Predestination to Sonship

Introduction: Context and Overview of Ephesians 1:3-6

0:03 Our studies this morning in Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus, Ephesians chapter 1.

0:14 The focus of our study will be the first part of verse 5 this morning. But in order to refresh our minds of the general context of these statements, which we will be particularly concerned about, I shall read verses 3 through 6, the first part of verse 6. It says, According to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace.

1:21 In order to just refresh your mind about the overall structure of this epistle, you'll remember its two main divisions. The first three chapters concerned with explanation of the great theme of God's salvation in Christ. The latter three chapters concerned with exhortation and application to life and practice of the great themes unfolded in the first three chapters. And as we have begun our study of the first three chapters, we have noted that there are seven paragraphs.

1:55 You'll find these paragraph divisions in the American Standard Version. And the first paragraph is what we might rightly call a eulogy or a doxology to the triune God. Though it has found within its context, confines some of the most profound theological words and concepts, we must never lose sight of the fact that it is not a formal theological treatise. It is the overflow of the heart of a man who, having contemplated the magnitude of God's salvation, picks up his pen and begins with the word, Blessed be God.

2:35 Perhaps the purest kind of worship is that when you are blessing God. You are a scribe. You are describing His worth. You are speaking well of Him for who He is and for what He has done.

2:49 And so, as Paul blesses God, he begins with his blessing directed particularly to the Father. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then he gives the general statement for which he blesses Him. For He hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

3:12 Having then given this general statement, he begins to delineate those aspects of the acts of God for which he is blessing Him. And in verses 4 and 5, we have these two distinct works of God for which Paul blesses Him. Verse 4, Even as He chose us, the grace of election. And verse 5, Having foreordained or predestined us unto adoption, as sons.

3:42 So Paul's blessing of the Father has particular reference to these two acts of God. Acts of God in eternity where our salvation began. Election in Christ and predestination unto sonship. We saw that in verse 4 you have perhaps the most comprehensive statement of the doctrine of election.

Defining Predestination: To Appoint Beforehand

4:07 Where every single word brings in a new and distinct and vital concept of that grace of election. We saw that it is God who elects. He chose us in Him. We saw that the foundation of election is Christ.

4:26 We are chosen in Him. The goal of election is that we should be holy and without blemish before Him. Now we come this morning to a consideration, an initial consideration of verse 5. And I'm calling it the parallel blessing of election, predestination to sonship.

4:49 And as with verse 4, where every word introduces a new concept and you have one lofty concept overlaid upon another, demanding that we consider almost every word individually in verse 4, so we have a similar structure in verse 5. It's not taking the material and beating it thin at the edge of the road. It's not taking the material and beating it thin at the edge of the road. To make distinct points upon almost every word or every two words in verse 5.

5:18 In fact, it's necessary if we're to do any kind of justice to the thought of the Apostle Paul. And so we're going to think our way through verse 5 in a manner similar to the way in which we work through verse 4. The parallel blessing of election, predestination to sonship. Now just a one.

5:41 word about the word predestinate itself. It means to appoint beforehand, to mark out beforehand. And so, when the King James translators used the word predestine, they were simply trying to bring into the English the two words which make up the one Greek word, pre, something before, to destine, to mark, or to appoint. And so the word in and of itself simply means to mark out beforehand, to predetermine something. In Acts 4.28, it is used with reference to those events which surrounded the death of Christ. The apostles say the people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand in counsel predestined to be done. Same word, the original. It's the word used in Romans 8.29, for whom he did predestinate. He did, whom he did

6:44 foreknow, he did predestinate, predetermine to be conformed to the image of his Son. It's used in 1 Corinthians 2.7, speaking of the blessings of grace and salvation which God predestinated for his people. And then it's used twice in this chapter, verse 5 and verse 11, and in every other chapter, verse 5 and verse 11, and in every other chapter, verse 5 and verse 11, and in every other chapter, verse 5 and verse 11, and in every other chapter, verse 5 and verse 11, every usage, and I'm giving you these five or six references, I've given you all there are in the New Testament, where this word occurs, and in every case there is the concept of that which is marked out beforehand, underscoring the sovereignty of the activity of God, the certainty of that activity, and the eternity of that activity. And those three words are brought together in the word predestinate. It is God who is doing the predestining. Therefore, the element of sovereignty is bound up in the word. It is God who is doing something that he, before determined to

