preaching on this doctrine of adoption. Let me begin by asking you the question, what is a Christian? If I were to give you a piece of paper, ask you to write out just in a single sentence your definition of a Christian, what would you put down? And I'm sure if we collected all the papers in, we'd have a large variety of definitions there. Some might say, one whose sins are forgiven, You might say one who has been reconciled to God through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Someone else might say one who has repented, trusted in the atoning work of the Saviour, and all of those, of course, would be correct. Packer suggests that perhaps there is no simpler definition, and perhaps no better one, than that a Christian is one who has God for his father. One who has God for his father. And every Christian can say that. Every Christian can say, God is my Father. And incidentally, only a Christian can say, God is my Father. We recognise that there are millions, I suppose, each week who parrot a prayer, Our Father, who aren't in heaven, and they say it with no more meaning than a parrot might. But they cannot, in truth and sincerity, repeat that phrase, My Father, Our Father. Only a Christian You can truly say, God is my Father. Now this is essentially a new covenant experience. Packer again suggests that the revelation of God in the New Testament Scriptures is supremely that of Father. Supremely that of Father, the revelation of God as we have it in the New Testament Scriptures, and I believe that's true. But yet the concept of the fatherhood of God is not an entirely new one. We certainly do see that in a national sense in the Old Testament, under the Old Covenant. For example, in Exodus chapter 4, when Moses was to go to Pharaoh on behalf of the Israelites, and he says, Exodus 4, 22, say to Pharaoh, this is what God says, say to Pharaoh, this is what the Lord says, Israel is my firstborn son. Let my son go. So the nation of Israel as a whole was viewed as the son of God. But it was a national thing and not really an individual thing. An individual Jew could say as part of that nation, God is our father. But he couldn't really say in the same way that we can, God is my father. That individual sense is really peculiar to the New Covenant. It is a New Covenant relationship. The fatherhood of God, as it is set forth in the Old Testament, never had the intimacy that it does under the New Covenant. God, of course, in the Old Testament scriptures, revealed as the Almighty One. Many of the names for God reflect that. El, Elohim, El Shaddai, the overpowerer, an awesome being, a holy one, perhaps above all, a holy one. God has revealed there, one to be feared, one before whom all must fall down, humble themselves in the dust. And in the New Testament scriptures the emphasis has changed. Now don't get me wrong, not that God is any less mighty, not that God is any less holy, we must never forget that, not that humility is not called for, of course it is, but something is added. And that is the truth of God as Father. There can now be this intimacy in drawing near to Him. There can be that boldness in approaching God. But I would like to stress there needs to be a balance at this point. I think we need to carefully balance our view of God in terms of, if you like, awe, fear, reverence, and yet in boldness and intimacy in coming before Him. We mustn't lose sight of either of those. With the concept of the fatherhood of God, we must never lose sight of the fact that God is a holy and awesome being. He's the one that's made us. We are dust and ashes. We mustn't lose sight of that, otherwise we'll get familiar. There'll be a brazenness, a brashness, an over-familiarity in approaching to God, and that's not right. We never cease to be his creatures. Yet if we only see the holiness of God, if all we see is God as a majestic One, our Creator, we'll be governed by fear. There will not be that close relationship to Him and drawing near to Him. Again, Packer suggests that the covenant name for God in the Old Testament is Yahweh, Jehovah. The covenant name for God in the New Covenant, New Testament, is Father. There's really nothing more wonderful than to be able to say God is my Father. We say it so casually, we pray it, we often utter it, but do we really consider the tremendous weight, the implications, the blessings, the privileges of being able to say, God is my Father. Can you say that? Can you this morning, as it were, look up to heaven, the face of God, and say, you are my Father? You can say with confidence, God is my Father, I am a child of God. Nothing more wonderful and to be able to say that. And again, let's remind ourselves not all can say that. Not all can say that. It is not a natural thing that we are children of God. We are by nature children of Adam. Indeed, we are by nature children of the devil. The Lord Jesus wrote to the Pharisees, you are of your father the devil. And so are we all until we are brought into the family of God. Well, the first main point I want to look at this morning is to ask the question, how can we become children of God? How do we become children of God? How do we enter a family? How did you enter your family? You say, I was born into it. That's true of most, I'm sure, but perhaps there are some here who entered another way. Some here this morning were adopted into their family. I'm sure there are those of you we have in our own church, many born into families, but there are some, naturally a much smaller number, but there are some who are adopted into families. And so there are two ways in which you can come into a family, by birth, and by adoption. And in the scriptures both pictures are used, because they are in a sense both pictures, aren't they? Illustrations, figures of speech, both aspects of this truth are used in terms of how we come into the family of God. Every Christian is born into the family of God, at the same time every Christian is adopted. That's not true on a natural level, you can't be both born and adopted into the same family, but into God's family we can. because both bring to us wonderful truths respecting those illustrations. We are all