The Church of Eleven22 - No Longer Slaves: Be Free - Wk 9

Episode Date: June 2, 2024

If you primarily think of God as your master, you’ll always think of yourself as a bond servant and always lean towards works based righteousness. But when you realize God is your Father and that you're adopted as a son by grace, you will be set free from the bondage and no longer be a slave to sin or the performance trap of the law. - The Church of Eleven22® is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Eleven22 is led by Pastor Joby Martin and based in Jacksonville, Florida, with multiple campuses throughout Jacksonville and the surrounding areas. To find out more about how God is moving at Eleven22, go to CoE22.com

Let's go. Amen and amen. We've been in this 10-10 life journey now for two years. I'm all emotional today. I don't know what's wrong with me, Charles. You're crying too. I can see it. We're in this 10-10 life journey.

The crux of it, it comes from John, chapter 10, verse 10, that the thief comes only to steal killing destroyer. But Jesus says, I have come that you may have life, have it abundantly. Then the next thing he says is, I am the good shepherd, so that we know that the abundant life is found in him. Then he goes on to say,

the good shepherd speaks to his sheep, and his sheep hear his voice, and follow in the direction that the good shepherd calls. And every single time we do that, it always leads to abundant life, especially when we don't understand what he's telling us to do. That video, I've known Audrey for a long time.

She is an example of what it looks like to be obedient to the call of God on your life and walk obediently in that direction. And in so doing, even though there's all kind of pain and confusion and at least confusion on your part, never God's part, but you're always marching towards abundant life. She's sitting right over there with her newish husband. What's up, dude?

And so whether that was as a missionary or a mom or a wife or a social worker, all she did is she just did whatever it is that Jesus called her to do. And one of the things that I thought was cool is when we first met, she went as a missionary to Uganda, to Masaka, Uganda, with Acoa Refuge, who were the first two missionaries that we ever sent. We sent out Tyler and Leave to start what was then an orphanage. You're not even supposed to use that terminology anymore. I don't know why, but the Bible does. And the reason I'm going to use it is because there are some of you that even though Jesus has purchased you and adopted you as a son,

you still see yourself as an orphan. And you're not. And one of the hardest things that Leave and Tyler at a Koha Refuge have to deal with is when they go rescue these little human beings, a lot of them have been treated like a piece of property for so long that they don't realize that they're an image bearer of God and they're a son or a daughter with value. And it's very interesting that the week that we show Audrey's testimony video about adoption, this is also the week that Akoa Refuge is unleashing a brand new app.

So I want every single person in here to download their app right now. Okay, we're going to put it on the screen. There's a little QR code. You can show your grandparents how to do this. All right, there it is, use your camera. If I get to boring parts of the sermon, download this. And part of the reason I want you to be able to keep up with what God is doing in and through Acoa, now they do so much more than just rescuing children.

The majority of the churches that we plant in East Africa is through this ministry. And the reason I want you to download it and keep up with A COA and be praying for them is every single time you get an alert from Acoa of what God is doing in the lives of these little kids, I want you to remember this sermon that you and I. through what Christ has done have been adopted into the family of God. Therefore, you and I had the full rights that everybody in God's family has. This is a really, really big deal. So we're going to, I'm supposed to preach Galatians 4-1 through 7, but in order to do that,

I've got to get a running start, okay? You guys are in trouble. I haven't preached for two weeks, so this could, you know, the 1122 service might have to sit in your lap, but don't worry about them. and I do want to thank Pastor Britt and Uncle Josh for doing such a great job the last two weeks. Amen. Wasn't it awesome? Right?

Anna, I don't even have to apologize for anything Josh Turner said, so we're growing. I feel good about that. So basically, basically they covered chapter three. So let me just give you a little recap of what's going on. Okay. The way to understand the book of Galatians is that Paul, in his missionary journeys, He begins to preach the gospel, raise up leaders and plant churches all over the place in the area of Galatia. And they willfully and willingly receive the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ early

that it's not anything that they could do to earn a right standing before God. But Jesus did everything on their behalf. And they received it so gracefully to begin with. And then these Judaizers, these legalists come in and fool them and trick them and bewitched them. And Paul is like, what is wrong with you? How did you receive the free gift of God with such grace? And now these fools from Jerusalem have come in, and they're telling you that you've got to add on to it the Old Testament.

And the old covenant has already been completely fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who has bewitched you, old foolish Galatians. And so the first two chapters, Paul establishes that he is an actual apostle, that he was visited by the resurrected Christ face-to-face, and not only saved by Christ, but commissioned to Him. Christ and this gospel that he received, he didn't get it from Jerusalem and he didn't get it from any Bible study. He got it directly from Jesus.

And then the next two chapters, chapters three and four, he is going to lay out exactly what the gospel is. And I'm going to warn you, these verses get very, very technical, theological, in regards to the Old Testament and the New Testament, the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. But I'm here to help. Chapter 3, verse 23, says this. Now, before faith came, we were. were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.

So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came in order that we might be justified by faith. He's going to use that phrase over and over and over, as opposed to being justified by dietary laws, Old Testament, covenants, and circumcision, that you're not justified by the things that you do, but we have been justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you as were baptized or immersed into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ,

then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise. Here's what he said. That when God gave you the law, when God gave us the law, that it was a gift of God so that we would know how to rightly live before a holy God. But it was also to reveal to us that we can't pull it off on our own and we need a savior. But when the law came, the law came hundreds of years after God gives this promise to Abraham. and the law of God did not negate the promise of faith, it prepared us to receive the promise of faith. And so the terminology he uses is that the law is like a guardian or a coach.

