The Rick & Bubba Bible Study - LIVE - April 28, 2021

welcome back to the wednesday bible study and we are so glad you've decided to join us uh i'm rick burgess uh co-host of the rick and bubba show and also director of the man church.com this is the wrecking ball of broadcast plaza and teleport for those of you that are watching the youtube option either live or archive if you're listening on the podcast option well just thought i'd tell you that something interesting uh some things that you need to know uh that are going on involving the man church.com uh if you are in the somerville georgia area uh i'll be at chatuka high school gymnasium coming up on april 30th so if you're uh you know watching this or listening to this on that week uh we'll be there it's free uh it is uh it's it's open to anyone who wants to come they the host church has actually just finished uh our 40-week curriculum the first one called the pursuit and they're now bringing in other churches and people who might want to be plugging in to the discipleship strategy our next 40-week curriculum is coming out any day now be looking for it on the manchurch.com it'll go 40 weeks as well featuring eight men of the bible you'll spend five weeks on each man and it'll be done just like the other where you have the 12 to 15 minute video of me teaching the study guides that go with it it will be available as a choice for those you that may have already nearly completed the pursuit curriculum or maybe you just prefer that subject matter to start your discipleship strategy we'll help you the team at the manchurch.com so that is a free event on friday night but they do want you to go there and register so they know that you're coming kind of checking out the crowd and all that at yatuga high school gymnasium uh make plans to be with us you can find that at burgessministries.com under events and then this sunday night may the 2nd uh be there for man church at first baptist church in colquitt georgia they they've already been doing the discipleship strategy they've even had a man church so they've done like 20 weeks of the 40. i'll be coming in and be part of their man church coming up on sunday night if you're in that area you want to be there you can that is also free now i realize that um just making notes on the wednesday bible study i will be back a week from today so we will do a bible study on may the 5th but the following week i will be on vacation so make a note of that we will not have a wednesday bible study uh on the the 12th so so so make a note of that uh the the two weeks from today uh so let's open up in a word of prayer we've got a lot to cover today this is a another long chapter and knowing god by j.i packer today we will take on the phrase uh sons of god what does that mean and we'll talk about that uh lord thank you for today uh this this concept of you know we understand redemption and justification but today to take on this this thought that we've actually been adopted by you as as your sons and daughters just just trying to wrap our mind around this adoption concept uh help us lord to completely grasp it today and find joy in it but at the same time if we we hear this today and we think to ourselves we've never been justified we've never been redeemed we don't think we have been adopted by our heavenly father that we assess that today too and resolve that situation lord i pray that you will be with me and help me to work through all my flaws and imperfections to deliver this correctly today in your holy name we pray amen all right so let's let's dive right in let's ask this question right out of the gate this is session 19. uh we we still have a few more sessions to go in this particular study um and we're getting toward the end of it uh but uh j.i packer asked this question are all people sons of god everybody no matter what uh is god their father now remember he he because the answer to this is about to be emphatically no and i know for some of you i will wait a minute now be careful yes it's true that everybody has a creator god is their creator that's not the question that the bible is asking and j.i packer is is asking the question isn't whether we all have a creator yeah we do everybody does the question is not that the question is are all people sons and daughters of god and they also now have access to him as father okay and the answer to that is no the idea that all people are are children of god is found nowhere in scripture and there's one i'll share something with you but if you if you listen to this um this was not even included in the chapter but this this jumped out at me personally uh because god has really buried me into first john for so many uh months and months and months now but if you go to to first john chapter 3 you see john taking on this concept he says in in first john chapter 3 verse verses 9 and 10 no one born of god makes a practice of sinning for god's seed abides in him you remember some packing the term abide abides in him and he cannot keep on sinning because he's been born of god now listen to this listen to verse 10. this is exactly what j.i packer is talking about that scripture does not say that that all people are children of god it does not say that listen to this in verse 10 talking about by the way you live looking at those who live in continuous sin he says this john does inspired by the holy spirit by this it is evident who are the children of god and who are the children of the devil so he didn't say all people were children of god he said if you want to know the difference between the children of god and the children of the devil then then he says whoever does not practice righteousness why because jesus makes us fully righteous is not of god nor is the one who does not love his brother so the people who are born of god they do not make a practice of continuous perpetual and sin uh meaning that we we we go out and live now the disciples of jesus and the children of god on this side of heaven struggle with sin that's different but he says the children of the devil live in continuous perpetual deliberate sin and that's how you tell the difference between the children of god and the children of the devil so there's