SLBC Chapter 12, titled Adoption, discusses the doctrine of adoption in relation to the fatherhood of God, justification, and sanctification. The chapter is structured as a single paragraph, with one qualifying phrase followed by 16 characteristics that apply to adoption. It highlights the presupposition that God uses earthly examples to teach eternal truths and that adoption teaches us about the different categories of the fatherhood of God, including the intertrinitarian, creative, theocratic, and adoptive fatherhood. The chapter connects adoption to both justification and sanctification, describing the process of adoption as a legal transaction that takes place after justification and leads to sanctification within the household of God. The chapter emphasizes the grace and love of God in this process and lists 16 characteristics of adoption that demonstrate what God has done for His adopted children.

The National Center for Family Integrated Churches welcomes you to a series on the Second London Baptist Confession. This session is on Chapter 12 Entitled, Of Adoption, given by Scott Brown. Of Adoption. Hey, I absolutely love this subject. It's so heartwarming.

The structure of this chapter is very simple. It's one single paragraph. I get to deal with the chapter that has one paragraph. How's that? But it's no ordinary paragraph.

It's a paragraph of one single sentence. And it just unstoppably just soars back and forth from heaven to Earth, detailing the details of a father's love for his sons and daughters. It's a beautiful, even though short, chapter. The structure of it is also very, very simple, in that it begins with one qualifying phrase of five words, and then it lists 16 characteristics that apply to adoption. Each characteristic is something that God has done.

This is a very God-centered chapter in that sense, because it just details phrase by phrase by phrase by phrase what God has done to adopt his sons. It's a very exciting chapter in that sense. The presupposition of this chapter is that adoption teaches us that God uses earthly examples to teach eternal truths. This is the whole idea that there are physical pictures of spiritual realities. We spoke yesterday of a covenant being illustrated through the slaying of a son and that redemption is pictured in Abraham and his son's Isaac sacrifice.

God uses earthly bread to teach us about bread from heaven. He uses earthly light to teach us about the light that enlightens every man. He uses an earthly door to explain the doorway to heaven. He uses an earthly shepherd to make it plain what it means to be led by a good shepherd. And He uses earthly adoption to make it plain what it means to be adopted by God the Father.

And then the third issue that I like, just by way of introduction, to have us deal with here is the essence of the chapter. The essence of the chapter is that it shows believers who they are, what happened to them, and what they possess. And it begins with the fatherhood of God. And the whole idea of adoption is defined by the implications of fatherhood. J.I.

Packer said, it is the highest privilege that God offers, speaking of adoption. Now, the context and the progression of this chapter I want to make note of. When we think about adoption, we need to see it in the whole context of the Confession. The Confession proceeds logically. I hope you've been able to see that.

So far in this Confession, We've seen so many works of a father to his children, and he's provided so much for his children. He's such a kind father. In chapter 1, he gives the holy scriptures. Out of his pleasure, God provides scripture so that, quote, the Lord at sundry times and in diverse manners would reveal himself and declare his will unto his church. What a kind father to give us the scriptures.

In the second chapter of God and the Holy Trinity, out of his love for mankind, God provides for him, he provides himself to mankind, quote, in this divine and infinite being there are three subsistence, the Father, the Word, or the Son, and the Holy Spirit, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, who is immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, every way infinite, most holy, most wise, most free, most absolute, working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will for his own glory, most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin, the rewarder of them that seek Him diligently." Well, that's God providing Himself for His sons. In the third chapter of God's decree, God acts only according to His wisdom in disposing all things in power and fullness in accomplishing his decree. This is your father's world. He's ordering his world by his own decree. Why?

Because he loves his sons for his adopted children. In the fourth chapter of Creation, he gives us creation, quote, for the manifestation of the glory of his eternal power, wisdom, and goodness. What a kind father. Do you like this world? I love What a great world this is.

