WEBVTT 00:00:00.520 --> 00:00:04.320 Loving God, we come this morning, each of us with our own cares. 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:09.519 We come each of us as ransom slaves and heirs to your promise. 00:00:09.640 --> 00:00:12.820 We just pray, Lord God, that only the truth would be spoken and only truth heard. 00:00:13.419 --> 00:00:14.460 In Jesus' name, amen. 00:00:15.700 --> 00:00:23.219 We're going to be focused on adoption, which is an important theological and biblical theme 00:00:23.219 --> 00:00:29.199 that I seldom hear, other than here, George has preached and spoken about it, 00:00:29.199 --> 00:00:35.100 but we really don't see this idea developed all that often, as much as perhaps it should. 00:00:35.619 --> 00:00:40.479 It's just a wonderful metaphor for us to stop and to think on 00:00:40.479 --> 00:00:46.340 when we think about ourselves all as saints in God, through Jesus. 00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:53.879 My sister was adopted, and we don't think of Melissa as our adopted sister. 00:00:54.079 --> 00:00:56.439 We think of Melissa as our sister. 00:00:56.439 --> 00:01:00.019 And one of the things we learned, she learned later on in life, 00:01:00.199 --> 00:01:05.840 is that being adopted had actually saved her from something. 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:13.539 She was actually spared a life of growing up, being raised by someone who was abusive 00:01:13.539 --> 00:01:17.620 and someone who was an addict and had some very serious issues. 00:01:17.620 --> 00:01:25.719 And when she speaks to her biological siblings, she says she's given a wonderful new perspective 00:01:25.719 --> 00:01:33.420 on the fact that my parents adopted her, and a wonderful appreciation for the life that 00:01:33.420 --> 00:01:37.719 she was given, rather than the life that she was destined for, had she not been adopted. 00:01:37.719 --> 00:01:44.239 And this is one of the reasons it comes home for me that I believe this is a wonderful metaphor, 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:46.579 because not only is she happy, this is my sister. 00:01:46.840 --> 00:01:49.659 This is our sister, my mom and my dad's daughter. 00:01:49.799 --> 00:01:55.719 We are so happy that she didn't have to go through what some of her biological siblings, 00:01:55.859 --> 00:01:57.000 unfortunately, had to go through. 00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:08.000 And it's a wonderful image because God wants to spare us from slavery to a sin-addicted and abusive world. 00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:16.099 God wants to spare you and release you from bondage, or has spared you and released you from bondage 00:02:16.099 --> 00:02:19.020 to a sin-addicted, lost and abusive world. 00:02:21.479 --> 00:02:23.000 Let's turn to Galatians 4. 00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:26.800 Paul is writing to Galatia. 00:02:27.439 --> 00:02:29.180 So this is Mediterranean Sea. 00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:33.120 You can kind of see Galatia is to the east and a little bit to the north. 00:02:33.620 --> 00:02:35.520 It's not a town, it's an area. 00:02:35.639 --> 00:02:39.259 And this is one of the areas that Paul went to during one of his missionary journeys. 00:02:39.639 --> 00:02:46.199 And as happened in all the other areas, like Ephesus and a number of the other cities or areas that he went to, 00:02:46.460 --> 00:02:50.860 when Paul moved out from his missionary journey, the false teachers came in. 00:02:50.860 --> 00:02:56.820 And they started to say, well, Paul's message is great, but let's just add a little bit to that. 00:02:57.440 --> 00:03:03.200 And what we have in Paul's letter to the Galatians, as is in a number of Paul's other letters, 00:03:03.500 --> 00:03:10.380 he's addressing the false teaching that has come in after him, pretty much immediately after he left. 00:03:10.379 --> 00:03:14.879 And he's addressing a false teaching that says, what people were saying is, you know, 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:19.400 we still need to keep the law as an obligation to be accepted by God. 00:03:20.500 --> 00:03:27.379 Not as cultural Jews, just as someone from Africa would keep their, at that time in ancient Africa, 00:03:27.460 --> 00:03:28.960 would keep their cultural values. 00:03:29.060 --> 00:03:32.379 But not just cultural values, that these are things we need to do. 00:03:32.620 --> 00:03:36.859 Rituals, keeping the law in order to be accepted by God. 00:03:36.939 --> 00:03:39.500 These are our obligations in order to stay within his house. 