A Forgotten Doctrine of Adoption

Well, as we continue in our series on the Great Doctrine of Salvation, you remember that we started with a premise, and that premise was this that when you ask people whether or not they're Christians, especially in the environment in which we live, overwhelmingly the response is yes, of course I'm a Christian. But if you press and try to go a little deeper, things become complicated rather quickly. For example, you ask the question of you're a Christian, and the person says, well, yes, of course I'm a Christian. And then you ask them why are you a Christian? How do you know that you are a Christian? What makes you a Christian? And then we genuinely get two sort of responses. One response appeals to heredity or tradition. I'm a Christian because I was born in a Christian family. I'm a Christian because I was born in a Christian nation. For some people, it's just a process of elimination. You know, I'm not a Muslim, I'm not a Buddhist, I'm not a Hindu. Ya. Yeah, I'm a Christian. But for others it's not the sense of tradition or heredity, but a sense of ritual. Yes, I am a Christian because I have been through this ritual or I have been through that ritual. We've talked about the fact that this, in light of what the Bible teaches very clearly, is unacceptable because we do not become Christians by heredity, by tradition, and we do not become Christians by rituals. And so it's essential that we understand biblically, doctrinally, theologically what the Bible says about being Christians. What the Bible says about becoming Christians. We've already looked at a number of themes. We've looked at this illegal theme and the Bible uses that theme, the theme of the law and the courtroom. We've looked at the theme of marriage and being part of the bride of Christ. There are other themes that we have to explore. But you remember I said it's very important that as we look at these themes, as we look at these models, these illustrations, it's important that we bring them all together, as opposed to trying to press any one of them too far, because then we don't have a full or understanding of what it means to be a Christian. Our goal here is to get a clear theological understanding. So far, we've looked at the idea of the fall and what it means to be in sin. We've looked at the idea of election effectual calling, and we've looked at that idea of justification, what it means to be declared righteous and how it is that Christ and his finished work achieves this on our behalf. We looked at the idea of double imputation, the idea that our sinfulness is imputed to Christ and Christ's righteousness is imputed to us, and that because of this double imputation we are declared righteous. We are justified before a holy God. Now, usually when people talk about salvation, if they have any theological understanding, they'll talk about justification, and they'll talk about sanctification, and then we talk about glorification and terms. It's known as the Ordo salutis or the order of salvation. We are justified, and you think about salvation and past tense justification. I have been freed from the penalty of sin, Amen, and in this present tense sanctification, I am presently being freed from the power of sin, And in this glorification that future tints, I am one day going to be freed from the very presence of sin. However, there is a missing piece in that particular order of salvation, and that missing piece is the doctrine of adoption. It belongs between justification and sanctification. Our confession, however, doesn't miss this doctrine. In our confession, Chapter six is on justification and chapter eight is on se actification. And between chapter six and chapter eight there is chapter seven, and chapter seven is on adoption. Let me read to you chapter seven of our confession and you hear that, like, wait, You're going to read the whole chapter. Yes, I am. It's the shortest one in the confession. It's only one paragraph in the chapter on adoption, and it reads the second Lend the Baptist Confession of sixteen eighty nine. All those that are justified God vouchsafed in and for the sake of His only son, Jesus Christ, to make partakers of the grace of adoption, by which they are taken into the number, and enjoy the liberties and privileges of children of God, have His name put on them, receive the spirit of adoption, have access to the throne of Grace with boldness, are enabled to cry Abbah Father, are pitied, protect provided for, and chastened by Him as by a father, yet never cast off, but seal to the day of redemption and inherit the promises as heirs of everlasting salvation. Amen, Hallelujah, Praise the Lord. That is good news, and it is important news. I believe that many of the difficulties that we have not only in understanding our salvation but resting in our salvation, arise from the fact that we do not understand the doctrine of adoption. The doctrine of adoption has implications, for example, for the way that we view God. Do we view God as only a judge and as continually a judge, or do we view God as a loving father? Remember what I said. If we press any of those motifs too far, if we press any of those illustrations too far, then we have a lobsided view of our salvation. And if we only see salvation in terms of the courtroom and the declaration of our righteousness, then we only see God as the judge who perpetually sits on the throne. And the only way we come before God is as we come before a judge. A judge watches and waits for our faults and our failures. Is that how you see God, always on the throne, always in his robe, always with the gavel in his hand, always waiting for you to fail so that he can judge you. A judge is impartial and dispassionate. Is that the way you see God? As impartial and as imparts and dispassionate. A judge is only there when there is a need to adjudicate because of wrongdoing. Is that how we view God? Judge is only concerned with your guilt or your innocence. Is that how you view God. If that is the way you view God, then you are always in fear of