Well, we're only at the last verse. I want to finish up a couple of thoughts and then move right into the third chapter. So, 1 John 2, verse 29. So, if ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him. All right, so let me see here. My clicker isn't working. There it is. Jesus gave us the teaching in John chapter 3. This is the same writer as the Gospel and so we're reminded here of the new birth and the concept of what the Lord is going to do in saving people. So remember that very famous discourse, the born-again discourse here in the third chapter of John where Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And Nicodemus now, of course, goes right away to the literalness of it. Once I entered the second time into my mother's womb, and Jesus answered, except a man be born of water and of spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh. That which is born of spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I say unto you, you must be born again." So this is a discourse on the new birth. Now, as we mentioned last week, this isn't the only place, so we have it kind of reiterated here in 1 John 2, and we also have it in 1 Peter 1, where we have God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope. by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. So begotten again, born again, new birth, a new spirit as Ezekiel gives us there in the Old Testament, all the same concept, the new birth. So whatsoever is born of God, well you know the marvel of the birth process is really It's an amazing thing that with the fetology as advanced as it is today that anybody would abort a baby, but we look at how mysterious the formation of life is in the womb and gestation and the nine months that's involved in the full development of the baby. So it's quite remarkable, quite a miracle, but it's all quite unseen. For nine months we can't see it. Of course, like I said, today we've got fiber optics and so forth. We can peer up into the womb and, boy, if there's any generation that you respect life in the womb, it should be ours with all the technology that we have. We really do understand what's happening up there. Quite a miracle. So the notion of being born again, you know later in the fifth chapter it says what's over is born of God. We're talking really about the born of water and of spirit. So the notion of this mysterious birth and everything that's happening inside the womb unseen to the human eye until the baby finally comes out. So I speak of this as the imperceptible moment of conversion. So when does conversion take place? Well, when does life take place? I think all of us here are very clear on the issue and that is life takes place as soon as the miracle, the spark of life, the sperm meets the egg. Boom! You know, all of a sudden. And they even have video of what happens at that moment and it's really quite amazing. You know, the cell multiplication is instant as soon as the sperm pierces the egg then there's this multiplication that takes place and life begins, the spark of life they call it. And then of course the baby begins to develop before even a woman knows she's pregnant. So all quite imperceptible and everything that's happening we can't see it happening. And we might say the same thing for the miracle of the new birth. Jesus had likened it unto the wind that blows. So the wind bloweth where it listeth it cometh, or whither it goeth, so is every one that is born of the Spirit. Cannot tell, cannot tell." Look, I'm glad for that, by the way, because I don't need to be God's fruit inspector to figure out who's saved and who's lost. That's God's business. I can tell you right now, I don't know. I can't figure it all out. You all look very fine to me. I say you're all, you have my stamp of approval. What good is that going to do you? What good is that going to do you? You'll need God's stamp of approval, not mine. I'm not omniscient. God knows whether the miracle has happened or not in your life. So, again, it's imperceptible and we can't tell. Of course we certainly can't tell when the beginning is. Now for a lot of people it's very dramatic and it's a moment of time and they can point to a moment of time. They can tell you where they were, what time it was and this miracle of conversion. But that's not always the case. In a lot of people it was a progressive revelation. It was something that took place, you know, with the Spirit kind of quickening us. I really think in general it's very difficult to pinpoint the exact moment of your conversion. God knows all about it. But there are those, of course, that play along with the Spirit, Hebrews chapter 6 says. They taste of the good Word of God. Taste, sample, but they don't really buy in. and then they fall away. It's impossible to renew them to repentance. So these are people that play along with it for a little season, but their heart really isn't saved. So again, we'll leave that in God's hands. It's imperceptible. The wind bloweth where it listeth. Every weatherman ought to read this verse, by the way. At any rate, the wind bloweth where it listeth. They can't predict what's going to happen next. The wind blows down all of a sudden. We found out so many times that the storm didn't really come. They were predicting eight inches of snow and we got less than a half inch. So the wind blows where it listeth. And you can hear the sound of the wind, but you can't see it. You can't see its movements, but you can't not tell. So he says this is what the born again experience is. Peter gives us a little more, I think, as well as Paul when he speaks of this new birth, and if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is not