Accepted In The Beloved

Man.

Oh, thank you, Brother Mike.

And I thank the praise team.

We had a little technical difficulties, but we made it through it, and that's good.

Praise the Lord.

I'm going to put my water down here.

If I put it down here, I probably will never get it again.

That's a long ways down there, I'll tell you what.

Take your Bible, if you will, and turn with me to the book of Ephesians, Ephesians chapter number one.

So good to have my grandchildren with us here, Lila and Melody.

They have come to make sure I preach the truth.

And I appreciate that.

Appreciate them.

It's good to see each of you here.

I plan on preaching an hour and a half today so Major can suffer back with the children's church.

Actually, he's got it easy, because I usually finish up pretty quickly.

Ephesians chapter 1.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

Let me begin with a story that I want to tell you, because it's a story about something very amazing.

A little boy came out of Sunday school.

He was a third grader.

And his daddy asked, what so often parents asked, What did you learn in Sunday school?

And the little boy looked at dad and says, I learned about how that the Egyptians were chasing the Israelites and the Israelites were against the Red Sea.

And the Egyptians, they had machine guns, and they were shooting at them, and they were throwing grenades at the Israelites, and they had rocket launchers, poof, and they had just tanks and they were chasing the Israelites.

And the Israelites were up against the Red Sea, but all of a sudden jets came out of nowhere and began to shoot at the Egyptians across there.

And the little boy was excited about all this.

And he says, and Dad, that gave Moses enough time to make a pontoon bridge and go across the Red Sea in a pontoon bridge.

And Dad looked at that little boy and said, Son, is that what you really learned in Sunday school?

He said, No, Dad, but if I told you what really happened, you'd never believe it.

It's so amazing.

There's so many amazing things in the Word of God.

And I want to share with you something that I caught hold of this past week.

Actually, it's been a couple of weeks.

That's totally amazing.

And that's this, folks.

You're accepted in the beloved.

Let's begin reading in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 1, says Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 1:1

Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, according to as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, without blame, before him, in him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoptions of the children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to his good pleasure, the good pleasure of his will.

Now, verse six is what I want to focus on to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Now your modern translations will say he's made us blessed in the beloved.

They're both correct.

The Greek word is only used two times in your Bible.

It's used here, and it's also used over in Luke chapter 1, where the angel comes to Mary and says to her, Thou art highly favored.

Luke 1 · chapter mention

That's the same Greek word.

It means we're highly favored.

We've been accepted.

I like the word accepted.

One is I'm an old-fashioned King James person, but folks, that's just me.

But I like the word accepted because it gives you a sense of being a part of something.

And being accepted in the beloved is an amazing thing.

I become a part of Christ because of what Christ has done.

You know, everybody wants to be accepted in some way or some fashion.

That's just very common.

It's what we're we're made of.

We're social people.

I mean, the number one reason why young people join gangs in the inner city is so they might have a family unit or a place where they're accepted.

There's all kinds of lodges and uh organizations that you can join.

My grandfather was a member of the Moose Lodge.

I understand there's such a thing as the Elk Lodge.

There's even a lodge called Oddfellow.

Now, how would you like that?

You come up, shake somebody's hand, and they say, I'm an Oddfellow.

Whoa, baby, just step back.

I'm just a normal person here.

Oddfellow.

There's all kinds, but people join these things because they want to be accepted and part of a group.

Accepted.

All of us want to be accepted.

You and I are accepted in the beloved if we have faith in Jesus Christ.

That's why I asked the uh praise team to sing the song, Thou Good and Gracious King.

I love that song.

I mean, it has such good words.

It's number one on my Spotify list, by the way.

It says in the first statement, I approach the throne of glory, nothing in my hands I bring.

That is so accurate.

But the promise of acceptance from a good and gracious king.

Let's look at this truth found in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 6.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

Notice, first of all, with me the place of acceptance.

The place of acceptance.

It says simply this.

Look at it.

It says, He hath made us accepted in the beloved, in the beloved.

You know, Jesus Christ is God's beloved.

He's the Father's beloved.

You remember when Jesus came to John in the Jordan River and he was wanted to be baptized by John?

John said, wait a minute, you need to baptize me.

But Jesus said, No, you baptize me to fulfill the law.

And so John the Baptist takes Jesus and places him under the water and baptizes him.

And as he comes out, what do we hear the Father saying from heaven?

This is my beloved son, in whom I'm well pleased.

My beloved son.

Remember at the Mount of Transfiguration, we see it again.

There the apostles, uh Peter, James, and John, they're with Jesus, and all of a sudden he becomes this shining light.

And uh and a great cloud encompassed them.

And the voice from heaven said, This is my beloved son, in whom I'm well pleased.

Hear ye him.

Jesus is the beloved.

And notice it says that we're accepted in the beloved.

