1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:15,560 Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. Have you ever looked back in time and considered 2 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:21,000 how certain defining moments have shaped your life in future? Today, John Metter, lead 3 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:25,200 pastor of Cross City Church, looks at the importance of defining moments and how we 4 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:35,560 can recognize what God is saying through them. So glad to see you this morning. And as we 5 00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:40,680 continue on in our service, keep in mind that we have a number of students that are at student 6 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:45,720 camp this week. Several busloads of students and student sponsors and leaders or staff 7 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:49,480 are in Gloria de New Mexico. Anybody ever been to Gloria de New Mexico? Please raise 8 00:00:49,480 --> 00:00:55,640 your hand. Several of you have. It is less than 80 degrees as a high every day. The lows 9 00:00:55,640 --> 00:01:00,280 are about 55. We hope to bring all the students back. We hope they will all come back at the 10 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:06,080 end of that great week of cool weather. But also be praying for some very important moments 11 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:10,000 in their lives where they come to grips with the opportunity to have a relationship with 12 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:16,480 Jesus Christ. Salvation, other steps of discipleship, all those will be available to them this week 13 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:21,680 as they are prayed for, preached to, they worship together. It is always a great time. 14 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:25,320 If you have your Bibles this morning, would you please take them and turn to Ephesians 15 00:01:25,320 --> 00:01:31,480 chapter 1 today, beginning in verse 3 all the way through verse 8. Ephesians chapter 16 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:36,800 1, the title of the message is a moment of acceptance. Now this is our defining moment 17 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:42,840 series, and we continue on with several aspects of what that means to have a defining moment 18 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:47,920 with God. You know, we have all kinds of experiences in our life, thousands of experiences, but 19 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:53,640 only a few defining moments that change life from the moment we have that experience. Believe 20 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:59,840 it or not, God wants to have defining moments with you. He wants you to have experiences 21 00:01:59,840 --> 00:02:05,080 where you think about Him differently, where you think about your life differently, where 22 00:02:05,080 --> 00:02:10,560 you think about the future differently. And my encouragement is that you learn to have 23 00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:17,560 these moments with God, and often those moments are initiated by a passage of Scripture, the 24 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:22,320 movement of the Holy Spirit, and the conviction that God is wanting to teach you something. 25 00:02:22,320 --> 00:02:26,360 That will be my prayer today. Let's stand together as we read the Word of God beginning 26 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:33,360 in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3. Paul writes this, he says, blessed be the God and Father 27 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:40,240 of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly 28 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:45,880 places in Christ. By the way, if you ever see me write a letter or you see one of my 29 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:50,600 communications, it always ends with 10,000 blessings, comments John Mitter, that's where 30 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:55,920 this comes from. Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, verse 4. 31 00:02:55,920 --> 00:03:02,320 Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless 32 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:10,320 before Him, in love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, 33 00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:15,360 according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which 34 00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:21,680 He freely bestowed on us in the beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, 35 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:27,000 the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished 36 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:34,000 on us. What a passage of Scripture. It speaks so loudly of God's perspective of you as 37 00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:39,720 a Father of Jesus Christ. Father, today I pray that you would allow this text to come 38 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:44,520 alive in our minds and heart in the same way it was in the life of Paul and those who read 39 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:50,520 it 2,000 years ago. Father, help us to take it personally, to be intimately acquainted 40 00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:56,400 with what all these words mean and what it means to be loved by you eternally. We ask 41 00:03:56,400 --> 00:04:03,400 this in Jesus' name we pray. All God's people said, Amen. Please be seated if you would. 