7:49 be done, therefore, it is certain. For God has said, I will do all my counsel. I am the Lord, I will do all my pleasure. None can stay my hand. And then, because it is determined to be done, before the concept of eternity enters into the word. Now, so much for the meaning of the word, now let us think our way through what the text teaches us concerning the predestinating grace of God, which caused the apostle to cry out, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the first thing we want to notice is what I am calling the source or the climate of predestination. And I could not settle on which word said what I wanted to say, and so I give you both, and you may make your choice, or we may have a little amplified version this morning where we have a whole string

The Source and Climate of Predestination: God's Infinite Love

8:45 of words. What is the source or the climate of this foreboding word, predestination? Well, isn't it interesting that the source or climate of this very foreboding word is God's infinite eternal and holy love? For as I indicated in our previous study, the little words in love could well be attached to verse 5, and commentators from the earliest history of recorded commenting on scripture have been divided as to where the in love should be placed, and I am of the persuasion that it should be placed with verse 5, so that after before him, in verse 4, you have a colon, and now you have the introduction of the word, and now you have the introduction of the word. And now you have the introduction of a new thought in love, having foreordained us unto the adoption of sons. So then whatever may be the essence, the nature, the goal of God's predestinating act, it flows out of, and is inseparably joined to, his infinite, his eternal, and his holy love. In other words, Paul uses the word, and he uses the word, and he uses the word, and he uses the word, and he

10:04 uses these words in love, the same way we might say, in anger the man spoke, in joy he sang, in grief he pleaded. What we mean is that the activity of speaking was carried out in the context or the climate of anger. If we say, in joy he sang, we mean that the climate of his singing was one of joy, the source of emotion which poured forth into him. And so, if we say, in joy he sang, we mean that his song was that of joy. If we say, in grief he pleaded, we mean that his pleading flowed out of and was conducted in the climate of grief. So then, the apostle says, the climate in which God's predestinating act took place, and the verb form indicates an act accomplished and done in the past, just like the word elect in verse four, that the climate in which God's predestinating act took place, which God elected, or the climate in which he predestinated or foreordained, was the climate of his own love. As one commentator has said, in his boundless love, motivated by nothing outside

11:23 of himself, he predestinated a people to sonship and all the privileges of that holy state. In the parallel passage to this, and this is why I accept this structuring of the passage is Romans chapter eight, and I would turn you there for a moment, and verse 29. You will notice that there is a parallel of thought in these two verses.

11:58 It's back up to verse 28 and catch the train of thought. And we know that to them that love God, all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to his purpose.

12:13 The people of God are called according to his purpose. The people of God are called according to his purpose. God are conceived of as a people who have been effectually called, brought into the blessings of grace and salvation, not by some mere chance of the operation of their will or somebody else's will, but according to divine purpose. And now commensurate with that divine purpose is the concept of verse 29, for whom he foreknew, he also predestinated, same word, or foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son. You will notice then in verse 29 that the people who were predestined unto the image of Christ are the people whom God foreknew. And foreknowledge, as we have seen in previous studies, is not simply to know beforehand, but it has the concept of regarding with distinguishing love the

13:22 love and affection. Romans 11, 2, will God cast off his people whom he foreknew, Israel, whom he regarded with distinguishing love and affection. So then, when we parallel these two passages, we see that as foreknowledge is the climate in which God predestines some to be conformed to the image of his Son, so likewise in love he predestines some to the adoption of God. Now it's important to remember this as we move into a careful consideration of other aspects of this text dealing with predestination. Because you remember when we studied verse 4, I constantly reminded you that the context of the doctrine of election in verse 4 was the context of praise. Blessed be God who hath chosen. And we do not understand the doctrine of election until it draws. It draws forth the praise of our hearts. So likewise the context of predestination is

14:30 the operations of the God. And yet strange is it not that the first time you introduce the word predestinate to the average person, their objection is, oh wait a minute, God is love. And what they mean by that is, God is his love, and any suggestion that he might set his love on God is love. God is love. God is love. God is love. God is love. God is love upon some creatures and not upon others brings up the objection, no, no, God is love. And by that they mean, God is bound by his own love to diffuse it equally upon all. Well the Apostle Paul didn't have that concept. You see, so many speak as though God's love must negate the sovereign exercise of that love. That at the point of giving expression

15:26 to his love, God must somehow neutralize it. God must somehow neutralize it. God must neutralize his sovereignty and is bound to love all men equally. Now where did anyone ever get that idea? Not out of the Bible. Maybe rooted in human sentiment. God's love never negates the exercise of his sovereignty. No. In fact, the love of God is the claim which his sovereignty is displayed, and the sovereignty of God is the atmosphere in which his love is revealed.

