 Okay, what I thought we would do this morning, the responsibility fell to me this week to teach Sunday school. We've got Jerome, who is next on deck with our Glory of God series. And Jerome's out of town. He's teaching, going to preach this morning in New York, which I think is a great blessing and a good experience for him and a good fellowship with the guys up in New York. So there's a crew of people that are up there right now. You will keep them in prayer while they're traveling. And I pray that I'll be a blessing to them up there, it'll be a blessing to Jerome. And so I'm filling a gap, so to speak, between the last session that Pastor Dale taught and then the next session that Jerome has coming up in the schedule for the Glory of God series. And I thought this morning that what we would do, and it's like a sort of pick whatever I wanted to pick, that under the circumstances we'd talk about adoption. When I mentioned adoption for the Sunday school class, I promise laziness was not part of the motivation for me choosing this topic, because that's what I'm preaching on this morning. It really was, I did think about it, that if we were to spend some time talking about adoption, I could fill out some of the background of what you'll hear during the sermon this morning. And I really do believe that us talking about it ahead of time will help you retain the sermon better this morning as well. And so I thought we would spend some time talking about adoption from our confession, give you a good background, and then you will be set to jet when we get to the sermon this morning, and we'll hopefully be able to, you know, have a good foundation for what we'll talk about during the sermon, and it'll help you retain it better. So today's subject then is the doctrine of adoption, doctrine of adoption. And obviously thinking a lot about this subject, it's interesting to me, the Lord does this many times, and I think it was Nikki who first said it to me, we are text back and forth, that it's the week that I lost my dad, that we are talking about the doctrine of adoption, and how gracious God is often in giving us life application for the doctrines that we learn and study and think and meditate on. And so this is a doctrine concerning our heavenly Father, God who has through his son redeemed us to himself and predestined us to adoption as sons by Christ Jesus to himself. So we're thinking about the doctrine of adoption. The doctrine of adoption is profoundly biblical. There are many texts that refer to adoption, many texts in the Bible that give us a basis for adoption. The word of adoption used five times in the New Testament, three of those times specifically related to our adoption as new covenant, new testament believers. We'll talk about those, we'll go through all three of those texts in the sermon this morning to some degree, and we'll talk about what we understand of adoption from those three texts. But I thought this morning we'd spend a good bit of our time in our confession of faith. Our confession of faith draws upon those three texts primarily, and the three texts that you have them are Ephesians chapter one versus three through 14. And these texts overlap with so many other important doctrines. Like how many times now in our series through the essentials have we come to Ephesians one, right? Time and time and time again we come back to this text because it's so pivotal, so pivotal to understanding our redemption accomplished in the person and work of Jesus Christ and then our redemption applied by the work of the Holy Spirit. So Ephesians chapter one is particular verses three through 14, really a pivotal text. The other text that we'll look at is Galatians chapter three. And really Galatians chapter three, beginning in verse 26 to the end of the chapter, to the end of chapter three into Galatians four, in particular verses one through seven, okay? So Galatians three, 26 into Galatians four, one through seven, dealing with our adoption as sons. And then lastly, we'll look at Romans chapter eight and the spirit of adoption by which we cry out Abba father. So we'll look at Romans chapter eight as well. Those three texts specifically flesh out our new covenant understanding of the doctrine of adoption. Many other texts add to our knowledge of that. One of those is the basis for the sermon title this morning, behold what manner of love and that's from John in first John chapter three. Behold what manner of love the father has bestowed on us that we should be called sons of God. It's just an awesome thought that we would become sons of God. So part of the motivation I really hope for our talk this morning and then the sermon this morning later is that we would be as those redeemed by the blood of the lamb, we would be enraptured with this doctrine. We have the tendency, that was one of my concerns when we started this whole series on the essentials. And it's a concern with any of the teaching and preaching that we do frankly is that we don't want to think about or talk about doctrine in a way that would give anyone the impression that it is a dry intellectual pursuit. It is anything but right. The Lord is very gracious to us and that he gives us so much doctrine, obviously in the Bible, the revelation of God, a miracle of his grace, the revelation that he's given us. But that good sound biblical doctrine is to lead to heart affection, heart devotion, it's lead to worship and praise. We should be reveling in, glorying in these truths because of what they reveal to us about God and in particular with respect to adoption. What it says about us who have been redeemed out of the gutter into the household of God and exalted to the position of sons of God. It's a tremendous, tremendous truth. So part of the hope is through this class, but then even more so during the sermon that we will meditate on for a little while, the glory of his grace because he predestined us to adoption as sons to the praise of his glory so that we will meditate on the praise of his glory in electing sons and daughters in the kingdom. If he elected us, that would be great, staggering, wonderful, right? Forgiven of our sins, wonderful, beautiful, like amazing and necessary. We're grateful to God for it. If he redeemed us, which he has amazing, wonderful truth, beautiful, but the apex of all that, the pinnacle of all that is our adoption as sons and daughters in the kingdom, sons and daughters in his household. He doesn't just redeem us. He embraces us as it were in his family. It's a familial relationship. And