I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were pregnant. I said, I met you yesterday. You were a tall man. Were you in the back of my chair? What do you want them to do? Thank you. Thank you. I've heard that. We joined the longest joint of the- I don't know. I made it through. I think that the traversing, I guess it- It depends on your classroom. Yeah. When you stand to a son who grades at 110, it's a very sad thing. Well, good afternoon. Good to see everyone. Come on in. Well, as we come for this afternoon to take up the glorious theme of growing in our awareness of our personal adoption by God, which one writer called the most precious, heartwarming, and practical of all of our theological beliefs, Dear brothers and sisters, I ask you please to turn with me in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. As Paul writes to this church about how spiritually rich they were in the Lord Jesus Christ so as to encourage them, he writes the following, picking up at verse 1, and I'll read to verse 6 in your hearing. Ephesians 1, picking up at verse 3, The Apostle Paul writes the following and says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. having predestined us, look at the language, to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace by which he made us accepted in the beloved. Let's pray and ask the Lord's blessings on our time. Let's pray. Our Father, we are so thankful for all of the mercies that are mediated to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. We're so thankful, Lord, that of you we are in Jesus, who has been made for us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. And Father, as we come in this hour to consider your word. We're asking, O God, that you would send the Holy Ghost to us afresh. We ask, O God, that he would invade this place with his presence and his power. O God, that he would come and break open the word of life to us and feed our needy souls. God, we thank you for the others who are speaking this time. We pray you would be with them as well. We thank you for the messages that have already been given. But Lord, again, we look to you for fresh grace at this time. Come and speak to us from Holy Scripture for your servants here. We ask and pray all of these things in that wonderful name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. It was the well-known Christian author J.I. Packer who famously wrote that if you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, then find out how much he or she makes of being a child of God or having God as his father. Packer said, and if this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers, and yes, the whole outlook of his life, it means that he or she does not understand Christianity very well at all. Now, dear brothers and sisters here this morning, I believe that J.I. Packer is absolutely right. And this is because knowing God as our Heavenly Father is really at the heart, at the core, of all that we believe as Christians. As a matter of fact, to quote Packer again, he says that the revelation to the believer that God is his Father, Packer says, in a sense, is the very climax, is the very apex of Holy Scripture. Now, unfortunately, knowing God like this, as our Father, unfortunately, we could say sadly at times, knowing God like this is not always felt to be the case for all of the people of God. Sometimes if we are honest with ourselves, our relationship with God is not all that it should always be. And because this is so, my prayer is that the message for this afternoon will be a real corrective in this regard. My prayer is that as we open up the word of God, together all of us will truly grasp from the heart what this teaching of adoption is all about to the end. That it will be absolutely transformational in our lives helping us to grow in a more personal relationship with the Lord our God which is something that I know each and every one of you desires. Now It is this matter of our spiritual adoption that Paul speaks of in our passage in view in Ephesians 1 and verse 5 in one of the five places where the word appears in Paul's epistles. This subject apparently is one that Paul is quite fond of and scholars tell us that he borrowed this notion from a Roman custom in his day whereby a person became a son to a father by adoption into a family who was not a son by natural generation and when this happened It secured for the adopted child the right and the name and the property by whom he had been adopted. This was the case at this time in history and such a practice as this in the first century carried no stigma with it at all. Rather in Roman society it was very special to have been adopted and this is because it meant that somebody very important had set his love upon you and adopted you to be his son and heir. Well Drawing from this practice then, Paul's metaphor here in Ephesians 1 and verse 5 points to our relationship with God as Christians, whereby He, that is to say God Almighty, out of His magnificent grace and love toward us, His people, makes us his own spiritual children and members of his spiritual family, granting us to be heirs and co-heirs with Jesus Christ the Lord. Now dear brothers and sisters, if you're listening to me carefully, indeed you would say in your hearts that this is very good news. This is glorious