16:03 Does it double talk? Do you see it? In love, what happened? What did he do in love? The decree to predetermine that sons should be sons is love. Therefore, divine sovereignty and divine love are not to be set in antithesis one to the other. They are to be seen as the consistent outflow of the heart of God with reference to the sons of men. This has some very practical implications. If you wrench the love of God out of the context

16:51 of the sovereignty of predestination, you don't have a biblical concept of the love of God. You have a sentimental concept in which you consider God's love to be something that he owes to his creature, and therefore when the creature hears of it, he's never amazed. He's never astounded. He's never amazed. He's never amazed. He's never amazed.

17:13 He's never baffled.

17:16 Panethesians 1.3, blessed be God's predestination. No, no, the creature feels, well, God owes me that love. Why is there so little sense of awe and wonder? Why so little the climate of holy bafflement in the presence of God in our day? May I suggest that this is one of the reasons that God's love has been wrenched out of the context of his sovereignty? You cannot do it. You cannot do that if you stick to Scripture. The climate of this act of predestination was love. He love-destinated us. And conversely, if you wrench the sovereignty of God's predestinating act out of the context of his love, you're not thinking biblically. And some people, when they come to predestination, think of bare, icy, cold decree. Oh, sovereignty. Oh,

18:21 friend, don't conceive of it that way. The apostle Paul could not think of the exercise of divine sovereignty with reference to the blessings of salvation without seeing them couched in the context and climate of divine love. And so we see the built-in check and balance of Scripture. And the more I study Scripture, the more I'm amazed at its beautiful inherent balance. Oh, dear young men, get most of your theology on your knees. Get most of your theology on your knees out of the book. Now, don't despise those other books on your shelf. I love mine. Next to my wife and my kids. They're my most precious possession.

19:05 But make sure that every book upon the shelf is subservient to this book that you pour over on your face before God. How can a man ever descend into a proclamation of a cheap, tawdry, sentimental kind of gushy, unprincipled love if he's learning the love of God? Well, he's learning the love of God. He's learning the love of God. He's learning the love of God. He's learning the love of God. He's learning the love of God. He's learning the love of God.

19:26 The love of God from Ephesians 1. In love having foreordained sovereignty, fused to love, how can a man ever have an icy, cold concept of bare decree? As though God just does this thing like he's moving sticks and stones. If he gets his concept of predestination out of this text, in love having foreordained this. And I would say this is one of the reasons why we should be very cautious about putting a strict parallel between predestination to the privileges of grace and reprobation or passing by some to leave them to the just desert of their sin. The Bible does not parallel these things as equals. The doctrine of election and predestination is couched in the context of God's love to his own. And though the scripture teaches that he has bypassed some, don't put them on an equal plane.

The Objects of Predestination: 'Us' - Specific People

20:28 The balance of scripture is elsewhere. Predestination is unto the privileges of grace and salvation. So much then for the climate of predestination. I hope that's predisposed you a little more to study carefully what follows. Secondly, you have a word concerning the objects of predestination. Notice, in love there's the climate having foreordained us, us, us. Now this is significant. As with election, Paul is careful to use the word us. That is himself and all believers, all the people of God living at Ephesus and in the Roman Empire, and hence all the people of God in all ages. He did not say, in love having foreordained adoption as sons to some, as though it was the privilege of adoption that was the focus of predestination. No. He predestined people unto a privilege, not a privilege unto some indefinite group of people. See the difference? Some say, oh yes, that's right, predestination. All it

21:44 means is God predetermined to give some the privileges of sons. And that's the focus. No, no. The object of predestination, the object of the verb, you English students, is he predestinated living people who by nature were those described in the Bible as in chapter 2, dead in trespasses and sin, children of wrath lying under the curse and wrath of Almighty God. The objects of predestination, not a state, but people, people whom God predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, people whom he predestined to come to all the privileges of adopted sons. And oh, child of God. May I urge you to stay before such a little word, us, until something of the warmth and the wonder and the glory of it brings you into a state of holy amazement and astonishment that God should have included you in that eternal purpose of predestination to be made like his dear Son. And I say to any who are strangers to grace,

