WEBVTT 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:07.440 Our scripture reading this morning is found in the book of Galatians. 00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:15.039 I'll begin reading in chapter 3, verse 23, and conclude in chapter 4, verse 7. 00:00:15.359 --> 00:00:16.800 Please turn there with me. 00:00:16.879 --> 00:00:26.160 And if you happen to not have your Bible with you this morning, there should be a Bible located right there in the shelf in front of you, and you can find it on page 974. 00:00:28.160 --> 00:00:38.159 And if you don't own a Bible, I encourage you at the close of this service, that Bible that you're using right now, please take it home with you as our gift to you. 00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:48.560 We would love for you to have it, to read and study, and to learn what it means to have a relationship with Jesus Christ through faith. 00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:54.159 Galatians chapter 3, I'll begin reading in verse 23. 00:00:56.880 --> 00:01:05.519 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned under the coming faith, until the coming faith would be revealed. 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:12.480 So then the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 00:01:12.799 --> 00:01:16.560 But now that faith is come, we are no longer under a guardian. 00:01:16.879 --> 00:01:21.840 For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. 00:01:22.319 --> 00:01:26.799 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:37.280 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:47.200 And if you are in Christ, if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. 00:01:48.640 --> 00:01:55.040 I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything. 00:01:55.280 --> 00:01:59.680 But he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 00:02:00.239 --> 00:02:07.200 In the same way, we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:22.000 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 00:02:22.639 --> 00:02:30.159 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba Father. 00:02:30.719 --> 00:02:34.240 So you are no longer a slave, but a son. 00:02:34.960 --> 00:02:39.199 And if a son, then an heir through God. 00:02:41.120 --> 00:02:43.520 Today is Orphan Sunday. 00:02:44.800 --> 00:02:57.439 And this morning we're going to talk about perhaps one of the most neglected truths in the entire Bible. 00:02:58.080 --> 00:03:02.639 We're going to talk about what it means to be a child of God. 00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:07.039 What it means to be adopted into God's family. 00:03:08.719 --> 00:03:11.039 The vertical informs the horizontal. 00:03:11.199 --> 00:03:24.960 We're talking about adopting children, but oftentimes we make a mistake and we begin by thinking about our understanding of what adoption is horizontally, and then we read that into what the text is saying about adoption. 00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:28.319 There is an analogy to be made. 00:03:28.479 --> 00:03:39.840 However, the biblical description of adoption in Christ through redemption is so much richer and fuller, and it informs what a human adoption should be all about. 00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:50.560 And so, what we are going to be focusing on this morning primarily is what it means for us to be brought into the family of God. 00:03:53.840 --> 00:03:57.439 This is honestly the most important sermon I never heard. 00:03:57.680 --> 00:04:01.439 Or if I did hear it, it never registered in my heart. 00:04:02.639 --> 00:04:09.120 Honestly, I think the issue of spiritual adoption is one of the most neglected doctrines in the Christian life. 00:04:10.159 --> 00:04:18.319 And to be honest with you, I have lived most of my Christian life as an orphan and not as a son. 00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:23.839 Let me give you a little bit of personal history. 00:04:24.079 --> 00:04:27.040 I've been a Christian now for over 30 years. 00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:34.240 I graduated from college 20 years ago with a biblical studies major. 00:04:34.480 --> 00:04:38.560 I've been in pastoral ministry now, full time for 20 years. 00:04:38.800 --> 00:04:44.000 I finished seminary during that time, graduating with a Master of Divinity. 00:04:45.279 --> 00:04:58.240 And I would have to say that until this year, the reality of the depth of this truth never penetrated my heart. 00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:12.480 Higher even than justification. 00:05:13.759 --> 00:05:15.600 Listen to what Packer goes on to say. 00:05:15.759 --> 00:05:24.800 He says, if you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God's child. 