It's like the law is a babysitter, that the law is a map and a mirror, that the law was here to show us how to live rightly, make sure we don't kill each other and steal each other stuff and that kind of thing, to live as a people together. but primarily the law was to reveal to us that you and I cannot be perfect in the sight of a holy God. Does that mean the law is bad? No, the law is not bad. Unless you try to use the law to do what the law has no power to do. About this time last year, J.P. was in spring football training. He's doing these little shuttle run things, and his thumb digs into the turf at the Providence Field, and the thing pops.

And he pulls it up like this, and he goes, and he's like, oh gosh. So what do we do? We rub some dirt on it, finish the drill, because we were raising a different kind of man in my house. You understand what I'm saying? I'm going to spend all year talking about how to be a godly man, you know,

but anyway, I don't have time for that. Don't get me started. So anyway, so he tapes it up, rubs some dirt on it, finishes the drill. And then we have to go to the orthopedic, who we have on speed dial, Dr. Von Thron. We know him well,

because we got athletic kids, and they're busted up all the time, all right? And so we go and we take him, and you know what Dr. Von Thron does? He runs his thumb through an x-ray. Sure enough, do the x-ray, ligament, gone. Now, is the x-ray bad? I hate that picture, by the way, because here's what it means.

It means surgery, cast, weeks off, rehab, it means all of these things. Now, all the x-ray has the power to do is to show to us that there's a problem. If we were to take an x-ray 10,000 more times, it wouldn't do anything to fix my man's thumb. That's what the law of God is. is. The law of God reveals, uh-oh, there's a problem. And the heart of the problem is I got a problem deep inside of my heart. And so what the Apostle Paul is saying here to the Galatians is that the law that God gave to Moses does not negate the promise that God gave to Abraham. And so he says, if you are Christ, if you belong to Jesus, then you are Abraham's offspring heirs according to the

promise. And the promise of Abraham, the promise that God gives to Abraham, he does not look around the world and find somebody that's awesome and then bless them because of their awesomeness. Because God is awesome, he just decides to put his love on Abraham. And he makes him some promises. And one of the promises that Abraham receives is that when he, when Abraham believes that God is who he says he is and he always keeps his promises, then Abraham's faith is counted as righteousness, not his works. His works did not earn a right standing before God, but his fate discounted it as righteousness.

The second part of the promise of God to Abraham is this, is that he would be the father of many nations. When he heard this from God, brother is 75 years old and doesn't have any kids. And he thinks, well, this is impossible, except all things are possible with God. Now the problem is, is that even when Abraham was unfaithful, God remained faithful.

So at one point, Abraham got tired of waiting on God. Anybody ever noticed God's timing, you know your timing and he ain't to sign to timing? And so what Abraham did is like he literally took matters into his own hands and sleeps with his servant, Hagar, and they have a kid named Ishmael. And this is a picture of works-based righteousness when you don't try to trust God, but you try to do it on your own. And it has led to nothing but strife in our world from that day till this day. And yet even in his unfaithfulness, God was still faithfulness. and still gives him the promised son, the son of his love, the son of his promise, and his name is Isaac.

And from Isaac comes Jacob, and from Jacob come the 12 tribes, and from the 12 tribes comes Israel. And from Israel comes the son of God that was come on this earth to fulfill the promises of God. So the promised Abraham is faith counted as righteousness. He'd be the father of many nations, and that through him he would bless the entire world. And all of that is fulfilled in Christ. Now, pay attention to this. So what Paul is saying here in Galatians 3, and he's going to say it in 4, and he says it in Romans 9, 10, and 11, that Abraham's offspring,

or the people are the people who have faith in Jesus Christ, that currently God's chosen people or the children of Abraham are people that believe in Jesus. In other words, the line to heaven, is a single file line. There's no groupons. There's no like, well, I'm just with this crowd, and therefore, because of where I grew up or who my granddaddy was, I get in.

That's not how it works. That God saves first names, not last names. And what Paul wants us to know is that Jesus is the fulfillment of what God promised to Abraham. And that for anybody that believes or puts their faith in Jesus, then we are credited or counted as righteous,

just like Abraham was. And so with that as a background, we finally get to where I'm supposed to start, chapter 4 verse 1. I mean that the air, that if you put your faith in Jesus, then you are an heir to the promises. Now here's the thing.

If we actually believe this, an heir is a person that inherits their father's kingdom. If we actually believe this, it would change everything, about the way we live. That if you knew that you're an heir to God's kingdom, it would allow you to celebrate your friend's victories instead of comparing yourself all the time.

Complaining would go away. I mean, what would you complain about? See, the problem is we act like we're going to live right here forever. We spend our money and our time and our effort and our energy as if this is our forever home and this ain't where we're going to live forever. Spursion tells this story. So you imagine if you received an incredible inheritance from some uncle you didn't know about, an estate and millions and millions and millions of dollars, and you got in your carriage and you were going to take ownership of this estate,

but your carriage broke down 100 yards from the gate of your new estate. Would you get out and complain about your broken carriage when you have an estate just steps away? You would look like a fool. You know why? Because you're a fool. Me too. There'd be no despair if we actually believe that we were heirs of the kingdom of God. If we really believed that we were heirs of all that Christ has purchased for us,

we would trade in the temporary pursuit of happiness for the joy unspeakable in the Lord. That's just how we would live. And so Paul says, I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave. Here's what he means. If you're seven years old and you get an inheritance of millions of dollars, what are you going to do with it? Nothing. You can't do anything with it. Why?

