Moving Message on Adoption

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Hey everybody, I'm Pastor Jeff Durbin with Apologia Church. I want to thank you all so much for watching the content right here on Apologia Studios' channel.

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What you're about to watch is a sermon, a message from Apologia Church's worship service. And again, I want to thank you all so much for watching, for liking, for commenting, for sharing the sermon itself.

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Word of God. So we thank you so much for partnering with us to send this out across the world. I just wanted to say something before you actually watch this, and that is that I'm not your pastor.

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So thank you again so much for watching these and sharing them God bless you. If you have access to God's word

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I invite you to take it and turn with me to Romans chapter 8. Actually there'll be two openings

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Romans chapter 8 and Galatians chapter 4.

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Always a delight to be with you over the years. It's been a joy to get to know so many of you and minister

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God's word with you and among you and see the growth of Apologia not only locally but its outreach around the world.

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And really it's a joy to partner with you. We're over on the west side. I bring you greetings from King's Church in Peoria, Arizona.

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Might as well be Australian. It's a long way away, west side of the valley. And really

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I'm so looking forward to meeting some of you and getting to know some new faces.

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But looking forward to what the Lord will do amongst us as his word goes forth. We're in the book of Romans chapter 8.

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Genesis, Exodus, Romans. There it is, Romans. Praise the

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Lord. Romans chapter 8. I'm going to begin reading in verse 14.

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Actually verse 12. Romans 8 and verse 12. And ladies and gentlemen this is the word of God.

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So then brethren we are under obligation not to the flesh to live according to the flesh for if you live according to the flesh you must die but if by the spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body you will live.

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For all who are being led by the Spirit of God these are sons of God. If you have not received the spirit of slavery leading to fear again but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out

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Abba Father. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God and if children heirs also.

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Heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. If indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

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And then in Galatians chapter 4 the same apostle Paul writes.

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Verse 1. 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.

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But he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father.

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So also we while we were children were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world.

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But when the fullness of the time came God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law so that he might redeem those who were under the law.

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That we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons

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God has sent forth the spirit of his son into our hearts crying

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Abba Father. Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son and if a son then an heir through God.

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Let's pray together. Lord we thank you for your holy inspired infallible word and we now ask that the same

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Holy Spirit who is the author of scripture would come alongside us and help us understand and apply it that you might be glorified in all things.

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Pray in Christ's name. Amen. Just a few thoughts a couple of thoughts before we begin.

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A word about quotes. Obviously I do not wish to quote heretics it's not a habit of mine.

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But I also want to say when someone is quoted it's not an endorsement of all they may have said elsewhere in their lifetime.

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Some people have the idea that you have to agree 100 % with everybody you quote. Well there'll be a very limited group of people you could quote and sometimes people come and say well you quoted this guy do you know that in 1937 in a village hut in Denmark he said this and I say no

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I didn't know that. But when I quoted the man it's not to say I endorse what he said in the hut in Denmark it just means

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I like what he said when I quoted what he said and that's all it means. Another word would be about human analogies.

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We have to use them because we're human and it helps us understand things but although they're oftentimes extremely useful oftentimes they also are limited.

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They have their limitations especially when we come to talk about God. There's nothing in this world quite like our

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God and therefore any analogy we use is limited. And such is the case when

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I tell you of a story I once heard of two little girls.

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One was born into the family the other was adopted. In a normal relationship you understand little girls can fight with each other of course little boys don't.

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Sure well in this particular fight the one born into the family said this well

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I'm mommy and daddy's real daughter. The other girl adopted looked a little downcast for a moment and then she perked up and she said well mommy and daddy had to have you but they chose me.

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The second story it's actually taken from a book written by Russell Moore Adopted for Life which is a super book about not only human adoption but divine adoption.

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Adopted for Life the priority of adoption for Christian families and churches it's had a wide readership and rightly so.

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On page 21 Russell Moore writes this when

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Maria and I first walked into the orphanage where we were led to the boys the

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Russian courts had picked out for us to adopt we almost vomited in reaction to the stench and squalor of the place.

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The boys were in cribs in the dark lying in their own waste leaving them at the end of each day was painful but leaving them the final day before going home to wait for the paperwork to go through was the hardest thing either of us had ever done.

