I want to speak tonight on a topical subject. For those sermon critics, that means it's not a textual or an expository sermon. An expository sermon is where you take a passage of Scripture and you go through that passage of Scripture in a verse-by-verse fashion, explain the truths that are in there. A textual sermon is where you take a text of Scripture usually one verse or so, and you stay within that text and expound the meaning of the text in a topical subject. A sermon is where you don't have a text, but you choose a topic out of the scripture and preach on that topic, and you will use it by supporting text in various other passages of scripture. So, for all the sermon critics, now that we have explained that, then we'll proceed this evening. I'm sure that really informs a lot. Unless that you are a student in seminary and you're in practice preaching class where you have to criticize a speaker to make sure he's doing everything right, that probably means very little to you this evening. Incidentally, the famous preacher in England, Mr. Spurgeon, was primarily a topical preacher, and that is one aspect in which he has been somewhat mildly criticized in conservative circles for devoting his ministry to topical preaching. And yet who would dare criticize a man with the great skill of Mr. Spurgeon? Mr. Spurgeon, because he was a topical preacher, he had a problem. And that was, nearly every Saturday night, he'd never yet decided on what his topic was going to be for Sunday morning. If you're an expository preacher and you preach through a book, then you don't have that problem. It's already laid out before you and You follow the text and do justice to the text. And it is recounted in his biographies and autobiographies and other writings of Mr. Spurgeon that he owed most of his sermons to his wife, who finally gave him a suggested subject to preach on on Saturday nights. But it was a terrible time of mental anguish. And any preacher knows that if he comes up to Saturday evening and doesn't know what he's going to speak on the next day. But because Mr. Spurgeon was so widely read and continually read day after day after day on not only the Bible but so many subjects in nature, then once the light clicked as to what he was to preach on, that it would just flow out of him. He would say that he could just take that subject and an outline would just come. And because he had such a fluency of oratorical ability and sentence structure, then you would never know that that was the case. Tonight, I want to speak to you on the topical subject of Christ died for us. Christ died for us, and to give some of the reasons in the Bible why Christ died for us. Let's pray before we get into the subject this evening. Heavenly Father, as we reflect on your marvelous, marvelous love, that you loved us when we were yet sinners, that you commended your Son to us in his death upon the cross, that there was nothing in us that attracted us to you but your love, and that you loved us so much that you gave your Son to die for us. We marvel at that. We understand that it was not the death of Christ that enabled you to love us, but that you loved us and gave your Son to die for us. We stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder how that you could love us sinners condemned unclean. Tonight, as we reflect upon this, we pray that as we examine these passages in the Word of God, that your Spirit might illumine us and give us understanding into the teachings of your Word on this precious subject of your son's death for us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Turn with me to the book of Titus this evening, the little epistle of Paul to the person known as Titus. The second chapter of Titus, beginning in verse 11, follow with me, we read here that the grace of God that bringeth salvation or deliverance, for that's what salvation is, hath appeared unto all men." That is, the message has gone out now, it's not limited to the Jewish race, but it has appeared unto all men. And under the New Covenant arrangement under Christ, salvation is through the person and work of Christ. If any man is going to be saved, it must be through that name which is above every name. In the name of Jesus Christ, all men are to have that revealed unto them, that salvation is through grace, by grace through faith. And this message is to be proclaimed to all nationalities with no racial barriers or distinctions. This grace, this message of salvation teaches us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts We should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Now here is the text in verse 14. Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. These things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority, let no man despise thee." Why did Christ die for us? Titus 2.14 says that He might deliver us from all iniquity. He gave Himself that He might redeem us or deliver us from all iniquity. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ teaches us that Christ came into this world to separate us from the power of sin, that when the gospel comes it has a negative message, it calls for repentance, a changing from a lifestyle unto a lifestyle of trust and obedience to the service of Christ. So while salvation is free, in that it is at God's disposal to grant. It also teaches us that it's going to separate us from a former lifestyle. The grace of God is not a licentious doctrine, which the enemies or the opponents of the gospel ascribe it to be. You have perhaps heard it said, perhaps some of you even here tonight have said it in days past. If I believed the gospel the way I have heard it preached, then I would go out and live however I want to live. And yet that is the furthest thing from the truth. The gospel as it is presented in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, if it's presented in a correct way, As revealed in the scripture, it will give a clear understanding to the hearers of it that its intent is to separate them from a life of sin that they may devote themselves unto a life of service to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so those who teach, if they do, willingly or unwillingly, that salvation, all it is, is a fire escape from hell, that a person has a liberty to believe in Christ and then to go on and live ungodly and live bound up to worldly lust, they have never truly understood the intent of God in the gospel. For Christ died that he might separate us from a love of iniquity and become devoted to a love of God. So we denounce or we renounce any claim that is put upon us that by messengers of the gospel of free grace that we in any way ascribed that the purpose in salvation is merely to get us out of hell so that we might have a liberty to go on living in sin. The grace of God that brings deliverance has appeared to men, teaching those men that denying ungodliness and unworldly lusts that we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. Somebody may say, well, one of these days I'll do that in heaven. But the gospel says it must begin here. There must be a devotion to Christ here in this present world. And that we look for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Why do we look for that? Because then our salvation will be completed in its application. we shall be like him, and he is sinless." And everybody who has this hope in themselves, then they purify themselves even as he is pure, according to the writings of John in his epistle. Now, verse 14, though, says that Jesus is the great God. And He is our Savior. He is the sovereign Creator and He is the Savior of men. And He gave Himself for us that He might redeem us. That is, that He might pay a penalty for our sin and purchase us by the price of His own blood. and that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Go back to the Old Testament book of Malachi, the last of the Old Testament prophets, just before the beginning of the New Testament, the third chapter, and watch in verse 1. Here is a description of the personage who would become known as John the Baptist later on. Four hundred years it is written before John the Baptist and Christ make their appearance on the scene, but in Malachi 3, verse 1. Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom ye seek, the Messiah whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple. Even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in, behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts." Now, the Jews were expecting a deliverer. They were expecting a Savior. But what that expectation had lured itself to was just a carnal expectation, because from the time of Malachi until the appearance of John the Baptist and of the Lord Jesus Christ, back to back, 400 years have transpired and there's no voice from God. And so the Pharisees and the scribes began to miss the nature of the Messiah's purpose They knew he was to be a deliverer, but they began to teach that he was to come and deliver Israel from her enemies. And that when the Messiah would come, he would be lifted up or elevated like David and Solomon were in the days of the theocracy. and that when the Messiah was elevated and Israel was once again made a world power, then all the nations who refused to bow to Messiah and Israel would be destroyed by the power of Messiah. And so, as the Romans were ruling the Jews at the time of Christ, then the natural-minded Jew, the unregenerate out of Israel's race, they had a wrong understanding of Messiah and his purpose. But the prophet's last message from God before the New Testament appearance of Messiah is, there's going to be a messenger come, he's going to prepare the way, he's going to be preaching the kingdoms at hand, repent, and the Messiah shall come, and he shall make his appearance suddenly in his temple. even the messenger of the covenant. So that ought to give great delight. But now watch, there's even a warning ahead of time. Verse 2. But who may abide the day of his coming? Who's going to stand when he makes his appearance? Who shall stand when he appeareth? For he's like a refiner's fire and like puller's soap. That's an analogy. This fellow is going to clean up some things and make some things clean and right when he comes. Now, can't you see those old Pharisees in the time of Christ stroking their beards? Boy, just wait until he comes. Those Gentiles, those Romans are in for it. He's going to clean house when he makes his appearance. Look in verse 3. And