Let's turn in our Bibles. If you have a Bible to Romans, the book of Romans in the New Testament chapter 8, and if you don't have a Bible, we have Bibles underneath the chairs, and the passage today you'll find on page 1200 of that Bible. Romans chapter 8, I want to read verses 1 through 17, and this is part 2 of a four-part series that started last week. If you were here, Matt preached from the book of Philippians, the first of these, what we're doing is walking through a series called All Things New. It's kind of a follow-up to Easter, to show that the resurrected Christ has given us this amazing gospel, and we're looking at four different elements of the gospel. Last week was justification, and today's emphasis is going to be on adoption, just like we have seen throughout the worship service today. So the text is Romans 8 verses 1 through 17, with special focus on 12 through 17. So let's begin with verse 1. Here God's word. There's 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. For God has done with the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and forced sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, it does not submit to God's law, indeed it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If in fact the spirit of God dwells in you, anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. So then, brothers, we are deaders, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you'll die, but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live. For all who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you've received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, 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 fellow heirs with Christ provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray, Father, send your Holy Spirit to us, we ask and teach us what the real truth about adoption is. And Lord, we would not only learn it in our heads, but learn it in our hearts and then live it out in love and service to the rest of this community. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Boy, I love the eighth chapter of Romans. John Piper calls this the greatest chapter in the Bible. I don't know if I'd pick one chapter of the Bible and say it's the greatest, but I can sure see why he would say that. There are so many themes here in Romans chapter 8, and I love what it teaches us about adoption. As I said, we're in this series of all things new. Last week, Matt spoke about justification. And if you weren't here, let me just bring you up to speed a little bit because basically in a nutshell, what we learned last week is that because of what Jesus did for us, we who once were guilty have received a new status, namely that of being forgiven of our sins and declared righteous by God. Well, today we're going to go to step two. The second thing, the second element of the gospel is adoption. And what we're going to learn this morning is that because of what Jesus did for us, we who once were rebels and enemies of God have received a new identity, namely that of adopted sons and daughters of God. So that's where we're going to go. Basically, we want to bring you two things this morning. Two questions I'd like us to answer. The first is, what is adoption? And the second is what differences it make. All right, so let's dive in. What is adoption? Well, Michael earlier led us to affirm our faith using a really good definition from the Westminster short of catechism, but you know what adoption is on the human level. Let's start there. Adoption is when you take in an orphan and make him or her your child. It is making an outsider become an insider, bringing someone inside the family. Some of you have adopted children and you know exactly what that is. Some of you are trying to adopt children and it's a frustrating experience. It takes so very long. Some of you are adopted children and some of you may have even had a child. You weren't prepared to care for, but you loved that child so much you carried him or her to term and then placed that child for adoption. What a wonderful thing adoption is. So we know what it is on that human plane, but what do we mean when we say that God adopts people? Well, here's a different way of putting it. Adoption is a gracious act of God in which through Christ, that is through the work of Jesus, living the life we should have lived, dying the death we deserve to die, rising again, God brings into his family those who were not naturally his and treats them as his own.
A fairly good illustration of adoption when it comes to God is what many of you remember in that movie, the blind side that came out a few years ago. You remember that movie? Many of you saw it. True story about Michael Oher. He was a guy who grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, worst part of city. He was one of 12 children. He didn't know his dad. His dad lived his life from one jail to the next. He was murdered in prison. His mom was an addict to alcohol and cocaine. Michael Oher until he was about the age of 16 lived in a virtual carousel from one house to another, living in foster homes and homes of friends and even on the street. He went to 11 different schools during his first nine years as a student and then the climax of the movie came. You remember when he was walking down the street, it was a very cold night in Memphis. The only place he knew to go to get warm was the high school gym and this couple saw him. They had pity on him. They wanted him to be warm and so they took him into their home and then that night turned into weeks and those weeks turned into months and then finally they adopted Michael Oher. And it turns out Michael was a great