back to indexTheology II - Week 8 - Adoption
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I want to read to us a passage from John chapter 8. 00:00:11.000 |
And in this Jesus Christ is teaching, and this is what He says starting from verse 39. 00:00:26.000 |
So just to get a context I'm going to start from 34 and read a lengthier passage. 00:00:36.000 |
And it says this, "Jesus answered them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. 00:00:45.000 |
The slave does not remain in the house forever, but the Son does remain forever. 00:00:51.000 |
So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. 00:00:55.000 |
I know that you are Abraham's descendants, and you seek to kill me, because my word has no place in you. 00:01:01.000 |
I speak the things which I have seen with my father, therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father.' 00:01:07.000 |
They answered and said to him, 'Abraham is our father.' 00:01:11.000 |
So Jesus said to them, 'If you are Abraham's children, do the deeds of Abraham. 00:01:16.000 |
But as it is, you are seeking to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God. 00:01:22.000 |
This Abraham did not do. You are doing the deeds of your father.' 00:01:27.000 |
Obviously they're upset and they say to him, 'We were not born of fornification. 00:01:35.000 |
And Jesus said to them, 'If God were your father, you would love me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God. 00:01:41.000 |
For I have not even come on my own initiative, but He sent me. 00:01:48.000 |
It is because you cannot hear my words. You are of your father, the devil. 00:01:53.000 |
And you want to do the desires of your father. 00:01:56.000 |
He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. 00:02:01.000 |
Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature. 00:02:07.000 |
But because I speak the truth, you do not believe me. 00:02:12.000 |
If I speak truth, why do you not believe me?' 00:02:18.000 |
For this reason, you do not hear them, because you are not of God." 00:02:23.000 |
Today, we're talking about this whole idea of, to which family line do you belong? 00:02:31.000 |
If you are a child and a descendant, who are your ancestors? 00:02:40.000 |
And we think about that because that has a lot to do with our topic in relation to an aspect of our salvation, 00:02:50.000 |
Before we begin, let's pray and ask for the Lord's blessing. 00:02:56.000 |
Father, we want to thank you again for your scripture. 00:02:59.000 |
I pray, Lord, that as we are really digging deep into the details of what you have accomplished, 00:03:07.000 |
and we're digging deep into the kind of work you had to do, 00:03:12.000 |
how you declare us righteous, how you renew us in life, 00:03:16.000 |
how you foreordain, how you call, all these kind of things, Lord. 00:03:20.000 |
All the more we get a more vivid picture of your great love for us, and so we thank you. 00:03:26.000 |
God, we want to pray, Lord, that as we tonight study the topic of adoption, 00:03:33.000 |
but all the more, Lord, we would realize the weight, the weight of love, 00:03:38.000 |
the weight of responsibility, the weight of what you have given us, Lord. 00:03:49.000 |
Now, here's the thing is, regeneration again entails the giving of, basically, new life. 00:03:58.000 |
You're being changed from that dead person who is lifeless and cannot respond, right? 00:04:03.000 |
Cannot respond at all, to being an individual who can respond to the call of the Spirit. 00:04:10.000 |
And then when we talked about justification, justification was the act of God where He pronounced you. 00:04:18.000 |
You standing before me as judge, you are guiltless. 00:04:21.000 |
Not only that, through Christ, you are righteous, right? 00:04:25.000 |
Now, adoption, some people will say, "No, adoption is not so much like an act of God. 00:04:30.000 |
It's kind of like when we, in the beginning of this whole series, talked about ransom, talked about atonement. 00:04:40.000 |
Those are big categories of what God did in their salvation. 00:04:45.000 |
They're talking about the totality of salvation. 00:04:51.000 |
But the reason why today we're talking about it in this process is because it definitely seems, okay, it definitely seems, 00:04:59.000 |
that this has both a chronological and a very specific act of God where He makes you His son, okay? 00:05:11.000 |
So, in theology, adoption will be basically an act of God whereby He makes us members of His family, okay? 00:05:19.000 |
So, just think about that for a moment, alright? 00:05:23.000 |
