Legal Privileges

Introduction: The Many-Sided Salvation of God

0:03 For the sinful, wretched, and hell-deserving sons and daughters of Adam's race, there is perhaps no more important issue than the issue or issues which surround the question, is there a way of deliverance from this sinful, wretched, hell-deserving condition? A way of deliverance that is consistent with the character of God and perfectly suited to all the needs of man the sinner.

0:42 Well, blessed be God, the scriptures give us an answer to that question, and they give it to us in no uncertain terms. But that answer is not a simple answer. It is a complex answer. The answer of God is to be found in the salvation, the salvation of God, a salvation which is as many-sided as is the need of man the sinner.

1:12 And for many Lord's Day mornings now, it has been our delight to examine together something of that salvation set forth in the word of God, the salvation which we as the people of God gladly receive and joyfully proclaim. Having contemplated, contemplated for many months the central figure in that salvation, even the Lord Jesus Christ, we are now concerned to examine the cardinal blessings of that salvation. We have seen and affirmed again and again that Scripture teaches that the only orbit within which any of those blessings comes to sinners is that of union with Christ. God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. But though every blessing comes in Christ, every blessing is not equal to the other, nor does every blessing come in the precise same order or sequence. And so we've been looking at the order in which these great blessings are conferred upon hell-deserving sinners.

2:28 We contemplated the threshold blessings, of calling and of regeneration. And the moment a sinner is called and regenerated and brought into vital union with Christ, he is immediately justified. And so we examined the pivotal text in Scripture dealing with that fundamental and primary blessing of grace, even justification. That act of God in which He not only pardons all of our sins, but an act of God, a God in which He accepts and treats us as perfectly righteous, only for the righteousness of His own dear Son.

Review: Importance and Nature of Adoption

3:11 And many of us perhaps thought that having examined justification, we had examined not only the primary blessing of salvation, but the pinnacle blessing of salvation. Only to find in recent weeks that though justification is primary and foundational, it is another blessing of grace, that is the pinnacle blessing of salvation, even the blessing of adoption. We first of all examined the place of adoption in the scheme of salvation. And we noted that in eternity it was this great blessing of adoption to which God predestined us in Christ, Ephesians 1.5.

3:56 And as we were reminded this morning, as we anticipate the future dimensions of salvation, Paul describes it as the adoption of sons. And so adoption is central to the entire scheme of redemption. And then last Lord's Day we examined the nature of this adoption. Since adoption involves coming into a relationship with God as Father, we must have a distinct understanding of what that fatherhood of God is, in adoption.

4:32 We saw that it is not the fatherhood peculiar to the Godhead. It is not the fatherhood that derives from creation. Nor is it the fatherhood that was experienced by Israel in the adoption of the nation. But it is a distinctively New Testament redemptive fatherhood.

4:56 A fatherhood that is conferred only on the basis of the 2005-2009 book. of the accomplished work of Christ, a fatherhood that is attested by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Well, so much for that very brief overview of where we've been and where we are. Now, this morning, we want to move on from the importance of adoption, from the nature of adoption, to begin to consider the privileges of adoption.

Legal vs. Experiential Privileges — The Adoption Illustration

5:25 What privileges are conferred upon those who are brought into this redemptive adoption? What privileges belong to those who can justly call God their Father? Well, I should like to divide those privileges into two major categories. The first one we'll examine this morning.

5:50 The next one, I think it'll take us at least two or three Lord's Day mornings to examine. First of all, we want to examine the privileges of adoption. Second of all, we want to consider the legal privileges of adoption. Now, you say, Pastor Martin, you can't be for real.

6:03 It's a hot, muggy morning, and you've hit us with the word legal. Don't you know that'll put us to sleep? Well, I hope it won't, and I'll even accommodate myself to the weather by starting with an illustration before we even turn to our first text to help you to understand the distinction between the legal and the experiential experiential. Well, first of all, we want to examine the legal privileges of adoption.

