Welcome to Affirm Foundation, presented by Princeton ministries with Dr. Ken Smith. This is Carol Smith, Ken’s wife. Please enjoy.

When you became a Christian, the thing that was of greatest concern probably was Jesus Christ and the fact that he had given you new life. And then you were introduced to God’s word. And as you started to study God’s word, you began to see that there were many backstage interests of God that had brought you to the place of becoming and professing Jesus Christ.

From the word of God. We invite you to stay tuned for the next half hour as we bring you a message from the word of God, brought to us by the Reverend Ken Smith, minister of the Princeton Presbyterian Church in historic Princeton, New Jersey. Once again, here’s Ken Smith as he continues his message from the word of God.
As we look at the book of Ephesians, we begin to see that there are a number of foundational events that happened in the history before you and I were even thought of in the mind of God, and that those foundations brought us to the place that we today could profess belief in Jesus Christ. Theologians call this the Ordo Salutes, the order of salvation. We might think that as soon as we declared ourselves as followers of Christ, that was the beginning. But the scripture teaches us that there was a beginning before you and I ever existed related to our receiving Christ. And it began with a sovereign God who, in his infinite completeness, before the world was ever established, had a plan.

And that plan was based on the idea that he would create a man, he would create man and bring him into the world. But God also knew that man on his own would not seek after God, nor that man would follow after the ways of God, but rather would go in his own way and turn away from God. And so God put man on this earth in a probation state with Adam. And if Adam had lived his life according to the conditions that God established of total obedience, then that obedience would have continued. But Adam chose to disobey God. And in that disobedience, God rightfully could have punished man forever and ever because of our disobedience. And if you and I were to receive what is fair, we would receive punishment because of our disobedience to God.

But the scriptures tell us that God, even though he knew that would happen, he, from the beginning of time, in his sovereign will, set his mercy, his grace, upon people from every nation, every tribe, every country, every class. And that he, by his grace, called people to himself, people who on their own would never respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that God predestined those. As we looked last week at the subject of God’s plan and saw that it had nothing to do with how good were, but rather only upon the will of God.

And he sent his son Jesus Christ as part of that plan, knowing that through the blood of Christ the debt for the disobedient sin of man would be paid, and that as those who were called from the beginning of time would come and have the blindfolds taken off and their ears unheard of, unplugged, that they would turn in faith to Christ. But God also, according to his plan, said that he would send into each of those lives his Holy Spirit to empower, to direct, and to teach. And so we receive the Holy Spirit, and we are justified according to the scripture because of the blood of Jesus Christ. But the order of salvation does not stop at our justification, at our conversion. It continues. We then become members of God’s family. The word is adoption.

It is a scriptural teaching, and it is there where we would like to put our attention today. If you look through the history of the church, you will find that the doctrine of adoption has not received much attention. The writings of Luther hardly refer to it. Calvin does not refer to it. If you look at the writings of Charles Hodge, you will find that there is not even a chapter dedicated to the subject of adoption. It is not until you come to the Westminster confession of faith, and there you find an entire chapter dedicated to the biblical teaching of adoption. Now, there are many benefits to studying this doctrine. The first is that it is a biblical doctrine, and because it is in the scripture, it is important for us to know of it.

But also there is in the doctrine of adoption a great sense of comfort that is ours because we have been adopted by God. If you look in the New Testament, you will find that adoption is referred to in many places. Romans 815 makes this declaration. You have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry out, Abba, Father. And in Galatians four, and five, we but when the fullness of time had come, God sent his son Jesus Christ. And what was the purpose for the sending of his son? Galatians tells us to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And our text today, Ephesians one five tells us, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself.

And simply the word adoption occurs with enough frequency in the scripture for us to be interested in it. But if were to take, then the next ripple of the wave. And look at such terms as son of man, a term of endearment, a term that is related to those who are in Christ. We would find that this phrase related to Christians, used over and over again in its more complete sense. You’ll find that the word Son of man is used first in reference to Adam. Adam, who was created by the hand of God, and God himself declares him as a son of man. A very restricted usage. But then you’ll find the abundance of this reference all through the scripture, son of man. And in that broader sense, it always refers to those who have trusted in Jesus Christ.

