0:06 Yeah. Good morning again family. It's biblical to mind your own business. We heard it multiple times. Mind your own business. And uh as an ambition, it says make it your ambition to mind your own business and work with 0:26 your hands. God cares about the work we do. [clears throat] [snorts] And uh it's a question I've wrestled with. I say, "Lord, if if you've ordained it so that a good chunk of my day is spent providing for my family, then there must be something of eternal 0:45 value in that." Please take courage in that. Dear brothers, dear sisters, dear children, if you're homeschooled or you go to school, if you work from home or work out in the field or out in a factory or in an office, the work that you're doing, if you do it 1:01 everything as unto the Lord, it's of eternal value. I wish that we didn't have to work for to provide for our families. I'd love to just spend the whole day with my family or with you all and just But God's not ordained it that 1:15 way. And this is a verse in the new covenant. Work with your hands. Attend to your own business. And God is building the church even through your work. God is building the church. Moms, [clears throat] wives, when you if 1:33 you're at if you do a job outside the home or if you're mostly at home taking care of the home, you're building the church through that. You must believe it. Please believe it. [clears throat] And what a wonderful thing. The law 1:48 could not do it and God did. And in order to do it, he had to send his son. And I hadn't realized that that was the verse for the primary, I think, um class. But that is in line with what I would like to share, what the Lord's put 2:05 on my heart for this for this morning. [clears throat] If you could please turn with me to Ephesians 1. Ephesians chapter 1. And let's pray again. Pray with me, family. Pray for this time. 2:22 We all need the Holy Spirit to speak to us to open our ears to hear. [clears throat] Heavenly Father, will you come and use me as a vessel for your glory and your honor? Lord, I don't want to stand in the way or cloud Jesus in 2:40 any way with some idea or some thought or some way of speaking even. Lord, I want you to be seen more clearly, simply and purely. Lord Jesus, come and will you remove all of us and our 2:59 own ideas from the picture that Jesus face alone may shine. Come and do that. Lord, will you pour out your spirit in our midst aresh this morning right now [clears throat] as we open your word Lord? Help us to value your word. We have so many Bibles 3:17 now in our homes and in our available to us. May we never lose a value for your word, Lord, that you've given to us. It's precious. It's the only thing of eternal value. Help us to have a reverence for your word as we read it, as we hear from it, 3:33 and as we hear your voice, Lord. May we never take it for granted. Oh, will you come? We know a time is coming where there will be a famine of the word of the Lord. Thank you for the richness of the word of the Lord we have in this 3:45 church available to us any day of the week at any time. We thank you for that, Lord. But I pray that every one of us will hide your word in our heart that we might not sin against you. Lord, give us a hiding spirit this morning that hides 4:02 your word. The word that you planned to speak to every single one of us. Every single person listening to this, there's a word that you have planned which will change our lives that will transform us. Oh Lord, will you give us that word? 4:19 Give us ears to hear what the spirit is saying to the church. not to be dull and deaf and [snorts] distracted by the things of the world and our own thoughts. Come, oh Holy Spirit, and open our ears to hear what you're saying. And 4:32 may we treasure that in our hearts so that it will be useful that the word of God will be a sword, [clears throat] the sword of the spirit to attack those things that we need to attack to cut and divide between spirit and soul. Lord, will you come and do 4:50 that? make your word alive because it is alive. Lord, please do that. Thank you. You will do it. We trust you. You're our loving father. You said we when we come and ask you for bread, you will not give us a stone. We want the bread of life. 5:03 We don't want just stones of knowledge. And we want we want egg. We want an egg, Lord. You will not give us a scorpion or a snake. We want life, Lord Jesus. And you come and be the word of life for us this morning. We believe you will in 5:17 Jesus name. Amen. [clears throat] Amen. I've shared my personal testimony a few times here about this and I'll share it again that when I was a little child, I was taught about Jesus Christ as a savior and I was taught about 5:36 heaven and hell. There are some parents who are afraid to tell their children about hell. And I fear for such children that they grow up not realizing the holiness of God, the justice of God. And as a result, they don't really 5:55 understand the love of God. In order for us to really understand God's love, we must see why Jesus had to come, why Jesus had to suffer. You know, I was thinking recently that when Jesus died, we know that the 6:13 wages of sin is death. That's Romans 6:23. And it's eternal net, not just physical death. And Jesus could have just died as God and as man. He could have just died and he would have paid the punishment of 6:32 sin. Why did it have to be so brutal? Why did they have to torture him and shove that crown of thorns down on his head and spit on his face and beat him blindfolded and say, 6:51 "Tell us, prophet, who hit you?" Why did it have to be crucifixion, which is one of the most painful painful ways to die? Have you thought about that? I've been thinking about it this week. If Jesus had just died a painless death, 7:09 [clears throat] pure sinless lamb of God, the son of God, just dying, he would have paid the penalty of my sin. Cuz the wages of sin is death. Why did it have to be so brutal? The most brutal death that has 7:27 ever been experienced in the history of mankind. It it it delighted those soldiers and the Pharisees who goed them to just taunt him. They were going to kill him. What good was it going to do to beat up his body so badly and whip him to the 7:46 point where I'm sure the flesh was just hanging off of his body and blood gushing forth. I don't know why, but I will one day when I see Jesus. And my passion on this earth is to know why would Jesus love me so much? 8:05 Why did it cost so much suffering of the son of God who did no sin, committed no sin? The father ordained it that way. And when we see Jesus, oh I tell you, I believe with all my heart like we sing in that hymn, I'll wish I had given him 8:23 more. By and by when I look on his face, thorn shadowed face and I see his nail prints, I wish I had given him more. I wish on November 9th, 2025, I hadn't been so full of my own self and my own self-centered thoughts that I had 8:43 actually lived a life worthy of the one who gave himself for me. I believe that. Now, why is it important for us to meditate on that? Because if we go on singing about the Savior who loved us and gave himself for us and