I want to read to us a passage from John chapter 8. John chapter 8. And in this Jesus Christ is teaching, and this is what He says starting from verse 39. So just to get a context I'm going to start from 34 and read a lengthier passage. And it says this, "Jesus answered them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.

The slave does not remain in the house forever, but the Son does remain forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are Abraham's descendants, and you seek to kill me, because my word has no place in you. I speak the things which I have seen with my father, therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father.' They answered and said to him, 'Abraham is our father.' So Jesus said to them, 'If you are Abraham's children, do the deeds of Abraham.

But as it is, you are seeking to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God. This Abraham did not do. You are doing the deeds of your father.' Obviously they're upset and they say to him, 'We were not born of fornification. We have one father, God.' And Jesus said to them, 'If God were your father, you would love me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God.

For I have not even come on my own initiative, but He sent me. Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear my words. You are of your father, the devil. And you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.

Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature. For he is a liar and a father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe me?' He who is of God hears the words of God.

For this reason, you do not hear them, because you are not of God." Today, we're talking about this whole idea of, to which family line do you belong? If you are a child and a descendant, who are your ancestors? More specifically, who is your father? And we think about that because that has a lot to do with our topic in relation to an aspect of our salvation, which is going to be our adoption in Christ.

Before we begin, let's pray and ask for the Lord's blessing. Father, we want to thank you again for your scripture. I pray, Lord, that as we are really digging deep into the details of what you have accomplished, and we're digging deep into the kind of work you had to do, how you declare us righteous, how you renew us in life, how you foreordain, how you call, all these kind of things, Lord.

All the more we get a more vivid picture of your great love for us, and so we thank you. God, we want to pray, Lord, that as we tonight study the topic of adoption, God, that our hearts would be encouraged, but all the more, Lord, we would realize the weight, the weight of love, the weight of responsibility, the weight of what you have given us, Lord.

This we pray in Christ's name, Amen. So, today we're talking about adoption. Now, here's the thing is, regeneration again entails the giving of, basically, new life. You're being born again. You're being changed from that dead person who is lifeless and cannot respond, right? Cannot respond at all, to being an individual who can respond to the call of the Spirit.

And then when we talked about justification, justification was the act of God where He pronounced you. He declared you. You standing before me as judge, you are guiltless. Not only that, through Christ, you are righteous, right? Now, adoption, some people will say, "No, adoption is not so much like an act of God.

It's kind of like when we, in the beginning of this whole series, talked about ransom, talked about atonement. These are big, broad strokes. Those are big categories of what God did in their salvation. So, someone says, "God adopted you." They're talking about the totality of salvation. That's true. In one sense, that's true.

But the reason why today we're talking about it in this process is because it definitely seems, okay, it definitely seems, that this has both a chronological and a very specific act of God where He makes you His son, okay? So, in theology, adoption will be basically an act of God whereby He makes us members of His family, okay?

So, just think about that for a moment, alright? To bring you to a point of salvation, not only does He foreordain, call, regenerate, and then He, or regenerate, calls, okay, justifies, and then He adopts you. Now, the reason why I'm calling this part of the salvation, okay, you might be thinking not so much like, "Oh, what is that really saving from?

Is that actually saving from sin?" And my basic argument is, look at what Jesus just said, okay? In the passage that we just read in John chapter 8, our previous circumstance was a circumstance in which we were sons of God's enemy. We were members of the family, so to speak, okay, of the fallen angels.

That's weird to think about. But what I want to also highlight to you is when we read that passage, Jesus Christ started speaking about how when Satan sins, and when Satan lies, why does he do that? It's because of his nature. He lies because he is a liar. That's what he says.

The passage I want to point out to you again is verse 44. "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.

Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature." That being the case, when the Scriptures views us prior to salvation, when the Scriptures sees us in our sinful state, they call us children of wrath. If you look over at Ephesians 2, please turn your Bibles over there.

Ephesians 2, verse 2. I'm going to start reading actually from verse 1, and I'll go over to verse 3. Ephesians 2, verse 1-3. It says, "And you are dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of the world, according to the prince of the power of the air, according to the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

Among them, we too all formerly lived in the lust of the flesh, indulging the desire of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath." Now, I want you guys to take a very close look at what verse 2 is saying. Notice how it says, "according to, and according to." So your life was in accord with the prince of the power of the air, which is Satan.

