Ephesians

[0:00] I'll direct you to the words resting on my mind, which you'll find in the first epistle of Paul to the Ephesians, chapter 1, reading the fifth verse.

[0:16] The epistle of Paul to the Ephesians, chapter 1, reading the fifth verse. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.

[0:37] Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.

[0:49] The person who is spoken of here is God the Father. The context is from the third verse onwards. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us according as he hath chosen us, that we should be holy and without blame, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children.

[1:17] The words that have rested on my mind have been this expression in the scriptures here, the adoption of children.

[1:30] It's a very striking principle in the gospel that every one of God's children are adopted. They're not his by birth.

[1:46] There is a principle of truth here that is very vital that we know it. that we were born into this world, fallen and ruined in Adam, and we were the children of the God of this world, and there has been a part of our life in which we have walked in the darkness.

[2:19] We're not gods by natural birth. We were not born his children.

[2:29] Many divines have argued at great length about whether a newborn babe that dies just after birth goes straight to heaven.

[2:46] One thing is absolutely clear in the scriptures. All have sinned, even that newborn babe, and come short of the glory of God.

[3:01] And that if there's any salvation, it is through this sacred truth predestinated unto the adoption of children.

[3:15] And it means this, that just as with a child naturally, they know when they're adopted into another family. And they have another father and another mother.

[3:29] So, in the kingdom of God, when he takes his children in hand, and they are adopted, remarkable expression.

[3:47] Remarkable expression. I lay it down here this morning with the clarity of the scriptures of truth as a sacred divine principle.

[3:58] Every one of God's dear children is an adopted child. And will know, they will know the blessed spirit of adoption.

[4:09] They will know the blessed spirit of God. They will know the blessed spirit of God. They are the Lord's. A tie never to be broken. They're his and his forever.

[4:24] They are adopted into his family before they're ever born. Those arrangements were made in eternity past.

[4:36] Predestinated to the adoption of children. God determined that they will be his.

[4:51] He saw me ruined in the fall, yet loved me notwithstanding all. God said. And right, it goes on to say his loving kindness.

[5:09] Oh, how great. You see, there are thousands who are not adopted into the family of God. God's dear children have all known two families.

[5:26] I was going to say they've all had two fathers. Born under Satan.

[5:41] And known the ruins of the fall. Brought into the gospel. And here we read of God the Father.

[5:53] And his children. And oh, how blessedly this divine truth is revealed here. That the means of the adoption.

[6:08] The one who makes the adoption possible. Oh, how blessedly these truths blend together here. The one who brings about the adoption.

[6:18] Determined the adoption was. By God the Father in eternity past. They should be his children. But there is a way.

[6:34] In which they are legally adopted. Legally. Before God. They are brought in. By Christ.

[6:44] Who has kept his Father's holy law for them. And therefore. As we read of it here. This blessed truth.

[6:55] All blended together. Accordingly as he hath chosen us in him. Before the foundation of the world. That we should be holy. To be adopted. Into his kingdom.

[7:08] They are going to be prepared for heaven. They are going to be holy and without blame. Oh, I thought. As I looked at that word this morning. Holy.

[7:20] Yes. The peace speaking blood of Jesus. Is the only holiness. The righteousness of Christ. Is the only role.

[7:31] That is without blame. Here is the holiness of the saints of God. And so in our text we read. Having predestinated us. Unto the adoption of children.

[7:41] By. Christ Jesus. Unto himself. Predestinated unto. That is God the Father. Predestinated unto himself.

[7:54] And it is through Jesus Christ. And his work. In all its glory. And he goes on. The apostle does here.

[8:05] To. Sacredly open the truth. Uh. Made accepted. In the beloved. Oh what a family.

[8:18] Is the family of God. The adoption of children. And where do you and I figure in this.

[8:31] What evidence have we got. That we have been adopted. You know. One of the greatest evidences of adoption. Is this. Are we loved.