continue 8:59 living lowly, earthloving, grumbling, complaining, bad mood lives here, we're going to live with regret in eternity. Really are. When you stand in eternity and look back on November 9th, 2025, 9:18 what will you think, dear family? That's what you must think about today. To live in the light of eternity is to say, "What will I think about when I look back on this day when I am in eternity and I cannot change how I live today?" Today I can change 9:38 how I live today. Today I can choose what I will think about, what my attitudes will be, what my motives will be, what my ambitions will be, what my words will be, what my actions will be. I can choose that. But may those choices be from the 9:55 perspective of looking back in eternity. When I see this day, I say, "Thank you, Lord, that finally I saw how much you suffered for me. And finally, I yielded and I said, "Bend me, break me, and take away, empty me, Lord, 10:13 completely so that I live today in the light of eternity." That's the way we must live. [snorts] as the way every truly godly man or woman or child has lived. [clears throat] And so I Christ suffered incredibly for 10:31 us. And I I I want to think about that more honestly. I hope you will as well that it wasn't enough just that he died. He had to be beaten and scarred and brutalized. body treated like a just a whipping sto steak 10:49 just for my sin. and uh meditating on that love and I was uh I was thankful that I was taught about hell and I was talking about why we must teach our children about hell because it shows the justice of God and the righteousness and the holiness of 11:04 God that God in order to accept us into his presence required the punishment of hell for Santo and for you that's what Jesus had to suffer he suffered hell for you and I and so I was thankful ful for that. But in my little 11:23 mind, I don't remember exactly how old I was, but I was quite young. I was thankful that my parents taught me to pray the prayer, to ask Jesus into my heart, to repent of my sins, ask Jesus to cleanse me from all my sin, 11:39 acknowledge that I'm a sinner, and pray that [clears throat] prayer. They didn't force me to do it. We should never force our children to do it, but they encouraged me to do it. They reminded me about it often. And children, parents, I 11:51 hope we are reminding our children about it. If they have never committed their life to Christ, never made that decision to become Christ's and to be his parents, it's our responsibility to remind them of it often. Don't be 12:05 afraid. Don't say, "Well, I'm going to wait for the Holy Spirit to do it." You could spend their whole life waiting for the Holy Spirit to do it. And the Holy Spirit's waiting for you, father, mother, to remind them and pray for 12:15 them. talk about it often and move the hand of the Holy Spirit, the finger of the Holy Spirit in the life of your child that the light will turn on. And that light turned on and I someday I was like, "Well, yeah, there's hell. I 12:30 don't want to go there. Heaven, I want to go there." It was as simple as that. I wanted to be with God and not be in hell. And so, I asked Jesus into my heart. And um I really meant it as a little child. And children, I want you to know 12:47 this as well. However old you are, however young you are, if you really mean it, if you really mean it, say, "Lord Jesus, I I don't understand all that they talk about sometimes when I hear the sermons. Most of it goes over 13:00 my head. But I've been told that if I come to you and ask you to forgive my sins, you will receive me. He will receive you, dear children. He will. You just have to ask. You don't have to know, "Will you always be perfect?" No, 13:15 you will never always be perfect. I can tell you that now. But just ask in faith. Just say, "Lord Jesus, today I really want you to come and be in my heart through your Holy Spirit." And if you believe it, if you really mean it, 13:28 he'll come. He doesn't expect you to do any great things or use the right words. If you mean it in your heart, children, he will come. I hope you will mean it in your heart. and ask him today. You don't have to put it off another day. 13:44 And so I did. But because I was also taught about a holy God, and this wasn't the result of my teaching, but my own childlike mind. I don't know where I got. It's really the the devil was already starting to work in my heart or 13:57 work on me because he saw that I was a little child. Um I started to think that okay, I asked Jesus into my heart. He forgave my sin. But then I did some bad things after that. I disobeyed or lied or fought with my brothers and 14:15 things [clears throat] like that. And because I knew God was holy and sin is dangerous and sin will take you to hell, I thought, well, I asked Jesus into my heart, but then I did this bad thing, so he left. 14:33 And so I asked him to come back. Said, "Come back into my heart, Lord Jesus. I know I did that bad thing and you you left, so please come back." And that became a cycle of [snorts] asking Jesus into my heart and thinking he'd left and 14:48 then asking him to come back. And it's like a revolving door that Jesus was just kind of in and out and in and out cuz I did a lot of bad things when I was a kid. And it seemed like a constant cycle of Jesus going in and out. [clears throat] 15:03 And and then it it it bothered me. But I also I felt like this is how my own little mind and the devil trying to plant seeds of doubt. I'm sharing that just as a warning that you don't fall into the same trap that I did. And 15:19 again, it had I wasn't taught this in the church or by my parents. I was taught about a loving God, but my own frail mind went down those pathways. I think God allowed it in my in my case perhaps to be an example and to be able 15:34 to share that with any of you children to protect you from going down that pathway. And I thought, well, God is just waiting to throw me into hell because hell is a place where he punishes sin and he hates sin. And the fact that I lied, he hates that so much. 15:48 He's going to throw me in hell. I better apologize. I better be on guard because this God is coming to grab me and throw me into hell. And in my little puny mind as a child, I thought, well, if it's during the daytime, I can keep my eye 16:04 out because it's God. I can see him coming from a distance and I can quick repent of my sins, quick ask for forgiveness, and then he can't throw me into hell because in the nick of time, I asked for forgiveness. This is how my 16:16 I'm going back many many years over 40 years ago. And um but then at night if I'm asleep this God may come while I'm asleep and see that ah that one sin you didn't repent. I'm going to take you and throw you in hell. So every night I 16:34 would go to bed in fear. Not a bad fear. I want you to it wasn't I wasn't afraid but I was just like I better I better ask for forgiveness now because now I'm going to go to sleep. I can't. My eyes are not open watching for God coming to 16:47 get me and I would go to sleep with a clear conscience. I'm thankful for that and that's a good thing to have set