And it says, "Your life was basically formerly in the pattern of this realm, you sons of disobedience." What do we need saving from? Is this act just one of those benefits that come from God already saving us? What is adoption? Well, it gives us a better picture of what adoption is, when we realize which family we belong to.

When we realize what kind of circumstance and situation were ours in reality, in spiritual reality. Here's another verse. Jump over to chapter 5 of Ephesians, verse 6. Okay? Chapter 5, verse 6. And he says, "Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

Therefore do not be partakers with them, for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the world. Walk as children of light." You see these words being used very frequently now. Okay? It's not just one reference, it's a bunch. You were sons of disobedience previously. You were the sons of the darkness.

You were in it. You were the darkness. You know, that's what it's really trying to push in there. But now you are the light. You by nature have become different. Alright? And so, the beautiful truth of the scriptures, the beautiful truth of the gospel message, is that now in Christ, we have adoptions of sons.

And let's go to some of these passages. Look at John 1, chapter 12. Oh, sorry. John chapter 1, verse 12. And it says, "But to all who received it, who believed in His name, He gave the power," and in some of your chapters it'll say, "The right to become children of God." Alright?

He gave you this right. I want you to just think for a moment. Okay? Just think for a moment. I recently read an article about how Bill Gates actually turns out to be a really, really good guy. Out of his--at one time he had somewhere close to $56 billion.

Well, he's donated about $34 billion of that. Supposedly 500 million children have been saved from malaria because he's created devices that'll kill mosquitoes on the spot with a blue laser. He's done basically humanitarian work all over the globe. This guy has bought like literature and material to just pass out to people things that were copyrighted and he thinks it's good for education.

What he'll do is he'll buy the entire patent or copyright and he'll pass it down. Well, do you know why I'm talking about this? Because there's a sense in which I'm like, "Man, I wish I could be like him one day." Right? But then there's another part. Let me just post you a hypothetical scenario.

There's another part where in the article it said he was going to give only $10 million to his children. But obviously they have resources and access to all that he's built. 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." I'm like, "$10 million?

I would like to be your child." "I'll have to make my own way." "Oh, make my own way. Suffer with $10 million." But the question is, I mean, that guy seems really like a humanitarian. He seems in many ways principled. Can I become his child? 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. Would you take me into your house?" Obviously the right, right? The right or the power to become his child is nothing you just, you know, take for yourself. It's nothing you just walk up to his house and say, "I would like to be your son." This is to those who believe that you have that right.

Romans 8, verse 14-17. "For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God." Well, these are sons of God, yeah. "For you have not received the spirit of slavery leading to the fear again, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, 'Abba, Father.'" The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.

And if children, this is His logic, okay? If children, heirs also, heirs of God, fellow heirs with Christ, indeed we suffer with Him so that we might be glorified with Him. His logic is so sound. He gave us the right to be children and the Spirit confirms that we are children.

But if we are then His children, then we are heirs. What do you think of when you automatically think heirs? He is heir to the throne, authority. He is an heir, meaning He is going to have the inheritance. He is going to have, and He says, the glory. Who are we that we should be having the glory of Christ, the only Son of God?

Who are we that we should have the inheritance of God? Who are we that Christ would share any of that with us? I can imagine now, if it so happened, it would be ridiculous. But if it so happened that Bill Gates walked in here, he looked at all of us and he said, "Oh my gosh, you guys are so wonderful.

I'm going to make you all children." What do you think his children would say? His actual, real children? Right? Have you ever thought about that? But the idea is, we share in the inheritance. We share in the inheritance. And so, what we see just from that one thing is we just realize, "Wow, that's not just like a nice transition we have there, going from kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light.

That is one of these, from the pits of where Satan belongs, to the heights of where Christ belongs. This transition from adoption where you're formerly children of wrath, sons of disobedience, now to heirs of the glory of Christ. It's like, "What in the world? This is just mind-blowing." And so, what we want to talk about are the benefits, the privileges.

The privileges and the benefits of being called the Son of God. First, or number two on your packet, it says this, the privilege is adoption. Adoption allows us to be able to speak to God as our good and loving Father. Did you guys notice in that previous passage, in verse 15 of Romans chapter 8, it says that we receive the spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba!