news, which is really the apex of grace and of privilege, as Professor John Murray rightly says, and this is what makes our topic for this afternoon so glorious. And so you see. Whereas in regeneration, God the Holy Spirit makes us his very own children by giving us new natures. And in justification, God wonderfully forgives us of all of our sins and imputes or charges to us the perfect, the impeccable righteousness of Jesus Christ. Dear ones here this afternoon, in adoption, God places us into his family, giving us the status as his sons and daughters, so that we inherit his name, have access to the throne of grace, are sealed with the spirit, are protected and provided for by God, and are enabled to call him Abba Father, that is, my very own dearest father, who rules above as the London Baptist and Westminster Confessions of Faith tell us. Well before speaking about this topic in our passage in Ephesians 1 and verse 5 Paul speaks about two other matters in the previous verses and the first is that God has blessed us as Christians and the second is that God has elected us to be his own. Now concerning these two matters I'll speak about them briefly for a few minutes. Firstly, as Paul speaks here in this section of scripture about the fact that God has blessed us, he says in verse 3 of this chapter, note the words again with me in your Bibles, he writes, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Now obviously, obviously there's much that could be said about this verse. A tremendous amount of things could be said about it. This is an amazing verse which begins one long sentence in the Greek text going all the way down to verse 14 of this chapter. However In summary, you should note that what Paul is doing in this section of scripture is enumerating the spiritual and celestial blessings which the triune God has blessed us, his people, with in Christ. Now it's interesting to see here. that as Paul begins these words concerning all that is ours in Jesus as the true people of God, he does not begin by speaking negatively with reference to the doctrines of predestination and election. Sadly, As I'm sure some of you know, there are some in our day who, when we mention these various topics, at least at my corner of the world, when you mention predestination or election, people get all upset saying to us, oh, that's Calvinism. That's Calvinism. Well, friends, truth be told, biblically speaking, no, that's Paul-ism. Truth be told, it's the teaching of the Apostle as directed by the Holy Ghost Himself. And so again, as Paul speaks about our salvation in Christ, he begins with a heart full of praise and gratitude to God, saying not what horrible doctrines these doctrines of predestination and election are, no rather he says, look at the words again, blessed. That's how it starts. Not horrible, but blessed. More literally, praise be to the god and father of our lord jesus christ who was blessed us that is to say has blessed us from the very first day we were saved onward and this paul says look at the language not just with some spiritual blessings but he says with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in christ that is to say from heaven where all blessings come to us and through Christ, that is to say, our union with Him. Well, having said this, Paul goes on then, beginning in verse four, to speak about some of the specific blessings which are ours in Jesus, when he tells us secondly now that God has elected us who are Christians. Look again at his words here. as he speaks about the very first celestial blessing which is ours in Christ. He writes again in verse 4, note the words, just as. Or we could translate the words as, according as. He chose us in Him, again, the Lord Jesus Christ. Before the foundation of the world, that, or we could say, so that, or for the purpose that, what is it? We should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Now obviously, like in the previous passage, there is much that could be said about this verse in view. Dear ones, countless sermons have been preached on this text, again, and the one before. However, in summary, we can say that the Apostle Paul here says at least four things about this first spiritual blessing in our text and view. And the first is concerning its substance, if you're taking notes, its substance. which is to say that we who are Christians have been chosen or we could say hand-picked by God selected yes and elected by the God of the Bible to be his own out of the mass of mankind but secondly Paul here speaks in our verse in view about the sphere of our choosing when he says what that it is in Christ that is to say in union with the Lord Jesus. Third, he speaks about the scheduling of our choosing. When he says, look at the words, he writes that it happened, 4b, before the foundation of the world, which is to say that God's choosing of us was an eternal choice which he made. And then fourth, Paul speaks about the scope of our choosing, the scope. When again he says that it was so that You and I who are Christians should be holy and without blame before God in love." What an amazing, amazing verse this is, right? Dear ones, here Paul is setting forth why it is that we bless God. Why it is that he begins by saying, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. here he's telling