Tabor Baptist Church

Introduction

• There are many displaced people in the world
• War displaces many people
• We are going to look at the position of men and women before God
• The bible does speak about displaced people
• Abraham, Naomi
• Mass exodus of the Israelites
• Daniel and his friends
• The early Church
• We should put ourselves in the shoes of others
• What would if be like if I was facing persecution and war?
• What would if be like if I was losing my livelihood, home, possessions?
• Jesus and His family had to flee
• The bible says much about the foreigner, the alien, the refugee
• Ps 46:9
• Lev 19:34
• Matt 25:42-43 - God expects us to love and look
  after the needy
• Consider the story of the Good Samaritan
• On the day of judgement there will be a great separation between the righteous and the unrighteous
• A great indicator will be how people have lived their life
• The bible speaks into the refugee crisis - what is our attitude?

Our relationship with God

Accepted and Redeemed

• Definition of these words
• Eph 1:6-7
• Accepted in the beloved
• Redemption through blood

Accepted

• God shows no partially - He is kind and generous to all
• Man in and of ourselves are unacceptable to God
• Why?
• There is no fear of God in man
• Man forgets God
• We break God's laws
• We have the capacity to do wicked acts
• The parable of the Prodigal son
• It is about acceptance
• We do not live to please God
• We are living for ourselves
• 19.7 million refugees in the world, what has gone wrong?
• God is Holy
• He cannot sweep sin under the carpet
• Eph 1:6-7 gives us hope
• We are accepted in the Beloved, in Jesus
• How are men and women accepted in Jesus?
• It is an act of God's love
• Jesus lived a Holy life as the perfect man and the perfect Son of God
• Jesus was the God man
• He had come to die - to lay down His life on the cross
• He had come to rescue us from our sin
• All who trust in Jesus and renounce their sin, all who cast themselves on Him - find themselves accepted by God
• God accepts us in Jesus
• We are accepted through the love of God in Jesus
• God treats us as though we have never sinned
• We are received into His family and all rejoice
• Where are you before God this morning?

Redeemed

• To be redeemed is to be bought back
• In the Old Testament there were various laws regarding redemption
• Redemption is a big bible concept
• Consider the Passover
• A price was paid
• Eph 1:7 - Redemption through the blood
• Two pictures
• The return of a prodigal son
• A slave being freed - we need to be freed from the bondage of sin
• Redemption is a stupendous act
• It is a greater worker than creation
• Creation required only a word
• Redemption required blood
• What a price was paid by Jesus
• We can confidently say if you will believe in Jesus Christ God will save you from your sin!
• Story of an old American slave
• Could it be today that you will be freed through the blood of Christ?
• Could it be today that you will have forgiveness of sin?
• It can be, if you believe in Jesus Christ