None of us could have imagined that President
Gorbachev would be overthrown in a coup, nor
after that event could we have imagined that
he would be returned to power so swiftly as he
was. As those events were unfolding, I went to
the book of Isaiah and did some meditating there,
upon the truth of God's sovereignty in the nations
of the world. And I was reminded again how the
positions that men hold are but stewardship given
by God himself. Whether they be godly or ungodly
it makes no difference. God raises up rulers
and when he has accomplished his purpose he puts
them aside. And all that God is doing in that
part of the world we cannot know. I'm sure that
what we see exposes tremendous tumult in the
spirit world, in the realm of spiritual warfare,
in the fight between the forces of God and the
forces of Satan. What we see taking place in
human events reflects all of that in some way,
and I say we cannot really know what it's all
about, but our prayer is that what is taking
place will be for the advance of the gospel.
We're always safe when we pray for the advance
of the gospel. And I believe also that God is
in some way preparing that part of the world
for the end time events. I'm not saying that
what happened this week has any particular prophecy
and scripture in view. In fact, I don't believe
that to be the case. But it is setting the stage
for what is going to come according to the scriptures.
We have witnessed world history. And we have
seen how a position in the realm of government
can be lost unexpectedly. Position. Position.
is as lasting as the power that one has to sustain
it. In the human realm, the power to sustain
position is predicated upon several things. It
can be predicated upon human will and determination
to stay in power. It is also predicated upon
human institutions. For example, the Communist
Party, which is no longer much of an institution
in Russia. Position and the ability to keep it
is predicated upon human loyalty. Gorbachev was
overthrown at least temporarily because of the
disloyalty of men who were the closest to him.
Human position, position in the natural realm
is only as secure as the power is that one has
to sustain that position. How different it is
in the realm of spiritual things. In that realm,
position is decreed by God Himself. And one's
position spiritually is determined by God and
kept by God according to His power and his sovereignty.
Now it is with respect to that idea, that concept,
that we examine the good gift of God for today's
study. Because the Christian has received from
God the gift of position, which is packaged in
the word adoption. Our text is found in Galatians,
and I invite you to look back there once more
with me in the fourth chapter. Verse four says,
But when the fullness of the time came, God sent
forth his Son, born of a woman born under the
law, in order that he might redeem those who
were under the law, that we might receive the
adoption. The adoption as sons, it is put. The
Christian has received from God the gift of position
that is packaged in that concept, adoption as
sons. It's important for us to understand the
meaning of this idea, adoption. Literally the
word means to place as a son. To place as a son.
When we think of adoption, we think of bringing
into one's custodial care an individual, usually
a child, that is not naturally born to us. It
is a very wonderful idea. And there are a number
of families in our church that have experienced
the joy of that kind of adoption. But that is
not the primary meaning of this word. Rooted
in the Roman culture, we examine this word adoption.
It was a ceremony whereby one's own born son
was adopted into or placed into the status of
adulthood with all of its privileges. The Jewish
and Greek cultures as well as the Roman culture
had a ceremony like this. The Jews still call
it today bar mitzvah. It normally occurs when
a boy is near the age of puberty, around the
age of 13, and in that ceremony this boy becomes
a man. It is a ceremony that parallels the idea
of adoption. A new status is given to this child.
No longer is he looked upon by the family, by
the father, as a child in training, as a minor,
but from that point on he is counted as an adult,
as a son in the family. For most of us a better
parallel to grasp this might be a commencement
exercise in a college. Many of us have been through
that. that sometimes were the futile exercise.
And we have gone across the stage and we have
received a degree of some sort. And normally
the president of the institution or an appropriate
dean says something like this, I confer this
degree upon you with all the rights and privileges
pertaining thereto. And at that moment, you become
a graduate of the institution. No longer a student.
A graduate. No longer a student who borrows money.
Now a graduate who owes it. In that instant,
a change is made in one's status. All of the
rights and privileges pertaining thereto. It's
sometimes hard to figure out what those are right
after you graduate. Usually it means to go to
the back of the line and work forward. But there
are rights and privileges that accompany a degree.
And so it is with the idea of becoming a son
in the family. One writer has summarized the
custom this way in the Roman world. It was customary
for the father to take his son into the forum,
the public arena. And there from a public platform
he would say to the citizens of the city, this
is my son. He has now come of age. He inherits
my name, my property, and my social position.
