We turn to the epistle of 1st John. 1st John chapter 3. 1st John chapter 3, we read the whole of this chapter together. Our text, our main text, amongst others, tonight is taken from verses 1 and 2 of this chapter. Let's read the whole of this part of God's Word together. 1 John 3, reading from verse 1. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. Whosoever commiteth sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil. Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. Well, this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer, and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask we receive of him because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight and this is his commandment that we should believe on the name of his son Jesus Christ and love one another as he gave us commandment and he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him and he in him and hereby we know that he abideth in us by the spirit which he hath given us and Amen. That's far we read in God's perfect and inspired word. Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, in our Sunday evening services, we have been delving into the scripture in the area of the Christian's effectual calling. We have seen that initially from that catechism when it spoke of our effectual calling. In other words, the calling that God sends forth by his Holy Spirit, which is always effectual. He goes forth from God and enters into the heart of every single one of God's elect, lays a hold upon them and draws them to himself without fail. The powerful work of God's salvation. We have seen how we rejoice in that. That we who were hard-hearted and rebellious sinners, we've been brought to faith in Christ. We've seen that we who could never have been saved if it was left up to us, we would have rightly perished eternally in the agonies of hell. Instead, we've been brought into the eternal inheritance of salvation. marvelous and wonderful truth from that we have then begun to look at the Benefits of that effectual calling that is if God has done that work in us that he has laid a hold upon us and brought us out of the kingdom of darkness and called us drawn us powerfully to himself What are the benefits that arise out of having been effectually called by God in that way, powerfully saved by the Spirit? And the first one of those benefits that we looked at last week was the benefit of justification. that God has declared us to be righteous because we have been joined to Christ. Declared to be perfectly righteous. Tonight we come to look at the second major blessing that we receive through God's calling us to salvation. It's the truth of adoption. And that's summarized in our Shorter Catechism 34, where it asks, what is adoption? And the answer is, adoption is an act of God's free grace, whereby we are received into the number and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God. So an act of God's free grace, whereby we are received into the number of the sons of God, and we have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God. Adoption is another one of these things that God has caused to be in the world so that we have a beautiful picture. We looked this morning particularly at the body, didn't we? And the way in which our bodies have been given so that we can see so clearly what the body of Christ is to be. Well, adoption is another one of those things that God has brought into the world. When we talk about justification and sanctification, they're very much theological terms and we need to do a lot to unpack them, don't we? But already we have a sense of what adoption is. We know, for example, of the heartbreak of little children that are orphaned because of war or because of accidents or disease. and they have no family, no one to love them, no one to care for them. They're left orphaned. But equally so we know the gladness, the joy of seeing those little children adopted. brought into a family, where they then have parents who will love them, care for them, raise them as their own children, to be brought in and treated as the other natural brothers and sisters, and to grow up and be nurtured into adulthood. Now, for sure, there's much that is imperfect in our world in the way of adoption, and there are often many problems and so forth, but in God's perfect adoption of us, there is nothing but wonderful blessings. Let's take up our text, verses 1 and 2 of 1 John 3, along with a number of other texts of God's Word under the theme, The Loving Blessing of Adoption. We'll consider that under three headings. First of all, that this is a present truth. This is a truth for us right now that we have already received. And then in second place, looking at the resultant life that we have right now, having been adopted. And thirdly, to look at the future wonder of this also. The loving blessing of adoption. The Word of God makes very plain that when God saves an individual, saves them in his church, then he adopts them at exactly the same time to be his very own children. The doctrine of adoption, when we're speaking more generally of the various doctrines in the church, it's not one of those ones that's so often right on the forefront, is it? You'll probably hear a lot more about justification or about sanctification and those sorts of things, but not so much of adoption, which is a little sad sometimes because there are some very beautiful, comforting and uplifting truths to be found here. The Bible makes very plain that adoption arises directly out of our effectual calling, directly out of that powerful work that God does in bringing us to himself. In fact, we know that this was always God's purpose. God's purpose was always to adopt us. Ephesians 1 and verses 4 and 5, we read this. According as he hath chosen