42 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:11,800 I love the book of Ephesians, but it's a unique letter. This epistle is not written to solve 43 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:17,040 problems that are happening in a particular church. But Paul wrote the letter of Ephesians 44 00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:22,240 to be read to the church at Ephesus, but also to be read by all of the churches in the New 45 00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:27,520 Testament era. Not to solve a problem, but to answer the most important question a believer 46 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:33,720 can have. Now that important question is, as followers of Jesus, do you know who you 47 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:39,840 are? You and I need to know who we are in Christ, our identity, who we are, and how 48 00:04:39,840 --> 00:04:45,920 God sees us. There was a man I read about years ago who told of a man who stepped onto 49 00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:50,960 the platform at an American Legion convention with thousands and thousands of people at 50 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:56,760 that convention. He picked up a microphone and looking over the crowd he asked this question, 51 00:04:56,760 --> 00:05:03,040 can anyone tell me who I am? Now that's the story, backside of the story was told. He 52 00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:08,640 had lost his memory. He had no record of his past, no record of identity. He didn't know 53 00:05:08,640 --> 00:05:14,320 who he was with. He couldn't remember who he was, so his desperate plea was, can anybody 54 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:21,320 tell me who I am? I love that story, which has a good ending by the way, because we all 55 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:28,560 have that question inside of our hearts and minds. Can anybody tell me who I really am? 56 00:05:28,560 --> 00:05:33,240 We all want to know the answer to this. We all want to know who we are in the eyes of 57 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:37,640 God. We also want to know this who are we in the eyes of others around us. It's an 58 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:41,640 incredible question, and I think it's an important question because the pursuit of 59 00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:48,640 acceptance and the pursuit of affirmation is almost universal. Everyone needs to know 60 00:05:48,640 --> 00:05:54,920 that they're accepted. So they ask questions like who am I? Who are my people? Am I accepted? 61 00:05:54,920 --> 00:06:01,920 Am I loved? Can you affirm me in any way? So we call these identity questions, and they're 62 00:06:02,220 --> 00:06:08,920 tied into our self-awareness and our self-concept of who we are. At the bottom line we want 63 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:12,880 everyone to accept who we are and respect who we are no matter how weird it may seem. 64 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:18,160 And today there's a lot of weird ideas of who we are. And by the way, if you try to 65 00:06:18,160 --> 00:06:22,560 find out who you are without your creator answering the question, then you're going 66 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:27,120 to be in a weird place and you're going to identify in a very, very strange way. That's 67 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:32,480 what's happening in our world today. If you leave the creator out of the question, expect 68 00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:37,720 a strange answer. But the bottom line is we should be able to know who we are, especially 69 00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:43,720 in the eyes of God. The reason this is important to me is because as a young man I struggled 70 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:49,040 with my own self-identity. Now my own struggle was far more basic than some of the things 71 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:53,440 that we hear about today where everybody wants the right to be whatever they choose and they 72 00:06:53,440 --> 00:06:58,680 want you to be okay with that, whatever it is they choose to be. I just simply struggled 73 00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:05,160 with being accepted. I struggled with my own self-identity. I felt like I never measured 74 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:10,000 up partly because I'd grown up with a hearing impairment, but partly because I had been 75 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:16,400 rejected by people that I thought really mattered. So my story is I used athletics to try to 76 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:21,560 get even. I used athletics to be as good as other people. In fact, my quest in athletics 77 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:26,680 was never about excellence. It was never about going to the next level. It was always about 78 00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:30,800 the competition of saying I'm at least as good as you are and probably better on the 79 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:35,680 athletic field. And I'm going to make that very clear if I could. But the reason I did 80 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:41,320 that is because I never felt like I measured up. And I never felt like I was at home in 81 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:47,040 my own self and had a chip on my shoulder. No matter how successful I was, a chip on 82 00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:52,360 my shoulder and it was obvious to others. I consistently compared myself with other 83 00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:59,720 people. How I looked, how I presented myself, how athletic or not athletic I was, how well 84 00:07:59,720 --> 00:08:04,840 I did in class or in school, whatever my job was going to be at the end of it all. And 85 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:10,560 of course my problem was that I approached identity from my own perspective instead of 86 00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:16,600 the perspective I should have. I didn't realize that my true identity was really found through 87 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:23,720 the eyes of God who created me with a purpose and with significance. And I was missing that 88 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:30,560 part of my life as I was 18, 19 years of age. The God factor is so incredibly important 89 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:35,240 and that's what Ephesians 1 talks about. The God factor of who you really are, why 90 00:08:35,240 --> 00:08:42,160 you were created to be here and how God sees you. And this text today can answer that question 91 00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:48,500 for every person in this room. Now ultimately in seeking God during those years I had to 92 00:08:48,500 --> 00:08:52,360 come to grips with three important truths. Let me give you those truths real quick. The 93 00:08:52,360 --> 00:08:58,120 first one is that God is who he says he