That means we're accepted in Jesus Christ.

And because we're accepted in Jesus Christ, Paul later wrote to the church at Rome and said this as he was introducing the letter.

He says in Romans chapter 1 and verse 7, it says, uh, that to all that are in Rome, beloved of God.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

We're beloved of God.

You'll notice the verse behind us.

Oh, what a great verse.

Romans chapter um uh oh excuse me, John chapter 17 and verse 23.

John 17 · chapter mention

He says, I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one.

Uh, the Father and the Son, they're one.

And that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them.

Now notice this, as thou has loved me.

Oh, how we need to ponder that for a moment.

You and I are loved of God.

Listen to this, don't miss this.

If you're about to fall asleep, wake up before a few moments and then you can go back to sleep.

Uh, God the Father loves me, loves me as much as he loves God the Son.

Let that sink in.

God the Father loves me as much as he loves God the Son.

Why?

Because I'm in the beloved.

I'm in the beloved.

What a great truth.

So dear, so very dear to God.

More dear I cannot be.

The love wherewith he loves his son, such is his love for me.

So near, so very near to God, nearer I could not be.

For in the person of his son, I'm as near as he.

God loves me as much as he loves his son.

Because I'm in his son.

That's what it means to be accepted in the beloved.

You're in Christ Jesus if you've trusted Christ.

The place of acceptance in the beloved.

Notice with me the second thing, though, the price of acceptance.

Look at your Bible, if you will.

You're in Ephesians chapter 1.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

Notice what it says in verse 7: in whom we have redemption through his blood.

Redemption through his blood, and the forgiveness of sin according to the riches of his grace.

We have redemption through his son.

That word redemption carries the idea of paying a price to free somebody.

It was used in the old world, ancient world, an individual would have a slave or be a man would be on the slave block, and a person would buy him, pay the price for him, and when he was bought by him, individual would hand him his papers of freedom.

He'd be free.

Well, a young man by the name of Victor Li Zhao Ku was the son of the richest man in Hong Kong.

And a gangster by the name of Chu Chin Kei, I'm trying, guys, kidnapped Victor Victor Lee.

And this ransom price was$134 million.

100.

You know what dad did?

Dad went to his personal bank account, drew out$134 million, and paid so his son would be set free.

That's what this word means.

But it cost Jesus a lot more than$134 million.

It cost Jesus his life.

He was, notice it says, here, verse 7 again, in whom we have redemption through what, folks?

His blood.

His blood.

Leviticus 17, verse 11 says, For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I've given it to the uh to you upon the altar to make atonement for your soul.

Leviticus 17:11

The life of the flesh is in the blood.

When we talk about Jesus shedding his blood, we mean his blood, folks.

We're not taking that away, but it means he gave his life.

He gave everything, his whole life for you and I.

Now, I want to take a little rabbit trail.

I love rabbit trails, a theological rabbit trail.

I want you to understand how this works.

When Jesus died on the cross for you, when he died on the cross for me, he died for the sins of the whole world.

Look at these two verses.

Look at that.

The whole world.

When Jesus died on the cross, every sin that ever was committed was dealt with there when he cried out, Eli, Eli, Lama, Sabbathani, and he gave up the spirit of God.

He gave up his spirit.

He literally died for the sins of the whole world.

Hebrews 2 9 says, But we see Jesus who is made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man.

Not just a few, but every man.

He tasted death so that every single human being that would ever come upon this earth would put faith in Jesus Christ.

They would have eternal life.

So you ask the question then, preacher, is everybody the accepted and the beloved?

And the answer is no.

See, the Bible also says we have to take what Jesus did and shed his blood for the world and personally apply it to our own lives.

It's a personal thing.

That's why I love John chapter 1 and verse 12, where it says, But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.

John 1 · chapter mention

The word receive there is an interesting word.

It's lambano in the Greek.

It means to take into hand, it means to grab hold.

It means to receive with a sense of urgency.

In fact, it means to take hold and bring it to yourself.

And when we receive Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross and we take it to ourselves, at that moment, what He did at Calvary and purged the sins of the entire world now is personally applied to you individually.

And thus, as a result of that, you have eternal life.

You are brought into the beloved.

There you are.

And now, as a result of your faith in Christ and brought into the beloved, God loves you as much as he loves his son.

Because when he sees you, he sees his son.

You're in the beloved, in the beloved.

The place of acceptance, Jesus Christ.

The price of acceptance, the cross.

Notice last, uh a third thing, not last, don't get your hopes up.

Uh, not last, but uh a third thing, the profit of acceptance.

The profit of acceptance.

See, I I don't doubt, I don't think that any of us doubt that it's valuable to be accepted in the beloved, but let's notice just how that is comes out in our personal life.

