Yesterday, we looked at a passage from Isaiah, and how hundreds of years earlier he had spoken of Jesus, and the death He would have to go through. Isaiah also explained that the punishment that Jesus received, and the death that he died, was for our transgressions and iniquities. Jesus took on the iniquity of us all, so that we could come into relationship with God, through faith in Christ Jesus, who defeated death. And this was no accident. It was God's victory, it was His redemption plan for all mankind. But what does this mean for us? What does it mean for us when we come to faith? Today, we are going to take a look at 'Adoption' and tomorrow, we are going to take a look at 'Freedom'.
In a recent sermon, Becky White spoke on the theme of 'Adoption'. When we come to faith in Jesus, when we repent of our sins and ask Jesus to rescue us, Romans 8 says "The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry 'Abba, Father.'"
WOW!! According to Paul in his letter to the Romans, the Spirit that we received brought about our adoption to sonship! When we receive the Holy Spirit, God has adopted us into His family! And so what does that mean to us?
Here are some of the things that it means for us: It means that we belong to God, and He belongs to us. We are His children, and He is our Father. It means we have been taken from being sons of the devil (John 8:42-47), to sons of the Living King. It means that we have become heirs of God, and co-heirs with Christ: "...Now if we are children, then we are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory." We have an eternal inheritance. Here is what Peter has to say in his first letter: "... we have a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade - kept in heaven for you..."
God, through Jesus, has taken you from being a slave to being adopted into sonship, and co-heirs with Christ into an eternal inheritance!!