he shall sit as a refiner, and what? Purifier of silver. If you've still got your location back in Titus, flip back there, but don't lose Amalickiah. Let me read it again in Titus 2, verse 14. He who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and what? purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Now look at the text in Malachi. He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. He shall purify the sons of Levi. Wait a minute, I thought it was the Gentiles. No, he's going to purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver. Can't you see why the obstinate Jews, why they got so mad at Christ and John the Baptist? He said, repent or you're going to perish. Don't you be unduly concerned about the Gentiles out here except ye repent. Ye shall all likewise perish, ye sons of Abraham. You must be purified. That is, his work is going to be an internal thing. to take place within the very internal nature of man, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Even the leaders, the priestly tribe, if you please, is going to have to undergo a spiritual reformation, and this Messiah is going to do it. Now back in Titus 2 then we see then I believe the very passage from Malachi 3 which Paul makes reference to when he says Christ died for us that he might redeem us. He might purchase unto himself a peculiar people. How are they peculiar? Is it because of their facial features? Is he going to do something physically that they will just stand out when they walk down the street and they'll look so different that everybody will be able to say, this is God's people? No, they will be known by their moral characteristics, devoted unto the teachings of God's Messiah. And God's Messiah is going to purify his people. He's going to cleanse them like using soap upon them, and they are going to be a zealous people, zealous of good works. So we must never accept the unjust charge that Jesus Christ in the Christian faith teaches that one can just make a profession of faith in Christ and then live licentiously however they want to live. No, Jesus died for us that he might deliver us from all iniquity. Now that's what you have been predestined to be if you know the Lord tonight. for you have been predestined to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, and his was a moral image of perfect submission unto the Father. And that's what we're all going to be if we know the Lord tonight. And you say, well, I've begun. I've begun. Yes, it's going to be completed. If he has begun that good work in you, he'll complete it until the day of redemption. I asked one of our young ladies this morning after the morning service, I said, well, did you pass the test we preached on this morning? after bringing 13 or 14 messages on contentment of taking a test, and how did your report card show up after the morning message? Do you feel that you have learned, and have you passed the test? Have you learned contentment?" Her reply, I think, was appropriate to a Christian. She said, well, I'll say this, I'm not on the dean's honor roll yet. There's no Christian that's going to say, I have accomplished, because he knows or she knows that they have not yet mastered this thing. But bless God, they're going to. They're going to, for Christ has died for us. and he shall not die in vain. He is going to separate sin from his people and he is going to keep on doing it by his work on the cross as the Spirit makes that application in the life to where we shall be presented faultless before the throne in eternal glory without sin, without spot. Christ died for us that he might deliver us from all iniquity. Christ died for us that he might reconcile us to God. 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3. Why did Christ die for us? That he might deliver us from iniquity or sin. 1 Peter 3. Secondly, that he might bring us to God or reconcile us to God. Verse 18 of 1 Peter 3, For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened or made alive by the Spirit. Why would Christ's death bring us or reconcile us to God? This may seem so basic tonight to those of you who have sat on the gospel for so many years. But maybe there's someone who does not understand that. And the reason is that God is a holy God who cannot look upon sin. He cannot wink at it. He cannot turn his face and say, well now, I'll just pretend I didn't see you think or do that. He must remain God. and he remains holy, adamantly opposed to sin. But man now in Adam is a fallen creature. Man is a sinner. And now he who once walked and communed with God in the garden is an enmity with God. God, a holy being, and man, a sinful being, don't see eye to eye. They don't agree. on who is going to be God. They don't agree on what is right and wrong. And a sinful man cannot live in the presence of a holy God, and a holy God cannot live in the presence of a sinful man with approval. So there must be a reconciliation, there must be a payment made. to pay the price for the sin debt. And Christ died that he might reconcile us or bring us back to God. He came into this world on a reconciliation ministry, if you please, to bring two offended parties together. For beloved, God is offended with sinners. But listen, sinners are