things right before you go to bed. It became a cycle. But I'm thankful that through the teaching I heard and the 17:02 love of God that I was shown in the church and in the word of God and through my parents um I came to know that this is actually God is exactly the opposite of that. God is not waiting to throw you into hell, children. God is waiting for you to 17:17 repent. That's when second Peter, I'll come back to Ephesians 1. [clears throat] Let's turn to second Peter chapter 3. Second Peter 3:9 became a really really precious verse for me [clears throat] 17:35 because there I was like a little child and I don't know how old I was when it finally clicked. The real God revealed himself to me in his word. And I saw that verse nine, the Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slow, but is 17:53 patient toward you, not wishing for Santo to perish. And I saw my name in that verse. I hope you'll see your name in that verse. God is not wishing for Santo to perish. put your name there, but for Santos to come to repentance. And I realized that 18:13 actually the way God was was that if he saw that I had gone to bed one night without confessing a sin, he'd say, "Let me give him one more chance." He forgot to ask for forgiveness. He for He went to bed one night without asking for 18:30 forgiveness. That's not God saying, "Aha, now I can throw him into hell." Because that's that's the devil. That's the That's the devil painting that picture of God. Instead, God says, "Ah, he hasn't yet repented. Let me give him 18:45 one more day. Let me give him one more week. Let me give him one more month." And I thank God that that is the true God. And often I think about why God allows suffering in this world. There's a lot of pain and suffering in the 19:02 world. There are people being beaten, taken advantage of, molesters, people killing each other, and taking advantage of each other in so many ways. There's all kinds of evil, drug addiction, um, and all of that is going on. And 19:19 whenever I read suicides, I hear about that. It grieves my heart. People feeling so hopeless that they think, uh, there's no hope for me. I'm just going to end my life. And then the God who created every one of these in his image, 19:34 every one of these children in his image with a hope that they would be with him for all eternity. Isn't he grieved with the crime and the evil that he sees in in the world? Of course he is. Far more grieved than my little heart could ever be grieved. The 19:49 God the God whose heart is infinite with love is grieved over it. And don't you think he wants to put an end to it so that there's no more suffering, no more tears? We sang. No more dying, no more crying, no more pain. He will wipe away 20:04 every tear. He's going to do that. Why hasn't he done it yet? And allowing the suffering to go on. It's because he's saying, "If I end it now, there will be no more chance to repent." He's patient. He's added one more day. 20:20 Yes, there's suffering in the world. Yes, there's pain in the world. But it's one more day for one more person to repent. Dear friend, dear child, if that's you that the Lord is waiting for to repent, let this be the day. If the 20:35 Lord has extended, if if he's been patient that he's extended his return by one more day, it's for you. He's waiting and he's welcomes you. He's not waiting to throw you into hell. That's that's the devil who wants you to be with hell in 20:51 with him in hell. But God has made a way of salvation and he wants you to be with him. So this this changed my life. And now let's go to Ephesians chapter 1 uh beginning in verse three. And um what I'm going to what I'd like to speak 21:07 about what the Lord laid on my heart is this that when God adopted you into his family, he adopted you simply because of his love for you. That's it. You did nothing to deserve that he would adopt you into his family. Simply love, 21:26 his love. There was nothing good in you. There was nothing that he thought, you know what, that's one of the good kids. Let me have him in my family. Maybe that's how even us parents would think. Yeah, this kid, if I bring him into my 21:39 family, he won't be a troublemaker. God didn't think about all those things. He knew I was a troublemaker. And it was simply because of his love. God adopted you into his family simply because he loves you. We read this in Ephesians 1 21:53 and and it's wonderful if you look at all the verses that speak about this truth in chapter 1:3. We see, blessed be the God and father of who? Not me yet. We're going to get there. But blessed be the God and father of Jesus, our Lord 22:09 Jesus Christ. So he's the father of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's always been the father of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they are they they one from from the beginning of time. That was their relationship. Father, son, and holy spirit. But why is 22:27 he blessed now? He's the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Just as he chose and every time I'm going to read us, but you must read your 22:43 name there. Blessed be the God and father of Santosh's Lord Jesus Christ. And again, as I put my name, please put your name there. Really do it, family. Who has blessed Santosh with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly 22:57 places in Christ just as he chose Santosh in him in Christ before the foundation of our world that Santosh would be holy and blameless before him. Now please understand I'm not being selfish here but I'm just saying it that 23:11 way so that you would put your name there. Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and blameless before him. Then he goes on to read in love he predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus 23:31 Christ to himself according to the kind intention of his will in love he predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ. So God 23:50 adopted you not because he saw some good in you. God adopted us not because he saw anything in us that's good. Well, the reason this is so important is that now that we have been adopted, now that we are part of God's family, all of a 24:05 sudden we start to think, well, if I'm not good enough, somehow God will reject me. Like I was saying, my little childish heart, childlike heart in its innocence, but its misguidedness thought, well, I did that bad thing, so 24:19 God, you're going to forsake me. But we must remember this adoption of God is a permanent act that God has done. When he brought us into his family, he brought us to be a part of his family permanently. Not so that it would be an 24:34 in-n-out. Okay, you're adopted now, but nope. Oh, guess not. You're not adopted today. Nope. that adoption is permanent. Adoption is something we're familiar with even in this world. A beautiful stories of adoption where you move from 24:46 one family that you were originally a part of into a family that becomes your new permanent home. And that's exactly what every one of us experienced. See, we were all born as part of a different family. We read about that in chapter 2. 