To bring you to a point of salvation, not only does He foreordain, call, regenerate, 00:05:31.000 |
and then He, or regenerate, calls, okay, justifies, and then He adopts you. 00:05:38.000 |
Now, the reason why I'm calling this part of the salvation, okay, 00:05:42.000 |
you might be thinking not so much like, "Oh, what is that really saving from? 00:05:48.000 |
And my basic argument is, look at what Jesus just said, okay? 00:05:52.000 |
In the passage that we just read in John chapter 8, 00:05:55.000 |
our previous circumstance was a circumstance in which we were sons of God's enemy. 00:06:04.000 |
We were members of the family, so to speak, okay, of the fallen angels. 00:06:13.000 |
But what I want to also highlight to you is when we read that passage, 00:06:17.000 |
Jesus Christ started speaking about how when Satan sins, 00:06:33.000 |
The passage I want to point out to you again is verse 44. 00:06:38.000 |
"You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. 00:06:42.000 |
He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth 00:06:47.000 |
Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature." 00:06:51.000 |
That being the case, when the Scriptures views us prior to salvation, 00:06:57.000 |
when the Scriptures sees us in our sinful state, 00:07:03.000 |
If you look over at Ephesians 2, please turn your Bibles over there. 00:07:12.000 |
I'm going to start reading actually from verse 1, and I'll go over to verse 3. 00:07:21.000 |
It says, "And you are dead in your trespasses and sins, 00:07:26.000 |
in which you formerly walked according to the course of the world, 00:07:30.000 |
according to the prince of the power of the air, 00:07:32.000 |
according to the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 00:07:36.000 |
Among them, we too all formerly lived in the lust of the flesh, 00:07:40.000 |
indulging the desire of the flesh and of the mind, 00:07:46.000 |
Now, I want you guys to take a very close look at what verse 2 is saying. 00:07:50.000 |
Notice how it says, "according to, and according to." 00:07:54.000 |
So your life was in accord with the prince of the power of the air, which is Satan. 00:08:01.000 |
And it says, "Your life was basically formerly in the pattern of this realm, 00:08:14.000 |
Is this act just one of those benefits that come from God already saving us? 00:08:21.000 |
Well, it gives us a better picture of what adoption is, 00:08:27.000 |
When we realize what kind of circumstance and situation 00:08:35.000 |
Jump over to chapter 5 of Ephesians, verse 6. 00:08:42.000 |
And he says, "Let no one deceive you with empty words, 00:08:47.000 |
for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 00:08:51.000 |
Therefore do not be partakers with them, for you were formerly darkness, 00:09:01.000 |
You see these words being used very frequently now. 00:09:14.000 |
You know, that's what it's really trying to push in there. 00:09:21.000 |
And so, the beautiful truth of the scriptures, 00:09:27.000 |
is that now in Christ, we have adoptions of sons. 00:09:39.000 |
And it says, "But to all who received it, who believed in His name, 00:09:43.000 |
He gave the power," and in some of your chapters it'll say, 00:10:00.000 |
I recently read an article about how Bill Gates actually turns out to be a really, really good guy. 00:10:06.000 |
Out of his--at one time he had somewhere close to $56 billion. 00:10:11.000 |
Well, he's donated about $34 billion of that. 00:10:14.000 |
Supposedly 500 million children have been saved from malaria 00:10:18.000 |
because he's created devices that'll kill mosquitoes on the spot with a blue laser. 00:10:22.000 |
He's done basically humanitarian work all over the globe. 00:10:26.000 |
This guy has bought like literature and material to just pass out to people things that were copyrighted 00:10:34.000 |
What he'll do is he'll buy the entire patent or copyright and he'll pass it down. 00:10:38.000 |
Well, do you know why I'm talking about this? 00:10:40.000 |
Because there's a sense in which I'm like, "Man, I wish I could be like him one day." Right? 00:10:46.000 |
Let me just post you a hypothetical scenario. 00:10:49.000 |
There's another part where in the article it said he was going to give only $10 million to his children. 00:10:54.000 |
But obviously they have resources and access to all that he's built. 00:10:59.000 |
But he said, "I want to raise my children in a way where they're going to at least still have to make their own way." 00:11:05.000 |
I'm like, "$10 million? I would like to be your child." 00:11:11.000 |
