Order of Salvation - 7. Adoption

And we are of course continuing our study of the Ordo Salutis, or the order of salvation. And thus far we've talked about election, we talked about free will, we talked about the gospel call, and then we've sort of, those are all things that We kind of thought about leading up to that moment of conversion. And then at conversion, we've talked about effectual calling and regeneration. We've talked about conversion itself as we respond to the gospel in repentance and faith. And then, starting last week, we began talking about the blessings we receive when we come through repentance and faith to be in union with Christ. And so specifically we talked about justification, when God declares us to be righteous in his sight. And this is a very brief review. I said that this is a legal declaration. So justification is not about an inward change, but a change in our standing before God. Justification works by the logic of imputation. So our sin is imputed or counted or accredited to Christ, and His righteousness is imputed or counted or credited to us. And therefore, it's both, there's a negative and a positive aspect to justification. So justification is not just forgiveness. It's not just our sin being taken away. That would get us back to neutral. That would get us back to like Adam in the garden. But justification is also positively being declared righteous, receiving the very righteousness of Christ. So we have a positive, righteous standing before God on the basis of which we're counted worthy of eternal life. And then finally, I said that justification is something that's instantaneous and perfect. The moment we believe in Christ, we are as justified before God as it's possible to be. The very righteousness of Christ clothes us. So that is this wonderful blessing of justification. Now, tonight we are going to move on to a second great blessing through union with Christ, which is adoption. And, of course, adoption can be simply defined as when God makes us his children. And I have just listed four kind of important points to note about adoption. I'm just going to walk through those, and then we're going to try to spend a lot of time on application tonight, because there's a lot of ways we can apply this doctrine. So what does this mean when God makes us his children? Well, first, it means that we were not children of God before. In fact, borrowing from J. Gresham Machen, he really fleshed this out in a helpful way. Really at the core of liberal theology is this idea of the universal fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of man. The liberalism at root, it kind of wants to just make the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man universal. And all sorts of other things doctrinally start falling apart when you do that. But the Bible actually does not say that we are just by virtue of being human, all children of God, and he's the father of everyone. The Bible holds up this very precious truth of adoption. So for example, in John chapter one, verses 12 and 13, John writes, but to all who did receive him, that is Jesus, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. who were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God." Right? So we become children of God through faith in Christ. In fact, apart from Christ, Ephesians 2, 3 tells us that we were children of wrath. And in John 8, Jesus tells some Pharisees there that they're children of the devil. You know, they claim, oh, God is our father. And Jesus says to them, if God were your father, you would love me. For I came from God and I am here. But then he says, you are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. So clearly, Jesus is not teaching the universal fatherhood of God there. Adoption is a special blessing for Christians through faith in Christ. And that brings us to the second point, which is that the foundation for adoption is union with Christ. And of course, the key here is, you know, Jesus himself is the eternal Son of God. And so our adoption into the family of God comes through our connection, our union with him. As Galatians 3 verse 26 says, for in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. So this wonderful truth that the fundamental identity that defines us is who we are in Christ. And in Christ we are all sons of God. So it's our union with Christ that becomes the foundation for our adoption. Now, two others that I think maybe are a little bit more less familiar to us. We'll put it that way. So the third point is that because of adoption, we receive the indwelling spirit. So notice how, this is in Galatians chapter 4 verse 4 and following, notice how Paul connects the blessing of the gift of the Spirit who comes to reside within us with our sonship. So in Galatians, pick up in verse 4 of Galatians 4. Paul writes, and because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. So you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir through God. So Paul says that it's because we are sons, because we have adoption, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, who cries, Abba, Father. So this gift of the indwelling spirit, through which we have this most personal of relations to God, well, it seems that that is a gift only for family. That's not something for God's acquaintances, that's not something for God's servants, but for children. So Paul connects them and at least part of the reason why is because central to the work of what does the spirit do when he comes to live within us. Well, he testifies with our spirit that we really are the children of God. That's central to his work. In Romans chapter 8, it says, For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. So in other words, the Holy Spirit who has come to indwell us is bearing witness within us that we really are God's children. And therefore we pray to God, we cry out to God, Abba, Father. Now, I just want to make a few comments about this language of Abba. I think it was from like early 1970s, there was a scholar that basically made this argument that Abba is like a childlike term that means daddy or papa. And that has actually been pretty soundly refuted in scholarship. So we should not think that Abba is this sort of childlike way of speaking to God. But the term Abba is a term that a son, whether young or old, would have used to address his own father. So as Philip Rykin, for example, says, he thinks the best way to translate Abba would be something like dear father. So it's a term that communicates reverence and respect, but it is still shockingly intimate. And we need to, like, this is still a shocking thing for, you know, Paul, for Jews to think that you could call God Abba? You could call Him Father? You know, the more we understand how high and holy and majestic God is, That He is the God who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no eye has seen or can see. That even the mighty seraphs, I mean the name means burning ones, they've got eyes everywhere, they've got all these wings, they're flying around. I mean these majestic beings that are terrifying, that have never sinned, that are more holy than we can imagine. I mean even they fly around and they veil their faces. before