a scripture right out of the eight here's another one that we start with uh we want to look at this first of all in the old testament in in the old testament uh you find this in exodus 4 22-23 god is shown to be a father but he's shown very clearly in the old testament that he's not the father to all he is the father of his own people and who's that the seed of abraham israel you look to the old testament i got news for you we need as gentiles if you're a gentile watching this and listen to this and you're not a messianic jewish person we were out in the old testament we did not have access to god the father we had god the creator but we were we were done for because he had made it very clear that he was the father only to his own people and the seed of abraham israel is what he says in exodus 4 22-23 israel is my firstborn son you remember when he sent moses what did he say he wanted moses say let my son go meaning this this is the the children of israel are the sons of god in the old testament okay the new testament expands now the gentiles are grafted in through christ and now we become the church you know that's what a lot of people don't understand and i heard steve ferrara probably said it as clear as i've heard it said we've talked about this before because i know sometimes gentiles and people of the church they don't know what to do with the levitical law they don't know what to do without with the ceremonial rituals they don't know what to do about that under the new covenant it's really quite simple the old testament moral law never changes the moral law it stands it never changes we all are held to that standard jew gentile doesn't matter however the civil laws and the ceremonial laws that we're not we're not held to that that's that's just for the that's just for israel that's not for the church that's for israel well for instance you don't see us still doing animal sacrifices because what did john the baptist say behold the lamb of god that takes away the sins of the world the ceremonial is fulfilled it's over so we're not held to that it's one of the questions i asked when i was in israel talking to orthodox jewish people is i did ask the question where are the sacrifices and i had to be very careful with this i didn't disrespectful all you got's a wall left of the temple i see you stuffing prayers in it but you know because they like to debate this they want to talk about this it's not rude they love this and i said so where is the ceremonial law it should not have stopped if if jesus of nazareth is not messiah and the lamb of god has not come then the ceremonial rituals should continue now they do continue the civil laws they still do that you go to israel on a saturday it's shut down i mean they they're beholden to the old testament sabbath and they don't they do all the civil things uh that they that they find in in the in in the old testament uh but they don't do the ceremonial because they're not doing animal sacrifices anymore so and the word i got back was we try to do enough good things we we came up with yom kippur and things like this where we do all these good works and of course i asked the question how do you ever know if you've done enough you know how do you know you pushed all the sin back by the good works did you do enough because you know you're supposed to be doing the blood of animals and all this so so what happens in the new testament yes it's true that the civil laws have have now been fulfilled and the ceremonial rituals have been fulfilled the moral law still stands it still applies that's why jesus had to make us fully righteous so in the new testament yes it expands to the gentiles being grafted in but god still isn't the father of all he's now only the father father to those knowing themselves to be sinners put their trust in the lord jesus christ as their divine sin bearer we talked about that uh that he he was the substitute and we we now recognize jesus as our lord as our master and then we become abraham's spiritual seed turn with me to the book of galatians so so yes it's expanded in the new testament but still it's not everybody it's only the redeemed so so look at galatians um chapter 3 and we're going to start in verse 26. so look at this for in christ jesus be sure you underline that you are all sons of god in christ jesus now if you're not in jesus you're not in christ jesus you are all sons of god through faith so we're saved by grace through faith that that is a faith of action we we no longer have faith in ourselves our faith fully goes to our new lord and master and we transfer that faith to him receiving the grace so he says this he said for as many of you were baptized into christ and have put on christ would you say if you abide in me and i abide in you deny yourself and follow me luke 9 23 that's not becoming a better version of yourself that is we don't exist we're now in christ everybody hey rick who are you i'm rick in christ so the redeemed have been baptized into christ and have put on christ and then look at 28. here's the thing that did change in the new covenant there is neither jew nor greek or gentile there is neither slave nor free there is no male and female meaning that male and female are now on equal standing and as far as redemption is concerned uh for you are all one in christ jesus everybody equal now at the foot of the cross gender ethnicity uh slave free all that all that's done away with remember we said all this pursuit of of equality by the world standard it's never going to happen if you want true equality this is it in galatians 3 26 through 29 equality's at the foot of the cross that's when all these labels go away and we all become one church and look at 29 and this is the key to the new testament simply confirmed what the old testament was already saying about god the father and our adoption which we're going to unpack in great detail today listen to verse 29 what paul says to galatia and if you are christ apostrophe s belong to christ then you are abraham's offspring heirs according to the promise does everybody follow me so what what did jesus do for us gentiles he he made us now we were counted in abraham's seed now we're abraham's offspring