Because you're a child. You can't spend it all because it's going to be putting some trust and you're going to to do what the trustees tell you until you get old enough to own it yourself. Now, I do want to point this out. A bunch of times in the book of relations, Paul's going to use the word slave. The word in Greek is doulas. And the reason I want to bring it up is because I think a better translation for 21st century Americans is bond servant.

Because what he is talking about here is not the same as transatlantic slavery that was a shameful part of the past of American history. These are different things. So what a due loss is, is a due loss was a person, a bond servant, could willfully sign up to pay for a debt by working for a time for a master. That's what it is. In fact, in 1 Timothy 110, the Bible says that enslaving other people, catching people to sell them is a sin and you will not inherit the kingdom of God.

So anybody that says, well, the Bible condone slavery, they just don't know what the words mean. The God has never, ever, ever condoned this. And so the word bond servant is probably a better translation for us to understand what's happening. And so he says, I mean that an heir, as long as he is a child, is no different than a bond servant. Why?

Because a child is told what to do. Like you can't have your pudding until you eat you eat you meat. I don't care if you're the son of the king or not. The babysitter tells you what to do and you have to do what the babysitter tells you. And though legally you may be an heir, it's not until you come of age that you are any different than the people that work for your dad. And basically what Paul is saying is this, Galatians, you should be acting like grown people

because Christ has set you free and you're free in him. And now the Judaizers have come like a bunch of babysitters. And they're showing up telling you what you can and can't do in order to be saved that you can't eat bacon and you have to be circumcised. And why are you acting like a bunch of little babies when dad and mom have come home from their date and they have told you you are free to have to rule and reign the house. Why are you acting this way? As long as he's a child, he is no different from a bond servant, though he is the owner of

everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. Again, he's saying the law was given to you as guardrails were a speed limit so that we would know that we are law breakers, also so that we would know that when the law keeper shows up and does for us what we can't do for ourselves, then we would be set free. Verse three. In the same way, we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of this world. Now, commentators argue about what the phrase elementary principles of this world mean. It could be like the ABCs and one, two, threes of man-made religion, that you are just caught in this rut of doing what you were taught in Hebrew school, but it will never

change your life. Or in other places in the text, the elementary principles of this world, Paul talks about being mastered by all that this world has to offer, which is just three things, lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. Either interpretation still basically ends in the same place that there has been something mastering you that is not your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And if you live under this legalism, then you are being mastered by the principles of this world. Verse four, but when the fullness of time had come,

in other words, God Almighty, at just the right time in human history, decided to send Jesus, but when the fullness of God had come, God sent forth his son. So his son is the son of God. Born of

a woman, born under the law, and he is fully human. So fully human, like us, in that he was tempted in every way, but fully God. unlike us in that he never ever sinned one time. But when the fullness of time, I told you, I told you it was technical. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law,

to redeem those who were under the law. So that we might receive adoptions as sons. That word of redeem matters like crazy. That the reason that Jesus came was to redeem you and me. Now, you have to understand what this word means. It's not just like a theological term. you actually know what this word means because you've participated in it before we still use this word today if you've ever redeemed a coupon you have participated in a picture of the good news of the

gospel of Jesus Christ I mean just think about this you walk out to your mailbox if you still do that you open it what's not in their mail what is in there coupons you ever notice that now what did you do to deserve a coupon did you apply for it no you were chosen by somebody out there for some reason and you don't know about, and you were pre-selected to receive the coupon. And you walk in with your coupon, and you look at it, and you, like, free ham at Publix. And, like, sweet. Walking inside, Martha, look, we got a free hand. What have we done to receive it?

I don't know. Who are we? That we would be so graced upon that we would get this free hand. And then you take your coupon and you go to Publix. And what do you do? You go to the ham section. And you pick up a ham. What's a ham cost?

I don't know. I hadn't bought a ham ever in my life. But $25, I don't know. You get a ham. $25. And you attach your ham and your coupon and you walk. to the checkout aisle. And where do you go?

You go to the 10 items or less aisle. And then what do you do there? Your interferacy comes out and you start counting the items in front of you. One to the above 11, 11, 11. And then under your breath, but out loud enough, you go, huh, I wonder what's wrong with you? Can you not count or read?

I'm not sure. Okay, so. Finally, when that situation is over, you put your hand on the little conveyor belt thing and go, the person goes, boop, that'll be $25. And you're like, ha, ha, ha. Maybe for the unelected, but for me, I got a coupon.

And there's an exchange that happens in that moment. And what do we call it? We literally call it, you redeem the coupon. So I hand you the coupon, you hand me the ham. So what did it cost me to receive the $25 hand? Nothing. All I did is redeem the coupon. Now here's the thing.

What did it cost the manufacturer? Full price. Now the real story is the pig, cost him his entire life. That'll preach too, but that's not what I'm talking about. Okay? That I hand you the coupon and at no expense to me, but at full price to the ham people, they pay full price for you to receive this hand. That is a picture of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because God Almighty, the second person of the Trinity, God the Son, steps off of his throne, is born as a man, fully God, fully man, under the law. Not only did

he died for you, but first he lived for you. He never broke any law. He fulfilled every promise and prophecy of God Almighty. And then he went to the cross and not only bore our sin, but became our sin, pay the full price on the cross and then was resurrected on the third day. And for anybody who would believe there's a great exchange and you turn in your coupon and you get eternal life. That's what it means to be redeemed. Okay. Now, if you get saved at publics this week, I need you to let me know, all right? So this is why he came to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons.

