
God? But the salvation of our souls,
I mean, we just cannot realize how great it is. And we're going
to start to get a real good idea of it. when we close our eyes
in this life and open them in glory to the face of Christ our
Savior. And we're gonna start to get
an idea of what great salvation it is, that the Father predestined
for His people to be made just like His Son. Now the Father
elected the people unto salvation. He predetermined that they be
made just like His Son. And here's the result of that,
the result of God's election, the result of God's predestination,
is all of his people are accepted in the beloved. Verse six, Ephesians
chapter one. To the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. You
see, the son accomplished everything the father sent him to do. The
son accomplished everything the father purposed to be done. That's
why it's all in Christ. The father loves his son with
an everlasting love. All of the father's love is in
his son. He calls him here the beloved.
The Lord Jesus Christ is beloved. He's beloved of everybody that
knows Him, beginning with the Father. Oh, how the Father loves
the Son. Now get a hold of your seats,
I'm gonna say something here. God the Father sees His people the
exact same way He sees His beloved Son. That's why the Father accepts
His people. They're in the Beloved. They're
in Christ. When the Father looks at His
people, all He sees is His Son. He doesn't see poor, little,
old, unacceptable, sinful us and Christ. All He sees is His Son. And we're accepted of the Father.
In Christ, that's the only way that the Father could accept
us. It's in His Son. I use this illustration. I have
two daughters. My oldest daughter, Holly, when
she was in high school, we had the bane of a father's existence. We had the parade of boyfriends,
right? This is just how it is with fathers,
when the girl brings home a boy, the boyfriend. Me and that boy,
there's a certain relationship he and I had. Some of these boys
I knew before they were Holly's boyfriend, the one in particular
I'm thinking of, he was in our kindergarten class. I love this
kid. I mean, I just love this boy.
Suddenly he starts stating my daughter, and our relationship
changed. They broke up, and our relationships
switched back. Anyway, she had this boyfriend.
Oh, my soul. She brought this kid home. And
I'm telling you, from the moment he hit the door, I couldn't wait
till this kid hit the brakes. I mean to tell you, he's smart. He's handsome. But he just, not
for Holly. He did not for Holly. But I grudgingly
accepted him. because he's my daughter's boyfriend. Let's not make too many waves
here. Hopefully she'll see the light and kick him out, so I
don't have to, you know. I grudgingly accepted him for
her sake. That's not how the father accepts
his people. It's imperfect love, imperfect
acceptance, because all he sees when he looks at his people is
his son. He accepts them with open arms, with love, with, if
you can say it this way, a smile on his face, in love. Christ has made his people accepted. Not acceptable. If you're acceptable, maybe you'll
get accepted, maybe you won't. Christ has made his people accepted.
By his perfect obedience to the law, he made his people righteous. By his work of redemption, by
his blood on the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ has made his people
accepted. His blood washed away all the
sin that would make God angry. And they're accepted. I say,
this thing of redemption is no small thing, is it? It's a miracle. That someone who believes Christ,
somebody like you and me, we have no sin. How can that be? See, that God's
elect are accepted by the Father as righteous. You know why? Because
they are righteous. That's what Christ made them
to be, righteous. Christ, the Savior, made his
people so that the all-seeing eye of his Father sees no sin
in them. You know why he doesn't see any
sin in them? There isn't any. Christ put it away. Now, how
can that possibly be? When I look at myself, I don't
see anything holy. I don't see anything righteous.