that is a beautiful, beautiful truth and worthy of a lot of thought, worthy of a lot of study, worthy of a lot of, of a lot of meditation. So let's talk about them, the doctrine of adoption. I believe, and we've talked about this many times before, that our apprehension of these biblical truths is greater or is more blessed or fuller when we have a full-orbed understanding of the doctrine. So maybe a way to explain that would be this is that, for example, let's take Ephesians, for example, we've talked about it before, you've heard it before, that the first part of Ephesians, the first three chapters are statements of indicative, statements of fact. What is an indicative? It's a statement of fact, right? It's a statement of fact and it's an assertion of truth. And all of the indicative are given to us in the first three chapters of Ephesians so that we can then appreciate the application of that truth and the imperatives or commands that follow in the second half of Ephesians. That's not exactly a completely fair dichotomy because the first three chapters of Ephesians are also filled with glorious truth assertions and glorious implications of that truth. And the second half of Ephesians is full of a wonderful truth assertions and not just imperatives and not just applications of that truth, right? So it's mixed throughout. But in the way that God reveals himself to us in the Bible, God gives us theology, sound biblical truth. He gives us a basis on which we are then to worship. He gives us a foundation, a ground on which we are then to apply that truth and obey him and live for him and devote ourselves to him. He gives us a means by which our affections are bolstered by which our devotion is more fervent and more earnest. He gives us the glorious why that we then apply to live for him. And so that's true of this doctrine as well. We want to understand the doctrine and I would encourage you to pass the introduction this morning and then pass the introduction that we'll get during the sermon today on the doctrine of adoption to study and to look at this yourselves. There's a couple of books that I could commend to you for this. And one of them is a book by J.I. Packer called a knowing God and J.I. Packer, many of you may have heard J.I. Packer died this week. He was 93 years old and over the years, but probably in particular here of late, I've read several things from J.I. Packer that are just exceptionally good, like really, really helpful, really, really good. And one of those books that I read several years ago was a knowing God and knowing God just a, you know, I'd heard so much about it. That classic book in theology, really helpful for the people of God. And I had heard so many recommendations of this book. I decided to pick it up and read it. And as it got started, I'm thinking, oh, it's a little seems a little dry. You know, halfway through the book, I'm weeping, right? I'm sitting at the kitchen table reading this thing. And it's just heartwarming, you know, really good. So I commend knowing God to you by J.I. Packer and J.I. Packer's book, Knowing God, there is a chapter near the back on the fatherhood of God and how God is our Heavenly Father. And in that fairly lengthy chapter, there's a section on adoption that is really, really helpful, really good. So knowing God, I would highly commend to you. There's a book on our shelves by John Murray called Redemption, Accomplished and Applied. That's a book that I would like to, at some point, if the brothers agree, would like to do that with our small groups. Really, really helpful book, Redemption, Accomplished and Applied by John Murray. And then there's also a book on our shelf that I could would highly, highly, highly recommend to you by John Owen called Communion with the Triune God. And in Communion with the Triune God, John Owen, very, very thoughtful, very insightful, very thorough in his treatment of these subjects. And there's a lengthy treatment of adoption in that book, Communion with the Triune God. So all that to help you. And I would say this this subject is very worthy of your time. Very worthy of your attention. Okay. Well, let's start with a basis. When theologians begin to think about redemption and the application of redemption, they begin to think in categories. And those categories are often helpful for us to understand. Two of those categories that we could talk about, and this would sort of the basis of this comes from Sam Waldron's exposition on the 1689. But we can see it laid out in our confession of faith, these categories. One of those categories would be Historia Salutis and the Ordo Salutis. Historia Salutis and Ordo Salutis. Historia Salutis is the history of salvation, right? God's redemptive work in eternity and in time to save or redeem his people to himself, Historia Salutis. And how that redemption is laid out over time and eternity. For example, Historia Salutis begins with the eternal decrees of God in eternity past before the foundation of the world, right? Where in the councils of the Godhead, God determined to redeem a fallen humanity to himself for the glory of his own name and for the exaltation of his son, right? He electing a people to himself as a love gift for the son in eternity before the foundation of the world. Our names written in the Lamb's Book of Life from before the foundation of the world. Really, the Historia Salutis begins there in the eternal decrees of God. Then God creating all things, creating the world and everything that is in it. God creating human beings. God creates with the purpose of redeeming, right? Man falls in the garden, Adam falls into sin. God casts Adam out of the garden, blocks the way to the tree of life with a flaming sword, and then Adam and all his posterity, born into sin. Now objects of God's wrath, they become his people, objects of his redemption, objects of salvation. God plans, elects to, determines to redeem them. So in time, then the Bible lays out the story of redemption, how that redemption, that plan, that purpose of God to redeem his people is brought about in time. So we see God's promise, for example, in Genesis, chapter three, where he promises that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. It's the first promise of the gospel. We see that promise reiterated to Abraham, for example, in the Abrahamic covenant in time, that promise pushed forward. We see that principle of works also pushed forward in the covenant with Abraham. We see the promise and the works pushed forward, that principle of works