00:03:39.500 --> 00:03:43.620 That was the teaching that Paul was saying, no, hold on here. 00:03:43.979 --> 00:03:44.419 Wait a tick. 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:48.199 That's not the gospel of Christ that I was preaching to you. 00:03:48.919 --> 00:03:52.280 And in this section of the letter that we have, up until this point, 00:03:52.699 --> 00:03:57.819 he's been kind of, you know, kind of circling around, kind of getting to what he's talking about. 00:03:58.099 --> 00:04:01.080 But in this section, we get to chapter three, we get to chapter four. 00:04:01.080 --> 00:04:06.939 He is just directly, head on, attacking that teaching. 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:09.400 And in dealing with it directly. 00:04:09.939 --> 00:04:14.500 And he's appealing to the Galatians to resist and to keep the faith. 00:04:14.759 --> 00:04:16.040 Let's look at verse one. 00:04:17.339 --> 00:04:21.480 I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave. 00:04:22.100 --> 00:04:28.540 Though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 00:04:28.540 --> 00:04:33.800 In Roman times, legally, you didn't come to age automatically at 12 or 13. 00:04:34.379 --> 00:04:37.800 You came to age when the father decided you were going to come to age. 00:04:37.879 --> 00:04:42.020 And then they had a special thing that happened. 00:04:42.140 --> 00:04:45.100 I think it was March 16th or March 17th about that it happened. 00:04:45.180 --> 00:04:46.540 And they recognized you as the heir. 00:04:46.600 --> 00:04:49.439 But that did not happen until the father recognized him. 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:53.420 So obviously, if we look at that, it starts with, I mean that. 00:04:53.500 --> 00:04:55.019 Paul is talking about something. 00:04:55.100 --> 00:04:58.939 He's developing an idea that he's already stated in chapter three. 00:04:59.639 --> 00:05:04.779 And so we have to read everything in chapter four of our section in light of what he has just said in chapter three. 00:05:04.779 --> 00:05:07.259 And what he said in chapter three is simple. 00:05:07.659 --> 00:05:10.419 People of faith in Christ are adopted by God. 00:05:10.699 --> 00:05:11.199 Full stop. 00:05:12.299 --> 00:05:13.799 We are adopted by God. 00:05:14.479 --> 00:05:22.839 And this adoption comes in accordance with a promise that was made long before the law ever came along. 00:05:24.719 --> 00:05:30.899 A promise of faith that was given to Abraham, which he develops and talks about fully in chapter three, 00:05:30.899 --> 00:05:35.259 which came along long before Moses came along with the law. 00:05:37.299 --> 00:05:42.979 Being adopted by God for us as Christians has to do with the promise to Abraham. 00:05:43.599 --> 00:05:52.099 And because that promise comes from then, before the law, it supersedes anything the law can do for us. 00:05:52.639 --> 00:06:00.699 Anybody who went to the Ryle Open House, wonderful talk by Pierre on this very thing. 00:06:00.699 --> 00:06:05.699 That when we understand the scriptures and we understand theologically the scriptures, 00:06:05.819 --> 00:06:10.699 we need to understand where we are and what we're talking about in light of all that history. 00:06:11.219 --> 00:06:17.199 So the chronological order of the way God and salvation history has happened matters. 00:06:17.519 --> 00:06:19.839 And that's what Paul is saying here. 00:06:20.180 --> 00:06:25.480 What he's saying is the promise is based on Abraham's faith for his descendants. 00:06:25.680 --> 00:06:28.019 And I just commit to you chapter three for that. 00:06:28.019 --> 00:06:32.539 So we have a promise given to Abraham based on faith. 00:06:33.279 --> 00:06:43.139 And what Paul is saying here is that the law was given as a guardian between the promise given to Abraham and the promise fulfilled in Christ. 00:06:44.060 --> 00:06:46.319 It was a great thing to have a guardian at that time. 00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:50.639 But we now live in the time of Jesus. 00:06:50.639 --> 00:06:54.800 The law was just a guardian. 00:06:54.959 --> 00:07:09.180 So when he uses the term child, when in our passage we hear the term child, what Paul is indicating is that time when the law was kind of our guardian as children. 00:07:09.180 --> 00:07:14.519 He's calling the Galatians to that mature faith in Christ, not to stay as children. 00:07:14.740 --> 00:07:18.900 And when you're a child, you're as good as a slave, he's saying, because you have these, it doesn't matter who you are. 00:07:19.259 --> 00:07:20.840 You've got these overlords over you. 00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:24.300 And that's who it is that's looking after you in the life that you live. 00:07:24.300 --> 00:07:28.100 So he's talking actually to two groups here. 00:07:28.160 --> 00:07:31.620 And he's saying to these two groups, neither one of you is better than the other. 