We could turn back to Ephesians
chapter 1. Had a blessed time in Mexico. I thought the Lord
blessed the services, the preaching of the gospel, and as the Lord
enables you, remember them in prayer, in meditative, because
they don't have a pastor, and they need a pastor, and I pray
that the Lord would raise up someone to pastor them. Also,
tonight, we're going to observe the Lord's table. The Lord said,
this do. this do in remembrance of me. Henry Mahan said something that
impressed me so much as a young man with regard to the Lord's
table. He said, if I'm going to miss
a service, that's not the one I'm going to miss because the
Lord said this do in remembrance of me. Let's look at our text
again in Ephesians chapter one, and I have seven points to this
message. Wherein, that's the first point,
he hath made us. in the beloved. That's the text. Those are my points. Wherein, that's the first point,
wherein is the source of this glorious blessing of being made
accepted in the beloved. wherein." Now look at the first
part of this verse. It says that we're saved to the
praise of the glory of his grace. Now his grace, the glory of his
grace is the source of this amazing blessing of being accepted
in the beloved. Now, when the Lord identifies
who he is in Exodus chapter 34, when he proclaims his name before
Moses, you'll remember he said, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful
and gracious. Long suffering and abundant in
goodness and truth. keeping mercy for thousands,
passing by iniquity, forgiving iniquity and transgression and
sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty. But what's
the first thing he says about himself? Merciful and gracious. God's grace is who he is. It's
who he is. I've heard men say, God must
be just. He may be gracious. No, he must
be gracious. That's who he is. And the source of this amazing
blessing of being accepted in the beloved is his grace. I love what Peter said, and he
spoke as the spokesman for every believer when he said, We believe. I believe this right with you,
Peter. Every believer believes this. We believe that through
the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved. We've been
saved by grace. We are saved by grace. We're
being saved by grace and we will be saved by grace. That is the
testimony of every believer. That is the source of this great
blessing, the grace, the free grace of God. Now, remember this.
Somebody says, well, what what exactly is meant by grace? Means
not of works. It's that simple. If you're saved,
it doesn't have anything to do with anything you've done. It's
the grace of God. Wherein, that's the first point,
the grace of God. This is the source of this great
blessing. Here's the second point. Wherein
he. He. Salvation is of the Lord. He. Religion. And religion is not
a good thing. It's an evil thing. Write that
down. Religion's not a good thing.
Religion's an evil thing. Religion begins with man and
how God can meet his needs. It begins with man and how God
can make his life better. Whenever man is put before God,
there's a reason. The gospel is not being preached. In the beginning, God. The whole gospel is in that statement.
In the beginning, God. I love the way the book of Hebrews
opens. God. Through its sundry times
and diverse manners, spake in times past to our fathers by
the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by His Son. Salvation is of the Lord. He, turn with me to Romans chapter
11 for a moment. I love this doxology. Verse 33, Paul is summing up what he'd
said under this point. And he says, oh, Romans 11, 33,
oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge
of God. How unsearchable are his judgments
in his ways past finding out for who has known the mind of
the Lord? Or who hath been his counselor?
Or who hath first given to him that it shall be recompensed
unto him again? For of him and through him and to him are all
things to whom be glory forever. Amen. Every aspect of salvation is
of the Lord. Of him means he's the origin,
of him. Now, when I say that he is the
origin, that means election, God choosing who would be saved
before time began, is of the Lord. Redemption, Christ actually
putting away sins, is of the Lord. He's the origin of it.
Justification, God taking me and making me to where I really
don't have any guilt, that I stand perfectly righteous before God.
And let me remind you, this is not a legal standing. I'm righteous. I'm righteous. You know what? That's of the
Lord. Regeneration, me being born of God. That's of the Lord. Me being preserved, continuing
in the faith, that's of the Lord. Him, that's the only reason.