Many, many, many, many theologians that I read this week says, this is the purpose that Jesus came for to adopt us. In fact, J.I. Packer, super smart guy. Theologian. He said the entire gospel can be summed up with this phrase. adoption through propitiation. That's why Jesus came. Adoption through propitiation.

Now, if you're a 22 or you know what propitiation means. Propitiation means a payment that? I could go to heaven right now. Thank you very much. Listen, when we started the church, all these church growth experts told me that I shouldn't use theological terms like propitiation because you weren't smart enough to understand them.

And I thought, well, I'm not smart enough to start a church, so we'll fit right in together, okay no problem and i just thought if you can order a venti caramel macchiato you can understand what perpetuation is and by the way if you're still ordering a venty carbomacchiato stop you sissy and get it black like a grown man is supposed to okay but perpetuation means a payment that satisfies that when jesus christ went to the cross he fully satisfies the law of god the justice of god the holiness of god which means when you put your faith in Jesus,

you are credited with His righteousness, which means this. If Jesus is the payment that satisfies, God cannot be dissatisfied in you. This is the best news you've ever heard in your entire life. And the reason that we think that God is a little bit frustrated with us, the reason that we think God is dissatisfied with us, here's why?

Because we have children. I mean, don't tell them this because it's not the gospel. But have you ever been a little disappointed with your kids? Have you ever been a little surprised at their little demonic sinners? You see, because when you're disappointed, it's because you're surprised. There was a gap between what you expected and what you experienced, and you think, how could you? God's never looked at you that way. He's never sat up in heaven and saw what you did last night and be like, what in the name of me is she doing now?

Never, ever, ever, ever. he knew everything he was getting when he decided to make the deal to go to the cross and pay your sin debt in full past present and future and because Jesus is the payment that satisfies he could never be dissatisfied in you never ever ever ever ever ever and by the way parents have you ever overreacted a little to your kids have you ever looked at oh i wish i could get a redo on that one has the spirit of your mom or dad ever manifested itself in you and those crazy people that raised you came out your own mouth and you begin to have empathy for those old people that you call mom and dad. Right. God's never done that. He's never overreacted to you. He's

never been disappointed in you because he's never been surprised. Why? Because he came to redeem those who were under the law so that we might be, we might receive adoption as sons. Adoption through perpetuation is what the gospel is about. Now, listen, be really careful when you read the Bible to not impose our current culture on what the scripture says. When the Bible says that we have been adopted as sons, it's not diminishing females, it's actually elevating all people to the same standard. You see, because 2,000 years ago, not today, but 2,000 years ago,

only sons would qualify for the inheritance. So what he's saying here is in the gospel, there's neither Greek nor Jew, slave nor free, male nor female. In other words, regardless of your race, regardless of your gender, regardless of your economic status, when you put your faith in Jesus, all of us are co-heirs with Jesus and first in line to inherit all that he has. There is no coach. It's all first class in the kingdom of God.

That's what he's talking about. In fact, it was crazy. In Rome, you could adopt adults. It was very common for a very, very, very wealthy landowner with an inclusive. incredible estate if he didn't have kids or had credit ones, that he would go pick probably a bond servant that had the kind of character integrity that he was looking for and legally adopt him as a son in his family so that all that he had would legally go to this son. And that's what Christ does for us. You see, this is a key angle to understand the gospel. Most of the times when we

talk about the gospel around here, we talk about substitutionary atonement for justification, which is important. It's true. But what Paul does here, there's five times in the New Testament that the word adoption has talked about. And what Paul does here now is he takes our salvation out of the courtroom because God is not primarily a judge that rends a verdict of innocent because of his son. God is primarily a father. So God not only looks at what Christ has done on your behalf, slams down the gavel and looks at you and says not guilty because what Christ has done, but he goes farther than that and he adopts you as a son and brings you into his own home and all that all that he has is yours.

I mean, think about adoption. I've got some very dear friends all over the church that have adopted. It's a beautiful picture of what the gospel of Jesus Christ is. Think about it. It starts out with this, a kid in need. Something has gone wrong in God's ideal. But while the ideal is unrealized, grace abounds. and you ever notice this

there's no tryouts there's no tryouts in adoption I got some friends sitting right over here they adopted from China and Korea do you think they didn't go there and say all right give us your top ten all right who can dribble a ball all right you're out that's not what they do

it's not what they do that the parents just choose because God chose them it costs a lot of money I don't know why in the world it has cost this much money but it costs a ton of money it's very expensive there is a legal transaction that happens

that the parents will stand before a judge and the judge will say, are you ready to be this child's mother and father? And if there are siblings, the judge will even ask the other siblings, are you ready for this adopted child to be a co-equal with you just like everybody else in the family is?

That there's a change of name, there's a change of family status, there's a change of inheritance. Everything changes when a kid is adopted or a person is adopted into a new family. Tim Keller says it this way. Jesus's salvation is not only like receiving a pardon and a release from death row and prison. Then we'd be free, but on our own, left to make our own way in the world,

thrown back on our own efforts if we're to make anything of ourselves. But in the gospel, we discover that Jesus has taken us off of death row and then has hung around our neck the Congressional Medal of Honor. That we are received and welcomed as heroes as if we had accomplished extraordinary. deeds, that if you were in Christ, you have been adopted as a son of the king. Now, here's a question that you should not answer out loud or you'll completely embarrass yourself. Do you see yourself as a son or a bond servant? I mean, honestly, do you see yourself as a son or a bond servant? If you think that effort earns your right relationship with God, then you still see yourself as a slave, as a

bond served. And again, we've said this over and over and over that God is not anti-effort. He's just entire earning and he has adopted you. Do you have any idea how God looks at you, looks over you, what his posture towards you is, that you're a son? You see, and if you know that you're a son and that he's your father, then the performing and the pretending can go away, man. And I don't know about you, but up until 1122, my experience with church was only about performing and pretending. and we have been set free from that. Like, parents, in your best moments, how do you look how out of your kid?