"Oh, make my own way. Suffer with $10 million." 00:11:16.000 |
But the question is, I mean, that guy seems really like a humanitarian. 00:11:27.000 |
Can I ask him and be like, "You know, Mr. Gates, I read an article about you and I thought it was spectacular what you're doing. 00:11:38.000 |
Obviously the right, right? The right or the power to become his child is nothing you just, you know, take for yourself. 00:11:49.000 |
It's nothing you just walk up to his house and say, "I would like to be your son." 00:11:54.000 |
This is to those who believe that you have that right. 00:12:00.000 |
"For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God." 00:12:09.000 |
"For you have not received the spirit of slavery leading to the fear again, 00:12:13.000 |
but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, 'Abba, Father.'" 00:12:19.000 |
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. 00:12:26.000 |
If children, heirs also, heirs of God, fellow heirs with Christ, 00:12:31.000 |
indeed we suffer with Him so that we might be glorified with Him. 00:12:39.000 |
He gave us the right to be children and the Spirit confirms that we are children. 00:12:43.000 |
But if we are then His children, then we are heirs. 00:12:45.000 |
What do you think of when you automatically think heirs? 00:12:54.000 |
He is an heir, meaning He is going to have the inheritance. 00:13:01.000 |
Who are we that we should be having the glory of Christ, the only Son of God? 00:13:07.000 |
Who are we that we should have the inheritance of God? 00:13:11.000 |
Who are we that Christ would share any of that with us? 00:13:14.000 |
I can imagine now, if it so happened, it would be ridiculous. 00:13:19.000 |
But if it so happened that Bill Gates walked in here, he looked at all of us and he said, 00:13:22.000 |
"Oh my gosh, you guys are so wonderful. I'm going to make you all children." 00:13:26.000 |
What do you think his children would say? His actual, real children? 00:13:33.000 |
But the idea is, we share in the inheritance. 00:13:40.000 |
And so, what we see just from that one thing is we just realize, 00:13:45.000 |
"Wow, that's not just like a nice transition we have there, 00:13:49.000 |
going from kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. 00:13:52.000 |
That is one of these, from the pits of where Satan belongs, 00:14:00.000 |
This transition from adoption where you're formerly children of wrath, 00:14:05.000 |
sons of disobedience, now to heirs of the glory of Christ. 00:14:10.000 |
It's like, "What in the world? This is just mind-blowing." 00:14:13.000 |
And so, what we want to talk about are the benefits, the privileges. 00:14:17.000 |
The privileges and the benefits of being called the Son of God. 00:14:22.000 |
First, or number two on your packet, it says this, 00:14:28.000 |
Adoption allows us to be able to speak to God as our good and loving Father. 00:14:34.000 |
Did you guys notice in that previous passage, in verse 15 of Romans chapter 8, 00:14:38.000 |
it says that we receive the spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, 00:14:46.000 |
And if you guys know the context of chapter 8, 00:14:49.000 |
there is this great agony amongst the people, 00:14:55.000 |
and there is an element then of encouragement saying, 00:14:58.000 |
"Hey, all the suffering and all these things seem light compared to the glory of Christ, 00:15:03.000 |
the weight of glory that is going to await us." 00:15:05.000 |
And this is in the midst of basically these sons then going through suffering 00:15:12.000 |
"God, help me. Abba! Father! I need your help." 00:15:20.000 |
Here's another passage in Galatians chapter 4, verse 1 through 7. 00:15:26.000 |
It's a really important passage for us to go to. 00:15:37.000 |
Do you want to read to us? Verses 1 through 7. 00:15:41.000 |
And it says, "Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, 00:15:45.000 |
he does not differ at all from a slave, although he is owner of everything. 00:15:50.000 |
For he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. 00:15:55.000 |
So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. 00:16:01.000 |
But when the fullness of the time came, God set forth His Son, 00:16:06.000 |
so that He might redeem those who are under the law, 00:16:12.000 |
Because you are sons, God has set forth the spirit of His Son into our hearts crying, 00:16:19.000 |
Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son. 00:16:26.000 |
And as you guys might have heard before, that term, 00:16:30.000 |
you know, when that term "Abba", when it comes out "Abba", 00:16:35.000 |
