Thou Art My Beloved Son
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.
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.
Text
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.
Sermon Outline
- The Necessity of Communion
- The Means of Entrance
- The Reward of Entrance
- Forgiveness, cleansing, and justification
- Regeneration and acceptance as a child of God
Key Quotes
“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'.” — G.W. North
“We have God Himself.” — G.W. North
“This is the very holiest of the holies.” — G.W. North
Application Points
- Repentance and accepting God's grace are necessary for entering into a personal relationship with God.
- You must have the merits of Christ imputed to you in order to enter the Communion.
- Entering the Communion brings forgiveness, regeneration, and acceptance as a child of God.