ASI Southern Union 2024: His Capital Gains

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ASI Southern Union

Kameron DeVasher

God’s ROI

Last night, we looked at how richly God has given to and for each 1 of us.

Beyond giving generously as He did at creation, for our redemption God gave sacrificially.

He sent his only Son and Christ willingly volunteered for a mission with permanent results.

Now in that message last evening, I stated that Christ was the currency of heaven that God spent to buy us back from the penalty of the broken law and from the power of Satan.

When the Father gave his only begotten Son, it was an eternal non-refundable ransom payment that secured our safe return.

Now, that language was chosen specifically.

Buying and selling, bartering and trading.

And it can seem that that might somehow cheapen or discount or belittle the sacrifice of Jesus to equate it to something so common.

But that language, comparing the infinite sacrifice of Christ to a financial transaction, like Jesus was a dollar bill that God pulled out of His wallet, may sound crass.

But that's exactly how the plan of redemption is repeatedly described in Scripture.

For example, in Mark chapter 10 verse 45, Jesus himself explains how he, quote, is the Son of Man and did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life a what a ransom for many a payment in Acts chapter 20 verse 28 it refers to quote the church of God which he purchased with his own blood.

And in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 14, believers are called God's purchased possession.

So it's not just 1 turn of phrase here or there, it's repeatedly invoked this comparison of Christ to currency.

And these repeated assertions beg the logical question, what does God hope to get for this inestimable payment?

He paid something, an infinite something, an incomprehensible large payment.

And what does he expect to get out of it?

That's the subject we'll explore tonight.

Before we study God's Word, let's begin with a word of prayer.

Dear Heavenly Father, This evening I thank you for another day of life.

Thank you that you are indeed the great giver.

And not just generously, Lord, sacrificially, you give of yourself.

And tonight, Lord, as we explore this topic of what you expect to get for that great payment, I would ask that you would send the Holy Spirit to soften our hearts, to sharpen our minds, that we may not only understand you, but by your grace become more like you.

So very simply, I propose this evening that God intends to get return on His investment in 2 distinct and vital ways.

The 2 key things He wants out of His investment we're going to discuss this evening.

The first of which is that God wants you.

Now I know it might seem a little obvious.

It's like well obviously that's what he came to get was people, came to get us, and maybe it seems unnecessarily dundid.

I mean, after all, it says right there in those texts that God gave his life a ransom for what?

It is the church, scripture says, which is his purchased possession.

And I believe that Paul speaks not only to the Corinthian believers But to each 1 of us here when he emphatically asserts in 1st Corinthians chapter 6 verses 19 and 20 that you are not your own You were finish it with me bought at a price.

Clearly God wants us, He wants me, He wants you.

I propose that God will certainly embrace you just as you are right now.

Like the father embraced his prodigal son who reeked of swine stench.

But also like the father in that story, the first thing God will do is swap your filthy garments of sin for his spotless robe of righteousness You notice that in the story the first thing the son comes home and the first thing that father can think of after he gives Him a hug.

It's like let's get you some clean clothes That God yes will accept you as he are but the you He wants is the you He originally intended you to be, the 1 He created you in His image to reflect.

Our oldest is 13, our middle is 11, and our youngest is 9.

When our middle 1 was 16 months old, he was diagnosed with cancer.

It was a neuroblastoma on his brachial plexus.

Now neuroblastomas typically take place somewhere down in the abdomen and are often not really a problem.

People will find out and If someone dies of an autopsy later on, they can discover, oh, they also had a neuroblastoma going on.

It didn't, but if the experiment gets out of the lab, it can be quite, well, fatal.

I'm not sure how something can be quite fatal.

If you can catch it, diagnose it, and surgically attack it, remove it, it has very good odds of success.

So if you catch it, you can address it, there's good prognosis ahead.

His was attached, like I mentioned, to his brachial plexus, which is part of your nervous system.

And so his health-messagey seventh-day Adventist body, his autoimmune system, went to attack that tumor, which in so doing attacked the system that it was attached to, which is his nervous system.

It garbled his speech, which I know a 16-month-old, they kind of come with garbled speech, but it was different.

I'm sure the intellect was fine, but you couldn't understand it intelligibly, let's say that.

It would kind of flutter back and forth and couldn't focus on things right.

His whole body would have shakes and kind of reels and he was unstable and Couldn't really walk that well or even hold his head up for a while there.

Now imagine if his mother and I had not immediately done everything we could do to have that malignant tumor removed and have his body's immune response aggressively treated all because we wanted to quote love and accept him as he is.

Well we'd be in jail right now And it would be an unthinkable proposition to start with.

Our very first thought was, we want to separate our son from that which is hurting him.

It doesn't take a converted Christian to recognize the insanity and cruelty of anything else.

Friends, God's hatred of your sin Isn't arbitrary and it isn't selfish.

Proverbs chapter 14 verse 12, There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end is the way of what?

So from our perspective, it seems right, it's okay, I can live with it, I can manage it, I can handle it, it's gonna be fine, don't worry about it.

And God's like, no, we have to address it.

You don't understand where this is going.

There's a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is death.

Similarly we read in Steps to Christ, page 46, man is doing the greatest injury and injustice to his own soul when he thinks and acts contrary to the will of God.

No real joy can be found in the path forbidden by him who knows what is best and who plans for the good of his creatures.

The path of transgression is the path of misery and destruction.

The world's Redeemer accepts men as they are with all their wants, imperfections, and weaknesses, and He will not only cleanse from sin and grant redemption through His blood, but will satisfy the heart longing of all who consent to wear His yoke to bear his burden.

It is his purpose to impart peace and rest to all who come to him for the bread of life.

He requires us to perform only those duties that will lead our steps to heights of bliss to which the disobedient can never attain.

The true joyous life of the soul is to have Christ formed within the hope of glory.

When God looks at you, he sees not only the you that you are, but the you that you were intended to be in the first place.

The you that can be that way again through his grace.

Yes, God takes us as we are, praise His name, but at the same time, He immediately goes to work attacking the cancer of sin and restoring our character to its original creation settings.

Thus we read in Desire of Ages, page 37, that Jesus came to restore in man the image of his maker.

None but Christ can fashion anew the character that has been ruined by sin.

He came to expel the demons that had controlled the will.

He came to lift us up from the dust, to reshape the marred character after the pattern of His divine character, and to make it beautiful with His own glory.

He wants you as He intended you to be, and by His grace He can do that in your life.

The reason number 1 that God is so focused on dealing with sin is because sin hurts you and He wants to help you.

But there's another reason God is wanting the you that you can be, that you should be, you were designed to be, and not just the you that you are.

And it's not just that sin hurts you, but also sin spreads to others.

God’s ROI

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