Because we're accepted in the beloved, now we can live confidently.

Yes, confidently.

You don't, first of all, you you can be confident that you're right with God.

You're right with God.

Romans 8:1 says, There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:1

There's no judgment there.

Some years ago, my wife and I joined uh uh uh uh athletic, I don't know what to call it.

It's called Planet Fitness.

That's how I look at me, it's how buff and how fit I am.

I was part of Planet Fitness.

And on the wall they have this these words, no judgment zone.

Well, I don't know exactly what they mean by that, but child of God, if you know Christ as your Savior, there is a no condemnation zone.

You're no longer condemned.

Praise God.

I'll never stand in the presence of my heavenly father and be judged for my sins.

Jesus was judged for my sins at Calvary, and I've accepted that.

And I'm in the beloved.

Ah, what a great truth.

I I am confident, you know, God's God's not gonna throw you under the bus.

And that's not true for us.

A few weeks ago, I was doing some work in the yard, taking stuff from the garage to a little out building that we have, and uh, was trying to organize things, and I used the lawnmower, the riding lawnmower, the tractor, and Tim has purchased a little wagon that you put behind it, so I'd load stuff in that so I didn't have to carry it out there, and I'd get on that tractor, and that was fun.

Go over, park, unload it, go back, took another load, come back, third load.

I came, went to turn it off, and it kept making this sound.

Well, I didn't know what that was.

And uh I said, Oh, it sounds like something's stuck.

I mean, uh the solenoid must be stuck.

So I took a hammer and began pounding on stuff.

Didn't quit.

Melody was in the swing right next to me.

She wasn't helping at all, by the way.

And it finally it began to smoke.

And the wires from the from the uh solenoid clear up to the starter just begin to melt, and there's smoke bellowing out of it.

And Melody says, What's going on, Papa?

I don't know what's going on.

Actually, this is the true saying.

I wouldn't turn off.

There's something wrong with this.

And finally, the the the uh battery, the the uh wires to the the from the battery to the solenoid began to melt, and there was smoke buildering everywhere.

Oh, I'm gonna have to tell my son.

Then I burned up the lawnmower.

That that was discouraging.

I was waiting for the perfect time.

The perfect I was gonna catch my son just at the perfect time.

And uh, because you know, dad makes a lot of mistakes, it seems like.

And uh I was gonna give, but I didn't have the perfect time.

Apparently, as soon as he got home, my granddaughter, yes, flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone.

I mean my soul.

She was my granddaughter, the child of my old age.

She said, Dad asked her, How'd your day go?

Fine.

Papa burned start the got the start the burned up the lawnmower.

I didn't get a chance to tell my son.

She threw me under the bus.

God will never throw you under the bus, friends.

You're accepted in the beloved.

As long as you're in Christ.

As long as you're in Christ.

And we will always be in Christ if you have trusted in a savior.

Oh, that's the second thing about being confident is that I have eternal security.

I'm saved for all of eternity.

Isn't that a glorious truth?

It's not because of me, but it's because I have been placed in the beloved.

Taken, if you have your Bible, turn to John chapter, John chapter 10.

John 10 · chapter mention

Uh we haven't been looking at too many verses.

They're mostly coming up on the screen, but let's look at John chapter 10 for just a second with me.

John 10 · chapter mention

John chapter 10.

John 10 · chapter mention

What a great passage.

John 10, and we're going to pick up in verse 27.

I'll give you a second to find that.

If you're using a device, however, you scroll down, uh, you have your Bible, turn to it in the pages.

It's an important verse.

I'll give you a second to find it.

John chapter 10 and verse 27 says, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

John 10 · chapter mention

Isn't that awesome?

He knows me.

I'm in the beloved.

I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.

Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

I'm in the beloved, and nobody or anything.

By the way, it doesn't mean, notice if you will.

It says if that no man, that man's in italics in the King James Bible, I think it's true in most Bibles.

That's not in the original.

It says, no, no, no one, nothing can possibly pluck them out of my hand.

Uh notice in verse 29, my Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand.

I and my father are one.

I'm secure in Jesus Christ.

That's the confidence that I have.

The place of acceptance in Christ.

The price, the cross.

The profit, confidence.

But now let me change the wording a little bit.

The practice of the accepted.

The practice of the accepted.

Let's go back to Ephesians chapter 1.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

Back to Ephesians chapter 1.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

Verse number 4.

I want to look at verse number 4.

Notice what it says.

Ephesians chapter 1 and verse number 4.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

It says this, according to he as he hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy without blame before him in love.

Do you see that?

Because I'm accepted in the beloved, something automatically happens to me.

I want to be what the beloved wants me to be.

And the first thing the beloved wants you and I to be is to be holy.

That word simply means separated, set apart.

He wants us to be set apart for his glory.

