The threefold acceptance of believers in relation to God, drawing from Leviticus 1, Ephesians 1, and 2 Corinthians 5. It begins by examining the Old Testament concept of acceptance through substitution and sacrifice, highlighting the burnt offering as a picture of Christ's perfection. Then, it transitions to the New Testament, emphasizing acceptance in the Beloved through God's grace, irrespective of personal performance. Finally, it discusses acceptance as a servant, which is linked to our labor and will be evaluated at the judgment seat of Christ, contrasting our absolute standing with our relative state. The message concludes by urging believers to understand their acceptance in Christ, which is based on His finished work and His person, leading to spiritual sacrifices of praise and giving.
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Now I might say we appreciate the privilege of being back again in Atlantic to minister God's word to you. And our sincere prayer is that whatever contribution we make to the conference will be a valued one, honed of the Lord, and made a blessing to your heart. I'll tell you what's on my mind before I open my Bible, and then perhaps you'll have a keener appreciation of what we might have to say. And that is, I want to speak to you on the threefold acceptance of the believer in relation to the Lord. For our first scripture, we'll go to the Old Testament and read in the book of Leviticus chapter one.
It's usually called a dry book, the book of Leviticus, but there are some very precious truths in this book. Leviticus chapter one. and reading verse one. And the Lord called unto Moses and speak unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock. If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a mail without blemish.
He shall offer it at his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord, and he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering. Now notice. And it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. Now shall we come over into the New Testament and read something that's more familiar. Turning to the Epistle, to the Ephesians, chapter one, we'll read a verse there. Ephesians, chapter one. Let's read it verse three.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings. in heavenly places in Christ. According as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him. And perhaps the verse would end there, and the last two verses tie in with verse five, in love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself. according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Now while your Bible is opened at this portion I would point out to you the word grace that's used in verse six. The grace that is associated with our acceptance in the beloved. Now turn back in your Bible to the second epistle to the Corinthians chapter five and we read a few verses here. Second Corinthians chapter five and perhaps we could read verse six. Therefore we are always confident knowing that whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.
For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labor that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. Now, in this verse that we've just read, I would like to point out to you the word labor. translated sometimes endeavour, sometimes ambition. But what a contrast between this and Ephesians chapter one. Here our acceptance is linked to labour. But in Ephesians chapter one it is linked to grace.
I believe the Spirit of God has been very careful in the choice of his words. Now when I put these three references together... I think we, to make it simple, we might say something like this. In the first one, we have an acceptance for us. In the second one, we have an acceptance, I should say, in the moral order, we have an acceptance in him, Ephesians chapter one. But then in second Corinthians chapter five, we have an acceptance too. So that we would say, here is an acceptance. It carries us back into the past, reminds us of our conversion.
The next one brings us into the present, and we delight to think that we are accepted in him. I don't know if I could say truthfully, we look forward to the judgment seat of Christ. Perhaps we do. I would understand it and have sympathy with you if you said you did not. For there I'm going to find out how much I was accepted to him. Now in the first one it's my acceptance as a sinner. In the second one it's my acceptance as a saint. In the third one it's my acceptance as a servant. In the first one I'm standing before the cross.
In the second one I'm standing before his throne. But in the third one, I'm at the judgment seat of Christ. In the first one, the underlying thought is that of substitution. He has taken my place, and in him I have been accepted. In the second one, it's my standing. Now, I didn't say state. My standing and my state could be adherent. But when I think of my standing, it is absolute, as we'll mention in a moment or two, and this is my standing.
I don't like to say it, but I must say it because it's true, irrespective of how badly I might live. I hesitate to say that, because someone may think, well, then it doesn't matter. No, it does not affect your standing. But at the judgment seat of Christ, you will find it has badly affected your state. You appreciate that. Now then, when we come to the third one, it is a question of my service. I only notice of sitting on my seat there this morning, as I was checking my Bible, the use of the two words, grace.
My standing is related to grace. My service is largely related to my labor. In other words, I shall have from the Lord just what I deserve. Had I received my desert such as a sinner, I would have been banished from His presence for all eternity. Some of you may appreciate that we said a little word as to the differences between Christian our standing and state. And I might say that my standing is Christian experience. Are you a Christian? This is your experience. But when we come to think of my state, then it's the experience of a Christian.
Now, I know some of you don't see a difference. At least I would think possibly you don't. But there is a difference. Are you a Christian? Your experience is you have a standing before God. Are you a Christian? Tell me, what's your experience in the matter of your service? Because your experience of a Christian may be a different experience of mine, but when it comes to general, the Christian experience we all are the same. So that the first one is absolute. The second one is relative. The first one is absolute and cannot be changed.