When I stand in glory, accepted in the beloved, that's of the
Lord. Of Him and through Him. Not only is He the origin of
everything, He's the doer. He's the doer. In every aspect
of salvation, He's the doer. I'm the receiver. And even what
I receive is because He gave me the grace to receive it. He's
the doer. He sent His Son. His Son came
willingly. His son kept the law for me. His son died for me. His son
was raised from the dead for me. God, the Holy Spirit comes
to me and gives me hearing ears. God, the Holy Spirit does something
for me. He's the doer. He's the origin. He's the doer. And to him, that means it's all
for his glory. He gets all the credit. Now,
what do you think of someone? You've run across this Many times,
no doubt. What do you take? What do you
think about somebody who takes the credit for what somebody
else did? You're taking it. And to take the credit for what
God has done. He will not allow that to happen. He. Now, if you love him, You love
this. If you bristle at this, it's
because you have no love for him. He, of him and through him
and to him are all things to whom be glory forever. Now that's
my second point, he. Here's my third point, hath. Hath. Wherein he hath. That means whatever he does and
gives us, we've got it. That's what that means. He hath. There's nothing we need to do
to make this happen. It's already been done. Oh, there's
such peace and joy in this. He hath. Not he will if. He hath. Turn with me for a moment
to 1 Peter 2. I think that this scripture declares this so plainly. Verse
24. 1 Peter 2, verse 24, who his own self bear our sins, in his own body on the tree. Now, before we go on reading, if he bore my sins, I don't have
any sins. Sin can't be two places at once. If he bore, they're not on me. That's the gospel. If he bore
them, they're not on me. Now let's go on reading. Who
his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree that
we being dead to sins. They're gone. They don't have
anything to say. Should live unto righteousness
by whose stripes ye will be healed. are healed, were healed. You see, it's already been done. Everything. He hath. 1 John 3, 5 says he was manifested
to take away our sins. And he did it. You see the gospel, I hope this
makes sense, the gospel is historical. It's something that's already
been done. That's what that means. It's something that's already
been done. That means nothing for you to do. It's already been
done. You have it. And actually everything
we have was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
That's how secure this is. Second Timothy 1.9 says he saved
us. He called us with a holy calling,
not according to our words. but according to his own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. That's why the writer to the
Hebrews says in Hebrews 13 and five, let your conversation be
without covetousness. Now, how in the world Can you
tell me to not covet something? Because as soon as you tell me
to not covet it, you know what I'm going to do? I'm gonna start
coveting. You know, that's the way the law works. And Paul actually
said that. I've not known sin, except the
law will say that I shall not covet. And that's when he began
coveting the law. So how is it that he can actually
say, let your conversation be without covetousness? Now, the
only way I can not covet something is if I've already got it. Be content, he went on to say,
with such things as you have. What do you have? Well, he's
not talking about my car. I'd like to get a better car.
Well, I understand that, but that's not what he's talking
about. He's not talking that we ought to be content with what
we have in here. We all have more than we can do anything
with. But the point is, what do you
have? I have Christ. Christ is all. I have his righteousness. I have his presence. I have his
precious blood as the payment for all my sins. I've got God,
the Holy Spirit, giving me life. I'm being preserved. What more
can I want? I've got everything. There's
nothing to covet. Wherein he hath. That means we already have everything
he has to give. Isn't that what Ephesians 1,3
says? Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. Now here's my fourth point. Made. Wherein he hath made. Psalm 100 verse 3, know ye that
the Lord, He is God. It is He that made us and not
we ourselves. Yes, he made us in the sense
that he gave us life. We're his creation. But this
is talking about salvation. He hath made us. And this word made is very important. Turn with me to Genesis 14. This
is an issue with every believer. Genesis 14. This is after the King of Sodom,
and you remember the story. Abraham rescued Lot and all the
people of Sodom when these people had taken him off. Abraham brings him back and the
king of Sodom comes up and says, you can have the spoils. It's
all yours. Just give us the people back. And look what Abraham,
look how Abraham responded to that. In verse 21, and the king
of Sodom said unto Abram, give me the persons and take the goods
to thyself. You can have all the spoils.
