“HE
HATH MADE US ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED”
Ephesians
1:6
The
believer’s acceptance in Christ is the work of God alone. Grace is stamped upon
the whole thing. From beginning to end, the work of our acceptance is God’s
operation. Ephesians 1:6 echoes Jonah 2:9, declaring that which is the
universal testimony of Holy Scripture: “Salvation
is of the Lord!” Our being in Christ and accepted in Christ must be the
work of God alone because no one else existed when it was done. It is a work
finished from eternity!
God the Father put us in Christ, the
Beloved, by his sovereign decree because of his everlasting love for us.
All who believe on Christ in time were put in Christ in eternity by the choice
and decree of God. Our names were written with his in the Lamb’s Book of Life before the foundation of the world
(Rev. 13:8). The Father put us into the hands of his Son, trusting him (Eph.
1:12) for our everlasting salvation, as sheep are put into the hands of a
shepherd (John 6:37-40). Just as the shepherd is responsible for the sheep
trusted to his care, so the Lord Jesus Christ voluntarily became responsible
for the salvation of his sheep in the covenant of grace. And the Father put us
in the loins of his Son, making him our Representative before him in all
things.
God the Son made us acceptable and accepted.
The Lord Jesus Christ came into this world in human flesh to fulfill all the
will of God and glorify his Father in the salvation of his people (Matt. 1:21;
Heb. 10:5-14). By his obedience to the Father as a man in the life that he
lived, the Son of God fulfilled all righteousness, magnified the law, and made
it honorable as our Representative. We could never do that ourselves; but we
have done it perfectly in Christ. By his obedience in death, our glorious Surety
paid the debt of our sins to the full satisfaction of divine justice, the debt
we could never pay. Yet, because he is our Surety, his payment was our payment.
Thus, in him every believing sinner has perfectly fulfilled all the law of God.
Now, believing on him, by our faith in Christ, we establish the law (Rom.
3:31).
God the Holy Spirit made our
acceptance manifest to us. He does not make us
more acceptable to God. He adds nothing to the work of Christ. He simply
applies the work of Christ to the hearts of chosen sinners by his almighty,
irresistible grace, bringing life and immortality to light through the gospel
(II Tim. 1:10). In sovereign regeneration, he gave us life in Christ by virtue
of our everlasting union with him. He created faith in our hearts, giving us a
blessed manifestation and assurance of our eternal union with and acceptance in
the Son of God by giving us faith in him.
If
this day you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord God has made you “ACCEPTED
IN THE BELOVED.” Your faith in Christ is the gift of his grace, the
fruit of being “accepted in the beloved.”
Your faith in him is the evidence of your being “accepted in the beloved.” Your faith in Christ is the assurance of
your being “accepted in the beloved.” To
God be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Grace Baptist Church of Danville - Grace For
Today Radio Message #660
2734 Old Stanford Road -
Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438
Donald S. Fortner, Pastor -Telephone 606-236-8235 - Email grace@mis.net