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Walking out of the room to prepare for the plane ride home Maria and I could hear

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Maxim calling out for us and falling down in his crib convulsing in tears.

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Maria shook with tears of her own. I turned around to walk back into their room just for a minute and I placed my hand on both of their heads and said knowing they couldn't understand a word of English I will not leave you as orphans

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I will come to you. I don't think I consciously intended to cite

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Jesus words to his disciples in John 14 verse 18 it just seemed like the only thing worth saying at the time.

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Later on Russell Moore writes this page 38 when my wife

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Maria and I at long last received the call that the legal process was over and we returned to Russia to pick up our new sons we found that their transition from orphanage to family was more difficult than we had supposed.

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We dressed the boys in outfits our parents had bought for them we nodded our thanks to the orphanage personnel and walked out into the sunlight to the terror of the two boys.

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They had never seen the sun they'd never felt the wind they had never heard the sound of a car door slamming or had the sensation of being carried along at a hundred miles an hour down a road.

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I noticed that they were shaking and reaching back to the orphanage in the distance.

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I whispered to Sir Guy now Timothy that place is a pit if only you knew what's waiting for you a home with a mommy and a daddy who love you grandparents and great great grandparents and and cousins and playmates and mcdonald's happy meals.

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But all they knew was the orphanage it was squalid but they had no other reference point it was home.

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We knew the boys had acclimated to our home that they trusted us when they stopped hiding food in their high chairs they knew there would be another meal coming and they wouldn't have to fight for the scraps this was the new normal.

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They are now thoroughly Americanized perhaps too much so able to recognize the sound of a microwave ding from 40 yards away.

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I still remember though those little hands reaching for the orphanage and I see myself there it's a deeply moving story and yet it pictures something even greater in fact far greater divine adoption.

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Hear these familiar words from Ephesians chapter one. Blessed be the God and Father of our

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Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and blameless before him.

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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.

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In him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace which he lavished on us.

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Let's go back to the book of Romans and chapter 8 where the apostle is outlining what

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God has done for all those who've come to faith in Jesus Christ. Along the way as the book of Romans has unfolded and has allowed us to understand the gospel this gospel starts not with the good news of who we are because we've made it in life very well and God's really thrilled we've turned out as well as we did.

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But the book of Romans reveals the deep chasm there is between us and God and that all of us both

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Jew and Gentile are under sin. In chapter 1 through to chapter 3 that is the message whether someone is

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Jewish and has the right background by way of the scripture or else they're Gentile and idolaters all are under sin

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Romans chapter 3 verse 9. And all that's Jew and Gentile come to know

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God through the person of Jesus Christ alone by grace alone through faith in him alone and that's the message and Romans 4 makes it clear that this is not a new message.

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Abraham got into the kingdom the exact same way he didn't come in by works but he believed

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God and God credited it to him as righteousness that's exhibit A in Romans 4.

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Exhibit B is David how blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute sin. Romans 5 1 makes the declaration therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our

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Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 6 outlines the fact that because we've come to Christ and have been justified forever by the declaration of God it is not an excuse now to live a life of sin.

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May we continue in sin that grace may abound and the answer is God forbid we've got a new nature now one that wants to do the will of God and yet Romans 7 says there's still this struggle with the flesh that each of us as Christians go through this side of glory.

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Romans 8 starts with the declaration the banner headline no condemnation no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus plus nothing not looking at your works not looking at your performance because of the person and the work of Christ we can say to anyone who believes in Christ you are under no condemnation and more than that the end of the chapter tells us there's no separation no separation for those who are in Christ Jesus nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our

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Lord and yet we see in verse 14 those who are literally regularly being led it's in the continuous tense those who are on the way being led by the

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Holy Spirit the Spirit of God these are the sons the mature sons the we asked the sons of God for you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again but you've received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out

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Abba Father slavery and adoption a contrasted slavery is part of the old adoption now the new and yet there's this inward cry of Abba Father which means in Hebrew that word

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Abba dear father some people have the idea that it's simply for the babies and the toddlers to use the word

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Abba but if you were to go to Israel you could have a grown man of 60 or 70 and if his father was still alive age 80 or 90 he might still use that word

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Abba it is a word of deep personal affection and intimacy as well as respect