football player. He played high school football in Memphis, went on to play for Ole Miss and then the Baltimore Ravens in the Tennessee Titans and then earlier this year you might not know that he just signed a two year $7 million contract with the Carolina Panthers. That's a fairly good, like I said, a fairly good illustration of what God does when he adopts someone except for one big thing. When God adopted us we were not just strangers. We were not just orphans. We were not just homeless people as far as that went. We were God's enemies. We were rebels, sinners by birth and by choice. Lawbreakers, time without number. See adoption in Paul's Day meant you could bring someone from outside your family inside your family and give him or her all the rights and privileges and responsibilities of a natural born son. It's a miracle. The moment the adoption occurred back in the culture of Paul, several things became immediately true of the adopted child. Number one, he got a new name and became an heir of everything that his new father owned. Number two, all of his legal obligations and debts canceled. Number three, the new father became instantly liable for all of the son's actions. His crimes, his debts, everything. Number four, the new son now had an obligation to live for the honor and pleasure of his new father. In short, this adopted son had a brand new life, a brand new start. And by the way, if I need to insert this I will for some of you girls and women here today, don't be bothered by the Bible's use of the word son. You know, Paul does not feel the need to say son and daughter. He says son, the reason is he's not talking about gender here. He's not being discriminatory. The word son was a cultural metaphor back in that day for privileged identity. So women and girls, when you see that you are called God's son, you should think of the fact that you now have this privileged identity, the status, the standing, the rank, the distinction of a fully mature son in the family of God. That's what that means. Think about it. You have been rescued from the family of the devil and welcomed in the God's household. You have been taken out of the gutter and brought into the mansion of God's love. Your new name is Christian. All charges against you have been dropped. Your debt of sin has been paid in full by the blood of Jesus on the cross. God is no longer just your logger. He is your loving heavenly father. Listen, last week we all rejoiced at the truth about justification. Justification is glorious. How wonderful it is to think that before God we are facing a judge in like a courtroom and we hear this judge say those words, not guilty. Go free. Your sins are forgiven. You are righteous in my son, Jesus. That's glorious. But how much more glorious it is to think that that judge steps down from the bench, wraps you in his arms and says, you're coming home with me today. You're coming to live in my home because from this day forward you are my very own child and I am delighted with you. That's the truth of adoption. Adoption is the heart of the gospel. There is really nothing higher than this. Now this raises a few other questions, though. Let's talk about them. First of all, when did God adopt you? Answer long before you were born. Ephesians 1 verses 4 and 5 say that God shows you in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world. Your adoption was part of God's predestining plan. Before God spoke the universe into existence, he saw you in your sin and in your misery. He looked upon his son, the Lord Jesus, who is perfect in your place, lived the perfect life, died for your sins. He looked upon that and he adopted you in Christ. Why did he do it? Second question. Why before the foundation of the earth, were you already in the mind of God, your father, and he already adopted you? Why? Was it because you were cute or smart or talented or had the potential to be a great Christian leader or something like that? Was it something about you that attracted him to you? Sometimes when we hear the concept of adoption, I think we, some of us think of little orphan Annie or something like that. And there's Daddy Warbucks. And little orphan Annie has to make herself beautiful and cute and smile and say the right things. And then maybe this wealthy man will receive her into his home. That is not at all the way it is with God. The answer to the question why is Ephesians 1 verse 6 to the praise of his glorious grace? You weren't adopted because you were cute and nice and sweet and intelligent and go to church and things like that. God adopted you because he sent his love upon you quite apart from what you did to earn and deserve it. He said his love on you so that the praise of his astonishing grace would reverberate through the halls of the universe forever and ever and you and I get to share that glory. Here's the third question. Some of you have probably heard it said that we're all God's children. That everybody has God as their father. Is that true? No, it's not true. The answer is found in verse 14 of our text. I read it earlier it says for all who are led by the spirit of God, our sons of God. And earlier in verse 9 we read that anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him. So biblically it is not true that everybody has God as their father. God is only the father of those who put their trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation and until a person does that he or she is not a child of God. Instead he or she is alienated from God, separate from God, trying to live apart from God. Look, this makes sense, right? If God were everybody's father, Jesus Christ had no business coming to earth and dying on the cross. It wouldn't have been necessary. Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 3 that we were children of wrath before we became sons of God and Jesus put it even more bluntly. One time he was talking to a group of people in John chapter 8 and he said you are of your father the devil. If God were your father you would love me. Now look let's back up a moment. Let me say that there is a sense in which it can be said that everybody is a child of God if you look at it as being a creation of God. God is the creator of all people, right? And so in that sense Paul was right in Acts chapter 17 when he was talking to this group of people in Athens and he said we are all God's offspring. So if you look at it that way, yes, everybody can call God their father if you define it as creator. But only the Christian can truthfully pray the prayer we prayed earlier today, our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Only the Christian can cry out, Abba, Father because only the Christian has the spirit of sonship. And until you repent and believe the gospel that Jesus Christ is your Savior, you cannot claim God as your loving Heavenly Father. Indeed what you are is his adversary. And you must bow the knee and ask him to forgive your sins and bring you into his family. But look I want to assure you this morning when you do that you'll find out that you've been adopted by the greatest father in the universe. You know when Susie and I were raising our kids we really wanted our children to get this truth about God being their father. We really wanted it to be embedded in their hearts that they would know that yes we were their mom and dad but they had a loving heavenly father in heaven to whom they can run at all times. And so back in those days we used to sing this song quite a lot. Those of you who are my age or their bouts probably remember why don't you sing it with me. Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us. Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us. That we should be called the sons of God. That we should be called the sons of God. And that is what you are. Some of the younger people are looking at me like we're crazy but that's the truth from scripture. So what we've seen what it is. What difference does it make? Believing that you are a child of God. Let's look at our text again and I want to show you five benefits that come to you because of your adoption. And to make it be a little more memorable all five of these start with the letter I. Let's start with the first one. Identity. Identity you have a new identity if you're an adopted child of God. Your unchanging identity is that of a child of God and get this brother of Jesus. Look at verse 14. Paul says to Romans for all who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God. That is who you are. That's your identity. And you're not a son or a daughter of God sometimes. It's not just on your good days. It's not just when you're in prayer. It's not when you're just at church always. Oh, but you don't understand always you're a son or daughter of God. But what about no, no, no, no, always you are a son of God. Now let's get this right. You are not a son of God in exactly the same way that Jesus is the son of God. Jesus's sonship is unique. He is God's one and only son or sometimes we say he is the only begotten son of God. Jesus is eternally the son by virtue of his deity. You and I are sons by adoption. But but your position with God is the same as that of Jesus. God is your father. Jesus is your older brother. It says in Hebrews 2 11 that Jesus is not ashamed to call you his brother. And your father says to you what he said to Jesus on the day Jesus was baptized. You are my beloved child with you. I am well pleased. Do you know that about yourself? Do you know and do you feel your father's delight? Friend, this is the key to living the Christian life. You've got to understand how much the father loves you. I read recently a story about a couple that have two kids, one biological son named Mark. He's the older and one adopted son named Tommy. He's the younger of the two. And one morning the mom and dad were explaining to Tommy what it meant for him to be adopted. And some of you who haven't adopted child you've done this too or maybe one day you will do this. They told Tommy how he had been chosen, how he had been waited for, how he had been welcomed into their home with joy. And of course along the way they had to explain that mark was their child biologically. And when they finished explaining what it meant to be adopted, Tommy cried out. That's awesome. Can't we adopt Mark too? Because Tommy got what it is, what an honor it is to be adopted, what it is to be delighted in by adoptive parents. First word then is your identity. Second benefit of your adoption is inclusion. Inclusion. You are included. You belong in the covenant community of God. That is to say that you are a valuable member of God's people organized into local churches. This church for example is a family of God and you belong here. Look at verse 12. This is so important. It says in verse 12, don't miss these words. So then brothers, singular or plural, plural. So then brothers, we are deaders. Paul does not say so then brother, you're a deader. It's not individual. It's corporate. And the purpose behind that is that God wants us to understand that we are a body. Adoption is true of us, not just me, not just you individually. You're not only a brother or sister of Jesus. You are a brother or sister of an untold number of other people who have also been adopted by God. 500 of whom roughly are called University Presbyterian Church. Now