born into God's family. We're all very familiar with those verses in John chapter 1. Just read a few there from verse 10, speaking of the Lord as the Word here, He was in the world. Though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognise Him. He came to that which was His own, the Jewish nation, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all who received Him, To those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. Children born, not of natural descent, nor of human decision, or a husband's will, but born of God." Of course, we are familiar with the expression that we are born again, born from above, born into the family of God. Every Christian is born into God's family. Now, the thought of birth naturally reminds us that we are born from our parents. That act of intimacy and love resulted in a child being born. We're born with our parents' life. We're born with a family likeness. You look and of course we're carefully studying our grandson and I'm sure we've introduced him to many of you. You've seen Nathan and people asking, well is he more like his dad, more like his mum? We're looking for that family likeness and generally you can see it. You can see the family likeness there. These are the thoughts of a child being born into a family. So it is with one born into God's family. We are born of divine life. Henry Scugol's book with the title there, The Life of God and the Soul of Man. It's what it is to be a child of God. The life of God is in the soul of man. There is not a natural likeness to God, of course, because God is not a physical likeness at least, because God is a spirit. But there is that likeness in terms we have the character, the nature of God. God's life is in us. There is the family likeness in every child of God. And of course being born of God reminds us too that there is that powerful element of sovereignty there. When a child is born it does not choose its family, it does not choose its sex, its colour eyes and so on. There is that element of sovereignty. We are born sovereignly of God. And I'm sure you've all always been reminded that we cannot instruct people in the sense how to be born again. It is a reference to that sovereign act of God in regeneration. And yet, despite that, we're not devoid of responsibility. Because in this very passage here, it does say, to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. Faith is involved. Not that we say if you believe you'll be born of God. John says, if we believe we have been born of God, but certainly faith is indispensable to being a child of God. So we are born into God's family. But yet there are aspects of God's work that are better illustrated under the picture of adoption. So we can also say that we are adopted into the family of God. We are adopted. Every Christian is adopted into the family of God. Now, the thought here is, of course, that we did not start off in that family. A person who was adopted was in another family and was brought into the new family by an act of kindness on the part of the parents. Now, adoption in New Testament times was rather different from the way we view it today. Generally, if someone adopts a child today, it's a baby, a baby perhaps that was The parents, the mother did not want the child over some other reason, the parents died and the baby is adopted. But in New Testament times it generally referred to a different concept. Really the concept of adoption was not known among the Jews, it was really a Roman concept. would be a wealthy man, a large inheritance, he had no heir. He had no son upon which to bestow his fortune, his property, and so he would adopt someone. That would generally be at least a teenager, if not a grown adult. Adopt him as his son, make him his son by that act of kindness, so that he became the heir. of his fortune, his property, his wealth. So that was the New Testament idea of adoption that it set forth for us. And God in his grace has brought us into his family. By the act of kindness he brought us and made us sons of God. We've read in this passage in Galatians, you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Now, the sons there of course includes those of the female sex, the ladies are just as much included as the men. It's been suggested that the reason that the masculine is used is that because of the Roman concept they would never adopt a woman, a girl, make them the heir, it would always be a son who was adopted, it would always be a male who was adopted and made the heir. But certainly the ladies are included in this. We are all sons of God. Sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And the basis of this adoption The basis of this work of adoption is given to us in verses 4 and 5. We're not going to enlarge upon it, but we see there it's the work of Christ. When the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law that we might receive the full rights of sons. Right? To redeem those under the law. So it is by that glorious work of redemption which we were reminded last night and I'm sure will be night after night, glorious truth that is so precious to us, so central in our thinking, the redeeming work of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the basis of that act of adoption. It is because of the work of Jesus Christ that God can take us and make us his sons, having put away our sins, having justified us. He then, as it were, the further step in that glorious work, brings us into his family and we are sons of God. What amazing grace, amazing grace, what astounding love that we by nature, children of wrath, children of the devil, children of Adam, so many expressions used, those utterly lost in sin, and now cleansed and made sons of God." If you like, sons and daughters of a living God. Children of God. What amazing grace. And John almost gets carried away. How great, he says, how great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God. And he says, and that is what we are. That is what we are. We are children of God. We are sons of God. What a beautiful truth. And that is, and again Packer brings this out so beautifully, that is the highest privilege given to us as Christians, to