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ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED"To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us
accepted in the beloved”
Ephesians 1:6
Pastor Ken Wimer
Shreveport Grace Church 2970 Baird Road Shreveport, LA 71118
The popular teaching of our day is that the sinner must accept Jesus as his personal savior in order to be accepted of God. This puts Christ in the sinner’s hands, whereas the Bible puts the sinner in Christ’s hands, and declares that our acceptance with God is entirely by His grace, wherein ‘HE hath made us accepted [graced, highly favored] in the Beloved (the Son of God, the Lord Jesus).’ Stop
and ask yourself how could it ever be that an absolutely Holy God, before
whom the moon and stars are not even pure in His sight, (Job 25:5), can
receive sinners, much less be in fellowship with them? Nevertheless, God,
in His inspired word declares the He indeed has made sinners accepted (not
just acceptable) in His Beloved Son. What then are the criteria
for being accepted? Read Ephesians 1: 3-14 and you will find that
they are:
§
Those
whom God the Father chose in Christ, according to His own will and
purpose, before the creation of the world, v. 4.
§
They
are those whom He has eternally loved and predestinated to Himself as
adopted children by Jesus Christ, v. 5
§
They
are those whom the Lord Jesus Christ redeemed by His death on the cross,
and thereby once for all put away their sins, thereby forgiving them all
their sin and justifying them because of His perfect sacrifice, v.7 with
Romans 3:24.
§
They
are those to whom God has granted faith, by His Spirit, to believe Christ
and rest in His finished work upon hearing the truth as it is set forth in
the Gospel, v. 13.
§ They are those who have been sealed by the Holy Spirit in Christ and kept in Him, insuring them their complete and final salvation, having been purchased by His death already, v. 14. This was all done for them to the praise and the glory of God's grace. He who does all things after the counsel of His own will accomplished this for them, v. 11. To helpless sinners this is truly Good News!
AMEN.
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