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I've been in some particular churches that shall be nameless and it's often the case that they will pray

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Oh daddy talking to God I think I'm not sure I feel comfortable with that because all that that is an element and a young child might so well learn in Hebrew the word

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Abba which does mean daddy it does mean reverend father it does mean a word of respect as well and so I like to say our father which art in heaven rather than our daddy but the idea is of a definite personal relationship that is one of warmth and affection and intimacy as well as respect concerning this doctrine of adoption if you go to verse 23 you'll realize that although we've been adopted we have not fully realized all that is involved in our adoption we still await something the redemption of our bodies verse 23 and not only this but also we ourselves having the firstfruits of the

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Spirit even we ourselves grown within ourselves waiting eagerly for our adoption of sons the redemption of our body in the

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Reformation rightly so the Reformers preached the message of justification by faith alone sola fide in Latin and this is the concept borne out of Scripture Romans being one of the many passages and books of the

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Bible that teach this that when someone comes to faith in Jesus Christ at that moment they are justified in God's sight it's not a feeling it's not an experience it's a declaration of God God himself declares in his court the man the woman the boy the girl that puts their faith in Jesus Christ justified not guilty reckoned righteous with righteousness of Jesus Christ it is a courtroom word it is the word of the court so that you can look back at it as a

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Christian and though you might not have felt it or experienced it you know it because Romans 5 1 says it

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I had faith in Jesus and I'm justified forever in your bulletin there's a quote and it's this justification by faith alone gives the child of God a sure and impenetrable legal standing and status before God God declares all who put their faith in Christ righteous in his sight rightly this doctrine stands at the very heart of the biblical gospel as Martin Luther stated justification is the article upon which the church and the individual stands or falls yet even with this sure and certain knowledge the

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Christian can often feel distant from God merely tolerated because he happens to have the right paperwork if that in any way describes your relationship with God the great news is this

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God adopted you hmm that might not mean too much to you just now but when you see the full ramifications of your adoption in Christ I believe your heart will burst forth with joy the

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Apostle John wrote this see what greater love the Father has bestowed on us that we would be called children of God and such we are he understood what you and I need to understand

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God got all the paperwork in place at great cost to himself so that he could unveil and display his love for you now and for all eternity pull up a chair feel free to kick your shoes off you have all the privileges of sonship in his family you're welcome in his house forever it is the article upon which we have the standing or falling church according to Martin Luther justification

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Calvin said justification is the main hinge on which salvation turns later

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Martin Luther said this this is the chief article from which all other doctrines have flowed it alone it alone begets nourishes builds preserves and defends the

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Church of God and without it the Church of God cannot exist for one hour justification is the master and Prince the

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Lord the ruler and the judge over all kinds of doctrines later he said this when the article of justification has fallen everything has fallen therefore it's necessary constantly to inculcate and impress it as Moses says of his law for it cannot be inculcated and urged enough or too much do you hear the implications of that I believe in every sermon there should be the gospel and for it to be the gospel there must be some recognition of how the person and work of Christ affects us how we come into the kingdom of God by repenting and believing and that by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone a man and a woman is justified before God and Luther says you can't stress that you can't inculcate that enough sermon number one justification

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Luther says that's good sermon number two sermon number 52 some of the number 5472 justification by faith alone basically

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Luther is saying I'm good with that you can't say it enough there's other things to talk about but everything should relate back to the message of Christ and him crucified and what

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Christ has done for us on the cross Thomas Cranmer said this justification is the strong rock and foundation of Christian religion religion whoever denies this doctrine is not to be counted for a true

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Christian man but an adversary of Christ strong words believe he's right

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John justification is not a synonym for amnesty which is pardon without principle a forgiveness which overlooks even forgets wrongdoing and declines to bring it to justice no justification is an act of justice when

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God justifies sinners he's not declaring bad people to be good or saying that they're not sinners after all he's pronouncing them legally righteous free from any liability to the broken law because he himself in his son has borne the penalty of their law -breaking we're justified by his blood why is faith that which connects us with the righteousness of Christ and justifies us

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John Gerstner said this but why is faith the means of justification question simply because it is the act of union with Jesus Christ faith is our coming to him our trusting him resting in him the moment we are united to him we are immediately endowed with all that he has secured for us all that he has secured for us we're immediately justified before we've done a single good deed because we're his and he is