of his. So then, we'd have to say faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. So the whole process takes place with the person seeing and believing and hearing the Word and then, you know, it kind of enters into the ear and then it goes down into the heart. Now, whether this is actually taking place or not, again, that's something we can't determine. In Proverbs 22.17, bow down thine ear, hear the words of the wise, apply thine heart unto my knowledge. So, it's all about hearing, isn't it? And Jesus, of course, said, verily I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life." All of that is contingent upon a person hearing the good word of God. So some say, well, what happens to the people that are deaf? Well, then we're going to have to sign it to them or they're going to have to read it. But the notion is that you're hearing it not necessarily with the auditory ear as much as the inner ear, you know, in the inner heart you're receiving it. And Ephesians gives us a little word about the inner man, by the way. So we have the inner man and the outer man. I think we are all very familiar with that, because the outward man is perishing, isn't it? But the inward man is renewed day by day and our light affliction is but for a moment. But Ephesians tells us about it as well, that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts By faith ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the rest, the depth, the height, the length, the breadth, to know the love of God which passeth knowledge." So there's the inner man receiving that truth and understanding the truth and believing it unto eternal life. Yet the inward man is renewed day by day in our light affliction but a moment, and worketh forth a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. And we know that if the earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. And this we do groan earnestly. I hear it every time you people stand up. You groan when you stand up, you groan when you sit down, right? How about getting out of the car? My wife and I, she gets out of one side and I get out of the other. We groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. If so being clothed we shall not be found naked for we that are in this tabernacle do groan not being unclothed but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life. So that extended text there in 2 Corinthians speaks about the inward and the outward man And it's the inward man that's born again. And Nicodemus is saying, well, must I go into my mother's world? That's physical. He's talking about, you know, he's living in the physical world. That's why Jesus said, my words are spirit, they're life. That which is flesh is flesh. It has a beginning and it has an end. But that which is spirit, that's eternal. So that leads us right into the third chapter, doesn't it? Chapter divisions were added in the 7th or 8th century by monks, essentially, but not always placed and I think they interrupt the flow of teaching. In fact, this morning we'll be talking and tonight, of course, from Matthew 23 at the end and then into Chapter 24, but there's that chapter division and people often stop and think it's a new thought when it really isn't. It's just an extension. of the thought. And that's certainly here in the case in the third chapter. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. So it's a rhetorical question. We already know it's a love that cannot be understood, inscrutable. So he speaks of this change that's going to take place. I'm going to have to get batteries for my unit apparently. Anybody have a Of course, triple A. I've got all the double A's I could use. All right, so here it is. Behold what manner of love the Father bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not because it knew him not. So let's delve into this. I think it's a fascinating passage. It's one of the great passages, I think, of hope for the believer. because it is going to lead up to the glorification of the body, the body being transformed and that is what the promise is here. So behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. So the concept of beholding here means you stand in awe of it. This is not something that is humanly comprehensible. This is something that is apprehended. we might be able to understand it, apprehend it, but certainly comprehending it is beyond comprehension, human comprehension. In other words, there is nothing in the world that compares to this. The love that God has towards us, behold, He says, behold, stand in awe of what manner the Father loved us. So we try to take it all in. God is perfect after all. Too easy for us to think, oh, you know, He will forgive you. We are so used to somebody forgiving us. All we have to say is, sorry. God is perfect, absolute. And so how can sinful people hope to ever live in His presence? And the answer to that is the manner of love wherewith He hath loved us. So behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. Notice this expression, So when we say bestowed, that's what imputation is, imputing something. You're actually, it's not something that you own naturally. It's something that has to be given to you, bestowed upon you. And so this bestowment comes by faith. So, thanks. Who had them? Oh, wow. But there's one missing, Howard. Batteries. Now, they want the cars to run on batteries. My hearing aid runs on a battery. That's going to go at some point while I'm preaching, no doubt. Our phones run on batteries. Got to pick them out. I hope these are fresh. Beggars can't be choosers. Yeah, yeah. Let's see. See if it's going to work. Yeah, good. That worked really well. Okay. Come back to