The Glorious Truths of God's Gotcha Days

Roger W Piger

1 John • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago • Presented 5 years ago

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Glory to God for the wonderful reality of our adoption into His family. It is a glorious truth that we should be called the children of God and that we will be like Him at His appearing.

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God’s Gotcha Day

Tell the story of Jeremiah’s Gotcha Days- Adopted from Taiwan

Anjewl adopted from Haiti, Keara, Teara, Andrew, Jonah, Janessa, Jonathan & John were all adopted by the Duncomb family.

What an incredible story of love and kindness, for families to adopt children into their families. This morning we are going to be reflecting on some of the wonderful realities of God adopting us into His family. The observations we are going to make are realities, they are not assumptions on our part, they are truths that we find in God’s Word. We are going to be looking at the end of and the first few verses in chapter 3 this morning.

What an incredible story of love and kindness, for families to adopt children into their families.

We can appreciate the beauty and blessedness of a couple adopting a child into their family, but this morning I want us to take note of the incredibly far superior blessedness of our adoption into the family of God.

1 John 2:28–3:3 ESV

28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. 1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

John 1:12 ESV

12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

The fellowship and friendship of God is wonderful enough, but wow, we aren’t just slaves, we aren’t just friends, we are THE CHILDREN OF GOD!

Adopted:

This is what is called and doctrinal indicative, that is . . . it is a reality. We ARE children of God. We ARE adopted into the family of God, and talks of the Spirit of adoption.

Romans 8:15 ESV

15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

We are now able to go to the Father and call out to him, as just that, our Father, our Papa, Our daddy.

Chosen:

Explain the glory of adoption as it was in Bible times, as per John MacArthur’s recent sermon.

This truth is fundamental to our ability to live our lives in freedom, free of shame (not to be confused with guilt), fear, anxiety, anger,

THE RESULTS:

Eternal life

1 John 2:25 ESV

25 And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life.

1 Peter 1:3–5 ESV

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Confidence

1 John 2:28 ESV

28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.

1 John 2:

We are to be confident in the redemption we have.

Philippians 1:6 ESV

6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 5:24 ESV

24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

We are able to be fully confident, because our confidence is not based upon our abilities, accomplishments, intelligence or competence.

1 Th 5:

Titus 3:5–6 ESV

Titus 3:5–8 ESV

5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8 The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.

Bold but not bragging because our adoption and our salvation is not based upon ourselves, but rather on God’s precious love.

Positional Innocence

Romans 4:5–8 ESV

5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

What a marvelous truth to realize that God the Father sees us not as we are, but as we will be. He sees us as being holy. We are declared righteous, forensically, not practically. It is an act of acquittal of our guilt, based upon the redeeming work of Christ.

We can sing the song, “You say”, which we sang earlier,

“You say I am loved when I can't feel a thing You say I am strong when I think I am weak And you say I am held when I am falling short And when I don't belong, oh You say I am Yours And I believe (I) Oh I believe (I) What You say of me (I) I believe

The only thing that matters now is everything You think of me In You I find my worth, in You I find my identity”

1 John 2:29 ESV

29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

1 John 2:

1 John 3:2–3 ESV

2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

1 John 3:

We can sing the song, “You say”, which we sang earlier,

The only thing that matters now is everything You think of me In You I find my worth, in You I find my identity”

Sometimes we can lose sight of the fact that our adoption or our salvation has nothing to do with our own merits. We can begin to become moralistic, in our thinking, and in our witnessing and in our teaching.

For example, is a common verse that is used to call us to holiness and good works.

Romans 12:1 ESV

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

this verse sounds much like

1 John 3:3 ESV

3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

We can easily twist this into self talk that says, “I have to measure up.” or “I have to do this or that, or not do this or that, in order for God to save me.”

That is not the case, however. We are accepted and adopted as a result of God’s mercy and grace. Did you notice that , begins with the word “Therefore”. The reason we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice, is because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Progressive Innocence

The fact is that we have not yet attained to innocence in practice. We continue to sin. We continue to fall short of the glory of God. Those who believe and are saved by His grace, will stand before Him and will still have to answer for our deeds. We may have crowns, to lay at His feet, for the works of honor, and praise and obedient acts that we have done for Him, but we will also be humbled and have remorse for those times when we failed to walk in righteousness and truth.

That however should not discourage us, but rather encourage us to strive to walk in righteousness and truth. We ought to seek to live in a way that is glorifying to our Heavenly Father, to bring honor to His matchless name, as we walk as Christ walked and live righteous, holy, upright lives.

In Review, Our need for adoption is not a cause for futility, discouragement, nor is the reality of our adoption a cause for arrogance and pride. When seen through the filter of the truth of Scripture, our adoption is an act which keeps us humble, grateful and increasing in righteousness, as we endeavor to become like Christ, by the work of His Spirit in our lives.

1 John 3:1 ESV

1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

“See” observe, take note, of the kind of love the Father has given to us. There is a certain level of common grace that God has bestowed upon all of creation, yet those who have believed in Him, he gave the right to be called His children. What amazing love this truly is.

His love for His children is unconditional, sacrificial and everlasting.

We love, because He first loved us. Are you able to recognize the love that God has for you.

What a celebration it is for us to think about our own, God’s Gotcha Day.

John, of all the disciples, was one to repeatedly recognized Christ’s love for Him. What a wonderful exercise to participate in. Reflect upon the love of God, in bringing you to be a part of His family.

Matt Cox used to share this illustration. When he was dating his wife, she would often hand him notes, throughout the day. It was an exciting thing for him to receive communication from his girlfriend/fiancee. You know he would take that note and put it away in a box, and wait to read it until he was having a bad day, right? Wrong! He would rip open the envelope and read it at the earliest possible time, and sometime, read it over and over again.

I want to encourage you to spend some time this week, reading God’s letter to you. Consider reading Ephesians, personalizing it.

I can’t tell you how often I am approached by people who are having trouble dealing with the circumstances of life, and I ask them if they have been spending time reading and meditating on God’s Word and they respond, “No, not really.” “I find it hard to make the time.” “I try to do that but I get distracted or pulled away by my other responsibilities.” “I should do that more often.” “I don’t know how to study the Bible. I read it but I find it hard to understand.”

Let me as you this.

Have you had a “Gotcha Day”? Have you been adopted into the family of God? If not, I want to tell you how that can happen.

Accept- That you are a sinner and in need of a Savior

Believe- That Jesus the perfect Son of God, died as a ransom for your sins. Took the punishment of your sin upon Himself.

Confess- Your need to accept His grace and forgiveness, and your desire to be His child.

Maybe you’ve heard the the Gospel message many times, and you have a head knowledge of these truths, but today you sense God is moving in your heart, so that you are able to believe in your inner being that God wants to adopt you. You can see with the eyes of your heart, the love that Christ has shown and the gracious gift that He is offering, and you recognize that now is the time to accept His wonderful offer of salvation through faith.