00:07:32.520 --> 00:07:33.980 Everybody's in this same situation. 00:07:35.240 --> 00:07:37.420 He's trying to show that everybody's in the same boat. 00:07:37.480 --> 00:07:41.080 He's talking to the Jewish Christians and he's talking to the Gentile Christians. 00:07:41.220 --> 00:07:42.780 There was both in Galatia at the time. 00:07:42.779 --> 00:07:49.659 For the Jewish Christians, being a child was continuing under the law of Moses. 00:07:50.579 --> 00:07:55.839 Would just be to live as a spiritual child under a master, a slave master. 00:07:56.500 --> 00:08:00.039 In Joseph's time, Egypt started as a savior. 00:08:00.679 --> 00:08:03.779 Had a role, a wonderful role in salvation history. 00:08:04.139 --> 00:08:08.079 But then at the time of Moses, what was Egypt then? 00:08:08.079 --> 00:08:12.800 Egypt changed from a savior to a slave driver. 00:08:13.339 --> 00:08:14.259 And God called them out. 00:08:14.639 --> 00:08:18.839 And so he is saying the law did the same thing. 00:08:18.919 --> 00:08:23.139 It had that purpose of holding and bringing people and making them God's people. 00:08:23.699 --> 00:08:31.620 But with Jesus now, if we still allow the Egypt, the law to function like that, we remain slaves. 00:08:31.719 --> 00:08:36.679 It's made that same shift that Egypt made in the life of Israel at that time. 00:08:36.679 --> 00:08:44.659 So if they aren't careful, he's saying, they could easily become stuck under that taskmaster again. 00:08:44.839 --> 00:08:51.899 It would be the same as the Israelites going back to Egypt after they had been saved by God from that. 00:08:52.099 --> 00:08:54.519 And we know that they were always saying, well, Egypt was so great. 00:08:55.259 --> 00:08:56.339 It's the same with the law. 00:08:56.459 --> 00:08:58.059 It's almost, it's like history repeating itself. 00:08:58.120 --> 00:08:59.239 They're saying, oh, the law is so great. 00:08:59.279 --> 00:09:00.299 Let's just go back to that. 00:09:00.819 --> 00:09:03.120 And Paul just doesn't understand this, which I'll get to in just a second. 00:09:03.120 --> 00:09:06.679 The second group he's talking to is the Gentile Christians. 00:09:07.120 --> 00:09:11.000 They have been enslaved, verse 3, by the elements of the world. 00:09:11.720 --> 00:09:17.440 Verse 3, in the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. 00:09:17.860 --> 00:09:23.600 Among other things, that's a way of indicating the gods of paganism, which were based on the elements of the world. 00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:34.220 And the religiosity and the rules and the things that they would have you do in order to pacify them and receive their blessing. 00:09:34.659 --> 00:09:37.460 So what he's saying are parallel states. 00:09:38.139 --> 00:09:40.220 We have parallel states of being enslaved. 00:09:40.680 --> 00:09:45.740 And he's saying to the Jewish Christians, you're no better than the Gentiles. 00:09:45.740 --> 00:09:49.639 And he's saying to the Gentiles, you're no better than the Jewish Christians. 00:09:49.820 --> 00:09:51.220 We are all in the same boat. 00:09:51.980 --> 00:09:53.279 We are all orphans. 00:09:53.680 --> 00:09:57.899 We are all falling under a slave driver if we don't believe in Jesus, if we go back to this. 00:09:58.480 --> 00:10:01.320 Both Jew and Gentile, they're distant from God. 00:10:01.940 --> 00:10:04.480 And they need Jesus where God comes close. 00:10:04.580 --> 00:10:06.980 The promise of Jesus, I will not leave you orphan. 00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:09.200 I am coming to you in John 14, 18. 00:10:09.620 --> 00:10:12.899 It's as true for one group as it is for other. 00:10:12.899 --> 00:10:16.779 Which is an important point because there was obviously butting heads that was going on. 00:10:17.120 --> 00:10:20.539 So when he says, we have experienced adoption, he's speaking to both groups. 00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:26.659 And for Paul, he can't get his mind around why would they ever want to go back. 00:10:27.379 --> 00:10:38.539 It appears as though they were buying into this false teaching and were going back from being sons to being slaves under the law. 00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:40.100 And Paul just doesn't get it. 00:10:40.100 --> 00:10:50.659 He doesn't understand why they would want to go back to that kind of spiritual life where they're living as though living the law makes them right in God's eyes. 00:10:50.720 --> 00:11:00.759 And I was trying myself why they would move from freedom in Christ in a dynamic relationship with God to simply being slaves to a law. 00:11:01.240 --> 00:11:02.040 Paul doesn't get it. 00:11:02.039 --> 00:11:04.939 And I was myself trying to understand, you know, how could I say this? 