00:05:25.600 --> 00:05:28.079 And having God as his father. 00:05:28.399 --> 00:05:40.879 If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayer and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all. 00:05:43.279 --> 00:05:44.800 Well, I have to be honest here. 00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:49.199 I think for most of my Christian life I didn't understand Christianity very well. 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:54.639 And that I lived more as an orphan than a son. 00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:03.360 This week, God has been opening my eyes to an area of sin in my life. 00:06:04.079 --> 00:06:11.360 That this week God has been showing me how much I covet, how jealous I am. 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:13.680 And I'm not talking about in a superficial way. 00:06:13.759 --> 00:06:15.519 I mean, we all want things that we don't have. 00:06:15.680 --> 00:06:20.879 We see a nice car, we see some of these, we go to somebody's house, they have a nicer house than us, things. 00:06:21.360 --> 00:06:45.199 But as God has been revealing these things to me, of realizing how deep and systemic and long-lasting these sins have been in my life, and I haven't seen them or addressed them, and because I haven't seen them or addressed them, I haven't confessed them, and God in his patience has been allowing that until this time. 00:06:58.959 --> 00:07:12.959 In years past, my reaction would have been either to deny it to myself or just to fake it, because I can't admit to anybody that I'm I'm really that pervasive of a sinner. 00:07:13.519 --> 00:07:15.839 But more than that to run from God. 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:21.439 More than that to say, I can't look at the mess that God's showing me. 00:07:21.519 --> 00:07:23.759 I can't show this to the Father. 00:07:24.959 --> 00:07:36.720 And so I need to run and hide until I felt bad enough, until I had done enough emotional penance, until I thought that I had I had beat myself up enough, and then I could come to my father. 00:07:38.319 --> 00:08:17.759 But this week, as God was revealing this to me, I realized because of the truth of the reality that He is my heavenly Father who loves me and cares for me, that I can run to Him, that I can run to His arms with my mess, not having to hide, not having to be afraid, not having to pretend, not having to lie to myself or to pretend to anybody else, and to realize that God, my Father, already accepts me completely and perfectly because I am his precious child. 00:08:21.040 --> 00:08:25.360 And that is what it means to be adopted. 00:08:26.079 --> 00:08:28.720 You know, we confuse different doctrines. 00:08:29.439 --> 00:08:36.879 We confuse doctrines sometimes, and I think this is part of why we don't understand the depth and the richness of adoption. 00:08:37.039 --> 00:08:44.399 And for some of you, especially you theological wonks out there, um, all two of you, uh, let me explain this for a minute. 00:08:44.559 --> 00:08:47.440 Uh, adoption is not the same as justification. 00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:54.960 I'm gonna explain what those words mean because sometimes I think we confuse these two ideas. 00:08:55.600 --> 00:09:07.039 Uh justification means that before God in his judicial court we are declared not guilty. 00:09:07.200 --> 00:09:22.240 That forensically, that before God, because Jesus Christ paid the penalty that we deserve, because he paid our debt, because God's wrath was poured out on him, that we don't receive God's wrath. 00:09:22.399 --> 00:09:30.000 And in addition to that, we have been declared righteous because we have been clothed with Christ's righteousness. 00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:38.159 So he took the penalty for our sins, and positively, we are declared righteous because we're clothed with the righteousness of Christ. 00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:45.840 And that is the doctrine of justification, to be declared just before God, to be made acceptable before God. 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:55.919 It's our legal standing before God, being declared not guilty and being made righteous, positionally before God. 00:09:56.320 --> 00:10:00.480 Sinclair Ferguson makes this astute observation. 00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:01.679 He says this. 00:10:02.879 --> 00:10:19.120 Contrasting the idea of being just before God and being adopted, he says the very fact that a judge pronounces the verdict of not guilty does not commit him to take the accused to his home and allow him all the privileges of a son. 