This is the kindness of a father toward his adopted sons in the fifth chapter of Divine Providence. It's hard to imagine such an immeasurable blessing to mankind that, quote, God, the good creator of all things, in his infinite power and wisdom, doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures and things, from the greatest even to the least, by his most wise and holy providence." Are you glad that God is sovereign over all things? What a kind father. Here we are walking about in this world. It's my Father's world and I'm his adopted son.

In the sixth chapter, the fall of man and sin and the punishment thereof, in the fall of man, God has made us helplessly dependent upon him, Quote, being now conceived in sin and by nature children of wrath, the servants of sin, the subjects of death, and all other miseries, spiritual, temporal, and eternal, unless the Lord Jesus set them free from this original corruption whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good and wholly inclined to do all evil, do proceed in all actual transgressions. Out of that picture of absolute depravity and hopelessness, Jesus Christ comes and saves us, and He gives us a Father. In the seventh chapter of God's covenant, out of His great mercy, He voided, quote, the distance between God and the creature that, although reasonable creatures do owe obedience to Him as their creator, yet they could never have attained the reward of life but by some voluntary condescension on God's part, which he hath been pleased to express by way of a covenant. The covenant coming and bridging the gap between God and man, interlocking. And then in chapter 8 of Christ the mediator, Here God sends his son, quote, to be the mediator between God and man, the prophet, priest, and king, head and savior of the church, the heir of all things and judge of the world.

Unto him he did from all eternity to give a people to be his seed and to be by him in time redeemed called justified sanctified and Glorified and then chapter 9 of free will in God's wisdom quote God has endued the will of man with that natural liberty and power of acting upon choice that it is neither forced nor by any necessity of nature determined to do good or evil. Man by his fall into a state of sin has wholly lost all ability of will to do any spiritual good accompanying salvation. But God activating our will, causing us by His own mercy to choose a good thing. What a kind Father to come and help us with that. Chapter 10 of effectual calling.

How kind it is of the Lord to overcome our state of death in order to give us power to hear the call and to respond. That's exactly what he did. And that's what effectual calling is all about. Quote, those whom God hath predestined unto life, he is pleased in his appointed and accepted time, effectually to call by his word and spirit out of that state of sin and death in which they are by nature to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ, enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God, taking away their heart of stone, giving to them a heart of flesh, renewing their wills, and by his almighty power, determining them to that which is good and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ. And yet so as they come most freely being made willing by His grace, What a kind God to do that.

This is also the essence of this fatherhood of God that we're dealing with in this one chapter on adoption, and then chapter 11 on justification. Then taking sinners and performing a legal transaction upon us, quote, to those whom God calls effectually, he also justifies by pardoning their sins and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous, not for anything wrought in them or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone. Now we come to this great chapter on adoption. Now we have already come through just a massive treasure trove all around us of the fatherhood of God, of how kind God is, of what a good father He is. This chapter now that we come to is so pivotal.

This is why Packer says it's such a critical chapter, because it is in the fatherhood of God that so much of His grace is disseminated. Now here's what I want us to think about for a minute. Have you ever walked through this world afraid? Have you ever felt insecure about anything? Have you ever felt that your life was falling apart?

Have you ever felt that the things that you've hoped for would never come to pass? Well here's where you can be guaranteed in this chapter on adoption and that God is a good father. He does adopt you and he makes you his son. How fearful should adopted sons and daughters be really? Well, if you are my son or daughter, you might fear a little bit.

I might run out of resources, but my Father in Heaven will never run out of resources. Why would we ever be afraid of anything in this world? Christians absolutely should be the most confident, happy, bold people on the face of the earth. Why? Because they are adopted.

They are adopted by a father that never fails, who will never leave you or forsake you. And that's what we're talking about here. So this chapter defines how to become part of the family of God. Now in earthly terms, there are only two ways to become part of a family, right? Number one, It's through birth or number two, through a legal transaction called adoption.

