WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:04.000 Been studying through the book of Galatians, and so this is this letter from St. 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:07.040 Paul to this community, this church in Galatia. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:14.560 And over and over again in these first four chapters of Galatians, Paul is just hammering away over and over again a truth. 00:00:14.720 --> 00:00:17.359 And this is a truth that affects all of us. 00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:28.000 It impacts everything we do, it impacts who you are, it impacts your relationships, it impacts how healthy those relationships are, how healthy your marriage is, how healthy maybe your parenting is, it impacts everything about us. 00:00:28.079 --> 00:00:31.760 It actually creates a free and transformed heart. 00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:41.759 And it's also possible that this very truth that Paul is hammering away at over four chapters, it's also possible that we'll choose to walk a different path. 00:00:42.159 --> 00:00:45.840 Romance is always a great place to see this truth at play. 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:51.679 And so if you've ever seen the movie Jerry Maguire, now the TNT TBS version, of course, right? 00:00:51.759 --> 00:01:01.359 I mean, we went and watched the other one, but the TBS version, after Tom Cruise's character just blows his life up, destroys his life. 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:07.519 He comes in front of his girlfriend at the time there at the beginning of the movie, and he is broken, he has nothing left. 00:01:07.599 --> 00:01:09.040 And her name's Avery. 00:01:09.439 --> 00:01:13.359 And she says this in response to him when he's broken, he has kind of nothing left. 00:01:13.519 --> 00:01:16.480 She says, uh, there's a sensitivity thing that some people have. 00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:17.359 I don't have it. 00:01:17.519 --> 00:01:29.920 I don't cry at movies, I don't gush over babies, I don't buy Christmas presents five months early, and I don't tell the guy who just ruined both of our lives, oh poor baby, but I do love you. 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:31.760 Now that's Avery. 00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:35.200 And so if you've seen the movie, you're like, that horrible Avery. 00:01:35.359 --> 00:01:36.079 We hate Avery. 00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:36.959 Everybody hates Avery. 00:01:37.120 --> 00:01:39.439 She's so smug and she's judgmental. 00:01:39.599 --> 00:01:43.760 And then the movie goes on, we meet this other lady, and her name's Dorothy. 00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:47.760 And now Dorothy's the antithesis of Avery. 00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:53.280 Dorothy welcomes Jerry into her life, into her home. 00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:55.599 And we love Dorothy. 00:01:56.719 --> 00:01:58.400 Now, why do we love Dorothy so much? 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:00.879 And why do we hate Avery so much? 00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:10.000 Well, we love Dorothy because she's she's grace in this world of demand and judgment that has been created on film for us. 00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:18.159 While Avery's barking out condemnation, Dorothy comes into this film and she gives out compassion. 00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:28.400 So when Dorothy's standing behind the couch toward the end of the movie, and that light is coming down perfectly over Tom Cruise's face, right? 00:02:28.560 --> 00:02:32.800 And he so dramatically says, You complete me, right? 00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:33.919 You remember it? 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:37.039 Even if you've never seen the movie, you know the scene. 00:02:37.360 --> 00:02:38.800 And some of us cried. 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:41.680 Do you just want to go ahead and admit if you cried or not? 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:44.960 No, you don't, you don't, because you're like, I can't believe I cried at that. 00:02:45.039 --> 00:02:46.400 But of course you cried, right? 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:49.280 Like, of course you got a little emotional there. 00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:51.520 And why would he even say that? 00:02:51.680 --> 00:02:54.960 What an absurd thing to say to another human being, right? 00:02:55.360 --> 00:02:56.800 Because that's not possible. 00:02:56.879 --> 00:03:02.000 That's not a possibility for some other human being that's so flawed to actually complete him. 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:04.159 But of course he says it, right? 00:03:04.240 --> 00:03:05.599 And of course we felt that. 