losing your salvation. If that's the way you view God, you are always in fear of his displeasure. If that's the way you view God, then you believe that you are responsible for earning God's grace, earning God's mercy, earning God's favor through your behavior. If that's the way you view God. But through the doctrine of adoption, we understand God not only as a judge, but as a father. A judge watches and waits for our faults and our failures, but a father guides and governs. A judge may be impartial and dispassionate, but a father is loving. A judge is only there in order to adjudicate when we have sinned, but a father is there constantly, perpetually. A judge is only concerned with our guilt or our innocence, but a father is concerned with our growth and our maturity. If you don't have room in your theology for the doctrine of adoption, if you have not made room in your theology for the doctrine of adoption, then you don't see yourself as a child of God God. You see yourself as a perpetual person standing before a judge. You see yourself perpetually, as on trial, as a perpetual defendant in a courtroom, and not as one who is loved and pitied and guided and cared for by a father. Not only does this impact the way we see our salvation, but it also impacts the way that we see ourselves and the way that we see others. Are you a member of the body of Christ? Are you a member of the family of God? Or when you look around, do you just see other defendants who are also standing before the judge. Are those who belong to Christ, your brothers and you or sisters, or are they just people who happen to be trying hard just like you are to please this unpleasable judge. This is an essential doctrine. It is very important that we understand that there is this fourth piece in the order solutis that we don't look at salvation just as justification and sanctification and glorification, but that we understand that there is justification and that there is adoption, and then there is sanctification and glorification. And our understanding of our sanctification and our glorification is also impacted by this doctrine of adoption. Because why why can I count on being sanctified and being conformed to the image of Christ. Well, if I am an adopted son and part of the family, then it makes sense that I will grow in my representation of the family to which I belong. Amen, Why is it that I can have this hope of eternal life? Well, if I have been adopted, then whatever belongs to Christ also belongs to me. This doctrine changes things, hear me sings. If you are here today and you constantly struggle with assurance of salvation, there are a number of things that lead to that. One of them, of course, is if you are walking and living in sin. Amen. But aside from that, let's leave that aside and say that that's not the case. Then one of the greatest causes of a struggling with an assurance of our salvation is not having a healthy understanding of the doctrine of adoption and knowing that you are a child of God, that He is your heavenly Father. That is not just a phrase we use. It is a reality. It is a theological reality, it is a practical reality, and it has an impact on the way you live your Christian life. So let's look at this here. We're going to look at you know, we would need to look at the entirety of Romans chapter eight. We won't look at all of Romans Chapter eight, but we'll look at those first three paragraphs. Firstly, we'll see them because it's important to see that adoption is a work of the Triune God. This is something that God the Father and God the Son and God the Spirit does for us in harmony and in unity Godhead. Look there at the first paragraph and Romans eight, verses one through eight. We're going to concentrate on twelve through seventeen. But look here at this first paragraph. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of Life has set you free in Christ from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do, by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin. He condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the Spirit, set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, and for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot notice. It's not just that you don't, it's that you can't. Those who are in the flesh can not please God. So we see here the importance of the work of the Sun, who ransoms us and pays our debt so that we are freed from the law of sin and death. The Spirit is also at work. You've seen that also in that first paragraph. But listen more specifically in the second paragraph, beginning verse nine, You, however, are not in the flesh but in the spirit. There's the answer. Those who are in the flesh don't submit to Godd's law. They can't submit to God's law. It is impossible for them to please God. That's bad news. Amen. However, very next line, you, however, are not in the flesh but in the spirit. The Sun accomplishes this, and then the Spirit applies this. If in fact, the Spirit of God dwells in you, anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. This is the biggest issue I have with people who argue that as Christians, you know, we become Christians and then we have to receive the Holy Spirit after we become Christians. If you don't have the Spirit, you don't have Christ. Amen, somebody, and this is not me, This is the Bible. I don't write the mail, I just deliver it. The Bible says that if you don't have the spirit, you don't have Christ. So there is no second blessing for Christians of the spirit after you become a Christian. If you don't have the spirit, you don't have Christ. If you are a Christian, you have the spirit. Amen, you have the spirit. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. If the spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. So we see here the work of the Son and the work of the Spirit in our adoption. And now we'll look at the work of the Father in our adoption in our passage beginning in verse twelve. Let's read the passage first and its entirety, and then examine it. So, then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For each you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. Again, we've heard this already alluded to earlier, but it bears mentioning in light of what we see in the text. It is common for people to refer to all human beings as God's children. We are all God's children. They are even songs about us all being God's children. But if we're all God's children, Verse fourteen makes no sense. For all who are led by the spirit are sons of God. First two paragraphs we see that not all are led by the spirit. If all who are led by the spirit are sons of God, and according to the first two paragraph, not all are led by the spirit, then that means not all are Hello, not all 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. There it is 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 errors with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may be glorified with Him. Not only do we see in that paragraph all of the Godhead. We see the Father, we see the Son, we see the Spirit at work there. But we also see all of our salvation. We see our justification, we see our adoption, we see our sacification, and then we end with our glorification all there. The other major text where we see this idea of the doctrine of adoption is in Galatians chapter four, and we'll look at that as we expound on this idea. But for now, look at what God does in this process of our adoption. This doctrine of adoption and God the Father adopting us as his children, is the source of our hope and of our assurance and of our comfort. So we desperately need to understand this doctrine first. It gives us this hope and assurance and comfort because adoption takes us from the flesh to the spirit and from death to life. Look there again at verses twelve and thirteen. So, then, brothers, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. We saw that in the previous paragraphs. But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Now, Notice here, if you look at all three of these paragraphs together, and especially the whole chapter together, he is not saying here when he says, but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Notice what's not said here. He doesn't say, you know, if you try hard enough to put to death the deeds of the body. No. First of all, the immediate context kills that if by the spirit you put to death the body, If by the spirit you do this, it is only by the spirit that you can do this. Why because if we're directed by the flesh, we cannot keep God's law, we cannot please God, we cannot obey God in the flesh. This is only possible in the spirit. This is related directly to our adoption, because that's what this whole portion of the chapter is about, this spirit of adoption, whereby we are united to God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit through this spirit of adoption, and that is what allows us, enables us, and empowers us to live this life in the spirit and put to death the deeds of the flesh. The first paragraph contrasts this law of the spirit and the law of sin and death Versus one and two. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ, for the law of the Spirit of Life has set you free in Christ from the law of sin and death. The second paragraph explains this freedom verse nine. You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if in fact, the Spirit of God dwells in you. If this is what the Spirit of God has done in you. And now in our third paragraph we see why because of the doctrine of adoption, because we've been adopted. Not only does adoption take us from the flesh to the spirit and from death to life, but adoption also takes us from being enemies and slaves to being sons of God. This paragraph is filled with contrast. Look at verse fourteen. 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 receive the spirit of adoption as sons by whom you cry abba Father. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. That's who we are. We are children of God because we have been adopted by God saying Corinthians six eighteen reeths, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. You know, a lot of people get uncomfortable when someone says, you know, we are not all children of God. It sounds arrogant, does it not. It sounds much better for us to say, ah, you know, we're all God's children. And I understand. I think what we mean by that we're saying is we're all part of the human family. Amen. And I agree, we are all part of the human family. But what I don't want to do, what I'm not willing to do, is I am not willing to move away from a proper understanding of the blessings that are ours for belonging to God simply because I wish to communicate and degree that we're all part of the human family. The Bible makes it very clear that there is something distinctive and something special and something unique about becoming a child of God. I am a child of God. I have not always been a child of God, Amen, but I am now a child of God. There's a number of implications here. First, not only accepting this idea that we are all God's children not only blunts the force of my salvation in Christ, but it also confuses my eschatology, my understanding of the end. If we're all children of God, that don't people ask this question all the time? Why is God sending his children to hell? Why would a loving father do that? Do you see the difficulty that arises? You know? Well, once we say all of us have this, this father child relationship with God. All of us are part of this intimate fellowship with God, all of us. But now all of a sudden, our eschatology and our doctrine of hell becomes very complicated. But when we understand that, as the Bible says, if He's in chapter two makes it clear, we're all enemies of God apart from Christ Ah, Now hell makes sense, and we become children of God. We go from being enemies and slaves to being the children and of God. That means something, and it also helps us to organize our theological thinking in other areas. You are a child of God. You are not a slave in the household of