is. God is always representing himself well and 94 00:08:58,120 --> 00:09:02,480 in the book, in the Bible that we're reading today, the book of Ephesians especially, he 95 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:07,800 is self-identifying himself, self-revealing himself. God himself through the power of 96 00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:13,280 the Holy Spirit, letting the scriptures be written by these inspired men is saying, this 97 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:18,600 is who I am and this is how you can identify that I'm at work in your life. God is who 98 00:09:18,600 --> 00:09:24,760 he says he is. The second truth is God can do what he says he can do. Whatever promise 99 00:09:24,760 --> 00:09:29,920 he makes for you, he can fulfill that. But the third one really plays into what we're 100 00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:36,200 talking about today. I am who God says I am. I'm not who somebody else says I am. I am 101 00:09:36,200 --> 00:09:43,960 who God says I am. I'm not who I think I am. I am who God says I am. And this text reveals 102 00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:50,520 some incredible truths for that understanding. So looking back at your text, I'm going to 103 00:09:50,520 --> 00:09:55,640 bring three things to the surface here. First of all, the scripture here in Ephesians chapter 104 00:09:55,640 --> 00:10:05,280 one says, you are chosen. You are chosen. If you look at verse four, where we begin our 105 00:10:05,280 --> 00:10:12,720 journey here today, it says, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. 106 00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:18,040 I love that line. I share it all the time. I find it creeping into my conversations when 107 00:10:18,040 --> 00:10:22,880 I'm talking to people that are struggling with some aspect of their lives. God chose 108 00:10:22,880 --> 00:10:27,520 you from before the foundation of the world. That was a long time ago. You know, we all 109 00:10:27,520 --> 00:10:32,240 want to be chosen, don't we? We all want to be someone's choice. We want to be on the 110 00:10:32,240 --> 00:10:38,000 team. We want to be in the group. We want to be chosen for the job. We want someone 111 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:42,840 to choose us for a significant friendship or relationship. We want to be chosen for 112 00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:48,640 the award or the reward that recognizes our talent or whatever it may be. But according 113 00:10:48,640 --> 00:10:56,160 to this, God wants you to know that he made a decision in eternity past to choose you 114 00:10:56,160 --> 00:11:02,880 and to love you and to make you part of his world. Now think about what that means. That 115 00:11:02,880 --> 00:11:09,480 means that before we existed, before we could choose to acknowledge God, before we could 116 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:16,440 love God, before we could serve God, before we could even read about God, he chose us. 117 00:11:16,440 --> 00:11:21,880 That means long before we would have any merit at all, long before we had any worthiness 118 00:11:21,880 --> 00:11:26,800 in our lives, God chose us from before the foundation of the world. Now that's fascinating 119 00:11:26,800 --> 00:11:32,160 to me. I think it's amazing that the God of the universe would know me and love me and 120 00:11:32,160 --> 00:11:37,760 choose me long before I came into existence. But that's what the scripture teaches. And 121 00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:42,480 as you walk through the scripture, you'll find these little glimpses of this truth all 122 00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:46,800 the way from Genesis to Revelation. Let me bring some of those back to your memory. I'm 123 00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:51,280 sure you've heard of them before and read them. What about where the Bible talks about 124 00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:56,680 you before you were actually born, where it says you were fearfully and wonderfully made? 125 00:11:56,680 --> 00:12:01,040 Or where it talks about the fact that God weaves us in our inward part while we're 126 00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:07,000 still in the womb? Or when Jesus said that God's eye is on the sparrow and the song of 127 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:13,120 course is he also watches me. Or where Jesus says he knows the number of hair on your head. 128 00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:18,800 I mean all kinds of references in the Bible that says that God knows you, that God sees 129 00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:23,840 you, that God is aware of you, that God loves you, and in this passage that God chose you 130 00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:30,760 to be part of his life. The psalmist David had these same kind of thoughts back thousands 131 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:36,480 of years ago as he must have looked up into the heavens at night while he was washing 132 00:12:36,480 --> 00:12:42,320 the sheet before he became king and considered the stars and the solar system and everything 133 00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:47,440 he could see from planet earth that you and I can see with our own eyes. And he wrote 134 00:12:47,440 --> 00:12:52,080 these words. He said, would I consider your heavens the work of your fingers, the moon 135 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:57,640 and the stars which you have ordained? What is man that you take thought of him and the 136 00:12:57,640 --> 00:13:04,640 son of man that you care for him? David was incredulous. Why would you look at me, God, 137 00:13:05,160 --> 00:13:10,720 when you're the creator of all this? Why is it that you would have your attention on me? 138 00:13:10,720 --> 00:13:17,720 How is that possible? That verse reminds me of some images that came out recently from 139 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:24,080 the NASA's Webb telescope. And for me it displays the unfathomable greatness and the sovereignty 140 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:29,600 of God. I'm reminded of a passage in the Old Testament that says he counts the number 141 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:35,080 of the stars and he gives names to all of them. And all of that's so amazing to me. 142 00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:41,040 