| Introduction In a few minutes, we will baptize Evan and Noah. That is going to happen because on Friday they were declared to be the legal children of Gary and Amy with all the benefits, privileges, and duties that accompany being a child of Gary and Amy. At the moment that judge signed the adoption documents, Evan and Noah became covenant children. They now stand in a special relationship with God by virtue of their parents' faith. It was a blessing to be a witness to the ceremony. Another benefit of the Gonzalez's adoption is that it points us to the God who has adopted those who believe in Jesus Christ as his children. That's what I would like us to consider this morning. The adoption of the believer in Jesus Christ by the heavenly Father. We are in good company in doing that because the apostle Paul does exactly that in Galatians 4. He uses the analogy of legal adoption to explain what God did in order to adopt you who believe in Jesus as his child. The first point I want to make is that God is NOT the Father of everyone indiscriminately. He is only the Father of those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Being a child of God is not an automatic privilege granted to every person. Paul explains that to us here. To those who believe, he becomes their Father and makes them heirs of all things with Jesus Christ. I. Adoption: The Analogy Explained, 1-2. A. Three ways that a first century person may have thought of legal adoption and majority. 1. In Jewish culture, majority was reached at age 13 – at that point one was legally an adult. 2. In Greek thought, majority was reached at age 18. 3. In Roman law, majority was decided by the father as he evaluated the maturity of his children. a. Another unique feature of the Roman majority law was that the father had to legally adopt his own children at the age of majority in order for them to become heirs of his estate. b. You can see that being used by Roman emperors in choosing their successors. 1) If they thought that their sons were incompetent, they would pick a competent man and adopt him as the heir of their title. 2) This idea was immortalized in the movie Gladiator where Marcus Aurelius tries to adopt his top general but is poisoned by his son. c. It is the Roman model that Paul is using as an analogy of our adoption in Christ. B. Having said that, let's look at the actual analogy. 1. Even the heir to the most powerful throne in history doesn't really have any real power or authority till he grows up. a. In that sense he is not much different than a household, 1. b. He has guardians and managers telling him what to do – doesn't really had freedom to do what he wants even though he technically is the master of those guardians and managers, 2a. 2. That reality changes on that day when his father declares him to be the official heir of all things. II. Adoption: The Analogy Applied, 3-5. A. One thing to keep in mind as we look at this whole passage is that Paul goes back and forth between the collective B. So, Paul grabs this analogy and applies to the church as a whole first as God prepared his people to receive his Son, 3-4. 1. We = Jews and Gentiles. 2. As history developed before the coming of Christ both Jews and Gentiles were slaves to the elements of the fallen world, particularly the notion that we could save ourselves by following some sort of standard, 3. a. God gave Israel his good, holy, and perfect law, but Israel altered the law to make it the means of their salvation. b. Every other world religion focuses on man saving man in an attempt to reach up to a god of their own making. c. That is nothing more and nothing less than slavery. d. At the same time is our natural inclination – to save ourselves. 3. But on that day when the Father decided that his children were ready to be officially declared his heirs, he did something that would draw their eyes away from themselves for good – he sent his Son!, 4 – the fullness of time: monotheism, exhaustion of world religions, Greek language, road system, synagogues, pax romana. a. His Son, who is God himself, is sent on a mission – a humanly impossible mission to redeem from bondage a people who is blind to their bondage. b. But as the always existing God the Son, he is ready to do his Father's bidding. Jn. 5:30– I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me. c. God's Son is fully God, but he is also fully man – born of a woman. "He who was truly God for our sakes became man; and he who was Lord of all consented to coma into a state of subjection and to take upon him the form of a servant; and one great end of all this was to redeem those that were under the law…." Matthew Henry d. Jesus Christ, the Lawgiver, submitted himself to that very law – under the law – he obeyed God's law exactly how God wanted everyone to obey it and in the way that nobody had ever been able to do. "So the divinity of Christ, the humanity of Christ and the righteousness of Christ uniquely qualified Him to be man's redeemer. If He had not been man, He could not have redeemed men. If He had not been a righteous man, He could not have redeemed unrighteous men. And if He had not been God's Son, He could not have redeemed men for God or made them the sons of God." John Stott C. God sent the Son and the Son came with a specific mission, 5. 1. This verse is made up of two purpose clauses that tells us exactly why the Father sent the Son and why the Son came. 2. The first one was to redeem those who are under the law. a. Those who are under the condemnation of the law of God, which is everyone who ever broke one of God's commands. Rom. 3:9, 23– What then? Are we better than they?Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin…. for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…. Jam. 2:10– For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point,he is guilty of all. b. He came to redeem them from the bondage of the condemnation of the law and from any attempt to approach God through one's obedience to the law. Rom. 5:1-2– Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Rom. 8:1-2– There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3. The second is that he came in order that we, through him, may receive all the benefits of having been adopted by the heavenly Father. Gal. 3:26– For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. III. Adoption: Not just an Analogy but a Reality, 6-7. A. As the result of our believing in Jesus Christ, God has sent his Spirit to be with us, 6. 1. In our hearts – in the core of who we are. 2. And that Spirit in us enables us to cry out, "Father you are my Father." a. Abba is an Aramaic term of endearment that shows a close and intimate relationship. b. This is unique to biblical Christianity our God is our Father who is intimately connected to us through his Spirit because of his Son. Rom. 8:15-17– For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him,that we may also be glorified together. "[In all this we see the] wonders of divine love and mercy toward us, particularly of God the Father, in sending his Son into the world to redeem and save us, – of the Son of God, in submitting so low, and suffering so much, for us, in pursuance of that design, – and of the Holy Spirit for such gracious purposes." Matthew Henry B. We are no longer slaves to the things of this world; rather, we are heirs of all that God gave to his Son, 7. Heb 2:10-13– For it was fitting for Him, for whom areall things and by whom areall things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified areall of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying: "I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You." And again: "I will put My trust in Him." And again: "Here am I and the children whom God has given Me." C. All of history has been moving to our adoption – even before creation. Eph. 1:3-5– Blessed bethe God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly placesin Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will…. D.Listen to all the liberties and privileges of those who are adopted by the heavenly Father through faith in Jesus Christ. 1. Liberty of children of God d. condemnation of the law 2. Privileges of children of God b. Have spirit of adoption c. Have access to God in prayer d. Can call God as "Father" i. Are heirs to inherit the promise
All of that because God sent his Son.
http://olympiabp.blogspot.com/2018/09/adoption-galatians-41-7.html
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