me. Thanks. I owe somebody $3.99. So. Make sure I get it to you. Of course, there's one battery missing. So I think like a dollar and a half should work, right? You like my math, huh? Okay. All right. So where in times past, well, I would not even like to think about it, how bad it was, This is what we were. This is the wonderful teaching that we'll have here actually in the third chapter of John, which is the teaching of the state of the believer and the standing of the believer and what a difference that is. Our standing with Jesus is that you're perfect. You have no sin. Your standing is settled in heaven. Your name is written in the land book of life. Nothing can change that. Our state is another matter. Our current state, as you well know, is that we're not in heaven, we're not in a glorified body, and we still have the old Adamic nature that clings to us like barnacles to the side of a ship and they inhibit us from what we ought to be. Paul writes the great discourse in the seventh chapter of Romans, that which I would do, that do I not, and that which I would not, that do I. He goes back and forth with that argument to demonstrate that the old nature still clings to us. In Galatians 5 he says, the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. These are contrary one to the other. So, the inward and the outward. Peter adjusts the concept here by saying, wherein in times past, who we were before we were born again, according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. So, actually this is Ephesians 2. I don't know why I keep reciting Peter. Peter will come up at a certain point, I guess. So it's all about the old nature and the old service to Satan. And people can talk all day long, oh, I went to church, I was a good person, but we're just serving ourselves, we're serving Satan, we're not serving Christ until we're born again. So the Bible, in fact, does not spare our feelings. You know, I think one of the great problems with 21st century Christianity is self-love. We're talking about it on Wednesday nights, aren't we? And the perilous times that we live, men shall be lovers of their own selves, proud boasters, blasphemers, disobedient to parents. So there's a long list. But it starts with the idea of loving yourself, self-love. We hear so much of this today. Self-esteem, and this is the big problem. People need to have self-esteem and so on. We don't really deny ourselves anything. We want to satisfy the lust of the flesh. And, by the way, lust of the flesh is never satisfied, no matter what you give it. It's always begging for more. That's walking according to the course of this world and being led by the prince of the power of the air. That's the devil. And Jesus said, you're of your father, the devil. So the devil is the devil. When we are born, we are born with an endemic nature. This is inherited. You can blame Adam if you would like to, but we have our own free will too at a certain point. But we are born with an innate desire to do wrong and that is why discipline has to be added and ultimately conversion has to come. Well, thanks be to God that He has shown us this manner of love wherewith He hath loved that even while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, Romans 5.8. So that's a tremendous love right there. So he breaks this, let's call it a generational curse, right? And we now have a new father. So we quit the devil, didn't we? You know, living for him is a hard life, right? And you say, I'm done with you and I'm under new management. and jettison him out of your life. Break the contract. Isaiah gives just a little word about that, right, nullifying that contract with hell that Israel had made. With the Lord, we nullify the contract. We rip the contract up and we say, that's the end of that contract. I've got a new father now. And so Jesus said in John 20, just before he rose from the dead, he says to Mary Magdalene, touch me not, I have not yet ascended. Of course, this is after His resurrection. I have not ascended to my Father. But go, tell my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." Even, you know, the hint of when they asked how to pray, Jesus said, well, say, Our Father, which art in heaven. And I always say that's so generous of Him to include us, you know, with a collective pronoun, Our Father. He had every right to say, my father, exclusively. But we have been born into his family, haven't we? We can say it's the spirit of adoption, in a sense, because we were born as Adam's children, children of the devil. But God breaks the generational curse. And Romans 8 says, but ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. So this Abba father, the word itself is an Aramaic word and it is an endearing word, right? So some say Papa, Papa here, right? And you know I still call my father Daddy. The four of us still refer to him in that fashion. Of course when you get to be a teenager you call him Dad then, right? but then as you get older you recognize what an endearing term that is. Dad is, you know, there's a distance there, but daddy makes all the difference, right? So if you say daddy, there's something different about that, isn't there? So I miss it. My daughters called me daddy, but then they got old. You know, daddy. So now we have We have a Heavenly Father. I like Psalm 27 where the promise comes to us, when my father and my mother forsake me, then what? The Lord will take me up, right? So the Lord will take me up. That is the adoption. That is what the adoption is about. There is a lot in Romans 8. Verse 28, when we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose, for whom He did foreknow them, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son. Right? We're sons and daughters of the living God. 2 Corinthians tells us there that we're sons and daughters of God. Come out from among the bees, separate, saith the Lord. Touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and I shall be a father unto you. Ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Wow, that's... What manner of love is that? that orphans, like us, cast away. Satan has cast us out. And I don't know if I have Ezekiel in here but, you know, there's that picture in Ezekiel there. It's metaphorical, but, of the baby is born, then cast into the weeds. Umbilical isn't even cut. And Ezekiel is giving this image of the Lord finding the baby in this, wasn't salted, wasn't washed, wasn't swaddled, even the cord wasn't cut. And Ezekiel says that the Lord comes by, sees it, has pity, and ties the cord, cuts the umbilical, swaddles the baby, washes the baby, and clothes the baby's nakedness. Well, the symbol is the sinner. In the case of Ezekiel's prophecy, Israel, a nation that was so apostate that God was going to have to put them into bondage of Babylon. But God says, I'm going to have mercy on you. When you see what the devil does, he just throws you to the side. But I had mercy on you and I saw you in your condition. I washed you and I swaddled you and wrapped your nakedness. It's all about a loving father, isn't it? Alright. Hey look, there's the passage, 2 Corinthians 6.18. If you wait long enough it comes up, doesn't it? Oh, it's a good promise, folks, right there, right? And then the next, well, the seventh chapter, it flows right into the seventh chapter. Seeing therefore, you know, we should purify ourselves. We're sons and daughters that should be pure in the sight of the Lord, washed and swaddled and cleansed. All right, all of this has to do with the adoption, right? Galatians speaks of the adoption, but when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that are under the law. That's all of us. We're in trouble. The law, of course, is a school teacher. It's going to bring us to Christ, isn't it? And we're under the condemnation of the law until Christ comes to redeem us. sons, and because ye are sons, God hath sent forth his Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, there it is again, Abba, Father, wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." Romans 8 says we are joint heirs with Christ. So what manner of love could be demonstrated to sinful people who really, by their own free choice, follow the world and follow the devil and do heinous things and yet God says, I will demonstrate my love to you and I will forgive you and I'll cleanse you and I'll give you the right to call me Papa, Abba, Father. So there's delightful when we think of a father. Now I realize what the devil has done. I hope we all understand this. So he split up the homes. The father figure has been degraded and demeaned. Smart aleck kids have learned to disobey their parents. The devil teaches them this rebellious attitude. Fathers aren't even in the house to be disrespected in some cases, or the ones that are there in some cases probably don't deserve respect even though the Bible demands it. So it's hard for some people to even conceive of a father in a positive light. Their father forsook them. Some people say, I don't even know who my father is. A guard at the jail once, when I asked him about his father, he said, I don't have a I have a sperm donor." That is one bitter attitude, isn't it? In other words, his dad wasn't there. He was bitter all of his life. Where was his dad when he was hitting that his dad when he recited his poem at school play? Where was his dad when he came home with a report card with A's and B's on it? Where was his dad through all of the events of his life? He wasn't there. And so there are people that are very bitter about that. But when my father and my mother forsake me, I tell them, then the Lord will take you up. It's a great consolation. But we should be thinking of a father and a mother. in the positive sense of what a father ought to be. And everything a father ought to be is what God is, and that is He is a protector, He is a provider, and He is a paragon. You know, I am not much for trying to give alliteration. Preachers try to be clever. Every once in a while, though, I just have to give in to it. Three Ps, right? But He is all of that and more. A provider? Oh, yes. Even to the lost. Doesn't He reign on the just and the unjust in Matthew 5? Doesn't He provide breath for all the blasphemers? Food, they can tell me, well, you know, I sweat on my brow and I go out and work every day and so forth. That's how come we got a loaf of bread. Well, where did the loaf of bread come from? Well, they say, well, it came down to the store. Where did the store get it? The store got it from the farmer. Where did the farmer get it? He got it from the seed. Where did the seed come from? You know, at some point you've got to get back to the God who is the creator, provider of all things. From whom all blessings flow, we sing in the doxology, don't we? James says that these good things come down from heaven, from above, from the Father of lights with whom there is neither variability nor shadow of turning. No shadow of turning. What does it mean? His provision is constant. It says, of his mercies that were not consumed because great is his faithfulness, his compassions fail not. Great is his faithfulness. Every day the new provision comes and the provider, protector, provider, paragon, we have the final example of what life ought to be. A little review here of rights and privileges of the children of God. Let's remember we're joint