And Abraham said to the king of Sodom, I've lift up my hand
unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven
and earth. I love the way he talked to the
king of Sodom. King of Sodom didn't know any of this, or he
didn't believe it, but he says it anyway, doesn't he? I won't take a thread,
even to a shoe latchet. I won't take anything that's
thine, lest thou should say, I have made Abraham rich. That's an issue with a believer. I'm not gonna let anybody say
they've made me anything. The Lord is the one who made
me. In this thing of salvation, he
did it all. Now, I think it's interesting,
the word being saved is quite often translated being made whole. Now, I want you to think about
the importance of this issue in the scripture. I'm going to
give you several scriptures. You can write these down and
look at them later if you want to, but the Lord's first miracle and
that word first means most important miracle, was the water that was
made wine. You can read about that in John
chapter two, and it teaches us something about salvation. That
water didn't look like wine. It didn't smell like wine. It
didn't taste like wine. It was wine. It was water made
wine. And this is the gospel. I am
made to be what I was not. I'm made to be perfectly righteous
before God. I'm made to be holy. I'm made
to be justified. I'm made to be by God what I
was not. Wherein he hath made it. 2 Corinthians 5, 21, for he hath
made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him. Revelations 1, 5, he
hath made us unto our God, kings and priests. 1 Corinthians 1, 30, Of him are
you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom. Now I feel like such a fool. And yet God has made him my wisdom
so that God sees Todd Dibert as a very wise man whom he can
have fellowship with. He's made, God made him to be
righteousness to me. God made him that way. God made
him to be my sanctification. He is my holiness. How holy are
you? However holy Christ is, that's
how holy I am. He's made unto me redemption,
full and complete deliverance. Can you see this making is God's
work? Romans 5, 19, by the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. By his obedience, every believer
was made, made by God. He's the one who did this, made
by God, righteous. As in Adam, 1 Corinthians 15,
22, as in Adam, All die, even so in Christ shall all be made
alive. Ephesians 2.13, we just read
it when Paul was reading, we're made nigh by the blood of Christ. Made nigh, he did this. Made
nigh by the blood of Christ. I love that hymn, near, so near
to God, near I cannot be. In the person of his dear son,
I'm as near to God as he. Dear, so dear to God, dearer
I cannot be. For in the person of his dear
son, I'm as dear to God as he. Turn with me to this one, Colossians
1.20, because this tells what happened by him. Colossians 1.20. Verse 20, and having made peace through
the blood of his cross. How many times has someone been
asked, have you made your peace with God? No, I haven't. He made my peace
with God utterly and completely. He made my peace with God. wherein he hath made, now let's
go on reading, and having made peace through the blood of his
cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself. By him I
say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven, and
you that were sometimes or aforetime alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body
of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable. and unreprovable in his sight. Now, what hand did you have in
that? He made this by the blood of
his cross. Now, I love what the Lord said
to that cripple in John chapter five. Wilt thou be made holy? What's your response to that? Yes. Lord, make me whole. I know I can't do anything and
I know you can do everything. Lord, make me whole. My fifth point is us. Wherein he hath made Us. Who's the us? Well, in the context, it's determined
the people he has blessed with all spiritual blessings. Those
he chose before time began to be saved. to be holy and blameless. The us is those he predestinated
to 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. The us is the elect. The same us that Paul spoke of
in Romans 8 31, when he said, if God be for us, who can be
against us? The us is God's elect. Now, a question that is just
as important to me is, how can I know if I'm one of them? You can know. You can know right
now. You can know for sure right now.
Well, how? Let me ask you two very simple
questions. What do you think about yourself?
And what do you think concerning him? Those are the only two questions
that need to be dealt with. Now, here's the first question.
What do you think about yourself? Do you believe that you are a
sinner? Doesn't everybody believe that?
No. No. Very few do. Do you believe that
you are a sinner in the biblical sense of the word? What's a sinner? He's the one who commits the
sins. And remember, God doesn't put
sins in hell. He puts the ones who commit those sins in hell. I've heard preachers say, God
loves the sinner. He hates his sins. No, no, no,
no. We'll find that in the Bible.
Now, what is a sinner? I've said this many times before,
but I hope somebody hears it for the first time. What is a
sinner? A sinner is somebody who in their heart believes all
they do is sin. Now, how can I get hold of that?