They are referred to as sons of God who have been purchased through the blood of Christ. But also, we find this phrase the Son of God also used in its most restricted use, and that is in relation to Jesus Christ. He is referred to as the Son of God. And so as Christians, we come today seeing that the scripture refers to us over and over again, not only as people who have been adopted by God our father, but also the title is placed on us as sons of God. Perhaps the first question that needs to be answered in relation to adoption is how is a person adopted by God the Father?

There is a notion, and is probably one of the commonest heresies of this century, the heresy of universalism, the idea being, and you have heard it over and over again, the brotherhood of man, the fatherhood of God, that we are all brothers and God is our father. And yet, as we look at scripture, you will find a very interesting thing, and that is that the scripture refers to the natural man not as one who is the son of God the Father, but Jesus himself referred to the natural man as the son of the devil. That in our natural state we are inclined to live in the family and the setting of things that are not pleasing to God. And we are born in that estate.

And we must be translated from that state of rebellion into the state of being an heir, a relative, an adopted child of God the Father. And the way that is received is by trusting in Jesus Christ alone, as a person would transfer their trust from themselves and place it on Jesus Christ. According to scripture, at that moment, as you trust Jesus alone, you are adopted into God’s family and that you in fact, become a son of God. There are many benefits to being received as an adopted son of God. The first is that we are taken out of the family of Satan, the family which we are born by nature into. And when we put our trust in Christ, we are taken out of that family and brought into the family God.

In Ephesians two, three, we are told that we are by nature children of wrath. In John 844, Jesus, in referring to the teachers of the day, said to them, you are of your father the devil. And in Galatians four, chapter seven, we find that Paul presents to us a servanthood, and it is a servanthood that is, either you are living as a servant of Satan, or you are living as a servant, a bondservant of Jesus Christ. And the scripture presents those two families, and that we have our bloodline first to the family of Satan, and that we must be taken out of that state and brought into the family of Jesus Christ. John Bunyan wrote many classic works.

One of the most famous was called grace abounding, and in this work, he refers to five years of subjection to the bondage of his spirit through Satan, that Bunyan was aware that he was, in fact living a life to one degree or another that was in disobedience to the Lord. In Pilgrim’s progress, this theme again is repeated as Christian leaves the city of destruction, and as he leaves that city, on his back is a knapsack, and it is weighted down. It is a burden to him, and he begins his travel looking for someone who can tell him how he can be free of the burden.

And it is not until he comes to the cross of Jesus Christ, and as he reaches touch that cross and bends his knee at the foot of the cross of Christ, that the burden of his sin and his guilt, the burden of being a member of Satan’s family, is ripped from his back. And he stands for the first time as a free man, a servant of Jesus Christ, and a member of the family of Christ. Another benefit of adoption is that we are given in adoption when we receive Christ a new name, we are given the name of our Father in heaven. He calls us by that name. He says that it is all right from this day forward for you to refer to yourself as my son, as my daughter. In one John three one, we read this.

Behold what manner of love the father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God, that suddenly we are called by a new name as sons and daughters of the living God. This week I was in the car with my middle son, Ben, and were talking about families, and he said, you know, there’s some kids in my class who call their father and mother by their first name. And he was shocked that happened and was over someone’s home the other day, and the little boy kept talking about Bill, and he kept waiting for Bill to walk in. And when Bill walked in, it was the father. So this was a great problem for Ben. And he asked me if it would be all right if he called me Ken, because it seemed that others were doing it.
And I was taken off guard. And I said to him, you know, Ben, in this world, anybody can call me Ken. But there are only three people in the world who can call me Daddy, and you’re one of them. Now, Ben, do you want to call me by a name that everyone can use, or do you want to call me by the name that is special? And he said, daddy, I want to call you Daddy. But you see, that’s exactly what God has done for us. We were called children of disobedience. And then, as we trusted in Jesus Christ, God the father says, I want you to be called by another name. And you know something? I want you to call me father. I want you to call me Daddy, because that’s who I am.

But also, we should see that not only do we have a new name, but also that we are given the spirit of sonship. There are two aspects of adoption. One is justification. We read this word over and over in scripture. Justification is simply a legal term saying, the debt has been paid and we are justified through Jesus Christ. His blood legally has paid the price for us. And it is a fair thing for every Christian to say, I have been justified in Jesus Christ. And through that justification, our position legally before God the Father has been established. The debt for our sin has been paid. But there is another element of adoption. The word that we use often is conversion, and we have a difficulty separating. What’s the difference between justification and conversion?