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:37.120 The fact that a judge pronounces the verdict of not guilty does not commit him to take the accused to his home and to allow him all the privileges of a son, and that is what God has done through adoption. 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:44.559 Adoption is not the same as regeneration or being born again, being made spiritually alive. 00:10:45.600 --> 00:11:06.720 In the Gospel of John, chapter 1, verses 12 and 13, John writes this: But to all who did receive him, who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 00:11:08.080 --> 00:11:10.240 Notice what John says here. 00:11:10.559 --> 00:11:24.720 He says that we have been born again, that God has made us spiritually alive, that we have been given new birth, new life, so that we can receive sonship. 00:11:25.279 --> 00:11:31.039 That we can be the sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. 00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:40.639 When we were born again, when we were made alive, when we were regenerated, we were given the nature as sons. 00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:49.840 In adoption, we are given the right to have the true status as sons with all the privileges of sonship. 00:11:50.960 --> 00:12:11.360 So in regeneration, we have the nature, we receive a new nature, but in adoption, we now stand before God as his beloved children with all of the rights and privileges of being a child of God. 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:18.720 This is why John in his epistle could say this, and I love how the NIV translates this. 00:12:19.039 --> 00:12:25.120 The exclamation of it, it captures the weight of what John says and the wonder and the awe that it says. 00:12:25.360 --> 00:12:34.399 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God. 00:12:36.320 --> 00:12:39.200 And that is what we are. 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:45.679 We are called children because we are adopted. 00:12:45.919 --> 00:12:49.519 And adoption, like justification, is not subject to degrees. 00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:54.639 It doesn't mean when you have a good day, you're more his son, and when you have a bad day, you're less his son. 00:12:55.039 --> 00:12:59.360 God's love for you is perfect and constant, and you are his child. 00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:06.480 You stand before him always and forever, accepted the object of his love. 00:13:08.080 --> 00:13:17.360 And it is an unchanging, unyielding status that never goes down, and it can't go up because it's perfect. 00:13:17.840 --> 00:13:19.600 Well, what's the definition of adoption? 00:13:19.759 --> 00:13:26.399 Our spiritual adoption is about estrangement, not that we need parents. 00:13:27.919 --> 00:13:35.519 Author Dan Kruver, who uh heads an organization for adoption, he writes this. 00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:42.879 He says, from God's perspective, adoption is not necessarily about orphans at all in the sense of needing parents. 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:45.279 It is essentially about estrangement. 00:13:45.519 --> 00:13:50.559 Adoption is about God taking into his home those who have rebelled against him. 00:13:50.960 --> 00:13:53.840 All humanity is naturally estranged from God. 00:13:54.000 --> 00:14:00.000 We are all rebels, all disobedient sons, for we were all made in his image and created to worship him. 00:14:00.320 --> 00:14:04.799 Yet we have rejected him, as did Adam, as did Israel. 00:14:05.120 --> 00:14:09.039 Adoption is about the reconciliation of the rebellious. 00:14:09.360 --> 00:14:14.960 Our confusion comes when we look at human adoption and end up focusing on the fact that a child needs parents. 00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:20.080 God focuses on the fact that a lost person needs saving. 00:14:21.600 --> 00:14:26.559 We were slaves, we were enemies, we were children of wrath, and we were unworthy. 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:30.799 There was nothing within us that would cause God to place his love for us. 00:14:30.960 --> 00:14:38.000 It was by his sheer grace and mercy that he chose us and brought us into his family. 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:51.840 There is a relationship in adoption to the adoption in the Roman society, and unlike our own, though, Paul uses this as the basis, but he expands on it and deepens it. 00:14:52.799 --> 00:15:05.919 In Roman society, and like our own, the purpose of adoption and laws was not to safeguard the rights and privileges of the child, but was exclusively thought of in terms of the benefits and blessings which the adopter received. 