25:02 Let's move on. Ephesians chapter 2. And you were dead in your trans trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world. This is talking about the old family that I was born in. A family 25:19 that was not only sinful and family that was just a curse. It was I was born dead. That family was full of death. Think about physically. Let's say I I was born into a family and that family that home is just a mess and there's all 25:34 kinds of wickedness and evil and you know I'm getting beaten all the time and all kinds of evil happening in that home and thankfully somebody comes and saves me from that horrible life in that home and gives me a new home. This is exactly 25:48 what God did for all of us. And if that's a beautiful thing in the earthly realm, how much more in the spiritual where we were utterly dead? We you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked according to 26:03 the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air. So the devil was the head of this home. I was born as it were a child of the devil. Jesus told the Pharisees you are of your father the devil. You know 26:17 children that all of us are born in sin. We're born because we're children of Adam because we're descended from Adam who sinned, Adam and Eve who sinned. No matter how good your parents are, no matter how much of the Bible they teach 26:31 you, and no matter the fact that you were born, perhaps even as a part of this church family, that doesn't make you a part of God's family. And adoption still has to happen because every child born in RLCF or born in a Hindu family 26:46 or born in a Muslim family or an atheist family or moneyloving family or a sports loving family, we're all born in trespass and sin. We were all dead in our trespasses. That was true about me. Even though I was born in a very, very 27:01 godly home. And for many, most of you children, praise God that you're born in a godly home. But you're born in sin. And no matter how much you try to be a better person, you're still a better person who's still dead in your 27:17 trespasses, dead in your sins until God says, "I want to adopt you. Come and be in my family." When that happens now, it actually doesn't matter whether you fell or you didn't fall. Yes, you keep pressing on to victory and you keep 27:33 growing more like Christ and seeking to become an overcomer. The Bible speaks about being an overcomer, but now you're a part of this family and you don't have to live with shame and guilt anymore because God has permanently taken you from darkness into 27:49 light. Colossians 1:13, he has translated us. Write down that verse so you can read it sometime. He's translated us. That means he took us out from the kingdom of darkness and put us into the kingdom of his son, marvelous 28:05 light. So he's done that. When that happens, now you never have to live with guilt and shame anymore. The adoption has happened. Well, let's keep reading. According to the prince, this is the middle of verse two. According to the 28:20 prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. So you were born with a spirit. This old family that we are born in has a spirit in it. It's a spiritual adoption. We're not talking about 28:34 physical anymore. That old home has a spirit in it, which is the spirit of disobedience. It's no wonder that nobody had to teach you to disobey dad or mom, you know. No parent ever teaches you to disobey. So you think, have children, have you 28:50 ever wondered where did I learn to disobey? Well, you were born with that spirit in the old home. The curse of that old home is the spirit of disobedience. And we're all sons of disobedience. Sons, when it says sons, it means 29:05 daughters as well. So girls, it does apply to you as well. Unfortunately, we're all born with that spirit of disobedience. You're born with that. So now verse three, among them we too. Look at Paul is saying we too. I was also one 29:21 of those. Now Paul was born of the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee of Pharisees in a very god-fearing at home I believe. And from a young age he was taught to uh obey the law. And yet he says I too was one of those. among them. We too all 29:37 formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath. I was on the way here to the meeting this morning. I was discussing with some of my children about a song, a line we 29:56 sing in a song. And as he um on the as he hung on that cross the wrath of God was satisfied. Some years ago some people objected to that and when they put it in their himnil they actually took out that cuz they felt like well the wrath of God 30:15 that's you know we don't want to think about did Jesus really face the wrath of God. Of course he did because I was a son of wrath. I was a child of wrath by nature. I'm a children. What does it mean to be a children a child of wrath? 30:29 That means in that home that I was born in spiritually there's anger that the anger of God towards sin is constantly on that home. You can think of it as as a home where the the it's always dark. The the curtains are always shut, the blinds are 30:45 always down. And it's because the anger of the wrath of God is on sin. Yes, Jesus took it. But if I'm still in that old home, if I'm still under the spirit of disobedience, then I'm still under the wrath of God. That's why this 31:03 adoption must take place. So we were we were by nature children of God even children of wrath even as the rest. And you another verse that's similar to this. Let's turn back to Galatians chapter 4. So, I'm trying to draw this picture of 31:25 that home. Our original home that we were born in before we got adopted into God's home. It was the the windows were shut, the shade, the blinds were down, everything was dark and smelly and filth all over the home and it was everybody's 31:40 yelling all the time and everybody's always angry and throwing stuff and it's a mess. In Galatians 4, it it's actually worse than that. Worse than that. Galatians 4, it says in verse three, "So also we while we were children were held 31:55 in bondage." So here I am in this home. It's dark. Everybody's yelling and I'm chained. I [clears throat] I I hear sometimes stories about evil parents who tie up their children and beat them and oh, it's so sad. It goes on in the world. 