(a): Seek to Please Our Heavenly Father

Driving home: The imperatives are the things we are to be and to do in obedience to Christ and because of who we are and what we have in Christ.

Explains that an indicative statement is 'what is,' and in God's Word, indicatives are statements of what is true of us in Christ, forming the foundation for imperatives (what we are to do).

both responsibilities and obligations as the children of God. And as we take up this subject, I want to remind you by way of introduction of the basic pattern within which the ethical and behavior demands of the New Testament are set before us. And here I want you to think, because without grasping this, it's something I, emphasize again and again, but we need to be reminded of it. Before we actually take up the specific obligations and responsibilities of sonship, I want you to think afresh of the framework within which, in the New Testament, God lays obligations and duties upon us. And they ...

12:37 - 13:52 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The imperatives are the things we are to be and to do in obedience to Christ and because of who we are and what we have in Christ.

Illustrates the indicative-imperative framework: asking a chipmunk to fly without wings is impossible (like imperatives without indicatives), but giving it wings and a bird brain and then commanding it to fly makes obedience possible (like God giving grace before commanding obedience).

They are foundational. They shape the contours of our responsibilities. Now I think I may have used this illustration some time ago, but I'm going to use it again. My backyard has all kinds of animals.

16:04 - 16:19 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second framework for Christian obligations is God's changeless authority as King and our gratitude for His grace. This is illustrated by the story of a rebel pardoned and…

Illustrates the two strands of obligation for a believer: obedience to God's authority as King (unchanged by grace) and gratitude for His mercy and adoption as Father. A wicked rebel is pardoned and adopted by a righteous king, highlighting that his new status does not diminish his obligation to the king's rule.

Your life is hid with Christ in God. And so you and I must keep before us that reality. All of these seven privileges that are ours, because we are the sons and daughters of God, they form the foundation, the basis, the framework of our obligations and responsibilities as the children of God. And then, secondly, I remind you that the behavioral and ethical demands come to us not only in the framework of the indicative imperative structure of the New Testament, but in the framework of God's authority as God and our gratitude for His grace. And here again, I want to illustrate. Think of me, back...

19:19 - 20:34 Read in full sermon

The point: Cultivate a conscience and will tethered to your Bibles to ensure your desire to please the Father is directed by His commands, not self-deception.

Illustrates that pleasing God is not based on our own silly notions but on His explicit commands. A child who paints the living room walls to 'please' his parents, when they wanted the garage painted, will not be praised, because he acted on his own ideas, not their directives.

of God to give it direction and to validate that which is truly pleasing to him. And I want you to look at another text. On this line, it's 1 John chapter 3, verses 21 and 22. Beloved, if our heart condemn us, condemn us not. We have boldness toward God in whatsoever we ask we receive of him. Now notice, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight, and then he reiterates two of those commandments in the next verse. If we're to do what is pleasing in his sight, it is rooted in keeping his commandments. That's what's pleasing to God. What God has said, this,...

50:24 - 51:40 Read in full sermon