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God's just as now hear this just as a very poor woman is a very poor woman until the very moment that she marries a wealthy man but at that moment that she becomes his wife she becomes a wealthy woman it is by means of her acceptance that she becomes a woman but her acceptance does not make her a wealthy woman it is a husband's wealth that makes her so so faith does not justify

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Christ justifies but faith is the act of union with Christ you follow that if you do you understand the gospel in clear terms so important we grasp this because anything else is a different message and therefore a different gospel like to quote something from my second book of the five

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Solas it's actually a lot lengthy quote from Michael Reeves it's actually now a book that is available in Spanish Los Cinco Solas there was a gentleman at our church who bought four of them and that was interesting so that's cuatro

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Cinco Solas but Michael Reeves talks about the way

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Martin Luther used an analogy when he was preaching justification it's very very good for us to hear it so Michael Reeves in his book why the

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Reformation still matters wrote this when Luther first sought to explain his

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Reformation discovery to the world it was a story of a wedding that framed what he said drawing on the romance of the lover and his beloved in song of Solomon he told the gospel as the story of the rich and divide bridegroom who marries this poor wicked harlot redeems her from all her evil and adorns her with all his goodness at the wedding a wonderful exchange takes place whereby the king takes all the shame and debt of his bride and the harlot receives all the wealth and royal status of a bridegroom for Jesus and the soul that is united to him by faith it works like this quoting

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Luther Christ is full of grace life and salvation the soul is full of sins death and damnation now let faith come between them and sins death and damnation will be

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Christ's while grace life and salvation will be the souls for if Christ is the bridegroom he must take upon himself the things which are his brides and bestow upon her the things that are his if he gives her his body and very self how shall he not give her all that is his and if he takes the body of the bride how shall he not take all that is hers again to quote dr.

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Reeves in the story the prostitute finds that she's been made a queen that does not mean she always behaves as befits royalty but however she behaves her status is royal she's now the

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Queen so it is with the believer she remains a sinner and continues to stumble and wander but she has the righteous status of a perfect and royal bridegroom she is and until death will remain at the same time both utterly righteous in her status before God and sinner in her behavior here we get the famous phrase that Martin Luther coined simil justus et peccator at the same time just and sinner in one sense we are a sinner we are deserving

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God's wrath for our sin and yet at the same time covered in the righteousness of Christ we're just before a holy

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God dr. Reeves goes on that means that it's simply wrongheaded for the believer to look to her behavior as an accurate yardstick of a righteousness before God her behavior and her status are distinct let me say that again her behavior and her status are distinct the prostitute will grow more queenly as she lives with the king and feels the security of his love but she will never become more the

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Queen just so the believer will grow more Christlike over time but never more righteous thus because of Christ and not because of a performance the sinner can know a despair crushing confidence

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Luther again her sins cannot now destroy her since they are laid upon Christ and swallowed up by him and she has that righteousness in Christ her husband of which she may boast as of her own and which he can confidently display alongside her sins in the face of death and hell and say if I have sinned yet my

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Christ in whom I believe has not sinned and all his is mine and all mine is his ladies and gentlemen what an insight justification by faith alone is really shorthand for justification by Christ alone was saved by the person and the work of the

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Lord Jesus Christ faith is not the Savior Jesus is the Savior faith is therefore not some meritorious act that we perform that gains

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God's favor Christ has gained favor for sinners in his life death burial and resurrection and God's salvation is his work from start to finish

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BB Warfield it is not strictly speaking even faith in Christ that saves but Christ that saves through faith is that your understanding it needs to be for it to be a gospel understanding justification is the declaration of God that sins have been forgiven and righteousness achieved by someone other than yourself the

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Lord Jesus Christ and you stand righteous in his sight because of your faith in Christ it's justification not probation so many

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Christians think that okay I've for now God has kind of wiped the slate clean

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I'm kind of out of prison now but God's watching me yeah yeah I'm out of prison but I'm being watched and one more slip -up and I'm back behind bars neither is

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God's courtroom decision up for renegotiation when our performance as a

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Christian isn't so good oftentimes the devil hounds our minds and we are often because we're not grounded in justification by faith alone as the gospel we surrender to his lies we're not grounded in the truth of the

