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  THOU ART MY BELOVED SON
  by G.W. North
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Summary: The sermon emphasizes the importance of entering into a
personal relationship with God through repentance and accepting His
grace, resulting in forgiveness, regeneration, and acceptance as a child
of God.

Topics: "Communion with God", "Grace and Regeneration"
Scripture References: Psalm 103:12, John 1:12, John 3:16, Romans 8:15, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 4:6-7, Ephesians 2:8-9, Colossians 1:13-14, Hebrews 10:19-22, 1 John 1:9

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DESCRIPTION
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G.W. North emphasizes the necessity of being in true Communion with God,
distinguishing it from mere celebration or observance. He explains that
to enter this Communion, one must follow the path of Jesus Christ,
repenting and accepting His grace to be forgiven and justified. The
ultimate honor lies in being recognized as a beloved son of God, which
signifies a deep and personal relationship with the Divine. Unlike the
Israelites who had rituals and symbols, believers today have direct
access to God Himself, highlighting the profound nature of this
relationship. North calls for a recognition of our need for regeneration
and the transformative power of God's grace.

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CONTENT
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We have to be in the Communion. God has never asked us to celebrate it;
it is not a service. We have not been instructed to keep it; it is not a
memento. We have not been exhorted to observe it; it is not a spectacle.
We must be in it. We are either in or out of this Communion. Every man
desiring to enter it must go the same way as Jesus the Christ, and in
order that he should do so, all the merits of Christ will be imputed to
him. Therefore, except a man repent and accept this grace, he cannot
enter into the Communion, but must remain forever without.

But so surely as he sees and confesses to his basic state of
excommunication from God through Adam's sin and seeks salvation from it,
he will be forgiven, cleansed and justified from all things and brought
into the Regeneration.

However, all these, great as they are, are but the overtures of God's
grace, the means and preparations for the highest honour of all, which
is entrance and acceptance into the Communion of God. O the honour of
being greeted with the words, 'thou art My beloved son, this day have I
begotten thee', and again 'I will be to him for a Father and he shall be
to Me for a son'. This is the very holiest of the holies. Not now a
secret place of the Most High within a tent, a figure of the true copied
out from a heavenly pattern, but a Being, and that Person -- God.

The sons of Israel had a land, the sons of Aaron had a tent, but the
sons of the Father have God. Israel never had communion, they had a
Passover; they never had reconciliation, they had atonements (many);
they never had regeneration. They had redemption, sanctification,
purification and a host of other necessary, though lesser things that
God provides for men, but we have God Himself.

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/gw-north/thou-art-my-beloved-son/
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