00:15:07.039 --> 00:15:18.399 The illustration, think of human adoption for a moment, and let me just bring out some points, and we're going to look at the text to see how God, this illustration fills out. 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:24.639 And in human adoption, it's put on our hearts to adopt a child, and the child is chosen. 00:15:24.879 --> 00:15:28.159 And even before you meet or know the child, you begin to love that child. 00:15:28.320 --> 00:15:31.200 Maybe you read a description or saw a picture. 00:15:33.039 --> 00:15:34.960 And from the beginning, there is love there. 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:43.279 Preparations are made, and then the child is brought into the family with all of the blessings and privileges and rights as a son or daughter. 00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:46.639 And he is no less your child because of how he entered your family. 00:15:46.799 --> 00:15:49.679 He is equal to every other member of the household. 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:56.480 And this is just a glimpse of the beginning of an illustration of what God has done for you and for me. 00:15:57.759 --> 00:16:03.759 And so, for a little bit, let's go and look at some of the passages that talk about adoption. 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:05.519 We won't cover them all. 00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:09.360 Turn first to the book of Ephesians, chapter 1. 00:16:09.600 --> 00:16:14.240 Keep your finger in Galatians because we're going to spend a good bit of our time there. 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:16.960 But let's begin in Ephesians chapter 1. 00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:25.919 And what Paul tells us here, what the Bible tells us, is that our adoption was planned before the foundation of the world. 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:39.600 Ephesians chapter 1, verses 3 through 6 says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:47.600 Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. 00:16:48.240 --> 00:17:00.159 In love, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved. 00:17:02.320 --> 00:17:17.519 There is an amazing truth here that Paul unfolds in this long, if we were to study this whole passage from verse 3 to 14 is one long, glorious run-on sentence, but but we don't have time to study all of it. 00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:28.240 But let me just highlight a few things of what the apostle Paul says here to tell us the privileged position and the status that we have and the grace of God at work in our lives. 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:32.319 He said, Blessed be the God and Father who has blessed us in Christ. 00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:35.359 When we came to Christ, we were in Christ. 00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:38.400 We became a part of God's family. 00:17:38.559 --> 00:17:39.759 We are placed in Christ. 00:17:39.839 --> 00:17:48.799 We have union with Christ, and as a result of that, every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places is ours. 00:17:49.759 --> 00:17:55.119 And then he says, He chose us in him before the foundation of the world. 00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:06.640 That God chose you. 00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:16.480 That it wasn't haphazard and random that you are here, that you are a part of God's family, and that we love him because he first loved us. 00:18:16.799 --> 00:18:24.079 God was the great initiator of our salvation, and it was in his mind before we even existed. 00:18:25.759 --> 00:18:27.119 And God set a goal. 00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:33.519 It was to be in Christ, yes, but more than just forgiveness of sins and justification. 00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:36.720 It was that we would be his children. 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:56.559 He says, in love, he predestined us, he set a goal for us, a purpose for us, more than just forgiveness, that we will be the sons and daughters through Christ according to his purpose, to the praise and glory of his grace. 00:18:57.680 --> 00:19:09.279 Our status has changed from a person who is alienated from God under the authority of sin to formerly being brought under a new authority and being called children of God. 00:19:10.559 --> 00:19:21.599 One author writes, God inaugurates us into a new relationship with himself by adopting us into his family and bestowing upon us the rights and privileges of true children. 00:19:22.559 --> 00:19:25.359 And this adoption was worked out in time and space. 