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Bible and therefore we say okay yeah maybe my justification is up for renegotiation never renegotiate

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God has gone to the court for you and made his pronouncement not guilty reckon righteous in the righteousness of his son

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Romans 8 goes on to say that God is the one who justifies who is the one who condemns someone may stand outside the courtroom protesting might be the devil himself might be your own conscience but it doesn't matter

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God has justified the sinner who's put faith in Jesus Christ that's the message of justification and it is so needed and yet another doctrine so so important is a related doctrine called adoption it's a somewhat neglected doctrine

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I mentioned one book that is of great value I'd mention another for the theologians amongst you who want to go a little bit further than today's message sons in the

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Sun by David Garner really very thick book about adoption in the

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New Testament as I say it's a neglected doctrine but it's essential and as a pastor living amongst the flock

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I often come across people who kind of grasp justification but they do doubt

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God's love for them in the pursuit of assurance assurance before a holy

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God the doctrine of adoption is especially needed in the

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London Baptist Confession of Faith of 60 1689 in modern

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English it reads in chapter 12 concerning adoption God has granted that all those who are justified would receive the grace of adoption in and for the sake of only his son of his only son

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Jesus Christ by this they are counted among the children of God and enjoy the freedom and privileges of that relationship they inherit his name receive the spirit of adoption have access to the throne of grace with boldness and are unable to cry

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Abba Father they're given compassion protected provided for and chastened by him as a father yet they are never cast off but a seal for the day of redemption and inherit the promises as heirs of everlasting salvation it's a great statement born out of many years of theologians pouring their lives into the scriptures and understanding what it says

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J .I. Packer to quote him once again in his colossal book knowing

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God if you have not read that book I would really encourage you to do that in page 206 207 he writes this that justification by which we mean

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God's forgiveness of the past together with his acceptance for the future is the primary and fundamental blessing of the gospel is not in question justification is the primary blessing because it meets our primary spiritual need we all stand by nature under God's judgment his law condemns us guilt gnaws at us making us restless miserable and in our lucid moments afraid we have no peace in ourselves because we have no peace with our maker so we need the forgiveness of our sins and assurance of a restored relationship with God more we need it more than we need anything else in the world and this the gospel offers us before it offers us anything else but Packer goes on but contrast this now with adoption adoption is a family idea conceived in terms of love and viewing

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God as father in adoption God takes us into his family and fellowship he establishes us as his children and heirs closeness affection and generosity are at the heart of the relationship to be right with God the judge is a great thing now hear this to be right with God the judge is a great thing but to be loved and cared for by God the father is greater to be right with him is great but to be loved and cared for by him is greater is that your experience can you say you have this close personal relationship with God may

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I suggest if that's not the case you immerse yourself in the doctrine of adoption let's go to Galatians chapter 4 there we read the words we've already read and they thunder out a message to us

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God has adopted us as sons we see the necessity of it in verses 1 through 3 adoptions necessity

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I say as long as the heir is a child he does not differ at all from a slave although he's owner everything but he's under guardians and managers until the date set by the father so also we we

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Christians while we were children were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world that's our former condition it's one of condemnation we deserve the anger of God because of our sin in other words sonship to be called a child of God is not our natural condition before God this sonship is adoptive sonship do you remember the scripture in John chapter 1 verse 12 to as many as received him talking of Christ to them he gave the right to them he gave the right to be called children of God even to those who believe in his name we are not adopted by being born we're adopted by being born again this is 1 through 3 here we have the

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Jews is enslaved and verse 8 especially reveals that the Gentiles are also enslaved verse 8 however at that time when you did not know

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God you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods thankfully while we were in this state of condemnation and then slaved

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God took the initiative the initiative did not come from man there was a initiative and an intervention look at verse 4 thankfully whenever we see ourselves portrayed in the bleak and dark light of Scripture as to our human condition outside of Christ you'll read

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Paul saying the word but oftentimes Ephesians chapter 2 verse 4 but God and here we have an apostolic but that tells us the truth but when the fullness of the time came