6:27 First of all, we want to examine the legal privileges of adoption. Consider a couple who, for one reason or another, have decided to adopt a child. And for months, they've gone through all the legal process, and the time has come when, in a court of law, this particular child whom they've decided to adopt is officially, legally, the recipient of the name of that family. He is now to be regarded by the law, and by society, as the son of that particular family.

7:01 All the legal work is complete. But standing there in that particular courtroom that handles these things, the mother does not have the warmth of a baby in her bosom. The father does not have the glow of that look that only a father can have when he looks upon one who belongs to him, and whom he can call his very own son, or daughter. You see, they have all the legal privileges that come with the adoption, but they do not yet have the experiential privileges of parenthood.

7:41 And the moment comes when they go to the agency, and the little child is handed over, and the mother feels the warmth of that little one on her bosom, and the father can look with delight upon that one whom he can now call mother, my son, my daughter. And conversely, that child, who, though he was still in the placement home, was legally their son or their daughter, but he did not feel the warmth of their embrace, he could not look up into the eyes, he does not yet experience the experiential dimensions of what it means to be adopted. But the time comes when the little one is in the arms, in the home, and the object of all the parental love and care, the recipient of all of that parental delight. And also, the little one begins to experience what, though legally his, was not his, experientially in his own consciousness of what it means to be a son or a daughter. Now, with that simple illustration, marking out the distinction, we, if we are to appreciate our adoption, must have some understanding of what it means to be legally adopted.

9:08 And only then will we have a strong basis to enter into the experiential dimensions of our adoption. For you see, until the child is legally adopted, and until the parents know that he is legally adopted, there is always a question as to whether or not they have a right to the privileges of parents, and there is always a question on the part of the child as to whether or not he has a right to the privileges of their parental love and concern. So it is the legal which forms the basis of the experiential, and furthermore, it is the legal which assures the abiding validity, of the experiential. The child who is loved as though he were a child, but does not know that in terms of a court of law, he has been given that family name, he belongs to that family as much as though he were born in it, he will always wonder, is this parental love going to be removed? Is mother's love going to be taken away? Will I one day be pushed out of this home?

10:26 And it is the child, child who knows his legal status that can bask in the wonderful consciousness that this love will never be turned away, this relationship will never be severed. And so it is with the child of God. I'd love to start with the experiential dimensions of adoption, the witness of the Spirit, the Spirit enabling us to cry, Abba, Father, testifying to our spirits that we are the children of God, the great privilege of unlimited access into the Father's heart and home and all His possessions. But we must not start there.

11:06 We must start with the legal so that understanding by the Spirit's enablement and grasping in an intelligent faith what has transpired in the court of heaven, we may enter into all the experiential joys of adoption with the confidence they will never be removed from us. And we are not presumptuous in basking in the enjoyment of them. So I hope you're not turned off by the word legal. I hope the little illustration that has marked out the field of our study has whet your spiritual appetite.

11:43 As time permits now this morning, three legal privileges of adoption. The first one is that of an inviolable sonship. And you say, there you go, throw in another big word. Well, if I ever throw a big word at you, I also throw a definition.

12:04 When you violate something, what do you do? When you violate a contract, you break it. When you violate a promise, you don't keep it. That which is inviolable is that which cannot be broken.

Privilege One: Inviolable Sonship — The Greco-Roman Adoption Word

12:18 It cannot be destroyed. It cannot be violated. And the first legal privilege of adoption is that of a sonship which can never be violated for the simple reason that it is a sonship established in the court of heaven by the God who changes not, by the God who when he puts his signature to the deed of adoption will never retract that which he has done.

12:53 Now the word used for adoption in the New Testament in such passages as Galatians 4, 5, means literally to place as a son. Christ in the fullness of time came, made of a woman, made under the law, that he might redeem them that are under the law, that we might receive, and the translation is of one word in the original, the adoption of sons. Now that word that the Holy Spirit prompted the apostle Paul to use, and it's only found in the Pauline literature, that word, the word which the Holy Spirit prompted him to use is a word which is derived from Greek and Roman law and it refers to a practice in which a person, usually a person of wealth, would take the child from an alien family, a child in no way related to him by blood, and by proper legal procedure he would place that son in the relationship of sonship with all the privileges of one who was actually born in his house. So that once placed as a son, he had not one quip less of any of the privileges

14:18 of the born sons in that house. Now the word the apostle uses, the placing of a son, is the very word that would be used in Greek and Roman law to describe the relationship and the process of a wealthy person taking, usually not a child, but an adult or a semi-adult, a teenager, one in whom they delighted and saw some promise, whom they would place into the family in the posture of a son. Now once adopted, this placed son was invested with a status, as I've underscored, that could not be reversed or altered. He was not a son.