1 Peter 1 and verse 15 says, But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation or all manner of lifestyle, all manner of your living.

Then he goes on to say, because It is written, be holy, for I'm holy.

Because the beloved is holy and you're in the beloved, you ought to and should definitely try to live a holy life, a life that's separated from the world.

Now we could go all sorts of directions there, but for just just just in your own mind, think of this.

Anything that is not done for the glory of God, that is not pleasing to God, anything that is is you're consumed to your own self without regards to God's word is probably worldly.

1 John 2 and verse 15 says, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.

If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, and is not of the Father, but of the world.

The world has nothing to offer to God.

And because I'm in the beloved, I ought to strive to live like the beloved wants me to live.

And that brings me to the next word in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 4.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

He not only says that I should be holy and without blame.

Now there's a word.

The word without blame is a reference to how I respond to other people, how I relate to you as an individual human being.

I need to be able to live in such a way that I could share Christ with you.

I say this, and you've heard me say it many times.

I ought to live in such a way and have a conversation in such a way and treat people in such a way that if I was to walk away from them and five minutes later the Lord laid on my heart to go back and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them, I could do so, and they could find no fault in my actions.

See, this can go uh all sorts of ways.

They can turn to first, I mean to Titus chapter 3.

Titus 3 · chapter mention

Well, it should come up on the screen, I believe.

Is it there?

If not, Titus chapter.

There it is.

Praise the Lord.

Titus chapter 3.

Titus 3 · chapter mention

Look at that verse.

This is the ESV.

I chose the ESV here because it seems to make it so clear.

Titus is in a little island called Creek.

Paul is writing him.

He's trying to help him, help the people of Creek, the Christians at Creek, to live a way that's going to be godly, a way that's going to be pleasing to the Lord.

And he comes to chapter 3 and verse 1, and he says, Remind them, remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities.

That's good advice, by the way.

To be obedient, to be ready for every good work.

That's really important.

Our life ought to be a life that's filled with good works.

Now, watch what he says.

By the way, I learned this.

We reviewed this in our Sunday school class.

Gordon's our Sunday school teacher.

And by the way, if you're looking for a good Sunday school class, I can point you to one of the best Sunday school classes.

Gordon is in charge of it, oversees it.

It's the class with no name.

We don't have a name.

We're working on that.

The class with no name.

But it's it's a great class, it just has no name.

Uh but notice at verse two, look at verse two up there.

It says, To speak evil of no one, child of God, we need to be careful how we use our words.

That's with each other.

By the way, that's also with Facebook, TikTok, X.

What's I'm missing some.

Help me.

Instagram.

Thank you.

Thank you, Aaron.

We need to be careful how we use our words.

Speak evil of no man, avoid quarreling.

Hmm.

To be gentle.

And I love this last one.

Show perfect courtesy towards all.

Does not matter who you meet or when you meet them.

When you go out uh to lunch this this this this afternoon, and according to that clock, we're gonna get to lunch early.

And uh yeah uh yeah and you have a waiter or a waitress, and maybe they're having a bad day.

Maybe you're not getting things exactly the way you want.

Why not step back and be a child of the living king and act like you're in the beloved and treat that person with great courtesy and encourage them.

But there's a last thing I want you to see, and I'll just touch on it in verse 4.

Look at what it says.

Be without blame before him in love.

Your life, my life, ought to be lived passionately.

We ought to have a passion for our Christianity.

We ought to have a passion for our church and the ministry that you're involved with.

We ought to have a passion so that people see that there is something there that I just simply love what I'm doing.

I love preaching, by the way.

Scares me a little bit, but I love preaching, I enjoy it.

Folks, you're in the beloved.

Let's go back and think as I close out.

You're loved of God as much as God loves his son.

You're loved of God as much as God loved his son.

Not because you're special or super righteous or anything, because you're in the beloved, so dear, so very dear to God.

More dear I cannot be.

The love wherewith he loves his son, such is his love for me.

So near, so very near to God, nearer I could not be.

For in the person of his son, I'm as near as he.

The question we have to ask ourselves today: are you in the beloved?

Have you come to a point in your life where you realize that you can't save yourself?

You cannot in any way, you cannot in any way have enough righteousness to stand in the presence of a holy God.

You need to simply trust the one who shed his blood for all the sins of the world.

Receive him.

Lambano, reach out and grasp him and take him to yourself.

Experience the salvation that he'll give you.

Maybe you are here and you know that.

You're truly saved.

I believe that's true for most people I'm looking at right now.

If that's the case, then you need to choose to say, I'm gonna endeavor with all my being, with the help of the Holy Spirit of God, to live holy and blameless with a passion for God in this present world.

Father, thank you for our time together as we looked at this great truth, an amazing truth, almost a startling truth, to be accepted in the beloved.