[8:41] Are we loved. Does God love us.

[8:53] Has he shown it to us. Have we known the love of God. Have we known the mercy of God. God. My sheep.

[9:09] He said. Hear my voice. God's dear.

[9:20] Children. As adopted into his family. Have an inheritance. Bear heirs.

[9:34] Of God. And joint heirs with Christ. Everything he has.

[9:51] And is. Is there. Have an inheritance. He has gone.

[10:03] To repair. A heavenly mansion for them. It's there. Lovely words.

[10:17] I would desire today. To go on to speak. Of these sons. And daughters. These children. Of the almighty. Of their lives. And paths. And footsteps. And knowledge of their God.

[10:31] But you know. He has prepared. A place for them. He's bought them. With a price. They're his.

[10:42] They're his children. He has loved them. With an everlasting love. As you sang. In that lovely hymn. A verse. So. Peculiarly.

[10:53] Precious to me. As I can mark. The very place. And the time. In Holland. In 1961. When the Lord. Blessed me. With great sweetness. In that verse. Redeemed.

[11:05] With Jesus. Blood redeemed. And told me. That I was redeemed. With his precious blood. And sealed it in my heart. Never shall I forget.

[11:17] The place. And the spot. Where he spoke. That truth. Into my heart. What have you gone. The Lord. The Lord has shown you. You're one of his adopted children.

[11:29] That you're loved. That you're in that family. And they. Shall be mine. Seth.

[11:41] The Lord of hosts. In that day. When I make up my jewels. And I will spare them. For what a. Precious truth is the.

[11:53] Words of Malachi. I've often. Looked at the. Writings of the prophet Malachi. Lovely truth. They shall be mine. Seth the Lord of hosts.

[12:04] In that day. When I make up my jewels. And I will spare them. As a man spareth. His own son. That serveth him. And he's an adopted son. Every one of them.

[12:20] Is an adopted son. And then. Shall he return. And discern. Between the righteous. And the wicked. Between those. Who are not adopted.

[12:31] And those. Who are adopted. Wherefore. We read. In the Corinthians. Coming out from among them. We are separate. Touch not.

[12:42] The unclean thing. And I will receive you. And you shall be my. Sons and daughters. Says the Lord God Almighty. Dear. John Kenick. Pen that lovely hymn.

[12:54] Children. Of the heavenly king. As you journey. Sweetly sing. Sing your great. Redeemer's praise. Glorious. In his works.

[13:06] In his works. And wise. Here is one of his. Blessed words. That he takes. The children of Satan. A God of this world.

[13:17] And he adopts them. Into his heavenly kingdom. Into his family. They become heirs. Of God. And joint heirs.

[13:28] With Christ. Or we lose sight. Of the sons and daughters.

[13:43] Born in sin. And shaken in iniquity. Yet there is. This blessed principle. That there is a turning point. A world. Like the prodigal.

[13:56] If we may speak. Of the prodigal. For a moment. And the husks. You see. He came. To understand.

[14:09] The husks. And he saw them. For what they were. But there was a day. When he. Valued the husks. Of this world. When he went after the.

[14:21] Tinsel glory. And the tinsel grandeur. And the tinsel gold. But there came a day. When he saw it. For what it was. That whilst it appeared.

[14:32] To be gold. It wasn't. Then he valued the real gold. And that was in his father's hands. But the. When he left it. He hadn't valued it. He had had no sense.

[14:46] Of a value of it. Because he left it behind him. Went out. Into the world. And here is the turning point. Not that we speak of some extraordinary experience.

[14:58] But we speak. Of a change of values. And a divine knowledge. Wrought in the soul. When we've had godly parents.

[15:10] We look back. In our lives. To a time when. We didn't. Understand. And we went out. And we had our fill of the husks.

[15:25] Until the lord dealt with us. In such a way. That we saw those husks. Of what they were. They were just husks. Useless. And later we.