pushed forward in the covenant that God makes with Moses. We see how the sacrificial system points to Christ, how the temple points to God's people. We see these temporal, physical, earthly things established to point to and direct us to that spiritual provision for our sin that God has made in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Right? So these are laid out in time. These are given to us in time. We have the Davidic covenant, right? And then God promises Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 36. God promises the new covenant where through the person and work of Jesus Christ, he will save his people, an unconditional covenant, an unbreakable covenant that God secures in the work of his only begotten son to redeem his people that he determined would be redeemed from before the foundation of the world. Right? So that's the historic, it's the salvific plan of God, the redemptive plans and purposes of God laid out in time. Well, adoption finds its place in the Historia Saludis as much as it finds its place in the Ordo Saludis. We'll talk about the Ordo in just a minute. But adoption, if you will look at Ephesians chapter one this morning, but just to give you a background, adoption was predestined by God before the worlds began in Ephesians chapter one. We were predestined to adoption as sons by Christ Jesus to himself or through Christ Jesus to himself. God predestines us to adoption as sons. That's in the eternal decree of God from before the foundation of the world. In time, we see that worked out in a couple of different ways. One, and we see the fatherhood of God, God as father taking different form, different shape as we work through history. For example, when God created Adam, Adam in scripture is called a son of God, a son of God. One of the reasons that Adam is called a son of God is because Adam was created in the image of God. He was a moral image bearer of God. And so when you see Adam created in particular in Genesis chapter one, let's turn there with me, turn there with me. Genesis chapter one, we'll work through a couple of these texts. Genesis chapter one, look at verse 26. Then God said, let us make man an hour image according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God, he created him male and female. He created them and God blessed them. God said to them, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth. Part of it, when you start studying adoption, part of the understanding of sonship that we come to from the Bible is this understanding of image bearers, of image bearers of God. We were created in the image of God in that sense, we are sons of God. Does that make sense? So Adam then, if you flip over to Genesis chapter five, for example, Adam then being created in the image of God has sons then in his own likeness. Genesis chapter five, this is the book, verse one of the genealogy of Adam in the day that God created man. He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them and called them mankind in the day that they were created. And Adam lived 130 years and begot a son in his own likeness after his image and named him Seth. We get to the new covenant and we see God by his spirit, applying adoption in the lives of genuine believers under the covenant. We are changed, aren't we, into his image again, so to speak. We are born again. Think about it in a natural family, right? Or in our way of thinking, you're either born into a family or you're adopted into a family, aren't you? Like many of us were born into a family. Some of us born into a family with both mother and father. Many not born into a family with mother and father. Father is absent or whatever the case may be, right? The family dynamics are different, but we're born natural birth into a family or you are adopted into a family. An adoption has been around for centuries, millennia, where someone who was orphaned, not a part of a family, so to speak, or a part of another family by right born naturally to that family is transferred, translated, conveyed, you could say, into another family without right. They don't have a right to that family. They weren't born naturally into that family. They were adopted into that family. And when adopted into that family, they are given all the rights, all the privileges, all the blessings of that family through adoption, such that they're treated like a son under the Roman government. There's a lot written about that when, frankly, most of the people who were adopted under Rome were young adults when a man needed an heir or needed someone to manage his household. He would adopt a young man, so not an infant like we do. Most people adopted today are infants, you know, babies. Back then it wasn't so. Most of the people adopted back then were young adults, young men. And the reason for that would be that that one who was adopted would become an heir of all that the father of that household had right to, had title to. And that son would then take responsibility for and inherit all that the father had as a son, as a son in the household, as if he were the progenitor, the first born in that household. So he inherited the way that a natural born son would inherit. And that was all done through a legal process of adoption where a father would go to the courts and they would have a legal declaration by the courts of adoption of this young man into the household. And then they would come and have a celebration of that with the family. But it was through adoption that this son was given the right to inherit. So we see that in this picture given to us in the Old Testament of God initially with Adam, Adam created in the likeness of God, Adam given responsibility over God's household, so to speak, given responsibility to have dominion over all the earth, over all the created order to take dominion over it, to subdue it and to multiply, spreading the glory of God over the face of the earth as the waters cover the sea. Right. So Adam had a responsibility, as it were, of a son in God's creation, as a son in God's household. And then we see Adam giving birth in Genesis, chapter five to other sons in his own likeness, in his own image. When you get to the genealogies in the New Testament, I think it's in particular in Luke where Adam is called the Son of God, right? Adam is called the Son of God. So that picture, that idea of God redeeming to himself or having for himself a son over his household or over his created order. Well, we all know what happens in the in the garden. Adam falls, falls into sin and Adam is cast out