NOT A MATTER OF WORTH, BUT BIRTH

Luke 15:11-24 And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

There is a vast difference of our concept of God when He becomes "Father" to us.

• Before knowing Him as "Father", we know Him only as Judge and Creator.
• He seemed so cold in the Old Testament.
• That is because nobody was His child at that time.
• He manifested His true nature when we became His children in the New Testament period.

• He felt like a "SERVANT"
• He felt that being a son was a matter of being WORTHY or not.
• He was wrong.
• The element that made him a SON was the fact that he had a FATHER.
• And nothing could change that.
• Worthiness is not the issue at all.

• Not worth.
• When we obey Acts 2:38 and are baptized and filled with His Spirit, we are born again.
• And THAT makes us His children.
• That is the reason the BIble says salvation is not by works, lest any man should boast.
• People would credit themselves with salvation, if men are saved by how good they can be.
• And God will not allow that.
• It's His mercy and His good works that save us.
• His good works were providing us with the work of the Cross.
  And He alone deserves glory for OUR salvation.
  

• All a person's good deeds does not nor ever will change that.
• Only faith in Jesus' death as their deaths and as payment of their sins causes God to FORGIVE them and give them His Spirit.
• They are SONS because they are BORN OF THAT SPIRIT.
• The Spirit of His Son is in us, and we are SONS.

• So we are all sons of God.
• And we will realize we are complete in Him when we realize ITS NOT A MATTER OF WORTH, BUT BIRTH.
• Put all your stocks and bonds in Him.
• Be rooted in simply being IN HIM and all that He is, because that is what makes us sons of God.
• Nothing to do with good works, just the fact that we are born again and are IN CHRIST and CHRIST IN US.

• We are all children of God by faith.

Galatians 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

• FAITH!
• What made us privy to all the blessings from God?
• BIRTH.

• This is not the truth.
• The truth is that we are blessed because we are God's children.
• Then entire difference of our understanding of a God of judgment was made when we were born again and He became our FATHER.
• Outside of Jesus you cannot come to God.
• So God is too holy for you to approach outside of Jesus.
• But when we were born again, we received Jesus' actual holiness and the blood made us draw nigh to God.

Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

Hebrews 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

When Jesus was born, angels worshipped Him.

• Shepherds came and worshipped.
• Wise men from the end of the world came to worship Him.
• Anna the prophetess prophesied over Him.
• Simeon prophesied over Him.
• Why all this attention?
• He was a baby!
• Babies can do nothing to deserve such glory!
• Why did He receive it?
• Because it is not a matter of worth, but birth.
• He was SON OF GOD.
• That was the reason for His blessings!

• As a baby, Jesus did nothing yet to make Him worthy of blessings.
• All He had to do was be whom He was!
• GOD'S SON.
• He simply had to be born!

We say that He receive blessings not because of anything other than the fact that He was Who He was.

• We say that, but we do not apply it to ourselves!

• All one needs to be a son is to be BORN IN THE FAMILY!

The father heard the son declare he was not worthy to be called son, so call him "servant".

• But what did the Father say after he heard his son say that?
• Did he say, "Okay, you will be like my hired servants, since you are not worthy to be my son."?
• No.
• The Father IGNORED that declaration and said...

• The son said he is not worthy, "BUT..."
• In other words, that statement did not get anywhere with the Father.

...But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.

• He was still son no matter how mistakenly he acted.
• What a glorious truth the son learned that day!
• What a difference it would be for him from then on!
• What a revelation!

ELDER SON

• After the party began, the elder son, who never left home, complained to dad about never having a party held for him.
• The younger son sinned and made riotous living of his life and marred the family name.
• But the elder stayed home and lived respectfully.
• Why did the elder never have a feast?
• Why instead should a scoundrel have a feast?

Luke 15:25-28 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him.

Luke 15:29-31 And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.

• The father told the son that all the father owned was always there for the elder son at his disposal anytime he wanted it!
• It was as though the father said, "You mean that you lived here all this time and never realized that all I own is there for you at your disposal?"
• "Do you mean to tell me, son, that you never knew you could have a fatted calf anytime you wished it?"

• The elder son who never left home, stayed home and never realized the same thing the prodigal did not realize
• They suffered the same problem!
• Why did not the elder enjoy fatted calves at home when they were at his disposal?
• He did not realize they were his simply because he was the father's son.
• The elder, too, considered himself like a servant who is not privy to his father's possessions.

• But you may faithfully serve Him and never realize that you are free to enjoy His blessings simply because you are son.
• Many seem to think that they cannot be blessed with healing, for example, because they are not good enough.
• They faithfully serve, but they live like servants rather than sons.
• For years they attend church but never receive the revelation that they are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places simply because they are IN CHRIST and are children of God.

Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

Why are we blessed?

• Because we are IN CHRIST.
• Because we are HIS SONS.

• God loves us simply because we are HIS CHILDREN.
• Other people's children can come to visit our home, and I will be kind to them and treat them nice, but they will never get what my children get from me.
• They are not my children.
• But my children get from me more love than anybody else's children will get from me, because my children are born in my family, and I am their father.
• Other children might behave better than mine.
• Other children might do better things than my children.
• But I love my children because they are mine, not because they behave or do good things.
• And we must realize that this is exactly the way God looks at us.

Matthew 7:11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

If we treat our children so specially simply because they are our children, how much more does our Father God treat us specially, as He has more love than we could ever have?

So many believers live underprivileged lives for the Lord, because they do not know that it is not a matter of worth, but birth.

God loves you because you are His child.

• All the blessings that exist in heavenly places are yours.
• Simply because you are born of Him.
• The prodigal son thought being called a son was predicated upon worth.
• He said, "I am not worthy to be called thy son."
• Worth has nothing to do with it!
• Its a matter of BIRTH.

• The parable is not called "the parable of the prodigal son".
• The text says "A certain man had two sons..."
• And we found out that they both had the same MISCONCEPTION.
• Some of YOU have this same misconception.
• You have served God for a long time, some of you, but like the elder son who never left home, you never realized that all God has is for you any time you need it!
• All this time you have been in the Father's house, and never knew all blessings in Heavenly places are yours!

• I pray all of you receive this same revelation today!

• You mean more to Him than anything in this world just because you are HIS CHILD