In heavenly terms, there is only one way to become part of the family of God. You are born physically, and then you are born again. You're born again by a legal forensic transaction that takes place. And it's not your family line that makes you part of a family. You must be born again.

And so this legal transaction outside of the boundaries of your family is the only way to become part of the family of God. Now I want to, just to help us think this through in terms of the categories of the fatherhood of God, we have to think in terms of distinctions because there's not only one kind of fatherhood of God. I want to give you four. There are four categories of the fatherhood of God. And the first is the intertrinitarian fatherhood of God.

Within the Trinity, there's an eternal and unchanging fatherhood and sonship that's different than the fatherhood and sonship of mankind. And there are principles that apply to both, but they're different in that the Trinitarian fatherhood of God refers to, quote, the imminent and eternal character of the godhead. In other words, it's a different kind of category. However, it is paradigmatic, and it does help us understand fatherhood and sonship. But it's not exactly the same kind of fatherhood and sonship.

Secondly, there's the creative fatherhood of God. God is the Father of all mankind. Malachi 2-10 says, have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? You can go to Acts chapter 17, verses 28 and 29.

You can go to Hebrews 12, 9, speaking of the Father of Spirits. But we are not all members of the same family. The Bible says we are, in our pre-conversion state, children of the devil. So there's this universal fatherhood of God in the sense that God is the father of all mankind, but he's not the redeeming father of all mankind. And then thirdly, there's the theocratic fatherhood of God, the adoption of God's chosen people, Israel.

This is the shadow of the New Covenant adoption. This is not the same kind of salvation and resulting adoption that Scripture is speaking of and this chapter of the confession speaks of. And then finally there's the adoptive fatherhood of God, and that is the subject of this chapter here. This is the full sonship of a son who is spiritually adopted by God. The Old Testament presented shadows of this kind of adoption.

It was preparatory to this kind of adoption. The New Covenant brings a better covenant, better promises, and really a better adoption in that sense. And So it's important that we don't confuse the universal fatherhood of God or the fatherhood of the son and the son of God in the Trinitarian relationship with the fatherhood of God and his adopted sons. Now, I want to give you some definitions of adoption. Here is one from the shorter catechism, question 34.

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. Here is John Murray with another definition. Adoption, as the term clearly implies, is an act of transfer from an alien family into the family of God himself. This is surely the apex of grace and privilege. So this chapter in the confession obviously is focused on the redemptive fatherhood of God that makes for individual sons.

And here's some texts to consider, Galatians 3, 26. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise and in that sense we are children of Abraham children of God and then Galatians Chapter 4 verse 28 now we brethren as Isaac was our children of promise But as he who was born according to the flesh, then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now.

Nevertheless, what does the Scripture say? Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bond woman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bond woman, but of the free." So there are always two kinds of sons and daughters. Sons and daughters of the free woman, sons and daughters of the bond woman, sons and daughters of light, sons and daughters of the darkness, sons and daughters of God, and sons and daughters of the devil himself. That's the distinction that exists in the world today and there are only two categories in the world.

But with this doctrine, you come to the tender-hearted Fatherhood of God, which is so beautiful. We read about it in Jeremiah 31, I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness I have drawn you. Or in Ephesians 2, 4, But God who is rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us." Or John 3.16, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. Or John 4.19, We love Him because He first loved us. So let's begin to move now into the very words of the chapter.

The first five words of the paragraph connect this doctrine with justification because it begins with these five words, all those that are justified, all those that are justified, and then there are these 16 other things that God has done after that. So it's a very simple layout of the language. So the subject of adoption is related to justification. It's distinct. Louis Burckhoff, the theologian, has adoption as a subset of justification, in the sense that a legal process must be completed in order for a legal adoption to be completed.

This is the way it is with human adoptions, and this is the way that spiritual adoptions work too. You cannot adopt a human being without a legal transaction, and God does not adopt a human being without a legal transaction either. The Puritans believe that regeneration and adoption were different things. I agree. By the way, a book that I'm going to quote from a couple of times here in this presentation is Heirs with Christ, the Puritans on Adoption by Joel Beekie.

