We are Predestined to be Adopted through Christ Jesus

Introduction

Ephesians 1:4-6 "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he^[a] predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will- 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves."

There was a frog that absolutely knew his destiny was to turn in to a handsome young prince. But for confirmation, he decided to visit a fortuneteller. The fortuneteller brought the frog in and gazed into her crystal ball. She said, "Oh, I see something. You are going to meet a beautiful young woman."
The frog gets very antsy, "Yes, I knew it. I'm going to become a prince."
The fortuneteller continues, "From the moment she sets eyes on you she will have an insatiable desire to know all about you. She will be compelled to get close to you--you'll fascinate her."
The frog is very excited. He asks, "Where am I? At a singles club?"
The fortuneteller answers, "No, Biology class."

Let's not try to forge our own destiny!

William Staford

If you were exchanged in the cradle; and your real mother died; without ever telling the story; then no one knows your name, and somewhere in the world; your father is lost and needs you; but you are far away.; He can never find; how true you are, how ready.;When the great wind comes; and the robberies of the rain; you stand on the corner shivering.; The people who go by ?; you wonder at their calm.; They miss the whisper that runs; any day in your mind ;"Who are you really, wanderer?"; and the answer you have to give; no matter how dark and cold; the world around you is: "Maybe I'm a king?"

Who are you really? Do you know?

There is no more hopeless feeling than to feel that our lives are going nowhere. We were not made to live without destiny.

I want you to know who you are and your destiny in Christ Jesus.

Let's work through these verses. Ultimately where I want to end up is talking about our adoption in Christ but we must again look at verse 4 to comprehend what Paul is telling us about our destiny in verse 5.

"For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world..."

God chose me. God chose you.

Even when we were by nature objects of God's wrath as Paul mentions in Ephesians 2:2. I have the word "nature" highlighted in bold. "by nature..."

What does this mean?

How many of you have watched Ratatouille. Poor Remy was a rat that could read and knew how to cook. In fact he was a masterful cook with an exquisite talent for blending flavors because of his highly refined and ingenious sense of smell. He longed to cook, he dreamed about cooking, he read about cooking, and his hero was Chef Gustaue Frances greatest all-time culinary genius. The problem: He was a rat and a rat in a kitchen, and in a house, was by nature an object of humanities wrath as any rat knows that attempts to find a home in one of our houses.

This is what Paul is saying. We were by nature objects of God's wrath, we could not be anything other than who we were and who we were, as sinners by nature, was making us the objects of the wrath of a God who is holy by nature.

God chose me. God chose you.

As for you, as for me we were dead in our transgressions and sins as Paul says in Ephesians 2:1. We were unable to obey God. We were unable to respond to Him. We lived without awareness of Him and were controlled and mastered by the insatiable desires of our sinful nature.

This speaks to our ability to choose God. We could no sooner choose Him than a corpse being prepared in a funeral home can chose the mortician.

Ephesians 2:4 "But God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions...." God not only provided Jesus to die and rise from the dead that we might be made alive in Christ:

Ephesians 2:8 "For it is by grace you have been saved through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast." God also supplied us with the faith to believe Jesus for salvation. He made us sensitive, aware and able to respond in faith and by faith to His salvation in Christ.

Harry Ironside a well known American Bible teacher, pastor, and author who passed away in 1951used this illustration for the doctrine of election. He pictured humanity on the way to destruction, passing by a gate which had these welcome words written on it: "Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy-laden." Some people stopped and said to themselves: that includes me, and they decided to go in. But once they stepped inside and turned around, they saw written on the inside of the gate these words: "Chosen before the foundation of the world."

As David Ewert writes, "The doctrine of election is a family secret; it is understood only by those who have accepted Christ's invitation to come to Him. They know that they have been saved by grace alone."

What was God's purpose in election?

Paul writes in Romans 9:11-12 speaking about twins Jacob and Esau born to Isaac and Rebekah 11Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad-in order that God's purpose in election might stand: 12not by works but by him who calls-she was told, "The older will serve the younger."

What was God's purpose in election? His purpose in election is simply that God would call. In other words the purpose election was the praise of God's sovereign grace. The exaltation of his grace.

God's election and predestination were the end of verse 5 "in accordance with His pleasure and will" and the end of verse 6 "to the praise of His glorious grace."

Faith is the condition for God's justification. "For it is by grace we have been saved through faith." God's election, God's choosing of us is according to His pleasure and will.

