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Title: Grasping the Benefits of Having the Son
Introduction:
this evening I want to read to you from the Scriptures about what the Ultimate Father did for each and everyone of us
our text for this evening is the all familiar
John 3:16
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Proposition:
I would like to propose to you that those who receive the Father's gift, receives all the Father has.
The Bible gives us this wonderful truth, in
Galations 4:1-7
1 Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; 2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. 3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: 4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
You and I are children of God through faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
The benefits of being a child of God are many.
First
While people were living for themselves, not knowing or loving Christ, He died for their redemption.
He gave His life, so we may know the Father,
So that we can know Him and walk in step with the Holy Spirit.
That kind of love has got to be treasured;
someone may give their life for a friend, co-worker, a loved one or possibly in service of their country.
But Christ died for those who despised Him
It has got to be remembered, when we accepted Christ as our personal Lord and Savior we were not only adopted into the Fathers family as sons and daughters, we were drafted in the war for the souls of mankind.
Matthew 28:18-20
18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.19Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
It must also be noted that Jesus' death for all of mankind was a demonstration of His love for us, not a response of our love for Him.
"During World War II, an enemy submarine approached a fleet of ships in the North Atlantic. The captain of one vessel spotted the white mark of a torpedo coming directly at his ship. His transport was loaded with literally hundreds and hundreds of young soldiers on the way to the European front. He realized they would not have time to maneuver to avoid the torpedo. He grabbed the loud-speaker and cried out, 'Boys, this it!' Nearby though, a little escorting destroyer also observed the torpedo. The captain ordered, 'Full speed ahead!' His ship steamed into the path of the torpedo. The destroyer was blown up; it sank very quickly. Every man on board died. The captain of the troop transport ship sadly said, 'The skipper of that destroyer was our friend.'
We'll you know that With the sins of the world on the way to destroy all of mankind, Jesus, sacrificed His life on the cross so we could receive eternal life.
He is the Friend who gave His life for us.
Second we have
2.) The benefit of Grace.
Titus 2:11
11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
This grace from God is offered to all of mankind.
When Christ enters a man by the Holy Spirit, he is under a special grace that sustains the soul in time of need.
2 Corinthians 12:9
9 And he said unto me,My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Gods grace provides strength.
1 Corinthians 15:10
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowedupon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
2 Timothy 2:1
1 Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
Gods grace produces thanksgiving and glory to God.
2 Corinthians 4:15
15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
Gods grace affects our conversations.
Colossians 4:6
6 Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.
And gods grace enables believers to live holy and godly lives.
2 Corinthians 1:12
12 For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.
Annie Johnson Flint, quoted in John R. Rice's, Poems That Preach says it beautifully, "He giveth more grace when burdens grow greater, He sendth more strength when the labors increase. To added afflictions, He addeth His mercy, to multiplied trials, His multiplied peace. When we have exhausted our store of endurance, when our strength has failed when the day is half done. When we reach the end of our hoarded resources, our Father's full giving is only begun. His love has no limit, His grace has no measure. His power no boundary known to men. For out of His infinite riches in Jesus. He giveth and giveth and giveth again."
Third we have
3.) The benefit of mercy.
Titus 3:5
5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
"Mercy" means "to feel compassion, pity, and show kindness."
It causes someone to care for someone who cannot help themselves.
It enables a person to see a need and meet the need.
God not only saw our need for salvation,
He enables us to receive His salvation found in Christ. Through the power of the Holy Spirit,
God not only sees our need for righteous living, He also enables us to live a righteous life.
Upon our repentance, we receive His mercy freely at no cost to us.
In Reader's Digest, Jim Williams of Butte, Montana, writes, "I was driving too fast one night when I saw the flashing lights of a police car in my rearview mirror. As I pulled over and rolled down the window of my station wagon, I tried to dream up an excuse for my speeding. But when the patrolman reached the car, he said nothing. Instead, he merely shinned the flashlight in my face, then upon my seven-months-pregnant wife, then on our snoozing 18-month-old in his car seat, then our three other children, who were also asleep, and lastly on the two dogs in the very back of the car. Returning the beam back to my face, he then uttered the only words of the encounter. 'Son,' he said, 'you can't afford a ticket. Slow it down.'"
Sometimes, mercy triumphs over the law.
According to the law of God, we all deserve God's judgment.