Remember when your kid took their first steps? You remember this? Now, I know all you young parents, you got it on video, and we've seen it on YouTube, and yay, okay, great. But back in the day, we just had to experience first hand. It was unbelievable. Do you remember what happened?

You remember your kid, right? At first, they're just kind of walking around, crawling around, and you've got to move all the stuff up to this high, and then they begin to climb up, then you've got to move the stuff up to this high. and then you saw it began to happen. They climbed up and they were on something and they're just kind of looking around.

They realized, oh gosh, I'm in the living room. This is crazy, right? And then God has designed them. He's given this enormous fat head. You ever seen how? Think about it. Your child cannot touch their hands over their head. What if your head was that big?

You couldn't hold it up? That's how big their fat head is. And then what begins to happen is they're hanging on to something. And they didn't wake up that morning and be like, you know what I'm going to do today? I think I'm going to take my first steps. I think it's about time.

You know, mom's been asking for a while. No. They're just standing up. They're holding up to something, and then they see a toy, and they lean their fat head in that direction, and gravity and momentum just take over. And so instead of faceplant, what do they do? They just stick a leg out to avoid a bloody nose, and they go one, two, and then they fall down. And what do you do as a parent?

You're like, oh, he's walking. He's walking. The boy is walking. You video it. You're sending it to your dad. You're like, I think he's going to be the husband. He kind of did this right before he fell down. And you celebrate every step.

He's walking. Your Uncle Josh does that. You call him a drunk. But when your boy does it, he's walking. Right? That's how God sees you, man. I'm serious, regardless of what you went through last night, when you walked in here at church tonight,

not in any way to earn favor before God, but he's so proud of you, he's so pleased with you because he has put his love through Jesus Christ on you in the same way he sees this boy, he sees you. So do you see yourself as a bond servant or as a son? Here's the thing. A bond servant is based on performance. Like, if I do good, he's going to like me.

Sonship is based on position. It's just my dad. A bond servant is to pay back a debt. A son receives an inheritance. In the first century, a bond servant was temporary. When the debt was paid, you could get out of it. Sonship is forever. This might be the biggest one.

If you have a bond servant mentality, then you just think God wants good from you. But when you know God is your father and you're a son, you know that God just wants what's best for you. That's what the 10-10 life is. That's what the abundant life is. I mean, Jesus says, what father among you, if a son asks for a fish, we give him a snake or a scorpion? And so if you, dads, who are evil, dad, did you ever have some evil moments in your parenting? And yet if you, me, who are fleshly, can give good gifts to our kids, how much more does the Heavenly Father want to give you good gifts?

I mean, I can remember, I've told you this before, I was yelling at one of my kids. There's only two, so you can guess. And I'm yelling, man. I'm like, listen to me. If you would just do what I tell you to do, your whole life will be better. And the kid looks at me, and the Spirit of God was like, tell him again, Dad. I'm like, I'm about to. If you would just listen to the words, like, hey, wait a minute, I don't think we're talking about him anymore.

Right? And every single time we do what our Heavenly Father tells us to do, especially in the places where we think we know better, like sex and money and forgiveness and things like that. Every single time we trust him as a son, trust his dad. We're taking steps of obedience in the direction of abundant life because that's what he wants for us, not from us. Verse six.

And because you are sons, Notice what it says about your feelings right there. Nothing. Well, I don't feel like a son. Okay. You are. This might be a really good verse for you to memorize so that one day your feelings can catch up with a reality

that what Christ did on the cross was enough for you. You realize when you think you have to do something to earn God's favor, essentially what you were doing is despising the cross? You're looking at Jesus on the cross and by like, thanks, but it's not quite enough. I know you would never say that. It's just the way we live our lives sometimes. Because you are sons. God has sent the spirit of his son.

Notice capitalized spirit. The Holy Spirit. God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, crying, Abba Father. God is not a judge that just wants obedience. He is a father that wants to be loved. And so when you trust Christ as your Savior, then God puts a deposit of the Holy Spirit in you.

And the right response is that you say, I'm a father. I remember when J.P. was little, and Reagan. Reagan still does it. She's 14. She's awesome. I love her. And she's like, runs to me when I get home. Hey, Daddy, I love it so much. Remember when your kids were little? JP, when he was little, when I get home, he said, Daddy. Now he's 18 and trains at M.A. So if he reaches out, you've got to guard your neck.

Or you'll be unconscious, okay? So it's different. But that's what happens, man. That's what happens when a little kid is near their mom or dad. They just reach up to them. You realize a part of what we do when we worship is we just saying, Abba Father? We're just like, Dad, would you hold me? Or, you know why you raise your hands when you're in school? You won't know this, but if you knew the answer, you would raise your hand. How many of you know that the answer to every problem in your life is Jesus Christ?

And so when we worship, you're like, I know him. Now, you will get this one. Sometimes the reason you raise your hands is because they got you. It'd be like, all right, I surrender. You're probably well aware of that one. You realize that's what worship is. You're like, all right, you got me. I surrender.