32:12 But you know, that's what you and I were spiritually. If somebody's experienced that physically, if any of you have, I don't know, that's that's really really horrible. But much much worse spiritually, you and I were in this home full of 32:26 darkness and filth and just absolute wretchedness and anger. And not only that, I was chained up. Couldn't leave. [clears throat] No hope of ever getting out. [snorts] We were in bondage. Verse three, Galatians 4:3, under the 32:43 elemental things of the world. But but but when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth him his son. You know, some years ago, this verse came alive to me in a very precious way. Galatians 4:4, 33:01 when the fullness of the time came, God sent his son. And I believe you know this you and I were put into this bondage house if you will. This house of bondage the day Adam and Eve sinned. God knew that we would be born and 33:20 knew that we would be descended of him and knew that we would be born into that home. And so right there in re in Galatians, no, not Galatians, Genesis chapter 3, when I see Adam and Eve falling and God having to curse the earth and curse the 33:37 serpent and and all that. And he says, "Your uh seed will crush his head." You can read it sometime saying that Eve's seed, which is Jesus Christ, would one day crush the serpent completely. Um that was Jesus. Jesus was going to come and 33:56 crush the serpent's head. And in in my mind some years ago, I I imagined this situation where Jesus immediately after that says, "Shall I come now and crush the serpent's head? Let's do it now itself." And the father says, "No, 34:08 there's got to be a fullness of time, something that we'll only understand in eternity that God waited." But I imagine the heart of Jesus again because this is how I've come to know Jesus personally if you'll let me use my imagination a 34:20 little bit. That Jesus was, "Can I go now, Lord?" You know how children are. Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Can we leave now? Can we leave now? I imagine Jesus with his yearning heart of love for me. Father, 34:32 can I go now? Can I go now? And the father says, it's got to be in the fullness of time. And finally, the day comes when he's born in that uh stable in uh Bethlehem. In the fullness of time, one day God sent forth his son. 34:49 Now the father's heart was also to solve the problem right away. But there's a fullness of time and we'll understand that in eternity. Born of a woman, born under the law so that he might redeem those who are under law under the law 35:03 that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into our hearts crying, "Daddy, father, therefore, you're no longer a slave, but a son, and of a son, than an 35:22 heir through God." So what Jesus did, he came into this house and made himself like me and experienced that filth as it were around here. He never sinned, but he came into that wretched situation so that the father could adopt us into his 35:38 family. Let's go back to Ephesians chapter 2 and we'll continue reading. We stopped reading in verse 3 verse 4. Ephesians 2:4. But God being rich in mercy, similar to what we just read in Galatians 4. Because of his great love with which he 35:55 loved us, that's it. It's not that Jesus came from a distance saw is like, "Oh, I feel like ah yeah, maybe he'll be a good kid." No, her. I'm going to leave her out. Him, I'll take him. Her I'll take her. Nope, not him. It's just love. You 36:10 and I deserve did nothing to deserve this adoption. We were completely hopeless, bound up in this dark house, filth and wretchedness all around us. But God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us 36:25 even when we were dead in our transgressions made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the ages to come 36:42 he might show the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus for and and that's think about that that God took us bound and dead. Really doesn't get worse than that. I was dead in that filthy house on 37:00 top of that. And God brought me to life and I woke up and he says, "I'm going to put you in this wonderful new home." And what is that? He said, "I want you to sit next to me now." Dear friend, dear brother, dear sister, dear children, if 37:15 you have been adopted, not because I'm telling you you're adopted, but because God said he's adopted you and you believed it. Now, God wants to adopt every single human being that has ever lived on this earth. That's always been 37:29 his will. Anybody God, this every every letter, every word written in this book is for every human being that has ever lived on this earth. But you know that for 99% of the people in the world they won't get the benefit of that that 37:45 adoption that God did and made available to everybody 99% I think of the certainly the vast majority of the people who lived on this earth for whom God intended that adoption HE SAYS I ADOPTED you they said they missed it why 38:02 simply because they didn't believe it when they saw it in God's word and now I've shown shown it to you if you haven't seen it before. Dear children, dear brothers, dear sisters, God has adopted you. You don't have to take my 38:14 word for it. I've tried to show it to you in his word. And if you believe it, if you simply believe it, say, "Lord, you you said it, so I'm just going to believe it. You did it. I did nothing to deserve it. You simp you started the 38:27 ball rolling. You walked in that door. I couldn't even leave the house. But you walked in that door and broke my chains and said, "Come sit on the throne with You did it, Lord. Verse 8. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And 38:44 that that was our memory verse a couple weeks ago. And that not of yourselves. You did nothing to deserve it. Let's never forget that. Now, the reason I'm belaboring this, this may be fundamental. I hope it's fundamental for 38:56 us in the sense that we never go away from this. But I think that it's possible that in a church where we preach the holiness of God and preach sanctification and pressing on to perfection, we can somehow lose sight of the fact that this is all God. It is not 39:13 of yourselves. At the end of my life, when I'm conformed fully into the image of Jesus, Romans, sorry, Ephesians 2:8 will still be true that my salvation was not of myself. I did nothing to deserve this salvation. I've worked out my 39:27 salvation with fear and trembling, but I still did nothing. It was not my work. It was God working in me. And that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not as a result of work, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, 39:43 created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. And so this shows me that let's say I was in this home full of darkness and and filth and wretchedness and chained and I hear 40:00 about maybe I hear about I read the news if I could read the news there's another home where kids seem to have a good life and I I and I sit there and wish oh I wish I could be in that home that in itself would never cause the adoption. 40:15 No amount of my wishing I could have a different life will ever result in my having been adopted. It was God walking in the door and choosing me. Have you seen it, dear friend? God walking in the door of that filthy house that you were 40:28 born in, full of sin, chained to the wall, and saying, "Santo, come." And you think, "Why did you pick me?" And you think about all the people sitting in that the other your other friends, your other siblings born in the same wrath. 40:44 Born children of wrath like you who didn't who aren't seated in the heavenly places today. And God could have picked them as well. Why did he pick you? Cuz he loved you to simply his love for you. Oh, that you'll never go away from this. 40:59 Never lose sight of the fact that God chose you in Jesus Christ. Chose you in him. Never lose sight of that. And so I could sit there and wish and wanted that would never do anything. God came and chose me. Isn't that a wonderful thing? 