But when you see images of this Webb telescope, you see some incredibly graphic images of 143 00:13:41,040 --> 00:13:45,240 the stars and the solar system and the universe. Let's look at about two or three of those 144 00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:50,800 today. The first one is a picture of separate galaxies that are interacting hundreds and 145 00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:56,120 thousands of light years away. And the camera has caught those images and it's amazing 146 00:13:56,120 --> 00:14:00,840 to consider that all those things are happening out there and that God spoke all of those 147 00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:07,840 into existence. The second image of the Covina Nebula where stars are supposedly born. And 148 00:14:08,760 --> 00:14:14,000 you see this huge cloud of stars and all kinds of matter floating out there. And you're 149 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:19,920 reminded that the God of the universe spoke these things into existence in eternity fast. 150 00:14:19,920 --> 00:14:26,200 Or that third image is a cloud of gas around a dying star. Again, all thousands and thousands 151 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:31,800 of light years away. It's almost ungraspable in the mind, isn't it, that God has created 152 00:14:31,800 --> 00:14:37,600 that and spoke that into existence. But parallel with that thought, the greatness of a mighty 153 00:14:37,600 --> 00:14:44,600 God is the idea that he would look at us and choose us and know you and choose you of his 154 00:14:44,600 --> 00:14:51,600 own free will because he loved you, because he wanted you. God created the universe with 155 00:14:53,160 --> 00:14:58,800 a word. That's powerful. That's how powerful he is and always has been. And yet this creative 156 00:14:58,800 --> 00:15:05,800 God knows us, loves us, and chooses us. You know what it's like to be chosen. What about 157 00:15:07,460 --> 00:15:13,520 what it's like to be chosen by God? He says, no, this God loves you. And I know this. I 158 00:15:13,520 --> 00:15:19,440 know there are times when all of us feel unloved and unworthy and that's just a fact of life. 159 00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:25,160 But in spite of all that, God steadfastly declares and demonstrates that we are in fact 160 00:15:25,160 --> 00:15:31,880 loved by him and chosen by him. And you let that frame your self-identity because in every 161 00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:37,080 other way that you view yourself, this way is foundational to a healthy perspective of 162 00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:44,080 who you are. Let it form the foundation. You are chosen by God, the scripture says. 163 00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:51,640 Now there are three words I want you to repeat today, except because it matters. I am chosen. 164 00:15:51,640 --> 00:15:57,960 Would you say that today? I am chosen. If you're a follower of Jesus Christ today, you need 165 00:15:57,960 --> 00:16:03,840 to be aware of all that that means, that you are chosen. Now Ephesians brings up another 166 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:10,000 idea that's important for us to have, to frame our self-identity. You are adopted. You are 167 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:15,960 adopted. As the verse continues on, it says in verse five, he predestined us to adoption 168 00:16:15,960 --> 00:16:22,960 as sons through Jesus Christ in himself according to the kind intention of his will. Now this 169 00:16:23,140 --> 00:16:30,140 is a huge thing. The idea of being adopted by God is a massive part of our identity as 170 00:16:30,140 --> 00:16:36,880 followers of Christ. And again, it's a decision and a declaration made by God on your behalf 171 00:16:36,880 --> 00:16:43,880 to help you know how he includes you in his fear and his life. God is our father and we're 172 00:16:45,360 --> 00:16:50,720 his sons and daughters, right? One of my favorite books is the book of Romans chapter eight, 173 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:57,080 verse 15 and 16 are two verses that are just explosive when it comes to this idea of adoption. 174 00:16:57,080 --> 00:17:01,080 Paul is writing to believers and saying, this is how you theologically need to understand 175 00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:08,080 yourself. This is how you can frame your own existence in the presence of a mighty God. 176 00:17:08,080 --> 00:17:13,480 And he words it like this in verse 15 and 16. For you have not received the spirit of 177 00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:18,520 slavery leading to fear again. That is when you come to Christ and you're given the Holy 178 00:17:18,520 --> 00:17:23,600 Spirit of God, that's not a spirit of slavery leading to fear, but you've received a spirit 179 00:17:23,600 --> 00:17:30,600 of adoption as sons by which we cry out, Abba, father. Now Abba is the most intimate word 180 00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:38,080 in that language for daddy, an intimate word for father. He goes on and says, the spirit 181 00:17:38,080 --> 00:17:44,960 himself testifies with our spirit that we are the children of God. Now I've got friends 182 00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:50,320 over the years that when they talk about God, they just refer to him as father. They'll 183 00:17:50,320 --> 00:17:55,560 say something like, I was praying and father led me to this passage of scripture, or I 184 00:17:55,560 --> 00:18:02,400 was fearful and father helped me be less fearful and full of confidence instead. And I always 185 00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:06,560 kind of push back on that. I always thought that's a little bit too casual for me. I'd 186 00:18:06,560 --> 00:18:12,640 rather say the heavenly father or the father or God the father. To me that just seems like 187 00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:18,500 it's a little bit more proper, but the scripture says this, that God is not looking to be seen 188 00:18:18,500 --> 00:18:25,500 as a proper God, but as a real father to you. It's okay to call him father because he is 189 00:18:26,040 --> 00:18:33,040 your father. He has adopted you into his family. Call him father. It's intended to be intimate. 