be brought into God's family, adopted as his sons. The highest privilege given to us as Christians. Now, probably most of us when we've been confronted with that thought have just backed up a bit and said, wait a minute, surely justification is our highest privilege. Without question, justification is the most basic privilege that we have and that we need. Before we even begin to be related to God, we need a right standing before Him. We are, after all, sinners by birth, by nature, by practice. Those sins need to be removed, they need to be cleansed, they need to be covered. We need to be justified in order to stand before God. So justification, if you like, is the primary blessing. It is the basis of our salvation. But yet it's true, I believe, absolutely with Packer, it is true that adoption really takes us a step further. It is something more wonderful because it brings us into a more intimate relationship. Justification, after all, is a legal concept. It views God as judge. We're declared righteous by the judge. We no longer fear the penalty of the judge or of the law. But adoption is a family concept. and it views God as our Father. Justification is conceived in terms of the law. Adoption is conceived in terms of love. Again we say with John, how great, how great is the love the Father has lavished on us. that we should be called children of God. Well, we are, praise God, each Christian children of God, sons of God. That is our blessing, that is our privilege. Now some may say, well that's a very interesting doctrine, we understand that, let's move on now to the next doctrine. But this is a doctrine from which we never advance. This is a truth we never go beyond because it affects every area of life, or it should. I think we need to underscore this, especially as preachers time and time again, that every doctrine must have a practical outworking. Whether it is the doctrine of justification, whether it is election, whether it is the return of Christ, whether it is adoption, every single doctrine we preach must have a practical implication. The purpose of doctrine is not to fill our heads with a series of systematic theology lectures, concepts there. The purpose of doctrine is to make us holy. The purpose of these great truths of Scripture is to bring us into a fuller, richer relationship with our God and with the Lord Jesus Christ. So adoption is a very practical doctrine and I want to spend most of my time this morning looking at the practical application of this doctrine, looking at the privileges and the responsibilities of being sons of God, children of God. In a family there are privileges, there are responsibilities. To be in a family, there are things that come to us, there are gifts, there are privileges, there are special things that are true of us that are not true of those outside the family. But also in a family there are things that are required of us, things that are expected of us, there are responsibilities. And I want to look at those this morning, for it wouldn't be a healthy family, would it, without both privileges and responsibilities. Let's look first then at some of the privileges of being children of God. And the first that I've listed is very simply that we have an intimate relationship with the Father. We have an intimate relationship with the Father. A child does not fear to come to his father. He may be afraid of others, but not of his father, at least not in a normal family. I realise you hear of families where there is abuse and you see a child cowering before his family. That's a terrible thing to see. But as a general rule, and certainly in a healthy family, a child does not fear to come before his father. Most children go through the stage of making strange, maybe in the church nursery there and there, howling, kicking up a fuss, but as soon as the parent comes on the scene, the child reaches out his arms, he wants to go to the parent, he longs for the embrace of his father's arms. And so it is with us. We long for that. closeness to the Father. We have that closeness to the Father. We want to enjoy it. And we can expect favours from the Father that others can't. It's true of a natural family, isn't it? In our household there are two teenage girls, two girls in their late teens. One is our daughter Rachel, and the other is a girl that's been boarding with us for a year and a half, Chris. Now Rachel, she can come and she asks all kinds of favours. She comes very frequently and says, can I have the car tonight then? And generally speaking, she can. Occasionally we say, well, we need it for so-and-so, but generally speaking, she can have it. But Chris, the girl that boards with us, she's never come yet, said, now, can I have the car tonight? She wouldn't do that. You see, there are privileges given to a child in the family that another would not expect. Rachel, while she's been earning money, we do help her out with footwear and outerwear. So she comes along, Dad, I need some shoes, I need a spring jacket, can you help me out? Chris doesn't do that. You see, a child realises they have privileges and a nearness and intimacy with the parents that others do not have. And if God is our father, we must understand he's not reluctant to give. I think my daughter thinks I'm a bit reluctant to give somewhat. I've got some Scottish blood somewhere, I'm a little bit tight, but usually she does get it. Maybe some grumbles and some complaints and, really, you need that much? But eventually she gets it. But our Father in Heaven is not reluctant to give. He is not at all reluctant to give. He gives what is good. Now sometimes a child will ask for that which we know is not good. We have to say, no, that wouldn't be good for you. You cannot have that. And sometimes we may ask for things in prayer that our Father recognises are not good for us. But every good gift He gives. He knows what's best. And I say again, He's not reluctant to give. In Matthew 7, verse 11, the Lord Jesus Christ brings this out. He says, if you then, and He says, if your son asks for a bread, will you give him a stone? If he asks for a fish, will you give him a snake? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in Heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him? He's not reluctant to give. And sometimes when people pray, perhaps when we pray or we hear others pray, it sounds as if they're trying to persuade an unwilling God to somehow be forced against His will to give us some favour. But God is not like that. He's willing and ready to give. He's promised to give. He's not a reluctant giver. And I think we must recognise that. He's our Father. And that's why, of course, in prayer that approach to God as Father is so important for the child of God. Nearly all the New Testament prayers refer to God as Father. When I read through the scriptures, as I seek to do each year, I very often have a theme that I follow through and make references to, and a couple of years ago I recorded every prayer in scripture, and it's interesting to see how the people of God pray, but if you look at New Testament prayers, you'll find nearly always they address God as Father. We were reminded yesterday of the prayer life of our Lord Jesus Christ. I believe there are seven recorded prayers of our Lord, that is where the actual wording of his prayer is recorded. And only one occasion did he not address God as Father, and we were reminded of course of that last night. That awful cry from Golgotha, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? We understand why the change there, but all other prayers he addresses God as Father. And I believe when we come in that way, God doesn't need reminding of course, but we need reminding that He is our Father. We come to Him in that relationship and therefore we may expect what we ask for. He will give us good gifts and He is not reluctant. Do you have that confidence in prayer? Do you have that confidence of that intimacy of relationship? Do you come and address the one who is in heaven, the one who is all-powerful, but He is your Father? and not reluctant to give. Secondly, and closely related to that, one of the privileges of being a child of God is that there is provision. The Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12.14 says that children are not generally expected to provide for the parents, but parents provide for the children. And our Father provides abundantly for us. Once again in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 6, he says, verse 31, Do not worry, saying, What shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? For the pagans run after these things. And your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. And all these things, food, clothing, the necessities of life, will be given to you as well. Do our children worry about where the next meal is coming? Do they worry about where tomorrow's clothes are coming from? Well, I suppose if we were living in utter poverty there might be some concern there, but I'm sure that isn't true of families here. Our children look to us, they know we'll provide the next meal. They know we'll provide them clean clothes tomorrow, and when they wear out, fresh clothes. They do not worry, they know their parents will take care of those things God provides. And when we think of that, when we think of his promises, we realise what an awful thing it is to worry. How prone we are to worry and to fret and fume, what's going to happen next week, what's going to happen here, how is this going to be provided. But how lacking in faith, and we realise that God is our Father and has promised. To provide these things, He is our Father. He will give us all good things. These are all subjects we could enlarge upon. I'm just dealing fairly briefly with them. Security is another privilege given to the children of God. A child has the confidence that his father will protect him from every danger. You've probably all seen a father walking his child along. firmly in the hand there and maybe they go into the park and the child gets a bit bolder and he releases the father's grip, pulls away from his hand and runs off a bit, but then he sees a big dog coming in the distance and very quickly retreats to his father and reaches up again. For that hand he has confidence. The father will protect him from that danger or whatever danger may come. And our Heavenly Father loves us, loves us far more than we ever love our children, than any earthly father loves his child. He doesn't want any harm to come. An earthly child knows his father will protect him. He has confidence that even through the night, somehow, the father will protect him, but the father has to go to sleep. You sometimes hear tragedies where housing engulfed in flames, and even before the parents can wake up, the fire is so bad the whole family is destroyed. And what an encouragement to know that our father never slumbers or sleeps. He never stops watching over his children, always there to take care of them. Perhaps one word of caution at this point, in terms of the kind of safety that the Lord gives, when we think of the security our Father gives, exactly what do we mean by that? A very interesting passage in Luke 21 that struck me recently. In verse 18, the Lord is speaking about the terrible time of the destruction of Jerusalem, the awful threats, the dangers that will come upon them. But he makes a statement, but not a hair of your head will perish. Not a hair of your head will perish. If you took that as it were out of its context, you'd say, well, boy, we're absolutely safe. The least bit of harm will come to us, even physically. But that's not quite what the Lord means, because you just back up two verses to verse 16. He says, you will be betrayed by parents, brothers, relatives and friends. They will put some of you to death. And then in the next breath he says, not a hair of your head will perish. So evidently the Lord doesn't have in mind the physical hairs. Many of us here, some of our hairs, many of them have already perished. The Lord is thinking more of the safety of the soul than of the body. It is spiritual security that is referred to here without question. That's what really matters, isn't it? The Lord says, don't fear those who can destroy the body. You fear him who can destroy both body and soul in hell. Yes, but the Lord