us in him that is God has chosen us in Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world In order that we should be holy and without blame before him in love Okay, so that's talking about election That God has chosen us in Christ And then says this, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. Can you see what that's saying there? That this was God's purpose, right from the beginning, before the foundation of the world, before he created anything at all, God had purposed to adopt children to himself and to do that in love. That we should be holy and without blame before him in love. That he purposed to adopt us according to the good pleasure of his will. And this is part of the work of our effectual calling is also seen in Romans 8, verse 15. We read there, for ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit, okay, and this is the work of God, but notice what it's called, what the Holy Spirit is called here, but ye have received the spirit of adoption. that the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit of adoption. That's the Holy Spirit's work. As He goes forth to bring us out of bondage and into the freedom of that salvation, it's the Spirit of adoption. To such an extent that we are then able to cry, Abba, Father. That word, Abba, is much more of a tender kind of word. It's almost like saying daddy, if you like. It's a very tender word that is derived from the Old Testament scriptures. We are able in a beautiful way to come before Almighty God because of the Holy Spirit's work and most tenderly come before Almighty God and say, my father. At exactly the same time, that we were made spiritually alive and united to Christ and justified, that's when we became the very sons and daughters of God. That is in fact said to us in our Shorter Catechism. You notice that when we looked at The question last week of what is justification, we saw the answer was, justification is an act of God's free grace. So in other words, it happens in an instant. As soon as the Spirit takes us and joins us to Christ by faith, immediately we're justified. And in exactly the same way, what we just said tonight, what is adoption? Adoption is an act of God's free grace. When we come to sanctification, we'll note that it says, sanctification is a work of God's free grace. It's something that is ongoing, but adoption is an act. At exactly the same instant that we were justified and saved, we were also adopted. As it were, the Spirit comes along and does all that is necessary that we are immediately made the sons and daughters of God. And finally, as we look at a number of verses, let's come back to our text. In 1 John 3 here, our text shows that this is part of God's calling when it actually uses that word. in the text. Notice that. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. Interesting word that in the Greek because in fact it has two different meanings. The one idea of the call is it's like a summons. The call as in come. Okay, but that same word is also used to mean to give a name to. So both in the Greek, in God's providence. So to be called the sons of God means that God does both. He lays a hold upon us and calls us, draws us, summons us because of the powerful word of the King. But he also names us. He makes us to be the sons of God. Makes us to be his children. And that means that we have all the blessings of children. It's a beautiful thing, isn't it, when you have a godly and peaceable family home. When you have godly parents that care for their children as they ought to do. Yeah, all of our family homes are far from perfect, aren't they? We know that. There is no family home that's perfect all the time, not at all. But we're able to get a glimpse of the beauty of what God has done for us. When we become God's children, then we come under his protection and care. He is indeed sovereign God. He is indeed King of Kings. He is that one that has everything in His hand and there is nothing that moves apart from God. But He's our Father. Just as a father cares for their children and desires that no harm comes to them, our Father makes absolutely sure that nothing but nothing will come to us except exactly what He would have come to us. Far greater than any earthly father can ever do. We live in His presence. We dwell with Him. That's the pictures of the whole of the scripture, isn't it? Right from the tabernacle of the Old Testament with God dwelling amongst His people, right through to Revelation where it says, and God will tabernacle with His people. He will let them dwell with us in one tent. God, our Father, lives with us in that covenant relationship so that it is one family. Most wonderfully. He nourishes us. He guides us. He comforts. He directs. He teaches. And finally also, as fathers do, He provides us with an inheritance. That inheritance that is ours through the death of the Saviour. And that leads us to behold and admire that love of our Father. We ought to do that. Notice what our text says. Notice how it begins in 1 John 3. It begins, Behold. Behold. This is a word that tells you stop. Stop. It's a bit like sometimes we can be in such a hurry to go somewhere, you know, we're in the car and you're driving at a hundred kilometres down the road and there's this beautiful scene that's, you know, going past and you sort of, whoop, whoop, you know, sort of quick glance, oh yeah, yeah, that's really beautiful, whoop. Stop, as it were, pull the car over, get out of the car, sit for a little while. on the bonnet and soak in what is there. That's the idea of this here. Behold, stop and consider. Take the time to be quiet and to consider the manner of love that the Father has bestowed upon us. What are we to examine? We're to examine the manner of the love. It is love, but consider the