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God sent 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 of sons notice the progression one thing comes before the other redemption before adoption we need to be set free from slavery before we can really function as sons and as wonderful as redemption is as great and majestic as redemption rightfully is adoption is an even greater blessing let me say this someone who's been in prison can have their sentence end by them fulfilling what the law has demanded and they are certainly then released from prison but if no one's waiting for them when they come outside the prison what happens with no money in their pocket do they just roam around the countryside hoping for scraps to eat is that the new life of the once enslaved man behind bars that's not the case for the child of God God doesn't just release you from prison as wonderful as it is to be redeemed out of the slave market of sin it is an even greater blessing to be welcomed as cherished sons in the king's palace verse 6 outlines that experience for the

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Christian because you are sons let me just stop for a moment you may be female you may be male but in the spiritual realm you're a son we are sons why is that it's the sons who have the inheritance before females get a little upset by that male people also have an issue as well because they're called the bride of Christ but you're a son and that means you're an heir because you are sons

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God has sent for who's he writing to not just male but females as well when he says because you are sons because you are sons all of you that are children of God God has sent forth the spirit of his son into our hearts crying

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Abba Abba father do you realize in the ancient world no slave where he was whether he was a lofty slave with an elevated position amongst the slaves or a lowly slave no slave could cry

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Abba of its master but Abba is the cry of an adopted son

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I said that when we use analogies there are limitations as to how far they can be useful and when we spoke when

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I spoke of the two boys being adopted out of the Russian orphanage the story breaks down when we try to make a one -for -one correspondent story with divine adoption because we ladies and gentlemen were not orphans worthy of pity worthy of compassion and that's why human analogies eventually break down we were treasonous treasonous rebels we were shaking our fist from the crib we're born into this world

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DOA dead on arrival dead in trespasses and sins physically alive emotionally alive brain activity taking place oh yes but spiritually dead towards God no interest in the true

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God no interest in the true gospel we didn't want him every breath we breathe though a gift from God we use the very air

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God gave us and the life he gave us to stand with a treasonous fist held up towards God to some it was more marked and it was more observable but anyone who would not bow the knee to the

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Lordship of Jesus Christ has that raised fist to God they're not neutral they're born with an animosity towards the true

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God until God intervenes and changes the disposition of the heart takes out a heart of stone puts in a heart of flesh hearts of stone do not sign up for major surgery

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God has to do it and God has done it for the Christian that's what regeneration is and when he makes us alive immediately under the sound of that gospel that has regenerated us the word has gone forth we're born again not of corruptible seed but incorruptible seed by the

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Word of God first Peter 1 23 says when that word comes and by the Holy Spirit pricks our heart opens our heart and invisibly to us the

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Holy Spirit has done that great master surgeon job of giving the Christian a new heart we now respond in repentance and faith two sides of the same coin we believe

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Christ we believe the gospel and immediately we're justified by faith and adopted as sons redeemed out of the slave market of sin and given both a new nature and a new identity as the people of God we were not orphans worthy of pity we were rebels hear this from CH Spurgeon a sermon preached on December 21st 1884 entitled a great birthday and our coming of age when

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I look for quotes and I find one by Spurgeon I usually stop you really can't beat him the reservoir of time had to be filled by the inflowing of age after age and when it was full to the brim the

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Son of God appeared why the world should have remained in darkness for 4 ,000 years why it should have taken that length of time for the church to attain her full age we cannot tell but this we are told that Jesus was sent forth see it in verse 4 when the fullness of the time came our

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Lord did not come before his time nor behind his time he was punctual to his hour and cried to the moment lo

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I come we may not curiously pry into the reasons why Christ came when he did but we may reverently muse thereon the birth of Jesus is the grandest light of history the

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Sun in the heavens of all time it is the pole star of human destiny the hinge of chronology the meeting place of the waters of the past and the future do you see what

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I mean when you find a quote from Spurgeon just stop you don't need to find another person to quote but when the fullness of the time came

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God sent forth his son he goes on hear this from Spurgeon observe concerning the first advent that the

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Lord was moving in it towards man we moved not towards the

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Lord but the Lord toward us I do not find that the world in repentance sought after its maker no but the offended

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God himself in infinite compassion broke the silence and came forth to bless his enemies

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Wow that we might receive the adoption of sons

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Spurgeon again the Lord Jesus Christ has come in human flesh that its people might to the full realize grasp and enjoy the adoption of sons