[15:36] Wondered. How we got such pleasure out of them. And how they filled us with such a strange. Satisfaction. And the work of God.

[15:49] In the hearts of his dear children. Is to bring them to sit down. In his father's hand. And to feed. From the same table. As their father.

[16:02] And appreciate. The same food. Spiritual food. The same bread. And water of lime. And to know.

[16:17] The love. That the prodigal knew. When he returned. The arms of love. The heart of love. The heart of affection.

[16:29] That drew him. To his father's bosom. I don't believe we can. Fractionally measure. The affection.

[16:41] That lies there. The joy. The sacred joy. And peace. Of a returning prodigal. And enter.

[16:54] Into the. Truth that lies there. And that's this. He was wounded. We can't measure the wounds.

[17:06] And the pain. And suffering. Of those wounds. He was wounded. Those wounds. You know. Were in his soul. He was wounded.

[17:20] As he watched. His dear. Beloved children. Sinning. Varly. Against him. And one day.

[17:35] In their lives. He teaches them. In their sufferings. As he ordains their footsteps.

[17:46] So that they. Do. Have. Fellowship with him. In his suffering. He brings them.

[17:57] To understand. What he suffered. For them. Jacob. Referred. To the wounds. Of Christ. In his dying days.

[18:08] When he said. As he blessed Ephraim. And Manasseh. The God. Who redeemed. Me. From all evil. Bless the lands.

[18:20] For how sacredly. Jacob pointed to Christ. As the redeemer. And used the. Language of heaven.

[18:31] As it was the language. Of the Passover. And the sacrifice. The language of the shed blood. Of Christ.

[18:43] As sacredly. He pointed. To that blood. Which took away. His own sins. You see. He was wounded. Deep.

[18:55] Are the wounds. Which sinners may. Where shall the sinner. Find a cure. Well. He will find it. In the wounds of crime. There is healing.

[19:06] And he is the one. Who stands between. In garments tied in blood. Who is made white. The white.

[19:17] For this blessed adoption. These children. Are his body. As we read in the last verse.

[19:28] Of this chapter. And most gloriously. They are described. As the fullness of him. Who filleth all in all. These.

[19:39] Beloved children. Are the fullness of God. Who has all himself. In all. The fullness of him. That filleth all him up.

[19:50] His body. The church. Flesh of his flesh. Bone of his bone. They are his members.

[20:03] The members of his body. He is the head. They are his children. They are. They are greatly beloved. As the top lady said.

[20:17] Loved of my God. To him again. With love intense. I'd burn. Chosen of thee. Ere time began. I choose thee.

[20:29] In return. Dear friends. If anything. The bond. Of the adopted children. Is greater than that. Of the natural.

[20:40] The love of God.

[20:53] To them in their soul. Far greater. Than that awful bond. With Satan. In the days of their unregeneracy. Their hearts.

[21:06] Were knit in love. To this world once. And to the God of this world. Satan. Wants. His children. In an.

[21:16] In an extraordinarily. Awful way. He goes about. Getting them back. And attempts. To deceive them. And bring them into solemn force. With the most subtle devices.

[21:29] Look at Samson. And what Satan did to get him. A woman. He knows. Our weakness. He knows how to tempt us.

[21:40] He knows how to bring us down. The sweet psalmist of Israel. Brought down by a woman. Satan will go about.

[21:52] Breaking this adoption. He'll attempt to get back his children. They're his by birth. They're born in sin.

[22:07] And shaped in iniquity. God has. Brought them in. Through Christ Jesus. And adopted them.

[22:18] Into his living family. Having predestinated us. To the. Adoption. Of children.

[22:29] Now. Can I come to. This subject. The father. And the child. Spiritually.

[22:41] God the father. And his children. How does he manifest his love? How.

[22:51] How. How. Do we expect. Love. To be manifested. Naturally. Is love manifested.

[23:03] By giving the child. All it wants. Is love manifested. By no discipline. How. Is. Love.