manner. This is the idea of consider the sort of love that is involved here. Consider the kind of love. Consider the quality of the love. Have you ever done that? Have you thought about what kind of love adopts us to be the children of God. From where has God adopted us? Who were we? What were we? Well, we get glimpses of that, don't we, from the scripture. John 8 verse 44, Jesus says of the unbelieving Jews, he says to them, ye are of your father, the devil. and the lusts of your father ye will do. Ephesians 2, at the beginning there, we are told there that before we were saved, we were dead in trespasses and sins and that we walked according to the prince of the power of the air, the devil. That was our family, if you like. Our family. You see, quite often when we speak about adoption, the kind of image that comes up to our mind is the idea of this beautiful, cute little baby in a little cot and, you know, very sad, doesn't have any parents and you go and pick up this beautiful, you know, pink and rosy baby and adopt it and take it home. That is not our adoption. Nothing could be further from the truth. What does our adoption look like? Well, consider this. Can you imagine living in a neighborhood, a not so good neighborhood? I think I was talking about this to some people before, after church this morning, you know, either here in Brisbane or down in Launceston. Living in a neighborhood that's not too good. In fact, you kind of have to lock your doors all the time and you've got big high fences and that sort of thing. That you live in a neighborhood where there's a criminal mastermind, as it were, lives just around the corner, mafia boss or something like that, and he's got a whole pile of children that just run riot through the neighborhood. that these children, they attack your family, they seek to destroy your home, you know, toss Molotov cocktails over in the yard and try to burn your house down, they shout obscenities at you, that sort of thing. Would you say, well, that's the kind of child I'd like to adopt. That's the kind of child God adopted. Us, the children of our father, the devil, who hated him and worked to destroy just like Saul hated the church of Jesus Christ and breathed out slaughter against the church. That's who we are by nature. Behold the manner of love that the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. And not only that, but you see we were on death row. We weren't just, as it were, that kind of people, but we'd already been sentenced. We were on death row. What's Death Row? Death Row is a place where people have been locked up in solitary confinement and they're sitting there waiting to be executed for the dreadful crimes that they have committed. Hardened criminals. That's us by nature. Hearts as hard as stone, the Word of God tells us. and utterly condemned by the law of God and deserving of the sentence of hell forever. Would you want to go and adopt a child from death row? Behold the manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. You see, God's love does not just rescue us from death row, take us out of a hard-hearted criminal past, and then he sort of lifts us out, you know, at an arm's length and sort of, he says, well, you know, take them over here and... drop them into this institution and clang, shut the door and sort of say, well, hopefully we can fix them up a bit in rehab, first of all. And when they're a lot better, then we'll sort of let them out and put them on a bit of probation. That's not what God does. He takes us directly from that wretchedness. And what does he do? He brings us immediately into his arms. He takes us immediately into close unity and fellowship with Him. There's no parole period, there's no sort of testing for a time. Immediately we are His beloved children and never, not for a single moment, does God view us as anything else but precious in His sight. Brings us into the family of God. Which one of us here tonight does not cause significant problems in God's family in the church? Because we're all broken sinners. God gathers broken sinners into his church and brings us together and unites us together. Every one of us broken, every one of us with all sorts of corruptions, because that's the background that we've come from, that wretchedness and evil of sin that still clings to us. And God says, my family, my sons and daughters, whom I love and count as precious. He doesn't flinch to name us as His, even when we are so weak and so unfaithful. You know, it's what families are like in so many ways, isn't it? There's often in families one who's, you know, just a bit odd, but they're still welcome around the family table. This is a truth that is a reality right now. If we have a faith in Christ, then God is the one that has gathered us around his table. We are His, His precious children. It's been accomplished by our older brother, Jesus Christ upon the cross, the Son of God, who has worked that. It's been accomplished by the work of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of adoption, so that we have been made to be His. And the love of the Father continues to be poured out upon you as a precious member of the family of God. Wonderful truth. What's the resultant life that we have? What are the results of such an adoption that has been performed for us? We've been adopted into the family of God, and that means that we have a different identity. If a child is adopted, then they are taken from where they were, and if it's a full and proper adoption, then they take on the surname of the family into which they come, and they are treated just like one of the rest of the family. They take on the identity of that family. Brethren, that's for us too, isn't it? Our family is now to have God as our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ as our older brother. We are to delight to do the will of our Heavenly Father. We've left behind a family that was wretched. that you would never ever want to be a part of anymore at all. We want to completely forsake the wickedness and the foolishness of that family of evil to which we used to belong. Our whole life has been radically changed and therefore we are not going to look like, live like, think like or speak like the world that is around us. There are only two families in this world. Okay, you can't sort of live somewhere between the two of them because there are only two families. You either belong to the family that is under Satan, the devil, or you belong to the family of God and desire to live truly in that family. You see, this is what our text is referring to when it says there, therefore the world knoweth us not because it knew him not. Notice that. End of verse one, therefore the world knows us not because it knew him not. When it's talking about knowing there, it's actually talking about a knowledge of understanding and relationship. It's in the same way in which God talks about knowing. The Lord knoweth them that are his. It's not talking about just simply knowing about, because God knows absolutely everything about everybody, but He knows those that are His. He knows them in love. And He has that relationship to them, a beautiful and loving relationship. But He does not know, in that sense, the wicked. So when Christ comes at the last day, He says to the wicked, depart from me, I never knew you. I never knew you. In the same way, you see, the world does not know us when we are adopted and brought into the family of God. It doesn't know us, it doesn't have a relationship to us, and it cannot understand us because these things are worked of the Spirit. They're spiritually discerned, therefore. It cannot understand the church. The world looks at the church, stretches its head, and says, they're crazy. Who wants to be a part of that? The world lies in darkness. And this is the beginning of John's gospel, isn't it? The world lies in darkness. And when the light of the world came into this world, what happened with the darkness? According to John 1. The darkness comprehended it not. didn't know it, didn't understand it, could not understand it. The natural man does not know Jesus Christ, and therefore the natural man does not know, nor can it comprehend us. That's to be expected, but even more expected is that the world will also hate us. The world will hate the Christian. because we have been adopted. John says that in this chapter, doesn't he? Notice that in verse 13. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. Don't go thinking it's strange. Don't go wondering and saying, well, why on earth does the world hate us? John says, don't go wondering about it. This is something to be expected. If you have been adopted and made to be Jesus Christ, and you are living in that way with all of your life, then the world will hate you. Why? It's what God has done from the beginning. Remember, Genesis 3.15, right from the very beginning, what did God say when he spoke to Satan? Beautiful promise for God's people, but he speaks to Satan and he says, I, I am going to put enmity, I am going to put hatred between you, Satan, and the woman, you and the church, and between your seed, in other words, the ungodly, and her seed, those who are believers. That hatred is there because God puts it there. And God puts it there because He has saved His people. He's drawn them out of the family of darkness and the world. And He, by His grace, had made them to be His and adopted them into the family of God. And as a result of that, the world hates those that are of the light, just as it hates the light. So we must expect that. This is a result of being adopted. If we are adopted into the family of God, and if we are walking as His family, then we will have no fellowship with the world. That doesn't mean we're not to be friendly to the world. We are to be friendly. We are to seek to do good to all men. We are to seek to do all that we can. And the greatest good that we can do for them, of course, is to speak gladly of our Savior and the need of salvation, but also to do all that we can to help them in whatever needs that they have. We're to do all of that. What fellowship? What fellowship has light with darkness? The answer is none. There is no fellowship there. Because our life is no longer to be found in friendship with the world. Instead, positively, our life is to be found with the Father. If I've been adopted, then I've been adopted to be brought into a family. My life is with the Father. Galatians 2 verse 20 the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. There's the life It's the life of Christ that now flows in me by faith I've been joined to Christ and by being grafted into him his life Flows in me and I live by that life that is given to me It's the Bible God's word to me that causes me to Grow and to have more and more of that life because you see here This is the beautiful word of my father My my father has wonderfully beautifully given to me his child his word His word which is not just verbal and somehow I've got to try and remember it, but he wrote it down And he put it in a book so that I can take up every day and read what my father wants me to know. And I ought to read it in such a way. This isn't just, as it were, a whole set of truths that I have to try and bung in my brain and try to memorize, you know, this doctrine and that doctrine. I ought to take this word up and read it as the words of my father who loves me. The words of a tender, and a wise and most amazing father who wants me to know this truth for the good of my heart, for the good of my life. Then he says to