Father!" Right? And if you guys know the context of chapter 8, there is this great agony amongst the people, and there is an element of suffering, and there is an element then of encouragement saying, "Hey, all the suffering and all these things seem light compared to the glory of Christ, the weight of glory that is going to await us." And this is in the midst of basically these sons then going through suffering and being able to cry out, "God, help me.

Abba! Father! I need your help." This is a beautiful picture. Here's another passage in Galatians chapter 4, verse 1 through 7. Can you guys string your Bibles there? It's a really important passage for us to go to. Galatians chapter 4. Do you want to read to us? Verses 1 through 7.

And it says, "Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave, although he is owner of everything. For he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world.

But when the fullness of the time came, God set forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that He might redeem those who are under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has set forth the spirit of His Son into our hearts crying, "Abba!

Father!" Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir through God." Pretty cool passage, right? And as you guys might have heard before, that term, you know, when that term "Abba", when it comes out "Abba", what's really interesting is in the Aramaic word.

And you guys have probably heard this before, but I think it's good for us to really review. What kind of term is that? See, because there are passages like when Jesus teaches us to pray, as a disciple, He says, "Pray, 'Our Father who art in heaven.'" Well, what's the difference between "Father", "Pater", and this word "Abba"?

And you can already tell just from the sound of it. How old, when you think of the word "Abba", how old do you think, you know, the person who's speaking, how old do you think, when you picture that, how old do you think or imagine they would be? You would think of an adolescent, you would think of a child, right?

Where young kids, like the kids that we have at church, running around, "Abba, Abba, Abba", you know? Running around, calling intimately, because that's really the term. And then I remember, because I don't have kids that are a bit older, but Pastor Peter's kids are a little older, so I'll use them as analogies.

But what's really funny is, you know, some of the Pastor Peter's children, they're already in high school and whatnot, but then, they still call Pastor Peter "Daddy", you know? And I remember Pastor Peter told me, one of them, I'm not going to say who, but one of them tried to be like, "Hey, Dad." And he was like, "What?

I'm still Daddy to you." Why? Because he didn't want to lose the sense of intimacy. So for us, when we think it is a privilege to be able to call God our Abba Father, in just the way in which, for us, it's a privilege to have a Father who we are intimate with.

Now, as I look at the room, I know some of you guys in life don't know what that looks like, because you just don't have a close relationship with your Dad. But we can understand what that is. Even from a lack, we can understand what a privilege it would be to have a Father in which you are so intimate, and where you can call Him because you're close.

You can seek Him when you need help because you know He cares. You can go to Him because you know He's willing to give you His ear, He's willing to give you His time, and He's willing to play that role of a caring Father who's going to do all the things of protect, nurture, discipline, guide, teach.

In that way, we have this privilege to be able to call God our Abba Father. So it's a drastic shift. And I think this is pretty amazing because I believe that for us, God as our intimate Abba Father is the primary way we should be thinking about God. Now it's like, "Whoa, but God is also our Creator, God is also our Judge, He is our Master and Lord as we are His servants and slaves, He's the King and we are His peasants, so to speak, His citizens." But here's the thing, in my mind, just like again, I think about the kind of relationships that we have, I really think that the Father-Son relationship is the one that should be the primary distinguishing relationship we have with our God.

Why? Because for example, I'm a pastor, right? And as my son is in a nursery and I'm the pastor over the education department, guess what, I'm also his pastor. Does that have my primary relationship? No. Right? You could have a dad who happens to be a judge. You could have a dad who happens to be a prosecutor.

You could have a judge who happens to, I mean, you could have a father, like some of our kids do, whose dad is a police officer, a fireman. But as a police officer, he's in a position of authority, but is that the primary way the children relate to the Father?

No. The primary way is the family relationship of God as our Father. So what a privilege that is. What a privilege that is. Moving forward, this communicates by God deciding to adopt, by God saying, "I give you the right to become my children." That act of God transferring you from the realm of Satan to now His kingdom of light.

That shows us and communicates to us God's love. Take a look at Psalm 103, verses 13 through 14. And it says this, "As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. For He knows how we are formed. He remembers that we are dust." Let's look at another passage.

This is Jesus' word, "Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, but our Heavenly Father knows that you need them all." He knows. What is the cure for your anxiety and fear?

