"Accepted in the Beloved"
(No. 3429)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1914.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING,
NOVEMBER 19, 1868.
"Accepted in the Beloved." Ephesians 1:6.
I SHALL not attempt to do more than simply bring out the Truth of God
and leave it with you. Fine words and gaudy sentences, with such a text
as this, would be a vain attempt to "paint the lily and gild refined
gold." Let this bell ring and there is a depth of silver sweetness in
it which will make the sanctified ear and heart glad with the fullness
ofjoy. "Accepted in the Beloved."
"The Beloved." We all know to whom this refers. Our Lord is the Beloved
of God. God is Love, and Christ is God. He is One with the Eternal
Father and we can never tell–it were impossible for us to guess–what
love there is between the Father and the Son, in their essential Deity.
Jesus is the Beloved of angels. It is their joy to sing praise unto
"Him who was, and is, and is to come." He is the Beloved of all the
white-robed band who have washed those robes in His blood and who sing,
"Unto Him that has loved us, and washed us from our sins in His blood,
to Him be glory." He is the Beloved of His saints, who are still
wayfaring and warfaring here below. To Him their highest affections
gather. He is dearer to them than all besides, "the chief among ten
thousand, and the altogether lovely." "The Beloved." Not only Beloved,
but, "the Beloved." This is a name for all the saints–"beloved"–for
as John the Divine often writes in his Epistles, "Beloved, now are we
the sons of God." All the family are beloved, but Christ, the Elder
Brother, is "the Beloved." He is especially beloved, the choicest, the
Chief, who in this has the preeminence. How many times did God testify
concerning Him that He was "the Beloved," when He said, "This is my
Beloved Son." These waters of Baptism remind us of the scene on
Jordan's banks, when the Holy Spirit bore witness that He was the
Beloved Son of God. In later life, even in the depths of His
humiliation, the Father testified that this was the Beloved Son. To us,
the saints, He is our Beloved Spouse. We sing of Him, as the song has
it, even "the Song of Songs which is Solomon's," "My Beloved is mine,
and I am His." We delight to think of Him under that title, under which
the Church of God of old addressed Him. He is Beloved in all His
offices to us, Beloved in all His Characters, Beloved in the manger,
Beloved in the shame and spitting, Beloved on the Cross, Beloved on the
Throne! We cannot think of Him without our heart beginning to beat high
and fast–
"He has engrossed my warmest love, No earthly charms my soul can move,
I have a mansion in His heart, Nor death nor Hell can make us part."
Of all the titles that are given to Christ, there may be some that
excel in splendor, and others in sublimity, but surely this is among
the chief for sweetness and expressiveness! It has the finger which
touches our heart strings. "The Beloved."
But now to the text. And the first thing I think I see in the text is
that "the Beloved" is accepted of God. The second thing I see is that
the saints are "in the Beloved." And the third thing, that the saints
are "acceptedin the Beloved." It is clear in the text that "the
Beloved" is–
I. ACCEPTED OF GOD.
It will delight you if you try in meditation to get a hold of this
thought, of how infinitely acceptable Christ must be to God the Father.
All other forms of acceptance must have their limit and boundary–but
the acceptability of the Son of God to the First Person of the Blessed
Trinity must be altogether beyond either bottom or shore!
"The Beloved" must be acceptable to God in His own Person. Is He not
God, Himself, and how should it be that one Person in the Indivisible
Unity should be otherwise than acceptable to the other? He is also Man,
but He is Man born after a wondrous birth. "The Son of the Highest."
The Holy Spirit overshadowed the Virgin Mother. In His Godhead and in
His Manhood, united as Mediator, He stands supreme in His Person. As
Saul was head and shoulders above all the rest of the men of Israel, so
has the Lord "anointed Him with the oil of gladness above His fellows."