23:04 may this sentence make you envious to come in as we move to the heart of the text this morning, and consider what it means, predestined unto the adoption of sons. You say, yes, but can I know that he predestined me? No, and I can't. But, I know that he invites you. And he says, come. Come and there's a welcome. And so this is a word for you and I hope you'll be made to be jealous as we We now move to the third area of our study this morning, the immediate goal of predestination, the climate in love, the objects having foreordained us, and now the immediate goal of predestination, unto adoption as sons. I say this is the immediate goal because as with election, the immediate goal is that we should be holy and without blemish. The ultimate goal is verse 6, to the praise of the glory of His grace.

The Immediate Goal of Predestination: Adoption as Sons

24:07 And we'll have time to study that when we come to verse 6, but we're considering the immediate goal that we should have the adoption of sons. Now what does this word mean? The word in the original is just one word, translated into English, adoption as sons. It's a unique word, used only several times in Scripture.

24:30 In Romans 9, 4, it's used of Israel, as being God's adoption. In Romans 8, 15, the apostle speaks of receiving the spirit of adoption. Verse 23 of Romans 8, he talks about waiting for the adoption. And Galatians 4, 5, and when you've looked at those references, you've exhausted the references in the New Testament, that He might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

24:58 Now what does it mean? Well, basically the word means to place in the position, of a son. But now we have a problem. Because when you came in this morning, you brought your head with you, I hope, as well as the rest of the members of your body.

25:12 And inside that head, when I say the word, adoption, certain things register there, in the computer up there, called your brain. Now what I'd like to do, is reach in and pull out all the reels, upon which are stamped information about adoption, and throw them out. And feed some fresh information into the computer. Because in the Biblical concept of adoption, there is nothing in human experience, that we can say it is like.

25:44 That in any way, truly parallels the concept. When Paul sat down and picked up his pen, and said, Blessed be God, who chose us in Christ, who predestinated us unto adoption as sons. He used the word which conveyed a concept in his mind, for which there was even, nothing in his day that could be an accurate parallel. Some have tried to show the different concepts of Roman and Jewish adoption, and how there are aspects of this that fit together.

26:17 But when you're all done, you have to say with the most judicious commentators, there is nothing in human experience, that can be a strict parallel to the adoption, which Paul speaks of in this context. So let me make, I hope, what will be a somewhat, successful attempt to explain the Biblical concept of adoption. And as I do, I'm greatly indebted to my esteemed father in the faith, Professor John Murray of Scotland, and his book, Redemption Accomplished and Applied. The first thing I want to do in seeking to explain the concept, is to do as Mr. Murray does, show the relationship of adoption as an act of God, to justification and to regeneration. And that's the first thing I'm going to attempt to do. Justification has to do with our acceptance with God as righteous, and the bestowal of eternal life. Justification has to do with the legal court of heaven, the guilty criminal, being declared accepted as righteous for the sake and merits of Jesus Christ.

27:32 Regeneration has to do with the renewing of our hearts, after the image of God. Something God does in us by the Spirit. Now, these blessings, precious in themselves, do not indicate what is involved in adoption. In adoption, the redeemed become sons and daughters of God Almighty, and are introduced into and given all the privileges of the family of God.

28:01 Now, justification doesn't bring that thought through clearly, nor does regeneration. This is not to minimize those blessings, but if the Holy Ghost has used a distinct word for a distinct blessing that was purposed in eternity, then we should do all in our power to grasp the meaning of it. And perhaps one of the most helpful texts is John 1.12.

28:24 Familiar gospel text. But as many as received him, to them gave he the power, literally the right or the authority, to become the children of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. Verse 13 says, All who become adopted sons are regenerate, but regeneration is not adoption. Adoption is being given the status of sons, the right of sonship.

29:00 Now, let's break down several things as Mr. Murray does, as he compares the relationship, between justification, regeneration, and adoption. Though adoption is distinct from justification and regeneration, it is never separable. No man was ever justified, no man was ever regenerated, but what he was adopted, and no man was ever adopted, but was also justified and regenerated.

29:30 All of them inseparable. Second thing we should note is that adoption, like justification, is a legal or a judicial act. Regeneration has to do with something God does in me. Adoption has something to do with what God does to me and for me in the court of heaven.