Fantastic book. Of course, Joel Beekie, you know, one of the premier, you know, Puritan scholars in the world today, loves the Puritans, you know, just has done marvelous work here for the Church to identify the doctrine of adoption the way that the Puritans saw it. So it's one thing to be justified by God, but it's another thing to be loved by God and in terms of his adoptive relationship that he provides. Justification has to do with the law, adoption has to do with something different. Relationship.

That's what adoption focuses in on. You see the distinction. One is a transaction, the other is a relationship, and that's what makes them different. Samuel Willard has said it this way, it is one thing to have God accept us as a judge and another to do so as a father. Joel Beekie says this, justification has to do with a legal relationship, adoption a personal relationship.

So God declares you not guilty and then he takes you into his house and he gives you an inheritance and he positions you as a co-heir. That's adoption. He acquits you of the charges. Then he gives you a name and he makes you a son and he gives you a home And He cares for you for all eternity in His house that He built for you. That's adoption.

So this whole idea that adoption is connected with sanctification also needs to be considered. With sanctification, the justified son becomes a better son. As a son lives in his father's house, he is sanctified in his father's house. So that's how adoption is connected with sanctification. The old habits of living in Satan's household are thrown off by degrees through a progressive work going forward.

The household of God is the safe place to shed these sinful patterns. And so adoption places you in a household of reformation, the house of God, the people of God, and all that exists there for the sanctification of the sons. So justification is declared in a moment. Adoption sustains for all of eternity. And so those are some of the distinctions.

Adoption is also an aspect of predestination. The authors of this confession wanted adoption to be considered in the context of soteriology. And so they do. And we'll see that as we go through the confession. So this first statement, all those who are justified, we're speaking of this relationship that God has as a result of justification.

Isn't it interesting that adoption in the sequence of the confession comes right after justification? Because it moves logically that way. Once a son or daughter is justified, then they're welcomed into a home. And That's the progress. And what's next?

Sanctification. Because that's what happens in the Father's house. So we see that the natural progressions, the logical connections being made here in the Confessions so that it seems to operate the way the Christian life operates. Okay, now let's deal with these 16 statements that define God's part in adoption. And notice here that with all of these 16 statements, they have nothing to do with man's work, only to do with man's blessing and what he benefits from God.

Each of them just shows a different aspect of God's fatherhood toward his adopted children. So The authors are making it so clear that adoption is like a many-faceted jewel. It has so many sides to it. With these following words are the sides explained. And so the First is that God vouchsafed.

If you get out your confession, you can see these are the first two words after the first five words that sort of set the stage. God vouchsafed. Now what does that mean? He sustained as safe. He made it safe.

He granted a safety to his children in his household of adoption. We were separated from this harmful father, the devil, and his children. The devil is now separated from us. We are separated from his abusive family, all of his angels and his demons. And his family was a family of killing and stealing and destroying and slander.

Life there was terrifying, you know, with the wolf prowling around seeking whom he might devour, but being vouchsafed, the adopted son is protected through an engrafting in to the life of the vine. And we are transported out of one home into another. We are brought into a new household, what Galatians chapter 6, Verse 10 describes as the household of faith. We are vouchsafed, we are kept safe in that household. There's no safer place in the world than to be in the household of Almighty God.

It's the sweetest home that there ever was. Now in a new home with a new family and with a new inheritance, the unlovable sinner is brought into a house. Here's Thomas Watson speaking of this. I love this statement. Adoption is a mercy spun out of the bowels of free grace.

All by nature are strangers, therefore have no right to sonship. Only God is pleased to adopt one and not another. To make one a vessel of glory, another a vessel of wrath. The adopted heir may cry out, Lord, How is it that thou wilt show thyself to me, but not unto the world? Here God pours out his favor toward his children and he vouchsafes them by making them safe.