However, in Christ Jesus we receive mercy and we are prompted by the Holy Spirit to live a life pleasing to God.
Fourth
4.) We have the benefit of the Holy Spirit.
1 John 4:13
13Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit
With a continuous and ongoing awareness, there is an intimate communion with God by His Holy Spirit.
Romans 8:16
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
Romans 6:11
11Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord
Charles Swindoll wrote:"A number of miles from the Los Angeles basin, there is a river. The river has been damned up by man, and through the genius and innovation of engineers, they have put together a dam that has, in its process of working, housed electricity--hundreds of thousands of volts that are fed into the Los Angeles basin. If you were to go to the various transmission plants along the way, you would read signs marked with, 'Danger, High Voltage.' 'No trespassing, Danger.' Hundreds of thousands of volts are available in energy for your home, but who needs a hundred thousand volts, unless he wants to burn up his home? To keep a home from burning down, engineers have built transformers into the system - not transmitters, but transformers. The transformers does nothing more than break down into meaningful units, just the right amount of electricity you need.
When the Holy Spirit, the transformer, comes, He will take the majestic truths of God and he will dispense it just the way we need it,
He will give you just what you need when you need it
It is the Spirit's delight to take the full truth of God and make one thing meaningful to brother dick, something altogether different to brother frank and something different again to my mom.
That's the work of the Spirit, and He never makes a mistake.
He gives you just what you can handle."
And just what you need.
Christians can depend on the Holy Spirit to equip and empower them with just what they need in their service to the Lord.
Fifth
5.) We have the benefit of forgiveness.
When a person acknowledges his sin and in repentance confesses those sins to the Lord, their sins are forgiven.
Because of the cleansing effect of the blood of Jesus the repentant sinner is fit for fellowship with God the Father, Jesus His Son and with the Holy Spirit
Just like the song in the garden says he walks with me he talks with me he tells me I am his own
John instructs Us on what to do when sin overcomes us.
In 1 John 1:9
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
It all begins with confession:
"confess" means to agree with another or rather to agree with God as to all the implication of sin
That includes the hatred of sin,
David wrote in
Psalms 51:17
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
Walter B. Knight wrote about "A man who was deeply convicted of sin and about his need for the Savior. Restlessly, he wondered one night along a country road, seeking relief for his misery. When he became tired, he sat down by some hedges. After sitting for a while, on the other side of the hedge he heard two girls in conversation. One girl had heard a sermon about forgiveness, she said it brought her so much comfort. The sermon brought out a statement that has been spoken by most of us, 'You made your bed, now lie in it.'
You know if it was up to us that is what we would tell a lot of people but I like the words of the Greatest Teacher of all time, when he said your sins are forgiven you
And the book of mark tells us he has the power to do that
Mark 2:10
10 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins,(he saith to the sick of the palsy,)
I like the words written by Micah,
Micah 7:19
19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
God does not hold our sins against us once we have called upon Christ for forgiveness they are simply gone into the sea of forgetfulness
Sixth
6.) We have the benefit of riches.
Paul said in Philippians 4:19,
19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
God always provides, when the time comes.
Never Go Hungry Again
Text Illustration:
NEVER GO HUNGRY AGAIN
A couple by the name of Fred and Cheryl went to Haiti in 1985 to bring a child home that they had adopted. Addie was five years old. Her parents had been killed in a traffic accident that left her without a family, but as she walked across the tarmac to board the plane, the tiny orphan reached up and slipped her hands into the hands of her new parents whom she had just met. They described it as her "birth moment," when in that physical act of grasping their hands, she expressed an innocent, fearless trust in their care. That evening, back home in Arizona, they sat down to their first supper together with their new daughter. There was a platter of pork chops and a bowl of mashed potatoes on the table. After the first serving, their two teenage boys kept refilling their plates. Soon the pork chops had disappeared and the potatoes were gone. Addie had never seen so much food on one table in her whole life. Her eyes were big as she watched her new brothers, Thatcher and Graham, satisfy their ravenous teenage appetites. Fred and Cheryl noticed that Addie had become very quiet and realized that something was wrong. Was it agitation, bewilderment, insecurity? Then Cheryl guessed that it was the disappearing food. She suspected that because Addie had grown up hungry, when food was gone from the table she might be thinking that it would be a day or more before there was more to eat. Cheryl had guessed right. She took Addie’s hand and led her to the bread drawer and pulled it out, showing her a back-up of three loaves. She took her to the refrigerator, opened the door, and showed her the bottles of milk and orange juice, the fresh vegetables, jars of jelly and jam and peanut butter, a carton of eggs, and a package of bacon. She took her to the pantry with its bins of potatoes, onions, and squash, and the shelves of canned goods—tomatoes and peaches and pickles. She opened the freezer and showed Addie three or four chickens, a few packages of fish, and two cartons of ice cream. All the time she was reassuring Addie that there was lots of food in the house, that no matter how much Thatcher and Graham ate and how fast they ate it, there was a lot more where that came from. She would never go hungry again.