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:07.120 That's what romance shows us. 00:03:07.199 --> 00:03:12.000 Is that see, while he was broken, this woman loved him. 00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:27.039 See, finally, finally, for him, belonging came by grace and not by how good he was, how much he had, how much he had acquired. 00:03:27.759 --> 00:03:28.639 And that's the truth. 00:03:28.719 --> 00:03:32.560 That's the truth Paul's hammering away at over and over and over again. 00:03:32.719 --> 00:03:33.439 Here it is. 00:03:33.680 --> 00:03:45.759 The difference between slavery and freedom is the difference between performing for belonging and by grace receiving belonging. 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:46.479 That's the difference. 00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:55.680 The difference between slavery and freedom is the difference between performing for belonging or by grace receiving belonging. 00:03:56.240 --> 00:03:59.599 So we see that in romance, we know that in romance, but it's in all areas of life. 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:00.400 What about faith? 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:02.479 All right, well, that's what Paul's primarily hitting at. 00:04:02.639 --> 00:04:03.840 Galatians 4. 00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:05.919 Al read an entire passage. 00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:06.319 Thank you. 00:04:06.719 --> 00:04:08.240 I'll pick out a few chunks of it. 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:09.919 We'll make a few points. 00:04:10.240 --> 00:04:12.319 Galatians 4, verses 8 through 11. 00:04:12.560 --> 00:04:18.480 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. 00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:28.720 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world? 00:04:29.279 --> 00:04:32.800 Whose slaves you want to be once more? 00:04:33.920 --> 00:04:37.600 You observe days and months and seasons and years. 00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:42.160 I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain. 00:04:43.199 --> 00:04:48.879 Point number one is this we all, we all give our hearts to something. 00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:50.560 All of us. 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:59.600 David Foster Wallace was a great writer, nonfiction and fiction, and one of his books went up for some great awards and a renowned book. 00:04:59.759 --> 00:05:02.800 I mean, he's a renowned writer, and he's passed away at this point. 00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:06.959 He gave this speech to Kenyon College, and it became a renowned speech. 00:05:07.040 --> 00:05:10.319 And there's this little section of the speech I wanted to read. 00:05:10.720 --> 00:05:12.480 Here's what he says. 00:05:13.199 --> 00:05:18.800 In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there's actually no such thing as atheism. 00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:21.759 There's no such thing as not worshiping. 00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:23.199 Everybody worships. 00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:26.800 The only choice we get is what to worship. 00:05:27.120 --> 00:05:35.199 If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough. 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:38.240 Never feel you have enough. 00:05:38.399 --> 00:05:39.759 It's the truth. 00:05:40.240 --> 00:05:44.959 Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure, and you will always feel ugly. 00:05:45.519 --> 00:05:52.160 And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you. 00:05:53.120 --> 00:05:58.560 And we could go through power, we could go through people pleasing, we could go through all sorts of things, right? 00:05:58.639 --> 00:06:09.519 But what Wallace is saying, he's saying our hearts are always somewhere, looking for somewhere to belong, to find meaning and joy. 00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:16.639 And whatever you use, right, whatever you use, for that meaning and joy, that's actually what you worship. 00:06:16.879 --> 00:06:18.720 That's actually your worship. 00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:26.639 The crazy ride of these Galatians is they had this worship, some of them had this worship of fertility gods, apparently, is what this passage is telling us. 00:06:26.800 --> 00:06:29.839 And then they go from that to the grace of Christ. 00:06:30.319 --> 00:06:33.600 So they are right with God, righteous with God. 00:06:33.759 --> 00:06:35.439 Their sin is taken away from them. 00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:39.600 They have full belonging by Christ's work for them on the cross. 00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:42.560 Their sin put upon him, his righteousness given to them. 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:47.759 They are free, and by that grace they can grow and be transformed in the grace of God. 00:06:47.920 --> 00:06:54.800 They come into that, and then they go, I'll go back into a performance-based merit spirituality. 