us why it is that we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places and the reason foundationally is because God has chose us to be his very own in Christ from before the foundation of the world. Yes, here we see that contrary to what some say, election is a biblical doctrine which is absolutely connected to all the blessings that you and I receive as the children of God. And thus Charles Hodge, the great Christian theologian, was right when he says that all the blessings that we have have their source in God's electing love. for election, Hodge says, is the cause or the source of all the subsequent blessings that Paul speaks of. Well, as the Apostle goes on then, in verses 5 and 6 of this chapter, he speaks about the second spiritual blessing from the treasury of God's grace that we who are Christians receive. And as he does this, he brings us now directly to our topic at hand. Look again at the words in your Bibles. Here, as he continues to speak about what God does for us in Jesus, he says at verse 5, note the words, having predestined us, literally he says, having determined our destinies in advance, or having lovingly marked us out to become children of God from all eternity, He says, having predestined us who are Christians to, or we could say, with a view to adoption as sons, and this by or through the agency or the mediation of Christ to himself, that is the Father, this according to or in keeping with the good pleasure of his will which of course is why he adopted us and then in stating the only proper response that you and I are to give God for such divine favor in Jesus Paul says in verse 6 of this chapter 2 we might say for the result of the praise of the glory of his grace by which he made us accepted in the beloved. Now, while these words here are really straightforward, I think they're very clear, I want us to just to park on them for a few minutes together so we can think a bit more deeply about them. You see, here in verse 5 of this chapter, when Paul speaks about what you and I who are Christians have been predestined to, look at his words again. He says that it was to, or we might say, for adoption as sons. Now perhaps you've never really noticed the rest of those words after having stated that we've been predestined. When you usually meet reformed people, Calvinistic people, they run around saying, so good, we've been predestined, we've been predestined. Isn't that tremendous? Well, it is tremendous. But Paul has more to say. Paul has more with reference to explaining the goal or the end of our predestination. He has more to say about what this whole thing is concerning. We must read the rest of the verse or we miss the big point. And the big point is this, brethren. At its core, at its heart, a central purpose of our predestination is that which is relational. Let that sink in for a moment. Not just, oh, we've been predestined. Stop the sentence and go on to the rest. No, but a central purpose in our predestination is that which is relational. Let me put it this way and say, our being predestined to God for salvation, which is the case for all of us who have been converted, was so that we could know him personally and intimately as a son or a daughter knows their father. Now think about that with me for a moment. I mean, if this is really what Paul is saying in our verse, I think it's quite plain, as I said a few moments ago. Then you would think that you and I would be hearing about this topic in churches all across the land. We've been predestined to be adopted as sons and daughters in God's family. You'd think you'd be hearing a lot of sermons about this topic. I've heard probably one in my 27 years of being a Christian. How about you? And we know various writers have written on it, the Puritans and others. There's a debate as to how much the Puritans wrote about it, but certainly it appears in their writings. But friends, this is a magnificent doctrine. If this is really what Paul said, that this is the end goal, the end in view, this is the purpose for which we've been adopted, you'd think that preachers would be crying out from the hilltops. This is it, this is what it's all about, not just predestined, but predestined to be adopted as sons. I mean, if this is the essence of the matter, which I think it is, if this is what it's all about, the very thing for which you and I have been predestined from all eternity, as Paul says here, brethren, then I think it's absolutely vital that you and I understand what this matter of adoption is all about. And so what is it all about? Well, the word adoption here in our passage, if you're taking notes, is derived from two Greek words. And it literally means to place in the position of sons. Here the idea is to give the status of a son, hence to adopt a son. And as I said in the beginning of the message, it seems here that Paul is borrowing the concept in part from a practice that was happening in Roman society in his day. Ah, but you ask the question, what's so significant about all this? You ask, what's so special about it? Well, dear ones, what's so significant about it, what's so special about it, is that before you and I, who are now Christians, before we were part of God's spiritual family on the earth, don't forget that according to the Bible, spiritually speaking, we were children