The difference is that conversion does not have to do with our legal standing. It has to do with an internal changing of our heart, so that before, we did not want to be children of God. But God justifies us through the blood of Christ. He legally adopts us, and then he converts us and makes us want to be his son and daughter. Where justification changes our position, we find that conversion changes our disposition. In the movie Annie, we all remember a little girl, and she’s in an orphanage. And the woman who ran that orphanage legally had responsibility for her. But Annie did not have a spirit that this was her mother. Legally, it may have been true, but dispositional it was not true.

And it was not until she went into the home of Daddy Warbucks, where her disposition was to be his daughter, but legally, she was not. And what God does for us is he legally adopts us. Justification. And then he converts us disposition so that we want to follow him. But also there is a great advantage of adoption, and that is that we have access to our father. Ephesians 312 tells us we have access with confidence by faith in Christ. The Christian church has always been called a praying church. Prayer is an aspect of the Christian life that speaks to our adoption in the family of God. That we go into the very presence of God and we talk with him, we tell him our needs. We ask him for his will in our life.

And it is said that Satan shudders when he sees one of God’s children on their knees in prayer before their father. And this is a great benefit, a great privilege that is ours because we are adopted into God’s family. But also there is the element that is a great benefit to us in that God shows his pity, his concern for us, because we are his children. Psalm 50 313 tells us, like a father pities his children, so the Lord pities them that fear him. It’s amazing how callous we can be to the hurts of people. I remember several years ago hearing that a little boy in our neighbourhood had been killed by a car.

And as much as we desire, as we want to put ourselves in that situation, and we imagine to ourselves the great pain that the family would go through, it really is not the same unless you’ve gone through it. And when I meet with this family on occasion and they make reference to their little boy who is no longer with them, they can never talk about him without a mist in their eye, without the apparent break of their heart that he’s not here. And that special concern, that special pity, that special compassion that only a father can show his son. That is the compassion, the concern, the pity that God shows on you and me because we are his through adoption. But also there is a benefit of being adopted as God’s child.

And that is that he will educate you in a day where we wonder, how will I get through college? And the expenses are so great. And we don’t think about our spiritual education. That the promise from scripture is that God will send his holy spirit through his word to instruct us. And that we have the benefit of that education because we are his. When Napoleon captured the city of Austerlitz, many of his soldiers were killed in the battle. Napoleon made a decree that anyone who was an orphan in this battle. Could take upon themselves Napoleon’s name and that the state would educate them. God says the same thing to you and I because we are his adopted children. He will educate us in the things of the spirit through his word, and that is a great benefit.

But also, we should realize that adoption will cause our father, because he loves us, to discipline us. In Hebrews, chapter twelve, verse six, we read, for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, and it should come as no surprise to us when the Lord chastens us, when he disciplines us. He does it in the same way that a father would discipline his son for his own well being. But also there is the benefit that scripture tells us is ours because we are adopted by Jesus Christ, and that is the benefit of an inheritance. We read in Romans 8817, if you are children, then heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. And God promises us his inheritance, that he will lavish on us all that he has, and that we will receive that inheritance.

And so at those moments when as a believer, you are feeling low spirit, remember that you are a recipient of the riches of Christ, and he wants you to be lifted up. At that moment when you are in great sorrow, remember the inheritance that is yours, the joy that only comes through Christ. And during those times when you are beginning to distrust your Father in heaven, remember, he says, come to me, ask, and I will give you take advantage of your inheritance and come to him as a child who is an heir to a great fortune. Adoption is one of the most beautiful and tender of all of the doctrines of the church.

Thank you, Ken, for reminding us of all we have through our adoption by the Lord Jesus Christ. Do let us have your comments about this broadcast, our address from the word of God, box 3003, Princeton, New Jersey 08540. And our phone number if you’d like to call area code 609-921-1020 thank you for listening. And now, on behalf of our speaker, the Reverend Ken Smith of the Princeton Presbyterian Church, this is your announcer, Joe Springer, inviting you to join us again next week, same time instead, as we come to you again from the word of God.

Thank you for listening to Affirm Foundation presented by Princeton ministries. This programming is supported by you, the listener. You may go to our website, princetonministries.org, or send your donation to Princeton Ministries post Office box 2171, Princeton, New Jersey 08543. That’s Princeton Ministries post Office Box 2171, Princeton, New Jersey 08543. The Lord bless you, and Doctor Smith looks forward to hearing from you.