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I want you to see if you can do that may the Holy Spirit enable you what is it to receive the adoption of sons why to feel now

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I'm under the mastery of love as a dear child who's both loved and loving I go in and out of my father's house not as a not as a casual servant called in by the day or the week but as a child at home

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I'm not looking for higher as a servant for I'm ever with my father and all that he has is mine my

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God is my father his countenance makes me glad I'm not afraid of him but I delight in him for nothing can separate me from him

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I feel a perfect love that casts out fear and I die delight myself in him try now and enter into that spirit that is why

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Christ has come in the flesh on purpose that you his people may be to the full the adopted children of the

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Lord acting out and enjoying all the privileges which sonship secures to you ladies and gentlemen if love is not how you describe your relationship with God the

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Father may I suggest immerse yourself in this truth to quote

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Packer again adoption is a family idea conceived in terms of love and viewing

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God as father he takes us into the family and gives us fellowship and establishes us as his children and heirs closeness affection and generosity are at the heart of the relationship do you realize you're not merely tolerated

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I'd love to get rid of you God says but seems you've got the right paperwork ah yeah

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I thought you're gonna do that yep you're doing that again yep yep I'd love to get rid of you

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I'd look oh yeah yeah you got the right paperwork okay no you're not you're not merely tolerated you're deeply loved and hear this you're wanted

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God wants you a great cost to himself

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God initiated the adoption process to get you at great cost because he wanted you you wanted you ever heard that to quote

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Packer again adoption is the highest privilege of the gospel the traitor is forgiven brought in for supper and given the family name

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God set his love on you in eternity past how do I know I'm elect do you love the

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Savior have you come to him you could not have come to him unless God the

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Father had elected you in eternity past set his love on you for no reason found in you it wasn't because he found something cute about you something beautiful oh you're handsome

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I'll I'll elect you or I see this in you no we were despicable rebels hostile towards us towards him nothing in us commendable to God that's what it means to be dead in trespasses and sins ladies and gentlemen there are no degrees of deadness well this one's dead but he's not as dead as that guy oh he's really dead we were dead necros in Greek you know what it means

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I did a word study took a long time it means dead dead like a stinking corpse

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Steve Lawson asks the question what can a dead man do he said it so many times that someone was brave enough to give him an answer stink yeah that's about it that's what a dead man can do he stinks in the sight of God and God set his love on stinking rebel sinners not waiting for them to improve but God with his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in trespass and sins he made us alive together with him by grace you have been saved

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I'm quoting Packer a lot let me do it one more time there's tremendous relief somebody needs to hear this there's tremendous relief in knowing that his love to me is based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me you ever been shocked by what's in your heart

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I have not by what's in your heart but what's in my heart driving along the road listening to Christian CDs of worship loving the

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Lord with all my heart soul minded and strength I think and then probably someone who's not a brother or a sister because they wouldn't act this way cuts in front of me and it's amazing what was in my heart coming out of my mouth it is not holy holy oh

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I've just been singing it five seconds before but what comes out of my mouth was obviously in my heart you dip a rag in vinegar and squeeze it and what comes out vinegar obviously my heart has things in it that are not pleasing to God and that is the case with every

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Christian till we get to glory and God has never audibly spoken from heaven and should he ever do so he's obviously got the right to do so but should he do so I don't believe he'd say you know what

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I never knew that about you John if I knew that about you that that was really in your heart

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I never would have taken you on no he knew it all together he's never been shocked he's never been surprised

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God has never been surprised that March Madness God has never been surprised that who won the

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Super Bowl he's never been surprised at anything he is the Alpha and Omega he knows the end from the beginning and he knows you through and through and he's taking you on that you might be a trophy of his grace to display the wonder of his grace not that you were so great he found reason to save you you were so bad that when he saves you all the glory for it goes to him excuse me getting excited realize

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I'm in church you're graven on the palm of his hands you're never out of his mind he set his love on you not because he saw you as beautiful as or cute you may be beautiful you may be cute but that's not why he saved you you were ugly spiritually before God you're on the trash heap the devil didn't bank on God loving anyone enough to redeem them do you remember when the angels fell there was no plan to redeem one single angel never has there been never will there be any redeemed angels

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God did not become an angel to save angels the