what's really interesting is in the Aramaic word. 00:16:38.000 |
And you guys have probably heard this before, but I think it's good for us to really review. 00:16:45.000 |
See, because there are passages like when Jesus teaches us to pray, 00:16:50.000 |
as a disciple, He says, "Pray, 'Our Father who art in heaven.'" 00:16:55.000 |
Well, what's the difference between "Father", "Pater", and this word "Abba"? 00:17:00.000 |
And you can already tell just from the sound of it. 00:17:04.000 |
How old, when you think of the word "Abba", how old do you think, you know, 00:17:09.000 |
the person who's speaking, how old do you think, when you picture that, 00:17:12.000 |
how old do you think or imagine they would be? 00:17:15.000 |
You would think of an adolescent, you would think of a child, right? 00:17:19.000 |
Where young kids, like the kids that we have at church, running around, 00:17:26.000 |
Running around, calling intimately, because that's really the term. 00:17:30.000 |
And then I remember, because I don't have kids that are a bit older, 00:17:35.000 |
but Pastor Peter's kids are a little older, so I'll use them as analogies. 00:17:39.000 |
But what's really funny is, you know, some of the Pastor Peter's children, 00:17:43.000 |
they're already in high school and whatnot, but then, 00:17:47.000 |
they still call Pastor Peter "Daddy", you know? 00:17:50.000 |
And I remember Pastor Peter told me, one of them, I'm not going to say who, 00:17:53.000 |
but one of them tried to be like, "Hey, Dad." 00:17:55.000 |
And he was like, "What? I'm still Daddy to you." 00:17:59.000 |
Why? Because he didn't want to lose the sense of intimacy. 00:18:03.000 |
So for us, when we think it is a privilege to be able to call God our Abba Father, 00:18:11.000 |
in just the way in which, for us, it's a privilege to have a Father who we are intimate with. 00:18:17.000 |
Now, as I look at the room, I know some of you guys in life don't know what that looks like, 00:18:22.000 |
because you just don't have a close relationship with your Dad. 00:18:28.000 |
Even from a lack, we can understand what a privilege it would be 00:18:33.000 |
to have a Father in which you are so intimate, 00:18:36.000 |
and where you can call Him because you're close. 00:18:38.000 |
You can seek Him when you need help because you know He cares. 00:18:41.000 |
You can go to Him because you know He's willing to give you His ear, 00:18:49.000 |
and He's willing to play that role of a caring Father 00:18:53.000 |
who's going to do all the things of protect, nurture, discipline, guide, teach. 00:18:59.000 |
In that way, we have this privilege to be able to call God our Abba Father. 00:19:07.000 |
And I think this is pretty amazing because I believe that for us, 00:19:11.000 |
God as our intimate Abba Father is the primary way we should be thinking about God. 00:19:17.000 |
Now it's like, "Whoa, but God is also our Creator, 00:19:20.000 |
God is also our Judge, He is our Master and Lord as we are His servants and slaves, 00:19:25.000 |
He's the King and we are His peasants, so to speak, His citizens." 00:19:30.000 |
But here's the thing, in my mind, just like again, 00:19:34.000 |
I think about the kind of relationships that we have, 00:19:39.000 |
I really think that the Father-Son relationship is the one 00:19:43.000 |
that should be the primary distinguishing relationship we have with our God. 00:19:52.000 |
And as my son is in a nursery and I'm the pastor over the education department, 00:20:06.000 |
You could have a dad who happens to be a judge. 00:20:09.000 |
You could have a dad who happens to be a prosecutor. 00:20:11.000 |
You could have a judge who happens to, I mean, you could have a father, 00:20:14.000 |
like some of our kids do, whose dad is a police officer, a fireman. 00:20:19.000 |
But as a police officer, he's in a position of authority, 00:20:21.000 |
but is that the primary way the children relate to the Father? 00:20:25.000 |
The primary way is the family relationship of God as our Father. 00:20:34.000 |
Moving forward, this communicates by God deciding to adopt, 00:20:40.000 |
by God saying, "I give you the right to become my children." 00:20:43.000 |
That act of God transferring you from the realm of Satan to now His kingdom of light. 00:20:53.000 |
That shows us and communicates to us God's love. 00:20:58.000 |
Take a look at Psalm 103, verses 13 through 14. 00:21:02.000 |
And it says this, "As a father has compassion on his children, 00:21:06.000 |
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. 00:21:19.000 |