offended with God. And that's why you don't see them running to the God of the Bible. How, under Heaven's name, then, are we going to get these two together? Well, the Scriptures ask a very pertinent question. How can two walk together except they be agreed? How are we going to get a harmony here between a holy God and a sinful man to where they can walk together in agreement? The answer is Christ died for us. He died in order that through the payment of his blood, he might propitiate or satisfy the justice of God. There must be a debt paid. Without the shedding of blood, there can be no remission. No remission. There must be a life taken. And the Lord Jesus Christ, who was God, took upon himself human form in order that he might die. But he was raised again by the Spirit of the living God. He paid the penalty in order that God can now be satisfied, propitiated, if you please. He is now merciful, beloved the only way in which that God can ever show mercy toward a sinner. is by having a debt paid. Now, people may ignore that, they may reject that and say that is that old slaughterhouse religion that belongs back in the days of old. Well, my friend, since the days of old in the Garden of Eden, God has announced that without the shedding of blood there is no remission. And if people reject The shedding of blood, they'll never see God in glory and in peace, because it's through that shedding of blood that our redemption takes place and God is propitiated. In the Old Testament in the tabernacle and later on in the temple, in the Holy of Holies there they would have the Ark of the Covenant, rather a hollow box. contained various articles which I won't elaborate on at this time. One of them, though, contained the broken law or the commandments, the stones of Moses. They were to put those tablets in that hollow ark, and on the top of that hollow box there was a flat piece there which was called the mercy seat. And on the Day of Atonement, once a year, the priest would take the blood of the victim, shed outside of the tabernacle, bring it into the holy place, and then into the Holy of Holies, and there he would sprinkle the blood upon the mercy seat. And God said, When I see the blood, I will pass over you. God was rendered merciful, he was propitiated, satisfied by the sacrifice that was shed there upon that mercy scene. For that blood covered, among other things, the broken wall. So that when God from heaven looked down upon that scene, He saw not the broken law, he saw the payment extracted to meet the payment of the broken law. And now tonight in the person of Christ, every sinner who has come and placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is now in Christ. They are a new creation. And now the wrath of God is no longer upon that person. Because in his sight I stand, not just as a person who has broken the law of God, but I stand as righteous, now hear me, as Jesus Christ is tonight here on earth, judicially and positionally before the throne of God. For the benefit of some who have come into the church in recent days, We say with the authority of the scriptures, we can substantiate this, that the person who has placed their faith in Christ down here on earth, and hear me, it may be startling to some, is as accepted in the sight of God as the saints already in heaven are tonight. Because as it relates to our positional standing and justification, you are as justified tonight as you will ever be. The blood of Christ renders us perfect positionally before the courtroom of God. The price has been paid. And God cannot extract any more payment. He certainly can't get any more out of us because he doesn't need any more. He got it out of Christ in our stead. And what would he get from us if he did ask of it? Nothing but our destruction. That's the only thing that can satisfy God. No, Paul tonight is rejoicing before the throne of God. I'm down here on earth preaching the message which Paul preached 2,000 years ago. But again, I'm just as righteous here on earth as Paul is in heaven. Now what's the difference though? Paul is enjoying his state more than I am here tonight, because he has been sanctified unto perfection to where he no longer has any sin. Therefore, he can enjoy his Savior in heaven more than I can down here on earth tonight. But as it relates to our standing in the sight of God, we can say that the saint with the weakest faith here on earth is just as accepted in the righteousness of Christ as a person who is in heaven this evening. Isn't that a wonderful thought? This is why Christ died for us, so that God might be reconciled to us, and that we might be reconciled unto the Lord. And this we'll touch on a little bit later. Why did he die for us? He died for our sins, the just in the place of the unjust, that he might reconcile us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened or made alive by the Spirit. Thirdly, Christ not only died to deliver us from sin and the love of it, he not only died that he might reconcile us to God, but thirdly, Christ died that he might deliver us from this present evil world. To the book of Galatians now, if you please. Galatians, the first chapter. Galatians chapter one and verse three. How does the Bible describe this