Then the father would take off of the boy his
youthful toga pretexta, it was called, and put
on him the toga virilis, which means the coat
of a man. It was a simple ceremony. It wasn't
necessarily elaborate, but it was very, very
meaningful because it changed the status of that
child so that now the child was considered a
son, an adult. Adoption in God's family is somewhat
similar. The Apostle draws upon that picture,
that experience to tell us that we have been
adopted by God in His family so that we are now
adults. When he uses the word sons, he's not
referring to the male gender only. This is for
females as well, all of us. For, he tells us
in chapter 3, there is now no difference as far
as our position in Christ is concerned, male
or female. God declares all of us not only to
be His born children, but also to be His adult
children by adoption. I'd like you to turn over
a few pages to Ephesians chapter 1 and there
look at another text where the word is used.
In verse 3, the apostle begins to enumerate the
spiritual blessings that we have in Christ. He
says in verse 4, he, God the Father, chose us
in him, Christ, before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and blameless before
him. And so we have election. Then he says, In
love he predestined us to adoption as sons through
Jesus Christ to himself according to the kind
intention of his will, to the praise of the glory
of his grace which he freely bestowed on us in
the beloved. From this text we learn that this
whole adoption process, or declaration rather,
is predestined by God for those whom he has chosen
to be children in his family. To be predestined
means to be marked out ahead of time and what
God has done is to choose those who will be a
part of his family and he's marked them out ahead
of time not only to be his chosen ones but to
be his adopted sons. We notice here that this
action is based not upon them and what they do,
what we do, but it is based solely upon the work
of Jesus Christ on our behalf. He says the adoption
of sons through Jesus Christ. It is through the
cross work of the Lord Jesus Christ that any
of us are fitted to become the sons. of God.
Furthermore, you notice that it reflects a personal
relationship between God as Father and these
whom he declares to be his sons. For it is through
Jesus Christ to himself. It is the embrace of
a father for his children. It is the warmth of
a father's love that causes these children now
to be related to Him in this adult, responsible,
privileged sense. It is an action, furthermore,
which expresses God's kind intention. And thus,
it is done to the praise of His grace, and not
to the individual's own personal glory. Why has
God done this? Why has God seen fit to make us
not only children but sons in His family? It
is to the praise of His grace, which He has freely
bestowed on us in Jesus Christ, His beloved Son.
It is not just for our glory, for our pomp and
circumstance. No, no. It is for the glory of
God that He will be kind in showing His love
to us through eternity. It is for the praise
of His grace that He says to us, You are mine
and I am yours. We sang that beautiful hymn this
morning, I am His and He is mine, based upon
the song of Solomon. It is a relationship that
God establishes with us as those whom He has
chosen before the foundation of the world. It
is important to understand that this adoption
took place simultaneous with our faith in Christ.
It was not something that occurred subsequently.
Furthermore, it is important to note that it's
for all believers, not for a few who happen to
be more spiritual. But all believers, at the
instant that they are born into God's family
also have conferred upon them the status of adulthood.
That this is true is evidenced by the personal
resident indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the
believer, whom God has surely sent to indwell
us as much as he sent his son according to Galatians
chapter 4. I would like to take just one moment
to turn to another passage that embraces this
idea of adoption. It's in Romans chapter 8, where
we'll pick it up in verse 14. For all who are
being led by the Spirit of God, these are the
sons of God. For you have not received a spirit
of slavery leading to fear again, but you have
received a spirit of adoption as sons, by which
we cry out Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself bears
witness with our spirit that we are children
of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of
God and fellow heirs with Christ. If indeed we
suffer with Him in order that we may also be
glorified with Him. And so we see that we who
are being led by the Spirit of God are the sons
of God and the Spirit of God indwells us. He
is called here the Spirit of Adoption. And He
is the one who within us enables us to say truly
and to say from our innermost being, Abba. I
want to talk more about that as we think concerning
the implications of our adoption as sons. I just
want to mention two of them this morning. What
does this mean that I have been adopted as a
son, as an adult, in God's family? Well in the
first place it means that we have an adult relationship
with God who is our Father. an adult relationship
with Him. We can now, right now in this world,
enjoy the benefits of our inheritance in Christ.
Of course, there's one sense in which we cannot
know the fullness of that inheritance until Christ
comes and we receive the redemption of our bodies,
our new bodies. But right now there is a sense
in which we can enjoy the benefits of our inheritance
in Christ. What does that include? Well, it would
include the peace of God in every circumstance.
You and I can enjoy that right now. We need not
live lives of anxiety, lives of worry. Right
now God has made it possible for us to know his
peace in our hearts. That's part of our inheritance.
Right now today we can know the assurance of
God's love and acceptance. That's part of our
inheritance. This morning as you sit where you
are you can know the certainty of God's leading
in your life. That's part of our inheritance.