190 00:18:33,740 --> 00:18:38,520 It's intended to be personal. For you to have that kind of interaction with our heavenly 191 00:18:38,520 --> 00:18:45,520 father is incredibly important. Now most of us know the impact of a father in our lives 192 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:50,480 in an earthly sense. There are many people in this room today that have earthly fathers 193 00:18:50,480 --> 00:18:55,280 that are very grateful for, very proud of, and they've been given a good name, good 194 00:18:55,280 --> 00:19:01,160 upbringing, good relationships, and often today, on the other hand, many do not have 195 00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:06,400 that kind of relationship with their father. Some know their fathers. Some don't know 196 00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:12,160 their fathers. Some are proud of their fathers. Some are embarrassed by their fathers. But 197 00:19:12,160 --> 00:19:18,760 the reality is that our fathers have an incredible influence in our lives, whether they are present 198 00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:23,680 or absent, whether they're good or not so good. I'll never forget a young man I grew 199 00:19:23,680 --> 00:19:30,680 up with that I can even remember at the age of 12 and 13 recognizing him struggling because 200 00:19:30,680 --> 00:19:36,640 of the embarrassment of his own father's behavior. In that small town, everyone knew about it, 201 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:41,680 and my friend was perpetually ashamed. And he struggled to overcome that. I didn't know 202 00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:48,560 all the dynamics of that, but I knew it wasn't good, and that influence was harmful to him. 203 00:19:48,560 --> 00:19:53,160 But no matter what our earthly father is, no matter if he was great and awesome or not 204 00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:57,680 so great and not so awesome or anywhere on that timeline, there's something that God 205 00:19:57,680 --> 00:20:03,000 the Father has given you that overrides all that, and that is that He wants to be your 206 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:08,880 father. And if you had a great father, awesome. And if you didn't, who's able to overcome 207 00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:14,480 that in your life? Because He will be your adoptive father and give you everything that 208 00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:19,200 no earthly father can give you, and that is Himself. 209 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:25,900 You know, the idea of adoption in the Roman world with a pretty strong and legal approach 210 00:20:25,900 --> 00:20:31,440 to receiving children that were not your own. I want to read something to you about that. 211 00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:35,480 Roman adoption meant to declare that someone who is not one's child is to be treated and 212 00:20:35,480 --> 00:20:41,920 cared for as one's child, including the rights of inheritance. As a matter of fact, 213 00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:46,800 in the Roman world, if you were adopted into a family, you could never be disowned. You 214 00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:52,240 could never be cast out again. Imagine that. A family could cast out their biological children 215 00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:57,880 by Roman law, but they could never cast out adoptive children. Now that's a pretty impressive 216 00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:03,400 picture that God would use the idea of adoption to help us know something about our relationship 217 00:21:03,400 --> 00:21:07,000 with Him. Now in Roman adoption, five things changed 218 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:11,640 when you were adopted. First of all, your family changed. All of a sudden you were in 219 00:21:11,640 --> 00:21:18,000 a brand new family. Secondly, your name changed. You took on the name of the adoptive father. 220 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:22,060 Then your home changed. That's number three. Your responsibilities, how you were to live 221 00:21:22,060 --> 00:21:26,920 life automatically changed. You would probably be in a new line of work if you were adopted 222 00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:32,840 into a Roman family. And then lastly, your inheritance changed. Everything a biological 223 00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:39,240 child would have received, as an adoptive child, you would receive immediately. And 224 00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:43,040 you would never be disowned. That's the idea God paints for us in the 225 00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:49,200 book of Romans of our relationship with Him. You have His family. You have His name. You 226 00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:55,000 have His home. You have His responsibilities of the heavenly Father. And you have the inheritance 227 00:21:55,000 --> 00:22:02,280 of the heavenly Father. But even more, you have His security. You have His identity. 228 00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:09,040 He claims you. You have been claimed by God through Jesus Christ. Can you say amen to 229 00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:16,840 that? I can say amen to that. So here's the second line I want you to say. I am adopted. 230 00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:24,760 I am adopted. I am chosen. I am adopted. And then there's a third line that's in this 231 00:22:24,760 --> 00:22:33,400 text and it may be the most important. You are accepted. You are accepted. Verse 7. In 232 00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:41,600 Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according 233 00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:49,400 to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. I call this probably the greatest part 234 00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:55,720 of our identity because it's where God actually takes action on our behalf. I mean He declares 235 00:22:55,720 --> 00:23:00,680 these other things. He declares that He chooses us. He declares that He adopts us. But in 236 00:23:00,680 --> 00:23:06,720 this particular piece where He declares His acceptance of us, He pays a price for that. 237 00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:11,200 And that price is called the redemption, the forgiveness of our sin. And that price was 238 00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:17,160 steep. He sent His own Son Jesus to die on the cross to pay for our sins. And that