Welcome back to our
study of the book of Galatians.
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Before the break we were talking
Pastor Mark about this idea
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in Galatians Chapter 4 about
the weak and beggarly elements.
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- About observing the
days and the months and seasons
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and years. - that is right.
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We just made the point that Paul
wasn't opposed to observances of
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religious ordinances
as it were, but rather
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the idea that these would serve
as a servile relationship with
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God, similar to how
they had a relationship with
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the idolatrous
deities that they served
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prior to becoming Christians.
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We have observances today.
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That's right and we
talked about that, we observe
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Communion, baptism, and
even the apostle Paul wasn't
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opposed to the observance
of circumcision, because in
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Acts 16:3, he talks about
when he circumcised Timothy.
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So the apostle Paul
wasn't opposed to it, but he was
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opposed to it when it
served as a substitute for
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obedience to God's will.
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That's right, that's
right and we are going to move
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ahead and go
into verses 4 and 5.
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There is so much to cover,
these two verses are another
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two verses that
encapsulate the Gospel message.
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I would love to have more
time to delve into them but we
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moving into the idea
of the slave or son and
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we want to emphasize that.
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We pick up here in verse 4
of Galatians 4 where it says,
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"but when the fullest of
the time had come, God sent
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"forth His Son, born of a
woman, born under the law,
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"to redeem those who were
under the law, that we might
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"receive the adoption as sons. "
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We have a study coming up
where we are going to talk more
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about being under law and
how scripturally to be under
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the law, to seek the law
as a means of justification.
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Now Jesus we know didn't seek
the law as means justification,
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He didn't need to be justified,
but for all who seek the
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law as a means of justification.
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You can't justify yourself
by the law so they incur the
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penalty and what Paul is
trying to make a point here is
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that Jesus incurred the
penalty of all those who sought
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the law for justification.
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It's almost the same
thing as he said earlier in
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Galatians 3:13 where it
says, "Christ has redeemed us
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"from the curse of the law,
having become a curse for us. "
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Here He was made under the
law to redeem us through His
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sacrifice by paying
the penalty for our sins.
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But notice what it
goes on to say in verse 6,
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I'm sorry Galatians 4:5,
"to redeem those who were under
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"the law, that we might
receive the adoption as sons. "
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You know a lot of Christians
look at the redemption aspect.
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Oh I am forgiven of my sins,
praise the Lord for that but
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they haven't
entered into the adoption.
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that was the whole
reason Jesus paid that price.
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Amen, now this idea of
sonship that he picks up very
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strongly in verses
6 and 7 and this is at
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the heart of this passage.
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It says, "and because you
are sons, God has set forth the
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"Spirit of His Son into
your hearts, crying out, Abba
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"Father! Therefore you are
no longer a slave but a son,
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"and if a son, then an
heir of God through Christ. "
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Why is it that they are
no longer a slave but a son?
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Because God has poured
the Spirit into their hearts
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that cries out Abba Father.
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That word Abba is an
intimate word for father.
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We might see daddy or something
that shows the affection.
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It's a less formal term
too, it's an affectionate term.
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That's right and so this
is helping us to see that when
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we truly become a son,
no longer do have a servile
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relationship with God but
we have a genuine affection
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for God, we have an
interest in the things of God.
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Our hearts are melted by
the love of Christ and there
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is an interest in
the things of Christ.
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This contrast I think we
ought to look at another verse.
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It's in Romans chapter 8
and it contrasts nicely with,
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I should say compares nicely
with this passage in Romans 8
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where it says in verse 15,
"for you did not receive the
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"spirit of bondage again
to fear, but you received the
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"Spirit of adoption by
whom we cry out, Abba father. "
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So the idea again is
not a fear relationship that
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we have with God, it is
not a servile relationship,
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but rather it's an
affectionate relationship.
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We actually have a love for God.
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We don't have a love for
God and spiritual things,
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we cannot be an heir.