15:01 He was not a son. He was not a son. He was not a son. He was not a son.

John 1:11-13 and the Objective Basis of Sonship

15:01 He was not a son. He was not a son. He was not a son. He was not a son.

15:01 He was in the precise position of a natural son. Now will you turn to John chapter 1,

15:10 in which we have set before us this legal privilege of adoption. We are given, in the court of heaven, a deed of an inviolable sonship. John chapter 1, speaking of the eternal Word who became flesh, even our Lord Jesus Christ, we read in verse 11, He came unto His own, and they that were His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He the right.

15:49 If you have a translation that says power, it should be translated right. We think of power in terms of ability to perform and strength. This does not have to do with anything wrought in us. It has to do with something, done on our behalf.

16:07 As many as received Him, to them gave He the right to become the children of God, even to them that believe on His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Now what is the major thread of the Apostle John's teaching in this passage? Well, he tells us in verse 12 that the right or the authority of sonship comes in conjunction with the receiving of Christ. Now follow closely.

16:43 As many as received Him, to such is given the right to become children of God. The title to sonship is given in conjunction with a person's receiving of Christ. And what is it to receive Christ according to this text? It is to believe on His name.

17:07 In other words, the right of sonship in this passage has to do with that objective confidence in the objective realities of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is not speaking of any dimension of sonship wrought in us. It is speaking of a sonship conferred upon us when we believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a right to sonship that rests not upon anything in us, but upon that which is in Christ.

17:47 It is in the receiving of Christ that the right of sonship is conferred. Now verse 13 says, those who thus receive Him are the ones who have been born of God. Who were born, that is, those who receive Him and are given the title, the right to sonship, are those who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. It is the new birth, the mysterious, mighty, sovereign operation of the Spirit quickening a sinner to life that enables him to receive the offered Savior and then to be given the title of sonship.

18:29 But now the point that I want to underscore is this. Don't confuse the work of the Spirit in us with the work of Christ for us.

18:43 It is the work of Christ for us that forms the basis of our adoption, not the work of the Spirit in us.

18:55 Without the work of the Spirit in us, we would never embrace Christ and thereby receive the benefits of His work, one of which is adoption. But you see, the moment we begin to think of adoption in terms of the new birth, that is, having the Spirit and the attitude and the disposition of a son, and do not start where John starts with the legal title and right to become a son, we put the cart before the horse.

19:28 Whenever I have problems with my title to sonship, I should not go probing around with the work of the Spirit in me, but I, I should immediately engage in fresh actings of faith, the objective work of Christ for me. Why do you say that's just playing with words? No, no, my friend, it is not playing with words. For in the work of Christ for me, there is an unchanging and unchangeable objectivity.

20:07 Whereas in the Spirit's work in me, there is fluctuation and vacillation. I grieve Him. I quench Him. And there are times when just through physical malady, I cannot discern between a physical problem and a spiritual problem.

Application: The Cry of Love from the Father's Heart

20:26 What am I to do with the privileges of sonship if I am forever gauging my sonship on the basis of the Spirit's work in me? Why, one day I'll have all the joy and liberty of a son of God and come running into my father's presence saying, I have a father. And the next day, I'll be cringing out in the yard as though I'd been booted out on my ear and told never to come back again.