Well, think about this. What is the greatest commandment
that the Lord said? He said the greatest commandment
is to love God with all your heart, soul and strength and
to love your neighbor as yourself. That's the greatest commandment.
You know what that means? That means I'm breaking the greatest
commandment all the time. Because I have never in my person,
I've never loved God like that. And I've never loved my neighbor
as myself. That means all the time, I'm
breaking the greatest commandment. Now I hope I don't have to convince
you this, but if God the Holy Spirit teaches you, you'll know
that all you do is sin so that you cannot not sin. You cannot. I'm going to go 10 seconds with
that. I'm going to keep my mind empty. You can't go a second
with that. You cannot not see. And with regard to this state
of depravity and inability, all you do is sin and you cannot
not sin. It's all your fault. You're not a victim in this.
It's all your fault. You know that. It's your fault. You can't blame God's sovereignty.
You can't blame Adam. You can't blame your mom and
dad. You can't blame your circumstances. This is all your fault. And you really believe that you
can't look down on anybody in moral superiority. I don't care
who they are. You can't look down your nose
in judgment on anybody. And if God leaves you to yourself
and lets you go to hell, just and holy is his name. You have
no claims on God. Are you a sinner? Do you fit
that description? Here's the second question. What do you think of him? Now,
before I go on to this, let me remind you, the scripture says
in 1 Timothy 1.15, Christ Jesus came into the world to save what? Sinners. Sinners, Paul says,
of whom I am the chief. That's Paul speaking. Now, turn to 1 John chapter 1,
or 5. 1 John chapter 5. Verse 1, whosoever believeth,
and I preached on this a few Wednesday nights ago, it doesn't
say whosoever seeth something in himself. Well, I see that
I'm becoming more holy and less sinful. Faith, let me remind
you of this, underline it in your own heart, faith does not
have anything to do with what you believe about yourself. Not
faith. Well, I believe I'm saved. That's
not faith. I believe Christ died for me. That's not faith. Faith
has wholly to do with what you believe concerning Him. Now, would to God that just for
a moment, you can just forget yourself. I'm not asking you
if you're saved. I'm not asking you if you're
saved. I'm asking you this. Do you believe that Jesus is
the Christ? If you do, somebody says, yes,
I do. I do. But I believe Jesus is the Christ.
I believe Jesus is the son of God. Look in verse four, for
whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world. And this is the victory
that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh
the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the son of God? Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is the son of God? the uncreated, second person
of the blessed Trinity, the creator of the universe, the sovereign
of the world. Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God? If you believe you're a sinner,
and you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, you're in
that group called us. Wherein he hath made us. You're in that group. If you
believe you're a sinner, I believe that. If you believe that Jesus
Christ is the son of God, I believe that. You're in this us. You're one of God's elect. You're
somebody Christ came to save. Look to him right now. He's all
he's all in salvation. You're commanded to look to him
right now. Now, if you don't fit that description,
I don't know what to say to you. But if you do, that's who the us is. And here's
my sixth point. He hath made us accepted. Accepted. Now this word accepted. is the verb form of the word
grace. It's literally, he hath graced
us in the beloved. He hath graced us. And this word
is only found one other time in the New Testament. You know
what it is? The angels came to Mary and said,
Thou art highly favored. That's the same word. Made accepted. Highly favored. Now, how do you
reckon Mary felt when the angel came to her and said, Thou art
highly favored. And then she heard of the Lord
bringing the Son of God into her womb and she was going to
be the mother of all. You reckon, our Lord, you reckon
she felt grace? Ladies, how grace would you feel?
You'd think this is high favor. This is amazing grace that the
Lord would, who am I? Why would the Lord do this for
me? Accepted. You know, I want to be accepted by you.
Somebody says, I don't care what anybody thinks about me. Well,
I guess that sounds good, but it's not so. I want you to accept
me. But you know what? If you don't, I hope you do. But if you don't, that's okay,
if I'm accepted of him. Because that's really all we
care about, isn't it? being accepted, being great,
being accepted, I have complete acceptance in Him. Somebody says, I want God to
accept, or I want somebody to accept me the way I am. Okay, I don't know what to say
about that. What that means is I don't want
to change. You need to change, accept me the way I am. You know
what, well, okay, but the Lord doesn't accept me as I am, but
he accepts me as I am in Christ. And he completely accepts me.