00:06:55.120 --> 00:07:00.800 And what this shows us is it's very easy to go from irreligion, and I didn't come up with this. 00:07:00.879 --> 00:07:02.560 Tim Keller in New York came up with this. 00:07:02.800 --> 00:07:12.319 It's very easy to go from irreligion to religion, but never really convert and walk by the grace of Christ. 00:07:13.680 --> 00:07:24.720 And that's the difference between irreligion, merit-based performance life, religion, merit-based performance life, or the gospel, which is quite different. 00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:32.639 And the principle of the world, Paul's talking to this principle of the world, the principle of the world is that you need to save yourself. 00:07:32.879 --> 00:07:34.160 You need to do that. 00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:41.360 So go off and work hard and be better and do better and perform and impress people and think you're impressing God. 00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:45.120 And the gospel's quite different because it says, no, you can't do that. 00:07:45.199 --> 00:07:46.879 You'll never be able to do that. 00:07:47.360 --> 00:07:52.319 But by the grace of God through Jesus, you're fully secure and saved and righteous. 00:07:52.560 --> 00:07:57.439 Point number two is this: what we give our hearts to either enslaves us or frees us. 00:07:57.680 --> 00:08:01.279 What we give our hearts to either enslaves us or frees us. 00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:04.079 So Paul moves in from verse 21 through 31. 00:08:04.160 --> 00:08:06.480 He he's trying to he's trying to prove this to these people. 00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:08.560 He's just kind of hammering away at this point. 00:08:08.639 --> 00:08:13.120 And so he said, let me tell you something about what you know from the Old Testament, from the law. 00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:15.519 And he says, Let me let me remind you of a story. 00:08:15.759 --> 00:08:19.839 God promised Abraham a great family to Abraham and his wife Sarah. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:20.959 Abraham believed this. 00:08:21.040 --> 00:08:21.920 He thought this could happen. 00:08:22.079 --> 00:08:23.360 Sarah wasn't quite sure. 00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:24.480 She didn't really believe this. 00:08:24.560 --> 00:08:32.799 And so Sarah comes to Abraham and says, Hey, I don't think this is gonna happen, so I think you should with Hagar. 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:37.440 And so out of that came a little boy named Ishmael. 00:08:38.240 --> 00:08:45.440 Now, what's fascinating and amazing about this is in Genesis 21, it says, the Lord was gracious to Sarah. 00:08:46.879 --> 00:08:50.799 And she got pregnant and she has a little boy, and we get Isaac. 00:08:51.039 --> 00:09:00.000 So still, after all this stuff with Sarah and what she does, still after all that manipulation and control, after all of that, the Lord's still gracious to her, and they get Isaac. 00:09:00.159 --> 00:09:05.519 And then when Ishmael's a teenager, Isaac's a boy, Ishmael mocks Isaac. 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:10.080 And Mama Bear kicks in with Sarah. 00:09:10.960 --> 00:09:21.440 And Sarah starts to think to herself, you know, man, I think Hagar and Ishmael could pose a threat to the family, could pose a threat to the inheritance coming to my son, Isaac. 00:09:21.519 --> 00:09:25.840 And so she goes back around to Abraham again and says, Hey, uh, you gotta get rid of them. 00:09:25.919 --> 00:09:28.080 Get rid of Hagar and Ishmael. 00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:33.120 And so Paul comes in here and Paul says, Hey, there's a point here for us. 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:34.879 There's a lesson here. 00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:37.600 And the first is don't mess with Mama Bear. 00:09:37.679 --> 00:09:38.559 That's just the first lesson. 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:39.759 That's just always good to know. 00:09:39.919 --> 00:09:57.759 And then the second is more textual to the text here in Galatians, is Paul says, Hagar corresponds with Mount Sinai, where we get the law, also with what's going on in Jerusalem, which a whole bunch of people living by merit to try to impress or please or appease and be righteous before God. 00:09:57.919 --> 00:10:04.320 And Paul says, all right, that's Hagar, Mount Sinai, Jerusalem, and that's slavery. 00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:09.919 This is Paul's jab to these people to say, you are not those people. 00:10:10.320 --> 00:10:12.000 You're not a people of law. 00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:16.879 You're not a people of performance unto belonging anymore. 00:10:17.120 --> 00:10:19.919 But you are a child of the promise. 