Who can be likened to Him in Person? Beauty, where can you draw, if
your fancy shall take all its range, anything that shall be comparable
to Him? Designer of all things, the Most High God, "Wonderful, The
Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of
Peace." What acceptance must there be in such an One as He is to the
Most High God! You know that sometimes, in the sending of ambassadors,
it is well to calculate whether the person chosen to be an ambassador
will be adoptable to the foreign court. Now if he is a man of mean
origin, a man ill-esteemed at home, it will be an insult to send him as
an ambassador to another country. But if he is a man eminent and
distinguished, admirable and admired, a man of high standing with his
own Court, then he is the very person to represent the sovereignty of
his country at another Court. See, then, what kind of Representative we
have to send up to the Father's Courts in Heaven–One who, while He is
"bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh," is, nevertheless, "God over
all, blessed forever." My Soul, what better Ambassador could you have?
To whom could you entrust your concerns one half as well as to One so
inconceivably excellent, so superlatively blessed? He is, then,
acceptable in His Person!
And then, secondly, to God He is equally acceptable in His Character.
God is perfectly pure. He cannot bear the slightest trace of sin–and
Jesus is "holy, harmless, and undefiled, and separate from sinners."
God cannot look upon sin, as it is abhorrent to His Nature, but He can
look upon Christ, for "in Him was no sin." "The prince of this world
comes," says He, "but has nothing on Me." "God is Love," and to be
acceptable with God in Character, one must be full of love. Now Jesus
is such! Was there ever One who had such pity on the ignorant and such
"compassion on those that are out of the way"? Was there ever such a
tender heart elsewhere as that which glowed in the Master's bosom and
gleamed from His loving eyes? He was a mass of love! He was Love
performing and Love suffering. Love made Him live as He did and love
made Him die as He did! And love still pervades His Nature–now that He
lives on high, still loving the sons of men. Since God is Love, then,
and Christ is full of love, His Character is suitable to God. You shall
not find anything in Christ Jesus that does not conform with the
God-like and the Divine. See Him where you will, He is humble, meek and
lowly–but He is still august and sublime. Even when He puts on the
garb of the peasant, "woven from the top throughout," that garment
shrouds the Deity and befits Him better than the purple robe befits
Caesar on the throne! If He distributes alms, or says, "I thirst." If
He is tempest-tossed on the Sea of Galilee, if He rebukes the waves, if
He feels Himself willing to die where man's suffering and weakness is
most apparent, yet there is it most consistent with the Character of
God, for the Centurion, who stood beholding, said, "Certainly this was
the Son of God." There is something congruous in the Nature of Christ
to the Character of God and, therefore, His Character is always
acceptable to the Most High.
Then, my Brothers and Sisters, God loves that which is incorruptible.
Now our Savior was often tried, but He was never corrupted! He was
tempted and bribed with the offer of a kingdom and, again, threatened
with all the wrath of men–but He never started aside for a single
moment from the straight line of integrity! His whole life was so pure,
that although God "charges His angels with folly, and the heavens are
not pure in His sight," yet in Jesus He sees no folly and no
imperfection! He, even suffering as Savior, is pure, infinitely pure
and incorruptible in the sight of God! So, Beloved, the Character of
Christ is altogether acceptable to God, as well as His Person.
We may go a step further and say that the motive of Christ, as well as
His outward Character, must have been infinitely acceptable to God. The
motive of Jesus Christ, in coming here below, was altogether unselfish.
"Though He was rich," and had nothing to gain, "yet for our sakes He
became poor, that we" (not Himself) "through His poverty might be made
rich." It can truly be said of Him, "He saved others. Himself He could
not save." "Being found in fashion as a Man, He humbled Himself and
became obedient unto death." He emptied Himself out for us, and all out
of pure love to those who had no love to Him–out of disinterested
affection to those whose best return is but a feeble thanks, for what
can such poor worms as we ever render at our very best for "love so
amazing, so Divine"? Well does Dr. Watts say in one of our best hymns–
"Words are but air, and tongues but clay, But Your compassion is
Divine."
Savior! You could have no motive to move You but that which is pure,
and high, and lofty! Cleansed from everything like self, Jesus came
that He might honor the Justice of God. He would have man saved, but in
such a way as not to derogate from the Justice of the Most High. He
would have no spots upon God's Law, no slur upon the Divine Character
and, there, as He kneels amidst the olives of Gethsemane, or there, as
He staggers beneath the Cross, or there, as He gives His hands to the
nails and His feet to the cruel iron, He is vindicating the Eternal
Justice and severity of God by His labors, by His griefs and by His
Sacrifice of Himself to death! He must, then, moved by a motive so high
as this, have been infinitely acceptable to Heaven!