20:52 But it's when I've grasped this dimension of adoption, there is an inviolable sonship based upon the work of Christ for me. Then in those days when my own spirit feels like the spirit of a son of hell and not a son of God, I can say I change. He changes not. And I have not gone back on that posture of going out of myself and into Christ by faith as I initially embraced Him as the only one through whom I could be adopted into the family of God in all the nakedness and undoneness of my sin. So, Lord, I come again in that same posture. As many as received Him, to them gave He the right to become the sons or children of God. Now, that's precisely what Paul had in mind when he said in Ephesians 1.5,

21:55 having predestinated us unto adoption of sons through Jesus Christ unto Himself. You see, the adoption of sons comes through Christ. Something objective to me. Eternal to me.

22:14 It is grounded in what Christ has done.

22:20 In the language of the Shorter Catechism, 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. And the first great privilege of adoption in its legal dimensions is that of an inviolable sonship. Now, let me say by way of application, as surely as the magnitude of justifying grace can only be known by the revelation of it in Scripture, as surely as it can be appreciated only by the illumination of the Spirit upon the teaching of Scripture,

23:08 it's even more true of the great blessing of adoption. Who could ever conceive that the God of Heaven would be able to do that? Who would set His heart upon a waif like me and say, I want Him for my son and then secure a deed of adoption soaked in the blood of His own dear and eternal Son? So longing in love to have many sons that He gives up His only begotten Son unto the gory baptism of Golgotha that through Jesus Christ we might receive the adoption of sons. And that's why we need to cry to God by the Spirit to illuminate our minds and enable us to have a faith strong enough to grasp the wonder and the glory of it that though God doesn't need deeds of adoption and papers and notarization of those papers, He's condescended to speak to us in this kind of language. My friend, if you have received the Lord Jesus Christ, if you've embraced Him as He's offered in the Gospel, Almighty God has had His day in family court

24:36 and Almighty God has drafted a deed of adoption and that deed is riveted to the throne of the Almighty and it can no more be changed than God can be budged from that throne. That's the first great privilege of adoption. No wonder John cries, Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called sons of God. What love?

Privilege Two: Shared Heirship — Romans 8:14-17

25:07 Why in the world should God, who has the delight of His well-beloved Son, in whom His image is perfectly reflected and John 1-1 makes it plain that there was warmth of inter-trinitarian love and communion from eternity. The whole idea that God created man because he was lonely is rubbish. How can God be lonely when He has the glory of His own inter-trinitarian being to reflect upon and to have intercourse and mental and spiritual sharing and all the wonderful mysteries of inter-trinitarian life? Who can fathom that?

25:50 But no God who created man that God who in amazing and unfathomable love has set His heart upon bringing many sons to glory. But He doesn't do it capriciously. He doesn't do it arbitrarily. He takes out a deed of adoption signed in the blood of His own dear Son and given to everyone who embraces the Son of God.

26:15 But then there is a second legal blessing of adoption and it is a shared airship. A shared airship. Now that's not an airship, you know, a zeppelin. H-E-I-R-S-H-I-P A shared airship.

26:30 Turn please to Romans chapter 8 for the clearest statement in Scripture concerning this second great legal blessing of adoption. Romans 8 and verse 14. We'll have occasion to come back to this when we deal with the demands and implications of adoption. But now this morning we're just looking at the legal privileges of adoption.

26:57 Verse 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you have not received the spirit of bondage again unto fear, but ye received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.

27:19 And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified with Him. Now the word used in this passage for an heir is the standard word used to describe the legally constituted recipient of property or possessions. In Matthew 21, 38, you remember that incident, our Lord is giving a parable in which they say, Come let us seize the heir. In that case it was the eldest son.

27:55 Galatians 4, 1, Paul speaks of an heir in a family who's still a child. And while he's a child, he's treated just like the slaves in the house. He's kept under masters and tutors until the time of his full age comes in which he enters into his inheritance. Now notice the progression in this passage.

28:17 We are first of all described as heirs. Verse 17, And if children, then heirs. God never adopts, anyone into his family without constituting them an heir.

Heirs of God and Joint Heirs with Christ

28:32 But it's as though someone asked the question, but heirs of what? And the answer comes back, heirs of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God. Now what does that mean?