This is Jesus' word, "Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 00:21:22.000 |
'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 00:21:25.000 |
For the Gentiles seek after all these things, 00:21:28.000 |
but our Heavenly Father knows that you need them all." 00:21:37.000 |
What is the cure for when you're sitting there having panic attacks, 00:21:40.000 |
"Oh my gosh, if I don't get this job, I'm going to die," 00:21:48.000 |
It says, "The cure is, if you are a disciple of God, 00:21:52.000 |
your life is in such a condition where you can be assured 00:22:02.000 |
Here's another one, "Ask and it will be given to you. 00:22:07.000 |
For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, 00:22:13.000 |
For which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, 00:22:18.000 |
Or if he asks for a fish, who will give him a serpent? 00:22:21.000 |
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, 00:22:26.000 |
how much more will your Father who is in Heaven give good things 00:22:40.000 |
simply try to do your best to take care of your kids. 00:22:43.000 |
And even though you guys are selfish, wicked, 00:22:47.000 |
when your kid asks for food, you care for him, 00:22:52.000 |
How much more than the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving God 00:22:58.000 |
1 John 3, 1-2, "See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, 00:23:03.000 |
that we would be called children of God, and such we are. 00:23:16.000 |
We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, 00:23:23.000 |
Now I want us to go over to Hebrews chapter 12, verses 5-11. 00:23:43.000 |
No, really, it's because earlier he was standing here, 00:23:45.000 |
but he had a suit, and then so he looked like this. 00:23:53.000 |
"And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? 00:23:58.000 |
My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, 00:24:10.000 |
It is for discipline that you have to endure. 00:24:15.000 |
For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 00:24:18.000 |
If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, 00:24:22.000 |
then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 00:24:25.000 |
Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us, 00:24:31.000 |
Shall we not much more be subject to the father of spirits and live? 00:24:35.000 |
For they discipline us for a short time, as it seemed best to them. 00:24:39.000 |
But He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness. 00:24:43.000 |
For the moment, all discipline seems painful, rather than pleasant. 00:24:47.000 |
But later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness 00:24:57.000 |
He says, when God is disciplining you, He is treating you as a son. 00:25:03.000 |
In my mind, when I read Proverbs, Proverbs teaches this, 00:25:08.000 |
that he who spares a rod hates his child, hates his son. 00:25:18.000 |
Discipline makes me risk the affection I have for my son. 00:25:25.000 |
And so people who are selfish, people who don't care enough for the child, 00:25:34.000 |
But if I care for you, if I love you, if I really, really love you 00:25:38.000 |
to the degree that I'm willing to do anything, no matter how hard, 00:25:41.000 |
to seek your good, to save you from flaw, to save you from sin, 00:25:45.000 |
to save you from that which is going to ultimately hurt you, 00:25:50.000 |
And this passage says, hey, remember when God is disciplining you, 00:25:57.000 |
And if He doesn't, if He says, just do whatever you want, 00:26:06.000 |
So again, the point being, this is for our good. 00:26:12.000 |
God as our Heavenly Father is loving us, and in my mind, as He loves us, 00:26:29.000 |
So the idea here is just a simple one, so we're going to go through it pretty quickly. 00:26:33.000 |
Just that there is a unique fellowship with Christ. 00:26:37.000 |
If you've been basically brought into the household of God, 00:26:40.000 |
you've got to imagine, there is just kind of -- 00:26:42.000 |
there is obviously straight up like awkwardness. 00:26:48.000 |
there would be awkwardness from the beginning. 00:26:51.000 |
But nonetheless, by Him bringing us into the family, 00:26:58.000 |
there's going to be now this unique, intimate fellowship with Christ. 00:27:04.000 |
And so that's why in the Scriptures it talks about you share in His suffering, 00:27:08.000 |
you share in His glory, you share in basically His everything. 00:27:12.000 |
Later on in Heaven, you share in His authority, you share on His throne, you share the love, you share everything. 00:27:19.000 |