heirs with Christ. So there's a lot that goes along with this, sons of God. And I would say, again, back to the imperceptible moment of birth. What does an infant know? Very little in the womb. There's a brain there, but what do they really understand? Not much at that point. And even when they're born, what do they understand? Not much, but little by little you begin to see the baby nourished and developed and begins the thinking process. They know to cry when they want something. They understand how to manipulate parents and so forth. And little by little their knowledge actually becomes abstract and they can actually think of things. I would have to say the same with our born-again experience. We're just babes at first. What do we know? We're just drinking the milk of the word. Now that shouldn't be for long. Babes don't last on milk for long. They're weaned in a certain point. They begin to eat meat and take solid foods and then they become, you know, they even decide what they like and what they don't like, right? Boy, how many times we take this. Now, we had the peas, you know, out of that baby jar. It looked disgusting and so forth. And you put it up the baby's mouth, open, open wide. They go like that, you know, and so forth. Now, come on. And you take a little bite yourself. Oh, how yummy it is. You liar. But, you know, oh, it's very good, very good. Open your mouth, you know. Or they'd open their mouth, they spit it out all over and so forth. You know, when you're born again, at first you don't understand much what's good for you, what is good for you. And every once in a while folks will say, you know, we have to bring the kids, there's no kids' church today so we have to bring them into the service. Terrible thing. They actually have to sit and listen to me. Oh, no. Yeah, they do. Maybe they don't get a whole lot out of it. It won't hurt them one bit. It doesn't hurt them. And you can also teach them to sit there and be quiet and be still. But that requires a high skill level in parenting to be able to tell your children to be still. But they ought to listen and obey and ought to learn how to listen at any rate. You don't want to spit it out and say, this is good for you. This is good for you. Well, look at all the rights and privileges we have as children of God. We don't recognize them immediately any more than a child does. What does a child understand? A child is born in the home of a wealthy person. What do they really know at first? But as they grow older and they become adults and they realize that their father is a millionaire, they're counting the days that dad is going to die, right? And everything is going to come in their direction. They have rights and privileges as sons and daughters of God. They have an inheritance awaiting them. Well, one of the great privileges as a believer in Jesus is your security. Now I know that there are those that teach you can lose your salvation. And as a result we've got believers that, well, they live a rather precarious life. It's difficult for them to really have any assurance. If you ask them if they're going to heaven, well, I hope so, they'll say. And we wonder what they're trusting at that point. But I think it's bad teaching. Oh, you can point to Hebrews 6 and Hebrews 10. You can point to the whole book of Hebrews for that matter. I think you'd be better off if you understood its context. But they depend on verses like that. And there are other verses that I say they're hard verses and you could look at them and they could give credence to the fact that you could lose your salvation. I prefer to think you didn't have it to begin with. Judas looked like he was one of the Twelve, but he really wasn't. He was a devil from the beginning, as a matter of fact. But we have security as believers, so we don't have to wrestle with what's going to happen to us. We're safe in the arms of Christ, aren't we? So we're not to fear, but enjoy sonship. An employee or a servant basically obeys out of fear of punishment, loss of job, etc. But a child-parent relationship is not characterized by a fear of losing the relationship. Notice here, I will be a father unto you, ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. So we have security. Not only that, we have authority. So we have the status not of a slave, but of sonship. In fact, Jesus in John 15 said, I call you friends, not servants, friends. What a friend we have in Jesus. We are not slaves in service. Now, there is a sense in which we will say, I am a bondservant. The bondservant is willing. See, the bondservant had the opportunity to go free and He comes to the Master and the Master says, well, you've served your indentureship here and you're free to go now. Now you don't want to think of slavery in the Bible context as different than the slavery where people unjustly stole and kidnapped people and forced them into slavery. That's the slavery we seem to understand a lot about, the terrible things that were done with the slave trade in Africa or even here in the United States that they enslaved Indians. I mean this is unjust and immoral. But in the Bible, servitude was a different thing. It was more like employment. And you could serve an indentureship and you'd be in your master's house. The master would take care of you. He was obliged to take care of you, but for a period of time. And you, in turn, worked for him. It's the same thing as a working relationship today, a boss and an employee. But you would come to the end of your indentureship and you'd say, well, you know, it's all… and the master would say, you're free to go. Well, you'd say, no, no, I don't want to go. You've treated me so well. I have