has promised that spiritual security. I'm sure we're well acquainted with the promises of John 10. It's a little change in relationship here. It's not the father-child relationship, it's the shepherd-sheep relationship, but the same security, the same protection is given. The Lord says, my sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. No one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of my Father's hand." Security of the sheep here, guaranteed by the shepherd, safe in his hands. The picture here seems to be, if the shepherd's hands were not safe enough, in his hands, the father's hands, as it were, are around the shepherd's hands, and no one can snatch them out of my father's hands. So there's that double security, the security of the shepherd, the security of the father himself, the shepherd's father here, the Lord Jesus Christ's heavenly father, but he's also our father. That security of the soul is guaranteed. The Lord will preserve our souls even unto his eternal dwelling. Sometimes, of course, a father may have the best intentions to protect his child and yet not be able to. He may say, well, don't worry, Daddy will take care of you, but he may be in a situation of riot or robbers would come and perhaps the father is not able to do that. He may have the best of intentions, has the desire for the children but not the power to take care of them. Again, that is not true of our Heavenly Father, has not only the desire, not only given us the promise that he will take care of us, but of course the power also to secure our souls, to preserve us. And whilst physical safety is not guaranteed, We know that no harm will befall us but what God permits. Recognise that it may not be the Lord's will to preserve us from all physical harm and danger. We recognise that, we must, otherwise we're going to be disillusioned at times. But we must also recognise that our physical safety is in the hands of God. If he sees fit, he'll preserve us even from physical danger. that the Lord is in control. There's a hymn that I like in Grace number 122, the last verse there says, Plagues and deaths around me fly, till he bids I cannot die. Not a single shaft that his arrow can hit till the God of love sees fit. So even our physical security is in the hands of God and that also is a comfort. I was mentioning to our folks in prayer meeting last week along a similar line, some of you have read the biography of John Patton, missionary to the New Hebrides, and almost daily for a period he lived in danger of his life. He would come out of his home and there were a group of the natives there with their clubs ready to beat him into the ground. But he had such a confidence, such an assurance of the sovereignty of God, he would say to them, you guys can't touch me unless it's God's time. What if it was God's time, he was ready to die? But he had such an assurance that he was in the hands of God. He would say, you cannot lay a hand on me. You cannot put a club on my head until God gives you the permission. I'm in his hands, not yours. And mercifully, he was spared. But we are given that security by our Heavenly Father. We're also given guidance. Paul, Romans 8, 14, as many as are led, But the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. A good parent doesn't leave a child to find his own way through life, at least not in his early years. He realises he needs guidance, he needs counsel. Children need that, and our Father gives it to us. He gives us counsel, gives us guidance, he leads us by his Spirit. Now this is a big subject in itself. That does not mean that we rely on some vague subjective impulse. There are those we recognise who are led along that way. At every moment of their life they sort of stop and they sense the impulse that comes from the Spirit of God to direct them this way or that way, to buy this brand of suit or that brand of suit, to put on this pair of socks or that pair of socks, or major decisions, whatever it may be. They're looking entirely to some subjective impulses. We're not talking about that. Psalm 119 verse 105, Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Guidance, we believe, generally speaking, comes from the Word of God, comes from the truth that God has given to us in His Word. We acknowledge there are times when God can use things beyond scripture to lead us. He can certainly use circumstances whereby doors are closed or doors are opened. He can use the counsel, the advice of others. There may be times too when he gives that inward sense, that witness of the spirit within, giving us that sense of approval upon a path or even disapproval upon a certain course of action. But if we rely on that sort of thing habitually, it becomes very dangerous because it's just too much inbred sin for us to accurately determine the will of God in that way. That's why we must look to the scriptures for our guidance. But be assured again, the Father wants to show us the way, just as the shepherd wants to show the sheep the way to go. Our Father wants to lead us. There are those who sometimes find guidance difficult, and I'm sure there are all times when we have trials and we're not sure for a while which way to go, what is the path, do I do this, do I do that, but I think it helps to have the assurance that God is our Father, He wants to show us the way. He doesn't want to make it difficult, does He? He may for a while not show us the path to cast us more upon Himself, We must have that assurance that our Father wants to show us the path in which we should walk. Another privilege as children of God is the inheritance given to us. Now, as I mentioned, in the Roman culture that was a big thing. A child was adopted into its family, it was almost always with a view to the inheritance. It was that the father would not be left without an heir. without someone to carry on the family line, the family inheritance. And an heir often had a substantial inheritance and so do we as children of God. Galatians 4, 7, since you are no longer a slave but a son, since you are a son, God has made you an heir. God has made you an heir. Romans chapter 8, verse 17, where heirs of God co-heirs with Christ. We