[23:13] Manifested. I tell you this. It's manifested. Feelingly. It is indeed. And that bond is.

[23:25] Immensely deep. Which lies in the heart. It is an immensely deep bond. None can fathom it.

[23:37] Love. Love is manifested. In action. Often not manifested. In words.

[23:53] But how is the love of God. Manifested. Well. Watch it carefully. In. In. Paul's epistle to the Hebrews.

[24:06] He has a. Beautiful passage. In the. Twelfth chapter. On the love of God. I thought. In listening to the sermon yesterday.

[24:20] At the Bethesda opening. He has been mindful of us. Well. The Lord is mindful of us. Sufficiently. To scourge us.

[24:31] The preacher spoke of that one word.

[24:43] Minding a child. The Lord minds us. And cares for us. Sufficiently. As the apostle Paul. Explains to us. In that twelfth chapter.

[24:55] Furthermore. We have had fathers of our flesh. And we gave them reverence. Shall we not be. Much rather in subjection. Under the father of spirits. And live.

[25:06] And he speaks of this. Whom the Lord loveth. He chasteneth. And scourgeth. That's the most dreadful thing. Scourgey. Beaten.

[25:19] The apostle Paul was scourged. Forty strokes. With rods. Scourged almost to death. Christ was scourged. Christ was scourged. What is scourging?

[25:31] Immense suffering. And he scourges. Every son. Every child. Whom he received. For when we come.

[25:43] To look at this word. When we are adopted. Into his kingdom. When we become his children. Why yes. He is mindful of us.

[25:55] He disciplines us. Let's look at some of the scourgings. Of scripture. Firstly this. You know. In the scripture. There is one or two beautiful adoptions.

[26:07] Take this child. And nurse it for me. And I will give thee thy wages. Lovely. Example of adoption. The Lord's words to Pharaoh. Pharaoh. He was adopted.

[26:22] Into the kingdom of God. The Lord was mindful of him. He had a work for him to do. He loved him. He left his mother's house. Adopted into the house of Pharaoh.

[26:35] Esther. Was an orphan. In the book of Esther. Brought up by her uncle Mordecai. She hadn't got an actual parent. She was adopted.

[26:46] When I come to. Look at this. Work of God. Then in the hearts of his dear children. He disciplines.

[26:57] His adopted children. How did he do it? I was thinking of some of the. Solemnities. Of God's will.

[27:09] In disciplining his children. And my mind went to Moses. And how he struck the rock. And how solemnly.

[27:20] God disciplined him. He disciplined him in such a. Solemn and awful manner. That he was not allowed. To enter the promised land. Now that was terrible to him.

[27:33] He had journeyed for 40 years. To enter that promised land. He longed to see it. And yet. Because of his sin.

[27:49] God took away from him. His heart's delight. God's will. You see in the. Ordinance of the Lord's Supper. we read of a most solemn discipline in the ordinance of the Lord's Supper given in the 11th of the 1st of Corinthians in that service we read he that eateth and drinketh and drinketh damnation to himself not discerning the Lord's body and for this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep what a what a solemn scourge that was and it doesn't say they weren't the children of God but God had worked and dealt the Lord had looked down from heaven in wrath yet not to cast them off necessarily he doesn't say that and I do point out to you these solemnities of being an adopted child it is going to include a solemn discipline

[29:13] God will chase him because of sin and if we have any concept of the majesty of God then we shall have some concept of how he views sin in all its heinous nature and the sort of punishment he will mete out chastening his dear children and it's entirely between their soul and God why does he withhold why does he bring his church into such solemn sorrow why did Jacob have to handle a coat of many colours with blood on it