You chase me now, and I got nowhere to go. You got me. And so the spirit of God comes into us to cry out, Abba Father. Now listen, if you're in a prayer group with me and you call him Daddy God, just don't, just don't. I'm just going to ask you not to. I know you have biblical grounds and that's fine, but it causes some judgmentalism in me about you. And I would rather you not cause me to stumble.

So don't. He says, and because you were sons, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts crying, Abba Father, so you were no longer a slave but a son and if a son an heir through God. Here's what this means. This is very technical. Listen to this. what Jesus does through the cross and the resurrection legally, actually, and objectively

adopts you into God's family. But God wants more than that. So he sends the spirit of God to live inside of you so that you may emotionally and relationally experience the reality of what Jesus legally and actually did for you. So that we wouldn't have an orphaned mentality, but we'd have a sonship mentality. So that when we screw up,

We can run to him and not from him. So in this text, here's what Paul has established. The promise of Abraham, that he be the Father of many nations, the purpose of the law, it's a map and a mirror, the price Jesus paid that was propitiation, that we are possessed by God as his children, and that praise is the proper response that we would lift our hands and sing Abba Father.

That's what it is. A.W. Tozer, another brilliant theologian says this. The most important thing about you is what you think when you think about God. The most important thing about you is what you think when you think about God. So what do you think when you think about God? Do you think he's a loving heavenly father that sings and dances over his children?

Or do you think he's some kind of distant judge and he's a little bit frustrated right now because you're frustrating? You see, this passage handles the most two important things in your whole lived experience, who God is and who you are. If you are in Christ, God is your father and you are a son. And if we know that, it changes everything about everything

about everything. See, if you think God is just a distant creator, at best you're going to be an agnostic thing. Think that he's some uncaring thing out there, and you don't even want to get to knowing. If you think he's an angry judge, you're going to think it's all performance and no grace. If you think he's a sky fairy that just wants you to be happy, you're going to think it's all grace and feelings, and you do whatever you want. If you think he's the old man upstairs and out of touch with life and reality, you will sit in judgment over his precepts. If you think he's just a ritualistic deity, then you're going to try to jump through a bunch of religious hoops looking for the right combination to appease it.

But when you know him as Father, everything changes. And Father is not just an illustration that the Bible uses to describe who God is. God is Father. It's just who He is. In the four Gospels, Matthew, Martin Luke and John, 189 times Jesus calls the God of the universe Father. This was very unique.

It's used about 15 times in the Old Testament, and it was always used to describe that he was the father of a name. but in the New Testament it is a personal word and listen I get it for some of you it's very very hard to understand who God is because of who your earthly dad was and the reason it hurts so bad is because you were supposed to be in right relationship with your heavenly father and God Almighty is not a reflection of your earthly father he is the perfection of what it means to be father that's why the wounds cut so deep

but God is a good, good father. Think about this. John 316, the most famous current verse in the Bible, for God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son, that salvation was because God is a father, that at Jesus' baptism, what happens? Jesus hasn't done any ministry yet, and the heavens crack open,

and God establishes that he is the father to his son, Jesus. and he says, behold my son in whom I am well pleased. Why? Because this is not about performance. Jesus has not performed any ministry yet, but his position is that of son, and because he is a son, he is loved by his dad. Or when Jesus, the disciples come up to him in Luke 11,

and they're like, Lord, teach us to pray. He's like, all right, write this down. Here's how you pray. Start out this way, our father. And they're like, what? Don't you mean creator, judge, sovereign? He's like, eh. that's true oh that's true very true but he primarily wants you to know he's our father and the reason

that we can pray is because of what christ does on the cross when jesus goes to the cross and pushes up on his nail pierced feet and says it is finished an earthquake cracks right through the middle of jerusalem right through the temple and it tears the curtain from the top to the bottom which separates the people of god from the presence of god and it's god's invitation for his children that you don't have to kill a goat and talk to a priest anymore because you're his kid. And if you're the kid at the king, then you're the only person on the empire that can just walk into the king's chambers at 3 o'clock in the morning and wake up the king. And say, hey, Daddy, can I get some, can I get a drink? Parents, remember those moments when you little kids, you'd just, you'd have these dreams, these terrible dreams.

You're like, I feel like I'm being stalked by a zombie. And you'd open your eyes and your toddler would be like right there looking at you. You're like, dear, goodness gracious. If they chain you up somewhere, J.P. would say, Daddy, can I lay down with you for a little while? And I'd be like, of course, and I'd scoot over, and that bloody roll would just get in there, you know. I remember the first night he didn't. I woke up about three, you know, to do what old men do? And then he wasn't there.

I'm like, what the? I went over to his room. Hey, dude, you coming? He's like, no, I'm good. I was like, oh, who gets to do that? I swear, if you come in my room at 3 a.m., we're going to be on the news, you understand? But the child, Jesus is in the Garden of Gassimony, facing the toughest decision of his life. And what does he say, Father?

If there be any other way, let this cup pass from me. Not my will, but your will be done. He's on the cross. He's received the full wrath of a holy God for the sins of you and me. And what does he say in the toughest moment of his life? Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit. You see, because God is Father. Hey, and if you're a dad, man, he actually lets us borrow his title.