of the devil. Don't forget that, friends. Don't forget that according to the Bible, you and I, as Paul says in the next chapter, were in the world without God and without hope. Yes, dear ones, don't forget that according to the Bible, you and I, who are now Christians, at one time, at one time, we were part of Adam's lost family, being children of wrath, even as the rest, Ephesians 2 and verse 3. And so you see, the good news Yes, the glorious news of scripture is that while this was once so for you and I, dear friends, nevertheless, God, who is rich in mercy, not only saved us, but he also called us to be part of his redeemed family. Good news? not only saved us, but called us to be part of His redeemed family. The good news is that although at one time you and I were aliens and strangers from the covenants of promise, again to borrow Paul's language in the next chapter, yet by God's doing, He ordained that we would become His own spiritual sons and daughters, having all the rights and privileges and blessings all the rights, all the privileges, and all the blessings thereof, which include our being able to relate to God as our Heavenly Father, who always has our best in view, regardless of how things look or feel, and even that grand blessing, as both of our confessions of faith say, whether Westminster or 1689, that we would be co-heirs with Christ. and have an inheritance in glory which is incorruptible and undefiled and does not fade away to use Peter's own language. And so you see, listen carefully, Whereas many doctrines in the Word of God are to bring joy to our hearts and to delight our souls, etc. Brethren, I say that the doctrine of adoption is to be at the top of the list. Yes, this doctrine should rank very highly. in our theology and in our hearts and I say this because we who are Christians must never forget that it's not just that in salvation God has saved us and forgiven us of all of our sins and now we're on our way to heaven as good as that is but it's more than that And I say this because the doctrine of adoption teaches us that God himself has brought us into his family, has made us his children, and has loved us as his very own and nothing, no nothing will ever change this fact. Praise be to his name. Praise be to his name. What shall separate us from the love of God in Christ? Answer, nothing. No one. This is an indissolvable love. This is an eternal love that God has set upon his people. What an amazing truth this is, right? What a glorious truth this is. This doctrine is one that teaches us all of these things and even more. And I say this because scripturally speaking, it also teaches us that we who are Christians will one day be completely conformed to Christ, our elder brother, and we will have a glorified body, even as our Lord does, as Paul says in his other letters. Well, these then are just some of the excellencies which are Embedded in this doctrine of adoption here. We see the great condescension of our God toward us his people and of course all of this comes to us by Jesus Christ as Paul says in the next phrase in our verse look at it there in your Bibles Ephesians 1 and verse 5 having predestinated us to what to adoption as sons how the prepositional phrase answering the question how by Jesus Christ, which means that it takes place in our lives by the work which Christ accomplished on our behalf when 2,000 years ago He died on the cross for our sins. And thus Paul could say in the companion passage to our text in view, in Galatians 4, verses 4 and 5, that when the fullness of time had come forth, what did God do? He says He sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to what end? That He might redeem those who were under the law. Why? He says that we might have the adoption as sons. It comes to us because Christ, our loving Savior, willingly substituted himself on behalf of us, his people. Well, in view of such glorious truth, what can I say but praise be to God. Brethren, what can I say? But what the Apostle John himself said in John 3 in verse 1, when he wrote, behold, you know the verse, John 3 in verse 1, John is so caught up with the splendor of all of this. He says, behold, literally look and see. John says, take notice. Behold, he says, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we, the senses, even we ourselves should be called the children of God. You see how blown away John is? We, we who were once children of wrath, we who were once rebels to God, part of Adam's fallen posterity, we who were in the world without hope, we who were once dead in trespasses and sins, behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we, even we ourselves, should be called the children of God. Well, perhaps in my speaking of this glorious topic, there's someone here this afternoon who having heard this subject is wondering if in fact, maybe you're here today, maybe you're wondering if in fact you are a true spiritual son or daughter through the Lord Jesus Christ. And so how can you know? In other words, what are some of the marks? What are the clear signs? that you are one of God's redeemed children. Well, there are many that could be given, I'm sure, but I just want to set forth three for you in our time for today. Three things that are clear signs, clear signs of this matter at hand, and they are faith, love, and