Sermon Tone Analysis

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.

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.

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

Confidence

1 John 2:

We are to be confident in the redemption we have.

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

1 Th 5:

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

Positional Innocence

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:

1 John 3:

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”

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.

this verse sounds much like

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.

“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.”