The second phrase is in and for the sake of his only son Jesus Christ. This is the second of the 16 that flow from the first phrase. In Ephesians chapter 1 verses 1 through 6 we read Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the Saints who are in Ephesus and faithful in Jesus Christ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. As He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ, to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. Here all of this was done for the sake of His Son having been predestined to adoption.

1 John chapter 3 verses 1 through 3, Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God. Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and It has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is, and everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself. All of this has to do with this whole matter of this adoption being done in and for the sake of his only Son, Jesus Christ, to add to him. The third statement, to make partakers of the grace of adoption.

So the focus here is the grace of adoption. And again, we have to understand how distinct and clear and careful the authors of the confession are. They don't throw away words. You can analyze this confession just by going word to word. Number three, to make partakers of the grace of adoption.

So there are so many things in just those very few words. They are made to be partakers. To be adopted means that God makes you partake of something. He gives you something you didn't have, couldn't ever get on your own, probably couldn't even conceive of it, but he makes you a partaker of it. Well that happens in families too, doesn't it?

Children are born into your house, and whether it's a house of blessing or not, they are made to be partakers of it. God is the same way. His household is exactly the same way, except his is the perfect house. But we are made partakers of the grace of adoption. John Owen gives five elements of this adoption that speak of the grace of adoption.

He writes this. Love and communion with God lie at the heart of adoption, according to John Owen. Owen listed five elements of adoption which Sinclair Ferguson summarizes as follows. Number one, that the person first belongs to another family. Second, that there is a family to which he has no right to belong.

Three, that there is an authoritative legal translation from one family to another. Number four, that the adopted person is freed from all the legal obligations of the family from which he came. And number five, that by virtue of this translation, he is invested with all the rights, privileges, and advantages of the new family. Now, I think that's a good explanation of the grace of adoption. We could talk about so many elements of the grace of adoption, but let's just be very clear.

There are so many graces of this adoption, it would be hard to even number them. But we are made partakers, think about that, to be a partaker of the grace of adoption. That's the third element of adoption. Number four, by which they are taken into the number. So adoption presupposes that man is taken into and numbered into a new family.

You might say, well, there are five people in our family. Well, God takes you into the number of His family. Not only does He number how many are in His family, He numbers the hairs on the heads of those who are in His family as well. He numbers everything. He counts everything in the world.

And he counts you. You are taken into the number. According to the good pleasure of his will. Proverbs 14 26 says, in the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence and his children will have a place of refuge. You know, just think about being taken into the number of the household of God.

You are part of that house and it's a place of refuge. In 2 Corinthians 6 18 we read, I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. And then number five, and enjoy the liberties and privileges of the children of God. So here there's enjoyment of liberties and privileges. So that's the point here.

There's this whole matter of joy. He brings you into his family and it's a happy family. Hey, you know, if you don't have a happy family, guess what? Your family is nothing like God's family. It's not reflecting his glory at all.

An unhappy family is a contradiction to the gospel. You need to always check the happiness meter in your family. Because if it's running on low, you've got something really malfunctioning in your little world there. But in God's family it's not like that. The family enjoys the liberties and the privileges of the children of God.

That means that you have special treatment as a child of God in the world. He treats his sons and daughters differently. And so should you, as parents. This is why nepotism is not such a bad thing. Nepotism is actually a good thing.

Nepotism is what God does with his children. He prefers them. He favors them. He gives them liberties and privileges that he doesn't give to anyone else. There's nothing wrong with that.

Yes, your children should have more privileges and liberties than anyone else. That's the way God has done it and as fathers, earthly fathers, we should think about that. How do you grant your children more enjoyment of liberties and privileges than they possibly could ever have had in any other household? Your household should be superior in all those ways. And God has given us his own heavenly household to show us how to have our own households in that sense.