And you know what a powerful thing it is to be a dad? The way we treat our kids will shape their view of God more than anything else in their life. God is not primarily a master to be followed. He's a father to be loved. This is what Paul is telling us in Galatius, and this is what Jesus tells us 189 times in the Gospels. And you know what a good dad does?

a good dad is close and he's a provider and a protector and you can cast all your cares upon him because he cares for you and you can call out to him when you were in need or when you are lost. You ever see parents of little kids? We were in a creative meeting the other day and Ali was one of her kids, she had both of her kids, one in tow and the walker was like right back here.

And the kids just going, Mom, Mom! Mom! And Allie's trying to like, you know, converse with me. Mom, Mom! Mom! And then when she finally turned around and said, what? The kid didn't even had to like, look, had to find something. And I was like, this is what I'm about to preach. Like, you could just call out to your parents whenever. You know, think about that.

If you're excited, you're like, Dad. And if you're scared, you're like, Dad. If you need help, Dad. And when you realize that what Christ did for you, that it was adoption by perpetuation, and he has put the spirit of his son in you so you can cry out, Dad. whether you're excited or in need or need help, whatever it is that we get to cry out to him

because he's a good, good father. How about this? That God disciplines out of love. Zefaniah says that God sings and dances over his children. You hear that Baptist? God is dancing right now. So surely you get two to. And when you know him as a good dad,

the pretending and the performing are over because you have been adopted as a son. So quit actually. like a slave and act like a son because God loves you and Jesus is the proof long time ago back in the 1900s when I was in elementary school I told you I lived in Dylan a little tiny town not much going on and my my daddy and my uncle Philip tore down an old tobacco barn because that's what they did and they were going to replane the wood to put hardwood floors in our house and that was back when poor people had hardwood and rich people had wall-to-wall shag carpet remember that you'd walk in that

Shad Carver, like, man, you can't hide money. Look at him. Right? So, so that he gets all this wood and tin and all this stuff in this old barn and he piles it up in our backyard and he brings me and my brother together and says, look here, boys, whatever you do, don't go near the lumber. Don't go near the woodpile. There's rusty nails and there's tin and you could get, you know, tetanus and there's snakes and spiders and whatever you do, and me and Uncle Philip are going to be working on it soon. So just leave it alone. Okay? Yes, sir. So the next day, immediately. when I wake up straight to the lumber. And I began to rearrange the lumber in the tent

to build a fort. This is the thing you have to go outside, not fortnight. There were no screens involved. It was like oxygen and sun. It was crazy. Dirt, you should try it. All right? And so I will spend a whole next year

talking about how to be a godly man. So I built this little fort, rearranged some stuff, and in my mind, it was awesome, man. It was awesome. Had like two little spaces, a place for reading to hang out in a living area. I had a little roof on it. I had a little, like, I pulled some boards apart

so that I could see what was going on. And I remember thinking, well, things don't work out of the house. I'm just move out here. This would be great. And so it was a Saturday, and the sun began to come up, and I'm doing my thing out there, and then began to get a little sleepy. And anybody that knows me well knows I have the gift of sleep. I mean, just boom.

It's a spiritual gift. It really is. Clean living. I ain't got nothing to worry about. Boom. So I just go right to sleep easy. And so it took over, and as a little kid, it's like maybe third or fourth grade.

The sun begins to beat down. gets a little warm, I laid my head down in my little sitting quarters, and I am gonezo, man, out. I don't know how long, but then I'm awakened by this dream that my parents are losing their mind. And I open my eyes, and I look out my little spy hole, and there are my parents losing in their mind. My mom was doing what she would call screaming bloody murdy. Remember that? And she's screaming, Joseph Perry, Martin III, and when they go with the government name,

you know it's on, like don't be gone. and I thought, uh-oh, and I looked, and my dad is kind of beside her. She's kind of roaming the neighborhood, and my dad is out on the back porch screaming at the top of his lungs. Jovey! Jove it! And I thought, oh, no, I'm a dead man. I look at my neighbor's house, and my parents have gotten the other neighbors to go door to door and knock on the door to see where I was. This was back in the time where if you went to the grocery store and you bought a thing of milk, you flip it over, and you see the lost children on the back.

I think my mama was on the way to Piggly Wiggly with a Polarrow. to get my picture on the milk, because she thought I'd been stolen because I was so cute and adorable, or whatever. Then I looked to the other side of my house and check this out, both police guards from Dylan, my house, boom, right there.

The whole force is in my yard. And I thought, oh no, I'm a dead man. And so my dad is screaming with great consternation. Jobay, and it kind of went, you could tell, man, you ever had that thing where you're like, when I catch him, I'm going to, and then you begin to shift in, oh no, I hope I find him. And so I come out of my first,

fort, I go around our barn, I kind of flank him so he doesn't see me from too far away, and I walk up behind him and I tug on his shirt, and he flips around, and I go, I'm right here. And he grabs me by the shoulder, and he says, boy, I don't know whether to whoop you or hug you. And I said, I'll take a hug. My dad ain't the most affectionate dude. Now he is as a grandpa. I don't know what happens to you, grandparents. I can't believe you treat our children so differently than the way you treated us.

That's a different sermon. But in that moment, he melted for a second, and he reached down and picked me up and just squeezed me like a father who thought he had lost his son, but was willing to do whatever it took. Send out search parties, call the police, scream yell, call my name, and do whatever it took to come and find me because his boy was lost, and now he could celebrate because his boy was found. This is what God has done through his son, Jesus Christ.

that you and I are not primarily tools in the hand of God to be used or even soldiers in his army to fight. We are primarily sons in God's family to be loved. That's just who we are. You know what else a good dad does? A good dad invites his children to the table. So we're going to close this service by celebrating Holy Communion because you, through the blood of Jesus,

have been invited to the family dinner. Our ushers are going to begin to hand out the elements. If you would help them with that, that would be great. And I would just, I don't know what kind of tradition you came from, okay? But I want you to know, this is the Lord's table, this is not my table. So I don't get to determine who takes communion. But it is the Lord's table.