Cheryl showed Addie that she was home and would never go hungry again.
God will always provide for those that are his we will never go hungry.
Finally
7.) We have the benefit of eternal life through Jesus Christ.
Romans 6:23
23 For the wages of sin isdeath; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Sin means death.
Christ means eternal life.
John 10:27-28
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in Me will never die."
"In the chapel of St George, in West Minster Abbey, is a memorial of World War II. It consist of four bound volumes that contain the names of the 60,000 civilians who
were killed in the city of London by enemy action. One volume lies open at a time on the shrine and a light shines down upon the typescript names that appear on that open page. Each day a page is turned. Thus will the names of those who were rich or poor, titled or of the common people, old or young, healthy or ill, sound body or crippled, famous or infamous, stand together to be revealed in the light for all to see as a page of the book is turned each day. It is known as the book of death.
We'll The Bible tells of a book of life.
It is in Heaven.
In that book, too, will be found the names of men and women from all classes and conditions on earth.
All will be in the light,
all will be honored of God.
For the Book of life will reveal, in that coming day, the names of those who through faith in Christ have been brought from death to life in Jesus Christ"
In Closing: Before you can enjoy all these benefits, you must have the Son.
I'd like to read this illustration entitled
Take my Son
"A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art. They had everything in their collection, from Picasso to Raphael. They would often sit together and admire the great works of art.
When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went to war. He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son.
About a month later, just before Christmas, there was a knock at the door. A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands.
He said, 'Sir, you don't know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life. He saved many lives that day, and he was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart and he died instantly. He often talked about you, and your love for art.' The young man held out a package saying, 'I know this isn't much. I'm not really a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this.'
The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son, painted by the young man. He stared in awe at the way the soldier had captured the personality of his son in the painting. The father was so drawn to the eyes that his own eyes welled up with tears. He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the picture. 'Oh, no sir, I could never repay what your son did for me. It's a gift.'
The father hung the portrait over his mantle. Every time visitors came to his home he took them to see the portrait of his son before he showed them any of the other great works he had collected.
The man died a few months later. There was to be a great auction of his paintings. Many influential people gathered, excited over seeing the great paintings and having an opportunity to purchase one for their collection.
On the platform sat the painting of the son. The auctioneer pounded his gavel. 'We will start the bidding with this picture of the son. Who will bid for this picture?' There was silence. Then a voice in the back of the room shouted, 'We want to see the famous paintings. Skip this one.'
But the auctioneer persisted. 'Will somebody bid for this painting. Who will start the bidding? $100, $200?'
Another voice angrily, 'We didn't come to see this painting. We came to see the Van Gogh's, the Rembrandts. Get on with the real bids!'
But still the auctioneer continued. 'The son! The son! Who'll take the son?'
Finally, a voice came from the very back of the room. It was the longtime gardener of the man and his son. 'I'll give $10 for the painting.' Being a poor man, it was all he could afford.
'We have $10, who will bid $20?' 'Give it to him for $10. Let's see the masters' cried out another voice.
The crowd was becoming angry. They didn't want the picture of the son. They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections.
The auctioneer pounded the gavel. 'Going once, twice, SOLD for $10!'
A man sitting on the second row shouted, 'Now let's get on with the collection!'
The auctioneer laid down his gavel. 'I'm sorry, the auction is over.' 'What about the paintings?' The crowed shouted! 'I am sorry. When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the will. I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned. Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the paintings. The man who took the painting of the son gets everything!'"
Without the Son, we won't get the benefits.
It is the person who takes the Son who receives everything.
Let us Pray!