He was, then, acceptable in His Person, acceptable in His Character and
acceptable in His inner motive from which that outward Character
sprang! And He was also acceptable in all His work which He did on
Earth. Cast your eyes along that work for a minute. In the first part
of His life that work was active. In the second part and also in the
first, there was a passive work being carried on. There was an active
work of obedience to the Father's will. And what obedience it was!
Never for a moment asking to be excused from a command, or to have a
release from the sacred Sacrifice–it was always work with all His
heart, till He could say, "The zeal of Your house has eaten Me up."–
"Such was Your truth and such Your zeal, Such deference for Your
Father's will. Such love andmeetness so Divine, I would transcribe and
make them mine." The whole life of is the paragon of perfection, the
mirror in which every virtue is reflected! He could not be otherwise
than acceptable to God in the active righteousness of His life. And
when we come to His passive righteousness, what shall
1 say of that? Track Him, my Brothers and Sisters, to the Garden and
hear Him say, "Not as I will, but as You will." Watch Him before
Pilate, when He obeys God by keeping silent, and "like a sheep before
her shearers, He opened not His mouth." Follow Him then, and behold Him
on the Cross and note how careful He is that the Scriptures may be
ful-filled–how still, with whole-hearted consecration, He never starts
back for a moment from the paying of the great ransom price which was
to deliver His people from eternal bondage! There cannot be any doubt
in your minds, but that the blessed Advocate and Surety of our souls
must be accepted before the Lord–in the height, and depth, and length,
and breadth of an acceptance that we can scarcely understand when we
see Him giving up all the floods of His life, pouring them out like
water before the Lord! In Person, in Character, in motive, in work,
Jesus Christ is infinitely accepted!
Now that He was so accepted is not only clearly to be seen by these
reflections, but the fact is proved by this, that the Father raised Him
from the dead! He saw no corruption, but He must have remained in the
tomb, or the work had not been finished. He was "justified in the
Spirit by the Resurrection from the dead." His acceptance of God was
proved when God brought Him from the dead! So, too, His ascending. His
ascending up on high and leading captivity captive proves that He was
accepted! His admission into Heaven proves that He was accepted! His
sitting at the right hand of the Father proves that He has finished the
work! And His present reigning over all the world in His mediatorial
government is the reward of His sufferings–and His Second Advent, for
which we look with devout anticipation–is to be a yet fuller
declaration that He is "the Beloved" of God, and infinitely acceptable
in the Father's sight!
Thus much, a few stirrings, as it were, of the surface of this great
sea touching, as a swallow does, the waves. I have given you but these
few hints. Think them over. And now, and very briefly– II. ALL
BELIEVERS ARE IN CHRIST "ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED."
They are "in the Beloved," then, or in Christ. How are Believers in
Christ? They are in Christ as their Representative. Just as the whole
human race was in the loins of Adam, so the whole elect people were in
the loins of Christ. It is said by the Apostle, "Levi was in the loins
of Abraham when Melchisedec met him." So were all of us in the loins of
Jesus Chr-ist–always there in Him, for is it not written, "He shall
see His seed"? And we are His seed! We spring in our new life from Him.
He is the corn of wheat which was cast into the ground to die, that it
might not abide alone, and now it brings forth much fruit. We are in
Christ as the branch is in the vine, as the stone is in the building.
We are in Christ as the members are in the head. He represents us. When
we talk of counting heads, we mean counting the whole body, so Christ,
the Head, represents all the members and He stands for us. We were in
Christ, Beloved, according to the words of the Holy Spirit–we were in
Christ in our election, "according as He has chosen us in Him." There
is a personal election of every child of God, but that personal
election is connected with Christ–
"Christ is My first elect, He said,
Then chose our souls in Christ our Head."
We were in Christ in the suretyship engagements of the eternal
Covenant. What Christ spoke before the world was, He spoke as for us.
