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 all right um so i want to begin with a uh a question and uh need your feedback on this all right um so hopefully you're familiar with this word well 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 mccarthur 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 mccarthur says that is uh the new testament definition of a christian one who has been circumcised of heart 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 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 um 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 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 kind of working from that i want to 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 1 okay genesis chapter 1 towards the end of the chapter about verse 26 all right genesis chapter 1 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 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 4 and if you know your bible you know that in exodus chapter 4 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 4 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 4 god tells this to moses he says then you shall say to pharaoh thus says the lord israel is my what my son my firstborn 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 firstborn 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 9 romans chapter 9 and want to read verses 6 through 8 okay romans chapter 9 starting in verse 6 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 um 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 3 where paul helps us understand i think a little more clearly what he means here by abraham's offspring so galatians chapter 3 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 man 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 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 of 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 in 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 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 beloved when we think about adoption being adopted as god's sons and daughters god's children i agree with j .i