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This is a very critical
point here, it says the Spirit
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of God comes in to
give us that bond of love,
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and affection for God
and Jesus said unless a
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man is born again he shall
not see the kingdom of God.
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Unless we have this genuine
hunger and interest for the
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things of God, then we
cannot see the kingdom of God.
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And this is a problem
with a lot of Christians.
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They go to church, they
have a formal experience but
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they never really gained
an interest or a hunger for
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the Word of God, they
never really sensed a drawing
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power to the things of God.
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You mention they go to
church, but they go to church
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late and leave early. - right!
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In other words it's
something that needs to be done,
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like those weak and
beggarly elements, but it is not
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in the heart to do
it. - that's right!
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I think that this
idea needs to speak
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the heart of every Christian.
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If that is where you are,
if you do not have an interest
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in the Bible but you go
to church and they read the
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Bible and you listen to
it because you do it because
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you think it's the right
thing to do, but you don't
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actually have that
warmth of affection for Christ.
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you don't actually have
that warmth of affection that
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desire and hunger
for spiritual things.
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Then you are in a
servile relationship.
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There needs to be a change
from the servile relationship
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to the sense were we can
have intimate love for God
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or we cry out Abba Father.
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We know Jim, another thing
here is that Paul speaks to
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the Galatians as though
they had that Abba Father
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relationship and they had
slipped back and maybe some
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of our viewers who had at one
time felt that warmth and that
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love for the things of
God but now have felt that
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they have fallen away
from that and their love has
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grown cold for
spiritual things and
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they are just going
through the motions.
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This is why we are
going over this topic.
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God can restore
in us, as David said
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the joy of thy salvation.
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There's a book called
'Steps to Christ' that I believe
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hits right at the mark
of how we can know if our
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relationship of God is a
servile relationship or a Son
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relationship, with
child relationship.
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I want to read this
quote if I could, it says,
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"who has the heart,
with whom are our thoughts?
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"Of whom do we love to
converse?" In other words in our
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most comfortable situations
do we like talking about
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spiritual things? Do we
like talking about the Bible?
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Or is that something
we only do at church?
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And then it says, "who
has our warmest affections and
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"our best energies? If we
are Christ's our thoughts are
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"with Him and our
sweetest thoughts are of Him. "
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Absolutely, well you know
Jim there is a parable that
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Jesus told that illustrates
this contrast between this
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servile relationship and
the relation of a servant and
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the relation of a son.
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It is in Luke chapter 15
and it is the parable of the
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prodigal son, or the
lost son as some Bibles say.
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The prodigal is employed
in many translations and most
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people are familiar with
that and that means wasteful.
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What happens in the story
and we don't have time to read
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through the whole story
here, but it is found in
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Luke 15:11 and onward.
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What happens is you have
this son who the Bible says
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a day comes when he decides
that he wants the portion
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of goods that comes to him.
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In other words he wants
his inheritance and he goes
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to his father and asked him.
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The Bible says the father
divided his livelihood and
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gives to his two sons, he
has two of them, so he gives
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the inheritance to his
two sons and then it says
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this son went
away to a far country.
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What that implies, maybe
some people don't pick up on it,
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he didn't say he took
the inheritance and went
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to a nearby town where
he could be close to dad.
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He went into afar way
country, in other words what
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we see a picture of it is
a son who has become weary of
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the restraint of
his father's house.
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Why do young
people run away? - rules!
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Well something happens,
some bad happens, with the rules
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are too tough,
and I am out of here.
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So this is what we see,
the son runs away and he wastes
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his possessions in
prodigal wasteful living.
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What happens is there are
two things the Bible brings up
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in the course of his experience.
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Once he runs out of everything
the Bible says he began
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to be in want, he
began to be in need.
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What we are seeing here
is a conversion process.
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The son went away, that
is us who ran away from our
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Heavenly Father and now
the son begins to realize
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that his idea of what
was going to be great in life
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is it really panning out.