share with Christ and His inheritance. What a glorious inheritance is ours. My, what an inheritance is laid out for the people of God. Some in this life can look forward to a vast inheritance. Maybe you will inherit a million, I don't know. Maybe there's someone among us today who's an heir to a vast fortune or a great estate, I don't know. Think of someone like Prince Charles, the vast fortune that will be his when Queen Elizabeth dies, enormous inheritance. But our inheritance is not to be measured in terms of cash, of property, estates, far more glorious things. Of course, not a great deal is revealed of the details of the world to come. I know there are those who want to know whether those streets are really paved with gold, pick up their hammer and chisel and maybe chisel out a few chunks of gold but most of the details given to us surely are figurative. They are setting forth the glories of the world to come in spiritual language, in figures of speech there. We don't need to know those things. Does it really matter to us now? Will it make us more holy to know that the streets are paved with gold, to know that there are gates of pearl? Those things are not important to our holiness down here. What we do need to know and what we are told clearly is that we shall be with Christ. We shall be like Christ. We shall be in the presence of our Heavenly Father. We shall see God face to face as much as we can see Him who is spiritual and glorious. But we shall be there. We shall share the inheritance with Christ. And that should be enough to make us long for heaven. I don't believe it's wrong for us to long for heaven. We get rather ridiculed these days, especially by the liberals, as those who sort of have their heads in the clouds, those who look for pie in the sky, by and by, and they say you've got to be concerned with earthly affairs, man, never mind about these spiritual, ethereal things in the future. But the Word of God sets these before us again and again to encourage us. And I believe it's not wrong, I believe more and more we need to be heavenly minded. We need to set our sights, we need to set our affections, as Paul says in Colossians, set our affections on things above, not on things on the earth. Because that is our eternal home. That's where we belong. And we ought to be longing for heaven. We ought to be longing for home. We ought to be longing to be in the presence of our Heavenly Father. The inheritance is a very wonderful privilege given to us as children of God. And the last privilege is discipline. Discipline. Now the children on here this morning see some wry faces and some scowls there if we said that. Discipline is a privilege. Now many, and I'm sure when we were young, we didn't think discipline was a privilege, did we? Some of you are still young enough to remember those days when you were laid across the knee or taken out to the woodshed, whatever it might be. Did you consider that a privilege? Probably now you realise it was. But the Word of God makes very clear Discipline is a privilege. Discipline is a token of the love of the parents. Much in Proverbs, Proverbs 13, 24, he who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him. Discipline, rightly understood, is a privilege. It is good for us. Again, the Proverbs in chapter 3, repeated in Hebrews chapter 12, says that the Lord disciplines those he loves. Our Heavenly Father disciplines those he loves. And under the heading of discipline, of course, there are many things, a wide variety of difficult experiences, sickness, persecution, adversity of any kind, really, can be viewed as discipline or chastening. I don't think we must make the mistake of trying always to link some particular hardship with some particular sin, it may be, but I would suggest that the rule is just a general thing, that God, in view of our general sinfulness, that indwelling sin that remains, deals with us and chastens us and puts us through tough experiences in order to purify us, to strengthen us, to cast us more upon him. Adversity of any kind is the chastening of the Lord. No one enjoys suffering. We're not intended to be masochists, I don't believe, but if we look beyond the suffering to the purpose of the suffering, Then we can rejoice in it. Then we can rejoice, even as the Apostle Paul did. Just yesterday I added this to my notes in 2 Corinthians. I'm going to be taking 2 Corinthians in the fall in our own church in Bible studies. I've been reading it through and through and through. But this I noted in connection with what I was saying this morning. In 2 Corinthians 12, of course, Paul, his great visions, and then the thorn in the flesh for which he prayed for relief without success, And so he's able to say, that is why, knowing that in his weakness Christ's power may more fully rest upon him, he says, that is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. When I'm weak, then I'm strong. He didn't delight in those things in and of themselves. He didn't say, oh, another beating, praise the Lord, hallelujah. No, but when he saw the purpose of it, when he saw that it was for Christ's sake, when he saw that in his weakness he would be more fully cast upon the Lord and therefore that Christ's power would more fully rest upon him, then he could rejoice. because he could see it was the hand of a loving, heavenly Father. I think we need to look at suffering again from a family standpoint. Then it's easier to accept. You know, if a child was beaten up by a neighbour, he couldn't enjoy that, could he? He'd be scared stiff. If a neighbour maybe caught him climbing over his fence to get an apple and the neighbour really beat the daylights out of him, he wouldn't enjoy that. He'd be scared stiff. But with a father's discipline, At least afterwards he understands it's for his good. He comes to know it's in love that he's disciplined. And I think if we can say, this trial, this suffering through which I'm passing is the chastening of my heavenly Father, then surely it's much easier to accept and we can rejoice in it. My Father knows what's best. He sees that this is good for me and therefore we can delight in the trials that come upon