28:48 Well it probably has two prongs of meaning. We are heirs of God in the sense that it is by God's gracious activity that we are constituted heirs, but probably more profoundly, and this seems to be the heart of the teaching, that we are heirs with an inheritance of which God himself is the supreme element in the actual inheritance.

29:21 God is said to be the portion of his people. The psalmist understood this when he said in Psalm 73, Verse 17, Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none that I desire upon the earth besides thee. And this is hinted at in Ephesians 1, 5, predestinated unto sonship by Jesus Christ, and then that next little prepositional phrase, unto himself.

29:48 Sonship unto himself, and then that last great reference to sonship which seems to be the capstone over the whole biblical teaching of adoption, in Revelation chapter 21, in verse 7, He that overcometh shall inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. It's as though God is saying, now you have a thousand questions about the world to come. You wonder what heaven will be. Well, I'll accommodate.

30:19 I'll tell you by way of contrast. No more sighing, no more crying, no more death, no more sorrow. The former things are passed away, but Lord, what else is there? And it's as though God says, look, if this is not enough, I have nothing more to say.

30:35 He that overcometh shall inherit, that's an heir, shall inherit all things, but then above and beyond all things, I will be his God, and he shall be my son. And so the apostle says, by virtue of being the adopted sons and daughters, we are heirs. Heirs of what? Heirs essentially and primarily of God, but then the question comes, why in what relationship do we possess this heirship?

31:05 And the next phrase tells us, joint heirs with Christ. And he takes the word for heir, and then he just sticks a little prefix on the front, and in the original it's not a hyphenated word or two words, it's just one word. Heirs together with Christ. Now you see, we're right back to where we started.

31:26 The moment Christ is embraced, all that is in Christ is deeded to me, not because of anything in me, not because of anything that he himself even works in me, but by virtue of my union with Christ, as surely as John 1, 12 obtains, as many as receive him, obtain an inviolable sonship, as many as receive him immediately enter in, to a shared heirship. There is a sense in which Christ is heir to all because he is creator of all, but then there is a conferred heirship. We read of it in Hebrews 1, 2, God has appointed him the heir of all things. We read of it in Colossians chapter 1, it is that inheritance which comes to Christ because it is obedience as the Messiah and the Redeemer. But my friend, he will not come to that inheritance without all of his co-heirs.

32:38 For all of that inheritance he procured not for himself, it was his originally and eternally, but it is now become ours in him redemptively. All things are yours, the apostle can say. Life, death, and the world, all things are yours. Why?

33:00 Because he says, ye are Christ's. And so we are partakers of this shared heirship. Now again, the magnitude of this privilege boggles the mind. It staggers the spirit.

How to Receive Such Mind-Boggling Privilege

33:14 It baffles the understanding. But the testimony of Scripture is clear. Joint heirs with Christ. Now what do we do before such mind-boggling testimony?

33:26 Well, we can do one of two things. We can simply back off and say, that's so far beyond me, that is so far beyond anything I can conceive, I'll just have to forget it. But that doesn't honor God. The things that are revealed, we read in Deuteronomy, are for us and for our children.

33:45 What do we do then? Well, we come to such a statement and we say, oh God, how can I begin to fathom this? To have all my sins pardoned and all the legal liability to punishment forever passed away, all of my sins past, present, and future as to condemnation forgiven. To know that I am accepted before the court of heaven as though I had perfectly kept the law.

34:13 Lord, that's beyond what I can fathom. Now you tell me that you, the judge who has pardoned, have taken out a deed of adoption and brought me into your family. Now, Lord, you go beyond that and you tell me you've made me a co-heir with your own beloved son. I can't.

34:32 I can't fathom that, Lord. I can't grasp it. What do we do? Don't dishonor God by turning away with indifference or unbelief, but you do exactly what Paul did in Ephesians 1 and Ephesians 3.

34:43 You pray that God would grant you by an operation of the Spirit the ability to apprehend your privilege in Christ. And you can't do it simply by hearing it preached and saying, well, it's in the Word and that seems like a reasonable explanation and I believe the Bible to be the Word of God so I believe it. No, no. There must be that dimension of the Spirit's operation upon your own mind enabling you not to fathom in such a way that you feel you have analyzed the glory of it, but in such a way that you enjoy the wonder of that glory as you embrace the privilege that is yours in Christ.