41:14 Every earthly adoption is like that too. Little think about a little child maybe 1 month old, 3-month-old and the parents come and say we want that child. Yes, they they don't have a good home or they don't have a future but we want them to 41:27 have a future. And the parents did the choosing. The parents made the decision and picked out that child. In the same way God picked you picked you out to be a part of his family. Let's never forget that. We'll continue reading 41:42 verse 13. See now he talks about the Jews and the Gentiles. He says um verse 12. Remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God 42:02 in the world. So what he's here now doing is he's drawing the parallel between the people of Israel and the Gentiles. And the people of Israel were God's chosen people. Why? When did God choose Israel to be his chosen race? When they 42:19 were disobedient or when they were obedient? No, that had nothing to do with it. When he chose Abraham. I mean, you read about the history of Israel and Judah that most of the kings of Israel, all of them in fact, were disobedient. 42:30 Most of the kings of Judah were disobedient. The people went back and forth. They served Baal and then other gods and then they worshiped God sometime. They were waffling back and forth, but they were still God's chosen 42:41 people. Why? Because hundreds of years ago, God chose Abraham. And so, if you were living in in Judah hundreds of years later, you still were God's promised people. Why? Simply because God chose Abraham. And now Paul 42:59 does something really wonderful here. He says that in the same way that the people of Israel did nothing to deserve their choosing. Not even Abraham. When God called Abraham, it was not like he was some great holy person. He was 43:10 living in a faroff country in the U of the Calies. And God said, "I'm choosing you, Abraham." Abraham could have thought, "Lord, why me?" Because I love you. That's it. Do you think Abraham regrets it today? He believed 43:23 and he got the promise and forever after that the children of Abraham was not the physical descendants of Abraham anymore but the seed of Abraham which is Jesus and then all the seed that comes through Jesus have that promise simply because 43:39 Abraham believed God started the ball rolling by choosing Abraham and Paul says that in the same way now he says you you were excluded from that so you're like Well, I don't know if I'm part of God's family because I'm not descended from a from Abraham. He 43:55 says, "But God included you." Verse 13, "But now in Christ Jesus, you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of [clears throat] Christ. For he himself is our peace, who made both groups, those who were 44:13 children of Abraham and those who were not." That's you and I. I don't think there's any children of Abraham here, as far as I know. physically at least both groups. He made both groups into one. Verse 14, both groups into one and broke 44:27 down the barrier of the dividing wall, saying, "Now I'm choosing you, descendant of wherever whoever your ancestor was, not Abraham." broke down the barrier of the divi dividing wall by abolishing in his flesh the enmity 44:44 which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances so that in himself he might make the two into one new man thus establishing peace and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross by it 45:01 having put to death the enmity and he came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. If you were part of the descendant of Abraham or not far away, he preached peace. He walked in that door and said, 45:17 "Come. I've got a better home for you." This is adoption. The beauty of adoption. So, what do we have now? Verse 18. For through him now we both, the Jews, if they choose to have it, and us who were non-Jews, have our access in 45:34 one spirit to the father. Now we have one father. We now have a father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens. You're not still one of those in that old home. You're no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow 45:48 citizens with the saints and are of God's household. You're in God's house now. You've been adopted into God's family. It's a wonderful thing. Now, you must have faith. John 1:12. John 1:12. [clears throat] 46:14 But as many as received him, so here was God the Father walking in the door and saying, "Come. I want you to come. and this is all you've ever known and you've been chained here and you're dark and you don't know what it's going to look 46:27 like and you're going to have to give up all this that you're used to. And that's a sad thing that sometimes we get so used to our filthy life and we start to get attached to the things even though it's it's miserable. Even though sin, we 46:40 know that sin always results in misery. Every one of us that has sinned, every one of us has sinned and every one of us knows that sin always results in misery and yet we still seem to go back to sin. That's like that child that's in the 46:53 home that knows this is a wretched place to live. Why would I continue to live here? But when that dad walks in and says, I want you to be a part of my home, I still SEEM TO BE ATTACHED to this this bad habit or this little bit 47:06 of pleasure that I have from being in this home. As many as received him, as many who said, "Yes, Lord. Yes, Father. You you you want me to be one of your home? Okay, I'm I'm going to reach out my hand and grab a hold of your outstretched 47:22 hand and say yes. And that's what I mean. Dear children, especially, dear brothers, dear sisters, if you see the God, the hand of God reaching out to you today as he's reaching out to you, to every one of us in this room, reach out 47:36 and say yes. Because John 1:12 as many I don't know I'm not don't have time to count how many of you are here today but as many [clears throat] and any of you listening online as many as received him to them he gave the right to become 47:54 children of God even to those who believe in his name as many if it was all 7 billion people here on this earth it's even more than that or the billions of people that have lived here on the face of this earth if it was all of them 48:06 I don't know what is total of all the people that have ever lived on this earth. Maybe 10 billion, 15 billion, I don't know. But if ALL OF THEM HAD actually received him, we would all be in heaven together. What a tragedy 48:18 that the 7 billion people here on this earth, 99.999% of them will miss this. Now, we're not here to judge other people. This is what should send us out into the world. Say, "Lord, I want one more person to know about this father who 48:35 walked in the door and set me free from my bondage." Can I tell one person? Can I tell a friend at school? Can I tell a co-orker at work? Can I tell somebody else a little bit about this loving God who, for no good reason that I deserve, 48:48 walked in the door and chose me? Can I tell somebody else that he's chosen you as well? This is our mission, family. This is why we're here on this