Cannot be altered. There's no subtraction. There's no addition. But in the relative, it may be good. It may be bad. It may be middling. Now, I hope you appreciate that. Let me say it again. No matter how badly you live, you haven't affected your standing. Where your standing is in Christ. Well, at the judgment seat of Christ, then it will all come out, and you and I will be the losers. Not of our soul, but of rewards that we might have had to share with Christ. When we come to think of the first one, it's changeless, as we've perhaps suggested, but the other is changeful. Then the first one, suggesting another, word is permanent, and this other one then is transient.
And in the first one, I'm related to Christ. And the second one, I'm related to myself. What do you mean by that now? Well, I simply say that my standing is related to Christ, but I am largely responsible for my state. Now then, I'm going to say something else that may seem a little odd, or to some of you who are not students of your Bible. The Bible makes a distinction between terms that are used. For instance, you'll find the term Sun used. And you'll find this term child use. Now, this may come as a surprise to some of you. There is a difference.
Now, in my standing, I am a son. And it was grace. It was in my standing, I should say, I am absolutely what God sees me in Christ. I am a son. But yet in experience, I may be a child. Now I know some of you don't appreciate that. I mean to say you think I'm telling the truth, but it just doesn't go through. So to help you, to put it through your brain or your mind, shall we read a verse at this point in Romans chapter eight? And when I do, then I think you'll appreciate what I've said in relation to the son versus the child.
The epistle to the Romans chapter eight and verse fourteen. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the S-O-N-S of God. They are the Son. Who? Those who are led of the Spirit of God. Verse sixteen. The Spirit also bears witness with our Spirit that we are the children of God. Now do you see the difference? In other words, here's a man and he has a family. Now, we would say he is a number of boys, and he has a little, one of the little boys is a baby, a year old.
He'll very seldom speak of him as his son. He'll speak of him as his child. There's no maturity. But here's a boy who's old enough to come into the business with him, and someday a friend will come in, and he'd say, have you met my son, Dave? And he doesn't say, have you met my child? So you see that development is associated with sons. He's a true son of his father. Have you heard that expression? That when I see that boy, I see his father's traits in him. That's sonship. But whether you see that or whether you don't, he still would be his child. Now, we have in the book of Leviticus two particular sacrifices.
Now, when we get into Leviticus, I know how some people react to that. When I was a boy, the old preacher said to me, now David, you've got to read your Bible from Genesis one to Revelation twenty two. And I don't tell people that today. I think it's saved. Oh, I say, read your Bible. But what I'm trying to tell them is they said I had to get through that Bible of mine. Well, I got through Genesis. It was good, you know. And Exodus quite a lot of Exodus interesting little exciting bits. But not Leviticus. Oh, no. I had to leave that alone. In fact, there's a little boy of ten when God saved me. I wondered why he ever wrote such a book as Leviticus. Now, I'm sure some Christians still think that.
May I tell you something, beloved saints? Some of the highest Christian ground that you can travel is found in the book of Leviticus. There are five offerings mentioned in the first five to six chapters. Now, two of them are special. But by that I mean they are most important. And one is the burnt offering in chapter one, and the other is the sin offering in chapter four. And in each case, when the man brings it, he puts his hands on his head. And it's interesting, isn't it? You know, the man brings it and the priest says, now before we put the knife to the throat, put your hands on his head.
Put your hands on his head. And as he does, this is what he is saying in effect. Or shall I put it this way? This is what he is saying, as we would interpret it in the application. And what is it? I want to give to God what I feel I'm not capable of giving him in myself. And I'm going to give this to God in my stead. You see, there we have perfect identification. Now then, it's the burnt offering. It portrays for us the perfections of our Lord Jesus Christ. It portrays for us our perfection.
Now, not the sin offering. No, no. When I come to the sin offering, I see in the sin offering my guilt is prominent in the sin offering. In the burnt offering, it's his perfection. The work that he accomplished is prominent. I couldn't do that, Lord, but he did, and I'll accept him for me, please. In the sin offering, oh God, I should have been punished. I should have died and lost my soul for all eternity. But oh, thank God for the sin offering. Thank God for Christ. And as someone said, by faith I lay my hand on that dear head of thine, and like a penitent confess, a stranger in the land.
You know, this is beautifully illustrated, this identification. When we come to the New Testament, the men that gathered the temple text, the stories, Matthew, seventeen, they put it, and I'll use a phrase that you'll appreciate. They said to Peter, does your master pay the thirty cents? Now you won't find that in your Bible because it's Roman money that's huge, they say, but that's what it means. Does your master pay, does the Lord pay the thirty cents? I like Peter. He was a blunderer. Some said he was an Irish man where he opened his mouth, he put his foot in it.