His prescient eye foresaw our existence, foreknew our ruin. He espoused
us unto Himself, then, and stood in the Council Chambers of Eternity,
the Surety and Sponsor of His people's souls!
We are in Christ, according to Scripture, by judicial dealing.That is
to say, God deals with Christ as if He were dealing with us. "Awake, O
sword"–against whom? Against the sinning sheep? No, "against the
Shepherd, against the Man who is My Fellow, says the Lord." "For the
chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are
healed." "All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned,
everyone, to his own way, and the Lord has laid upon Him the iniquity
of us all." In Him in the choice, in Him in the Covenant, and then in
Him in God's dealings with Christ as a Judge!
So now, further, blessed be His name, we are in Him by a vital union.
There is a living unity between Christ and His people, as between the
husband and the wife, as between the branch and the stem. We are one
with Him by vital union. Have you realized this, Believer? Do you seek
to live as one that is one with Jesus? Do you try to act as one that
has learned his unity to the heavenly One, to the Second Adam? It is
so. If you have believed, you are one with Him!
And we are one with Him by a fixed decree of God that never shall be
broken. "Who shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord?" Who shall tear one limb from the sacred body of Jesus?
Who shall cut away one truly quickened branch from that celestial vine?
He preserves those who are in Him! He covers us with His feathers and
under His wings do we trust–His truth is our shield and buckler! You
may divide and you must divide the dearest bonds of earth, but you
shall never cut the knot that was tied in old eternity, which bound
Christ to His people. "I in them, and they in Me, that they may be
perfect in one." There shall never come a time when He will be ashamed
to call them brethren, and never to one of them whom the Father has
given Him shall there come a time when they shall refuse to call Him
Master and Lord. We are "in" Him, then!
Now this is a great mystery. The Apostle always speaks of it as such.
But it is one of the most blessed mysteries in the whole compass of
Revelation. Dear Friend, never forget that God does not deal with you
as an individual–He deals with you as in Christ. If you stood as an
individual, you would perish, for you will be sure to fall. You are so
weak and frail and apt to sin, that with the best resolutions and
intentions, you would be sure to turn aside and, therefore, the blessed
Father has put you in a safer place–He has put you in Christ! And now
your interests are Christ's interests. As I have often told you, you
cannot drown a man's foot unless you can drown his head–and if our
Head is in Heaven, we are safe. And He, our Head, is there! When your
vessel tosses in the storm, you may hear a voice that says, "Fear not,
the boat is safe; you carry Jesus and all His fortune." Christ is one
with His people–they must sink or swim together. Has He not, Himself,
said it, "Because I live, you shall live also"? The saint, then, is
"in" Him. Now we come to the full text, and that is, that–
III. THE SAINTS ARE "ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED."
Their persons are accepted. You know there are some persons that are
not acceptable to you. You would sooner live in Heaven with them,
forever, than you would like to live a quarter of an hour with them on
earth! There are some people of that kind to whom we take a very
natural objection. And I suppose it is not possible, although we would
treat them always with kindness and so on, that we would ever desire
them as companions. They are not acceptable to us. And now it does seem
amazing that we, who have not any personal recommendation, but very
much in us that might render us obnoxious to God, are nevertheless
acceptable in our persons, through Jesus Christ our Lord! Yes, you with
no talents, you with no wealth, no position, no great friends–you who
can do so little when you do your best–you, though the garment you
wear is not of the finest, but of the very lowliest material, are
acceptable to God! God looks not according to the outward appearance,
but He looks to the heart. And whenever He sees a simple trust in
Jesus, which is a token of our being in Jesus, our person is acceptable
to Him because, you see, He does not look at us as we are, but He looks
at us through Christ! He looks through the wounds of Jesus upon us poor
sinners, as a verse of one of our hymns runs–
"He in them the sinner sees, Looks through Jesus' wounds on me."