obedience. Faith, love, and obedience is what Pastor Nichols used to call the three-legged stool. That's how he taught in the seminary. Three-legged stool of assurance. Faith, love, and obedience. So first there is faith. Faith. That is to say, faith alone in the finished work of Christ alone as the only ground of your acceptance before God. Not your works, Not your baptism, not your so-called righteousness, no, but a complete trust in the doing, dying, and rising of Jesus Christ, our Lord, alone for salvation. For as Paul says in Ephesians 2, verses 8 and 9, for by grace you have been saved. through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, he says, lest any one should boast. And so in view of this first issue here, I must pause to ask all, many of you here this afternoon, who might be questioning your sonship before God, here's my question. Are you trusting in the accomplished work of Jesus Christ alone for your salvation. Alone. Sola. Christ alone. The only ground of my acceptance before God. When I stand before God in the final days, He says, why should I let you into my kingdom? I've got one answer. Jesus is my only answer. My only answer. Christ and Christ alone. You've given me repentance. You've given me faith. I've believed on Him. It's Christ alone. It's Christ alone. I ask you, can you say with the New England Puritan Cotton Mather, when he said that, quote, we belong to God's family, when we can positively answer that our only trust for salvation lies in Jesus Christ, and his atoning blood." Cotton Mather. Not as popular as the other Puritans, but for us New Englanders, we like him. But secondly, it's a matter of love, not just faith. I'm trusting in Christ alone for my soul's salvation. What he did, that's it. When he said, it is finished, I rest the whole weight of my whole soul upon his finished work. But secondly, there's the issue of love. You say, love for whom? Answer, love for Jesus. Am I not your child of God? I ask you, do you love Jesus? Why? Because Paul says in 1 Corinthians 16, if any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be what? Anathema. Let him be anathema. Not just faith in Christ, but do I love Christ? Do you love Christ here this day? When you hear the name Jesus, you hear of His person and work and Him leaving, of the glories of heaven, coming into this world, sinners to save, is there something about the name of Jesus? The person and work, the doing, the dying, the rising, we're saying, oh, that's my Savior. Do you love Jesus? Do you love Jesus, the Son of God, God the Son, Emmanuel, God with us, Christ? The Good Shepherd who laid his life down for his people. Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, the Way, the Truth and the Life, the Altogether Lovely One, the Rose of Sharon, the Offshoot and Root of Jesse, David's God, David's Lord. Do you love Jesus Christ? Well, thirdly, there's the matter of obedience to God. How can I know if I'm true child of God? How can I know if I've been redeemed to his family? I believe in Christ alone for salvation. I certainly love the Lord Jesus Christ. And in one sense, those are all internal things. But now we need an external verification, obedience to God. That is to say, gospel obedience to God, whereby out of a heart of love for God, all that he's done for you and his son, out of a heart of love for God, wherever God speaks to in his word, you say, oh, God, I want it. I want to obey. I don't do it perfectly, but my desire is to do it, purposefully. That's my desire. Oh, I know I fall. I know I fail. But my desire is, Lord, when I see you speaking in your word, oh God, I want to obey. To will is present, I ask you, is to will present with you. By God's grace, I want to obey the word so that when it says, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, that's what I want to do. When it says, wives, submit to your husbands as unto the Lord, that's what you want to do. When it says, children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right, that's what you want to do. Why? Because you're a child of God. Because that's what the children of God want to do. In regeneration, God takes out hearts of stone and gives hearts of flesh. And he puts the law of God on our hearts so that we do want to obey God. I ask you here today, do you want to obey God? Is it your delight? Is it your desire to keep the commandments of God? For what does John say? If you're taking notes, 1 John 2 and verse 4, he says, whoever says, I know him, you see the person, I know him. Whoever says I know him and does not keep his commandments, what does John say? He's a carnal Christian? No. He's a liar, he says. And the truth is not in him. The true Christian, out of a heart of love and gratitude, All that God has done for him in Christ, he wants to obey God. And so here, then, is a threefold way for you to know here this afternoon if you are a true child of God or not. If you want to know if you're part of God's true spiritual family, ask yourself the question, am I trusting in Christ alone for salvation? Do I love Him who first loved me? And by God's grace, with the Spirit's help, am I seeking to follow hard after the Lord Christ in whatever He calls me to do from His Word? Well, if you can say yes, by God's grace, this is true of me. Not, again, perfectly, and not as much