as a son. The familial relationship or the paternal relationship that God had with Adam is ruined by Adam's sin. And Adam, who was the Son of God, is cast out, is cast off. He's cast out of the garden unless he take of the tree in life and live forever. There's a flaming sword, an angel parked outside the garden to keep him from returning. There is no return for Adam apart from the one provision that God has made for sin. Adam will not find his way back on his own, will not find his way back through entrance into the garden. He'll have to, if he's going to enter, as Bunyan puts it, he can't crawl over the fence as a thief and a robber. He's got to come through the little wicket gate, who is Jesus Christ, right? So Adam cast out of the garden. This is a sonship and in particular, sonship relative to a shared nature with his creator. Adam created in the likeness and the image of God, OK, a shared nature. We'll talk about that more during the sermon when we get to the new creation and believers who are created anew in Jesus Christ. Given the disposition of their father, we become partakers of the divine nature, Paul says, and in all that, sons of God, OK? Past Adam in Historia Salutis, as we work through time, we see God then as a father over the covenant people of Israel. There are other examples of this, right? The covenant reiterated to Isaac, the covenant reiterated to Jacob. And then we see the covenant given, the old covenant given to Moses. And God, with the nation of Israel, God has said to be a father to them. Out of Egypt, I have called my son, right? An original reference to Egypt, a fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ. But Israel was called the son of God, and God was called a father to Israel. Now, there are several places where we see this in the Old Testament. In particular, one place is Exodus chapter four. So in Exodus, you just flip a few pages to the right. Exodus chapter four and in Exodus chapter four, look at verse 21. So the Lord God said to Moses, when you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I've put into your hand. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. Then you shall say to Pharaoh, thus says the Lord, Israel is my son, my firstborn. So I say to you, let my son go that he may serve me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn. Right. So now there's a sense in which that points us forward to Christ, that Jesus Christ is the true Israel and the true son of God. And this is a type, Israel, the nation, which is the incubator, if you will, the womb of the Messiah. Israel is pointing us forward to the ultimate son, the Lord Jesus Christ. But here, Israel is called a son. Now, there's many places where God makes reference, again, to Israel as son. And what that does is not only establish sonship through image bearing or a sonship in the sense of the likeness of God or the image of God. Or the disposition of God, but also establishes sonship through covenant. Right. God enters into covenant with the nation of Israel and becomes a father to them, so to speak. And he does that through his own choice. If you look over, continue in the Old Testament here and go to Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 32, feel free to stop me if you were just having a casual conversation this morning, because I hope it'll help you with the sermon. So very informal. Stop me if you have questions and we can we can talk about it. Deuteronomy 32 and look at verse five, for example, they have corrupted themselves. They are not his children because of their blemish, a perverse crooked generation. Do you thus deal with the Lord, O foolish unwise people? Is he not your father who bought you as he not made you and established you in the same way that he made and established Adam and Adam was known as a son of God. God through his decree made and established the nation of Israel. And Israel becomes to him a son, so to speak. And that through a covenant, God establishes a familial or a filial or a paternal relationship to the nation of Israel in his fatherly care for them. He establishes a relationship to them, a father and son. And this in time, there are frequently places where God calls Israel, his offspring in Acts chapter 17. If you remember Paul's sermon on Mars Hill, God is not worshiped by men as though he needed anything. But we are all his offspring, Paul says, right in the sense that God has made us and made us in his image and we bear the likeness of our creator. In that sense, we God is a father figure over all of his creation. God is considered the father of creation. There's a sense in which God is father creatively. There's a sense in which God is father covenantally as he is with Israel. And he calls Israel my son. All of that a far cry from what we understand to be the fatherhood of God under the new covenant, given to those who by faith are sons of God in Christ. That makes sense. So we have to draw a distinction in the history of salvation between the fatherhood of God over all creation, between the fatherhood of God over the nation of Israel, covenantally between the fatherhood of God in terms of his fatherly care for the created order, giving satisfying the need of every living thing and his fatherly care for creation. All of that distinguished from the fatherhood of God to the sons of God who've been adopted into his household by faith in Christ. Makes sense. We have to draw the distinction between those things. So that's in the history of redemption, the history of solutice. When we get to the new covenant then, God says that he will put his spirit within his people, giving them his fatherly disposition, so to speak. He will cause them to be born again, regenerated by the spirit, and they will live for him. He will cause them to walk in his statutes and judgments, live after the image of the one who recreated them anew in Christ. That is, again, a picture of God applying his fatherhood to those predestined to adoption as sons. And we see that fleshed out even more. So in a sense, then, those fatherly pictures of God in the Old Testament, fatherly pictures of God in the history of salvation as we work through the Bible, all pointing to their ultimate fulfillment in our adoption as sons by Christ Jesus to himself. And it's a beautiful, beautiful picture. And you consider all those types and shadows that precede that fulfillment. The fulfillment is far, far, far, far, far, far greater. Okay. And hopefully over time we'll talk about that some this morning. Okay. Um, let's talk about