00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:22.240 You get to live that way. 00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:24.320 You're one of Sarah's kids. 00:10:27.919 --> 00:10:35.840 And see, the gospel just runs straight in the face of slavery, straight into the face of a competitive world. 00:10:36.240 --> 00:10:44.159 That's telling you, it's telling me every day that the only way and the worth and value and righteousness would be our own work. 00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:50.000 A few weeks ago I went to reserve a car online that Hertz. 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:57.519 I didn't realize it, but I could be a Hertz gold elite member. 00:10:57.679 --> 00:10:59.919 And I I didn't know it until I got on the site. 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:01.919 I couldn't believe it, I really couldn't believe it. 00:11:02.159 --> 00:11:03.440 I don't travel that much. 00:11:03.519 --> 00:11:04.799 I I couldn't believe it. 00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:12.480 I and Marietta, I could be a gold, gold member, elite status. 00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:14.240 Anybody else in here? 00:11:14.639 --> 00:11:15.679 Belong together? 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:16.000 John? 00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:16.639 Great. 00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:17.440 Okay, Mark. 00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:18.799 Hey, we were in. 00:11:18.960 --> 00:11:19.519 We are in. 00:11:19.679 --> 00:11:20.720 Can you believe this? 00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:22.000 It's unbelievable. 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:24.159 I started to read about the perks. 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:26.720 I get discounts on cars. 00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:31.600 And then what was really great about that, it wasn't really like it made the cheap cars cheaper. 00:11:31.759 --> 00:11:41.440 It just made the really nice cars the same price, which is great because then I didn't have any like moral, like, oh, stewardship issue here. 00:11:41.519 --> 00:11:44.159 It's just like, no, I'll get a really nice car. 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:55.600 And so a month from now, you know, we're gonna go somewhere and and I get to, we will walk by everybody else in line and get in this really nice car. 00:11:55.759 --> 00:12:00.480 And I'm gonna feel so superior to everyone. 00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:03.600 I will, because this is what how I feel in these moments. 00:12:03.759 --> 00:12:05.200 And this is why. 00:12:05.519 --> 00:12:12.080 Because I belong to the Hertz Gold Elite Status Membership Club. 00:12:12.639 --> 00:12:14.320 With John and with Mark. 00:12:14.559 --> 00:12:15.840 I'll see you there. 00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:18.320 But here's the thing. 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:26.320 I'm only a member because I'm also a member of the American Express Sky Miles Platinum Club. 00:12:27.039 --> 00:12:28.720 Here's the thing about that. 00:12:29.039 --> 00:12:37.919 I'm only a member of the American Express Sky Miles Platinum Club because I pay a yearly membership. 00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:45.039 And if I don't keep paying, I don't belong anymore. 00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:47.600 Do you ever feel like that? 00:12:50.320 --> 00:12:56.960 That the only true belonging you could possibly have is if you just keep paying. 00:12:58.799 --> 00:13:09.679 See, it's easy for our faith to come become about our earning rather than our effort and grace, but just kind of revert back into that performance merit-based system. 00:13:11.679 --> 00:13:12.799 Our doings. 00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:16.559 Our knowings, our methods of knowing. 00:13:17.039 --> 00:13:20.639 But faith is ultimately about God knowing us. 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:23.519 Like, did you catch the verse in verse 9? 00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:25.360 It is a doozy of a verse. 00:13:25.440 --> 00:13:27.440 What a wonderful verse, verse 9. 00:13:27.600 --> 00:13:36.159 But now that you have come to know God, or rather, to be known by God. 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:36.639 Right? 00:13:36.720 --> 00:13:38.159 It's almost like Paul catches himself. 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:39.679 Can you see how this is working out in his mind? 00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:44.879 He's writing, now that you have come to know God, and then he writes, and this could be this could be worded more importantly. 00:13:45.039 --> 00:13:53.039 So now that you have come to know God, or more importantly, more importantly, to be known by God. 00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:55.759 And point number three is this. 00:13:55.919 --> 00:13:58.000 This is a reiteration of the last few sermons. 00:13:58.240 --> 00:14:03.039 A life of freedom and transformation is in being known by God in Christ. 