Whatever your situation today, you can know the
grace of God in your challenges because that's
part of your inheritance. You see right now we
have an adult relationship with God who is our
Father and therefore we can enjoy the inheritance.
Until one has become of adult age he cannot enjoy
inheritance. That is generally true. Today it
was certainly true in the ancient days. A child
was nothing better than a slave legally until
he came to this time when he was adopted into
the family. Then he had the right of inheritance.
That's our right from the very moment that we're
born again. because God adopts us into his family
at that very instant as well. From the very moment
we are saved, we can know the peace of God, we
can know the grace of God, we can know the leading
of God in our lives. We need not wait until sometime
in the future. Today, we can enjoy that. There's
a wealthy man who once called a faithful assistant
of his into his office and he said to him I put
your name in my will and when I die you're going
to receive a large sum of money and it may be
sometime before that occurs so therefore I want
to make you happy by paying to you each year
the legal interest on the amount of money you
will someday receive. And he handed him a check
for several hundred dollars as a starter. We
see that clerk was doubly grateful because not
only did he have the prospect of a future inheritance,
but right then he began to collect on it in a
very real way. How true that is of us who are
the children of God. We have a wonderful inheritance
coming in the future, but even right now God
as it were is giving us the interest on it That's
what Fanny Crosby meant I think when she wrote
blessed assurance Jesus is mine. Oh what a foretaste
of glory divine She was saying the the assurance
that I have right now of God's love and care
in my life is just the down payment on my inheritance
to come, the glory that is to come. Not only
can we enjoy the benefits of our inheritance
now, but because we are adults in our relationship
with Him, we can enjoy the fellowship of our
Heavenly Father now. It is interesting that twice,
we are told that we may address God as Abba.
The word Abba is Aramaic in its origin. It is
a diminutive expression that was used by children
in that day in talking to their fathers. And
thus it can be legitimately translated in our
tongue, daddy. The point in the word, though,
really is not one of immaturity in relationship
so much as it is intimacy in relationship. The
word daddy expresses trust. It expresses admiration.
It connotes the dearness in that relationship
between parent and child. It is interesting that
our Lord Jesus, in his praying, frequently called
God, Abba. Just as much as Jesus addressed God
by that familiar and intimate word, so the Holy
Spirit gives us freedom to do the same. Right
now, today, If you are a child of God, you can
look into the face of God and say to Him, Abba,
Father, Daddy. It's hard for some of us to understand
the emotion of that because some of us grew up
in single parent homes and more are doing that
all the time. Some of us did not know a close
relationship with our fathers. And thus it is
difficult for us to understand the emotion and
the intimacy that is encapsulated in this word.
But you think upon the relationship that you
had with your parents, your mother perhaps. Or
maybe it was with a grandparent. or an aunt,
or uncle, or someone who was very dear to you
in your days of being reared. And identify the
warmth that you have for that person with this
term Abba, and you've got the essence of it.
Because it means that we may come to God with
this kind of intimacy and warmth. Thus did Wesley
write the hymn that is not in many hymnals anymore,
unfortunately. But the words go, Arise, my soul,
arise. Shake off thy guilty fears. The bleeding
sacrifice in my behalf appears. Before the throne
my surety stands, my name is written in his hands.
My God is reconciled. His pardoning voice I hear.
He owns me for His child. I can no longer fear.
With confidence I now draw nigh. And Father,
Abba Father, cry." Because of this gift of adoption,
you and I can know that relationship with God
that that brings our inheritance into our daily
experience and enables us to look into the face
of God and know that we are addressing the most
intimate, the most dear one in the universe.
To what extent do these ideas describe your spiritual
relationship with God? Do you know the dearness
of God in this way? Are you today experiencing
the inheritance that God has given you in Christ?
Not only do we have an adult relationship with
God who is our Father because of adoption, but
we also have an adult responsibility to God who
is our Father. As children become grown -ups,
what is expected of them dramatically changes
over the years. Little children are expected
to dirty their diapers. Little children are expected
to be careless. Little children are expected
to be sometimes wasteful and unwise. Little children
are expected not to take life very seriously
but to have a lot of fun. For little children
life is play and play is their work and that's
important for little children. But when we become
adults things change dramatically. When we become
adults we're to be more serious about life. We
look at life as a stewardship. We see that life
is not all fun and games. Life is very serious.
Oh, there are fun times, to be sure. And God
gives us the gift of humor. But the basic attitude
about life is that life is serious business.