There's no, I don't have to be threatened. I don't have to be
felt judged. I'm perfect in Christ Jesus.
I'm completely accepted. Complete acceptance. He receives
me, he accepts me. Right now, what about your sin?
He accepts me in the beloved. What about what about nothing?
Every believer is accepted right now. You can't be any more accepted
than you are complete in Christ Jesus. He has made us accepted. What a glorious thing it is to
be accepted. This is God acting in grace. Oh, to grace, how great a debtor
daily, daily I'm constrained to be. Wherein he hath made us
accepted. And here's the last point. In
the Beloved. Is there a more appropriate name
for the Lord Jesus Christ? The Beloved. When the Lord was being baptized
by John the Baptist, a voice came from heaven. This is my
beloved son. When Peter made that incredibly
stupid statement, let's make three tabernacles. You worry about making a stupid
state, but you'll make them. I do too. And Peter said something
really stupid. Somebody says, you shouldn't
say stupid from the pulpit. Well, I did, I forgot. He made
that stupid statement. Let's make three tabernacles.
One for thee, one for Moses, one for Elijah. All of a sudden,
a bright cloud came down and they were overshadowed and a
voice came from heaven. This is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. Hear ye him. The beloved. When his beloved son was nailed
to the cross, How beloved he was to the father. When he was nailed to the cross,
how the father was beloved to him. Beloved of him. How he loved his father that
he would go to the cross. How the father loved him. The
ultimate act of obedience. How beloved he is to the believer. You know, the scripture says,
he that hath been forgiven much, loveth much. Have you been forgiven much? And you'll love much. He that's
been forgiven little, he loves little. Just a little bit, but
that person that's been forgiven much, I am my beloved's and my beloved's
mine. He brings this poor vile sinner
into his house of wine. I stand upon his merit. There
is no other stand, not even where glory dwelleth. in Immanuel's
land. Now, in the Beloved, what this
is speaking of, accepted in the Beloved, what this is speaking
of is the believer's eternal union with the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Beloved is union with
Christ. That means I'm one with Him.
That means I've always been in Him eternally. I think it's interesting.
People have made a debate, maybe you've never heard this debate,
but it's been made a debate about whether or not believers were
viewed as sinners and then given to Christ, or whether they've
always been Christ. Now, to me, that's a no-brainer.
I've always been Christ. I've never been independent of
the Lord Jesus Christ. However old Christ is, that's
how old I am in Him. Do you understand that? No, not
at all. Do you believe it? With all my
heart. Union with the Lord Jesus Christ. One with Him. This is every believer. Wherein, there's the source,
His grace. He, salvations of the Lord, hath,
that means we've already got it, made, this is His making,
us, sinners, who look to Him, accepted in the Beloved. Now, there is only one reason
I'm saved. I could say because God elected
me, because Christ died for me, because God the Holy Spirit gave
me life. There's a lot of things I could say, but ultimately,
when it comes right down to it, there's only one reason I can
say I'm saved. Because I'm eternally united to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only reason, but boy,
what a reason. Any other reason needed? wherein he hath made us accepted
in the beloved. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
word that reveals the word, the beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord, how we thank you that
by your grace, you have made us accepted in the beloved. Lord, take this word and bless
it for Christ's sake. Lord, if someone in this room
has never known you, we ask in Christ's name that you would
be pleased to make yourself known to them, that they may see their
complete acceptance in the beloved and would be able to rejoice
in the freedom, the liberty, the spaciousness of being accepted
in the Beloved. And oh Lord, forgive us of our
sins and give us grace to find all our joy and peace and happiness
being in the Beloved. And Lord, Enable us to walk and
talk and think as those whom you have made accepted in the
Beloved. In the Beloved's name we pray,
Lord, how we know He's beloved to you and He's beloved to us
as our only salvation. We pray in His name. Amen.