God. I mean, I think, as you read Scripture, it's hard to imagine a seraph addressing God with anything sort of less than something like, your majesty. And yet, the Bible tells us that we, as sinners, who don't even deserve to be in God's kingdom at all, That unlike the seraphs, that unlike the angels, that we have this privilege of being able to come into the very presence of God and call Him Abba. To say, Dear Father. And that while we would probably never have the courage or the confidence to do that of our own if we understood just how high and majestic and holy God is, yet God has put his own spirit in our hearts to bear witness with our spirit that we really are God's children, and therefore we can address him that way. So we see that this blessing of the indwelling spirit and adoption go together. It's because of adoption that we receive the indwelling spirit. And then fourth and finally, our adoption is completed by our own bodily resurrection. And this is one that we probably don't think about a lot that may be surprising. Of course, scripture usually speaks of adoption in the past tense. We read things like, we have received adoption as sons. But if you look at Romans chapter eight, verse 23, it's a really striking statement that Paul makes where he's speaking of adoption as something future. And there he says, and not only the creation, But we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. So there's at least some sense in which he's saying our adoption is not yet complete. We're eagerly waiting for the full completion and the fruition of it. And Paul says that that comes with the redemption of our bodies, which is a way of talking about our future physical bodily resurrection. So that is what completes our adoption. Now why would that be? Any thoughts? I remember where it is where Paul says that you talking about on that day when we're with Christ, and we will be like him. Yeah, I think there's a like, he has gone from death to life to die no more. And there's a sense in which will be more fully in his likeness. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so Jesus is the true Son of God. I mean, our whole salvation is framed in terms of being conformed into the image of Christ. And He has been raised up with a glorious body, and so our salvation is not complete. Our conformity to Christ is not complete until we too are resurrected with a glorified body like Him. So yeah, I think that's a really key part of this. I mean, adoption is incomplete until we are like Christ, because conformity to Him and our sonship go together. Great. Any other thoughts on that? Andrew? So it's incomplete, but it is sure, right? Like we have the beginnings of it, or whatever you want to call this now, is true and real. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's a really good point. I mean, the very logic of this verse, Paul says, we ourselves who have the firstfruits of the Spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption of sons. So it's as if we've already, by receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, we know it's sure. It's just that the full, that's like the down payment. We've been sealed, we've been given the Spirit as a guarantee, but we are waiting for the fullness of what that means. Which necessarily, as sons who are endowed and indwelt by the Spirit of God, that means we will not stay in a position of death and decay and sin. The present corruption cannot last because part of what it means to be a son of God is to be raised immortal and incorruptible and to be like Christ. So yeah, I think that it is sure and it's pressing on this tension that true sonship is not It can't be reduced to sort of a status thing, but it necessarily connects to the full, glorious transformation that our salvation brings about. Right. Yeah, we're still awaiting sort of the fullness of fellowship with God as well. You know, Paul talks about now we see in a mirror dimly, then face to face. Now sin obscures our view, but then we will be fully set free to be with him as he has saved us to be. Good. Well, let's turn now to think about some application. So how should our understanding of the doctrine of adoption affect our lives? What would be some applications of this? Yeah. Yeah, so it hugely affects prayer. It gives us confidence. And how does it give us confidence? To know that we're free in Christ and there's no shame. Yeah. We're forgiven. Right. Yeah, we can go before God knowing we're forgiven in Christ and then also knowing that, like, He's our Father. We can pray to Him as our Father in Heaven, and we can make requests of Him, not the way that, like, if you're a beggar on a street, you make a request of a stranger, and you just sort of hope that they might be merciful to you, but we can actually go to God expecting Him to meet our needs, the same way a child can expect his or her parents to provide for them. So there's this wonderful confidence with which we can approach God. Jesus, for example, tells us even earthly fathers know how to give good gifts to their children. So how much more will your father in heaven give good things to those who ask him? How much more will he give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? So he exhorts us to go to God with confidence. Good. Other thoughts about ways that this applies? Matt? We don't have to fear his wrath. Because we're in the family, we don't have to worry about him wagging his finger at us. First John chapter 3 verse 1, see what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called children of God. And so we are. The very reality that we are God's children, I mean, just in human families we have some sense of what our earthly parents, like their love for us. And maybe some of us have had more loving earthly parents than others, but that's just even the best earthly parent. I mean, whatever love they have for us, that we can already see how much greater that is than virtually any other love that we've experienced in this world. And that's the one that God says, you know, that's just a shadow of His love for us as His children. Yeah. In the way that we experience sanctification, knowing that God is our Father, in Hebrews where it quotes Proverbs, it says, the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives. So just being able to know that as we experience the difficulties of being disciplined, knowing that it's from God as a Father, not just a distant divine figure. And I think it really should affect the whole way we think about trials and sufferings in our life. I think probably all of us can relate to Asaph in Psalm 73 where he talks about looking at the prosperity of the wicked. And it's just like, why do they have it so easy? Like, here I am trying to serve God and they're just... It's easy for them. And yet in Hebrews 12, the argument is, 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, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. I mean, just think of the logic there. It's like, if you can just live in sin, And all of us struggle with sin and God just lets you go and never brings trials into your life and never disciplines you. You are illegitimate and not sons. Like if everything just went