So if you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, regardless of your background, then you are welcome to the table. And so on the night Jesus is betrayed, he brings together the 12 disciples. And it's a family dinner. because he says, my family is not just the people I grow up with, my family are the people that believe that I am who my father says that I am. And the Bible says to show them the full extent of his love, he gets up from the table, he dresses himself as a servant,

he washes the disciples' feet. And he says, I have set for you an example. You will be blessed if you do likewise. And then he sits down at the head of the table, and every disciple has participated in this meal in a different way every year of their life. It was called the Passover meal. And it goes all the way back to the book of Exodus

where God's people were slaves in Egypt. And they began to cry out to God and God heard the cries of his people and he sends a very unlikely hero, a guy named Moses, a guy that thought he was disqualified from ministry, but you're never too far gone. And God comes to him in the form of a burning bush and says, Moses, I want you to go

to Pharaoh and I want you to give him this message, let my people go. And Moses says, well, he's not going to listen to me. Who shall I say sent me? And God says, you tell him, my name is I am that I am, the eternal present. So Moses shows up on the scene. And God says, all right, I'm going to loosen him up a little bit, Mo. I'm going to send 10 different plagues because Pharaoh actually thinks he's God. And so every one of the plagues that comes through Egypt was to attack one of the little G gods that the Egyptians worship. So he sent gnats and locusts and frogs because there was a gnat god and a locust god and a frog god.

He turns the river to blood. He blots out the sun one day. And then by the time you get to the last plague, it was called the plague of the firstborn. And this was to attack specifically Pharaoh. And God tells Moses this. Get ready. There's going to be an angel of death that comes over Egypt.

And he's going to take the firstborn of everything. livestock, pets, children, the firstborn is gone. Except anyone who takes the blood of a spotless lamb slaughters it and puts the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of their house when the angel of death comes through Egypt, he will pass over whoever has the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of the house. And that night at the table, this has been happening for thousands of years. Jesus says, hey boys, that whole Passover thing?

about the blood of the lamb being on the doorpost of a house and the angel of death passing over, that lamb is me. That lamb is me. That I am exactly who John the baptizer says that I am. When he said, behold, the Lamb of God who's come to take away the sin of the entire world. And he holds up the bread. And he's supposed to say rabbi stuff about Exodus. And he personalizes it.

And he says, this is my body broken for you. Listen, they had no idea what he's talking about. Until the next day when they're standing at the foot of Galgotha, and they see the Lamb of God who is being slain for the forgiveness of sin. And he says, this is my body broken for you. As often as you eat of it, do so in remembrance of me. At the end of the mule, Jesus speaks up again. The disciples have no idea what he's going to say.

And he holds up a cup. And he says, this is my blood. It wasn't actually blood. But he says, this is my blood. And this is the cup of the new covenant. The old covenant that came from Moses is a covenant of law. And Jesus had fulfilled the law. He had accomplished everything that the prophets and the promises said that he would do.

And so he says, the old covenant is a covenant of law. But this is the cup of the new covenant. And it's a covenant of grace. And again, they didn't know what he was talking about. Next day they saw it that on the cross he drank the full cup of the wrath of God on our behalf that because of the grace of God when we partake of the cup that we can drink of the grace of God for his glory. He said, this is my blood shed for you.

The cup of the new covenant poured out for the forgiveness and the remission of sins. And as often as you drink of it, you do so in remembrance of me. And through the propitiation of Jesus Christ, you will, you will. and I have been adopted into the very family of God. And so may we live as sons and not slaves. And the family dinner at the Lord's table is out of a celebration. And so the Bible says that in the early church, every time that they would remember the gospel by celebrating the broken body and shed blood of Jesus, that they would leave by singing songs of joy. And so I'm going to pray, and then that's what we're going to do. If you're a son,

if you have been adopted into the family of God, then we ought to sing like it. So we just stand, let me pray for us. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, I love you more than anything because you first loved us. Lord, I thank you that you did not merely come to forgive us, but to adopt us into your family.

God, I pray for every man, every woman right now that the idea of fatherhood is a problem for them. And God, I thank you when the ideal is unrealized that grace abounds. God, I pray that you would overwhelm them with your love. God, we thank you that we can know you as Father. That we are no longer slaves of fear, but that we are sons of the most high king. With Jesus as our older brother. God, I pray the truth of that good news would set us free to be free.

And God, I pray if there's anybody here, any man, any woman, any student right now that doesn't know you as Heavenly Father. God, they would surrender their life to you in this very moment and be welcomed into the family of God, adopted into the family of God for the very first time. God, we pray this in the good, strong name, the only name that matters when you pray. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. And all God's people said, amen. Because we have been adopted as His children, we get to respond. You hear that. We get to respond. We're going to sing, and we should sing like a bunch, like a big family reunion, okay? And God's into it.

and we can bring our first and our best because we don't follow the elemental principles of this world where our money tells us who we are but we get to tell it what to do and we say I love God more than I love you so we bring our first and our best man and we pray and you are invited to pray like you're getting to talk to the king of the universe who's in charge of everything and he just happens to be your dad because both of those things are true so let's sing let's bring let's pray let's respond