us. Well, let's move to the responsibilities of being a child of God. Be briefer here. Responsibilities of being a child of God. A child needs responsibilities. He needs to learn early that life is not just taking, being given things, blessings, privileges, goodies. He needs to understand that there are things expected of him. There are responsibilities and we used to try and try to teach our children to make their beds and be tidy and do the dishes and so on. We recognised that responsibilities were good for them, things were expected of them. And so it is when we think of our responsibilities as children of God, there are things that are expected of us. And the first is that we are expected to honour the name of the Father. Children should be expected to honour the father's name. We know the conduct of children reflects upon the parents. We've probably all had the embarrassment of having a report from school or some word from the teacher that little Johnny or Freddy or whoever it might be was not behaving as they should and we're mortified, aren't we? Because it sort of reflects upon us. We've got Andrew's first report, our dear little boy, and the note on there that he was rather aggressive We were horrified to think of that. dear little five-year-old being aggressive. It's humbling because the conduct of children reflects upon the parent. I guess that's especially true of preacher's kids. Poor preacher's kids are put under the scrutiny of the microscope there. Every word, every action, every little wriggle in the pew there is noted and held against them and used in evidence and certainly preachers are very much conscious. that their good name and reputation can be enhanced or spoiled by the children. And how much is that true of us? How much more is that true of us as children of God that our conduct reflects upon our heavenly Father? You may recall David's great sin with Bathsheba and then with Uriah and whilst when he confessed his sins he was assured his sins were forgiven, he was also told because by this You give an occasion for the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. Therefore certain things would follow. The child would die and he'd have almost a lifetime of difficulty and trial and chastening as a result of his own family. He'd give an occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. He had dishonoured the name of the Father. And so it is with us when we misbehave, when we dishonour the Lord, we are bringing disrespect, we are bringing dishonour rather upon the name of our Heavenly Father. And that's why the Lord Jesus Christ utters these words familiar to us, Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven. Our conduct reflects upon the honour of our Father in Heaven. And again, a section in 1 John that brings us out. 1 John 3 and 7. Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous just as He, God, is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, will practice sin. because God's seed remains in him. He cannot go on sinning because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are. Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God. So he says we know who are the devil's children and who are God's children by their behaviour. by their righteous conduct. The righteous ones reflect the conduct of the Heavenly Father. Those who live in unrighteousness, those who practice sin, give indication they are children of the devil. So you can see how important our behaviour is so that our sins can bring dishonour upon the name of our Father. We need to be very much in mind of that when we Plan a certain course of action when we say things. Now, will this speech, with what I say, with what I do, will this bring honour to my Father? Or will it dishonour His name? So important. And of course, closely connected with this, it is the responsibility of the child of God to obey the Father, to obey the Heavenly Father. The intimacy of our relationship, The boldness with which we come before our Father must not obscure the fact that there is authority in the house. There is authority in the house. The father makes the rules. We don't get our kids and say, all right, little paper kids, you make the rules of the house. You set your own time for coming in, you set the rules, what responsibilities, what you do. No, the father makes the rules. Now as the kids get old, perhaps consult with them, involve them, that's a wise thing to do, but ultimately it is the father whose will is final. The father has the final say. Now there are, of course, in earthly fathers, fathers can make mistakes. They can have wrong standards and probably all of us have had to back off at one point and The kids say, well, why, Dad? Why? And perhaps we sort of think it through or discuss it with the wife and we say, well, I guess that really isn't reasonable. That is not something that is reasonable to expect upon them. And we go back and say, well, kids, we feel that was not fair. We're going to change this rule now. We're going to let you do this, or we're going to change the regulations at this point. Fathers can make mistakes. They can have wrong standards. But that is never the case with our Heavenly Father. We can never question his rules. We can never ask him, is that really fair? Because all he asks is good. One of the errors that is taught by some in the area of holiness is that there is under the new covenant a change of standards. The idea was, under the old covenant, the law, there were mighty high lofty standards that we couldn't keep, so the Lord forgives us our sins and somehow makes the standard much lower now, so that it's much easier for us to please him. But that is not so. And if anything, under the new covenant, the standards are enhanced, they're arranged. Just read the Sermon on the Mount to see that. If there is any change, You can either view it as simply an exposition of the old standards under the law or perhaps even an enhancement of those standards, but there's certainly no lowering of the standard. There is not a lower standard of holiness. But one change there is, one thing that is different, is the area of motivation. Under the law it was this, do