Well, he was a good Irish man because he did make some mistakes, but all the blessing that came out from those mistakes. Now, what he should have said, just a moment now, I'll ask the Lord. Lord, dost thou pay the temple tax? Oh, Peter, no, I'm the son, you know. Does the royal, does the Prince of Wales pay the expenses of the palace of Buckingham? Oh, no, no, no, he doesn't pay that. Well, I'm free, you see. I don't pay. That temple, it's my father's house. It's the house of the king. I don't pay it. I'm the son of the king.
This is what he would have said. But Peter didn't wait to ask. I like Peter for that. You mean to say my Lord is not honest? Now, he knew he hadn't paid it. He couldn't say he had paid it. He didn't pay it, so he couldn't have said he had paid it. But he was loyal. I know my Lord would never do anything dishonest. And if he owes a bill, he'll pay that bill. Yes, they said he pays his temple debt. Then the Lord takes Peter to the one side and he puts it straight and clear to him. You see, Peter, who am I? Thou art the Son of God. Does the Son pay for the Father's? Oh, no.
Oh, what a mess, I miss. Yeah, you certainly made a mess, Peter. What are you going to do about it now? What can I do? Look, Peter, you got yourself into a mess, and I'm going to get you out of the mess. and forget about it. You don't forget the lesson. Now go down to the fish, and when you go down to the sea, and when you throw the hook in and you get a fish, you're going to find sixty cents. And you take that sixty cents and you give it to them for, he didn't say, you and me. Lord, have you not learned your grammar? He said, for me and me. He must always be first.
even in the matter of paying the temple tax. Now, what am I trying to tell you? Oh, but don't you see, when they said, does your master pay, this is the word they used, as we would express it in the Greek, does your master tell you? That's overall a lot of your heads, tell you. But you know, when the Lord Jesus Christ tried on the cross number six, he says it's tell you. What am I trying to say? The word does your master pay is the word that the Lord used when he cried in the cross. It is finished. So he paid. And when the Lord Jesus Christ went sweeping, as it were, through the gates into the glory above, thank God I'm following in his train for what takes him to the highest seat in heaven takes me because I'm coming behind him.
Now, I know that God is completely satisfied with what Christ did. And when I come to the story of the gospel, I find there's a rent veil. I find there's an open tomb. And I find there's a throne that it's filled. And I thank God for the precious truth of substitution. When I think of substitution, I want you to keep in mind that it can be handled very badly. What do I mean by that? Well, I can tell the sinner, the Lord Jesus Christ paid the debt that you owed him.
He suffered the judgment that was due to you as a sinner, and you need not go into judgment if you will accept him as your substitute. But you'll never know him as your substitute. until you know what it is to say by faith, Jesus, I will trust thee. Once you have said that, then you can say, and a shadow of a doubt, thank God, he died in my room, he died in my stead. Now the truth of substitution is badly handled by even many preachers. I would say to an audience, if it was all sinners, Christ died on behalf of you all.
Christ died in behalf of you all. If I said that he died in your stead, then you would say to me, I'll never go to hell. Oh, yes, you will, unless you know what it is to identify yourself of him who died in behalf of us all. So he died in behalf of us all, but you'll only go to glory on the ground of being able to say, by a happy experience, he took my place. He died for me. When we come to the second scripture, did you notice perhaps you did? Maybe you didn't. The term that is used doesn't say that we're accepted in Jesus.
It says we are accepted in the delight. You know, again, I go back to those dear brethren that taught me, told me to read my Bible. I never tell anybody. to try and read their Bible through. I say, oh, yes, you should be sure you know what you've read all your Bible. But my brethren were anxious to see that little boy David read his Bible right through from Genesis to Revelation, and I raced through it. And I read it through about thirty times, and sometimes I got through in seven or eight months. But I don't do that anymore. In my daily reading, I may open my Bible, I go through it consecutively, And I may look at a verse.
Oh, no. And I may never leave that verse. I may spend half an hour over that verse. But when I've spent half an hour over that verse, I have a fairly good idea of what that verse is. So I would say, beloved young folks, read your Bible every day. And if you don't read your Bible every day, when you bend your knee and God grant you do bend your knee at the close of the day, ask them to forgive you for not having read your Bible. And when you read your Bible every day, make sure that you spend a portion of time. But don't endeavor to get through so many verses or chapters. It's the time you spend. So you spend it.
