Wednesday, November 9, 2022 PM

How easy it is for us to just rush through life and to just do the next thing and to never stop to think of your goodness and your mercy and your grace. So lord i pray that you would give us eyes to see your goodness your faithfulness your kindness in christ.

May you bless our time tonight in your word. May you bless our time praying together. Thank you for the fellowship that we enjoy with one another in christ. May you be glorified in our time. Tonight. We ask these things in the name of christ our savior.

Amen. All right. Um so i want to begin with a uh with a question and uh need your feedback on this. All right. Um so hopefully you're familiar with this word. I believe you've seen that before. Um how would you define this word.

What is. What is what is a christian. What. Yes. Well i don't know that it's a verb but a follower of christ. Okay. Okay any other thoughts there called christians in antioch. I think that's ax. Um and so yeah it wasn't necessarily originally um a term of endearment.

Okay uh but interesting. Interestingly enough the the people embraced it and uh rejoiced to be uh talked about in such terms. Brian a soul redeemed. Okay. Okay that's a good good definition. I remember hearing a sermon from john macarthur a long time ago and uh he defined christian from philippians chapter 3 and verse 3.

So if you have your bible turn there. Philippians chapter 3 verse 3. All right. Philippians 3 3 says for we are the circumcision who worship by the spirit of god and glory in christ jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.

And macarthur says that is uh the new testament definition of a christian one who has been circumcised of heart um who worships by the spirit of god one who glories in christ jesus and puts no confidence in the flesh.

I like that. I think that's a great definition. Okay but i'm not going with that one tonight. There are other good definitions out there. Um this is the definition. I want us to think about a little bit here tonight.

A christian if i could spell it right. I get in too big of a hurry a christian. A christian is one who has god as his father. A christian is one who has god as his father. Now that's not my definition.

Okay. And so i need to uh what. Okay you're jumping ahead of me here doris. We will get there. Okay so again just to uh in in full disclosure. Okay what i'm going to share with you tonight is uh really out of uh j .i packer's book knowing god.

And i taught through this book several years ago in my sunday school class. And i've had i've had this book a long time as you can tell by the cover this is an original edition from 1973. Okay. Um and my other copies at school.

Um but when we went through this particular chapter it's chapter 19 in the book. And uh the chapter was eye-opening for me when we went through it. Uh the title of the chapter is simply sons of god. And uh and that's how packer defines a christian.

A christian is one who has god for his father. And so uh kind of working from that i want to uh begin by having us think about what exactly does it mean to be a child of god. What does it mean to be a child of god.

Turn to genesis chapter one. Okay genesis chapter one. Uh towards the end of the chapter about verse 26. All right. Genesis chapter one. Verse 26. So you're familiar with these verses. Genesis 1 26 it says.

Then god said let us do what. Let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

Then verse 27. So god created man in his own image. In the image of god he created him male and female. He created them. So what does that tell us about people who bears god's image. We do all people.

All people are god's image bearers. Okay. Sinners and saints alike bear god's image. Um but in content. But along with that though all people are god's image bearers. Only some are god's children. Okay.

And that's an important distinction that often is lost in our universalist culture that says oh everybody is a child of god. Well no everyone's made in god's image. But not everyone is a child of god.

Turn over to to exodus. Exodus chapter four. And if you uh know your bible you know that in exodus chapter four there's a big meeting taking place. Moses is out in the middle of nowhere shepherding sheep.

And there is this bush that is burning but not being consumed. And the lord speaks to moses out of all that. And exodus chapter four near the end of the chapter as a conversation is taking place or has taken place between moses and god there in the wilderness god sends moses back to egypt.

And uh in verse 22 of exodus chapter four god tells this to moses. He says. Then you shall say to pharaoh. Thus says the lord israel is my what my son my first born son. And i say to you let my son go that he may serve me.

And if you refuse to let him go behold i will kill your first born son. Now israel is of the line of abraham the seed of abraham. And that that picture carries over into the new testament. If you turn to to romans chapter nine.

Romans chapter nine and uh want to read verses six through eight. Okay romans chapter nine starting in verse six says. But it is not as though the word of god has failed. For not all who are descended from israel belong to israel.

And not all are children of abraham because they are his offspring. Okay. So now paul is making a little bit of a distinction between between what we just read in exodus and what is now true. There's a difference here in what it means to be abraham's seed or abraham's offspring goes on to say this.

But through isaac shall your offspring be named. This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of god but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. The children of the promise that are counted as offspring.

Paul clarifies that a little bit further. I mean he does here. But i want to take you to to galatians chapter three where paul helps us understand i think a little more clearly what he means here by abraham's offspring.

So galatians chapter three starting in verse 23. Galatians 3 23. 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 you 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 may in christ jesus. And if you are christ's then you are abraham's offspring heirs according to the promise. So all people are god's image bearers. But only some are god's children.

And to go to doris's point a little early. Okay one of abraham's offspring a uh an heir according to the promise we are made children of god of a of a universal status achieved by natural birth. But we are made sons of god by a supernatural gift that one receives through receiving jesus.

That's how we become children of god. Packer puts it like this. He says. The gift of sonship to god becomes ours not through being born but through being born again. The gift of sonship comes not through being born but through being born again in john's gospel.

In john chapter 1 verses 12 and 13 john makes this clear when he says. But to all who did receive him who believed in his name he gave the right to become children of god who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of god.

So what do we see here when we see this gift of sonship. Sonship is a gift and it is a gift of god's grace. None of us merit it. None of us earn it. It is simply a gift of god's grace. And when when scripture when the new testament talks about sonship it's talking about sonship in a particular context.

Not not natural sonship but adoptive sonship. And that's really what i want to kind of focus on here is a christian is one who has god as his father. But how do we have god as our father. Because we have been adopted.