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:09.360 How could I understand this in an image that has more to do with my life? 00:11:09.399 --> 00:11:10.799 And it kind of, it dawned on me. 00:11:11.079 --> 00:11:20.679 To me, the Christians going back to the law is kind of like a military chaplain deciding to stay on basic training forever. 00:11:22.419 --> 00:11:23.579 That's a bad decision. 00:11:24.339 --> 00:11:25.199 It is horrible. 00:11:25.200 --> 00:11:26.879 I did it twice, basic training. 00:11:27.160 --> 00:11:27.900 And I have to explain. 00:11:27.960 --> 00:11:28.720 It was asked this morning. 00:11:28.920 --> 00:11:31.280 I did it for the reserves, but it wasn't good enough, apparently. 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:32.660 They made me do it for the regular force. 00:11:32.960 --> 00:11:38.500 Having to do basic training a second time almost made me not join the regular force. 00:11:38.600 --> 00:11:39.440 It was that awful. 00:11:40.800 --> 00:11:49.259 And I would not, you know, I didn't join the military to be stuck in an infant state under slave masters. 00:11:49.259 --> 00:11:50.259 Yes, I used the term. 00:11:50.379 --> 00:11:51.720 That's what it's like to be on basic training. 00:11:53.159 --> 00:11:59.720 And not actually doing this dynamic, living this dynamic life, this dynamic ministry that I had been called to. 00:12:00.879 --> 00:12:02.720 And Paul's saying the same thing. 00:12:03.439 --> 00:12:07.379 He said, why would you ever go back to the law, to basic training? 00:12:07.700 --> 00:12:09.939 You have a dynamic relationship with God. 00:12:10.899 --> 00:12:12.360 Why would you ever go back there? 00:12:13.200 --> 00:12:15.500 He couldn't wrap his mind around it. 00:12:15.500 --> 00:12:19.840 Why they would go back to being a slave stuck under the law. 00:12:20.940 --> 00:12:22.679 They were spiritually adopted. 00:12:23.860 --> 00:12:29.980 In a sense, when they did this, as they were doing this as Christians, 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:34.379 they were thumbing their nose at what God had done for them in Christ. 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:35.980 Verses 4 and 5. 00:12:36.039 --> 00:12:41.299 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, 00:12:41.299 --> 00:12:47.219 to redeem those who are under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 00:12:47.599 --> 00:12:48.779 And that's what I love, folks. 00:12:48.819 --> 00:12:54.699 Right here, in the center of the passage, is realizing the love shown in Jesus. 00:12:55.519 --> 00:12:56.399 Nothing else matters. 00:12:57.500 --> 00:13:00.699 Realizing the love and the sacrifice that was made. 00:13:01.419 --> 00:13:04.240 It costs money to adopt. 00:13:05.039 --> 00:13:08.500 It costs money in many places around the world to adopt. 00:13:08.500 --> 00:13:15.720 My friend is an American pastor, and he was taking the program with me over the last few years. 00:13:16.259 --> 00:13:20.940 And as we went through our program, he was actually adopting a little girl. 00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:26.299 And it was very interesting to see and to walk with him and pray with him through the ebbs and flows, 00:13:26.639 --> 00:13:29.240 the amount of money they had to spend on lawyers' fees, 00:13:29.500 --> 00:13:31.659 the amount of bureaucracy they had to go through, 00:13:31.960 --> 00:13:36.919 the highs and lows of dealing with social workers and everything they had to go through. 00:13:36.919 --> 00:13:41.399 It was a price they paid to adopt this wonderful little girl. 00:13:41.639 --> 00:13:43.679 You see the family now, and it was well worth it. 00:13:44.059 --> 00:13:53.759 And when she grows up, when they are able to communicate to her what it took to adopt her 00:13:53.759 --> 00:13:55.839 and what they were willing to go through, 00:13:56.479 --> 00:14:01.519 she's going to experience and know her value in her parents' eyes. 00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:08.220 She's going to know, even more so, the love that her parents have for her 00:14:08.220 --> 00:14:11.639 because the more they got to know her, the more they were willing to go through. 00:14:14.519 --> 00:14:17.960 We have been bought spiritually by Christ. 00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:20.319 Ransom from slavery at a cost. 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:23.439 Center banner right there. 