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His ideas of freedom weren't
really as free as he thought
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they were going to be,
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but he doesn't yet go
back to his father, he decides
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he is going to
work things out himself.
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That is how many of us do,
we come under the conviction
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of sin and think we are going
to take care of the problem.
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As time goes on the Bible
says the young man is slopping
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pigs, the Bible
says he came to himself,
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in other words this is the
conversion, this is the ahh hah
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moment, he came to himself
and said you know my father's
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servants are
better off than this.
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The son decides to go home
to his father and when he goes
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home the Bible tells us that
while he was a long way off,
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his father saw
him and ran for him.
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Now we don't have any
idea how long the son was gone,
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so that tells us that the
father must have been looking
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and watching day in and day out.
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Jesus is trying to convey
the love of our heavenly Father.
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What is interesting Jim
is the Father never ran after
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the son, because it
wouldn't have done any good
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to bring the son back
when it was in the son's heart
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to serve the father.
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But the dynamic thing we
find is that when the son left
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the home he wasn't even
willing to live as a son in the
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father's house and he had
the attitude of a servant.
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Dad has all these rules and
it just wasn't in his heart.
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When he comes back, now
he is willing to be a servant
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and he has this
attitude of a son.
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Wow that's powerful, powerful!
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If you look at the story,
his brother is not real happy
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about him being back and
he is living at home and he is
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living as a son but he
has the attitude of a servant.
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- he's kept all the rules,
but it is not in his heart.
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I think something else
that is really powerful about
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that story is that
when the son comes home,
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the father comes out.
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The son has a carefully
planned speech that he is going
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to give, I'm not worthy to
be called your son and etc..
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The father cuts him off
and says okay were having a
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party my son that was
gone has come back home.
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What that teaches us is
that God cares less about where
00:11:22.21\00:11:25.98
you have been then He
cares about where you are going.
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He was just
concerned that he came home.
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That is a powerful
thought and it leads me back to
00:11:32.65\00:11:35.82
Galatians, because in Galatians
4:19 we see the heart of
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a spiritual father
in the apostle Paul.
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He says to the church in
Galatia, "my little children,"
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you see the affection he
has, "my little children, for
00:11:50.64\00:11:54.64
"whom I labor and birth
again until Christ is formed in
00:11:54.68\00:11:58.41
"you. " The apostle Paul
is here saying I'm laboring
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that I might be able to
see that affection and sonship
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once more in your
hearts, to have the
00:12:08.29\00:12:10.09
real experience with Christ.
00:12:10.13\00:12:11.76
And it's such a powerful
point they are, the apostle Paul
00:12:11.79\00:12:14.50
is longing for these
Galatians to enter into a real
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relationship with God
were they recognize that He is
00:12:18.90\00:12:23.17
their Father and they
entered to the Sonship.
00:12:23.20\00:12:25.71
So that servile
attitude is being held of God.
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I can relate and I know
you can relate as a Pastor as
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we see members in our own
church that professed Christians
00:12:30.65\00:12:36.02
that are lacking that real
passion for spiritual things.
00:12:36.05\00:12:41.39
They are just going
through the motions and maybe
00:12:41.42\00:12:43.83
you are viewing at home,
maybe you are saying that is
00:12:43.86\00:12:46.23
where I have been, how
do I have that Sonship,
00:12:46.26\00:12:49.56
how do I have
that real experience?
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I just want to urge you
to cry out to the Lord Jesus
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and ask Him to renew your heart.
00:12:54.00\00:12:56.81
Sometimes we can do that
and you say well it doesn't
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seem like anything is happening.
00:12:59.57\00:13:00.98
Keep pressing your petitions
to the throne of grace.
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Jesus says He ever lives to make
intercession for us so press
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those petitions, cry out
to Jesus and I tell you in the
00:13:07.62\00:13:10.89
whole name of the Lord He
will answer you and renew you
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as sons and daughters.
00:13:14.19\00:13:15.69