speaks 239 00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:24,480 volumes. And He did that so that we could be for Himself, for God. By the way, when 240 00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:28,520 you read the Bible you have to acknowledge God is a Redeemer. God is a rescuer, isn't 241 00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:34,040 He? All the way through Scripture He's rescuing us. And I think sometimes many of us see God 242 00:23:34,040 --> 00:23:40,440 not so much as a rescuer. He's less noble than that we think. Less loving, less caring, 243 00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:46,720 less willing. He's on a throne with a deep, booming voice and He makes hard commands for 244 00:23:46,720 --> 00:23:51,720 us. And He's frowning and He's closed and He's angry, maybe demanding. But when we 245 00:23:51,720 --> 00:23:57,480 do that and think about God that way, we miss His self-revelation. We miss what He says 246 00:23:57,480 --> 00:24:03,600 about Himself. And what He says about Himself is that He's a loving, rescuing God. And 247 00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:08,880 He says He cares about us so much that He chooses us, He adopts us, and ultimately rescues 248 00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:14,280 us and accepts us. That's the character of God. That's the nature of the God that we 249 00:24:14,280 --> 00:24:20,440 love, that we know, that we follow. I'm a big fan of rescue movies. I don't like movies 250 00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:24,640 that are all dialogue. Let me tell you, when they're all dialogue, it doesn't take long 251 00:24:24,640 --> 00:24:29,120 before I somehow lose consciousness. I'm just not sure what happens. But when there's 252 00:24:29,120 --> 00:24:34,880 a rescue operation going on, I am in that movie. I am in that movie. And I don't think 253 00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:40,440 anything takes the cake better than the Taken movie years ago. You remember the guy's daughter 254 00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:46,760 was kidnapped in Europe, and he had a special set of skills, and he tracked down the kidnapper, 255 00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:51,160 and he destroyed whole nations and kingdoms to get to his daughter. You remember that 256 00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:55,240 movie? At the end of that movie, he rescues his daughter, and what does he do? He hugs 257 00:24:55,240 --> 00:24:59,800 her and he holds her tight because he's brought her back to where she needs to be in safety 258 00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:05,760 and security. When you read the Bible, you find God is a rescuer that way, and in many 259 00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:12,760 greater ways as well. And God rescues people with imperfect rescuers as well as one perfect 260 00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:20,800 rescuer. You go back through the Old Testament, you'll see all of these imperfect rescuers 261 00:25:20,800 --> 00:25:27,800 like Noah and Abraham and Joseph and Moses and Saul and David and Gideon. These are imperfect 262 00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:33,680 men that God uses to rescue his people, and God uses them time and time again. And then 263 00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:39,080 God sends his own son, the perfect rescuer, the one who knew no sin, knew no fault, who 264 00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:45,740 had no bad motivations, who came just to redeem our soul. So here's this meat carpenter who 265 00:25:45,740 --> 00:25:52,740 turned into a fierce battler for ourselves. Colossians 1 is a passage of Scripture that 266 00:25:53,680 --> 00:26:00,680 talks about it that way. It says, for he rescued us from the domain of darkness. I mean, that's 267 00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:05,520 got a great ring to it, doesn't it? That he transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved 268 00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:11,360 Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin. What does that text say? It says that 269 00:26:11,360 --> 00:26:17,600 Jesus is the rescuer. He rescued us from the domain, from the kingdom of darkness. That's 270 00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:24,200 what he did on the cross. This was not about Jesus being martyred or put to death because 271 00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:29,040 people hated him. It was about him going through a rescue operation at the cost of his own 272 00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:35,480 life so that we could be redeemed. So Jesus is our deliverer. He's our rescuer. He's 273 00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:40,320 our forgiver. And having done all that, he removed the barrier between ourselves and 274 00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:46,480 him. He destroyed the enmity between us and we are completely forgiven even from the worst 275 00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:52,040 of our sins. I thought of you in here probably think you've had some pretty bad seasons 276 00:26:52,040 --> 00:26:56,240 of sin and that's kind of difficult for God to overcome. But let me assure you, it is 277 00:26:56,240 --> 00:27:01,040 not difficult for the Jesus who died on the cross to pay for your sins like he paid for 278 00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:06,000 everybody else's. Remember what Paul used to say about himself? He was the chief of 279 00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:12,760 sinners, the worst of sinners. I used to read that and I thought, that's just false modesty. 280 00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:16,520 But the more I read about Paul, the more I realized, man, he was one bad dude. He was 281 00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:21,000 a religious terrorist that put people to death who followed Jesus. I mean, he may have been 282 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:25,920 the worst of all sinners. I don't know, but the bottom line on it is that God loved even 283 00:27:25,920 --> 00:27:32,120 him and rescued even him and forgave even him. And if God can forgive Paul, he can forgive 284 00:27:32,120 --> 00:27:39,840 you. If he could rescue that man, he can rescue you. So here's Jesus, our rescuer who has 285 00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:49,440 paid the price and he wants you to know that he can forgive you and accept you as his own. 286 00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:55,960 That's why Jesus talked so much about all these great parables that have to do with 287 00:27:55,960 --> 00:28:04,200 lost things found. Luke 15, the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son, the prodigal 288 00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:11,600 son. A few days ago, my wife and I were shopping somewhere and I saw a lady walking my way 289 00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:18,560 and she had this very dark colored t-shirt with very bright font on it, a bright statement. 