All I see is sin. How can it be that Father sees
me without sin? See, this all has to do with
being accepted into the beloved. For he, God the Father, made
him, God the Son, sin. For us, who knew no sin, that
we might be made what? The righteousness of God. as
righteous as God is, in Christ. See, the Lord Jesus Christ was
made what he was not, so he can make his people what they're
not. And this is no paper transaction. Brother Walter Groover used to
say that's diplomatic immunity. We're not preaching diplomatic
immunity. This is no paper transaction like God says, well, I know you're
guilty, but I'm gonna pretend like you're not. No, the only
reason that the father could ever slaughter his son is his
son was actually made guilty of the sin of God's elect. Everything
the father does is just. We agree on that, right? Everything
the father does is just. Well, it wouldn't be just to
put an innocent man to death, would it? No, he made him guilty, and
he put a guilty man to death. The father transferred the guilt
of sin from his people to his son. Brother Henry used to use
his Bible. He said, that sin, just black and thick as night. The father took that sin away
from his people and put it on his son. And his son paid the
debt, put it away by his own precious blood. He paid for it
with his life's blood. By his sacrifice, the Lord Jesus
Christ made his people to be righteous. And the father gladly
accepts him. Now again, this is not a diplomatic
unity. This is not saying, well, I'm gonna accept you as righteous
even though you're not. No, the only reason the Father accepts
His people is because they actually are righteous. See, just like
it would be unjust for the Father to put an innocent man to death,
it would be unjust for the Father to accept sinners in their sin
and their guilt. The reason that the Father accepts
His people is Christ our Savior made His people perfect, and
they're debt-free. And in closing, I want to give
you something you can take with you. I want to look at why the
believer's acceptance with the Father is sure. I'm not preaching
to you a maybe here now. This thing is sure. You notice
that is in the past tense? Accepted. It's already done. That's how sure it is. It's already
done. You know why this is sure? because
the father will never go back on his word. He'll never change
his mind. He has a predetermined purpose
that he's going to work out for his people. He chose a people
and he'll never change his mind. He will never cast them out so
that any of his people could ever lose their salvation. It's
an utter impossibility. You know how I can be so sure
about that? God's glory depends upon it.
See, the father determined to glorify himself by saving guilty,
vile, undeserving sinners who couldn't be saved any other way. Nobody else would choose them,
nobody else would save them, and nobody else could. The father
did what nobody else could do and saved those people. This
is how he chose to glorify himself. He chose the exact sinners that
He would save. I mean by name, on purpose He
chose them. And He's gonna get glory in saving
them. He's gonna get glory in showing
mercy to the worst sinners who could be found. Now the Father
chose them. He gave them to His Son. He sent
His Son as a man into this world to redeem those people by His
sacrifice as their substitute. He died to put their sin away,
and it's gone. But they don't know anything
about it, do they? So the Holy Spirit comes to the preaching
of the gospel, and he gives life, and he gives faith, and he reveals
Christ to those people. and irresistibly draws them to
Christ. He reveals Christ to them so
that they cannot stay away. Every last one of them come to
Christ begging for mercy, and they're all forgiven for Christ's
sake, because His sacrifice put their sin away. Well, here they
come. They come believe in Christ. I don't know how long, but it
could be a long time from right now. till there, it could be
a pretty good while. Could be. It might be tonight,
but it could be a long time. How do we know none of those
people are gonna fall away? How do we know they won't be
deceived and go after a false prophet, go after another doctor?
How do we know they won't do that? How do we know that at
the end of time, the Savior's gonna say to the Father, I and
the children, that thou hast given me? He'll say, Father,
you call the roll. Not one of them's missing. Every
time you call a name out of the Lamb's Book of Life, you know
what you're gonna hear? Here, not one of them's missing. You
know why I know that? Because if one of them is missing,
God will lose all of His glory. His glory won't just be tarnished.
He'll lose it all, all of His glory, if even one of His people
are missing. Heaven will not be heaven. Glory
will not be glory. Paradise will not be paradise
if even one of God's elect is missing from that great number. But none of them will be missing.
None of them will. Because God will never lose his
glory. I told you I wanted to tie these
three things together, election, predestination, acceptance, to
give you some peace of heart, to leave us at Christ's feet,
depending on Him. I'm going to leave you with this
thought. Almighty God tied His glory. Nothing is more important
to Him than His glory. He tied His glory to the salvation
of sinners like you and me. Now that's a blessing, isn't
it? Because he won't lose one. And that gives me peace of heart.
Nothing else will, but that does. And I hope it will you too. I
hope God blesses you. I thank you all for having me.