00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:26.419 You have been bought with a cost. 00:14:26.419 --> 00:14:32.740 Death on a cross that shows our value to the one who chose us. 00:14:33.740 --> 00:14:37.360 Do you see yourself with that value? 00:14:38.839 --> 00:14:40.199 Not what the world says. 00:14:40.459 --> 00:14:43.360 Do you see yourself with that value there? 00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:46.620 Considering the price that was paid. 00:14:46.620 --> 00:14:54.220 Because that is the root of a growing relationship with God through Jesus. 00:14:55.179 --> 00:14:57.299 Is recognizing what was done for us. 00:14:57.700 --> 00:14:59.320 And the value that God has for you. 00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:02.039 Ephesians 1.14 00:15:02.039 --> 00:15:07.100 He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, 00:15:07.460 --> 00:15:08.539 through the purpose of his hill. 00:15:08.940 --> 00:15:11.220 We are or were all orphans. 00:15:11.879 --> 00:15:13.779 Legally paid for now and adopted. 00:15:13.779 --> 00:15:18.839 And while our adoption starts with that legal act that's just the beginning, 00:15:18.959 --> 00:15:20.959 it continues with membership in God's house. 00:15:21.659 --> 00:15:25.120 And the imperative to live in line with this new identity. 00:15:25.839 --> 00:15:28.100 But it's not, we live, therefore we're accepted. 00:15:28.439 --> 00:15:30.299 It's, we're accepted, therefore we live. 00:15:31.839 --> 00:15:34.740 Extremely important distinction that Paul is making here for us. 00:15:35.500 --> 00:15:36.539 Verses 6 and 7. 00:15:36.819 --> 00:15:41.279 And because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts crying, 00:15:41.779 --> 00:15:42.439 Abba, Father. 00:15:42.440 --> 00:15:45.400 So you are no longer a slave, but a son. 00:15:45.480 --> 00:15:49.160 And if a son, friends, then an heir through God. 00:15:49.520 --> 00:15:52.820 Theologically, we say that adoption has both a forensic aspect, 00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:55.040 and it has a transformative aspect. 00:15:55.240 --> 00:15:57.180 John Calvin called this double grace. 00:15:57.800 --> 00:15:58.860 We're doubly blessed. 00:15:59.040 --> 00:16:00.440 First of all, we're given a, 00:16:00.580 --> 00:16:04.800 that forensic thing is that we are legally accepted by God. 00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:08.859 Our legal status in the eyes of God has changed. 00:16:10.659 --> 00:16:14.059 Purchased, we are moved to a spiritual condition where transformation happens. 00:16:15.939 --> 00:16:22.179 And we are, second, we are given grace to grow into this new identity. 00:16:22.539 --> 00:16:27.199 It has a forensic legal aspect, and then it has a transformational aspect, 00:16:27.200 --> 00:16:32.140 where we receive God's spirit, and then we learn, and then we grow. 00:16:32.360 --> 00:16:33.879 We are saved, so then we grow. 00:16:33.879 --> 00:16:36.620 We are adopted to live a life as heirs with Jesus. 00:16:36.800 --> 00:16:39.379 Not a life of slavery, but a life of transformation. 00:16:39.379 --> 00:16:43.679 Now, this really hits home in our time, 00:16:44.279 --> 00:16:47.399 because adoption deals with a similar false teaching 00:16:47.399 --> 00:16:50.399 that is rampant in our culture, 00:16:50.860 --> 00:16:54.620 in North America, in Canada, in Ottawa, 2019. 00:16:56.039 --> 00:16:58.039 Today's has a new attempt, 00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:03.019 way to attempt religion without being a son or a daughter of Christ. 00:17:03.240 --> 00:17:04.019 It's nothing novel. 00:17:04.119 --> 00:17:07.099 You've probably heard the term moral therapeutic deism before. 00:17:09.380 --> 00:17:11.240 But it's important to keep this in mind, folks, 00:17:11.280 --> 00:17:12.940 because this is the water that we sleep in. 00:17:13.120 --> 00:17:15.580 I want to give you the National Religious Creed of Canada. 00:17:15.840 --> 00:17:16.820 Okay, you want to put it up there, please? 00:17:16.880 --> 00:17:17.840 We said our creed. 00:17:18.040 --> 00:17:19.740 Here's the National Religious Creed of Canada. 00:17:21.760 --> 00:17:23.800 First, the world would say, 00:17:23.860 --> 00:17:25.840 God created everything, looks after humanity. 00:17:26.120 --> 00:17:26.800 Okay, fair enough. 00:17:27.480 --> 00:17:30.060 Second, God wants us to be generally nice and good. 00:17:30.060 --> 00:17:32.500 And by the way, this is what all religions teach. 00:17:34.520 --> 00:17:37.720 Third, the goal of life is to find happiness and simply to feel good. 00:17:37.720 --> 00:17:40.460 Fourth, God can be a second thought, 00:17:40.519 --> 00:17:42.019 unless, of course, you need him for something. 