a constant source. You've protected me. I want to be your servant for the rest of… That's willing servitude, isn't it? That's bond service. And what they would actually do then is they would indenture themselves for life and they would have their ear pierced which is also and always has been a symbol of servitude. It's a symbol of slavery. That's why I'm kind of against piercings and so on, but people tell me, if you're going to reach the next generation preacher, you better stop preaching about piercings, stop preaching about tattoos. Okay. The likelihood of that happening. I'm going to tell people what the truth is, whether they like it or not. It's time to conform to God's law. not to what the world says is good and okay and there's nothing wrong with it, or what liberal Christians are saying. I don't care what they have to say. We have a Bible to go by and we have a God to please. Let's make sure we please Him. All right. Now, you say, well, I already have my ears. What am I supposed to do? I have some liquid nail at home, at any rate. If you've pierced your tongue, it doesn't taste very good, but we'll do our best. How did we get there? Okay. So, we have the status not of a slave, but of sonship. In a house, slaves have no authority. They can only do what they are told. But under their parents' authority in the house, they are not mere servants. They are children of God who are given authority over sin and the devil. They are to move about in the world knowing that it belongs to their father. There should be a confidence and poise about them. Children have the honor of the family name. There's a wonderful new status conferred on us. Isn't that true? So why would I be afraid of the devil? Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Clearly, we're not afraid of the world and all of the powers and all of what the devil now has, the assault, the noose that's tightening around the world at this point. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters roar, be troubled. Selah, God's people are at rest. Nothing to be worried about here. God is in control and we have authority. He has given us all authority. All power is given unto you in heaven and earth, Jesus said in the Great Commission in Matthew 28 and 19. So we have confidence. We have poise about us and so forth. And this is not presumption. This is not arrogance, certainly. Believers know that whatever they have has been given to them, bestowed upon them. That is all it is. It is just a gift. gift from the Lord. So we don't go about bragging, we don't go about, you know, this insanity because it's bloviating. I'm up to here with it, you know, people, how great this person is and how great that one is and they tell you how great they are, right? But I don't want to hear that. You're nothing. We're nothing here, okay? We're specks of dust and God has shown us mercies And we ought to stand in awe of that every day when somebody tries to pile a compliment, say, look, it's only the Lord. If there's any good thing that I have done, it's because the Lord lives in my heart. This isn't who I normally would be. This is what God has made me to be. At least when we can get enough victory to overcome the flesh, because the flesh keeps creeping in one way or the other, doesn't it? What authority we have. Get thee behind me, Satan!" You know, he's got all kinds of threats. I'm not worried about the devil. So, he's defeated. He's the biggest loser of all time, isn't he? Why would anybody follow him? He's a loser! We have the authority. We're going to inherit the earth. The meek shall inherit the earth. We're coming back We're coming back to this place and I'm staking a claim in Wilkins Township. I'm going to be in charge here. They've caused me a lot of heartbreak. Intimacy. Oh yes, and that's where we get that term Abba. That's an intimate term. We need to know the original language here. Abba was an Aramaic term which is best translated Daddy, a term of the greatest intimacy. A child does not always address his father as father. Likely he has a different term for him that shows his loving, trusting familiarity with his father such as Dad or Papa or Daddy. And this is how Christians can approach the all-powerful Creator of the universe who sustains every atom in existence moment by moment. That's hopefully a pithy statement here. All I'm trying to say is how close we are to the Father. Why, in Isaiah 40, we have the image of the Messiah and what does he do? He takes the lambs up and carries them, carries the lambs. That's as close as it gets, right? The Lord picks us up and holds us close to his breast. And he says, you've had enough here. You're a little, you're worn out. You're little lambs, right? You can't go any further. So I will take you up and we'll go the rest of the journey and I'll carry you the rest of the way. So intimacy, closeness to the Lord. Now the devil is doing everything to interrupt that closeness and to bring disturbing thoughts, to bring evil thoughts, lustful thoughts, all of this that disturbs our peace, interrupts our fellowship with the Almighty. And so we have to restore fellowship, constantly restore our fellowship with the Lord. But he is always there. He said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Now how true it is that people have gone through life with a lot of disappointments. People that they had vowed to each other that they would love each other until death parted them and then finds out that the husband is running away with another woman or something. Trust is broken. How can you restore at that point? It is so difficult. God is constant. He never leaves us. He never forsakes us. Never says, I've