Romans 8.15, for you did not receive the spirit of adoption again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba Father. So there is a spirit of bondage and there's a spirit of adoption in the world. There's the spirit of bondage in terms of those who are unconverted, and there's a spirit of adoption that cries out, Abba, Father, that has something so compelling to say. John 8, 34, Jesus answered them, Most assuredly I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave to sin, and a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son make you free, you shall be free indeed." Here again are the liberties granted for the enjoyment of the children of God.

We could go to John 834, and Jesus answered them, most assuredly I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave to sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but the Son abides forever. Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. Freedom from bondage to the law, spoke Evan Galatians 4, but when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And you are sons.

God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying out, Abba, Father! Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. But then indeed when you did not know God, you served those by which by nature are not gods. But now, after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements to which you desire again to be in bondage. You observe days and months and seasons and years." And then this sixth phrase, you have His name put upon them.

This is the sixth benefit of this adoption. Revelation 3, 12. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God. And I will write on Him my new name." So a new name is given to the sons of God.

This is what God does. It's interesting how God renames people in Scripture. The shifting sand becomes a rock. And we could go on and on about the great name changes in Scripture. This is what God does.

He does it in a type in the Old Testament as he changes the names of Old Testament saints. And he continues to do it in his earthly ministry. And then, when he converts, he also changes names as well of his sons. You might have recalled in 2010, the American family who adopted a boy out of Russia, and the boy was not what they expected, and they returned the boy. And the Russian government immediately put American adoptions on hold.

It was reported somebody told CNN that this American mother has returned her own son to Russia, quote, like a pair of pants that didn't fit. When you adopt, when you adopt, you adopt, because God is your pattern for adoption. And you take sons and daughters in, you have no idea what will happen. And this is the kind of adoption that completely contradicts the Gospel. You have a new name, an irrevocably attached name, and through thick and thin, you adopt, and it's the same way in heaven.

This is what God does with his sons and daughters. I will never leave you or forsake you. I will let none slip out of my hand. This is the devotion of Almighty God toward his sons and daughters. There's so many texts of Scripture we could deal with.

We could talk about 2 Chronicles 7-11. We could speak about Matthew 6 and Revelation 2-17 and Ephesians 3-14 and 15. We could speak of Hebrews 2, 10, which speaks of bringing many sons to glory. We could speak of Romans 8, 15, for you did not receive the spirit of bondage, begin to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father." So something happens to us, we get a new name, and then we have access to the throne of grace with boldness. God gives us a blessing to be in his presence Hebrews 4 14 speaks of it and then number 9 we are unable to cry Abba Father because God has sent forth the spirit of his son into our hearts and that spirit cries out.

There's something crying out in your heart. You are enabled to do something you never were able to do, to praise God in a way that befits a real son. Number 10, that we are pitied. Psalm 103 verse 13, As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. Here's Thomas Watson commenting on this.

Thomas Watson says, We have enough in us to move God to correct us, but nothing to move Him to adopt us. Therefore, exalt free grace. 2 Corinthians 6.18, I will be a father to you and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. We could go to 1 Peter 1 3, we could go to Psalm 91 1, and then 12th we are provided for. Again, these are just the very distinct clear words right out of this one long sentence in this paragraph.

Proverbs 14, 26, in the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence and his children will have a place of refuge. 1 Peter 5, 7, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you because you are provided for. 13, are chastened by Him as a Father. Hebrews 12, 6, 4, whom the Lord loves He chastens, and He scourges every son whom He receives. Fourteen, never cast off, yet never cast off.

And then fifteen, sealed for the day of redemption. Ephesians 4.30 speaks of this. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. And then finally, 16. And inherit the promises as heirs of everlasting salvation.

So there's so much to consider here that God has done. All of these 16 items coming out of one paragraph, just a few words at a time, is such a helpful and inspiring vision of what God has done to adopt his sons. Now let's talk about how this doctrine is being attacked. First of all, I want to talk about earthly perversions of adoption that will continue to erode the biblical understanding of adoption? Here's one, feminism.

