Accepted in the Beloved!

I listened to a sermon this morning by Don Fortner on the Scripture in Ephesians 1:6 “to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved”.

Accepted, not acceptable and verse 4 explains to us how God did this wondrous thing. He did this by His grace, the grace that is free, sovereign, eternal, immutable and indestructible and it was BEFORE the foundation of the world. Being accepted in the Beloved declares to us that there is a union with Christ, an eternal union that Christ has with all of His people. This union never changes, never varies, is accomplished by God in eternity, not in time, not by us and is not dependent on our feelings, our deeds or anything else that we might think comes from us. This union is IN Christ and it is for His sake and what God doeth we cannot undo for it is altogether by grace.

Christ is the Beloved Son, our mediator, our surety. Hebrews 7:22 “by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant”; one who steps in the place of another before law. The law cannot touch the one who surety represents and Christ is our eternal surety. God ceased to look for anything from us, He looks to Christ as the Lamb slain, as that, which was done from eternity and we are ‘accepted in the Beloved’.

In Paul’s last letter to his beloved son Timothy, he tells him to be not ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor to be ashamed of Paul himself, a prisoner of the Lord in the affliction of the Gospel. And he reminds him that the Lord “hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” 2 Ti 1:9

No doctrine is sound without this truth or that fails to recognize the believer’s everlasting union with Christ. We are one with Christ from everlasting and that union is now ”made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought to life and immortality to light through the gospel” 2 Ti 1:10

Christ was made manifest by His appearing, just as our union with Him is made manifest ( to make clear to our understanding) to us in time by the results of that everlasting union, the gifts that flow from His grace, our faith and the transformation of our lives. HE brings life and immortality to light and though it was given before time began we experience His grace in time when He brings that light and life to our soul and when we know what He did for us from eternity.

Salvation is a person whom we trust, we know, we seek, we love, we walk with and we believe. We live by trusting and resting in this very person, the Lord Jesus.

Christ is exalted!