present world order? It doesn't describe it in very flowery terms. In verse three, grace be to you, and peace from God the Father, from our Lord Jesus Christ. Now notice, before peace can come, it must originate in grace. And where does this grace come from? It originates in God and is mediated through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's the source of it. who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father. You see, my hearers, this world has a real tug upon fallen humanity, upon sinners. Sinners have a tendency to view that this is the only life they're going to have. They better get all the gusto out of it while they can. They only go around one time. And so, I tell you, they're rooting like pigs in a pig pen, trying to get everything they can. And you get out there, you have to deal with them in business and on the jobs. Well, you know what it's all about. I don't care what kind of a job you have. It's just root, root, root, trying to get everything you can get. Something about a pig that, if you ever observe it, have you ever looked at a pig's eyes? Hmm? He said, well, no, I've never really thought about it that close. Well, you look at their eyes, and their eyes are made where that they cannot look up. If they're going to see up, they have to lift their head up. Their eyes do not move up like that. Their eyes are made to find the slop of this present world. That's about all a pig is really noted for, is eating, and living in unsanitary conditions. Now, sure as I've said that, some of you have seen these little, beautiful little pigs on television that people are keeping in their homes now, and you're going to be offended, and you're going to come to me and say, well, I'm thinking about getting me one of those cute little pets. Well, go ahead, and just don't invite me over for dinner. Unless you have the pig. Pigs are feeders upon that which is unclean. If you've ever had to slop the hog, how many of you have ever had to do that job? I don't ask for a show of hands, a few of you. My, my, this younger generation has really missed out on something. That was one of my jobs on the farm, slop the hog. Oh, I just love to do that. Get up in the morning, snow and the ice, take that old stinking slop bucket where you throw all your garbage in and everything that went in there and took it out there. And I tell you, I don't care how bad that thing smelt, those pigs could smell it a hundred yards away and they'd start oinking before you even got there. Scared me as a little eight or nine-year-old boy half to death, afraid I was going to fall in that pen. Just pour it over and run. Sometimes I didn't even get it over. I just threw the bucket over there and Dad would come out and say, well, it looked like you missed the trough this time. I said, well, just an accident. I didn't like to stand up there and pour it over into that trough. It wasn't a very desirable job. They didn't mind it, though. They ate whatever was out there for them because they had a nature. And beloved, the people that don't know the Lord Jesus Christ are caught up in this present world. They don't have eyes to see the glory that's in the Lord Jesus Christ. They're rooted to this present world. The Apostle Paul even talks about one of his fellow co-laborers who left him in his ministry. His name was Demas, and he says of his closing words about Demas, Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world." Am I speaking to anybody here tonight and you love this present world order more than you love the things of the Lord Jesus Christ? Am I speaking to any here tonight and you say, no, I love the Lord Jesus Christ, but still I find my heart from time to time pulls at this present world order? Do you long to be set free from it? And that's the difference. That's the difference between you being a hog and one who has been renewed in their nature. The person who has never been renewed in Christ, they don't have that heaven we'd pull. They don't have that desire to be freed from the love of sin. Oh, when sin reigns and pours in upon them, life's problems, They'll come to Christian counselors and say, Preacher, get me out of my problems. But they're not really interested in being delivered from their sin in the present world order. They're just interested in being spared from a few problems in life. If you're here this evening and you understand why Christ has died, He has died that He might deliver you from a love of this present world and give you a love that Abraham had, in which it is said of him that he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. My friend, I look back to that childhood experience and I'm so glad that I don't have to slop hogs anymore. And it also tells me that I'm promised a world to live in that's going to be a great deal improvement over this present world that I'm going to live in, and I'm going to be delivered from this present evil world. Drop over to the last chapter of Galatians chapter 6, and look at verse 14. God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, what rule? The new creature, the person who has had this inward work done in their life. Peace be on them, for it is peace come from the grace of God, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. There