Gospel 101: Part 7 - The Prescription - Adoption

hi there once again this is Phil Carlson

with a quick message for your personal

professional and spiritual growth and

today I am speaking with you about part

7 of our nine part series of gospel 101

and this is specifically the next part

after we just finished talking about

regeneration being made into a new

creation in Jesus Christ and today we're

going to be talking about adoption in

this video now our adoption into the

family of God is something that came

through the blood of Jesus and that now

takes us from being sons of the devil

sons of evil where sin turned us into

enemies of God to now actually being

adopted into the family of God and

becoming Sons and Daughters of the most

high God now one great scripture that

talks about what God has provided for us

in our regeneration so we've talked

about God reconciling Us in relationship

with him through Jesus through faith in

the sufficiency of Jesus's sacrifice on

the cross and his resurrection his death

burial and Resurrection we've talked

about reconciliation we've talked about

justification we have talked about

regeneration and this is a key idea in

terms of regeneration that we became new

who we were died

through faith in Jesus and what he did

on the cross

and now something new is in its place

what is new exactly well we talked about

it in our last video but here's a great

scripture that talks about it it's in

Colossians chapter one and we're going

to be looking at verse 26 through 27. so

it says here that is the mystery which

has been hidden from the past ages and

generations but has now been manifested

to his Saints to whom God willed to make

known what is the riches of the glory of

this mystery among the Gentiles which is

Christ in you the hope of glory

so what is new about me the spirit of

Jesus Christ is now living in me so who

I am at the core the innermost being the

most essential part of what makes me who

I am is no longer sin it's no no longer

Rebellion against God

it's actually Jesus it's his character

it's his righteousness his Spirit now

lives in me this is what prepares the

way and makes it possible for me to be

adopted into the family of God and there

are enormous benefits that come with

that and in the scriptures we're going

to talk about today about being adopted

into the family of God the spirit of

adoption we're going to be exploring

this idea a little bit more in the

scriptures we look at first we're going

to look in Romans chapter 8 and we're

going to look at verse 14 through verse

17. for all who are being led by the

spirit of God these are sons of God so

if the holy spirit is living in you you

are now being led by the spirit of God

and that is actually evidence that you

are a son of God now I know it's very

likely some of the people who see this

video are women you are a son in the

same way that men who are in the church

who are born again Christians are a

bride these are men metaphors or

analogies that the scriptures use to

describe our relationship with God Jesus

is the bridegroom the church is the

bride Jesus is a son and the church is

made up of his brothers and sisters he's

the head of the body which is the church

and we're all parts of that body and in

this case we're talking about all being

Sons why Sons well in the ancient world

generally only Sons could have an

inheritance daughters could not in most

cases now there are radical exceptions

most notably in the Old Testament in a

time when this was not a standard

practice there's a special exception

made so that daughters could actually

inherit but generally in the ancient

world and 2000 years ago daughters were

not generally going to inherit property

only Sons could and so this is why all

of us have this identity as Sons

according to scripture we are not just

part of the family we are not just a

adopted into the family we are

inheritors of promises and gifts that

God wants to give us

verse 15 for you have not received a

spirit of slavery so this is contrasted

to the spirit of God and the spirit of

sonship we have not been given the

spirit of slavery why because when

you're in sin you are a slave to sin

that's all you know how to do you don't

know how to escape that because

everything in your life is in bondage to

sin but you're no longer in bondage

you're a son you're adopted into the

family of God which means you're not

under obligation to do sin

so back to verse 15 again you've not

received a spirit of slavery leading to

fear again but you have received a

spirit of adoption as Sons by which we

cry out Abba Father now this is great

ABBA is a a term of intimacy I suppose

the closest you could come to it in

English would be Daddy but it's not

quite the same but it's still a powerful

phrase Abba

father there is intimacy here we are

able to call upon the god of the

universe the one who has authority over

life and death that we owe our breath to

him we owe our very lives to him every

moment of every day he could end us in a

second and he's willing to approach us

and draw Us near so that we can speak to

him on intimate terms this is truly

amazing and this is what the spirit of

adoption can give to us and that is

promised and given to every believer who

has come to Christ through faith who has

come to God trusting in the work of

Jesus Christ

it says in verse 16. the spirit himself

testifies with our spirit that we are

children of God and if children airs

also verse 17 Heirs of God and fellow

heirs with Christ if indeed we suffer

with him so that we may also be

glorified with him now say it's not

saying that our suffering is something

that our inheritance in God is

conditioned upon that if we don't suffer

then it like maybe you don't suffer

enough and so therefore you don't get

the inheritance that's not what it's

saying if you're truly a son of the

Living God if you've truly been adopted

into the family of God

you're going to go through some

suffering because the spirit of the

world the spirit of Satan the spirit of

everything that is against God opposes

anything that starts to actually look

like God anything that reminds them of

what God is like his goodness his

Holiness his righteousness anything

about us that reminds people of Jesus if

those people have decided to be enemies

of God even if they're not conscious of

that they may actually decide that we

are their enemies but we don't need to

take it personally it's actually

evidence first of all that we belong to

God and second of all they're not angry

with us as individuals unless we're

being jerks

they're angry with God

and we don't have to play that game

we're not responsible for that what we

are responsible for

is trusting in Him of following him he

actually goes on to say in verse 18 for

I consider that the sufferings of this

present time are not worthy to be

compared with the glory that is to be

revealed to us now of course that verse

Verse 18 is talking about what's coming

later and that will be a couple videos

from now when I talk about glorification

being with the Lord in glory another

promise a part of our inheritance for

those who are in Jesus Christ so let's

look further in chapter 8 of Romans and

let's look at verse 23 and not only this

but we also but also we ourselves having

the first fruits of the spirit even we

ourselves groan within ourselves waiting