If one of you were away now in India, and after you had been living
there for years, you saw a person very poor and ragged, who
nevertheless said, "I used to be a servant to your mother," why, it
would bring such recollections of thatcountry homestead and of the dear
old times when you were one of the happy family, that I am sure your
heart would be touched and though there might be no reason whatever in
the person why you should relieve him, yet because of his connection
with that dear name of mother, perhaps in Heaven, you would put your
hand into your purse at once! Now God sees such a connection between us
and Christ that He esteems us for Christ's sake! "My Son loved that
man," He says. "My Son died for that woman. My Son on the tree laid
down His life for that poor, humble, penitent one. I love him for My
Son's sake." Now will you try and get a hold, if you can, by faith,
that sweet thought, that your person–you, you yourself, are accepted
before God in the Beloved this night–and although you cannot accept
yourself, but find much to complain of, yet, still, if you are in
Jesus, you are–
"So near, so very near to God,
You cannot nearer be!
For in the Person of His Son,
You are as near as He.
So dear, so very dear to God,
You cannot dearer be–
The love wherewith He loves His Son,
Such is His love to thee!" "Such is His love to me," you may say.
Now, because the person is accepted, the next thing is our prayers and
praises are "accepted in the Beloved." We sometimes kneel down to pray,
but we cannot pray. Those that use a book and bring God dead prayers
can always be alike, but that which comes from the heart varies–and
there are times with living prayers when the most you can do is to
groan. A sigh, a sob, is the most you can get out. But a mother would
sooner hear her own child sob than another child sing. There is music
about that dear child's voice that moves her heart and touches her
spirit. And so the inward meanings of a broken heart are music in the
ears of the Infinite Jehovah, and He accepts the sincere prayers of His
people, let them be as broken as they may! And as for our praise, well,
we do not always sing our praises–we feel them, we talk them, and when
we do sing them, our voices are not, perhaps, as sweet as we would
desire. Never mind. Our Lord does not judge our hymns by the same tests
as gentlemen of musical tastes would do! He hears the ring of the heart
and if that is right, there may be a false note or two, perhaps, in the
voice, but if the right note is in the heart, the praises are accepted,
and the prayers are, "accepted in the Beloved," for our prayers do not
come up before God as they are. It is with us, as it is with some poor
men. They want to get up a petition. They come, perhaps, to us. They
want us to petition to some great man for some help. "Well, write our
your petition." They bring it. "Oh," we say, "it will never do to send
that–here is this word spelt wrong, that sentence is ungrammatical.
You have not addressed him at all in the right style. Come, I will take
it, and I will make a fair copy of it for you, and send that with my
name appended. It may have some weight." So does Christ do with us. He
takes our poor blotted and blurred prayers and He just re-writes them,
and then He presents them to His Father's Throne. He takes the incense
we bring and puts it into His own golden censor. He puts in the coals
of fire and then, as He swings that censer to and fro in His own
Priesthood before the Throne of God, your prayers and mine, your
praises and mine, smoke like sweet perfume before the Presence of the
Most High, "accepted inthe Beloved."
And, Brothers and Sisters, just so is it with all the work we do for
Christ and all the gifts we bring. It happens on Sunday, perhaps,
sometimes when the bread is bought and the supply got in for the
family, that you have very little to give. "Well, here is a penny for
the Orphanage." You must give God something, you think. You would give
Him more if you could. You only wish you had tens of thousands of
pounds you could give. Well, it is very little, and nobody knows who
gives it, still, it is "accepted in the Beloved." If it is given for
His sake, I tell you that every penny is "accepted in the Beloved."
Does not the Lord say so? The two mites that make a farthing, which
were the widow's living, were so accepted that He could not help
speaking about them–and publishing to all the world in this Book, the
Bible, to be handed down throughout all time–as long as there shall be
a Bible in the Christian Church! The other night you talked with a
little child, or you gave away a tract. You tried to do something–to
lead someone to Christ. Well, that was all "accepted in the Beloved."
You did it with a single eye to God's Glory. You thought you did it
very badly and that therewas much imperfection mingled with it–but
Christ washed it all–and when it was all fair and clean, He presented
it and it was accepted!
And here is a mercy (I will add only one other word to this line of
thought)–the whole life of the Christian, so far as it is the
outgrowth of the life within, is "acceptedin the Beloved." That morning
you awoke, when the heart rose up in prayer for keeping during the day.