me, even in the word, talk to me. Pray. Come to me and pray to me. Cry out to me, Abba, Father. So that as you hear the tender words that I speak to your soul, then in response, talk to me, speak to me, pray to me, and we ought to spend that time in that beautiful fellowship of the family of God. We've been adopted. Know God as your Father, and hear Him speak to you, and speak to Him in that fellowship, in that life. And in that way, as I do that, then I step into each day knowing the day has been crafted by my father. Kind of a nice thing, isn't it? Sometimes when you're a little kid. but parents plan a great day out for you. We're going to do this, maybe we're going off to Macca's for breakfast, and then we're going to go down the beach, and then we're going to visit your favorite place. And kids, oh, wow, excitement. Dad's planned the day for us. You can get out of bed every day like that. Every day. Because your father has crafted every day for you and he loves you as his son and as his daughter. And because of that, every day from now until he takes you to glory has been crafted perfectly for you. Enter into each day knowing that wonderful truth. And then, My life in that adoption will be also in the way of seeking to serve my father. And I will serve him most, first of all, by seeking to be like him. You know those little children, little babies. We spend a bit of time with babies, don't we, quite often as they're growing older and you try to get them to smile and that sort of thing and you give them great big smiles and sometimes you feel a bit silly after a while trying to smile and they just stare at you. But we try to get them to do all sorts of things and you try to get them to clap their hands and in fact that's how they learn. Children learn to talk because you are talking to them. Be careful of how you talk to your children because they learn to talk the same way. And be careful with your language because they will learn the same language. They imitate. They imitate all sorts of things, which leads to a lot of regrets later in life, and you think, oh, that's me, you know. But they learn in that way. Well, so it is with us. I have set before me my heavenly Father and my older brother. As I have been adopted into that family, then let us seek to imitate. Particularly our older brother, you see, is both God and man and he's been set before us as that beautiful one that I am to imitate. Let us have the mind of Christ, says scripture, who there is Jesus Christ who didn't think of robbery to be equal with God because he was God and yet what did he do? He came to earth and made himself as a servant so that there was the Lord of glory kneeling upon his knees and washing the dirt off the toes of his disciples. Brethren, let's learn to imitate that Great One into whose family we have been brought, that I will seek to serve in every way that the Lord would have me to serve. As we marvel at the manner of love that God has had for us, we will desire to not only be like our Savior, but we will desire to deny ourselves. Isn't that what Christ said? Who would desire to be a follower of Christ? Then let him deny himself. and take up his cross and follow Christ. Denying ourselves, you see, is not just simply saying, oh, I won't do this or I won't do that. It's actually denying me. My whole desire and lusting after what I think is right and good for my happiness and my wisdom and what I want to do, and I take all that and take it off the table and say, Lord, from your word, speak to me and tell me what is it that I am to do. and that I will give my life in that way, that I will follow that truth. I want to turn aside from me, and I want to reflect in my life the glory and the grace of my God and what He has done for me. In all of this, we will be having that life that is with my father and with my older brother, but it's not just there, is it? We just looked at that this morning. God has brought us into the church. Here is my family. And therefore I'm called into a family life with all of my brothers and sisters. This is the family. Just the same as we were physically born into a family and we grow up in that particularly of Christian families, a living, working, and blessed family that causes us to grow older and we see and start to learn about the importance of relationships and caring for one another and about serving in the family. But all of that is in fact bringing us forward to the far greater family of which we are to be a part and to serve. When we are born again, when we are regenerated, brought into the family of God. We are adopted into that family. This is one of the ways in which there's an advantage for those who are saved from an unchurched background. There are so many advantages of being a covenant child, born into a Christian family and growing up in that way. but there is an advantage to have been saved from an ungodly family. Because you see, a person who has been saved out of a family and the rest of their family, their parents, their brothers and the sisters, none of them believe in the Lord, then they're able to see family and physical family as it is, but then they're brought into the church and they know of the family of God. And they know of the preciousness of that. And they can see that physical family is still precious. It is. But what is far more precious is the far greater reality of the family of God, which will be my family for all eternity. That God has caused me to be adopted. and brought into that precious family. That privilege, that calling to live the whole of our life as adopted into the church family is the reason for the language of scriptures and especially the New Testament. As the Lord speaks of our whole family in talking about the church and the household of faith, the apostles