Adopted by God

[0:00] Well, good morning, everyone. Great to see you all this morning. Well, this morning, we are going to continue our series in the book of Galatians. And as Andrew said, we don't have! Sunday school this morning. So with that in mind, I will try to keep things a little bit briefer than usual, which I'm sure you will be pleased about. As one person once said to a preacher, someone in the congregation, they said, keep it brief or you will cause grief.

[0:37] And I'll try not to cause too much grief this morning. But we are going to briefly look at Galatians chapter 4, and we're going to look at verses 1 to 7. And Patrick is going to come now and read our passage for us. So thank you, Patrick. And then we will look through it together.

[0:59] Good morning, church. Galatians 4, 1 to 7. I'll just give you a few seconds there to turn to that. What I am saying is, as long as a hare is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. The hare is subject to guardians and trustees until the time is set for the father. So also when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. But when the set time had fully come, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law that we might receive adoption to sonship.

[1:42] Because you are sons of his, because you are his sons, God sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, the spirit who calls out, Abba, Father. So you are no longer a slave, but God's child. And since you are his child, God has made you also an ear and here. Thank you, Patrick. Well, do you know what?

[2:07] No matter what age you are, and no matter where you're from, if you are a Christian here this morning, if you are a believer here this morning, if you are trusting in Jesus here this morning, you are adopted. You are adopted into God's eternal family forever and ever.

[2:34] That's a wonderful thing. Yes, we've all been born into an earthly family. That is true. But as believers, each one of us here this morning has also been adopted into God's eternal everlasting family. And that means that we will be with him forever and ever and ever. And we will experience the fullness of joy with him forever and ever and ever. Well, our verses this morning really tell us a lot about what it means to be adopted by God. And we're going to briefly look at three different things in these verses. These verses tell us about our need to be adopted by God. These verses tell us about the cost of our adoption by God. And these verses tell us about the privilege of being adopted by God. So first, let's look at the need for adoption by God, verses one to three. In these verses,

[3:45] Paul really highlights our deep, deep need to be adopted by God. And this is a deep need for every human person who has ever lived. In verses one to three, we see that, you know, before coming to Christ, before trusting in Jesus, Paul says in verse three, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. Now, in other words, basically, Paul is saying this, before we turn to Jesus, we belong to the world. We are enslaved by the world. Before we turn to Jesus, we are not part of God's eternal family. Before we turn to Jesus, whether we realize it or not, we are part of the family of darkness, enslaved by the world. And the only way that this can be changed, the only way that we can be brought into God's eternal family is if we are adopted by God. That's the only way we can be brought into his eternal family. So just to start with, the need for adoption is clear. Without being adopted by

[5:16] God, we will never, ever belong to his eternal family. That's the need for adoption that Paul touches on in verse three. Well, then Paul goes on to highlight the cost of our adoption by God.

[5:36] You know, in the world we live in, some of you maybe have firsthand experience with this, earthly adoption can be very, very expensive. I was talking to someone once, and they were saying in the end, they had to pull out of adopting a child. They were a wonderful family. It would have been a wonderful home, but it was just too expensive for them to do it. Travel costs, agency fees, it seems a lot of times even court cases. It can be very, very expensive. But when it comes to being adopted by God, when it comes to the greatest adoption of all, when it comes to being adopted into his everlasting, eternal family, the good news is, it's free.

[6:27] We cannot earn it. We cannot buy it. We simply, in faith, surrender and trust and receive. It's free.

[6:39] But while it is free to us, the other side of the coin is, it cost our heavenly father dearly.

[6:52] It cost him his only son. I'm going to read verses four and five, the verses that Patrick read for us again. But when the set time had fully come, God sent his son born of a woman born under the law to redeem those under the law that we might receive adoption to sonship. Yes, our adoption into God's eternal family is free. You know, we can't earn it. We can't buy it.

[7:26] But it cost our heavenly father everything. I don't know. Have you ever wondered, even just as a believer, does God love me? You know, does he, does he really love me? Well, in the most simple way possible, this is proof. God sent his only son to be sacrificed for us so that when we come to him, we can be freely made his sons and daughters forever and ever. He really does love us more than we could ever know. So the need to be adopted, you know, to be part of God's family, we need to be adopted. It's not going to happen by default or anything like that.

[8:18] To be part of God's eternal family, we need to be adopted by him. The cost of being adopted, we can come freely and receive that adoption because of what our Savior has done for us. But that was not cheap when it comes to the sacrifice that was made for us.

[8:40] Grace is not cheap. Our heavenly father sent his only son to pay the price for us. So it's kind of like a two-sided coin, isn't it? It's free on one end, but it's very costly on the other. But it's all been done for us. Well, then finally, just to look at the privilege of then what it means to be adopted by God. Verses six and seven. And the privilege is really found in these two verses. Because you are his sons, God sent the spirit of his son into our hearts.

[9:21] The spirit who calls out, Abba, Father. So you are no longer a slave, but God's child. And since you are his child, God has also made you an heir. Because we are children of God, because we as believers have been adopted into God's eternal family. He has given us his spirit, the spirit of his son, who lives within us. And because of that, we can cry out to our heavenly father, Abba, Father. The privilege of adoption is the close, intimate relationship that we now have through the spirit with our heavenly father. And this word, Abba, is a deeply personal word. It's not cold. It's not formal. It's an intimate term, much like maybe a child would come and say, Daddy.

[10:27] It speaks of nearness. It speaks of trust and belonging. The privilege of adoption is not just a change in status that we're now forgiven. It's a change in relationship. We don't approach him now as strangers and enemies, as Andrew pointed out earlier. We now come to him as his precious children. And we can come and we can say, Daddy, knowing that he is our perfect father.

[10:58] The privilege of adoption is we belong forever. We are loved forever. There is no separation, if you like, forever between us and our heavenly father, our heavenly daddy.

[11:17] What a blessing it is to be adopted. And that is what we are, each one of us as believers. We are his forever and ever. We will be with him forever and ever.

[11:34] And in that, we can always rejoice. And just in closing, I know that some folks are going through some difficult things at the moment. There are hard things going on, complicated things going on in our lives. But you know, we can notice that whatever is going on in our lives, as believers, we have been adopted by God. We are known by him. We are his forever and ever.

[12:08] And you know, in that we can always rejoice. Because our adoption is permanent and it's forever.

[12:19] And no circumstance can change that or take that away from us. What a wonderful thing it is to be adopted by God. I just want to leave us with this quote. I kind of found it helpful as I was looking at it during the week. In adoption, God takes us into his family and fellowship. He establishes us as his children and heirs. Closeness, affection, and generosity are at the heart of that relationship.

[12:54] But then this line really struck me. To be right with God the judge is a great thing. But to be loved and cared for by God the Father is even greater. Let's pray.

[13:11] Lord, we thank you that you have adopted us as your children. Thank you that we couldn't earn it. We couldn't buy it. It was a case of just surrendering to you and trusting in you. And thank you that, through that, we are yours forever. And we are cared for and loved by you forever and ever.

[13:37] Amen.