and live. In other words, this, do or else. There was that threat hanging over our head. If we do not keep that law, there is judgement, there is punishment. There was that motivation of fear that was so strong under the old covenant, which of course is brought out in the New Testament writings, passages like Hebrews chapter 12. But under the new covenant, while the standards are basically the same, the motivation is different. There is the motivation of love. There is a motivation of redemption. There is the motivation of gratitude. We're grateful for what the Lord has done. We love Him because He first loved us, and of course obedience means keeping His commandments. There is the motivation of adoption, the motivation of pleasing the Father, the motivation of being like the Father. We can identify with that, can't we? We've all been amused by the little boys trying to copy his father, whether it's taking those big steps through the snow to keeping up with his father's footsteps, or perhaps in the workshop, down there, making things. I enjoy making things with wood and so on, working in the workshop, and of course the boys would follow you down there and so you give them a couple of bits of wood and a hammer and nails and they can bang away and they can copy Dad. But their ideal is to be like Daddy. but their motive, at least in the early years, they want to be like Daddy. There's the idol, there's the model, there's the person they want to be like. Can we have a higher ideal than that, to be like our Heavenly Father? I had thought at one point of using that word Daddy because the word Abba, as I understand it, is very close, it's an intimate word, used in Aramaic, very much akin to the word Daddy. certainly indicates the intimacy there is between the child of God and his father. We should have that longing to be like our heavenly father. Be perfect, says the Lord. Therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect, there's a standard. Be like your father. He is your father, you should long to be like him. The Sermon on the Mount is full of this. In one sense, the Sermon on the Mount gives us the fullest treatment in the Bible of the fatherhood of God. Seventeen times in the Sermon on the Mount, God is referred to as Father. And it's really a beautiful study under this whole subject of adoption. We are to be like Him. In Matthew 5.43, you've heard it said, Love your neighbour and hate your enemy, but I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. copy of the old standards there, but you are to be like your Father in heaven. He causes his son to rise on the evil and the good, sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous, and that leads through to that passage there. Be perfect therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Our ideal, our standard is to be like the Father. And that is a beautiful motivation. See, we please God by keeping his commandments. This is love, again I repeat, this is love that we keep His commandments. To please God is by keeping His commandments. But if we think of that in terms of law, if we think of His commandment in terms of a list of rules that we sort of get out at the beginning of the day, well what must I do today, what must I avoid, and simply in terms of a list of rules that we have to keep or we keep, as it were, on pain of punishment, then at best it'll produce cold-hearted obedience and in all likelihood it'll produce bondage, slavery to the law or to sin. We must think of holiness in terms of pleasing the Father, being like Him. I stress again, there are requirements, there are rules, there are commandments, that's very clear. But it's the motivation, you see. We keep them to please our Father. We keep him because he's the one that has redeemed us by his love and therefore in gratitude we want to do what pleases him. It should pain us to do anything that displeases him who has shown us such great depths of love. And then the third, the last responsibility I've got down is that of serving the farm. There are jobs to do. There are various things that people are given responsibilities, right? You do that, you do the dishes, you make the beds, you mop the floor, whatever it might be. And certainly in a strong family system of biblical times, it was expected that the sons would work for the father. They'd grow up and had to be involved in working with their father. It is our privilege, it is our responsibility to serve our heavenly father. to be involved in the work of the Kingdom, to be involved in that glorious task of spreading the Gospel, to be about His business, to be involved in serving the Father. Are you involved in serving the Father? Or do you just seek a church where you can be well taught in the Word? Well, we like these Reformed preachers, we like to go and get our souls fed, but are you serving the Lord? Are you involved in the Lord's business? Are you busy in the work of the Kingdom? Because as a child of God you should be involved in serving your Father, being about His work and seeking to glorify Him. Well, isn't it a wonderful privilege to be a child of God? Isn't it a glorious thing to address God as Father, to know that I am a son of God, God is my Father, my loving, heavenly, all-wise Father." Can you say that? Can everyone here this morning say, God is my Father? Well, if not, the way is open. It is the way of faith. The Father invites you to come. The Son invites you to come. By faith we come into His family. By faith we can come to Him, trusting in the redeeming work of Christ, repenting of our sins, turning from our rebellion, grieving over the many years in which we have grieved Him who will be our Heavenly Father if we trust in Him. But if we repent and turn to Him, we can indeed say, yes, God is my Father. And if we can, let's rejoice in that truth. Let's revel in that truth. Let's meditate much upon that truth and apply it to all these areas of life, provision, guidance and suffering, all of these things. Recognise God is my Father. He's dealing with me in a gracious way. He knows what is best. And therefore I will cheerfully submit to His will and thank Him for His dealings with me. Amen.