What is the cure for when you're sitting there having panic attacks, "Oh my gosh, if I don't get this job, I'm going to die," or "Oh my gosh, if I don't pass this grade." What is the cure? It says, "The cure is, if you are a disciple of God, your life is in such a condition where you can be assured God already knows the needs that you have." Right?

That's the cure. Here's another one, "Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and the one who knocks, it will be opened. For which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?

Or if he asks for a fish, who will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in Heaven give good things to those who ask Him?" Right? So the contrast, obviously, is like, look, you here on Earth, you men, simply try to do your best to take care of your kids.

And even though you guys are selfish, wicked, you guys are in the flesh, when your kid asks for food, you care for him, and you meet his needs. How much more than the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving God would He take care of us? 1 John 3, 1-2, "See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God, and such we are.

For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him, beloved. Now we are children of God. It has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is." Pretty cool passage.

Now I want us to go over to Hebrews chapter 12, verses 5-11. Hebrews chapter 12, verses 5-11. And I have Johnny Booth, Reverend Booth. Just kidding. No, really, it's because earlier he was standing here, but he had a suit, and then so he looked like this. Okay. Can you read verses 5-11, please?

"And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when you prove by Him. For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure.

God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the father of spirits and live?

For they discipline us for a short time, as it seemed best to them. But He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness. For the moment, all discipline seems painful, rather than pleasant. But later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

So you guys see the point of this passage. He says, when God is disciplining you, He is treating you as a son. In my mind, when I read Proverbs, Proverbs teaches this, that he who spares a rod hates his child, hates his son. Why? Because discipline is difficult. Discipline is unpleasant.

Discipline makes me risk the affection I have for my son. Right? And so people who are selfish, people who don't care enough for the child, are not going to do it. I don't want to do that, it's too tough. But if I care for you, if I love you, if I really, really love you to the degree that I'm willing to do anything, no matter how hard, to seek your good, to save you from flaw, to save you from sin, to save you from that which is going to ultimately hurt you, then I'm going to do it.

And this passage says, hey, remember when God is disciplining you, He is treating you like a legitimate son. And if He doesn't, if He says, just do whatever you want, that just means you're not a son. Right? That's what the passage is saying. So again, the point being, this is for our good.

God as our Heavenly Father is loving us, and in my mind, as He loves us, He is always seeking our good. Amen. Let's move forward. Adoption allows us to be heirs with Christ. Okay? Adoption allows us to be heirs with Christ. So the idea here is just a simple one, so we're going to go through it pretty quickly.

Just that there is a unique fellowship with Christ. If you've been basically brought into the household of God, you've got to imagine, there is just kind of -- there is obviously straight up like awkwardness. You know, as I think about that scenario, there would be awkwardness from the beginning.

Right? But nonetheless, by Him bringing us into the family, and Christ being the Son of God, there's going to be now this unique, intimate fellowship with Christ. Right? And so that's why in the Scriptures it talks about you share in His suffering, you share in His glory, you share in basically His everything.

Later on in Heaven, you share in His authority, you share on His throne, you share the love, you share everything. That is a unique privilege granted to nobody else. No angels. Right? No other creature of God. Why is it that big old lion? It's like, "Hey, God used you as an analogy for me.

I'm going to make you, you know, kind of like my best pal, my companion." Or an angel, Michael the archangel. Right? Or Gabriel, the one that God sends and uses as a messenger. Why not have those individuals be in the family of God, heirs with Christ? I don't know.

It's just a unique privilege that only comes through this adoption. And so, if you notice these other passages, basically it's saying, that you have as heir with Christ, you have a unique fellowship, and that you share both the suffering, the subsequent glory, and the inheritance that is kept for you.

Moving forward, adoption allows us to be one family as a whole then too. So anybody who, across the board, not just in the local church setting that we call us, hey, brothers and sisters, but we call anybody in the universal family of God, the church of God, right? Saying, "Brother" or "Sister." And that is a unique privilege.

Romans chapter 9, verse 7 through 8, it says, "But it is not as though the word of God has failed, for they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel. Nor are they all children, because they are Abraham's descendants. But, through Isaac, your descendants will be made. That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants." Okay?