as you'd like it to be, but it's true of me. It's because you're a Christian. Could be no other reason. These are gospel evidences in your life. And you can praise God. And you can have a well-grounded biblical assurance that you are a true child of God, coupled, no doubt, with the internal witness of the Holy Spirit, verifying in your own heart that you are a child of God. But what if this is not the case? What if you're here this day and you show no real evidence that you are in a state of grace. What can I say to you, my dear friend, but simply this, while it's true that all of us are creatures, or I might say creations of God, that's certainly true, becoming a child of God is something entirely different. Entirely different. You see, sadly, there's a false notion in the world that's been around a long time, which teaches the, quote, universal fatherhood of God. which says that we're all God's children, whether we are Christians or not. Beloved, nothing could be further from the truth. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is completely false according to the word of God. For again, as I've mentioned earlier, we are children of wrath. by nature and by practice, even as the rest, and thus I fully agree with Spurgeon when he said, quote, believe in the doctrine of the fatherhood of God, quote, to his people. However, Spurgeon says, abhor the doctrine of the universal fatherhood of God for all people, Spurgeon says, for this is a lie and a deep deception. A deep deception. And so, maybe you're here today. You're here this afternoon in God's providence, and you're listening to this Reformed Baptist preacher, and you know you're not saved, and you really want to be saved. You know you're not born again. Deep in the theater of your own conscience, you know you're not the real deal, but you want to be saved. You say, I want to become a child of God. I want to be part of God's family. I want to be adopted into the society of the saints. I want my sins forgiven. I'm done playing games. You say, what must I do to be saved? How can I become a child of God? Well, dear ones, listen, the answer to the Bible is very plain. There's no mystery here. There's no deep passage. You've got to go passage, not in scripture passage, but far off country, this thing or that thing, some mystical thing you've got to wait on. Some elect word to come out of heaven? How do I become a child of God? No, the answer is plain. It's found in John chapter 1 and verse 12, where the apostle John, in the opening of his wonderful gospel, speaks about this matter from the human side of things and says concerning Jesus, John chapter 1 and verse 12, listen carefully, he says, but as many as received him, that is Jesus, to them and them only he gave the right or we could say the authority to become the children of God. No great mystery? Even to those who believe on his name. How do you become a true child of God? John tells us, as many as received Jesus, we could say, embraced Jesus from the heart as Lord and Savior, as your Redeemer, seeing your sinnerhood before God, knowing that you're a sinner in Adam, you're a sinner in your own self, you're a violator of God's law, you're a rebel before Him, you're stinking in God's nostrils, and you need to be saved, as many as received Him. and you look to Christ, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and you hear Him in Holy Scripture saying, what? Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. You look to Jesus as one who invites sinners to one place, that is to say, Himself. Come to Me. Look at the Scriptures. Jesus says, come to Me, and I will give you rest. Jesus says, He is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to God but through Me. You read Paul's words in 1 Timothy 1 and verse 15, Christ came into the world, sinners to save, and you say, I'm that very sinner. You say, Lord, I receive you, I embrace you, I turn from my sins, and I trust in your finished work as the only ground of my acceptance before God. My dear unsaved friend here today, this is what you must do. And listen, today if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. Today, the Bible says, is the day of salvation. Today's the day you must become a child of God. At this conference, this afternoon. You must believe on Christ. There's not a hundred options before you. There's one option. There's one person. His name is Jesus Christ. And He's the Savior who's perfectly suited for your life. Come to Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. and you will be saved. And so as I begin to wrap things up, I want to speak to those of you here who are the true people of God. to those of you who by God's grace have been predestined to adoption as sons and in time-space history repented of your sins and believed on Christ to the saving of the soul. I want to leave you with three applications, my dear brother, my dear sister here this afternoon. So as to help you to grow in your own personal awareness of your adoption, our theme for this afternoon. Since this is a vital teaching in scripture, vital again, preachers should be preaching it from the housetops. How can you grow in it? Let me say three things and the first is this. that you do this by regularly reflecting on this teaching and all that it means. Secondly, you do this by regularly