00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:08.320 A life of freedom and transformation is in being known by God in Christ. 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:14.960 It's easy just to move through faith and life with this sort of background belief, a hum of a belief, right? 00:14:15.200 --> 00:14:17.120 Just kind of in there underneath. 00:14:17.360 --> 00:14:21.679 If I'm nice to God, God will be nice to me. 00:14:23.039 --> 00:14:26.320 And it all works good as long as life is nice. 00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:30.639 But then when life is not nice, then it means, oh, well, God must not be being nice to me. 00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:32.720 And now what does that mean? 00:14:32.960 --> 00:14:36.240 Well, then that means that you are not good enough. 00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:38.720 And it curses you. 00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:40.720 So, you know, more devotional time, right? 00:14:40.879 --> 00:14:44.559 More volunteer time, like more church, more giving, right? 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:47.279 And then then I'll be right with God. 00:14:47.919 --> 00:14:48.960 Then I'll belong. 00:14:49.120 --> 00:14:50.480 Make the payment. 00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:51.840 Make the payment. 00:14:52.080 --> 00:14:54.639 By my passion or my commitment. 00:14:56.320 --> 00:15:08.879 I feel like it has taken me about 25 years as a Christian to simply realize almost all of my problems have to do with the fact that I resist death. 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:16.799 Death to that elementary principle of the world that I want to save myself. 00:15:17.759 --> 00:15:18.159 Right? 00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:25.919 It's a death I need, a death to trying to form and prove my righteousness or value in front of God or other people. 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:28.480 And it's not a death to effort, right? 00:15:28.879 --> 00:15:30.240 It's a death to earning. 00:15:30.399 --> 00:15:34.320 Effort is in the grace of God, but it is a death to control. 00:15:39.120 --> 00:15:44.320 And so we don't pray or read scripture or church or give or take a contemplative walk. 00:15:44.480 --> 00:15:46.720 We don't do that to be right with God for the day. 00:15:46.799 --> 00:15:53.440 It's not our payment to American Express, Sky Miles, Platinum, in order to then be able to get into the Hertz Gold Status member colour. 00:15:53.600 --> 00:15:54.240 That's not what it is. 00:15:54.399 --> 00:15:55.840 It's not a payment. 00:15:56.240 --> 00:15:59.360 It's because you're already the very thing that you seek. 00:15:59.519 --> 00:16:03.840 You're already deemed by God his child in Jesus. 00:16:05.840 --> 00:16:13.279 It's only then in this death and in this resurrection that we know life in the spirit and not in the flesh. 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:17.440 When I was about 10 years old, I was crazy about basketball. 00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:18.480 I loved basketball. 00:16:18.559 --> 00:16:32.240 And one night my mom was watching the news and she heard 11 Alive John Pruitt announced that Isaiah Thomas, the point guard of Detroit Pistons, was going to be at the Lovett School in Atlanta doing a clinic on Saturday for kids to come. 00:16:32.559 --> 00:16:33.600 I couldn't believe it. 00:16:33.679 --> 00:16:35.360 My dad took me down there. 00:16:35.519 --> 00:16:37.120 I knew everything about Isaiah Thomas. 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:38.799 He was my favorite player. 00:16:39.039 --> 00:16:40.720 I knew he went to Indiana. 00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:43.120 I knew he was drafted by the Pistons. 00:16:43.279 --> 00:16:51.600 I knew that he one time, he one time scored 25 points in one quarter of the NBA finals on a broken ankle. 00:16:51.759 --> 00:16:56.399 I knew that I had watched that quarter over and over and over again. 00:16:56.720 --> 00:16:59.200 I knew everything about him. 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:04.559 And he taught this clinic to about 75 little kids. 00:17:04.799 --> 00:17:06.160 We were all circled around. 00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:08.960 I can remember we were all circled around the three-point line. 00:17:09.200 --> 00:17:17.599 And he and the Ford of the Pistons of the time, John Sally, they taught this clinic, and I am I am glued on Isaiah Thomas. 00:17:18.240 --> 00:17:21.279 I knew his points per game, his assists per game. 00:17:21.359 --> 00:17:22.079 I knew everything. 00:17:22.240 --> 00:17:23.839 He was best friends with Magic Johnson. 00:17:23.920 --> 00:17:24.319 I knew everything. 00:17:24.559 --> 00:17:26.079 I knew I should be friends with them. 00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:29.039 I mean, I I was 10 and I knew it. 00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:34.960 And I had taken my little league basketball jersey. 