00:19:25.440 --> 00:19:29.119 This is what Paul is talking about in Galatians chapter 3. 00:19:30.480 --> 00:19:36.640 Before Christ came, people were under the old covenant held captive under the law as guardians until Christ came. 00:19:37.119 --> 00:19:48.640 But in the new covenant, following the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have entered into a deeper, richer, and more intimate relationship with God as our Heavenly Father through Christ. 00:19:49.359 --> 00:19:52.880 And so let's look at the present reality of our adoption. 00:19:53.759 --> 00:19:57.920 We saw that our adoption, first of all, was planned before the foundation of the world. 00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:06.079 Now, secondly, the present reality of our adoption through the sacrificial death and bodily resurrection of Christ. 00:20:08.319 --> 00:20:14.480 If you're looking in Galatians chapter 3, look at verse, beginning in verse 26, and we're just going to walk through this passage. 00:20:14.799 --> 00:20:21.519 Again, we don't have time to bring out all of the richness of what Paul is saying here, but let me just highlight. 00:20:24.799 --> 00:20:27.519 Earlier, he says, we have union with Christ. 00:20:27.680 --> 00:20:30.559 We have been united with Christ by faith. 00:20:31.039 --> 00:20:37.119 Now look at verse 2026 in Galatians chapter 3. 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:39.200 He says this. 00:20:39.279 --> 00:20:52.799 He says, But you know, now that faith has come, that Christ has come, the fullness of our salvation has come, the reality of Christ's death and resurrection in time and space to accomplish God's purpose has come. 00:20:52.960 --> 00:20:58.400 For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. 00:20:59.279 --> 00:21:06.799 And Paul here, of course, means sons and daughters, using the word sons to cover all of us as God's children. 00:21:07.440 --> 00:21:11.759 But that reality that we are sons of God through faith. 00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:14.160 That we are God's children. 00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:15.359 And look at what he says. 00:21:15.519 --> 00:21:24.720 He says, you know, for as many of you as were baptized into Christ Jesus, you came to faith in Christ, you followed him in baptism, you've put on Christ. 00:21:24.960 --> 00:21:34.160 He says, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:45.680 Paul says this, that when you came into God's family, when he accepted you as his son, you have an equal status with every other believer. 00:21:46.400 --> 00:21:49.119 There are no second class Christians. 00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:51.519 There are no stepchildren. 00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:56.240 There are no favorites with God. 00:21:56.960 --> 00:21:59.759 We all stand before God as his children. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:08.160 And it doesn't matter what your background is, it doesn't matter what sins you've committed, it doesn't matter the false guilt and shame that you've carried throughout your life. 00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:24.079 God has called you his child, and you stand before him, accepted equally with every other believer, you and Billy Graham standing side by side, equally accepted before the Father. 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:35.440 And then he says in verse 29, and if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise. 00:22:36.319 --> 00:22:44.559 Paul says here that we've been grafted into the people of God and are heirs of all of the promises of God in Christ. 00:22:46.720 --> 00:22:57.599 That all that God has been purposing and planning and working in redemption of history, redemptive history, we have become a part of that when we became united with Christ. 00:22:58.559 --> 00:23:04.240 In verses 1 to 3 of chapter 4, he talks about a change in status. 00:23:04.400 --> 00:23:08.799 He says, I mean that the heir, as long as he's a child, is no different from a slave. 00:23:08.960 --> 00:23:12.640 Children in biblical times had no status and no rights. 00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:24.240 And so if you were a minor child until you came to a certain age, you wouldn't have the rights and privileges of being a child in that sense. 00:23:24.319 --> 00:23:27.279 And so, but Paul says, I'm not talking about a child in that sense. 00:23:27.440 --> 00:23:35.680 He says that though he's uh though he is an owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 00:23:36.720 --> 00:23:42.640 And so he's contrasting the reality prior to Christ's coming and what it is now. 00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:47.440 He says, in the same way, we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. 