look, this is not a perfect church far from it. But it's a community of brothers and sisters who are slowly learning what it looks like to be a family. And you are needed. You belong. There's a life group that needs you if you're not in one already. There are opportunities to serve and plug in that need you. As Paul goes on to say in chapter 12 of Romans, we are members one of another. And so I want to encourage you to be who you are. You are included here. You're a member of this body. And so find a place to serve and to be long because you already do. Third word. Third benefit of adoption is intimacy. You have intimate immediate access to your heavenly Father. Intimacy. Look at verse 15 of our text. Paul says, you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry. Abba, Father. You've probably heard this before. Abba is simply an aromatic word for daddy or Father. It's really kind of like baby talk. It's like what a baby learns to say first, just syllables. But he or she looks at his or her mom or dad and says, dada mama, something like that, right? That's the word here in this verse. And oddly enough, interestingly enough, Abba was how Jesus addressed his Father in the Garden of Gethsemane shortly before his death. He said, Abba, Father, if it be possible, remove this cup from me, but not my will, but yours be done. And note here that Paul's word is we cry, Abba, Father. It's a Greek word that literally means scream, shriek, yell at the top of our voice. And I've had a cold all week, so I can't do it. But that's what Paul says to do. Cry out, scream it out. A few months ago, Susie and I were visiting our son, David up in Pennsylvania, and they have a little three-year-old boy named Lincoln. So he's our grandson. And Lincoln was just having a great time. And unfortunately, it was almost time for us to go. That's what makes this worse. And so he was playing and having a great time. And then someone came in or out of the door. I forget which. And then his big sister, Talitha, slammed the door on Lincoln's finger. He yelled a yell. I've never heard come out of those little lungs before. He cried out at the top of his voice. Dad, I... And see, that's what God is inviting us to do, to speak spontaneously to him, to speak honestly to him, to speak with urgency to God. Look, you don't have to censor your words, your as child. You can just cry and God will understand. Do you realize how radical this is? This is one of the things that makes Christianity so different from all the other religions of the world. Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, they're not taught about a personal loving father who can be called daddy. They're not taught about how loving he is and how intimately connected to you, he wants to be how he pursued you in Christ. They don't have this language of adoption. But you and I do because this is Christianity. You and I can do what Moses did, you know. Back in Exodus 33, it says that the Lord would speak to Moses face to face as a man speaks with his friend. How radical is that? Fourth word is incentive. The fourth benefit we have of our adoption is an incentive that is we have a power about us. Your status as an adopted child is one of the things that gives you power to live an obedient, faithful Christian life. Now, I want to break this down because this dynamic is really important. Knowing your sonship, knowing your adoption by God is one of the things that will give you incentive to live for God's pleasure and glory. Why is that? Well, it's because love is what propels true obedience. Always. Love is what propels true obedience. The child who knows how much his or her father loves him or her is the child who is so secure that there is a carefreeness about him. There is a happiness about him that sin cannot compete with. The child who feels loved by his father wants to be like his father. He wants to please his father. But on the other hand, and some of you could only attest to this very well, the child who has been abandoned or beaten and pushed and yelled at and constantly criticized by his father may conform on the outside. But on the inside he or she is seizing with hatred and insecurity. And this kind of child will always kick against the goats. He can't wait to get as far away from that father as possible. Unless God's grace intervenes, that's the child who is going to find it impossible to be holy. But the child who is loved, accepted, forgiven, been patient with. That's the child who feels so secure. Here she wants to please that father. Look at verse 13, and you'll see how this dynamic is is found in this text. Verse 13 says, if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you'll live. Now what is that? That's a call to holiness. That's a call to obedience. The way you kill the flesh says Paul is by the spirit. But what spirit? Verse 15, the spirit of adoption. The spirit of sonship. Do you get it? If you want to be holy, if you want to live in victory over your lust, your anger, your temper, your pride, your envy, your greed, whatever the temptation might be, believe in your sonship. Remind yourself all the time who you are. Cry out, Abba, father. Pray to the Holy Spirit who indwells you and ask him to sanctify you to help you die to your sin and live to righteousness. He's your partner in this process of sanctification. When you're tempted to sin, here's what you and I ought to say to ourselves, wait a minute. I'm better than that sin. I am God's child. He is my father. He's proud of me. He's delighted with me. I have his love. I don't need to do this. I don't need that. Why would I need that sin in my life when I have the father? See, that's the kind