Sermon Central
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Birth Not Worth
Contributed by James Groce on Jul 18, 2001 (message contributor)
Summary: The prodigal son came to himself and saw his mess. He felt like a "SERVANT" He felt that being a son was a matter of being WORTHY or not. He was wrong.
BIRTH NOT WORTH
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And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to [his] father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth [to me]. And he divided unto them [his] living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put [it] on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on [his] feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill [it]; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
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There is a vast difference of our concept of God when He becomes "Father" to us.
Before knowing Him as "Father", we know Him only as Judge and Creator.
He seemed so cold in the Old testament.
That is because nobody was His child then.
He manifested His true nature when we became His children.
The prodigal son came to himself and saw his mess.
He felt like a "SERVANT"
He felt that being a son was a matter of being WORTHY or not.
He was wrong.
The element that made him a SON was the fact that he had a FATHER.
And nothing could change that.
Worthiness is not the issue at all.
Birth makes us sons of God.
Not worth.
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God looks upon all mankind as sinful.
All a person’s good deeds does not nor ever will change that.
Only faith in Jesus’ death as their deaths and as payment of their sins causes God to FORGIVE them and give them His Spirit.
They are SONS because they are BORN OF THAT SPIRIT.
The Spirit of His Son is in us, and we are SONS.
All believers have the same Spirit in them if they received the Holy Ghost.
So we are all sons of God.
And we will realize we are complete in Him when we realize ITS NOT A MATTER OF WORTH, BUT BIRTH.
Put all your stocks and bonds in Him.
Be rooted in simply being IN HIM and all that He is, because that is what makes us sons of God.
Nothing to do with good works, just the fact that we are born again and are IN CHRIST and CHRIST IN US.
We became sons of God when we received the SPIRIT OF ADOPTION (Ro. 8:15).
We are all children of God by faith.
Gala 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
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What made us sons?
FAITH!
What made us privy to all the blessings from God?
BIRTH.
Bondage comes from preaching that teaches you must make yourself worthy of God’s blessings.
This is not the truth.
The truth is that we are blessed because we are God’s children.
Then entire difference of our understanding of a God of judgment was made when we were born again and He became our FATHER.
Outside of Jesus you cannot come to God.
So God is too holy for you to approach outside of Jesus.
But when we were born again, we received Jesus’ actual holiness and the blood made us draw nigh to God.
Ephe 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
Hebr 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