[30:14] I would point out to you this that in the scripture there is never any connection by way of passing a judgement of the relationship between the hair on the arms of Jacob when he deceived Isaac and the blood on the coat of many colours but there is in the lips of Jacob in his dying hour when he said the Lord who redeemed me from all evil God had dealt and God does deal and it's between it's entirely between his children and himself it was entirely between God and Jacob it was for nobody else to judge or pass any comment but scripture is given for our instruction and it's there for our learning predestinated unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself

[31:22] God is going to discipline he's going to bring us into the solemnities of our sins our disobediences our rebellions our defiance our violence David suffered for his sins I do murder and adultery and the Lord dealt it out in his family you read the account most solemn and awful it followed him God dealt but this he was his child he was his child the Lord is not like the parents of the 20th century nor like this godless land that won't raise a finger against rebellion and indiscipline no parent need ever regret standing firmly against the rebellion of their children for one day if they're the children of God they'll be justified in their children's eyes as well as God and one day they'll come to thank them and to understand when they have their own children going exactly the same way what their parents pass through for when the Lord is dealing with children his discipline is effectual and a sacred discipline it is and we shall come to see that it was evil it amazes me how we can walk and I have done it in deeply evil paths and not seen it at the time it has taken years it's like the mountains if you go into the lake district and stand at the foot of a mountain like Skidor you can't see much of the mountain you get no idea how high it is but you go right across the other side of Derwent Water and get in the hills beyond get six or eight miles away then you can begin to see how big it is you do the same with your sins let time elapse and you look back on them and you pass through deep waters of sorrow and suffering like Jacob did when he lost Joseph and have a coat of many colours with blood put on it in your hands and go through deep waters of bitterness and then you begin to see reading the other day one of the Scottish the old Scots books of a son who was taking his father to the workhouse because he couldn't manage him in his home and the old man was broken wounded that his son should ever do such a thing to him he was carrying him too feeble to walk the journey to the workhouse and he was taking him to his workhouse and they stopped at a certain point the son rested as he carried his father to his workhouse and they talked together and the father said this was exactly the same spot as I stopped years ago when I took my father to the workhouse why was it happening all how we see it may be years and God works it out and there's conviction he never understood his father's grounds all those years before but when he was carried himself yes then he knew the grief and the grief was that his child could treat him in such a way his heart was broken but he'd done the same to his father he never saw it at the time there comes a day in years to come when our sins are brought home to us at the time of their committal hearts as heart as steel but the lord if we're his children is going to deal and he's going to teach and we're going to have in it fellowship with christ in his suffering and we're going to see that lovely verse that all things work together to those who love god to those who are the called according to his purpose we shall enter feelingly into what he suffered your dread crimes once pierced his heart are they piercing his heart now if you're one of his children your sins now are making the lord jesus christ in heaven today grow your dread crimes once pierced his heart sank his soul in awful sweat but his sin atoning blood now procures your peace with god it takes years but it is brought to pass conviction comes home into the soul and we see you and this is the experience of children adopted into his living family they're his ten times more than if they were his by birth they are indeed he loved them so much that he died for them for they were adopted but he loved them having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by

[38:23] Jesus Christ to himself they are to be members of his family and you know that tie made here in this earth will never be broken for his forever it's so with god's dear children here in this earth but a mercy if we have god-fearing parents they may be taken but they've only gone before ye now therefore have sorrow but I will see you again and your heart shall rejoice and your joy no man taketh from you so Christ said to his two disciples I'll see you again and it's true of every one of god's dear children all the blessed tie it is to have those ties here in this earth in families spiritual tie but not necessarily in families in the body of Christ sacred union in the gospel having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by

[39:54] Jesus Christ to himself amen for them all to someone who are to all of them and they know and who are all thearound that they they З together they to the움 hymn number 65 the 65th hymn June 934 expand my soul arise in sin the master's grace is ours king his love hath ain't no name let all thy powers and love proclaim hymn number 65

[41:07] June 934 un խ Amen.

[42:26] Amen. Amen.

[43:26] Amen. Amen.

[44:26] Amen. Amen.

[45:26] Amen.