of mental process we must go through when tempted to sin. Adoption, I say again, is a powerful incentive to holiness. And fifth and finally, the fifth benefit is inheritance. Inheritance is a benefit of our adoption. You have an unbelievable inheritance awaiting you versus 16 and 17. Look at that. It says the Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. And then Paul goes on in the rest of Romans 8 to describe the glory that awaits us. Yes, there is suffering in this life. Plenty of it. Just ask those in our congregation who've had cancer. Just ask those in our congregation who've lost a loved one. Just ask those in our congregation who were raised in a broken home. Ask those in our church who've been ridiculed and bullied and rejected because of their Christian faith. Ask those in our church who've been lied to and betrayed by a spouse. They'll tell you about suffering. Or go travel over to Iran and ask Said Abidini who's been imprisoned in Iran for nearly three years now because of his Christian faith. Or ask the widows of those 21 Coptic Christians who were marched to the seashore and beheaded because of their faith in Jesus. Yeah, there is suffering in this life. But notice the verse says you suffer with Jesus. You suffer with him. He suffered for you on the cross. He bore the wrath of God for you. He paid the debt you could never pay so that you could gain the inheritance you can never lose. That's why Paul goes on in verse 18 right after I stopped reading to say I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory to be revealed to us. One day your adoption will be complete. It's not yet one day it will be one day your very body will be redeemed and glorified and you'll be forever with the Lord. What an inheritance that will be. You know, this topic is very personal for me. I've told you before that my father and I were not close. Now look he did the best he could do. He had it rough himself. He didn't have an easy life at all and I understand that and he really did a lot for me that I so appreciate but I must confess he and I were not close. I just didn't feel his love. Consequently, even after I became a Christian, I didn't feel particularly close to my Heavenly Father either. For many years as a brand new Christian, I thought I could get God to love me more or be pleased with me a little bit more by having the right theology, by doing the right thing, by doing a lot of good things, dotting my eyes, crossing my teeth and all that stuff. Even I dare say even going off to seminary and becoming a pastor was maybe this much I feel called don't doubt that but a little bit of that was my effort to get on the inside with God because I always felt like an outsider. I always felt like I never measured up in God's eyes. Well one day when my wife and I and family were living in South Carolina, I got something in the mail and it was an invitation to go to a conference that was basically for pastors. Now when we pastors get these things all the time, it's usually junk mail and I toss it in the trash but there was something about this envelope that caught my attention and so I read it on the outside of the envelope where printed some questions questions for pastors. One was do you feel like you never measure up? Another was do you feel overwhelmed rather than energized by ministry? Another was is your week only as good as your most recent sermon? Another was do you feel like life is a list of unending obligations? And I had to say yes, yes, yes to all I checked every box. So I took the letter home to Susie and I said Susie I don't know anything about this conference or the people who were putting it on but we've got to go to this conference. And we did and it turned out to be a week that changed my life and hers too. You know what it was called Sunship Week. Every day for a solid week I heard about my adoption by grace by my father in heaven. And I've not been the same since and that was in 1991. I've got to believe there are people in this room just like me back then. You believe in justification. I do not doubt that for a moment. You believe your sins have been forgiven and you've been declared righteous by God but you struggle. I know it because I did too. You struggle with the idea that God really enjoys you that he loves you and is delighted in you like a parent enjoys his or her kids. I want to assure you this morning that he is the father you've always wanted. God wanted me to tell you today that he loves you more than you'll ever know. You're on the inside with him. And look if you need that new identity we're talking about if you've never asked God to step into your life and have never said yes to the father do it today it's ABC simple a admit your sinner and need him be believe that he came to die for you and that he is your savior and see turn away from your sins and commit your life to Jesus Christ and follow after him and I guarantee you you'll find a love that will never let you go. Let's pray. Father I am so glad that we can say you're our father it's amazing to us that you would adopt rebels you would adopt people who have run as fast as their two little legs can carry them away from you you adopt us by grace thank you for that amazing plan to adopt out of the rebels and sinners and orphans and make them your sons and daughters Lord would you help us to become more astonished by that help us to see the truth and remind ourselves of it more often so that our astonishment might turn into love and zeal and confidence and bold prayer and courageous evangelism and even martyrdom if need be use us father to bring more and more adopted children into your family we ask this in Jesus name I'm in