are no longer any racial distinctions in the economy of God. So that a Jew must come to God in the same way that a Gentile must come, on the same grounds. They must come by the way of the cross. And Paul, who was a Jew, says that by his coming to Christ and his crucifixion, he has now been crucified unto the world. That is, the love of the world has died. A fatal blow has been rendered. And something else has happened to him. The world of the unbelievers have died to Paul. Paul says, the friends I used to have, they don't want to be around me anymore. But Paul says something has happened. I no longer can enjoy being around them and doing the same things that I used to enjoy participating in. But it's happened. Christ has come and by his death he has delivered us from the love of this present world. Fourthly, Galatians chapter 4 and verse 5. Christ died for us that he might deliver us from iniquity. that he might reconcile us to God, that he might deliver us from this present evil world. And fourthly, in Galatians 4 verse 5, Christ died for us that we might receive the adoption of sons. Pick up in verse 1, Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, different nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all. but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the Father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of this world. But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying The word Abba means daddy, a very familiar expression. Wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. This is setting forth the doctrine of adoption. Adoption is different from the doctrine of election. We are chosen in Christ that we might be holy. It is different from sanctification, justification, glorification, regeneration, and many other aspects of salvation. Adoption is where God gives us the right to bear the family name and the privileges that we have as a member of His spiritual family. The Jews felt that because they were the chosen people of God under the Old Covenant, made with Abraham and Moses, that they were by natural birth, they had a right to be called the sons of God, or the children of God, who were God's people. But when Christ came, he informed them, as well as all Gentiles, that before anybody has a right to call themselves one of God's chosen people, they must be adopted into the family and given that right and that privilege. And that comes through a birth, but not a physical birth. It comes through a spiritual birth. And this is why Christ clashed with the Jews of his day. Read the Gospel of John. And they were always saying, We are Abraham's children. We are the chosen people. Christ says, No, you must believe in me before you have a right to be called God's chosen people. Now let's look at this in the book of John, chapter 1. John, chapter 1, verse 11. I'll give you time to get there. What does adoption mean? What privileges does it bestow? He came unto his own, the Hebrew race, and his own received him not, but as many as received To them gave he power. The word there denotes not ability, it denotes privilege. He gave the power, the right, to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Now note carefully, Christ came unto the Old Covenant chosen people of God, the Hebrew race. He was a Hebrew, but he came as their Messiah, and many of them rejected him. They refused him as the promised one of Israel. But many did receive him. And to everyone that received him, it was to that person that he gave the right to be called one of God's chosen family members, even to them that believe on his name. Who are God's chosen people? Believers, whether they be Jew or Gentile. But the Jews continue to argue throughout the book of John. We have Abraham as our father. Our physical birth gives us the right to say we are the sons of God and the Gentiles are dogs. They're heathens. God has chosen us by the basis of our bloodline through Abraham. And throughout Christ's lifetime there was a continual clash over what grants one the right to be a member of God's chosen family. That's what John chapter 3 was all about with Nicodemus, and I won't take time to go into that. But Nicodemus was a ruler in Israel, and he felt that by his natural birth, when Messiah would make his appearance, then Messiah would be elevated or lifted up as David and Solomon were lifted up. And Jesus said immediately to Nicodemus, Nicodemus, except the man be what? Born again, he can't even understand what the kingdom of Messiah is all about. Nicodemus, you must come on the same basis as the Gentile must come. Now, Nicodemus understood what a Gentile had to do under that old economy. He had to undergo a moral transformation of life and become a convert to Judaism. Now Jesus is saying to Nicodemus, you must also undergo the same thing before you have a right to be a member of the kingdom of Christ. So what he was telling Nicodemus, the master in Israel, your physical birth doesn't give you any standing with God. You do not have a right to call yourself one of God's sons, Nicodemus, until you have undergone personally this moral transformation of inner man. Now, my people, that is exactly what adoption denotes. Adoption gives us, whether