That is a unique privilege granted to nobody else. 00:27:30.000 |
It's like, "Hey, God used you as an analogy for me. 00:27:34.000 |
I'm going to make you, you know, kind of like my best pal, my companion." 00:27:43.000 |
Or Gabriel, the one that God sends and uses as a messenger. 00:27:45.000 |
Why not have those individuals be in the family of God, heirs with Christ? 00:27:52.000 |
It's just a unique privilege that only comes through this adoption. 00:27:55.000 |
And so, if you notice these other passages, basically it's saying, 00:28:00.000 |
that you have as heir with Christ, you have a unique fellowship, 00:28:03.000 |
and that you share both the suffering, the subsequent glory, and the inheritance that is kept for you. 00:28:09.000 |
Moving forward, adoption allows us to be one family as a whole then too. 00:28:15.000 |
So anybody who, across the board, not just in the local church setting that we call us, 00:28:19.000 |
hey, brothers and sisters, but we call anybody in the universal family of God, the church of God, right? 00:28:30.000 |
Romans chapter 9, verse 7 through 8, it says, 00:28:33.000 |
"But it is not as though the word of God has failed, for they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel. 00:28:38.000 |
Nor are they all children, because they are Abraham's descendants. 00:28:41.000 |
But, through Isaac, your descendants will be made. 00:28:44.000 |
That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, 00:28:48.000 |
but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants." 00:28:52.000 |
And so basically, I have a list of passages there, and I'm just going to read a couple other ones. 00:28:57.000 |
Please go down to letter I, Galatians chapter 6, verse 10. 00:29:03.000 |
And it says, "So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, 00:29:09.000 |
and especially those who are of the household of faith." 00:29:14.000 |
Ephesians 2, 19, "So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, 00:29:26.000 |
Now, I want you to think about that for a moment, because, in our culture, again, 00:29:31.000 |
the household is at very, very, very dire risk. 00:29:39.000 |
So, the analogy doesn't hit us like it would if we were in the early first century. 00:29:48.000 |
It's kind of like if you watch the movie Braveheart, and then you meet a big guy. 00:29:54.000 |
Your first question is, "Which clan are you from?" 00:30:00.000 |
You basically say, "Oh, you know, the McLeods." 00:30:03.000 |
If we were back in the first century, if I said, "Hey, what do you think about this young lady for this young man?" 00:30:11.000 |
"Well, he comes from this dad, and this parents, and basically the families would know each other." 00:30:15.000 |
They would already know what kind of reputable guy that is. 00:30:21.000 |
But in our day and age, family is like, "Hey, we've got a family to get together later this month." 00:30:32.000 |
I feel like that's how it is nowadays, you know? 00:30:34.000 |
But back then, family was in essence their value of their own self-worth. 00:30:42.000 |
So, the well-being, not just of you, the individual, but the well-being of the family, equated to the person's happiness. 00:30:55.000 |
And you think about that, and then the scriptures say, "You, and you, and you, as now you are members of the household of God." 00:31:04.000 |
You ought to know how you need to behave then as a family. 00:31:07.000 |
You ought to know how you treat your brothers and sisters. 00:31:11.000 |
If you ever read 1 Timothy and Titus, it'll start talking about how, yeah, show respect to the older people. 00:31:17.000 |
And it says, "Don't really be an older man, but treat them like a father." 00:31:21.000 |
And then amongst the sisters, like if there's a woman, like treat her like a sister. 00:31:25.000 |
And it just keeps on going about how basically in the church, you need to function like a family. 00:31:32.000 |
This is a privilege that comes from the adoption. 00:31:40.000 |
Now by way of application for us, by way of application for us, a couple things here. 00:31:49.000 |
One, God expects us to be imitators of our Father, of our God. 00:31:56.000 |
If you notice here in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 1, that's number 1 underneath there, under the application section in your packet. 00:32:04.000 |
It says, "We are to imitate our Father in heaven in all our conduct." 00:32:09.000 |
Paul says, "Be imitators of God as beloved children." 00:32:14.000 |
Okay? "As beloved children, be imitators of God." 00:32:17.000 |