35:26 And then finally, we not only have as the legal blessings of our adoption, this inviolable sonship, this shared heirship, but we have a conferred brotherhood.

Privilege Three: Conferred Brotherhood — Hebrews 2:10-17

35:42 A conferred brotherhood. And the key text here is Hebrews chapter 2. And I trust before we're through this series of studies on adoption, we will have gone over the probably about 15 key passages on the subject of adoption in the New Testament. Now in Hebrews chapter 2, the writer is speaking of this great salvation revealed in Christ, attested by apostles with signs and wonders, urging his readers not to neglect it, not to drip from the truths they've heard.

36:18 Then he goes on to describe the central figure in that salvation, even the Lord Jesus. Now verse 10, For it became him, for whom are all things and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings. Obviously a reference to Christ. He has made a perfect Savior, not perfect as to his Godhead, but perfect as to his sympathetic manhood.

36:51 He has made a perfect Savior through sufferings for both he that sanctifieth, that is Christ, and they that are sanctified the people of God, are all of one. Now it's an indefinite phrase. It could mean of one origin, of one father, of one substance of humanity, and the interpretations are many because a general term is used. But now I'm convinced the commentators are right who say they are all of one, that is one father, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them, one brethren.

37:34 And then he quotes from the 22nd Psalm, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation will I sing thy praise. Now think of it. Christ, the author of our salvation, is not ashamed to call you and me his brethren.

37:59 We are more than ashamed to even think of the concept. It borders on blasphemy for us to think if it were just a self-originated thought that we could be called brothers of Christ, brothers in one family of which he is the elder brother. And yet the text said he has no cause of shame to identify us as his brethren and wonder of wonders in the midst of the congregation to sing the praises, the praises of God who by the Spirit he's been here today joining in our praises. Here not only is our Lord our Sovereign, our Master, but as our brother. Now note the context. He's speaking in a context in which judgment is very real. Verse 2, if the words spoken through angels prove steadfast, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?

39:04 He's speaking in a context of the death of Christ. Verse 9, crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. It's a context of propitiation. Verse 17, making propitiation.

39:20 Follow closely. Because liberal theology has had its wretched doctrine that God is the father of all his creatures, Christ is the elder brother of all his creatures, we've realized we've recoiled in horror from that and rightly so. But in our recoil perhaps we've lost a precious dimension of gospel privilege. Without the mushy, spineless, wrathless, hell-less, cross-less, propitiation-less theology of liberalism, in the midst of such theology we have this precious statement, not ashamed to call them brethren. Now, some of us didn't have the privilege of having an older brother. I was the oldest son in the family of ten with three sons and seven daughters.

40:19 And I know a little something of how younger brothers regard an older brother. But I guess I always secretly wish that I had an older brother, especially when the bully on the block was around. If ever anyone longs for an older, bigger brother, it's when the local bully begins to strut his stuff. But the tremendous security, and I've seen it in my own household and in some of your households, that children feel in the presence of an elder brother, one with whom they can identify as they can identify with no one else short of their parents.

40:58 Well, God has condescended to give us this tremendous statement. Christ is not ashamed to call us brethren. And it's one of the wonderful leaders of the church. And it's one of the legal positions given to us in our adoption.

41:13 In fact, it's interesting that it's after the resurrection that Jesus is very careful to underscore this new name by which He identifies His own. He hints at it early in His ministry. They come to Him and say, Hey, your mother and your brothers are out there. They want to talk to you.

41:29 He says, Who is my mother? Who are my brethren? They who hear the Word of God and do it. But after the resurrection, He's very clear.

41:37 He says in John 20 and verse 17, Go tell my brethren.

Christ's Post-Resurrection Use of 'Brethren'

41:45 And we have it again in Matthew 28 and verse 10. He speaks of going to His brethren. The Lord Jesus is not ashamed to call us brethren. And in the last day, you know how He will own us before the great bar of the Almighty.