perfect in your life, that if anything would be a reason to be afraid that like, Maybe God isn't treating me like a son or a daughter because he's just letting me live in sin indefinitely. But this is saying, no, when we face trials and sufferings, God is treating us as sons and daughters. He's doing it out of fatherly concern for us to make us more like Christ. In fact, in the same way, in Romans 8, we always quote that verse, verse 28, and we know that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. But then notice how he goes on to connect it to sonship, because for whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. So he's grounding that all things working together for good. Two, he's conforming us to the image of his son so that Jesus might be the firstborn among many brothers, so that we would be like him. And so, yeah, God in his fatherly care for us is disciplining us and he's using every detail of our life to conform us to be more like Christ. And that should radically change the way we look at suffering and look at trials. How should understanding sonship affect the way we think about our Christian calling and how we're supposed to live day by day? Any thoughts about that? David? It makes us think eternally. We are eternal. what's happening now with this world are the things that could draw us to this world or away from God or seem more dim or less less appealing. Yeah. And so like, shapes our behavior about how, how we act and try to glorify God through the way we live our lives, because what's important is right yeah yeah there should be both this like eager expectation and looking forward to and you know kind of lifting us up to live for what really counts and what's forever and then also it kind of we have this amazing privilege and responsibility to live here and now as God's children as those who reflect and represent him You know, a son is supposed to be like his father. And so, there's a lot of passages that talk about the way that we're supposed to live in a way that reflects God because he's our father. So, for example, in Ephesians 5, verse 1, Paul writes, Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. And just think about how this really changes what we should think of as the standard of our conduct. I think it would be easier for us to think, okay, I need to treat people right. I need to be just. I need to be fair. I need to be reasonable. But this really elevates our calling above that. It's not enough just to sort of treat people fair. We're supposed to imitate God. We're supposed to imitate Christ who loved us and gave himself up for us. That's a whole lot more than treating us fair. Listen to how Jesus fleshes that out. So in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew chapter 5, Jesus says, But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, and then this is the key line, so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven. For he makes his son rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You, therefore, must be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. You see how he's just raising the bar. It's not enough just to treat people sort of fair and just. He's saying, no, we want to treat people like God. We want to treat people in a way that reflects the reality that God has made us His children. We used to talk about Christians being ambassadors. I haven't heard that language in a while. But there's sort of an interesting difference between an ambassador as a messenger of God Yeah. Yeah, I don't have much to say on the fly on that, but yeah, no, I think both of those are crucially important, yeah. Well, what about just a couple other ways to drill into application. How should understanding adoption affect the way we treat one another? Especially within the church. Not exactly within the church, but in terms of the great commission of, go, make disciples, teach, evangelize. We're not only servants, but we're gaming brothers as we do that. And I think that is I mean, it should be enough incentive to just do God's will, but that's like a higher incentive and blessing. Yeah, I think where Jesus tells his disciples, whoever's given up, fathers or mothers or brothers, gains a hundred times more in the kingdom. And then once we're in, Like, we're family. I mean, if God has adopted us, well then, that makes us siblings. And so, this is why the whole New Testament, right? This language of brother and sister. It's this constant reminders. We're members of the same family. In the same way we should love our biological family, and if they have a need, we feel a responsibility to meet it. Well, that's how we should love and care for one another as a family, spiritually, in Christ. I think it's also a reminder that we're all equal in Christ. Like, we've all been adopted into the family. That is our sort of central identity. So, you know, whatever other worldly distinctions or things that otherwise would divide us, like, that's all secondary and not very important in the church. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. Again, in Galatians 3, for in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ, there's neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither slave nor free, there's no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. So what a sweet truth, and what a way that should just change sort of the whole culture of the church, where unlike the world where there's this pecking order and certain things we think, well, this makes this person sort of higher or more important, like in the church, we're one in Christ. We're brothers and sisters in one family. So what a profound way that should affect us. And then finally, as we think about eternity, if we understand our sonship, it means, as we've already seen this in Galatians 4 and Romans 8, if we are children, then we're heirs. Heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. And I think it is amazing to just stop and think about the new creation that we read about at the end of Revelation and all of the glory and the beauty of that creation. And it's not just a future place that we get access to. It's our inheritance. I mean, the same way that if we were to go to your parents' estate or something, you would feel a sense of belonging. This is my family inheritance. I sort of belong here. I'm not just sort of invited over. Well, the new creation. That's our inheritance. We belong there. We are sons and daughters of the king himself. So what a great kind of confidence we should look forward to with as we think about eternity because of our sonship and adoption. All right, well lots of just wonderful application to meditate on there. Let me close this in prayer and then we'll conclude. O Lord, we say, as it says in 1 John, behold what manner of love you have lavished upon us that we should be called your children. And so we are. We praise you for the truth of adoption. We marvel at the grace that you have so freely bestowed on us. We thank you for just every blessing that our adoption into your family brings. And we pray that you would fill us with your spirit and you would help us to live in light of the reality of who we are in Christ. And it's in his name we pray. Amen.