29:50 It's the giving of a status or a standing, not the impartation of a new nature or character. So we have those two thoughts. They are never inseparable. Justification, regeneration, adoption.

30:05 Always together. Secondly, adoption, like regeneration, is a judicial act. Thirdly, all those adopted into God's family are given the spirit of adoption, which enables them to recognize their sonship and exercise the privileges of that sonship. Galatians 4, 6.

30:29 Because you are sons, that's adoption, He hath sent forth the Spirit, the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Now it's not the sending of the Spirit that makes us sons. He says, because ye are sons, He hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into the heart. Romans 8, 15 is the parallel passage.

30:52 Now we have received not the spirit of bondage again unto fear, but the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The spirit of adoption then is the consequence, but does not constitute adoption. So we've got three strands of thought. Justification, adoption, regeneration, always together, though distinct.

31:15 Adoption like justification is a judicial act. Thirdly, adoption always follows or is followed by the receiving of the spirit of adoption, which makes us into the family likeness. And then the fourth statement Mr. Murray makes that is helpful, there is a close relationship between adoption and regeneration.

31:39 In fact, some theologians and Bible scholars have tried to say, by adoption we have the status of sons, by regeneration we are given the nature of sons. So that for all practical purposes, when God adopts men and women into His family, He not only assures that they shall have the rights and privileges of the household, He assures that they shall have the rights and privileges of the household, He assures that they shall have the rights and privileges of the household, God is not going to have people who can claim the privileges of sonship who do not have stamped upon their character the likeness of His own dear Son. For He predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son. And I quote Mr. Murray at this point, God never has in His family those who are alien to its atmosphere and spirit and soul. And I quote Mr. Murray at this point,

32:36 God never has in His family those who are alien to its atmosphere and spirit and soul. station. Regeneration is the prerequisite of adoption. The same Holy Spirit who regenerates us is sent into the hearts of the adopted, crying, Abba, Father. And then I read this paragraph which to me is prostituted if I even try to paraphrase it. Adoption, as the term clearly implies, is an act of transfer from an alien family into the family of God Himself. Surely this is the pinnacle point of grace and of privilege. We would not dare conceive of such grace, far less claim it, apart from God's own revelation and assurance.

33:17 It staggers imagination because of its amazing condescension and love. The Spirit alone could be the seal of it in our hearts. For I have not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared. for them that love Him, but God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. It is only as there is the conjunction of the witness of the revelation of God and the inward witness of the Spirit in our hearts that we are able to scale to this pinnacle of faith and say with childlike confidence and love, Abba, Father. So then that's a brief attempt to bring into focus something of the biblical concept of adoption. As another commentator has said, it is rather useless

34:17 to look for human comparisons, for the adoption of which Paul speaks surpasses anything that takes place on earth. It's an adoption that gives us a new name. Listen to God's words in 2 Corinthians. 6 And I will be to them a father, and they shall be My sons and daughters. God says,

34:41 I'll put My name upon them. That's what happens in adoption. He confers His name upon us. He gives us a new legal standard. He is no longer servants, but sons with all the freedom and privileges of that household. Then He gives us a new family relationship. He sends His Spirit into our hearts, enabling us to approach Him with that freedom and liberty of sons. He stands upon us a new image. He will make us like His own dear Son. He puts a new Spirit within us, even the Spirit of His Son. Perhaps one of the best attempts at bringing together all these strands of thought is found in the larger catechism. In answer to the question, what is adoption, the catechism says, adoption is an act of God's free grace. and for His only Son Jesus Christ whereby all that are justified are received into the number of His children have His name put upon them the Spirit of His Son given to them are under His fatherly care and dispensations admitted to all the liberties and privileges of the sons of God

35:57 made heirs of all the promises and fellow heirs with Christ in glory and my friends unless the Holy Ghost enables us to grasp what that means it's so far beyond us we stagger at the attempt to even grasp it that when God constitutes us His adopted sons He puts us in the position of His own dear and only begotten Son so that God says we are joint heirs with Him and so that God says we are joint heirs with Him and so that God says we are joint heirs with Him the closest parallel I know when you co-sign on a note for someone you stand liable for the payment of that note and you are equally liable to the bank or whatever other group or organization has had you sign and so when we are joint heirs with Christ all that is His by virtue of His unique place as the appointed Redeemer God as it were co-signs us with His Son as heirs of the Holy Ghost as heirs to all of this in the family of God and that's the immediate goal of that act of predestination in eternity in the climate of love God conceived a purpose that a people would be brought into this