recalling that one of the chief purposes of your being predestined was that you would be adopted into God's family. And third, you do this by regularly rejoicing that God himself has adopted you into his family so that now you are a child of the King And nothing will ever change this fact. So three applications. Number one for you or the people of God. How do you grow in your awareness or as it's listed in the brochure, your consciousness of your adoption by God? Number one, by regularly reflecting on this teaching and all that it means. I tell you it is a glorious teaching. It is a glorious teaching. It's in, again, two major confessions of faith. Dr. Peake has a nice section on adoption in the Puritan theology. Dr. Barrett, I read a good section by him in his book on salvation. Lots of writers have written on it, but again, we don't hear about it too often. Reflect on it. We think long and hard about what this means and how glorious it is. Again, as I was saying in the outset, once we were this, now we're this. Once we were this, now we're this. Why is it so special? Why is it so significant? Because of all that it means. because of all that it tells us. But secondly, you grow in your understanding and your awareness of your personal adoption by God by regularly recalling that this is one of the main purposes for which you were predestined. And again, as I mentioned earlier, I confess that for a long time I just read Ephesians 1 and just got so excited to prove to every Arminian that we're predestined in the words in the Bible. What an exciting thing. Maybe like you. But then again, when you look at it closer, Ephesians 1-5, having predestinated us to... Adoption as sons. It's a whole nother world now. Adoption as sons. How? By Jesus Christ, to himself that is the Father. Why did he do it? Look at 5b. According to the good pleasure of his will, the great end that should come from us, that we should praise the glory of his grace by which he made us accepted in the beloved. You see, friends, how important it is. One of the reasons God chose me was for this relational aspect. Only God is my Father. Understanding that when I fall short of the glory of God that He doesn't kick me to the curb as it were. That's not God. That's not God. Oh, He corrects me, He chastens me, I understand, but how does He do it? As a Father. You are sons, the writer of Hebrews says. We are the children of God. He does it with love, He does it with grace, He does it with cords of kindness. Do you know God like this in your life? That's how parents are with their children. Again, we don't kick them to the curb the first time they sin or the hundredth time they sin. No, we keep encouraging them with the word of God. We keep building them up. We keep picking them up. That's how we need to understand our walk with God. That's how we need to understand what the Christian life is all about. Adopted as sons. Adopted as daughters. And then thirdly, we do this by regularly rejoicing that God in love has adopted us into his family so that now, you and I who are true Christians, our children, the king of heaven and earth, knowing that this is something which you and I totally do not deserve. And that really will help us to be thankful, I think, when we understand our past, we understand where God has brought us from and what he's brought us into. It will cause us to grow in our awareness of our adoption as sons. We think again just how great and how vast the love of God has been to us that we don't deserve any of this. What do we deserve? We deserve God's eternal wrath. We deserve hell forever and ever but in grace. chooses us in Christ to salvation and then in grace he opens up the door to his own family and welcomes us in as his very own children. Think about that friend. And again going back to what J.R. Packer said in that quote I gave in the beginning of the message that if we understand these things We will be blessed. Packer says, if you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, ask that person how much they make of being a child of God or that God is their father. Do you think about it often? I mean, it is transformational. It is glorious. Packer says, and if this is not the thought that controls and prompts his worship and prayers, yes, his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all. Well, I pray that having considered this material, and I've got one minute left to be 45 minutes as I've been told, I pray that as we've considered this material that all of you seriously will grow in a wonderful awareness of all that God has done for you. That you would just saturate your souls in this wonderful gospel truth, and that more and more you'll draw near to God as Heavenly Father who has loved you with an everlasting love and has brought you into his own family. Let's pray. Our Father again, we're so grateful for such truths. Oh God, who could possibly make up such things? Oh God, you have taught us from your word this vital subject. Therefore, we pray that we would bask in it, Lord, that we would glory in it, that we would be humbled by it, that we, even we ourselves, should be called the children of God. Lord, we don't deserve any of these mercies. They all come from your free and sovereign grace, and thus we bless you this afternoon. Oh God, make it real to our