Accept it in the beloved. Accept it in Christ. Well, no, that's right. Accept it in the beloved. It's beloved. Wait a minute. Where do I see that before? I know. Do you remember at the baptism? This is my beloved. And whom I'm well pleased. Why but I heard that again. In Matthew chapter seventeen, on the mount of transfiguration, this is my beloved. And whom? What's the relationship between baptism and transfiguration? What are they talking about yonder on the holy mount? They're talking about the death of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And what's that signifying is coming up out of Jordan, out of judgment? That again is Calvary. accepted in the beloved. In other words, I'm accepted in all the value of that precious work of our Lord Jesus Christ and that is my acceptance in the presence of God. Now there are two views of the Lord Jesus in relation to my acceptance and I think of him as to what he did and I think of him as to what he is And this again is in the book of Leviticus. Now we didn't read the portion, but in chapter sixteen, one day in the year the high priest had the privilege of entering the holiest of all.
Now on that day he had two things in his hands. After the meeting I want some brother or I want some sister to tell me how the high priest got into the holiest of all. Now you tell me after the meeting, how did he get in? There was a great big veil, and in one hand he had a dish of blood, and on the other hand he had the incense burner. Now how did he get in? In fact, did he put them down and get the veil around somewhere like this? And there it is, and I will not. You tell me after the meeting, then I'll tell you what I think. Now then, on that day, one day in the year, he went into the holiest of all, and here he has a dish of blood.
Ah, that's the work of Christ. But listen, smell. Oh, can you smell it? Oh, the little tent of my use such a term, it's perfume. Every parting of it's perfume. There's immense sense of sending in that smoke. And that's his worth. That's his person. So yonder at God's right hand sits the man of Calvary. With the marks of Calvary and its person, his precious worth. And yet before the face of us, Father, thank God I am accepted in all the blessedness of His glorious person. There's one verse in the text, one text in the Bible.
I wonder how many of you have noticed it. There are nine words in the text, and they're all monos, every one's a monosyllable, meaning only one syllable. And it's very, very precious. I wonder how many of you know it. As He is, so are we. In this world. I don't know any other verse just like that in the Bible. Now then, break it up. As He is, so are we in heaven. No, no, no, no. As He is, so are we in this world. In this world. Here's a dear fellow, a Christian. Here's a dear girl. I speak now.
Here's a boy at school. A girl at school. Oh, the filth of all goes with it. Then they're surrounded by it. And this boy, this girl are standing, they're not preaching, but they're standing isolated in spirit from it all as he is. So are we in this well. No matter what company I might find myself in, the most sinful of company, and perhaps I'm there against my will. Thank God at every moment I am accepted in him. Now Ephesians develops it beautifully because we didn't take the time to read it, but it says that he is holy. Then it says he is without blame, and then it says we are sons.
So here we have acceptance in our Lord Jesus Christ, holy, that holy nature of his, without blame, that character of his, and then when we come to sonship, is he the Son of God so much? So much. I'll have lost the identity of the sonship of my dear Father who's gone to heaven. It'll never be mine again. But that eternal sonship of the Son with the Father, I'll share forever and forever. This is our exception. The Song of Solomon describes it, and usually we shy from the Song of Solomon.
It is a strange little book. I'm not prepared when I was a younger preacher. I used to preach a lot from it. And now I hardly know how to preach one. Now that's a strange thing to say. But to be very honest with you, I don't seem to be able to handle the song of Solomon. Oh, I handled it. I have notes and notes and notes. But when I get thinking about it today, I say, oh, Lord, we'll have to leave it alone. It seems to be over my head. But there are little things here and there in the song. And I hang on to them. And I like to think on one occasion, whoever's in that song, I really don't know who it is. But I like to think it suggests me anyway.
Tents of Peter. Tents of Peter. What's Tents of Peter? Well, it was the tents of the nomads. They traveled the country without a home, and they had tents that would stand the rigors of the weather, whether it was the sun or the rain, and those tents were black. Black as the tents of Peter. And someone in that song is saying, I am black as the tents of Kedar and I like to think that the bridegroom, whoever he may be, but I like to think the Lord interrupts and he says, black is the tents of Kedar, no, as the curtains of Solomon.
She says, I am black and he interrupts her, black but calmly. Forget your interruption. Let me finish it. I am black is the tents of Kedar. Let me finish what I started. Thou art as calmly as the curtains of Solomon. And so, brethren and sisters, let us always ever take the low place. Let us always ever see ourselves in his presence as black and not calmly, but let us remember in Christ he's made us the purest object on which his eyes can rest. When we come to the third portion, and really perhaps one could develop it later on in the conference, I don't know, because I... I haven't come to determine what I'm going to speak on.