our, um, statement of faith then, our confession of faith and the Ordo solutus. How adoption then is applied in the lives of those who put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, the Ordo or the order of salvation. Uh, and talking about the Ordo, um, let's consider our confession, chapter 12 on adoption and listen to how our confession words this. I think this is very, very helpful. All those that are justified, if you have your church app downloaded, you can find the confession of faith on your church app chapter 12. There's a helpful little link right there. I encourage you to download that. Okay. Chapter 12 is my plug for the morning. Um, chapter 12 of adoption, all those that are justified, um, those that believe in his name, right? John chapter one verse 12, um, the Lord says those, uh, he came to his own, the Lord Jesus Christ came to his own, the Jews, the, his own did not receive him, but to as many as received him to them, he gave the right, in other words, he gave the power of the authority to become what? Children of God, children of God to those who believe in his name. That's a reference to adoption in our predestination to adoption as sons. He gives us the right or the power or the authority to become children of God. So those who believe in his name are those who are justified by faith or justified through faith in Jesus Christ, justified by faith alone in Christ alone. So when a sinner turns from their sin and puts faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, he's justified. Somebody give me a brief definition. We just had a sermon not long ago. Somebody give me a brief definition of justification. What happens in justification? What is justification? Dorian. Uh, that's at the point that you are declared righteous before God. Amen. Declared righteous on what basis? Somebody. Okay. Dorian, go ahead. Faith. On the basis of faith through Christ by folk. Yeah, it's good to be precise, right? It's good. Um, so justified by, uh, justified and declared righteous by God. Through faith in Christ alone. We're, we're, we're kidding. We keep adding to slivers. We're going to arrive. That's good, brother. Noel, you want to add something? Let's let Noel add to it. Oh, yes. Yes. Thank you, Rebecca. And then we'll come back to Noel by merit of his imputed righteousness. Yeah. Amen. On the basis of Christ's righteousness, right? So Dorian, exactly right. Um, through the means of faith, through the instrumentality of faith, ultimately it's not faith itself that justifies, is it? It's faith in Christ that justifies Christ is the one who justifies the center. So it's on the basis of his perfect life, on the basis of his perfect satisfaction, right? His substitutions, substitutionary satisfaction of the wrath of God. Uh, Packer again says that, um, a good way or one way to sum up the redemptive work of God in Christ would be to say that we are adopted through propitiation. I think there's, there's some of them to be said for that the apex or the, the, the height of all of the blessings given to us in Christ is being adopted as sons and daughters of his household into his family and that through the wrath, satisfying sacrifice of the Son of God. So adoption through propitiation. Okay. So all those that are justified and justified through faith are confession of faith said God vouchsafed. We'll talk about that, what that means in just a minute. All those that are justified, God vouchsafed in and for the sake of his only son, Jesus Christ, to make partakers of the grace of adoption. And that's beautiful. By that grace of adoption, those who are justified are taken into the number and enjoy the liberties and privileges of the children of God have his name put upon them, receive the spirit of adoption, have access to the throne of grace with boldness are enabled to cry Abba father are pitied, protected, provided for and chastened by him as by a father, yet never cast off but sealed to the day of redemption and inherit the promises as heirs of everlasting salvation. Yeah. Amen. I am really grateful for those very wise studious men who wrote our confession back in the day, really, really helpful, very, very thoughtful, very insightful, really good. Okay. Let's break it down a little bit and talk about this. It begins all those that are justified, those who believe in his name, God vouchsafed that word vouchsafed means to grant or to give. He in particular, it's to give a privilege or give a blessing for or to he vouchsafed for them. He gave them the privilege, gave them the blessing, that gift, that grant, that privilege given by favor or given by grace given in condescension. So there's an essence in which vouchsafed means given or granted by one who's greater to one who is lesser, right? Vouchsafed. God gives us a grant, gives us a privilege, gives us a blessing, a favor through condescension. God gives the grace to make us partake, partakers of adoption. Okay. And here in the first sentence, it's for the sake of his beloved son, for the sake of Jesus Christ. So if you put this back into the framework of God's plan and purpose for our redemption, for the sake of his son, he predestined us to adoption as sons. Does that make sense? That's Ephesians chapter one. He didn't do this because we were so lovable, right? Heard that story many, many, many, many, many times where someone goes to a foreign country, for example, and they're going to adopt a baby and they get over there. If they think to themselves, right? We're going to adopt this, this baby or we're so excited, you know, we're going to have a son or a daughter in our household and they get to where they're going to adopt. May they go to an adoption agency here in the States, wherever they go, right? And they get there and the baby is so cute, so lovable, right? And they're not going to walk out with just one. They're going to have three now, right? They don't just, oh, they got a brother? Well, we've got to adopt both of them, right? It's, there's always that temptation. They're so cute, so lovable. There's nothing cute, nothing lovable about you or I. If there's anything like the Armenian would say, if there's anything that God foresaw, it wasn't any good in us that would choose him. It was our ugliness, our unloveliness, our sin. God, we'll talk about this in the sermon, God elected us to be holy and blameless before him in love. That means that we were unholy and blame worthy when God in his sight, when God elected us. Does it make sense? So there's nothing lovable about us, nothing cute about