we be Jew or Gentile, the right to say we belong to the family of God. We comprise the chosen people. of God today. We are the Israel of God. Whether we have been circumcised as a Jew for ceremonial reasons, or whether we have been uncircumcised like the Gentile, Paul says that makes no basis. The basis of being in the family of God is the new creation, the new birth. And whoever has undergone Grace and mercy be upon the Israel of God. It's a great privilege you have this evening to be called a Christian. I hope you don't overlook that. You have a right to say tonight, I'm a son of God. I've been born into God's family. And you don't have to take a second seat to anybody. just because you don't have a certain physical lineage. It doesn't make any difference whether you're Jew or Gentile. Look in Galatians 3 verse 26, for you're all the children of God by what? By faith in who? Jesus Christ. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. That is, there's no longer any religious distinctions There is neither bond nor free, that also under Old Testament law had significance. There is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you be Christ, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Somebody asked me tonight, Brother Bill, what right do I have to call myself a child of God? I'm one of Abraham's seed. I'm one of God's chosen people. And if they say, wait a minute, you're not a Jew, I say, wait just a minute, I am one. I'm one who has undergone a spiritual circumcision of the heart. And unless a person undergoes that, whether they be physically descended from Abraham or whether they be not related to Abraham at all, they have no right to say, I'm in the family of God, I'm one of God's people. Now let Mr. Donahue holler all he wants to when he cries out, What about the Jews? What about them? They must come the same way the Gentile comes. But blessed God, he will receive any Jew of Abraham's race as he receives any Gentile who receives the death of the Lord Jesus Christ as God's atonement for sins. Whoever believes in Christ, they have the right to bear the name. I'm one of God's children. I belong to the family of God because I have been born by God's Spirit. Why did Christ die? He might deliver us from sin, He might reconcile us to God, He might deliver us from the love of this present world, and He might bestow upon us the privilege of being adopted into His family. And when you adopt somebody legally, that means that person initially was illegitimate. If you understand anything about adoption privileges and rights, Under law, as it has been under the Old Testament and the New, when a child is born outside marriage and outside of wedlock, they under law have no rights in regard to inheriting possessions. You and I were illegitimate in our birth. Now if that offends you, I'm sorry. But if you know the Lord, it doesn't offend you, because that's your only hope of getting anywhere with God. Because God receives illegitimate children into His family. Now listen to this. And He gives them the same privileges that He has given to His only begotten. He calls His Son, His only begotten Son. This is My Son in whom I am what? well pleased. We are now heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. And through our union with Christ, God can look upon us and say, these are my children in whom I'm well pleased. You watch out, world, you watch out, Satan, how you make any reference to my kids. I'm jealous of them and I'll stand by them. I'll lose none of them. and they shall all be in the fold on that last day. Let's stand together. Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Father, we're so grateful tonight that we have a Savior who has died for us. We pray that you enlarge our understanding and enlarge our affections for this Savior, that we might grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ our Lord and our Mediator. Pray tonight, if any here this evening have been touched by the Spirit of God through an appreciation of Christ for the first time, they might confess that with the mouth. I pray if your people are here whom you have begotten in days past and their hearts have been warmed again through this old, old story, that you might give them an enlarged heart, deeper appreciation for the truths of your words so that we can all go home tonight, go to bed knowing that there's not only a roof over our physical head, but there is a roof of salvation over our spiritual man, and that root is comprised of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ in his shed blood. So that you can look down upon us with all of our faults and shortcomings and say, these are my children in whom I'm well pleased, because I'm well pleased in their mediator who represents them. Forgive us of our sins through Christ. Give us a love and a zeal for the things of Christ that we may live before this ungodly world as a witness, as a token of your saving grace until that day comes when we are translated out of this life to stand in your presence and to live in a new heaven and a new earth throughout all eternity to come. Encourage us tonight. Lift up our hearts with praise and thanksgiving. For it is in the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.