Feminism that says that there's really no need for a father. Or how about sodomy, the movement for gay and lesbian adoption? These things just continue to hammer away at a biblical understanding of adoption. Narcissism, people who adopt for their own fulfillment. You know, single actresses adopting children that will have no fathers.

You know, things like this. And then I'm just going to call this trafficking, making a business out of adoption for the purpose of business, to trafficking children. Here's another tack on this doctrine, the rejection of chastening as an act of fatherhood. There are many books, and some of them are Christian, that reject the notion of chastening as an act of love. This is just a rejection of the whole doctrine of fatherhood.

It rejects the idea that sons are chastened by their fathers. And the result is you have a whole group of people in the church who think that it's possible to be saved by never moving past being a babe in Christ because there's no one there to chasten them. Churches without chastening are not true churches. Churches without chastening do not have real shepherds in them. And when there is no one to chasten them, then there is no one to spur them on to love and good deeds and to improve in the Christian life.

But there are whole churches that have just rejected chastening as an act of fatherhood. And shepherds often assume that same disposition. And they unwisely just let every sin run loose in the church. There's also something that's called the sonship movement and the whole idea of the sonship movement. Banner of Truth has an excellent article on the sonship movement but the basic issue here is just an overemphasis on sonship.

You're only a son but you're not a bond slave and you're not being disciplined. It's sort of a narcissistic vision of sonship that doesn't include the whole range of teaching of the Bible on what it means to be a son. But It just isolates this issue of sonship by rejecting other critical issues as well. Here's another attack on this doctrine. Everybody seems to think they're adopted.

The church is full of people who are in a church building, but they're not really in the household of God, because God is love. Everyone is going to heaven. We've really lost the significance of adoption and the distinction that there are only two kinds of people in this world. There are sons of the devil and there are sons of God. The adoption movement that makes adoption the only aspect of the Gospel.

I don't know if you've run into this. I have, where people have made adoption into the only real aspect of the Gospel. Here's another attack on it. No fear of God because God is your daddy-buddy. There's no reverence toward God.

There's so many expressions of this. Here's one expression. People come sauntering in to your local church with their coffee cups in hand, and they sit down and then they're going to the bathroom during the first couple songs. Hey, this is just the Daddy Buddy view of God. There's no awe, there's no reverence of God, you're not coming into the presence of God, you're not sitting under his holy word.

God is your daddy-buddy. That's really a distortion of the fatherhood of God. Well He is your daddy, but he is your father. Buddy, I don't think is actually the right direction in this whole thing. There's no fear in that.

Then there's the whole positive thinking movement's proposition that man is good, that good people are just being made better. God says no you're not good. God says you're not good, I'm adopting you anyway. You're not beautiful, I'm going to adopt you. You're dead in your trespasses and sins.

And that's a completely different view of mankind than the positive thinking movement. Let me just close with this wonderful quotation, this from Thomas Watson. "'Extol and magnify God's mercy, Who has God adopted you and who has family? Who of slaves has made you sons? Of heirs of hell, heirs of the promise.

Adoption is a free gift. He gave them power or dignity to become the sons of God. As the thread of silver runs through a whole piece of work, so free grace runs through the whole privilege of adoption. Adoption is greater mercy than Adam had in paradise. He was a son by creation.

But here is a further sonship by adoption. To make us thankful, consider in civil adoption there is some worth and excellence in the person to be adopted. But there was no worth in us, neither beauty nor parentage nor virtue, nothing in us to move God to bestow the prerogative of sonship upon us. We have enough in us to move God to correct us, but nothing to move him to adopt us. Therefore, exalt free grace.

Begin the work of angels here. Bless Him with your praises who has blessed you in making you His sons and His daughters. So that's an option. For more messages, articles, and videos on the subject of conforming the church and the family to the Word of God, and for more information about the National Center for Family Integrated Churches, Thank you. Online network to find family integrated churches in your area, log on to our website ncfic.org.