had enough with you, right? No, no. He's always there. He's grieved by some of how we live. But he's waiting for us all the time. He's waiting for us just to come back and say, Father, I've sinned against heaven and against you. I'm no more worthy to be called my son. And what does he do? He takes us up and he says, bring the best robe. Kill the fatted calf, right? Relationship restored. All is well. Shall I go on with these rights and privileges here? All right. Because there's more, you know. Well, I spoke of security, but assurance. So the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. So when we cry to God as Abba, the Spirit of God somehow comes alongside us. Now, Jesus said, I'm sending you another comforter. Comforter. So parakletos. So what does the Greek word mean, para? There's really two words kind of combined there, so it's a conflation. But one who comes alongside, one who comes near. It's later translated, we already saw in 1 John 2, we have an advocate with the Father, same word, parakletos. There it's an advocate because it's in a forensic context. Defender, But what is an advocate? A legal advocate comes next to you and stands at the judgment bar and pleads your case. That's who Jesus is in 1 John 2. But we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. But we have a comforter, Jesus said. I'm not going to leave you comfortless. I'm sending another comforter, meaning that he was the first comforter. And now I'm sending you another one. I'm going to heaven. I've got work to do there. But I'm not going to leave you without a comforter. I'm sending my Spirit into your heart. That's our assurance. Our assurance is the Spirit of the living God. Now again, if we grieve Him, we feel distant from Him. We feel as though maybe I'm not saved at all. And people that doubt their salvation, well, let them doubt it. They need to. I don't know what kind of a parent you had. But I hope you had one who was strict and yet loved you. And if you had that kind of parent, you know that you wounded their spirit when you did a wrong thing. And I met many a situation with my dad and the yardstick. He would get a yardstick after me. Today, he would be thrown in jail for abusing a child, but you know, I'm glad for that child abuse. It set me straight in a lot of ways. And then after that, he'd say, now you're going to sit in the corner. And so I'd sit in the corner and he had a, you know, we were Catholics, but somehow he had a Bible, like a story Bible with pictures in it. In those days they were just black and white line drawings and so forth. But I remember reading this in the corner. That was part of my punishment, I guess. You have to read the Bible now because you're a bad boy. And I kind of enjoyed reading it. In fact, I remember there were times my dad said, all right, you've been there long enough. And I'd stay there and finish the story, you know. But you know, we break our relationship with the master. We don't deserve assurance then. Just like with your parents, you know, they said go to your room and you broke fellowship. and you were waiting and you were hoping that they would come and finally they would, an hour or two later, they'd come back and say, now are you sorry for what you did? Yes, I'm sorry, and so forth. And then they'd restore the relationship. They'd hug you and say, now, you know, I don't want to have to do this, but you, you know, you were bad and so I have to punish you because I love you. And then the relationship is restored. The same can be said, of course, with our Heavenly Father. When we vex the Spirit, when we grieve the Spirit, when we quench the Spirit, all of those Those are the three things that a believer can do. Well, I already mentioned, I guess, the inheritance. Children then heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. The friend is our brother. We sing that when we sing O Holy Night, right? The friend is our brother. Jesus, a friend that is closer than a brother, a friend that says, not like Esau, right, says, this is my inheritance and so forth. He says, I share my inheritance with you. And joint heirs with Christ. Now we get back to our text here. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that he would include us in his will. the first son was the heir. There may have been many children, all were loved, but the heir got the largest share of the wealth and carried on the family name. This was the way a great family kept its influence intact and did not have it divided and dissipated. An inheritance incorruptible, the Bible says, undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. It is the inheritance incorruptible. who are kept by the power of God unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time." So we have an inheritance that's incorruptible, phaged not away. I've known people that have inherited, and within three months I had a fellow, he inherited $28,000 and he had drug issues and he spent it all on heroin within a month's time. He blew right through it. But God's inheritance is incorruptible and it fades not away. It is an inexhaustible supply. You can keep going back and back and back and you get and you're, what a blessing it is. Okay, time. Should I go further with these rights and privileges? All right. You need to know what your rights are. Thank you, Lord, for all the rights and privileges that we do not deserve. Bring a blessing to us here. So grateful for all that You've done, Lord, and are doing and continue to do. Bring us now Your special blessing to understand this text that is before us, that we might behold, stand in awe, beholding the manner of love wherewith You loved us. In Jesus' name, amen.