"For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.

Now let us move to verse 5. "In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Christ Jesus..."

Those whom God chose in His sovereign grace he predestined to be adopted as His children.

Let's take a moment to understand the meaning of the word "predestination."

The Greek word for predestination is actually comprised of two words: pro meaning "before," and horizon, meaning "to mark off the boundaries."

God's predetermined boundaries that He established for those He calls were set and motivated by love. In love those who were called were predestined before the creation of the world to be adopted as His sons and daughters.

And so we do not forge our own destiny. Those whom God called He predestined, He set their destiny before them, to be adopted as His children.

And so lets talk about adoption. As Francis Lyall writes in his book "Slaves, Citizens, Sons" "In law, adoption is a legal act that changes the personal status of a child in relation to his natural parent[s] and constitutes the relationship of parent and child between him and some other person or persons."

In its most basic form the word means: "The placing of a son."

I want to let you in a little secret. Trish and I are expecting and we got word last week that we will be having a boy.

Picture of Aulain

Isn't he adorable? His name is Aulain and Trish and I are in the process of adopting Him into our family. I am going to have a son! I am already praying for His salvation. I find myself loving him and I haven't yet met him.

Trish and I had been praying over the decision to adopt for approximately a year. We talked to others who have adopted. We thought about the impact this would have on our lives. We decided to go ahead though we do not know the joy, the suffering, and the pain this will bring.

God determined to adopt me, God determined to adopt you before the creation of the world. Before He created us He chose us to be adopted through Christ Jesus. The amazing thing is that He knew fully the suffering, the pain, and the agony involved and yet in love He predetermined that those He called He would place in the position of adopted children.

Do you know who you are? Do you know who you are?

Trish and I will have to pay the price to make Ailaun our son. We are in the middle of a few headaches worth of paper work and there are significant financial costs and much red tape throughout the process.

Galatians 4:4-5 "But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons." The cost God paid for our adoption was the life of His Son.

We look at Aulain and he is so cute. Big brown eyes and chubby cheeks. It is now so hard to wait. We so much want to hold Him in our arms.

God chose to adopt us when in His holiness He could not look upon us in our sin. When we were by nature repulsive to His very nature of holiness and righteousness. It was then He determined to adopt us. And so Paul writes in Eph. 4 "Be completely humble..."

Why did God adopt us in our unworthiness? Look at verse 6 "to the praise of His glorious grace..."

You were adopted for the praise of His glorious grace. Listen to what John Piper writes, "God's action in adopting us is radically God-centered and God exalting. I know that many hear this and think it is not loving. How can God's seeking to exalt Himself be loving? The answer is that the glory of God is what we were made to see and enjoy for all eternity. Nothing else will satisfy our souls. Therefore if God does not exalt Himself for us to admire and enjoy, then He is unloving. That is, He does not give us what we need."

God adopted us that we might praise His glorious grace, the reason for which we were made.

When we have officially adopted Ailaun and he is in our home we will change our will. He will become an heir of our estate with the girls.

Galatians 4:4-7 "But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. 6Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son[or of adoption] into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba,^[a] Father." 7So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir."

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ."

Conclusion

How many here have been adopted raise your hand?

No, no, raise your hand! When you, by the glorious grace of God, believed in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sin and for the control of your life you were adopted into His family.

How many here were adopted? Do you know who you are?

In love we were predestined to be adopted as sons and daughters through Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:22-23 "We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies."

Do not seek out the treasure of your destiny, without actually wanting to live out your destiny.

Take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ because you sow a thought and you reap a deed.

But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You sow a deed and you reap a habit. You sow a habit and you reap a character.

2 Peter 1:5-11 "5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. 10Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

You sow a thought and you reap a deed. You sow a deed and you reap a habit. You sow a habit and you reap a character. You sow a character and you reap a destiny.

Please read this through. I will make the call and you can respond. If you want to respond to this call I ask you to stand to your feet.

Call: Who is it that you seek?

Response: We seek the Lord our God.

Call: Do you seek Him with all your heart?

Response: Amen. Lord, have mercy.

Call: Do you seek Him with all your soul?

Response: Amen. Lord, have mercy.

Call: Do you seek Him with all your mind?

Response: Amen. Lord, have mercy.

Call: Do you seek Him with all your strength?

Response: Amen. Christ, have mercy.