37:22 tremendous status and position in which all the privileges of the family relationship would become theirs with such consciousness and to be taken away from the family and to be taken away from the family and to be taken away from the community with such consciousness that they would be deprived of the ability to be a part of that and that was the goal of the family to be given away to the family and to have the children in the family to have the children and to have the family to be the father to be the father to be the father of our Lord Jesus Christ to think that the father of the Lord Jesus is now my father why because He predestined me unto the adoption of sons and then just one last thought as we close our study this morning notice that the Lord has said that we are joint heirs with Christ little phrase, through Jesus Christ. And what do we have here? We have the meritorious cause of our predestination. The climate is love. The objects, believers. The essence of that

The Meritorious Cause of Predestination: Through Jesus Christ

38:22 purpose or goal is to bring us into the standing of sons, but now the meritorious cause is through Jesus Christ. Election we saw in verse 4 was in Christ. The Father never conceived of choosing a people apart from the mediator in whom they would be chosen. He never conceived of Christ as the mediator apart from those who were conceived of as in Him. Election was in Christ, but predestination to sonship is through Christ. What does that mean? Basically, it means this, that the privileges of the adopted state, both legal and inward, adoption by deed and adoption by participation in the divine nature, are so bound up in the work of Christ as mediator, that Paul says, God predestined us unto an adoption which could not be realized apart from the person and work of Christ. It is adoption.

39:30 It is adoption unto sons through Jesus Christ. Now, why did he say that? Well, let me ask a couple of questions that may answer this larger question. How could God accept into His family the likes of you and me? Being God and being holy, we lay beneath His wrath.

39:53 How can God say, with open arms as the Father did to the prodigal, I welcome you into my family, I confer upon you all the privileges. All the privileges. All the privileges. All the privileges. All the privileges. All the privileges. All the privileges. All the privileges. All the privileges. All the privileges. All the privileges.

40:02 Of the family, when His righteousness and His justice called out for our judgment and for our damnation, will the climate of divine love negate the demands of divine justice?

40:21 Can the motions of God's love sweep away the motions of His righteousness, His holiness? Can they? Some would say, well, it doesn't bother me. God's love, that's all that matters.

40:33 Everything will be all right. Not if you understand the God of the Bible. How can God accept into His family people who are under His wrath? How can God confer the gifts of sonship to rebels who are the objects of His frown? How can He bring into His family those who hate the laws of the house and who'd wreak havoc if He lets them into His family? Well, here's where the mediation of Christ comes in. And I want to direct your attention to Galatians chapter 4, where this concept is set out in the Bible. Galatians chapter 4, where this concept is set out in the Bible, very clearly in verses 4 and 5. Galatians 4, 4 and 5, but when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that He might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive, and here's that word again, the adoption of sons. In other words, the adoption of sons is dependent upon the redemption of Christ. If He did not redeem, there could be no adoption. Why? The simple reason that God's love cannot negate God's holiness and the demands of His

41:51 justice. And His law has been broken. Even by those He predestined to be His sons, they broke His law. They fell in Adam. And in time, they, as it were, ratify that fall and demonstrate the depravity. The depravity of their natures. And so God has purposed that in Christ, all the demands of that broken law shall be fully met, so that when the Father adopts them, He doesn't, as it were, close one eye to His law. For what comfort could that give me, if God had some skeletons in His closet? If God, as it were, said, well, I'll just take the record of your guilt and the rest, and close my eye to it, stick it in a closet, how do I, how do I know that somewhere out there, in the future, God might not open the closet door? Some angel might not come and open the door and summon God to behold the record of my deeds. The demand is justice. And say, if you're God, then you are what you say you are. A purer eyes than to behold iniquity by no means will clear the guilty. What will

43:03 you do with that man's sin? What a terrible, terrible state. Heaven would be if we always went about with the fear that some angel might open the closets and show the skeletons. Do you know what God did in His Son? God openly displayed the full weight of His wrath upon Him, bruised Him, cursed Him. Galatians 3.13, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, so that there are no closets with skeletons. And I can think of the future and all the privileges of sonship, never wondering if something will be discovered that will negate that privilege and force God to disinherit me. No, no. I can have the confidence that everything that stands as a bar to God adopting