And then Peter echoes this theme when he says, "As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former inmates. 00:32:24.000 |
But as He who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct. 00:32:31.000 |
Since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'" 00:32:35.000 |
And if you refer back to John chapter 8, when Jesus is talking to these individuals who took pride in the fact that 00:32:42.000 |
our Father is Abraham, and then Jesus' words were, "But Abraham never did what you did." 00:32:51.000 |
If you really are sons of Abraham, do the deeds of Abraham. 00:32:56.000 |
Likewise, if you really are the son of God, not the son of God, sorry. 00:33:02.000 |
If you really are children of God, if you really are individuals adopted into His family, 00:33:09.000 |
why would you still act like you belong to another family? 00:33:12.000 |
If you went from being a park to a limb, why behave like still you're functioning underneath the authority of the parks? 00:33:21.000 |
I say that because my wife's maiden name is Park. 00:33:25.000 |
I believe, you know, before she married me, there's a sense in which her father as a man of the house had a big sense of authority. 00:33:34.000 |
But now that I have, what, been married to her, now that she is a limb, 00:33:39.000 |
there's an automatic sense in which no longer does she function, no longer does she seek the approval, 00:33:45.000 |
no longer does she go under the leadership of the man of that house, now she is under the leadership of the man of this house. 00:33:51.000 |
Likewise, when a child is under the leadership of one house to another, 00:33:55.000 |
why would you still function like you're still trying to approve of what Satan is doing? 00:34:05.000 |
So the idea is that we need to, we need to imitate our father as children of God. 00:34:14.000 |
But next, basically, the scriptures tell us that because our father, right, is God, we need to boast in Him. 00:34:32.000 |
So this, I don't know how to phrase this point really well. 00:34:35.000 |
It's one of those points where just, you're reading some of these things and there's a lot of passages about this. 00:34:43.000 |
But let me have some of you guys read this a little bit. 00:34:45.000 |
Jason, can you read out from your packet, the first one, Matthew 5, 16? 00:34:52.000 |
"When we walk in the paths of righteous conduct," is that what you're referring to? 00:35:05.000 |
"Our Heavenly Father, and bring glory to Him when we act in a way that is pleasing to God, 00:35:11.000 |
we are to do so that others may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in Heaven." 00:35:18.000 |
"As Paul encourages Philippians to maintain pure conduct before unbelievers, 00:35:22.000 |
that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish, 00:35:27.000 |
in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world." 00:35:34.000 |
And it says this, "By this it may be seen who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. 00:35:40.000 |
Whoever does not do right is not of God, nor he who does not love his brother." 00:35:50.000 |
So, we end with this idea about what application of our adoption. 00:35:56.000 |
We need to be living in such a way where our boast is in God and the people that are basically viewing us are saying, 00:36:11.000 |
It's kind of like right now, you know, parents push their kids so much. 00:36:17.000 |
I used to work at an after school academy and I had some kids that basically lived at that academy. 00:36:23.000 |
They would come straight from school and they wouldn't leave until like 8pm, 8.30pm. 00:36:30.000 |
And then I realized basically none of these kids ask their parents like, 00:36:35.000 |
"Can I please go to academy 5 days a week?" you know. 00:36:38.000 |
"Can I please go to after school program and skip dinner?" 00:36:43.000 |
What was happening is the parents were really just pushing and pushing. 00:36:46.000 |
And what I found prettiest, like just, not just astonishing but disheartening, 00:36:52.000 |
was the fact that basically what the parents are doing is competing with each other through their children. 00:36:59.000 |
What I create my child to be is going to reflect on me. 00:37:09.000 |
It's not good for the parents, it's not good for the kids. 00:37:12.000 |
But, however, I found I can see why they think like that. 00:37:17.000 |
Because even for me, as I was a teacher, if there was one crazy kid, 00:37:22.000 |
automatically I'd look at the parent and be like, "Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk." 00:37:26.000 |
Like, "What are you doing wrong at home?" you know. 00:37:30.000 |