But one would like us to say this, that there are a number of sacrifices mentioned that we are supposed to give to the Lord, and they're called spiritual sacrifices. And this is what I want you to notice. There are three mentioned in particular. And one is our praise. One is our praise. And the second is our giving. And the third is the concentration of my body, the concentration of my sex. Now, to look at these, I'd just like to say in passing, you know, sometimes I wish we knew how much God appreciates a song.
How much God appreciates a song. I would offer unto him the sacrifice of praise. I will magnify the Lord with a song, and I will praise him with a voice of thanksgiving. Now, I believe that this doesn't mean God loves to hear a beautiful voice. I'm sure he appreciates a beautiful voice. But if that's the explanation, that's the interpretation, what about those who can't sing? Are we going to be left out? Now, I don't think for a moment I'm decrying the solos and the duets and the quartets and the quintets and the sextets and all those other texts. I'm not decrying all that at all.
But what I am saying, beloved friend, even though, as God said, Billy Bray said, oh, you don't know who Billy Bray is. But anyway, Billy Bray was a character who lives in Cornwall. And he was such a character that some of the things he said stick a hundred to the ears later in the minds of those who've known something about him. And he said, well, I know I can't sing, but don't you forget that God who made the Nightingale, he made the crow. And I don't think anybody would appreciate, caw, caw, caw, all dry up and bust. But the Lord made that crow. And there's something from that call call that the crow gives that God gets glory from.
He made that crow. And so, beloved friends, it's touching. For it's precious, isn't it? Even though you can't sing. As the old little girl said when a daddy beat her not to sing. She could did sing. And he said, I beat you not to sing. Still you sing. As she says, it sings itself. It sings itself. It sings itself. And so when we're asked to sing, never mind, you can't take the platter like this brother and with a voice that he's got. We can't all have voices like that. And thank God for those who do have, we appreciate them. But sing anyway. Sing anyway. And if you're out of tune and somebody tells you, well, you say the Lord knows my heart.
You see. So you see, beloved saints of God, at the judgment seat of Christ, God's going to estimate. And if there's been a song in your heart, Remember this, God says, that's well-pleasing and it's... And then there's that beautiful suggestion of our giving in Hebrews chapter thirteen. Our giving to the Lord. Our giving. I wonder if I could in debating with myself if I should say anything about it. But then I think maybe I will. Usually those to whom I have said this, they appreciate it.
Now, most of you know that we have a girl that has had a convulsion and it has affected her memory. And Grace, her memory is shattered in certain respects, not in all respects. She works in a training center for those who are handicapped. And she gets a handsome sum of twenty cents an hour. And she's paid twice a month. and her salary comes to twelve dollars and ninety cents now in case you think about making a poor mouth she's got a nice pension check from the government so don't get the threat anyway when she gets this little when she got her first um a little pay envelope she we always saw there were twelve ten dollar bill a two dollar bill and twenty ninety cents in change and we were happy about it But then shortly after that I found the envelope and there was two dollars missing.
I said, my wife, did you take two dollars out of Grace's envelope? She said, no, I didn't. Well, I said there was twelve in it now, there's only ten. So Grace was sleeping and when she wakened up I said, Grace, there's only ten dollars in your envelope. Where is the other two? She said, I don't know. I said it was in this room. Now where could it be? And something struck me to look at her Bible bag. She's a nice little Bible bag. Someone made her an inner Bible bag. I found the two dollars. I said here it is. Here's your two dollars. What's that for? What do you do that for?
And she put the collection on something. Now every, and then here's the strange part. Now then, on Monday, she looks in that purse again, that Bible, because she doesn't know what day it is, you see. And I say maybe Sunday. And so we have to make sure, when we come home from the meeting on Sunday morning, we get another two dollar and put it in that purse. Now here is the thought. That's on our heart. Now that's not a hundred dollars. They're fifty dollars. They're twenty dollars. But that's on our heart. And this is what I think. When I think of Hebrews chapter thirteen, that sacrifice that we made when that box comes round and look, is it a bag, I don't care, when it comes round on Sunday morning, oh, I should put something in it, shouldn't I?
And you'll see somebody fumbling with a, oh, no, no, no, no. Get it ready, have it ready. This is going to be your offering. This is what the Lord's waiting for. And the Lord doesn't need it, but He'll accept it. Imagine stopping Henry ford in the street. Of course, Henry's not hearing anymore. I said, Henry, would you like a dollar? He says, I'll take your sense if they can't give me a dollar. I'll take a dollar if they can't give me two.