Adoption: God is Our Father

Adoption is the subject. Adoption means God is our Father, not the devil. Adoption is an item in the ordo salutis (order of salvation), which begins with electing love, and continues through predestination, effectual call, justification, adoption, sanctification—definitive and progressive, and glorification.

Adoption means God is our Father now. He is the great King, the suzerain. I will speak to you about the general characteristics of adoption as well as the particular characteristics of adoption.

1. General Characteristics of Adoption

1. Adoption is different from regeneration and justification.
2. Adoption is an act of God’s grace to those who are regenerated and justified.
3. By adoption, the regenerated and justified become children of God the Father.
4. By adoption, we all belong to the family of God. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. In Ephesians 2:19 we read, “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household” where black lives and white lives do not matter in the sense of today’s critical race theory. In Colossians 3:11 Paul declares, “Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” And in 1 Samuel 16:7 we read, “The Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” The heart is what matters to God and nothing else. So in Galatians 6:10 we read, “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” So when we meet with a brother or sister, we ask the question: “What can we do for you?” And in Matthew 25:39–40, the righteous will ask Jesus, “‘When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King [Jesus] will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers [and sisters] of mine, you did for me.’” We are Christ’s brothers and sisters.
5. We had belonged to our father the devil. But, now, what a transformation! Now we belong to the family of God. In John 8:44 Jesus said, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of all lies.” Brothers and sisters, listen: Everyone obeys either the devil or Jesus Christ. In John 10:10 Jesus says, “The thief [the devil] comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” That is the work of the devil: destruction.
6. Few are chosen from the family of the devil to become the children of God the Father. In 1 John 5:19 we read, “We know [for sure] that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one,” the devil. Every pagan, every unbeliever, is a child of the devil. So Jesus exhorted us, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction [hell], and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life [heaven], and only a few find it” (Matt. 7:13–14). Few are elect of God. Few are given eternal life.
7. Adoption is a legal judicial act of God’s grace whereby a few children of God’s wrath are made children of God’s love.

2. Particular Characteristics of Adoption

As adopted children of God, we enjoy certain privileges.

1. The privilege of prayer. Jesus said, “This is how you should pray: ‘Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name’” (Matt. 6:9). He also said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matt. 7:7–8). I have been praying for a long time, and God has answered my prayer according to his will.
2. Great assurance of salvation. In Romans 8:15–16 we read, “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies to our spirit that we are God’s children.” This is the highest assurance we can have.
3. God loves us, and, therefore, he disciplines us. You say you do not like discipline? If God has chosen you to be saved, he will discipline you. (PGM) In Hebrews 12:5–8 we read, “And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons [and daughters}: ‘My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you. And do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son [or a daughter].’ Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons [and daughters]. For what son is not disciplined by his father?” All fathers have authority to discipline. My father disciplined me. He was a pastor. When he called, I came and waited until he would turn to me and tell me what to do. (PGM) The Hebrews writer concludes, “If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.” Elsewhere we read, “For this reason many of you are weak and sick, and a number of you have died” (1 Cor. 11:30). In disciplining us, God may even kill us. But he will take us to heaven (see also 1 Cor. 5).
4. Holiness is required of us. Without holiness, no one will see God. In Hebrews 12:14 we read, “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” We are to be like Jesus, our older brother. We are predestinated to be conformed to his image. In 1 John 3:1 we read, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”
5. We are being led by the Holy Spirit in our decisions. Many people do not want the Holy Spirit to guide them. They do not want to hear the word of God spoken to them; it is boring for pagans. But in Romans 8:14 we read, “Those who are being led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” And in 2 Timothy 3:16 we read, “All Scripture is God-spoken and is profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” My father rebuked me, taught me, corrected me, and trained me. “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it” (Prov. 22:6). A lot of people worship their children; later, the children spit on their parents as they spat on Jesus.
6. We help the poor families of God. We have four marks of a true church: Preaching of the word; two sacraments—baptism and the Lord’s Supper; discipline; and the fourth point, which we introduced: fellowship. So we ask people: What do you need? And we give to those in need because they are our brothers and sisters. They belong to the family of God.
7. There is opportunity to imitate God our heavenly Father. We are to love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, and also obey this new command Jesus gave us: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34). Christ loved us and died for us. Husbands, you are to love your wives as Christ loved and died for us. This is serious business. Do you think you show love? Love is sacrificial. So we help poor families, and then we will say to the father, “Get a job. And if you cannot find it, we will help you to find one.” We have the privilege of imitating our heavenly Father. So we read, “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children” (Eph. 5:1). In this church, we imitate our heavenly Father.
8. God provides for our needs, especially for our salvation. That is why we never beg. We never tell stories so that you can give more. God will provide. In Genesis 22:7–8 we read, “Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, ‘Father?’ ‘Yes, my son?’ Abraham replied. ‘The fire and the wood are here,’ Isaac said, ‘but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’ Abraham answered, ‘God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.’ And you know the story. The lamb was Jesus Christ. He died on the cross for our salvation. Additionally, we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” and he has always given it to us, without begging. Read 1 Timothy 6:6–10. If you are God’s people, you will listen and obey: “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
9. God planned our adoption from eternity. In Ephesians 1:5 we read, “He predestined us to be adopted as his sons [and daughters] through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.” Only a few people are adopted. I am glad that I am one. I do not deserve it. I was a child of the devil, whom Adam and Eve obeyed. But I rejoice that I am.
10. Adoption is the apex of all privileges in Christ. Professor John Murray in Westminster Seminary taught us that truth.
11. As adopted children, we will repent and obey God. A man told Jesus his mother and brothers were wanting to speak to him: “[Jesus] replied to him, ‘Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?’ Pointing to his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother’” (Matt. 12:48–50). We are the Lord’s brothers and sisters. In John 13:17 Jesus said, “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” A lot of people know theoretically what God wants, but they do not obey. Jesus said, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and [obeys them] is like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matt. 7:24). The rock is Jesus Christ (Isa. 28:16).
12. Adopted children of God will cry, “Abba, Father.” Abba is an Aramaic word that means “Father.” Paul writes, “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father’” (Rom. 8:15).
13. We are heirs of God. Did you know that our heavenly Father is very rich? He created the heavens and the earth. All gold he owns. Everything he owns. Even your house he owns. You think it is yours? He owns everything. In Romans 8:17 we read, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”
14. In all things, God’s adopted children seek to glorify God. In 1 Corinthians 10:31 we read, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” We find the same idea in the first question in the Westminster Shorter Catechism: What is the chief purpose of human existence? And the answer tells us that we are to glorify God and enjoy him forever.
15. As God’s adopted children, we have authority. In John 1:12–13 we read, “Yet to all who received him [as Lord], to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” One of you said he saw children playing in the White House. Whose children were they? They were the children of the president of the United States. Similarly, as children of God, we have the right to pray and do all things.

Conclusion

Let me ask you: Are you saved? Are you adopted children of God? If the answer is yes, rejoice! If not, listen. The Bible tells us, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household” (Acts 16:31). My household is saved. My parents’ household also was saved. Not even one was damned. And in Romans 10:9 we read, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Isn’t that amazing? You can be adopted today. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Whom you obey is your master, whether the devil or Jesus Christ. If we have trusted in Christ, we can glory in our adoption! Romans 6:22 tells us, “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness and the result is eternal life.” What a blessing! This is a blessed church, for we hear and obey God’s word. If God is for us, who can be against us? After his resurrection, Jesus told his disciples, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’” (John 20:17). May God help us to continue to hear and do his will, and enjoy the great blessings of adoption.