But if I saw a really well-behaved, very obedient child, what do I think when I look at the parents? 00:37:35.000 |
"What are you doing wrong at home? Like, how are you at home?" you know. 00:37:38.000 |
And I found that kind of to be an interesting, you know, interesting thing. 00:37:50.000 |
automatically by the way that people look at us, there is a reference to God. 00:37:55.000 |
There is an automatic either blessing of the Lord, or there is going to be a glorifying of the Lord. 00:38:04.000 |
You then live in such a way that when people see your lives, they automatically say, 00:38:13.000 |
Now by way of conclusion, I want to basically ask this question. 00:38:17.000 |
So adoption again, we believe, is the act of God. 00:38:21.000 |
He is taking you from the, you know, again, previously, household of the fallen, 00:38:29.000 |
and then He's bringing you into the household of God. 00:38:32.000 |
And in this, it's so different from regeneration, it's so different from justification, 00:38:37.000 |
because the word comes to my mind again, this is so much more than redemption. 00:38:48.000 |
It is one thing for God to replace us where we originally were. 00:38:54.000 |
It's like we did minus 10, and then He added 10, so we're now back at zero. 00:39:06.000 |
But adoption is so much more than redemption. 00:39:11.000 |
Because He could have regenerated us, justified us, and then just stopped. 00:39:17.000 |
Now we'd be this given new life, and then we'd be given what? 00:39:23.000 |
But then He could have easily just made us servants of the angels. 00:39:31.000 |
but why couldn't have God just made us servants of the angels? 00:39:35.000 |
Why for eternity that we would be at the, you know, whims and wishes of the angels, 00:39:39.000 |
serving them, caring for them, watching over them. 00:39:45.000 |
So when you think about adoption, this is just so much more than just setting things right. 00:39:51.000 |
It's so much more than just setting things to neutral and back to zero. 00:40:01.000 |
Is there any questions from the passages or the concept that we learned today? 00:40:07.000 |
Alright, well next week we're going to hit a very important topic about sanctification. 00:40:17.000 |
Now, if you guys would please, that doesn't make any sense at all. 00:40:37.000 |
And then, just read your Bible passages, 2 Timothy 2 and then also 1 Thessalonians 4. 00:40:43.000 |
But I want to give you guys a heads up that, you know, 00:40:47.000 |
that segment next week on sanctification is going to be pretty huge. 00:40:53.000 |
Because I definitely feel that there has been misconceptions about sanctification. 00:41:01.000 |
I look at this room and some of you guys I've been to church with for like a decade. 00:41:05.000 |
And, you know, we're going to have, basically, our lives living in the process of being sanctified. 00:41:15.000 |
And so we have to study and kind of determine, what does God expect, right? 00:41:21.000 |
What does God expect when He says, "I want you to be sanctified." Okay? 00:41:27.000 |
So, let me pray for us, close off, and you guys can have your time of discussion there. 00:41:51.000 |
And as we study this series of the salvation that you give us, 00:41:58.000 |
I think that God, you know, what really amazes us is that, truly, we can come to you as our Abba Father. 00:42:07.000 |
If you were nothing but a judge to us, we would be living in utter fear. 00:42:12.000 |
And if you were not our Father, but only the authority and King, 00:42:18.000 |
then God would simply be your slaves who had no part in the inheritance of your household. 00:42:24.000 |
But God, to be now considered your sons, and to be able to come to you with every hurt and pain, 00:42:31.000 |
come to you even when at our own fault and at our own selfishness and sin we make a mess, 00:42:38.000 |
but be able to come to you for forgiveness, be able to come to you for sanctification, 00:42:42.000 |
to be able to come to you for help in the time of our need. 00:42:51.000 |
So we want to thank you, Lord, and I pray that if any of us here are struggling to keep you as our first love, 00:42:59.000 |
struggling to keep you as the number one affection of our hearts, 00:43:03.000 |
I pray that this study would have refreshed them. 00:43:06.000 |
And I pray that throughout the week, Lord, they would be thinking about how they have a unique, unique privilege, 00:43:13.000 |
aside from the holy creatures of heaven, that God, we as simple men, would be now considered sons of God. 00:43:20.000 |
We want to thank you again, it's in Christ that we pray.