hearts. Encourage us by it, and might we praise you for it. We ask, pray, and plead all of these things in that exalted name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. All the rights and privileges thereof. Does that? Yeah. Where in Florida is your family from? Bogota. We stayed with the Lions. Stay in line, right? Yeah. How are you? Just fine, thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. It was still me, but it's no longer me. Yeah, Joseph good. Yeah, yeah, yeah last name perfect Yeah, yeah. Okay. All right. this is Good for you. Excellent. Going beyond the five points. It is, yes. Yeah, good. Yeah, so right here. Ah, look at this guy, man. What is this guy? He's got a heart, man. Man, good. Let me see that. Jesus. Oh, man. Oh, yeah. Me too. I've never seen that. So, um, yeah, but it's in Spanish. I always mention it to the folks, you know. Yeah, that's fine. Yeah, well, once the space is solid, too, and you're just ready to go, Are you Spanish now? Actually, my father's family is from Spain, and he says in Spanish, the V and B are interchangeable, so we say Vamanos or Vamanos. So he says that in Spain, because they were Jews, the V used to be a B, which would make my name. Yeah, and Toraz. My father says that. Well, thank you. That's right. Righteous. Well, thank you. That's great. I'm glad to meet you. Yeah, I'm glad to meet you. I didn't know you were here. You know me? I mean, I'm just trying to think. I was definitely one of the, this year it was me. I was definitely one of the, this year it was me. I was definitely one of the, this year it was me. I was definitely one of the, this year it was me. I was definitely one of the, this year it was me. I was definitely one of the, this year it was me. I was definitely one of the, this year it was me. I was definitely one of the, this year it was me. I was definitely one of the, this year it was me. I was definitely one of the, this year it was me. I was definitely one of the, this year it was me. I was definitely one of the, this year it was Well, I have a Spanish translator for my kids. So he was doing Spanish, English, Spanish. So you didn't have training when you were in Mexico, so that's why you're coming here now. Yeah, I understand. I get it, yeah. So you're going back. It started out with a desire to see what I wanted to do first. Isn't that so encouraging? Praise the Lord. We're all wonderful. I'm rejoicing. It's great to be with other folks in other places. It's something else. Cuba's special. Well, I taught. Actually, it wasn't that long ago. I wrote one of my books, The Translating of Spiritual Warfare. It's a book about Spanish. So I taught there. Oh, there it is. And you've got more of them. Did you bring those here, or did you have it done while you were here? Oh, man. So I taught that to about 100 masters in the Bay Area. Oh, yeah. So yeah, the next year, I go back and I'm going to be teaching only on the first ones as well. That was my first one off. That was nine years ago. So I guess I'm a folks hardback. I don't even have a hardback, man. It's a compliment. All right. I like those guys. Yeah, that's how it goes there's a lot more than just Calvinism. And immediately, you know, the chapters for various books came to my mind. Or, you know, Sam Waldron, Bob Martin, Rich Barcellos, all these guys were my friends for 20 years. So I just, it just, zoop, zoop, and I said, oh, I got it. Went home the next 18 months, I ripped out their chapters from other publishers, which is helpful. You know, it's kind of like the next step. You know what I mean? It's not just doctrines or theories. It's, you know, public theology, law, you know, confession of the faith, you know what I mean? So humanitarianism, yeah, so. And the church. The church, or a black church. So very, very good. She's got about five years left, maybe, of school? Oh, yeah, at least. You know, I mean still because at least you know good trust You're not going to regret it. We have a good mix of their church, you know, some good, uh, you know, Brazilian, several Spanish of different stripes. I don't think anyone from Mexico though. We got Deon, you know, we got. Yeah, that was just private now Oh, that's something. Well, that was probably helping you to see something's not right here. You know what I mean? Of all that. So some of it did, yeah. Did you, have you seen the new book that my two friends have put out on street preaching? Yeah, they actually mentioned my name in the book. I told them you shouldn't do it, but they did. I hadn't preached open air in about three years. I'm a strict preacher, but most people don't know that. They mentioned guys who were doing it. Yeah. Because we don't have words. I know Todd Brown was here talking about it. No, he just did it. It's called, I don't know, Certain Sound or something. Yeah, Certain Sound. It's really good. I preach with the guy who wrote the book and asked me to write an endorsement. I did. Then they sent me the manuscript. I said my name. What a blessing, man. Nice to do it in New York City. Oh yeah, it's where I'm from. So really, really great. Well, so I'll do some great. Can I take them home with me? I can tell you where to send yours. I'm originally from Jackson, Mississippi, which is where I'm from. I've been working for the last three years at the Muskegon Rescue Mission.