Because we are adopted as God's children, we
are expected to look at life that way. There
really is no period in a Christian's spiritual
experience for babyness. We have adult privileges
and adult responsibilities are assumed of us
from the very beginning of our relationship with
God. But that doesn't mean that we are immediately
spiritual mature. That of course is not true.
Spiritual maturity takes time, it takes experience,
etc. But as far as our responsibility to God
is concerned, adoption implies that we are immediately
responsible, that life becomes a stewardship
for which we are expected to be wise investors,
that we might receive a maximum gain. And so
when we think of the gift of adoption, We understand
that it not only brings to us privilege, the
privilege of inheritance, the privilege of calling
God Abba, but it brings to us a definite responsibility
before God. So we don't see life as something
that we can frivolously live and waste upon ourselves.
But we see life has been given to us that we
might return it to God. and apply ourselves to
it with diligence. The good gift of adoption
is God's loving declaration, establishing us
as full heirs of His coming glory and kingdom,
with all the rights and privileges and responsibilities
that pertain to it. May I ask you today, does
your life reflect in its choices, in its behavior,
in its attitudes, in its direction? Does it reflect
the reality of this position? Is the position
that you have as an adult child of God being
reflected in the practice of your daily living?
If it's not, then it's time to stop in our tracks.
and to address our Father very soberly and seriously.
And to say, Father, I haven't been too serious
up to this point. Father, I haven't learned up
till now what it really means to be your Son.
But I want to learn that. And I want to fulfill,
and I want to enjoy the position that you've
given to me in Jesus Christ. Homer and Langley
Collier were the two only children of a respected
New York doctor. When the old man died around
the turn of the century, he left his entire estate
A vast fortune, including a home, to these two
men who were bachelors. They were now well secured
for their whole lives, but the two brothers chose
a peculiar lifestyle that wasn't at all consistent
with their material success, or material status,
I should say, which their inheritance gave to
them. They lived in almost total seclusion, and
even boarded up the windows on the mansion in
which they lived. They padlocked the doors. And
from the outside of the house, it looked deserted.
On March 21, 1947, the police received a telephone
tip from someone that a person had died inside
the boarded up house. They had to go to the second
story window to get into the home. And there,
in a bedroom, they found Homer's corpse on a
bed. He had died clutching the February 22, 1920
issue of Jewish Morning Journal, though he had
been totally blind for many years. This weird
scene was set against an equally grotesque backdrop
because it seems that the two brothers were collectors.
Their house was crammed full of broken machinery,
used auto parts, boxes, appliances, folding chairs,
musical instruments, rags, assorted odds and
ends, and bundles and bundles of old newspapers
which they had kept. Virtually everything in
the house was worthless. Nearly three weeks later,
a workman was continuing to haul out heaps of
this refuse when they made a grisly discovery.
Langley Collier, the other brother, was buried
beneath a pile of this rubbish and had apparently
been there for years. He had been crushed to
death in a crude booby trap which he had built
to protect his precious collection from anyone
who might intrude into the home. He had died
in his own trap. Homer and Langley Collier are
but a sad parable of the way many Christians
choose to live. These brothers had an inheritance
that was sufficient for all of their needs, and
yet they lived in unnecessary, self -imposed
deprivation. Spurning their father's lavish legacy
given to them, Homer and Langley binged instead
upon the scraps of the world. Let's pray. I wonder
if that parable, which is a true story, might
expose the tendency that some of us have to binge
upon the scraps of the world. rather than to
live in the lavish inheritance that God has given
us as His children. Some of us are choosing to
live life as paupers spiritually when God has
called us to be princes of His kingdom and provided
for us as such. May our hearts today hunger to
know the reality of God's inheritance and the
intimacy of his fellowship as Abba. And may there
be a deep desire in us, Father, to fulfill the
responsibility that you've given to us in calling
us your sons. Sing with me, please, this chorus.
Let's stand together with our heads bowed. In
our church, Lord, be glorified. Be glorified.
In our church, Lord, be glorified today. Father,
throw your arms around us. Embrace those of us
who are your children afresh this morning in
the truth of your Word. Show us its glory. And
by the Holy Spirit who lives in us, warm our
hearts in this relationship that we can enjoy
with you now. Father, I pray that our hearts
will likewise be burdened for those who know
not Jesus, who are not the sons of God nor the
children of God through faith in Christ, and
who truly are paupers. O God, give us great burden
to share your wealth with them, for surely in
the lavish riches of your grace there is provision
for them too. if they would become to Christ.
Bless our witness to our friends and family this
week as we seek to reach them for Jesus' sake.
Amen. God bless you, we're dismissed.