us. There wasn't anything in us or pertaining to us that would have necessitated or compelled God to predestine us for adoption or to make us partakers of the grace of adoption. He did it for the sake of his son. And this gift of a people, not just a people, but a redeemed people is for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ, for his praise and worship. This is a gift for the sake of the son. Make sense? Any questions, thoughts about that? We've talked about that many times. It's really, really important to remember our place in all of this, right? It's for the, for the sake of his son, Jesus Christ. And God vouchsafed or gave us, granted us this privilege to make us partakers of the grace of adoption. In other words, his eternal decree had a purpose. We'll see this in Ephesians one this morning. And the purpose was to make us partakers of this grace of adoption. It is a legal grant then. It's a grant and it's a grant of his free grace. We see that in 1st John 3.1. We've already mentioned that text, but behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed, right? He granted that privilege to us. He granted us the privilege to be called sons of God or children of God. It doesn't mean that God had to do that. God didn't have to do that. That was of his free and sovereign choice. One of the reasons that it said that that decree is made before the foundation of the world is before anything was created, before men were created, before anything had happened in the eternal councils of the Godhead. God determined and elected to predestine us for adoption as sons of the free and sovereign display of his grace. And for no other reason, for the sake of the Son. Now, in the first sentence of our confession, in the application of that, decreed before the foundation of the world, but applied to the believer by the Spirit in time, our adoption comes after our justification. Logically, why would that be the case? And why would that be important? That our adoption as sons comes after justification. Now, I'm not just saying that. Paul says that in Galatians chapter three and in Galatians chapter four, that he would adopt through faith, right? Why is it important that our adoption comes after our justification? And I'm not, it's not a trick question. I'm not trying to trip you up. It's yeah, Pastor Mike. Because there's, there's a great obstacle in between. There's a great wall, a barrier, a void. There is enmity, hostility, guilt, blame, wrath, condemnation that separates the natural man from God. And that obstacle, that great mountain has to be removed in order for them to be received. I was thinking one thing, just a comment. When, when, when you talk to people about the gospel and you evangelize, people often will say, well, we're all children of God. And that makes me indignant. It does. Like I, I get, I get angry, righteously indignant when people say things like that, because in their mind and in their heart, they consider themselves children of God. They consider themselves the recipients of all the liberties and privileges of the children of God, but with utter disregard for the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I'm so thankful for the clarity that, yes, to begin with, it is all those who are justified, all of those who have had that great obstacle removed from them between them and God for the sake of Jesus Christ and by the merits of Christ alone. So yeah, amen. Yeah, it's only that adoption, right, that points to the perfect work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Otherwise it's counted as a common thing, you know, Christ's blood shed in vain. Yes. So that's it. Before, before justification, we're enemies of God by wicked works, right? We're in a different family. If you read that book by Owen, a comedian with a trident in God, Owen breaks it down into steps as it were in the Ordo Salutis. One of those is the very first is that we are children of a family by right. And what he means by that is that we were born into a family and we're in that family by right in that family, who is our father? Our father is the devil. Paul describes us in Ephesians chapter two as being children of wrath by nature, children of wrath, sons of disobedience. John chapter eight, Jesus Christ, speaking to the unbelieving Pharisees, the unbelieving Jews, and he says to them, you do not believe in my word because you are of your father, the devil, and you do the works of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, right? So he's speaking to those outside, Pastor Michael's point, that are not sons of God, they're sons of their father, the devil, sons of disobedience. We walk in the course of this world, according to the Prince of the power of the air, and what must happen is that we must be conveyed, translated from a family that we belong to by right. How is it that we belong to that family by right? We are sinners. We are born in sin and we sin, and we are a member of that household, the household of sin and Satan by right. Owen says, we have to be translated out of that family and translated into a family where we have no right, we have no title to that family, no natural claim to that family. We must be adopted into that family or translated, conveyed into the kingdom of the son of his love. So, yeah, all those who are justified, God vouchsafed, he gave us grant right privilege, the legal title to being a part of his family through adoption, in and for the sake of his only begotten son. Adoption, and in particular that word adoption as sons, adoption as sons, one word in the Greek. Weas thes, or weas thesia, weas thesia. It's the word for son, weas, and it's the word for placing or placement to place. It's a root, the root is teeth, I mean, to place. So it's placing as a son, to place as a son. And we translate that word adoption, right, that Greek word adoption. The son, that son, then placed by God as a son, is entitled to all the rights, privileges, and blessings of belonging to that family that he was not born into by right. He's been given that privilege, given that blessing, but having been given that privilege, he has all the rights, all the benefits, all the blessings of being a son in that household. Now, you know, you start putting these things together in your heart and mind, and when you think about these, then texts like I love and refer to often, 1 John chapter five, that as he is, so are we in this world, as the Lord Jesus Christ is, so am I as an adopted son in his household. We are heirs, and if heirs, joint heirs with