And so basically, I have a list of passages there, and I'm just going to read a couple other ones. Please go down to letter I, Galatians chapter 6, verse 10. And it says, "So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially those who are of the household of faith." Ephesians 2, 19, "So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and members of the household of God." Right?

Members of the household of God. Now, I want you to think about that for a moment, because, in our culture, again, the household is at very, very, very dire risk. Okay? Broken homes, way too many of them. So, the analogy doesn't hit us like it would if we were in the early first century.

Right? Where family was everything. It's kind of like if you watch the movie Braveheart, and then you meet a big guy. Your first question is, "Which clan are you from?" Right? "I'm from the McLeods." You basically say, "Oh, you know, the McLeods." If we were back in the first century, if I said, "Hey, what do you think about this young lady for this young man?" They would know each other's families.

"Well, he comes from this dad, and this parents, and basically the families would know each other." They would already know what kind of reputable guy that is. Right? Family was like everything back then. But in our day and age, family is like, "Hey, we've got a family to get together later this month." "Ah, it's going to be too complicated.

Too much money." And then it's like nothing. I feel like that's how it is nowadays, you know? But back then, family was in essence their value of their own self-worth. If their family did well, they felt happy. So, the well-being, not just of you, the individual, but the well-being of the family, equated to the person's happiness.

Right? And the family bonds were so strong. So strong. 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." Right? You ought to know how you need to behave then as a family. You ought to know how you treat your brothers and sisters.

And so there's a passage here, 1 Timothy. If you ever read 1 Timothy and Titus, it'll start talking about how, yeah, show respect to the older people. And it says, "Don't really be an older man, but treat them like a father." Right? And then amongst the sisters, like if there's a woman, like treat her like a sister.

And it just keeps on going about how basically in the church, you need to function like a family. Okay? This is a privilege that comes from the adoption. Our adoption as sons of God. Now by way of application for us, by way of application for us, a couple things here.

Okay? One, God expects us to be imitators of our Father, of our God. Okay? If you notice here in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 1, that's number 1 underneath there, under the application section in your packet. It says, "We are to imitate our Father in heaven in all our conduct." Paul says, "Be imitators of God as beloved children." Okay?

"As beloved children, be imitators of God." And then Peter echoes this theme when he says, "As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former inmates. But as He who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct. Since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'" And if you refer back to John chapter 8, when Jesus is talking to these individuals who took pride in the fact that our Father is Abraham, and then Jesus' words were, "But Abraham never did what you did." If you really are sons of Abraham, do the deeds of Abraham.

Right? Likewise, if you really are the son of God, not the son of God, sorry. If you really are children of God, if you really are individuals adopted into His family, why would you still act like you belong to another family? If you went from being a park to a limb, why behave like still you're functioning underneath the authority of the parks?

I say that because my wife's maiden name is Park. 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. Right? But now that I have, what, been married to her, now that she is a limb, there's an automatic sense in which no longer does she function, no longer does she seek the approval, 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.

Likewise, when a child is under the leadership of one house to another, why would you still function like you're still trying to approve of what Satan is doing? Automatic, like, absolute nonsense, right? So the idea is that we need to, we need to imitate our father as children of God.

Right? But next, basically, the scriptures tell us that because our father, right, is God, we need to boast in Him. Now I use the words, we need to glorify Him. But look at what all these passages say. So this, I don't know how to phrase this point really well.

It's one of those points where just, you're reading some of these things and there's a lot of passages about this. So, these are just a sampling actually. But let me have some of you guys read this a little bit. Jason, can you read out from your packet, the first one, Matthew 5, 16?

(Pause) "When we walk in the paths of righteous conduct," is that what you're referring to? Yep. "Our Heavenly Father, and bring glory to Him when we act in a way that is pleasing to God, we are to do so that others may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in Heaven." Okay.

"As Paul encourages Philippians to maintain pure conduct before unbelievers, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world." Right? And it says this, "By this it may be seen who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil.

Whoever does not do right is not of God, nor he who does not love his brother." Right? So, we end with this idea about what application of our adoption. 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, "Wow!

Your Father is amazing!" Right? It's kind of like right now, you know, parents push their kids so much. I used to work at an after school academy and I had some kids that basically lived at that academy. They would come straight from school and they wouldn't leave until like 8pm, 8.30pm.