earth, not to make ourselves feel good on a Sunday morning by having good songs and 48:59 listening to a good sermon. that we go having been set free, having received him and having the right to be called children of God. I say, "Lord, let me bring one more person. Let me go back to that gutter house and say, "Friend, 49:10 come. There's a father who loves you and there is a home that I'm living in where you can be freed from the things of this world. From the love of money, from seeking your own reputation, from seeking your own in situations, from 49:23 divorce, from uh sexual addiction, from anger and all these things, you can be freed. This is the message of hope because as many how much it must grieve the heart of God that the 7 billion people in the world the vast majority of them will 49:40 reject it. Will it grieve the father's heart that if any even one here walks away today saying no I'm not yet ready. What a tragedy. As many I pray that it'll be 100% of us. If you haven't 49:58 decided, this is the day, dear friend, as many as received him. And you know, it's a beautiful thing that that he says you're my child. And in Matthew 10, we read a beautiful verse that Jesus, who's my older brother, he was the firstborn, 50:14 and he was not adopted. He's the only one that's biological. You can say he's the the begotten son. John 3:16. He's the only one who was originally part of that home. And he said, "I want to have many children." Oh, all those 10, 15 50:29 billion people that are going to live on this earth. Bring them all, father. I'll go and make the way of salvation and I'll suffer and I'll let them beat me and I'll allow you to forsake me. I want all of them to come. And this firstborn 50:42 brother who longs to have a younger brother and a younger sister in you and I. He sees one more child receiving the adoption. And you know what happens in heaven? Look at what it says in Matthew 10 verse um 32. 51:01 He sees the father coming through the Holy Spirit and offering that offer of adoption to somebody. And he hears one child, one more child in that dark room saying, "Yes, I'll come. I'll receive this adoption and I'll be with you. 51:17 Whoever, everyone who confesses me before men, I will also confess him before my father. Do you hear the voice in heaven of Jesus saying, "Angels, look, one more. We're going to get one more into our family. Father, look, we've got one 51:33 more child." There is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 others who have no need of repentance. And have you heard Jesus rejoicing over you because you made that decision? Teenager, young child, if you're holding 51:49 off today, Jesus is waiting to hear you confess him before men. Confess him maybe to your parents or say, "Dad, mommy, today's the day I want to give my life to Jesus. I want to confess him as my Lord, as my savior, have him cleanse 52:04 me from all my sin." And you hear Jesus saying in heaven proclaiming the oldest brother who longed that he would have more more brothers and sisters as part of his family saying we've GOT ONE MORE. I'VE GOT ANOTHER BROTHER. I'VE GOT 52:17 ANOTHER SISTER. In the same way like when you have a newborn baby, how the the older siblings rejoice. We've got another baby in the home. This is the joy of the eldest firstborn, the eldest brother Jesus over one more who has 52:31 repented. Now for this let's turn to Romans um Romans 8 and I'll close. We must change our way of thinking. Romans 12 tells us that we must be transformed. We're transformed in this new home by 52:48 the renewal of our mind. And often when we go into that new home, we can still have that old home mentality, orphan syndrome, orphan mentality where I I still have that old, you know, in that old home, people are always 53:03 fighting, people are always grabbing, people are always speaking evil of each other, gossiping, complaining, grumbling because it's dark, it's miserable, that's all they hear in their home. And the problem is that we can come into 53:15 this new home where it's light and there's joy and there's no reason to grumble or complain about anything because my father has provided everything. And the problem is I bring that mentality with me. I'm used to fighting and grumbling and and grabbing 53:29 this because somebody else may eat it the biggest piece. I want to get that before it's all gone. And I bring that into the home. We must change our way of thinking. We must be transformed by making our minds new. Ask the Holy 53:42 Spirit to change your way of thinking, brother, sister, children. If you're born again, if God, you know, you're adopted and you can know that today, change your way of thinking. Say, "Lord, I'm I've been such a grabber. I've been 53:55 such a grumbler and a complainer and always full of bad moods, but I'm not in that old home anymore. I've been adopted into a home full of light. It's no longer the kingdom of darkness. It's no longer the house of darkness. It's the 54:07 HOUSE OF LIGHT. THERE'S ENOUGH food for everybody. I don't need to grab. There's enough love in this home that I don't have to feel insecure and feel like, well, I want this and I want that. I want that ministry. Why did they take 54:17 that away from me? THERE'S LOVE IN THIS HOME. Romans 8 verse 15. For you have not received a spirit of slavery. You're not a slave anymore. Don't bring that slave mentality into the new home. Don't bring that mentality 54:36 of bondage. think of you reckon yourself as dead to sin. The next time you're tempted to look at that picture on the internet or on the phone, the next time you're tempted to use your tongue that way in the home with your spouse or 54:48 you're tempted to grab or love money a little bit more or be anxious or worried OR FEAR. THAT'S SLAVE MENTALITY. FAMILY, don't bring anxiety into the house of God. Don't bring fear. Don't bring unbelief. Don't bring lust. Don't bring 55:01 anger. There's no room for that. It's a room of light. It's a house of light. You have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again. Why is it that God's children who have truly been adopted still live in fear of 55:18 what's going to happen still live in well the economy is going to crash and they're going to lay me off and this and that. NO, THAT WAS THE OLD HOUSE, BROTHER. That was the old house, sister. You're in a new home. The light is 55:30 shining leading to fear again. But you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Aba, Father." Instead of saying, "Lad, why me, Lord? Why are you doing this to me?" You say, "Daddy." [clears throat] 55:45 The next time you're tempted to complain and say, "Why me, Lord? Why again, Lord?" Say, "Daddy." Just say, "Daddy." "Daddy, I'm in a new home. I'm not a part of that old home anymore." The spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are 56:01 children of God. That's why you must be filled with the Holy Spirit. Children, you know why we pray, "Spirit of the living God, come and fill my heart because it's the Holy Spirit. I can't preach enough sermons to tell you that 56:12 you're a child of God because it does no good. My words are human." But if you hear