42:04 Not as His servants, though we are that and will be that for all eternity. The book of Revelation says His servants shall serve Him. They shall follow. They shall follow Him.

42:12 But you remember Matthew 25? Inasmuch as ye've done it unto the least of these, my what? Brethren, think of it. To have Him own us as our elder brother in the day of judgment.

42:30 Not cringing criminals before a flashing throne of inflexible justice. But in the presence of our elder brother. To have Him own us as the members of His family. And you see the glory of that truth in Hebrews 2 is that we are not called brethren because we have been elevated to godhood.

42:55 No, it is because of His condescension into a flesh and blood manhood. The whole emphasis of this chapter is He can call us brethren. He's not ashamed to own us as brethren because by condescension He became a perfect Savior. Through propitiation He satisfied the wrath of God.

43:19 And by the sending of the Holy Spirit He does that in us which is necessary to bring us to repentance and faith, imparts the spirit and disposition of sonship and all of these other privileges. But my friend, it is your legal status this day if you are in Christ. You have a conferred brotherhood and the Lord Jesus owns you as a brother, as a sister in all the intimacy of filial love and freedom. Well, surely this underscores the frightening position of the unconverted.

44:02 If it is only those who receive Christ who have this inviolable sonship, who have this shared heirship, who have this conferred brotherhood, what is the condition of those of you who do not receive Him, who will not embrace Him?

44:21 God says that His wrath abides on those who believe not. You have no claim to God as your Father. God is to you nothing but an angry judge who's frowned off to strike fear in the deepest recesses of your heart. But oh my friend, the privilege that we enjoy is ours not because of anything in us, but because of all that is in Christ.

Application to the Unconverted and Closing Appeal

44:47 And though we would underscore the frightening position you're in if you're not a child of God, under the wrath of God, an alien from the family of God, the glorious news of the Gospel is that such blessings are in Christ. Embrace Him and they are yours. When? Immediately.

45:08 As many as received Him, to them gave He the right. To them gave He the right. To them gave He the right. To them gave He the right.

45:13 To them gave Him the right to become His children. And oh children of God, will you not with me in these days meditate long and hard upon your legal privileges? Will you not plead with God as I have found myself upon my knees saying, Lord, I can't lay hold of that. It's too high.

45:34 It's beyond me.

45:37 And yet we must. For it is a privilege purchased at an awful price. In the fullness of the times God sent forth His Son, made of a woman made under the law, that He might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. Shall we treat lightly a privilege purchased so dearly?

46:05 Oh, may God grant that we will spare no pains of prayer and meditation until it becomes a matter of spiritual consciousness and of felt confidence that we have a sonship that is inviolable. It is by deed based upon the doings and the dying of Christ. We have a shared heirship that right now everything that is coming to Christ is coming to me. And we have a conferred brotherhood.

46:42 We can call Him our brother and not insult Him. May I suggest we insult His grace if we do anything less. May God help us to lay hold with a strong and vigorous faith and begin to manifest the glory of what it is to live, to think, to pray, to serve as the sons and daughters of the Almighty. Let us pray.

Closing Prayer

47:18 Oh God, our Heavenly Father, what thanks can we render to You this morning for the sake of the Lord? For such amazing privileges as have been conferred upon the hell deserving wretched sons and daughters of Adam. Surely, oh Lord, we are staggered and baffled and find ourselves as it were crippled by the very thought of such privilege. And yet we bless You that we have a sure word revealing to us that this is indeed our privilege. Oh, by the Holy Spirit, strengthen us to embrace and believingly to receive and rejoice in all that is ours in our blessed Savior. Lord, make jealous those who are not in Christ. Oh, make them jealous. Give them no rest until they know that they too have entered Your family by embracing Your dear Son.

48:25 We thank You for Your presence. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your Holy Spirit. We thank You for Your dear Son. Oh, God, receive the praises we offer, and may the blessing of Your own Spirit rest with us as we leave this place, as we seek further to sanctify this day to our profit and to Your praise. Grant us the aid of Your Spirit, we plead, in Jesus' name. Amen.