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:45.920 And fifth, most importantly, good people go to heaven. 00:17:47.220 --> 00:17:51.579 Now, leave alone the fact that places I've been in the world 00:17:51.579 --> 00:17:53.779 and places where I think a number of us have been in the world, 00:17:54.519 --> 00:17:56.440 this just, I mean, it's just tripe. 00:17:57.079 --> 00:18:01.100 It doesn't last first contact with the reality of the world. 00:18:01.880 --> 00:18:05.039 There are a number of things that are simply wrong with this. 00:18:05.039 --> 00:18:07.460 But by and large, this is the religion of Canada. 00:18:08.639 --> 00:18:10.839 And if you're not a Christian, you may be looking at this saying, 00:18:10.940 --> 00:18:12.700 well, actually, Sean, that sounds good enough for me. 00:18:12.799 --> 00:18:13.480 Thank you very much. 00:18:14.619 --> 00:18:16.399 But I want to point a few things out. 00:18:17.879 --> 00:18:19.920 Most importantly, I want to point out that 00:18:19.920 --> 00:18:23.619 in a world where we have no moral absolutes, 00:18:23.659 --> 00:18:26.579 we can't say anything is actually good or decide, 00:18:26.740 --> 00:18:29.220 have any basis to decide on anything being good, 00:18:29.399 --> 00:18:31.859 how can we ever say God wants us to be good? 00:18:31.859 --> 00:18:35.519 It's like this self-licking ice cream cone, right? 00:18:35.679 --> 00:18:38.199 God wants me to be good, but I can't decide what's good. 00:18:38.299 --> 00:18:42.459 But God wants, it's this slavery to this vicious cycle. 00:18:42.539 --> 00:18:45.979 And that's just one irrational cycle that's going on in that, 00:18:46.979 --> 00:18:49.439 in this creed that we have. 00:18:49.440 --> 00:18:54.320 And there's studies that show, 00:18:54.460 --> 00:18:57.460 actually, and I'm going to commit to you this book after I'm done here, 00:18:57.680 --> 00:18:59.779 there are studies that show that this, 00:18:59.960 --> 00:19:02.160 especially the present generation that's coming up, 00:19:02.720 --> 00:19:04.200 know that that's an issue 00:19:04.200 --> 00:19:09.700 and are incredibly uncomfortable with the lack of moral compass, 00:19:10.600 --> 00:19:13.180 yet have no idea what to do about it. 00:19:13.440 --> 00:19:15.519 So simply just go by living life like this, 00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:19.519 but are really slaves to the idea that they don't know what's good, 00:19:19.839 --> 00:19:21.339 they're just trying their best to get by. 00:19:23.139 --> 00:19:24.900 And this is really nothing new, 00:19:24.980 --> 00:19:26.839 it's what historically we would call deism. 00:19:27.819 --> 00:19:31.559 And I want us to see how distant this makes God. 00:19:33.279 --> 00:19:35.160 We're often told in Christianity, 00:19:35.400 --> 00:19:38.700 oh, well, you make God up there in the clouds judging us, 00:19:38.759 --> 00:19:39.799 but when I look at this, 00:19:39.799 --> 00:19:41.940 this actually sends God to the clouds. 00:19:43.019 --> 00:19:45.279 Completely distant, completely impersonal, 00:19:45.279 --> 00:19:47.460 and really doesn't care all that much. 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:54.519 And we're left seeking a mystery standard that we could never meet. 00:19:54.720 --> 00:19:56.960 But this, when we contrast it with adoption, 00:19:57.799 --> 00:20:00.539 that is when God is close. 00:20:01.059 --> 00:20:02.819 When we contrast it with adoption. 00:20:03.099 --> 00:20:05.339 And it brings us close to Him. 00:20:05.559 --> 00:20:06.759 When God adopts us, 00:20:07.180 --> 00:20:09.160 He has come to us in Christ. 00:20:09.160 --> 00:20:12.000 We enter a joyful world as God's children, 00:20:12.480 --> 00:20:13.880 powered by the Holy Spirit, 00:20:14.160 --> 00:20:18.320 not this mushy place where we really don't know what's good and what's bad. 00:20:18.519 --> 00:20:20.160 And this is where our passage says, 00:20:20.480 --> 00:20:22.180 God becomes Abba. 00:20:24.500 --> 00:20:25.880 He's not in the clouds, folks. 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:27.220 He's come to you, He's come to me. 00:20:27.220 --> 00:20:29.360 And it's a term that, 00:20:29.559 --> 00:20:30.579 this term Abba, 00:20:31.319 --> 00:20:34.400 it denotes familiar or close. 00:20:34.480 --> 00:20:36.180 It's over-sentimental. 00:20:36.259 --> 00:20:38.680 Some people say we should just translate Abba, Daddy. 00:20:39.380 --> 00:20:40.980 That's kind of over-sentimental, 00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:42.039 but you get the sense there. 