Christ, sons in the household of our God, right, the ramifications that the implications of that are astronomical, like through the universe, awesome, that as Jesus Christ inherits as a son, we inherit with him as sons. Now, he is our elder brother. There is a distinction between Jesus Christ, who is a natural son by rights, and we who are adopted sons, and it serves us well to remember that distinction, lest Jesus Christ become my homeboy, right, or, you know, familiarity become too familiar, too familiar. There is a distinction between those who are adopted in the household and that one who is a natural born son in the household, but we are sons together with him. We have rights to the privileges and blessings that he's been afforded through his person in work, and we will inherit those rights, privileges and blessings with him in eternity. That is an awesome thought, as he is, so are we in this world. Now, through our confession of faith, if you're following along, once adoption is established, for those who are justified in and for the sake of the son, we then have our incorporation into the family of God. If you'll notice in our confession, by the grace of adoption, those who are justified are taken into the number. Do you see that? They are taken into the number. What's the number? Those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. The general assembly of the saints, the church of the firstborn, whose names are registered in heaven, right? This is the church, the saints. There is a sense in which our adoption is corporate. We are taken into the number, and he has in mind, Galatians chapter four in particular, has in mind, in part, the church as a whole, and then as members of the new covenant, our adoption is individual. Think about the distinction between that, that reality under the new covenant and adoption or God's adoption of Israel as sons under the old covenant. God was a father to Israel corporately. God was a father to Israel as a nation. God was a father to Israel covenantally, but he was not committed or obliged to any one of them individually to save them through faith in the Messiah, right? You remember the fried egg? There were those in the circle by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who by virtue of the person in work of the Lord Jesus Christ, by virtue of the new covenant were given all of the blessings, all of the privileges, all of the rights afforded them through the new covenant, and that by the person in work of Jesus Christ. There were others who were in the covenant, who were not in the circle, right? Not saved by faith in Jesus Christ. And we have many examples of those. Jacob, I have loved, Esau, I have hated, both Jews, both sons, one saved by virtue of faith in the Messiah, one not, one a child of promise, one not. Korah and his entire family went down alive into the pit when other Jews also in covenant under Moses did not, right? So there's a distinction between the old covenant and the new covenant in that respect. In the new covenant, how many are in covenant with God through faith? And how many of those in covenant are recipients of the blessings? All of them, right? All of them, every single one in the covenant. Everyone who has put faith in Christ, they all inherit the blessings, the rights, the privileges of sonship, okay? So we are taken into the number and each one of us, and all of us collectively, enjoy the liberties and privileges of the children of God. Let's make another distinction real quick with respect to that issue of liberty. We won't have time to get into this this morning in the sermon. We are adopted, predestined to adoption as sons by Christ Jesus to Himself. Our adoption as sons does not negate the fact that we are bond slaves of the Lord Jesus Christ, right? So Paul, who is sort of the leading author with respect to adoption in the New Testament, Paul, who taught more on adoption than any other writer, also says that I am a slave, a do-loss of the Lord Jesus Christ. Present not your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but your members as instruments of righteousness, slaves of righteousness we are to the Lord Jesus Christ. Why is it? Or maybe you can explain that. Someone would take a quick stab at that. We're running out of time. That we are sons in God's household and also slaves of righteousness. How is it that that's not a contradiction in terms? And I'm saying that, I'm asking a vague question here. In light of that statement in our confession, it says we enjoy the liberties and privileges of the children of God. What are we freed to be? Yeah, Pastor Michael. So one, we're freed from sin. We're freed from the law, the condemning power of the law. And I was thinking also, we're sons of God and we're servants or slaves of God because what we are relates to who God is. God is our Father, therefore we are children of God, but God is also Lord. He is our master, therefore we are servants. And really to be a servant of God is to be free. Yeah, amen. Yeah, amen. Yeah, we're freed to be His servants. Right, Rebecca? Thanks, Kenny B. I was going to read from the passage in Luke 1, starting in verse 74, to grant us that we that we being delivered from the hand of our enemies might serve Him without fear and holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life. So you see that deliverance towards, you know, servanthood for the Christian. Yeah, amen. You know, remember that when we are born again, we're given the heavenly disposition of our Father, right? And with the heavenly disposition we've been created a new, born again, really we're in God's household both ways, by new birth and by adoption, right? And in this life, in this world, it's one or the other. You're born naturally into a family or you're adopted into a family. With the Lord is really through both means. We're born again into His family and we're adopted into His family. But when we're born again into His family, we're given the disposition of our Father. With that heart disposition, what does the Christian want to do? The Christian wants to please the Lord, wants to serve the Lord. His commands aren't burdensome to the believer. That's the ache, the longing, the hungering and thirsting of the Christian's heart is to be pleasing to Him in all things. That's our desire. And finally, through justification and adoption, we can enjoy the liberty of living for God in that way. So the practical application of that, there are many. But one would be when you begin to think to yourself that a command is