eagerly for our adoption as Sons the

Redemption of our body now hold on a

second didn't we just read in verse 15

we have received past tense a spirit of

adoption as Sons

but then we see here in verse 23 waiting

eagerly for our adoption as Sons

this is because adoption has two parts

one is the spirit of adoption we receive

right now the other is the inheritance

that we are guaranteed in that adoption

if we truly are following God if we

truly are in Christ if we truly are New

Creations

then we inherit something wonderful in

the next stage this is part of our

glorification and again that's coming in

a future video but these are amazing

things that come with the fact that look

maybe you had parents who were poor

maybe you had parents who treated you

badly or died when you were young any

number of issues let me just tell you

you have a father now and it's not

defined he is not defined by the way the

world defines fathers he's not an oaf

and he's not an enemy

he is loving perfectly holy perfectly

righteous perfectly and perfectly wise

this is amazing for anyone who comes

from a troubled background

where they can look and say wow I have a

heavenly father I have a dad who

actually loves me and who actually

protects me and who actually fights for

me and calls for me to grow up calls me

into maturity

this is what it is to follow our

heavenly father and it's available to us

right now for everyone who comes to God

by faith in Jesus

okay continuing on let's look at verse

29. For Those whom he foreknew this is

talking about God he also predestined to

become conformed to the image of his son

so that he would be the firstborn among

many brethren

so we are now Brothers of Jesus anyone

who comes to the Lord by faith trusts in

the sufficient work of Christ on the

cross

we now can refer to Jesus as our brother

and we have his likeness in us it's not

just that we have the likeness of the

image of God on the outside now we also

have the likeness of the image of God on

the inside

we look like our father we look like our

brother we actually are members of this

family in a way that we didn't earn

there's nothing we've done to be good

enough for it it's been blessing and

just given to us in the same way that my

own son looks like me not because of

anything I did it's just that's the

genetics it's just that's the way it

works

so we look like we're part of the same

family

that is part of being part of the family

of God

we have been given a new life and a new

spirit now let's look at Ephesians

chapter one and we're going to start at

verse 4 and continue to verse 14.

just as he chose us in him before the

foundation of the world that we would be

holy and blameless before him the hymn

is is God in love he predestined us to

adoption as Sons through Jesus Christ to

himself according to the kind intention

of his will so everyone who has faith in

Jesus we were appointed to be adopted

into the family of God before we were

born before time began

to the praise of the glory of his grace

which he freely bestowed on us in the

Beloved

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 in all wisdom

and insight he made known to us the

mystery of his will according to His

Kind intention which he purposed in him

with a view to an Administration

suitable to the fullness of the times

that is the summing up of all things in

Christ things in the heavens and things

on the earth in him also we have

obtained an inheritance here it is again

in inheritance having been predestined

according to his purpose who works all

things after the Council of his will to

the end that we who were the first to

Hope in Christ would be to the praise of

his glory

in him you also after listening to the

message of Truth The Gospel of your

salvation having also believed you were

also you were sealed in him with the

Holy Spirit of Promise who is given as a

pledge of our inheritance there it is

again inheritance with a view to the

Redemption of God's Own possession to

the praise of his glory

like I mentioned earlier our sonship our

adoptionist sons is so important not

just because of the intimacy not just

because we're part of the family of God

but because we receive an inheritance

what is that inheritance well we read

earlier that we are co-heirs with Jesus

Christ so what is his inheritance

because apparently whatever he inherits

we inherit too

well let's look in Hebrews and we're

going to look in Hebrews chapter 1 and

verse 2. in these last days he has

spoken to us in his son whom he

appointed heir of all things through

whom also he made the world

Jesus is the heir of all things

what

well hold on a second maybe we're we're

going the wrong place with this because

that would mean that

if I'm a coheir with Jesus then I

inherit everything he inherits and it

says he inherits all things well hold on

a minute let's let's go back let's look

at Romans 8 verse 31 what shall we say

to these things if God is for us who is

against us

he who did not spare his own son but

delivered him over for us all how will

he not also with him freely give us all

things

whoa okay inheritance as a concept is

gigantic

but we have to actually

be conformed to the image of the son

like his image is inside but it needs to

be seen on the outside in the way I live

the way I act the way I speak

the way I interact with other people the

way I I think about money the way I

think about sex the way I think about

my family the way I think about my

purpose and my career

well that's where we start to get into

sanctification and that is our next

video

so let's just stop for a moment before

we transition end this video and and

move into sanctification let's just

recognize

if we have been reconciled to God by

faith in Jesus

Justified before him so that the

punishment we deserve has been paid for

and now we have right standing before

God and now we actually so so we're no

longer seen as sinful we've been the

technical term is imputation God has

imputed righteousness to us he credits

us with the righteousness of Jesus

so he not only sees Jesus when he looks

at us as a concept within justification

but in reality through regeneration

we have become New Creations Jesus is

the one who's actually living in us his

spirit is inside of us so the image of

God is on the inside

but then also we've been adopted so that

since Jesus inherits all things

reinherit all things since Jesus has

this intimate relationship with his

father we get access to that intimate

relationship with the father this is

beyond anything we could ever earn this

is beyond anything we'd ever be worthy

of and yet it's given to us as an

enormous blessing we have a family for

those of us who've been orphans

we have fathers for those of us who've

been fatherless

we have a healthy family for those of us

who came from this function

now it's not to say there aren't

dysfunctional people in the family of

God of course they're

but in our next video we're going to

talk about sanctification and this is

how God uses discipline and affection

and his word and his spirit and prayer

to guide us into a place where the

character of Jesus that is in the spirit

of God that lives inside of us works out

into the way we live day to day so that

we actually start to demonstrate through

how we live that we really are sons of

the Living God will God bless you and

have a great day