Good evening. Good late evening. It's 10 after 11 p.m. the 24th of December in the year 2020 and It was put on my heart earlier this week to write a sermon on a topic that I really hadn't paid much attention to over the years and But now I find it's almost impossible to not pay attention to it. And I think it will be of vital importance and comfort and joy to the elect of God, who hopefully, Lord willing, have turned their backs to the greatest day of idolatry in human history. That would be the Christ Mass celebration. The title of this sermon is The Nature of Adoption. The Nature of Adoption. And our scripture, one of the many scriptures that we'll cover today, tonight, today, is Ephesians chapter 1 verse 5. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. And then the second scripture, John chapter 1 verses 12 and 13. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Again, good morning. I wanted to take some time to preach a message of comfort and hope. Now I know that this past year I preached incessantly on the law of Moses, the doctrines of grace, hellfire and damnation. the evil of the papacy, and generally a whole lot of gloom and doom. But as is necessary, being moved by the Holy Spirit, like I said earlier at the start of this sermon, to preach unto you a message that is strictly for God's elect, because this has to do with God's elect. Adoption is not something that takes place outside of election or selection. In order to be adopted, somebody's got to choose you. Somebody has to select you. So, therefore, I humbly and with much joy bring to you the fullness of the state that we are in, being elected unto life eternal by our loving and merciful Father in Heaven. Now, I have called Him, and I know all of you listening have called Him Heavenly Father, I've called him Heavenly Father for many years now, but as I said it just a few scant days ago, it dawned upon me that God, our Heavenly and Eternal Father, is in truth our real and only Father. Now this is due to our regeneration, justification, sanctification, and finally adoption into a new family, a whole new family. Just as the knowledge of this wonderful and happy transaction gives cause for rejoicing and perpetual praise to our Father and His glorious Son, our King, our Savior, our Friend, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I'm going to continue in today's message with the words of the Apostle Paul and his take on how this came to be. Now I'm going to read to you Ephesians chapter 1 and chapter 2 because it explains it best to Gentiles. Ephesians 1 verse 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace wherein He has made us accepted and the beloved, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace, wherein He has abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which he has purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who works all things after the counsel of His own will, that we should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed. and you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest, or down payment, of our inheritance, which only comes through family, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory. Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places. Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and has put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. And you hath he quickened who are dead in trespasses and sins, where in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience, among whom also we had all our conversation in times past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in our sins, has quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved, and has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved, through faith. And dad, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. Wherefore remember that ye, being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off, are made near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace. and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were near. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord. in whom also ye are built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." Wow! It gives me waves of warmth and gratitude toward our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ for such a wonderful gift. I mean truly, what is it for a child to understand it from somewhere where they were lost They were taken by someone who loved them and brought into their family where they may live. The gratitude that that child has for his parents, his new parents. This is what adoption should feel like for us who are the elect. That we should take great, great gratitude and have happiness and joy, that we were adopted. Now, let us explore this word, adoption, and see the technical aspects of the process of being adopted. And I'm not really going to go too deep into it, just to give the basics. Webster's 1828 Dictionary, Adoption from the Latin word Adoptio, Number one is the act of adopting or the state of being adopted. The taking and treating of a stranger as one's own child. You see the word stranger where we go back into the scripture that we just read where Paul says that we were aliens to the common prior to our adoption we were without Christ being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of the promise having no hope and without God in the world. Well that's what the adopted child is. Okay. At one time they were strangers according to this definition. Okay. Number two. The receiving. Adoption is the receiving as one's own. What is new? or not natural. Okay? Again, we just went over this. Number three, God's taking the sinful children of men into his favor and protection. And this is what happens. A father always has his children in his favor and protects them fiercely. And our God, our