00:23:47.599 --> 00:23:57.200 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law. 00:23:59.359 --> 00:24:01.519 He said, Christ came. 00:24:02.559 --> 00:24:22.880 We who were under bondage, we who were slaves, and those who were alienated, that we now, because of Christ's death, have been redeemed so that, verse 5, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 00:24:27.279 --> 00:24:38.319 Verse 6 says, But because you are sons, because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba Father. 00:24:38.640 --> 00:24:43.839 We don't have time to look at Romans 8, 14 through 17, but Paul says they are very similar here. 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:48.559 But you have received the Spirit of Adoption, the sons, by whom we cry, Abba Father. 00:24:48.799 --> 00:24:58.079 The word for cry isn't a word that is talking about a restful repose and a baby who might make a few sounds. 00:24:58.720 --> 00:25:09.200 This is a picture of a child who has fallen, who is hurting, who is bruised, who is battered, who is beaten, who is in pain. 00:25:09.920 --> 00:25:15.680 And he cries out in the midst of his pain to his father in this tender term. 00:25:15.839 --> 00:25:20.160 The word Abba is a word of respect and of tenderness. 00:25:20.319 --> 00:25:24.880 It's like daddy, but it's more than that because there's an attitude of respect that's there. 00:25:24.960 --> 00:25:46.799 But it was a word that a child would call to his father because he knew that his father loved him and cared for him and accepted him and was for him and would be there so he could cry out in the midst of his pain, in the midst of his mess, and his father who loved him would hear him and run to him and pick him up and care for him and clean him off. 00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:53.599 And he says, We have been given the Spirit so that we can cry, Abba, Father. 00:25:56.720 --> 00:26:00.880 It's so important that we recognize and understand our new identity in Christ. 00:26:00.960 --> 00:26:07.119 We've been adopted into God's family, and he is our heavenly Father who loves us and delights in us. 00:26:08.319 --> 00:26:10.079 I was reading a book just this morning. 00:26:10.240 --> 00:26:12.880 I started reading another book last night, and it was kind of interesting. 00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:15.200 And the author asked this question. 00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:19.119 He said, If you were to picture God, what face is he making at you? 00:26:19.920 --> 00:26:21.119 Is he scowling? 00:26:21.920 --> 00:26:26.319 Is he making a face like he's going to give you a snake or is he going to give you a stone? 00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:33.759 And this author said, Is he looking at you, smiling and giving you an ice cream cone face? 00:26:35.440 --> 00:26:39.599 What is the picture that you have that you think God is looking at you? 00:26:39.680 --> 00:26:49.839 Because the Bible says that God, that if we being evil know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more does our heavenly father? 00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:53.680 What are the implications of our being sons and daughters? 00:26:53.839 --> 00:26:55.279 Let me list a few. 00:26:55.920 --> 00:26:57.519 God is our heavenly father. 00:26:57.680 --> 00:26:59.839 He exercises loving authority over us. 00:27:00.079 --> 00:27:03.839 Because he loves us, he disciplines us, he calls us back to himself. 00:27:04.400 --> 00:27:07.839 God as our loving Father showers us with affection. 00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:12.240 There is an intimacy of this reality of the relationship that we have with God. 00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:17.279 He loves us in Christ just like he loves Jesus. 00:27:17.920 --> 00:27:20.160 His love is perfect and complete. 00:27:20.559 --> 00:27:23.599 We have an intimate fellowship with God as our gracious Father. 00:27:23.839 --> 00:27:34.160 God as our Heavenly Father gives us dignity and respect regardless of our past, regardless of our sins, regardless of our present reality, regardless of our struggles. 00:27:34.960 --> 00:27:37.279 We have a new status as God's child. 00:27:37.359 --> 00:27:38.559 We're not orphans. 00:27:38.799 --> 00:27:40.960 We are his sons and daughters. 00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:47.440 Protection, provision, fellowship, honor, and discipline when we stray. 00:27:47.599 --> 00:27:51.200 God loves us and he will always act for our good in Christ. 00:27:52.720 --> 00:27:55.680 Our adoption assures us of an even more glorious future. 