00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:36.160 This is my pistons. 00:17:36.720 --> 00:17:37.440 I was his number. 00:17:37.519 --> 00:17:38.720 It's peeled off since then. 00:17:38.799 --> 00:17:39.920 I was number 11. 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:41.359 I was Isaiah. 00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:44.319 My little girls wear this to bed now. 00:17:44.400 --> 00:17:47.119 It's been passed down from child to child. 00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:51.599 And after the clinic was over, I got in line with my little jersey. 00:17:51.759 --> 00:17:52.960 I'm holding it. 00:17:53.200 --> 00:18:00.000 And he was signing autographs at a table, and I get up there and I give him my jersey and ask him to sign my pistons jersey. 00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:01.920 And he asked my name. 00:18:02.880 --> 00:18:04.960 Right, it was just a moment there. 00:18:05.759 --> 00:18:06.400 Right? 00:18:06.960 --> 00:18:10.400 But then afterward, I folded this thing up. 00:18:10.559 --> 00:18:12.000 I never wore it again. 00:18:12.240 --> 00:18:13.680 I folded it so carefully. 00:18:13.759 --> 00:18:16.960 I put it in my closet with all my holy possessions. 00:18:17.119 --> 00:18:19.920 Every kid has their little area with their holy possessions. 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:22.559 And I put it with my holy possessions. 00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:25.279 And it was different than every shirt, every other shirt. 00:18:25.359 --> 00:18:26.160 I don't have any other shirt. 00:18:26.240 --> 00:18:29.039 In that history, I don't have any other shirt from my childhood. 00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:30.319 This is the only one. 00:18:31.119 --> 00:18:32.960 This shirt's different. 00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:38.799 And it's different because it wasn't, it's actually not just the autograph, right? 00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:40.960 Like that's sort of faded at this point. 00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:47.839 See, I knew a lot about Isaiah, but I had I had a moment where he knew me. 00:18:48.480 --> 00:18:50.000 That changed everything. 00:18:50.240 --> 00:18:51.039 That he knew me. 00:18:51.200 --> 00:18:52.480 He knew my name. 00:18:53.839 --> 00:18:55.680 Seminary professor and author J.I. 00:18:55.839 --> 00:18:57.839 Packer, he writes this. 00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:11.920 What matters supremely, therefore, is not in the last analysis the fact that I know God, but the larger fact which which underlies it. 00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:14.240 The fact that he knows me. 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:32.319 There's tremendous relief in knowing that his love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion him about me in the way that I am so often disillusioned about myself. 00:19:33.279 --> 00:19:44.160 There is certainly great cause for humility in the thought that he sees all the twisted things about me that my fellow men do not see, and that he sees more corruption in me than that which I see in myself. 00:19:44.319 --> 00:20:07.039 There is, however, equally great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that for some unfathomable reason he wants me as his friend and desires to be my friend and has given his son to die for me in order to realize this purpose. 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:12.400 My brothers and sisters in Christ, you are known by God. 00:20:12.640 --> 00:20:13.920 Let's pray together. 00:20:14.240 --> 00:20:22.319 God, thank you that our relationship with you is secured not by our performance or work or the law, but by your work. 00:20:23.279 --> 00:20:32.160 That you have fulfilled the law, that we can die, that we can have death to our flesh. 00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:39.440 That wants to perform and be good enough, whether out in the world or even in the church. 00:20:40.319 --> 00:20:46.480 And that we have the great gift of Jesus, that you are all the righteousness we ever need. 00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:50.960 That we are children, the children of Sarah. 00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:52.640 We're free kids. 00:20:54.400 --> 00:20:59.359 Help us to learn what it means to be free and to grow in the grace of God. 00:21:00.880 --> 00:21:06.079 That none of this is primarily about us knowing you, but that you, that you know us. 00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:09.039 And would that free our hearts? 00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:13.599 And would that birth in us a great desire to actually turn around and know you? 00:21:15.359 --> 00:21:19.599 We thank you for the powerful and supreme and sufficient work of Jesus. 00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:22.160 In his name we pray. 00:21:22.400 --> 00:21:23.039 Amen.