00:20:42.299 --> 00:20:44.160 There's a closeness to this term Abba. 00:20:45.039 --> 00:20:46.519 Moral therapeutic deism, 00:20:47.059 --> 00:20:48.299 the creed of Canada, 00:20:48.740 --> 00:20:50.100 contrasts starkly 00:20:50.100 --> 00:20:52.160 with the kind of spiritual adoption 00:20:52.160 --> 00:20:53.700 and dynamic faith 00:20:53.700 --> 00:20:55.660 that Paul is calling people to. 00:20:55.660 --> 00:21:00.080 We are adopted to a life lived as heirs with Christ, 00:21:00.960 --> 00:21:03.560 raised to a new life of grace and holiness, friends. 00:21:04.140 --> 00:21:05.759 And so we have something to consider. 00:21:06.940 --> 00:21:08.600 I want you to consider something. 00:21:09.040 --> 00:21:10.160 That creed, 00:21:11.100 --> 00:21:13.420 just like for the Gentiles, 00:21:14.460 --> 00:21:17.200 the elemental spirits was the water they swam in. 00:21:17.600 --> 00:21:20.480 Just like for the cultural Jewish Christian, 00:21:21.040 --> 00:21:23.540 the law was the water that they swam in. 00:21:23.539 --> 00:21:25.259 And moral therapeutic deism, 00:21:25.500 --> 00:21:28.299 that creed is the water that we swim in. 00:21:28.579 --> 00:21:29.940 Paul is asking them to say, 00:21:30.279 --> 00:21:31.819 check yourself here. 00:21:32.299 --> 00:21:34.480 Where are you buying into the water you're swimming in? 00:21:34.720 --> 00:21:36.779 I think the Lord is looking at us and saying, 00:21:37.000 --> 00:21:37.879 check yourself here. 00:21:39.279 --> 00:21:40.180 Paul is saying, 00:21:40.279 --> 00:21:41.700 have you made God too distant? 00:21:42.460 --> 00:21:45.259 In what way am I buying into that creed 00:21:45.259 --> 00:21:48.339 and the destruction of values in life 00:21:48.339 --> 00:21:50.079 that comes along with it? 00:21:51.460 --> 00:21:52.440 Something to consider. 00:21:53.920 --> 00:21:54.740 Contrast this morning. 00:21:55.960 --> 00:21:57.680 Am I living in a law mentality 00:21:57.680 --> 00:21:59.279 where it's kind of the outside, 00:21:59.379 --> 00:22:00.619 I do good things and in? 00:22:01.900 --> 00:22:03.900 Or am I living an adoption mentality 00:22:03.900 --> 00:22:05.680 where I have a new identity 00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:07.400 and I'm living from the inside out? 00:22:07.400 --> 00:22:10.080 Are you experiencing a relationship with God 00:22:10.080 --> 00:22:11.560 based on your adoption as his child, 00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:14.300 not staying out in the spiritualist streets 00:22:14.300 --> 00:22:16.400 where confusion reigns? 00:22:19.100 --> 00:22:21.780 We're adopted to live a life as heirs with Jesus. 00:22:24.259 --> 00:22:25.840 I usually have a graphic, 00:22:25.980 --> 00:22:26.620 it's a big finish, 00:22:26.720 --> 00:22:27.940 I missed that. 00:22:28.540 --> 00:22:29.900 But just to finish here, 00:22:29.900 --> 00:22:34.500 it's important to continue to experience 00:22:34.500 --> 00:22:37.420 our foretaste of what our spirits groan for. 00:22:37.680 --> 00:22:38.740 At the end of the day, 00:22:39.080 --> 00:22:40.880 our spirits don't groan for 00:22:40.880 --> 00:22:43.000 this mushy God in the clouds type of faith. 00:22:43.180 --> 00:22:46.000 That is not what fulfills us. 00:22:46.080 --> 00:22:47.880 And the next generation coming up is telling us 00:22:47.880 --> 00:22:49.759 and they know that that's not what fulfills us. 00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:53.240 What fulfills us is what our spirits groan for. 00:22:54.220 --> 00:22:55.580 We know, we're just saying, 00:22:56.160 --> 00:22:57.660 do we know the world is broken? 00:22:57.860 --> 00:22:59.080 Folks, we know the world's broken. 00:23:00.380 --> 00:23:02.240 And we all, in our own way, 00:23:02.460 --> 00:23:03.380 groan inwardly. 00:23:05.360 --> 00:23:06.800 I went to a wedding, 00:23:06.980 --> 00:23:08.140 my cousin's wedding recently, 00:23:08.720 --> 00:23:11.680 and for some reason, 00:23:12.160 --> 00:23:13.320 dinner lasted from, 00:23:13.380 --> 00:23:15.980 I think it was 6.30 to 11 o'clock at night. 00:23:16.900 --> 00:23:18.660 And they'd bring out a little bit of food, 00:23:19.280 --> 00:23:20.060 and then all of a sudden, 00:23:20.140 --> 00:23:20.720 there was the speeches. 00:23:21.480 --> 00:23:22.540 A little more food, 00:23:23.040 --> 00:23:24.700 and then they danced. 00:23:25.040 --> 00:23:25.820 And I was in uniform, 00:23:25.960 --> 00:23:26.560 so I didn't dance, 00:23:26.620 --> 00:23:27.320 and I wouldn't do it anyways. 00:23:27.600 --> 00:23:29.400 But it was just kind of back and forth like this. 00:23:29.900 --> 00:23:30.960 My family, 00:23:31.060 --> 00:23:32.540 I'm the smallest of my brothers, 00:23:32.880 --> 00:23:33.100 okay? 00:23:33.140 --> 00:23:33.900 I'm the little one. 00:23:34.920 --> 00:23:36.519 And we're meat and potatoes people 00:23:36.519 --> 00:23:38.740 from the hills in Halliburton. 