We've been adopted. And some of you in here know firsthand what adoption is like. And whether i think of the smooths you have gone through that process. And you know what adoption is like. Probably many of us know someone who has adopted a child.

Or maybe they were adopted. So we have we have some some idea in just our normal lives what adoption looks like. The scripture ascribes adoption to christians specifically. And it has great meaning for us.

It should have great meaning for us as christians. Um galatians chapter four i want to read just a couple of passages scripture that speak of adoption. Galatians chapter four verses four through seven.

Galatians four starting in verse four says. But when the fullness of time had come god sent forth his son born of 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 abba father. So you are no longer a slave but a son. And if a son then an heir through god. Ephesians chapter one. So just a few pages over in your bible.

In ephesians chapter one starting in verse three paul says. Blessed be the god and father of our world who has blessed us in christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him in love he predestined us for adoption as sons through jesus christ according to the purpose of his will to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the world we are blessed to be loved.

When we think about adoption being adopted as god's sons and daughters god's children. I agree with j .i packer when he says that our our understanding of christianity cannot be better than our grasp of adoption.

Years ago he wrote uh something that appeared in a magazine that i'm not familiar with but i want to just read a part of what he wrote. He said you sum up the whole of the new testament teaching in a single phrase if you speak of it as a revelation of the fatherhood of the holy creator.

In the same way you sum up the whole of new testament religion if you describe it as the knowledge of god as one's holy father. If you want to judge how well a person understands christianity find out how much he makes of the thought of being god's child and of having god as his father.

If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life it means that he does not understand christianity very well at all. For everything that christ taught everything that makes the new testament new and better than the old everything that is distinctively christian as opposed to merely jewish is summed up in the knowledge of the fatherhood of god.

Father is the christian name for god. How did jesus teach us to pray. Yeah our father. So what is adoption. What is adoption. I'm going to go through this kind of quickly. But packer makes this observation.

And this will maybe cause you to pause and consider for a moment. But he says this in terms of what is adoption. He says adoption is the highest privilege the gospel offers. Adoption is the highest privilege the gospel offers.

And you might be saying well okay it's a good thing. But what about justification. Isn't that a big deal. Isn't that. And yes it is. Packer makes the statement. He says justification is primary and fundamental blessing of the gospel.

It's primary because it need as sinners. What are we. We are god's enemies. We are under god's righteous wrath and condemnation. We are without peace both horizontally between one another and without peace with god.

And so what do we need. We need forgiveness. We need forgiveness of sins. We need the assurance of a restored relationship. And that's what the gospel offers us. Turn over to. Chapter two says. And you were dead.

This is verse one of ephesians two. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world following the prince of the power of the air the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

But god being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with christ by grace. You have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in christ jesus so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in christ jesus.

That's what the gospel offers us. That's what god has done for us in christ. That is justification. Justification is the primary and fundamental blessing of the gospel. But adoption is the highest blessing of the gospel.

When you think about justification justification is a a for. He uses this term a forensic idea. Justification is a forensic idea. It has to do with the law and god is the judge. And there's a as sinners we have a problem there right.

We've none of us have kept the law. We are sinners. We are law breakers. And we know that when we stand before god the righteous judge we are justly condemned. And justification deals with that side of things the law and god is judge.

But adoption. Adoption is a family idea having to do with love and knowing god as father. Packer quotes uh a guy that i'm not familiar with james buchanan in a book called the the doctrine of justification.

And buchanan writes this says. There's a manifest difference between the position of a servant and a friend and also between that of a servant and a son. A closer and dearer intimacy than that of a master and servant is said to subsist between christ and his people.

Henceforth i do not call you servants for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth but i have called you friends john 15 15. And still closer and a still closer and relationship is said to exist in consequence of adoption.

For as galatians 4 7 says. Thou art no more a servant but a son and an heir of god through christ jesus. And then buchanan says this the privilege of adoption presupposes pardon and acceptance but is higher than either either for to as many as received him to them he gave power not inward strength but authority right or privilege to become the sons of god even to them that believe on his name john 1 12.

This is a higher privilege than of justification as being founded on a closer and more endearing relationship. Behold what manner of love the father hath bestowed on us that we should be called the sons of god first john 3 1.

Adoption is a blessing and it is a blessing that abides. One of the one of the proof and guarantees of the preservation and perseverance of the saints is the fact that we are adopted. When you think about adoption children that are adopted are specifically chosen and having been chosen and received into that family and made a son or a daughter.

And maybe that family already has biological children. Are those adopted children any less a son or daughter than those that were born naturally. No. And will they always be a son or a daughter now in that family.

Yes we have an incredible blessing when we stop and think about the fact that we can call god father. In fact we're told by jesus that when we pray as red mentioned here a moment ago how should we begin our prayers our father our father.

And i understand that not everyone has had a great earthly father. And some of us have had wonderful earthly fathers. But regardless of what kind of father you have had here you have a perfect father in heaven.

And uh and christians have that privilege of calling him father and being able to draw near as we're about to do in prayer to go to our heavenly father and to tell him that we love him. To tell him thank you for all that he has done to bring to him our not only our thanksgivings but our requests and our petitions that he as our loving father receives gladly and works to supply for our needs according to his will.

We would all like to think of our own dads that they could fix anything our heavenly father can there is nothing too difficult for god. And so as as we prepare to pray i hope you're encouraged by being reminded that we're not calling upon some distant deity who we only know by name but not personally.

But we're calling upon our father who has chosen us who loves us and asks us to come and to uh to fellowship with him. So randy's going to come and take prayer requests and lead us in prayer as uh. Yes sir.

Isn't it true under our legal system. You can't.