burdensome or you don't want to, remember who you are. You're a son of God, a daughter of God. And you have the freedom to serve without that burdensome, obligatory, cold, sterile, heartless duty kind of mindset, right? Why? Because we have the disposition of our Father. We can forget that and we can trail from that or fall from that. We need to remember our first love when that happens and turn back to those first works. Being zealous and repenting of that. So we enjoy the liberties and privileges of the children of God. We're put into the statement of faith or a confession of faith says, a filial disposition. We have His name put upon us. In other words, we're created again, created anew in the image of the one who created us. There's a sense in which the new creation restores something lost in the fall, right? The image of God wasn't entirely lost in the fall. It's marred. It's disfigured. It's disfaced by the fall, not entirely lost. But there is a sense in which new birth restores something that was lost. And that in that would be a fatherly disposition, a love of righteousness, a hatred of unrighteousness, a desire to do all those things which please Him, the heart for that, the mind for that. We have His name, His mark, so to speak, His image put upon us. And we receive the spirit of adoption. We'll talk about the spirit of adoption from Romans 8 later this morning. And then lastly, we're given the experience, our confession of faith. We're given the experience of paternal treatment by God. God treats us as sons. And we experience the fatherly love and care of God as sons and as daughters in His household. Our confession says it this way. We have access to the throne of grace with boldness. A son can go to the throne of grace in boldness, right? That's not with disrespect or a lack of understanding that we've been bought at a price. But we are sons, we are daughters. We can access the throne of grace with boldness. We are enabled to cry, Abba, Father. We don't have time to talk about that. Thanks, brother. But there was this privilege, this blessing that the apostles were not used to that Jesus Christ called God His Father and encouraged the disciples to call God their Father. Teach us, Lord, teach us to pray. Our Father who art in heaven, how would be thy name, right? He told Mary and the other women who saw Him after His resurrection. Tell the others, behold, I go to my God and your God. I return to my Father and your Father. Why the repetition is to emphasize to them we have the same Father, right? It's an awesome, awesome thought. So we are enabled to cry, Abba, Father. And by God we are pitied. There is a fatherly displeasure against sin. But God sees His own and dwelt by His Spirit for the sake of His Son in pity in their sin and will in His fatherly care for them turn them from sin and turn them back to the Son. We are pitied, protected. We're provided for. Our Father preserves us to the end that we might be saved. He'll never kick us out of the family, right? Never. We're in the family permanently. We are chastened by Him as a father. What earthly father doesn't chasten His Son in love? If we're not chasten, we're illegitimate. Our heavenly Father chases us, chastens us because He loves us. And yet never cast off, our confession says, but sealed to the day of redemption and inherit the promises as heirs of everlasting salvation. There is a sense, we'll talk about this in the sermon, there is a sense in which our adoption is revealed fully at the resurrection, right? When we are raised in Him, we become as He is for we shall see Him as He is. We become like Him, right? The creation, the whole created order groans awaiting the redemption of the sons of glory. We're awaiting the redemption of our bodies. There's a sense in which our adoption will be fulfilled fully at the consummation of all things and we enter into our inheritance as adopted sons. So, let me give you a definition and we'll close. Adoption is a change in legal status from that of a slave to that of a son of God. That takes place by faith at the moment of our union with Christ, by the Spirit of God, but we will be publicly revealed as sons at the resurrection. This is Sam Waldron's definition in his exposition in the 1689, if you've got that. Adoption is an act of God's free grace flowing from the electing love of God the Father in eternity and the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit in time. And adoption immediately confers the Spirit of adoption and the privileges of being one of God's heirs as well as other privileges, obligations, and liabilities. We have responsibilities as sons and daughters in the kingdom. Right of time. I hope that that will help when we come to the sermon. I think it will and you'll recognize the fruits of the benefits of that. At the end of the sermon, you can thank me later. No. I think our spending this time this morning during this hour will help you retain everything we talk about in the sermon. That hour goes by so, it does for me. It probably doesn't for you. It goes by really fast for me and I'm thinking like, how in the world can I retain all this? I hope this will help you as we work through the sermon this morning. So let's pray. Father in heaven, Lord, we rejoice in you. We worship you. We praise you, Lord. We express our gratitude to you. Our love for you as our heavenly Father for having predestined us to adoption as sons by Christ Jesus to yourself. What a glorious, unspeakable, immeasurable, wondrous privilege and blessing it is that we who were formerly enemies of God by wicked works of our father, the devil, sons of disobedience by nature, children of wrath should be taken into the number. The firstborn of the saints in heaven, the church of the firstborn whose names are registered in heaven and made to be sons and daughters in your household. What a privilege. What a blessing. And God, I pray, help us to meditate on these truths and live as privileged and blessed sons and daughters. Give us strength by your spirit to cling to you in faith. Give us strength by your spirit to approach the throne of grace in our time of need with boldness and thereby faith lay hold of the grace in which we stand so that we might live for you and be faithful to you. Help us, Lord, to worship and praise you this morning as our heavenly Father. May you be honored. May you receive the praise and worship that is due you as our heavenly Father. May the Son be exalted in these things to the praise of the glory of your grace. It's in his name we pray. Amen.