speaking constantly of brethren and of our brothers and sisters in the Lord, you will find that this language is featured all the way through the scriptures to bring home to us the importance of this, of what adoption means for our life in the church. God calls us, in all the practical outworking of that truth of our salvation, to be living as the body of Christ in the local congregation, as we saw this morning as well. But it's not just a present truth. It's not just a present life. There's a future wonder. And verse 2 particularly brings this out. This already but not yet kind of truth. It says, Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. We are already the adopted sons and daughters of God, and nothing can change that. I rest in my father's hands, and none can pluck me out of his hands. It's accomplished for all eternity. I will be a son or a daughter of God. But we're still growing, aren't we? We're still growing in our faith and our love and our knowledge of our Savior. And there's so much more to grow in and we'll become stronger and stronger in our faith, growing more into the realization of what this adoption has meant for us. And then I will be able to more and more witness for the glory of what I have received in that adoption. But there's much more to come. Our verse speaks of that. Other parts of Scripture speak of that too. Romans 8 verse 23 says there, and not only they, that is the other creatures, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. This is the whole creation is waiting for Christ to come again. And the language is interesting here because it speaks of a further blessing of adoption. That is the redemption of our bodies. And that's not saying that my soul has been adopted but my physical body hasn't been adopted yet and I'm waiting for that bit to be adopted. No, the idea is simply that this is a further extension of the blessing of our adoption. My body is fully adopted. But my body, right now, it groans. And it decays. And there is an ongoing struggle with the flesh, isn't there? So that I still have many sins. And I struggle with them every day. And they cause me grief. And I need to be in a battle and a warfare every single day against them. We're waiting. We're waiting for the realisation of the fullness of our adoption. Our bodies are going to be radically changed. And we know that from Scripture. Philippians 3 verse 21, who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. And from 1 Corinthians 15, beautiful and encouraging chapter there, where it says that we shall all be changed and we must become immortal and imperishable. Exciting things aren't they wondrous things that we looked forward to What will it be like? Scripture says It doesn't yet appear what we shall be like Doesn't yet appear but we know this we know this as our text says we will all be alike as family and You can see that sometimes, can't you? You see like two women standing together and you say, well, there's no doubt that's mother and daughter. When Christ comes, we will all be made as one family, body and soul. Our bodies, just like our older brother's body, perfect, imperishable, incorruptible, not able to die, not able to sin. How wondrous will that be? No more of that struggle. I will know of that as soon as I pass into glory, all sin gone, but then my body, when it is also raised incorruptible at the last day, and I will stand there, and I will stand there with my brothers and sisters, and there won't be any more divisions. There won't be any more sins. There won't be any more offenses. And we will be made alike. We will all still be very different because we will still be, in this body, made perfect. We will all be like Christ's, made glorious in righteousness and holiness and perfection. This we know that our salvation is assured, that wondrous power that God has already worked in us, that has made us to be alive in Christ, He will work this also. We've been given the down payment of the Holy Spirit, the spirit of adoption, It's that same spirit that's guaranteed. I'm going home. Home is a wonderful place, isn't it? We know of that. We know of that with our homes at the moment. You can go away for a while and it's lovely visiting and so forth, but isn't that a lovely feeling when you've been away for a while and you step back inside the family home and you think, oh, it's home. I'm gonna sleep in my bed tonight. But in a sense, in a sense, there's no place that's really home here on earth, is there? Because things keep changing. The Pierce's are packing up, ready to go away from their home. Joy's recently been, had to shift out of her home and go to a different one. These things are happening all the time, aren't they? We're changing all the time. But there's a home awaiting. Jesus Christ said, I go away, but I'm going to prepare a place for you. And if I go away to prepare a place for you, I will come again that where I am, you may be also. You see that is the family home. That's home, home. It's the home that we will be to all eternity. In our adoption, we are those that are now counted as the very sons and daughters of God, and we receive all the privileges of the sons of God, and that includes that inheritance. We have that inheritance that awaits. We have a true and a long home, and God wills to have all his children gathered together, and we will be gathered together. around that table of the marriage supper of the Lamb and all things will be brought to perfection and then we will enter into eternity and that home will never change. In all of its perfection and glory and in growing all the time in the knowledge of what God has done for us in our adoption. Brethren, behold what manner of love The Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. Amen. Let's stand to pray.