That bended knee at the bedside, when the soul commits itself to the
Father of Spirits. That family gathering, when the prayer is offered
that the household may be kept during the day. That blessing at the
eating of bread. That thankful heart to God, when the morning's meal is
finished. Those brief sudden prayers during the business of the day.
That word put in for Christ when the conversation ran the other way.
That thankful return home at night. That evening prayer. That lifting
up of the soul to God in thankfulness to carry you through another
day–all that, the humblest part of it, was all "accepted in the
Beloved." Brothers and Sisters, it is very, very delightful to think
that if I preach a sermon for Christ it is accepted, but I want you to
think that if you housewives are about the house, doing your business
there for your husband and children, you are as much accepted there as
I am when I am preaching! That Prayer Meeting was very acceptable. Yes,
and I know how acceptable it was when you sat up that night with a sick
man. It was done for Jesus' sake. The man who addresses thousands is
accepted, but he that sits down and talks, even to a little child, is
just as much accepted, and accepted in the same way, too, for it is
only "in the Beloved" that either the big or the little can be at all!
The bullock was offered and God accepted it. The kid was offered and
God accepted that. And the reason was because they were both put upon
the same altar, and both burnt with the same fire. Christ is the Altar,
and Christ the Fire–and so our sacrifices are "accepted in the
Beloved."
I think these words were the favorite words of that dear man of God,
Mr. Harrington Evans, "Accepted in the Beloved." He used to often
repeat them in his sermons and, if I remember rightly, when he was
dying and his deacons needed a message to be given to the Church, to
let them know what was the state of mind of their pastor at the time of
death, he said, "Go and tell them I am accepted in the Beloved." Oh,
dear Hearer can you say this? There is more eloquence in these words
than in all the eloquence of Demosthenes, or in all the glowing periods
of Caesar! To say, "I am accepted in the Beloved," is better than to be
able to say, "I am the owner of the Indies, or the possessor of the
world." "Accepted in the Beloved." Remember, there is many a religious
person who is not "accepted in the Beloved," for the moralists, the
religionists that like not Christ, are not accepted! They pray, and
they read the Scriptures, and they attend their place of worship. They
are baptized–they come to the altar–but it is all nothing if they do
not come to Christ! All these things are nothing to any of them if they
are not in Christ. We hold that we should baptize none but those who
profess their belief in Christ. And it seems to us that apart from a
saving faith in Christ, it is a mere mockery–and if given to children,
or even to an unconverted person–it is more likely to make them think
there is efficacy in the sacrament than to do them any kind of good.
Thus we would have you touch nothing at the Lord's Table until you have
first come to Jesus. Then the Baptism–and then the Lord's Table will
be profitable helps to you in remembering Christ, and you will be
accepted in them, "in the Beloved." But you must get "in" Him first,
for Baptism is nothing, and the Lord's Supper nothing, without Christ!
First, you must get the Substance, and then the shadow will follow. And
these things are only shadows–they only set forth the Substance! And
if any come to the shadow, tonight, who have not got the Substance,
they have no business to come and on their heads will be the guilt. We
must first be in Him. Whether you are an open sinner or outwardly
moral, remember you are not accepted, otherwise, for it is not your
conduct, not your outward life that will do apart from Christ. It is
union to Christ–and faith brings us that! A simple trust in Jesus, and
we are "in" Jesus and "accepted in" Jesus! But without that, we are
"without Christ, without hope, and alien from the commonwealth of
Israel."
The Lord bless this simple meditation to His people, and His shall be
the praise forever! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: EPHESIANS1; 2:1.
Verses 1, 2. 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:
Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus
Christ. He wishes them Divine Grace, first, and peace afterwards, which
is the right and natural order. There is no lasting peace without
Grace.
There is no peace worth having which does not spring from a work of
Grace in the soul. "Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father, and
from the Lord Jesus Christ."
3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ How dear the
Father is when we view Him in association with the Redeemer. Never do
the saints seem to delight so much in God as when they behold Him in
the Person of Jesus Christ. Then is He inexpressibly lovely to us and
we preach Him with joy and delight. "Blessed be the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ."