43:57 me into His family from the legal standpoint has been fully removed in Him who, when He hung upon a cross, cried out, It is. And so He satisfied the demands of the law against His people that they might receive the adoption of sons. And then by virtue of His place as the ascended, exalted Lord, all the gifts and graces of the Spirit have been conferred upon Him that He might dispense them as mediator, so that Christ now not only has procured forgiveness by His death, but He has also procured all the gifts and graces of the Spirit to be sent into the hearts of His people in order to give them the family likeness. And one day, the Scripture says, when these bodies are raised up from their graves, we shall come into the full realization of all the personal and inward implications of being conformed to the image of His Son. No wonder, then, Paul says, unto adoption of sons through Jesus Christ. And as I close this morning, I would exhort you as God's people, magnify your Savior,

Pastoral Application: Magnifying Christ and Filial Access

45:21 who is the meritorious cause of all that you have as the sons and daughters of God. I say it reverently, God's love could never have procured those blessings of sonship apart from the mediation of His own dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. And I would say to some of you who very carelessly dare to approach God as Father, with no jealous regard for the mediation of Christ, you've got defective views of God if you dare call Him Father, apart from conscious recognition of your need of the merits of the Lord Jesus. And there's a very, very real sense, dear child of God, that the measure to which you feed upon Christ in the glory of His mediatorial office, Christ crucified, Christ exalted, Christ enthroned, Christ our priest, the degree to which you feed upon Him in His office as a mediator will be in direct proportion to the liberty of filial access that you enjoy as a son and daughter of God.

46:37 And you begin to get your eyes, your eyes on anything else, and you'll begin to drift back into the spirit of servile slavedom, if I may coin a word, the cringing, carking reticence of a servant to come and say, Father, here are my needs. You must make all of your approaches to God to be couched in the context of Jesus and His blood and His righteousness and all the things that are in your life. All that He's procured for His people. And as you feed more and more upon Christ as He's revealed in the Scriptures, you will find as the blessed side effect of that more and more filial access, more and more boldness, more and more liberty, more and more freedom to approach God as Father.

47:36 Maybe that's the problem some of you have with half carrying the spirit of bondage so often. You're making your approaches to God who is holy, infinitely holy and transcendent. You're making your approaches to Him with just a little backward glance to Christ. Oh, dear one, don't put Christ out in the periphery of your approaches to God.

48:03 The Scripture says, having a great high priest, let us draw nigh. He is able to save to the uttermost those who come unto God by Him. Then, having a high priest to His touch with the feeling of our infirmities, let us draw nigh with boldness. The whole perspective of Scripture is Christ should be central in the mind and heart and affections in all of our approaches unto the Father.

48:32 And then we shall know the liberty of the sons of God. For He predestined us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ. If you're here this morning, you're a stranger to that privilege of adoption. You can never come to God as Father until you have the spirit of adoption.

48:53 You can't have the spirit of adoption until you're a son. You can't be a son until you receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them gave He the right to become the sons of God. Oh, receive Him, as He's offered in the Gospel, freely, as an adequate, an able, and a willing Savior.

49:14 As I've sought this morning, I'm conscious so poorly, to set out this great privilege of adoption. May God the Holy Ghost be pleased to shine a little light upon His own truth and into His own heart that we may behold the climate in which this predestinating act took place. It was the climate of love. In love, may we stand amazed that we should be the objects.

49:40 In love, He predestined us. May we stand back in wonderment at the great goal of His plan. At the predestinating act that we should have the adoption of sons. May we worship Him who is the meritorious cause of that sonship, even our Lord Jesus Christ.

49:59 God willing, next week, we'll look at that fascinating little phrase, unto Himself. Can't get away from it. He chose us in Christ that we should be holy and without blemish before Him. God's goal was to have a people for Himself in election.

50:15 Now we see, He predestined us unto adoption as sons through Christ unto Himself. Oh, may God help us to stand amazed that He should find something in us that would cause Him to do all of this that He just might have us for Himself. That's the wonder and the marvel of redemption. We were of enough worth to Him to do all of this.

50:42 May God enlarge our hearts and bring us to worship Him and to praise Him. Let us pray. Bow together in prayer.