I'm like, "Oh my gosh!" you know. And then I realized basically none of these kids ask their parents like, "Can I please go to academy 5 days a week?" you know. "Can I please go to after school program and skip dinner?" None of them ask that. What was happening is the parents were really just pushing and pushing.

And what I found prettiest, like just, not just astonishing but disheartening, was the fact that basically what the parents are doing is competing with each other through their children. What I create my child to be is going to reflect on me. Right? Which is pretty crazy. Now in my mind, that's not good for them.

It's not good for the parents, it's not good for the kids. But, however, I found I can see why they think like that. Because even for me, as I was a teacher, if there was one crazy kid, automatically I'd look at the parent and be like, "Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk." Like, "What are you doing wrong at home?" you know.

But if I saw a really well-behaved, very obedient child, what do I think when I look at the parents? "What are you doing wrong at home? Like, how are you at home?" you know. And I found that kind of to be an interesting, you know, interesting thing. But here's my point.

With us as adopted children of God, automatically by the way that people look at us, there is a reference to God. There is an automatic either blessing of the Lord, or there is going to be a glorifying of the Lord. And the passage is clearly challenging us. You then live in such a way that when people see your lives, they automatically say, "Wow!

Your God is glorious." Now by way of conclusion, I want to basically ask this question. So adoption again, we believe, is the act of God. He is taking you from the, you know, again, previously, household of the fallen, and then He's bringing you into the household of God. And in this, it's so different from regeneration, it's so different from justification, because the word comes to my mind again, this is so much more than redemption.

Okay? This is so much more than redemption. It is one thing for God to replace us where we originally were. It's like we did minus 10, and then He added 10, so we're now back at zero. That would be like setting things right. That would be like caves starting over.

But adoption is so much more than redemption. Because He could have regenerated us, justified us, and then just stopped. Now we'd be this given new life, and then we'd be given what? Justification as in a standing before God? But then He could have easily just made us servants of the angels.

God made the angels servants of mankind, but why couldn't have God just made us servants of the angels? Why for eternity that we would be at the, you know, whims and wishes of the angels, serving them, caring for them, watching over them. That could have easily been the case.

So when you think about adoption, this is just so much more than just setting things right. It's so much more than just setting things to neutral and back to zero. It's so much more than redemption. So that's the lesson on adoption. Is there any questions from the passages or the concept that we learned today?

Alright, well next week we're going to hit a very important topic about sanctification. Sanctification, okay? Now, if you guys would please, that doesn't make any sense at all. What comes first? Question mark? Read this. Cross out what comes first. Okay. I'm a little sick. And so my thinking has been kind of, "Woo!" And then, just read your Bible passages, 2 Timothy 2 and then also 1 Thessalonians 4.

But I want to give you guys a heads up that, you know, that segment next week on sanctification is going to be pretty huge. Because I definitely feel that there has been misconceptions about sanctification. But also, for all of us in this room, I look at this room and some of you guys I've been to church with for like a decade.

And, you know, we're going to have, basically, our lives living in the process of being sanctified. And so we have to study and kind of determine, what does God expect, right? What does God expect when He says, "I want you to be sanctified." Okay? So, let me pray for us, close off, and you guys can have your time of discussion there.

Father God, we thank you and praise you. Lord, I'm sure there are times God, um... Oh man, um... Lord God, we are just thoroughly amazed. And as we study this series of the salvation that you give us, I think that God, you know, what really amazes us is that, truly, we can come to you as our Abba Father.

If you were nothing but a judge to us, we would be living in utter fear. And if you were not our Father, but only the authority and King, then God would simply be your slaves who had no part in the inheritance of your household. But God, to be now considered your sons, and to be able to come to you with every hurt and pain, come to you even when at our own fault and at our own selfishness and sin we make a mess, but be able to come to you for forgiveness, be able to come to you for sanctification, to be able to come to you for help in the time of our need.

What great grace is that, Lord? How much love have you given us, God? 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, struggling to keep you as the number one affection of our hearts, I pray that this study would have refreshed them.

And I pray that throughout the week, Lord, they would be thinking about how they have a unique, unique privilege, aside from the holy creatures of heaven, that God, we as simple men, would be now considered sons of God. We want to thank you again, it's in Christ that we pray.