00:27:55.759 --> 00:28:08.799 In Romans 8.23, it says, But we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit, just the deposit, the down payment, he says in Ephesians 1, grown inwardly as we await for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 00:28:09.119 --> 00:28:17.599 We look forward to the full and final completion of the adoption that we have when we are resurrected and receive our glorified bodies. 00:28:17.759 --> 00:28:28.480 And our ultimate goal in the new heavens and the new earth is to behold God and see our Father's loving face, and we behold him face to face. 00:28:31.599 --> 00:28:33.440 You're thinking to yourself, Dave, your time's up. 00:28:33.519 --> 00:28:35.839 You haven't even talked about human adoption yet. 00:28:37.119 --> 00:28:38.079 You're right. 00:28:38.720 --> 00:28:52.240 Because it's so important for us to understand this neglected reality, to inform us of what it means to reach out missionally to this hurting, broken, and lost world. 00:28:52.960 --> 00:29:18.079 To quote Dan Kruver, again, the director of Together for Adoption, he writes, the ultimate purpose of human adoption by Christians, therefore, is not to give orphans parents, as important as that is, it is to place them in Christian home that they might be positioned to receive the gospel so that within family the world might witness a representation of God taking in and genuinely loving the helpless, the hopeless, and the despised. 00:29:18.319 --> 00:29:28.480 He goes on to say when Christians rediscover the extravagant love and delight in them that God has for them, they begin to live differently. 00:29:28.720 --> 00:29:30.799 They begin to live missionally. 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:34.319 Not everyone is called to adopt. 00:29:34.559 --> 00:29:37.519 And please don't hear me if that's what you think I'm saying. 00:29:37.759 --> 00:29:42.799 That's a dis not a decision to be made impulsively or motivated by guilt or pity. 00:29:43.279 --> 00:29:48.799 As a church, collectively, we're called to care for the weak and the powerless, the orphan and the widow. 00:29:49.680 --> 00:29:53.039 For you, it may be that God is leading you to adopt. 00:29:53.279 --> 00:30:02.960 It may be that God is calling you to be a foster parent and open your house, or to become a big brother or a big sister to a child that has no healthy adult influences. 00:30:03.200 --> 00:30:07.039 Maybe it's praying for those who are the weakest and most vulnerable. 00:30:07.119 --> 00:30:16.160 Perhaps it's helping another family who wants to adopt but doesn't have the initial resources, but has the home and is willing to open their home. 00:30:16.720 --> 00:30:29.519 Our moving out in faith, whether it's telling a person about Christ or adopting a child into your family, come to come under the hearing of the gospel, is motivated out of the overflow of your heavenly Father's lavish love for you. 00:30:31.279 --> 00:30:50.480 The Bible has called us both to declare the gospel in our words and to demonstrate the gospel in our lives, our actions, our choices, so that we live missionally for the purpose of glorifying God, proclaiming the gospel, and demonstrating it through the choices we make. 00:30:53.440 --> 00:31:08.480 One author said this biblical adoption and orphan care are tangible demonstrations and pictures of the gospel, of God's adoption of us, put on display for the world to see and give glory to God. 00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:32.079 God is calling each of us in different ways, but God is calling all of us collectively to care for the weak, the powerless, the orphan, the widow, to declare the gospel and to demonstrate the gospel for God's glory. 00:31:33.039 --> 00:31:34.240 Let's pray. 00:31:35.279 --> 00:31:36.799 Abba Father. 00:31:37.359 --> 00:31:38.880 Abba Father. 00:31:39.759 --> 00:31:50.319 Words we don't use very much, or maybe at all, because we feel like we're orphans, or we feel like we're second-class children. 00:31:51.279 --> 00:32:09.359 And Father, I pray that the truth of the reality of our absolute and complete and total acceptance by you in Christ and your love and your affection and your interest and your care would penetrate our hearts. 00:32:10.160 --> 00:32:33.519 That this reality, this truth is not a legal fiction, it is a reality accomplished by the death and resurrection of Christ, that we have been redeemed for adoption, would penetrate our hearts, that we would live in light of your lavish love as your children. 00:32:34.240 --> 00:32:42.160 And then move us, Lord, and motivate us to declare the gospel and to demonstrate the gospel each day. 00:32:42.480 --> 00:32:43.440 We pray in Christ. 00:32:43.599 --> 00:32:44.000 Amen.