290 00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:24,800 And it caught my eye and here's what it said. It said, he left the 99 to go after the one. 291 00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:32,000 And at the bottom of the shirt, it says, I am the one. That lady understands things. 292 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:38,000 She understands that there is a God who is a rescuer who comes after us, who's able to 293 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:42,360 forgive us, who's able to leave everything else in order to come after us. And that's 294 00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:49,800 the God we serve and that's who we are. We're the one. We're the one he came after. We're 295 00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:55,040 the one he loved enough to choose us before the foundation of the world to adopt us and 296 00:28:55,040 --> 00:29:01,040 then to accept us as his own. We are the one. That's what that parable is for, for you 297 00:29:01,040 --> 00:29:08,040 to know that you're the one and for you to know that he came after you. 298 00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:13,280 No matter how far from God you may be today, he's coming after you and he's done everything 299 00:29:13,280 --> 00:29:18,940 necessary for that to happen. No matter how bad your past is, he's going to rescue you. 300 00:29:18,940 --> 00:29:24,080 No matter how complicated your situation is, no matter how awful the devil whispers to 301 00:29:24,080 --> 00:29:29,880 you that you are, he's able to rescue and forgive. No matter how weak your self-image 302 00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:36,360 or how horrible you feel about yourself, he loves you and accepts you and wants you. 303 00:29:36,360 --> 00:29:42,560 My counsel to you is let yourself be caught. Let yourself be rescued. Let him come to your 304 00:29:42,560 --> 00:29:48,160 aid. That's why he died on the cross so that that would take place. Quit running and let 305 00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:53,760 God love you. You know when I read these passages I realize 306 00:29:53,760 --> 00:30:00,760 how life-changing they really are. He comes after us. He finds us. He forgives us. And 307 00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:04,940 you know what's left? What's left when all that takes place, when all that forgiveness 308 00:30:04,940 --> 00:30:12,800 takes place is love and favor. That's what our passage says here, that he lavishes his 309 00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:19,960 grace on us. Man, that's quite a relationship to be in, to be lavished with the love and 310 00:30:19,960 --> 00:30:26,480 the grace of God because he has saved us. And that grace and that favor and acceptance, 311 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:31,240 it's amazing. It's the same word, that word grace. It's the same word used in God's actions 312 00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:37,720 towards Virgin Mary. He favored her. He gave grace to her. He gave that to us in love no 313 00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:43,880 matter what. Acceptance is our future as children of God because of all that God has done. It's 314 00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:48,960 not based on our performance. It's based on his choosing us, his adopting us, his accepting 315 00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:52,180 us. Years ago I read this statement I'm about 316 00:30:52,180 --> 00:30:57,800 to share with you and it struck me as a very real struggle that we sometimes have in our 317 00:30:57,800 --> 00:31:03,960 hearts and minds. It's an unknown author. I don't know who wrote it. It says, let me 318 00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:10,280 see the real you, dark and light, wretched and glorious, depravity and holiness, the 319 00:31:10,280 --> 00:31:18,520 ugly and the beautiful. I'd find you to be wonderful. That's grace. This doesn't mean 320 00:31:18,520 --> 00:31:22,840 that we don't want to change our lives because in reality we want to change our lives all 321 00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:27,960 the more to pattern after the one who rescued us. But it simply means we don't come to 322 00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:34,880 him having changed our lives ourselves. We come to him because he's loved us first. 323 00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:39,520 I'll begin by telling you the story of my own search for acceptance and it really all 324 00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:44,640 ended that one night and just a few moments of time in a parking lot at the college I 325 00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:49,880 went to while I was seated in my car struggling with this idea of self-acceptance. At the 326 00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:53,160 same time I was reading through the Bible I was learning some of the verses that I shared 327 00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:58,120 with you today and the concepts of God's love for us. I'd already given my life to 328 00:31:58,120 --> 00:32:03,480 Christ. I was a believer and I'd even surrendered my life in a number of times that I would 329 00:32:03,480 --> 00:32:11,600 call significant but that self-concept was never really there. The problem with me was 330 00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:18,840 I never took all these verses and principles I'm sharing with you today personal. I always 331 00:32:18,840 --> 00:32:23,560 said, yeah, that's probably true. There are probably some that God has chosen. There are 332 00:32:23,560 --> 00:32:28,360 probably some that God has adopted. Probably some that God has accepted but I'm not sure 333 00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:34,440 