God. You are a child of God. And again, I know we want to have a proper understanding of our sinfulness and a proper understanding of what it means for the grace of God to have reached us. And so, yes, we are wretched sinners. But understand you are a wretched sinner who is an adopted child of God. You are not a slave of God, a son and a daughter. Do you understand that? Hence the beauty when Paul calls himself a pon servant. When Paul calls himself a slave, this is not someone in chains who is acknowledging the fact that he's a slave. This is someone who is free, who is a child of the king, who says, I serve him as a slave, not that he has made me one, He's made me a son, but I gladly serve him as a slave. You're a child of God. You are a son, you are a daughter. You call God abba father. This is an intimate term that is used between small children and their parents. One of the first things that they learn to say aba abba. You don't know the words, but you know that one. You don't even know what it means. But when you can finally form sounds, one of the first sounds that you are able to form is the sound who identifies the one who nurtures you, who cares for you, who parents you. That's what's being referred to here. There is an intimacy here. You're a child God. God is your father. Not only are we children, but we are children of God through adoption, not through merit. Through you didn't merit this John one twelve and thirteen. But to all who did receive him, who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God. This is a supernatural act. Your second birth is just like your first birth. You didn't get to say, you know what I think. Yeah, that womb right there, yep, that family right there, I'll take that one. That's not what you did the first time. In fact, you didn't even want to be born. You were happy right where you were, and all of a sudden, there's these people and these lights, and they take you out of that place where you were comfortable and had everything you needed, and you throw a fit, spend the first few days of your life mad. The second birth, similarly, we didn't choose that. It chose us. Yes, but yes, but I came to Christ in repentance and faith. Yeah, thank the Spirit of God for your regeneration that allowed you even to see the need for repentance in faith. Amen. We must understand this doctrine in its historical context as well. Remember we talked about this before. All of us bring this sort of cultural baggage to bear when we see these different themes in the scripture, and so we have an idea in our mind of what it means, and we read the Scripture and we know our culture, and we say, well, that must be what the Bible is saying. No, we have to understand the Bible in its cultural context. You have to understand that Paul is a Roman citizen, and that the only place that we see adoption spoken of really in this way is in this Pauline writing. Adoption is alluded to in the Old Testament, but you don't really have laws for it per se, leave right, marriage and other things, yes, but not the same idea of adoption. So we have to understand it from the standpoint of the Greco Roman culture that Paul would have understood and that all would have understood when he used this term adoption. He's talking about formal adoption, not informal adoption. This is not someone who happens to be keeping a relative because it's culturally understood or obligated. No, this is a formal legal procedure. Roman adoption was a legal process that required legal representation. Adoption changed one's name and status and heredity. Formal adoption changes your name. Informal adoption doesn't. Formal adoption changes your heredity. Informal adoption doesn't. So we have to understand that this is a formal not an informal adoption. Failure to understand this can lead to failure to understand our salvation properly. If we see our adoption by God as merely informal, then we can see it as merely temporary. We can see it as merely a God's taken care of us until maybe he doesn't want to take care of us anymore. God's taken care of us until what someone else comes along. God's taking kept No, absolutely not, this is a formal legal decree. You are His people who are called by his name. He puts his name on you. You are a member of the family of God, of the household of God. No one else has a claim on you. Anymore. In formal adoption, there is no one else who can claim parentage over you, because in a formal adoption, the first thing that has to happen is anyone else who could possibly have a claim has to be removed from that claim legally, so that the adoption cannot be hindered by someone else's legal claim. So other people's parental rights are gone, and only the adoptive parent now has legal parental rights. It's serious. You belong to God. There's security here, this finality, here, this is official, this is permanent. Do you see the difference. Not only are we children of God and children of God by adoption and not married, but we are children of God as much as anyone else. There are no second class citizens in the Kingdom of God. Amen, Coalations four four through seven. But when the fullness of time had come, I'll let you turn there Galations four, verses four through seven, and you can stay there too, because we're going to look at the passage before this as well. Glatians for beginning of verse four. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law. Now I want you to understand the beauty and symmetry here in this text, Christ, the son of God was sent forth and born of a woman, and born under the law. He was adopted. Joseph was Jesus' adoptive father, not his biological father. He was his adoptive father. So the father allows his son to be adopted so that his son could purchase your adoption. Born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, crying Ah, by Father. The spirit does this, so you are no longer a slave but a son. Amen, You're a son. There are no first or second class citizens in the kingdom. Do you believe this? Do you rest in this? Or are you constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop and for God to be done with you? This doctrine doesn't make room for that Hebrews twelve five through nine. I'll read this for the sake of time, 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 reproved 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 respond and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the father of spirits and live? How many times we say this to our children? Why do we just discipline you because I love you? If it I ain't love you, I wouldn't care. Adoption not only takes us from enemies to slaves, but it also takes us from debtors to heirs. This is the final piece, and ultimately this is the key, the synchronon. This is everything. When it comes to adoption and Greek and Roman culture, adoption was all about heredity. Many the adoptions that took place in Greek and Roman culture took place when people did not have an heir and they adopted someone legally to become their legal heir who carried their name on, who carried everything that they had on and inherited everything they had. That's a huge difference in formal and informal adoption. Informal adoption, you are the heir, you inherit because you are a true son verse twelve. So then, brothers Romans eight again verse twelve, we are deadors not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. And then the contrast to that, in verse sixteen and seventeen, 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. We are heirs, we inherit what do we inherit everything? Everything? He says, we are fellow heirs with Christ. So whatever Christ inherits, we inherit. We are not brought into God's family to sit on the tail end of the line, so that all the real children get their inheritance. And if there's something left, you get something. No, everything Jesus gets. You get because you are as much a son of God, as much a daughter of God as Christ is. Do you get that? Do you understand that it's one of the most important aspects of adoption. We see that also in Galatians chapter three, verses twenty three to twenty nine. For the sake of time, let me just read it for us. Now, before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming Faith would be revealed. So then the law was our guardian until Christ came in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that Faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. 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 or female, for all are one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring heirs according to promise. Not only do you inherit everything, everything, Everything that was promised to Abraham is yours. Why no, the Jews, you know, uh uh? We are, according to Galatians six sixteen, the Israel of God. There is no one theologically who's more a Jew than I am. If you don't believe that, then you don't believe the Bible. The Bible's clear. In Christ, we are Abraham's offspring and heirs according to the promise, you have been adopted, your Abraham's offspring, your heirs, as adopted children, you're everything. We have children who came into our family biologically, and we have children who came into our family by adoption. And we get questions all the time about this sort of thing. And I use every one of them as a teaching opportunity because it's an opportunity to point to the gospel. And sometimes people say, well, which ones are your adopted children and which ones are your real children? They're all real. Well, which ones are your adopted children? And which ones are your natural children? They're all natural? Well which ones are your own? They're all my own. Every last one bears my name, every last one he's mine, he's real, is natural, every last one. Because that's what formal adoption does, and that's what God says about you. You don't come to God which ones are your real children and which ones? No, they're all my real children. Why you know which ones are your natural children? There are all God's natural children. Well, God, which ones are these are your own? They have all been bought with a price the blood of my only begotten son. You don't get more real than that. You are a real child of God. You are a real son of God. You are a real daughter of God. You rest in that and it changes everything. You don't sit around wondering when God's gonna be done with you, When are you done with your children? You're not You're not, You're not. You are his. Ah, It's beautiful, is it not. You stand in the courtroom and the judge is there, and he looks to Christ who has died on the cross for your sin, and there's this double imputation, and he lowers his gavel and he declares you righteous. And then he takes off his robe and he walks down next to you. And there's another ceremony. And in this ceremony it is declared no one else has parental rights to you, and it is declared that you are his child, and it is declared that you are his heir. He is your father, You are his child. He belongs to you. He pities you, he loves you, He cares for you, He protects you, He keeps you, and he will keep you until that day when you will go home home with your father, home with your elder brother Jesus, home with all the saints of God who are also children of God, because you've been adopted. Let's pray, Oh God, how we rejoice in your goodness, How we rejoice in your mercy, How we rejoice in your kindness. God. It would have been enough for you to just forgive us, to declare us righteous, But you didn't stop there. You adopted us as your children. You became our father. You didn't just free us. You love us, you claim us, you keep us, you protect us, you discipline us. Oh God, would you keep this on the forefront of our minds, so that in our darkest days we do not fall prey to that tendency to believe that you have forsaken us, because you would no more forsake us than you would forsake Jesus. Not even death was enough, your son seated at your right hand, Not even taking on our sin was enough. He is ever your child, and we are ever your children. Grant by your grace that we might rest in this for Christ's sake. Amen.