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Son of God became the Son of Man that the sons of men might become the sons of God he loves you with real love he knows the worst about you that's why we don't need to be fake around each other around him

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John Owen said this

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I want you to hear this a lot of quotes tonight the greatest sorrow and burden you can lay on a father hear me hear me the greatest sorrow and burden you can lay on a father the greatest unkindness you can do to him it's not to believe that he loves you in ancient times a man who had some wealth he longed to be a father so he could have a son and that son would become heir to all that he had he could pass on the entire inheritance to him a man without a son had no such opportunity instead he might search for a suitable quote son unquote to adopt as his own now consider

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God the father he had a son he always had the

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Son Christ is the eternal Son of the Father not only was he the

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Son he was the perfect Son in whom he was well pleased think about that think about that he had no need to adopt other sons he had the perfect son and this means that your and my adoption was unnecessary

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God had his heir but now because we've been adopted we have all the privileges of true sons so that we can now say as Romans 8 says in this context we're heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ one more scripture and we'll close first John chapter 3 it's been quoted but I want you to see it some versions say the word behold some say look some say see but the

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Apostle John wants us to see what Paul has been wanting us to see this same concept they're not using the word adoption certainly the 1st

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John chapter 3 verse 1 see look behold how great a love the

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Father has bestowed on us one version says lavished on us it's the picture of perhaps a little boy at an all -you -can -eat buffet having finished the meal being told by the parents that he can get ice cream and he gets ice cream on little plate perhaps the biggest plate he can carry but then he wants some cream to be put on the ice cream and he moves the apparatus so that the cream now falls on the ice cream and you know what's going to happen he knows how to start the thing but he doesn't want to stop the thing he just put a little dab of cream on the ice cream he lavishes it so that it is overflowing falling onto the floor people are running wild because for 30 seconds he keeps on going lavishing lavishing lavishing cream on the ice cream that's the picture of how the father has lavished his love on all his children adopting them as sons behold see look how great how mega how great a love the father has bestowed lavished on us how how do we see it is it an experience we have at the end of the service do we fall down do we fall up do we go sideways do we talk about some experience of being transferred to heaven and seeing mysteries beyond mysteries no this is how we know

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God has lavished his love on his children that we should be called children of God this is an apostolic astonishment look guys see what great mega love the father has lavished on us that we rebels slaves 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 not one day but now we are children of God we close with this found this quote this week ch

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Spurgeon he said this I once knew a good woman it was the subject of many doubts you ever met a doubting

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Christian and when I got to the bottom of a doubt it was this she knew she loved

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Christ but she was afraid he did not love her oh

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I said that Spurgeon oh being

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English he said oh no no he didn't came from a different part of the country oh

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I said that is a doubt that will never trouble me never by any possibility because I'm sure of this that the heart is so corrupt naturally that love to God never did get there without God's putting it there you may rest quite certain that if you love

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God it is a fruit not a root it is the fruit of God's love for you his love to you and it did not get there by the force of any goodness in you you may conclude with absolute certainty that God loves you if you love

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God first John 419 we love him who can finish the verse because he first loved us let's pray

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Lord we thank you for the wonderful gospel the gospel of the

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Lord Jesus Christ God is holy man has been made in his image and likeness owing

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God absolute prompt and full obedience every moment every hour of his life and yet we've not done this we've defied the

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Holy God our acts have been treasonous we've sinned against you in word and thought and deed and yet while God is holy and must punish sin wrath being the overflow of Holy God in opposition to that which defies him

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God also is a God of love who sent his son into the world for God that's talking of the father

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God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life in sending the son he was born of a virgin lived a sinless life died an atoning death rose again from the dead and is now seated at the right hand of the father in the place of all authority in heaven and on earth and his command for the sinner is repent and believe and submit to your

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King Lord that is the gospel may all of us repent and believe this true gospel and embrace the true

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King the King of all Kings the Lord of all Lords and in doing so may we find peace with God through our

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Lord Jesus Christ may we be able to say I've been redeemed out of that out of the hand of the enemy

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I'm justified I'm adopted I'm on my way now in sanctification and one day

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I will be glorified when sin will never be an issue again but until then I am simil justus et peccator at the same time sinner and righteous because of Christ and Christ alone