Father, does the same for us. The Apostle John has this to say about adoption in the following verses. John chapter 1, and I'm going to do some breakdown as I read this, okay? Starting in verse 10. He, that's John the Apostle speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, he was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not. See, not only did they not know him, they didn't love him either. Verse 11, he came unto his own, and his own received him not. That is, he came unto the Jewish people, his natural relatives, his heritage, and his own received him not. They didn't. Okay? Verse 12, but as many as received him, to them gave he power. to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. This is the same sense of adoption. How else could a man become a son of God unless he was either born of God or he was adopted? Now we know we weren't born of God technically, as we see next in verse 13. These were born. And that born is in John 3 verses 3-21. That discusses how the birth is. Which were born not of blood, meaning that this act was not referring to the natural state as with the Jewish people. Nor the will of the flesh. You couldn't marry into the Jewish people. You couldn't marry into being adopted. nor the will of man. Not a decision of the will. It's not a personal choice. You didn't choose to be born again. You didn't choose adoption. What baby ever chooses adoption? What child ever chooses to be adopted? It doesn't happen that way. The parents do the adopting. The child, it's an act. I know the words up here in me head. Some of you probably have got it already. But it's something that happens outside of yourself. There's nothing you can do. You're passive in the action. They were born, not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. In that aspect, they were born of God. And again this process is detailed for us in John chapter 3 starting in verse 3. Unless you be born again you cannot see the kingdom of God. Okay? Verse 14, John chapter 1 verse 14. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Now again I go even further all of this and the sermon, a sermon I preached a few months back called the Codex of Christianity. Now I didn't want to digress any further from the subject at hand by digressing into another sermon on election. I've preached enough on it this year. Okay? You want to hear some more about it? Go back and listen. Okay? Now this is a beautiful and gracious thing. that the Lord has done for us who are saved. Now think about this for a moment brothers and sisters, beloved. We have the privileges of one who was adopted into a family and again like I said before as adoptees we had no choice in who adopted us. Adoption lies completely in the power of the person or persons doing the adopting. But And to understand this, once we are adopted, we no longer belong to our former parents. We don't. We don't belong to our former parents. We become the sole property and are completely and totally dependent on our new parent, or parents in this case, God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. They act as our parents. Anything that a parent, a mother and father should be doing with their children, God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit do for us. Okay? Being born again means that we have been born anew. just like being born again and just like being born we are like little children. Babies even. Little children. Okay, let's have a look into the scriptures at the phrase little children in the New Testament. Now believe me brothers and sisters this all applies. You're adopted, you're born again, you're like little children. I'm sure some of you are knowledgeable in the word or have already figured out where I'm going with this. God be praised. I'm glad that you figured it out. I'm going to read the verses anyway for those who haven't figured it out. Matthew chapter 18 verse 3, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Which lines up perfectly with John 3.3. Amazing, isn't it? Matthew chapter 19 verses 13 and 14. Then there were brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them and pray. And the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Allow or suffer little children and forbid them not to come unto me For of such is the kingdom of heaven Mark chapter 10 verse 14 But when Jesus saw it he was much displeased and said unto them Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not for such is the kingdom of God Okay, now you got it in Matthew, some which say it was written for the Jews. You got it in Mark, some which say it was written for Gentiles. But here we go in Luke, Luke chapter 18 verse 16. Jesus called them unto him and said, Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them none for such is the kingdom of God. Again, John Chapter 13, verse 33. Okay, so see, we have it in the first three books of the New Testament. Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Virtually the same thing, word for word. And why is that? Because the Lord wants us to see the emphasis of what it means to be as a little child. You must be born again. Your mind must be formable. It must be like a sponge, a dry sponge. And as the Lord fills it with milk, that sponge becomes saturated. And you're starting to learn, just like a little child. Just like a little child, that little child trusts their parents. Everything their parents say is absolute truth to that little child. They don't know anything about whether that parent is going to lie to them. They don't understand the word lying or what it even implies. Okay? Well, God's children are the same when you are born again. You essentially become like a little child. Okay? John chapter 13 verse 33. Now here's the Lord Jesus speaking tenderly to his disciples. Tenderly, as loving like a father. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me, and as I said unto the Jews, where I go ye cannot come. So now I say to you." Tenderly telling the disciples. These are grown men who've been with him the whole time since the beginning of his ministry. yet he refers to them as little children. Why? Because they believe the Lord Jesus Christ like a little child believes his father. Okay, it's really simple. Galatians chapter 4 verse 19. My little children of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. 1 John chapter 2 verse 1, My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And again, Paul and John here are saying this phrase tenderly. with everything they have and sincerity, love, compassion, my little children. 1 John 2, verse 12, I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. 1 John 2, verse 13, I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father." See John actually breaks this down. We actually see a progression of our faith. The longer we're in our faith, the longer we're in the faith of Jesus Christ, we grow. Started from fathers, which is the oldest obviously, then to young men, okay, because they've overcome the wicked one, and then little children because they have known the Father. You see? 1 John 2 verse 18, he says again, little children, it is the last time. And as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now there are many Antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time. 1st John chapter 2 verse 28, And now, little children, abide in him, that when he shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming. Okay? 1st John chapter 3 verse 7, Again, little children, let no man deceive He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 1st John chapter 3 verse 18. My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Don't be mouth professors, show. Or don't be just mouth professors. your faith be shown by your works. Not that it's work salvation, but a man's true faith is shown by his works. It's not just talking, which is really easy to see on social media nowadays. Anyway, I don't want to digress. Continuing. 1st John chapter 4 verse 4. Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them. because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. 1st John chapter 5 verse 21, little children keep yourselves from idols. Okay? Amen. We can now clearly see that being born again or regenerated, just another term for it, places us in a state of a sort of innocency. A sort of innocency. Just like babies are, as I said earlier, totally dependent on their mother and father for their every need, so the newborn Christian and even the growing Christian, and we're always growing, nobody's ever completely grown, okay, are totally dependent on God, our new Father. the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior and King, and the Holy Spirit, our Comforter and Teacher. Pretty assuring, isn't it? I mean this right here should give the elect complete and total assurance. If you know you are elect, you should know that you are adopted. And you know that if you are adopted, you are in the family. And we have the benefits of being sons and daughters of the living God. Now, let us have a look at some more verses of Scripture that assure us that our new Father is indeed as such. Jeremiah chapter 3 verse 4, Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth? Hosea chapter 1 verse 10, Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered. And it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. John chapter 11 verse 52. And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. That is the gathering of the elect from the four winds, which is detailed in Matthew chapter 24 verse 31. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, one end of heaven to the other. Mark 13.27 And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. Romans 8.14-16 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 verses 17 and 18. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Galatians chapter 4 verses 5 through 7. To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son and if a son then an heir of God through Christ." Can't be an heir unless you were adopted. You can't be a son unless you were adopted. Hebrews chapter 12 verses 5 through 9 and ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth, like he would love a son, even a son by adoption, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son not every one, but every son whom he receives. If ye endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, Then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of Spirits, and live? Father of Spirits being God the Father. I'll give you, let's see, two more. 1st John chapter 3 verses 1 and 2. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not because it knew him not. Beloved beloved. Now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what shall be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." And I've got one more that I actually forgot to put in a sermon, so I'm going to take a moment here if you'll bear with me. open up my sword searcher. Great software program by the way. Sword Searcher, Brandon Staggs, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Anyway, one more verse for you and it's to bring to close a point that may have been missed. See here again. I apologize. I don't mean to I should have put this in here beforehand, but Let's see here this is in Christ's letters to the seven churches Let's see here Return to your first love see that's what it is. I Bingo. Revelation chapter 2 verse 4, where the Lord Jesus is laying out these things to the church at Ephesus. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Now who is a person's first love other than a parent? Well the same thing works towards those in the church. The adopted ones know who their first love are and is. God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit. Okay? The Lord's telling the people at the Church of Ephesus to remember their first love. Left their first love. Remember therefore from whence you are fallen and repent and do the first works. That's verse 5. Do the first works, which is what? Believe. We're born again. We do believe our Father. We believe the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe the Holy Spirit. Okay. And again, I apologize for taking so long to get that. I forgot to put it in there. Now again, I'll leave off from quoting more scripture as there are more verses that refer to how children are of God, the elect. I think I got most of them. But anyway, these verses that I've given you are sufficient, I hope, to convey how we are adopted. That God's elect are adopted and become children, little children. And this is a beautiful thing for us to see and to understand finally. Okay. We see and we understand. That's it. That's the sermon. Scripture in plain reason. Okay. It didn't take an hour and a half. I didn't have to write a book. It's just that easy. The scripture speaks for itself. Okay. Now on a final note. Brothers, sisters, beloved, brethren, it is important that we remember that we are indeed His children and that He is our Father, our real and only Father. We should regard Him as such. We should be terrified that if we cause Him to have displeasure with us, We should be always diligently seeking to please Him and to not grieve Him, nor grieve the Lord Jesus Christ, or grieve the Holy Spirit. Now in pleasing Him, and again I'm not going to digress on this, I've preached on it enough this year, but I must say it again. In pleasing Him we must obey His commandments. Obey my voice and keep my commandments. Read my word. I mean, it's all throughout the Old Testament. Nothing has changed. And the promises is still the same. John 14, 15, If you love me, keep my commandments. Nothing has changed. OK. And also to keep in pleasing Him is to keep away from the things that displease Him. Really simple. Like the old doctor's adage, if it hurts, don't do it. Well, if you want God to be pleased with you, don't do the things that displease Him. For instance, I mentioned earlier, the greatest day of idolatry in human history happens once a year and begins here in Central Standard Time in eight minutes. Idolatry. Idolatry. Now, I just got done reading, narrating, preaching J.A. Wiley's book on the history of the papacy. If you haven't heard it yet, I strongly recommend that you listen to it. It is important. And if we know that everything that comes out of Rome is idolatry and Antichrist, Why are we participating in them, and I'm speaking we generally, because I know there's going to be probably quite a few who are already ripened to go to the Christ Mass to hit. You know, and you don't know why you're doing it. You think you're doing it because you're celebrating Jesus' birthday. By the way, why don't you look up in Scripture if you've got a search engine about where giving gifts is. Usually when people are giving gifts it's for something bad. Why are we participating in them? For example, Sunday Sabbaths, Christ Mass, Easter, and every single thing that is from the very infrastructure of the Roman Catholic Church. Okay? That are false doctrine, which is a part of our everyday lives. Okay? But we need to be able to recognize this. We need to cease, we must cease, from participating in these gaudy and perverse displays of ignorance and stupidity on days appointed by Rome as Holy Days, or in the modern tongue, Holidays. Because again, I've said this before, I'll say it again. A holiday is just a putting together of two words. Holy day. And they substituted the Y and placed an I. Holidays. Okay? And I've already preached on the Christ Mass. A.W. Pink preached on the Christ Mass. Okay? December 25th is not the birthday of the Lord. Okay? We're not commanded to worship celebrate his birthday or not. You got baptism and the Lord's Supper. That's it. Those are the things that we have to keep and to love one another as he loved us. Okay, which means to love the brethren because he's talking to his disciples. He's not talking about loving the pagan. Okay, if you read John chapter 17 He says his prayers aren't for the world. Okay, but again, I don't want to digress too far. All of this is in other sermons that I've written. I encourage you to go listen to them. Okay? I've given the exhortations to us. Okay? In the sermon that I just did, the scriptures that were just given to us. exhortations to us, God's sons and daughters, to remember that we are adopted and what we are to do already. I'm not going to be redundant and go through them again and again and again. You, Lord willing, get the point. Let us remember that we are. We are God's sons and daughters by adoption. This means that we are His and He is ours. For those of us who are elect, it is right to declare that God Himself is our true Father. By adoption, let us pray. Oh Father, we who are your children by adoption thank you and praise you in the precious name of our Lord and King Jesus Christ. We are grateful for your love, your correction, your provision. You are giving us the Holy Spirit to be our teacher in everything we see and have yet to see. We thank you Father for keeping us from falling into perpetual evil and we thank you for forgiving us of our shortcomings and iniquities. Thank you Father for your mercy in saving us through your word and regenerating us into a new and far better life than that which we were living. It is our prayer that more sons and daughters be gathered into our family so that the election will be complete and that we may all go in as one family to the marriage supper of the Lamb. In the precious holy name of the Lord Jesus Christ we pray.