3. Who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ "Blessed," says he, "be God, who has blessed us." Well may we
bless Him with our feeble thanks who has blest us with His mighty
mercies! Nothing makes a man bless God like God's blessing him! "He has
blessed us," says the Apostle, "with all spiritual blessings." The
children of God have not only some blessings, but all they need! They
are all theirs– for all time and for all eternity–but they are all in
Christ. There is no blessing out of Christ. All the fullness of
blessing dwells in Jesus and in Him only! And if you would be blessed,
you must come to Christ for a blessing. He has "blest us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ."
4. According as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. The
first great blessing of the Covenant of Grace is our election. We were
chosen, but chosen in Christ–chosen not because we were holy, but
chosen that we should be holy! The great objective of the Divine choice
is our holiness. And let no man say that He is chosen of God unless God
is working in Him to this Divine end, namely, holiness of character!
5. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.After
election comes adoption. Men are not by nature the children of
God–they are heirs of wrath. And this is very clear because a man
never adopts his own children. But adoption in itself proves that by
nature we are not the children of God–He adopts us. "Then are you
begotten again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead." Happy they who know the adoption–who feel in
themselves the spirit of children and can cry, "Abba, Father," as they
look up to God tonight! This is in Christ Jesus, for nothing comes to
us except by Him.
6. To the praise of the glory of His Grace, wherein He has made us
accepted in the beloved. Christ is so acceptable to God that that
acceptance is sufficient to spread over all those who are in Him. And
tonight every Believer here is accepted before God, but it is through
Jesus Christ. Do notice that! Nothing comes but by that silver pipe.
"He has made us accepted in the Beloved."
7. In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of His Grace. Redemption by Christ,
forgiveness by Christ, still everything through the Crucified! Those
dear wounds of His are the five sacred founts from which a world of
blessing flows to bless poor needy sinners. Well may we say, "None but
Christ," for, indeed, there is none but Christ who can bless us!
8-10. Wherein He has abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence.
Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His
good pleasure which He has purposed in Himself: That in the
dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one,
all things in Christ, both which are in Heaven, and which are on earth:
even in Him. All the things that are in Christ are to be gathered
together–believing Jews no longer to be divided from believing
Gentiles. Today the Church of God is separated–disfigured and weakened
by divers sects and parties, but it shall not be always so. There is a
gathering under the Christ and He will, in the fullness of time,
perfectly accomplish it.
11, 12. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being
predestinated according to the purpose of Him who works all things
after the counsel of His own will: That we should be to the praise of
His glory, who first trusted in Christ Some people are dreadfully
frightened at that word, "predestination." I am always astonished when
members of the Church of England are so, for if they will turn to their
own Articles, they will find that the high and comfortable Doctrine of
Predestination is taught there. It is to be wisely handled, but it is
not to be gagged and sent into a corner, as it is by some. Are there
Truths in Scripture that are not to be taught? If any say so, then I
charge them with being like the Jesuit who hides a part of what he
believes! No, the whole of God's Truth is to be declared, and whatever
we find in this Book, that are we to state! The keeping back of
precious Truths of God will be required of such as are guilty of it at
the Last Great Day.
13-23; Chapter 2:1. In whom you also trusted, after that you heard the
word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that
you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, Which
is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession, unto the praise of His glory. Therefore I also, after I
heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints,
cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give
unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him:
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know
what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of
His inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of
His power to us who believe, according to the working of His mighty
power Which He worked in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and
set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places. Far above all
principality, and power and might and dominion, and every name that is
named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. And
has put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the Head over all
things to the Church, Which is His body, the fullness of Him that fills
all in all And you has He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and
sins. So that what He did for Christ, He has done for you! He raised
Him and He has raised you. And having begun thus to quicken you, He
will go on to lift you up and to exalt you till you sit with Him upon
His Throne!
The only question, dear Friends, is this–Do we belong to those of whom
Paul here speaks? We look to the first verse to see who they are and we
find he is addressing the faithful in Christ Jesus. That is, those who
are believing in Christ Jesus. If we are believing in Him, then all the
privileges which are mentioned in this Chapter belong to us and we are
quickened–and we shall be exalted even as Christ is, at the Father's
right hand! So be it, gracious Lord!