00:23:39.380 --> 00:23:41.220 We were inwardly groaning 00:23:41.220 --> 00:23:43.780 by the time 9.30 came along. 00:23:43.779 --> 00:23:47.259 And if it wasn't for the little hamburgers, 00:23:47.259 --> 00:23:48.879 they call them sliders that they served, 00:23:48.980 --> 00:23:50.099 and we downed those suckers, 00:23:50.139 --> 00:23:50.740 I gotta tell you. 00:23:51.519 --> 00:23:52.599 During the reception, 00:23:53.200 --> 00:23:54.460 I don't know if we would have made it. 00:23:54.500 --> 00:23:55.420 We just would have gotten an Uber 00:23:55.420 --> 00:23:56.920 and went and found a steakhouse somewhere. 00:23:56.920 --> 00:23:59.660 But it was that little foretaste 00:23:59.660 --> 00:24:00.800 is what got us through, 00:24:01.140 --> 00:24:03.200 even though we were inwardly groaning. 00:24:03.580 --> 00:24:04.140 And that's, 00:24:04.980 --> 00:24:07.080 we are given a foretaste now, folks. 00:24:07.240 --> 00:24:09.300 If you think worship's good, 00:24:09.460 --> 00:24:10.900 if you think the church is good, 00:24:11.039 --> 00:24:13.000 if you think the new life that you have now, 00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:14.800 that groan is never gonna go away. 00:24:14.880 --> 00:24:15.420 God knows it. 00:24:15.460 --> 00:24:16.360 It's there for a reason. 00:24:16.620 --> 00:24:18.060 It's to keep us coming back to him 00:24:18.060 --> 00:24:18.920 for that foretaste. 00:24:19.080 --> 00:24:19.860 But let me tell you, 00:24:19.900 --> 00:24:20.700 the main is coming 00:24:20.700 --> 00:24:23.080 in God's time. 00:24:23.980 --> 00:24:26.299 And just hold on to that foretaste. 00:24:27.700 --> 00:24:28.940 And don't allow yourself 00:24:28.940 --> 00:24:30.880 to get pulled off into the streets. 00:24:31.740 --> 00:24:32.680 Stay in the party. 00:24:33.220 --> 00:24:33.500 Amen? 00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:35.980 I want to commit to you a book, 00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:37.200 Union with Christ. 00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:37.640 It was funny, 00:24:37.799 --> 00:24:39.100 George and I were talking about, 00:24:39.140 --> 00:24:39.400 you know, 00:24:39.539 --> 00:24:40.299 writing books, 00:24:40.380 --> 00:24:41.180 writing articles and stuff. 00:24:41.400 --> 00:24:42.620 I'd love to write a book 00:24:42.620 --> 00:24:44.440 that wasn't ever written. 00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:45.700 Every time I come up with an idea, 00:24:45.840 --> 00:24:46.519 someone comes along 00:24:46.519 --> 00:24:47.299 and they already wrote the book 00:24:47.299 --> 00:24:48.039 better than I could. 00:24:48.279 --> 00:24:49.660 It's called Union with Christ 00:24:49.660 --> 00:24:51.040 on Todd Billings. 00:24:51.140 --> 00:24:51.500 I gotta tell you, 00:24:51.580 --> 00:24:52.300 I've been listening 00:24:52.300 --> 00:24:53.279 to George's sermons 00:24:53.279 --> 00:24:55.120 and he's just, 00:24:55.920 --> 00:24:57.440 if you like George's sermons 00:24:57.440 --> 00:24:58.040 on Ephesians, 00:24:58.100 --> 00:24:59.420 I think you'd like this book as well. 00:24:59.500 --> 00:25:00.040 He's right along 00:25:00.040 --> 00:25:01.040 with what you're talking about, brother. 00:25:01.140 --> 00:25:02.200 So I commit that to you 00:25:02.200 --> 00:25:03.720 and just full disclosure, 00:25:04.279 --> 00:25:05.420 some of what you heard this morning 00:25:05.420 --> 00:25:06.740 from me is actually from that book. 00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:07.560 Let's pray together. 00:25:08.560 --> 00:25:09.400 Lord God, 00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:13.460 what a party it is to be with you. 00:25:14.080 --> 00:25:15.460 Even though the world is broken, 00:25:15.600 --> 00:25:16.080 Lord God, 00:25:16.279 --> 00:25:17.720 you and your grace 00:25:17.720 --> 00:25:19.019 give us a foretaste. 00:25:19.019 --> 00:25:20.440 Help us to continue 00:25:20.440 --> 00:25:21.539 to come back, Lord God. 00:25:21.799 --> 00:25:23.079 Help us to continue on 00:25:23.079 --> 00:25:23.480 in the faith, 00:25:23.559 --> 00:25:24.700 not to buy in 00:25:24.700 --> 00:25:26.019 to what the world 00:25:26.019 --> 00:25:26.740 is trying to sell, 00:25:27.019 --> 00:25:27.720 but instead 00:25:27.720 --> 00:25:29.059 to get the world 00:25:29.059 --> 00:25:29.539 to buy in 00:25:29.539 --> 00:25:30.299 to what you're selling 00:25:30.299 --> 00:25:31.099 and what you offer 00:25:31.099 --> 00:25:31.779 in Jesus' name. 00:25:32.119 --> 00:25:32.319 Amen.