the Holy Spirit, if you receive the Holy Spirit as a deposit, we read in 2 Corinthians 1 22, a deposit, a little reminder, you have the Holy Spirit, a 56:27 little deposit of the fulfillment of that adoption. When you've got the Holy Spirit, he says you're in a new home. You don't need Santos to tell you that you're adopted. I'll tell you that. The Holy Spirit will tell you that. The 56:40 spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. And if childrens also, [clears throat] which means if Jesus Christ has lots to eat, the firstborn has lots to eat and a comfortable life, then I am entitled to 56:54 that too. Let me say it again. Every privilege of the kingdom of heaven that Jesus Christ has as the son of God, you have as well. Not to be God in identity, but to partake of his divine nature. You have the rights to everything in the 57:12 house of God that Jesus the firstborn son also has. And if you see Jesus full of peace, you say, "Lord, that's my right, too. I have I have the right to have peace as well in every situation." If you see that Jesus was always joyful, 57:25 you say, "Lord, I'm just Jesus younger brother. I'm living in the same house as he is. I ought to also have a life full of joy and you see Jesus free of anxiety, never once getting anxious." You say, "Lord, that's my RIGHT AS WELL. 57:37 I'M HIS YOUNGER BROTHER. We're living in the same house, brother, sister. You're living in the same house as Jesus, your older brother. You're not in some outhouse. You're not in some orphanage anymore. You're not enslaved enslaved 57:49 anymore. And if children heirs [clears throat] also heirs of God and fellowairs with Christ. Oh, underline these words in your heart if not in your Bible. If indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. You see why 58:06 now God allows you to suffer because you're part of this home and you see that Jesus goes through suffering. Yes, it is a there is suffering involved in moving into this. It's not all hunky dory. It's not just easy living. There's 58:17 pain. There's denying ourselves and taking up our cross and following Jesus, but I do it as one living in the new house. Not as somebody. The cross is no longer another bondage anymore. You see how we can bring that bondage mentality 58:33 into taking up the cross. Take up the cross, dear brother and sister, as one who's in the new home, who's been adopted. The the windows are open, the light is shining, there's peace, there's cleanliness, there's holiness, there's 58:44 health in this home. All right. Right. I I I could keep going, but I got to stop. Let's go down to verse 21. Romans 8. Um, a beautiful phrase here. That the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into, listen to this 59:02 phrase, the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Meditate on that phrase, the freedom of the glory of the children of God. The freedom of living in that home. Romans 8:21, the freedom 59:19 of the glory of the children of God. So what shall we say to these things? Verse 31, if God is for us, if he was the one that walked in this door and chose me when I was full of sin and filth and muck while I was busy yelling at my 59:34 other person who grabbed that piece, my my fellow sibling who grabbed that biggest piece of pizza and I was angry at him, God says, "Hey, come. I've got plenty of pizza for you." Just to use earthly terminology, let's think about 59:46 healthy food, not pizza. Um um what then shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who is against us? If God brought you into his home, who can stand against you? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him over for us 1:00:03 all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? If you go to one room in the house and you see, man, that's a wonderful watermelon over there. ASK YOUR FATHER, HE'LL GIVE IT TO YOU. IT'S IN HIS HOUSE. You're in his 1:00:16 house. How will he not also with him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justified. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is he who died. Yes, rather who was raised, who is 1:00:30 at the right hand of God, next to whom I am sitting according to Ephesians 1. Who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ. So now when you're in God's house and you go through tribulation or you go through distress, 1:00:47 suddenly something you get some news tomorrow and you're faced with distress, persecution, famine. None of us has ever faced famine, I don't think. No food in the in at all. Can't even go to the store and buy it. Forget 1:01:06 eating one meal a day. Zero. There's famine. Even that if God allows you to go through famine, will you go through it family as somebody living in the house of God, famine, nakedness, we have plenty of too much clothing. 1:01:21 Actually, that's our problem. But even if we were to go through nakedness or peril, you're in a situation you're like, I don't know if I'm going to live or not. I might die now. Or sword, just as it is written, for your sake, we are 1:01:34 being put to death all day long. We are constantly we are considered a sheep to be slaughtered. But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer because he loved us. That's that simple. For I am convinced that neither death nor life 1:01:52 nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other created thing. Come up with something that you think might separate you from the love of God. Make it up if you will. 1:02:03 Think well Lord no this my situation is really bad. Yeah, that's why any other created thing is there will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Heavenly Father, thank you that you brought us 1:02:17 into your home. We've been adopted into your family. May we never lose sight of that. Lord, help us. Pour out your spirit upon us, Lord, so that this will be a reality, not just something we heard and got a stirring, Lord, but a 1:02:30 life that we live. that this week will be different because we've seen our home. Thank you and make it so for our children. Lord, I pray if there are any children that were on the verge or are on the verge of receiving your adoption. 1:02:44 I pray that they won't delay even right now, Lord, as you're moving on their hearts. Children, if you're if you're listening to this and you this is the moment that the Lord has touched your heart, don't let him pass you by. Lord, 1:02:56 even before they get up from these seats, Lord, will you touch their heart and let them see your outstretched hand, inviting them to be in your home. Thank you. That's available for even any of us adults who are here who haven't received 1:03:10 it yet. I pray if there's one person in sitting in this room or listening to this message that does not know that they've been adopted, that today will be the be the day that they know that Jesus Christ is the only God, the only way of 1:03:23 salvation, the only way to the home of the father. And with him, we have a sure anchor, a sure future. Thank you, Lord. I pray that it will be so. So move Holy Spirit even now on the hearts of everyone here listening. Thank you. Thank you in Jesus name. 1:03:42 Amen.