that's true about me. I know too much about me and I knew I didn't deserve that. I've 334 00:32:34,440 --> 00:32:39,040 never taken them personal. They were all just general. He didn't love me that way, did 335 00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:47,600 he? He didn't accept me that way, did he? Me. At the same time I was way too aware of 336 00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:53,680 whether I was accepted by people and I wanted to pursue that. I wanted them to like me. 337 00:32:53,680 --> 00:33:00,760 I wanted them to respect me. I wasn't as concerned about having the acceptance of God. 338 00:33:00,760 --> 00:33:06,160 It seemed like people's acceptance was more tangible to me at the moment. I think that's 339 00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:13,000 why people seek the acceptance of others. But in that moment I was miserable. In that 340 00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:17,080 moment I'd gotten some acceptance from people. I had some achievements in my life and I should 341 00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:22,120 have been feeling better about life based on my own self-awareness but I was not. In 342 00:33:22,120 --> 00:33:30,080 fact, the more I achieved the more I felt empty. It wasn't doing it for me. I remember 343 00:33:30,080 --> 00:33:35,160 in that car that night having a defining moment. There wasn't a time when God spoke to me 344 00:33:35,160 --> 00:33:41,200 audibly but it was crystal clear what He was saying to me. He said, John, you're so worried 345 00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:50,400 about others accepting you but I've accepted you and is that not enough? Is that not enough? 346 00:33:50,400 --> 00:33:54,880 That was for the last words that I could remember penetrating my mind in that few moments in 347 00:33:54,880 --> 00:34:01,200 that car. Everything just kind of went silent. I was probably in that car another 20 or 30 348 00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:05,520 minutes just seated by myself just thinking is that not enough? At the end of that few 349 00:34:05,520 --> 00:34:10,880 moments of time I said it has to be enough. I mean if God the universe accepts me and 350 00:34:10,880 --> 00:34:17,880 loves me and has adopted me and has chosen me, if that won't do it nothing will. I said, 351 00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:25,280 God, that is enough. I accepted it as fact and it changed the way I thought about my 352 00:34:25,280 --> 00:34:30,400 life. Interestingly, I didn't care about what other people thought about me anymore 353 00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:34,920 and a weird thing happened. All of a sudden they started accepting me and they started 354 00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:41,480 respecting me and maybe it was because I looked like I just didn't really care, didn't matter 355 00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:47,560 anymore. Maybe it looked like I was a little bit more confident in God because I was. I 356 00:34:47,560 --> 00:34:57,600 knew who I was and I knew whose I was. I belong to Him. That's what Ephesians chapter 1 says 357 00:34:57,600 --> 00:35:07,720 about you and says to you. I knew from that day onward I am accepted. I want you to say 358 00:35:07,720 --> 00:35:16,400 those three words. I am accepted. But pastor what if I don't feel those words? By affirming 359 00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:21,200 the truth you are going to have to deal with the truth. By affirming the truth you are 360 00:35:21,200 --> 00:35:28,080 going to have to deal with the fact that God has chosen you, has adopted you, has accepted 361 00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:33,520 you. I'll say this, from that moment on I felt like I was complete in my relationship 362 00:35:33,520 --> 00:35:40,880 with God. Not finished, not fully mature, a lot of maturing is still happening but totally 363 00:35:40,880 --> 00:35:48,160 accepted and knowing who I was in Christ. He will complete you the same way through 364 00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:54,000 Jesus Christ. If we understand this, if we take Him at His word, if we stand on this 365 00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:59,840 with confidence and boldness we'll have a sense of who we are and who we are. Remember 366 00:35:59,840 --> 00:36:05,320 those three principles again. God is who He says He is. God can do what He says He can 367 00:36:05,320 --> 00:36:16,720 do and I am who God says I am and so are you. I want you to bow your head today and as you 368 00:36:16,720 --> 00:36:28,920 do think about those phrases. You are chosen, you are adopted, you are accepted in Christ. 369 00:36:28,920 --> 00:36:33,320 At the conclusion of my prayer the decision stations are open. We would love to talk to 370 00:36:33,320 --> 00:36:39,120 you about those incredible truths that God gives us but more than anything else I want 371 00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:44,280 you to take it personal today. I want you to apply it to your life. I want you to have 372 00:36:44,280 --> 00:36:49,800 a moment that is defining for you in your relationship with God. We would love to help 373 00:36:49,800 --> 00:36:53,480 you with that. At the end of the service I will be in the guest reception room. We would 374 00:36:53,480 --> 00:36:58,960 love to invite you there if you are a guest to talk more about a relationship with Christ 375 00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:05,560 and with Cross City Church. Would you stand with me as we pray? Father today I am so thankful 376 00:37:05,560 --> 00:37:13,720 for all of these declarations of Ephesians 1. Thankful that they are real. Thankful that 377 00:37:13,720 --> 00:37:19,320 they are personal. Lord today my prayer would be that every person in this room would walk 378 00:37:19,320 --> 00:37:25,600 away with a sense of foundation about how they should view themselves from your perspective. 379 00:37:25,600 --> 00:37:30,000 That each person would feel loved. That each person would know that they have been adopted 380 00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:34,440 through Christ. That each person would know they have been chosen from before the foundation 381 00:37:34,440 --> 00:37:42,000 of the world Lord. Lord you are so good, so loving, so incredibly powerful and yet you 382 00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:46,560 reached to us. Thank you Father. In Jesus name, amen.