through jesus we're grafted in and now the jew and the gentile become the church all who have recognized jesus as messiah and uh and so now we are all sons of god so when you look at what's happening here though what you really see here is you see the the gift of sonship to god becomes ours not through being born but what through being born again this is all this is all what jesus is talking about you remember nicodemus he's like how can a man go back into his mother's womb because you just told me i've got to be born again this is what jesus is talking about jesus is saying no no you're you don't become a son of god just because you were born the seed of abraham and born of a woman that doesn't make you a son of god it makes you created by god you become a son of god not through birth you become a son of god through being born again being born into christ who then makes us that's our adoption now we can call ourselves sons of god daughters of god remember remember paul tells us that that that our wives or our sisters or our daughters they are co-heirs now with us uh we all have been adopted as the children of god to all who receive him to those who believed in his name he gave the right to become children of god children born not of natural descent nor of human decision or a husband's will but born of god write that down that's john chapter 1 verses 12 and 13. so sonship are becoming a child of god adoption then is a gift of grace it is not a natural birth what is it it's adoptive right because you know you've heard this term before now is this is this your mother is this your father yes is this your birth mom is this your birth father well a child who's been adopted says no i actually wasn't born naturally to them but through adoption they have become my father that he has she has become my mother so is the adoption are these parents are they less parents no it's just it's a different deal this child becomes the child of this earthly father through earthly adoption just as we become children of god through a spiritual adoption and that adoption and that being born again being reset is in jesus everybody with me i mean this is a really incredible concept and j.i packer goes as far as to say and you may agree or disagree okay because jay alpacker is just a man but he's making some pretty strong cases here to where he's saying i believe this adoption concept is is is more glorious than than justification now i know you're saying well how can it be better than jesus you know became the substitute for me no that's big but what what jay alpaca wants you to know is it's even bigger to understand what justification did everybody okay with that we're certainly not saying there's another way to be redeemed or justified he's saying don't miss the concept that that justification is bigger than hey i'm not just i'm not going to hell it's bigger than that that's big you have just become a child of god you now have access to a heavenly father that in the old testament you had to be careful even uttering his name watch it so now that whole holy of holies and and that that that distance between human beings and and and and the great i am uh the heavenly father only certain people could go in there you had to be you know you had to be offspring of aaron or you had to have a but what happened in justification is is god now looks to every every child of his and says through my son jesus he now has given you sonship he now has made you my sons he's now made you my daughters and now we have a personal relationship you can now call me daddy and uh and out and i'll unpack that because that's exactly what jesus uh is talking about and the apostle paul tells us about this in romans chapter eight about using the term abba father now that is a very casual uh that's that like talk that's not saying that's my daddy it's not like saying that is my father you know that that is my that's my daddy that's that's that's the one who loves me that's the one that cares for me uh and we didn't have that relationship as gentiles we didn't have it at all until we we we had justification so now father has become his covenant name for for the for the covenant which binds him to his people talking about god now stands revealed as a family covenant it's a whole different relationship now christians are his children his own sons his own daughters his heirs and the stress of the new testament is not on the difficulty and danger of drawing near to the holy god but now because of jesus on the boldness and the confidence with which believers may now approach him a boldness that springs directly from faith in christ and from the knowledge of his saving work listen to what paul said to ephesus in him through faith in him we may approach god with freedom and confidence since we have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of jesus a new and living way opened for us the writer of hebrew says let us draw near to god with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith amen this is a game changer and the bible wants us to know that i think sometimes i'm guilty of skimming over this in the importance of this by the way the last thing i said was out of hebrews 10 19-22 and then before that was ephesus 3 twelve so we live in a picture of adoption it is a new relationship uh that we now have a covenant name and this is part of the new family dynamic that god creates in his church but now you need to also think of this um don't think of your holy father as flawed as your earthly father okay because i think that's where you got to be careful sometimes when this this father image comes in sometimes people don't forget the scriptures tell us that that god is a father to the fatherless there's no one that has been justified by jesus christ that is fatherless matter of fact you have a perfect father some of us have earthly fathers that are that have been good fathers but man they're flawed this holy father father is not flawed at all so even if you had a good father he's still not a perfect father like our heavenly father one of the things that god revealed to me when my youngest son went to heaven is the comfort knowing that this child had left a flawed father and now was in the in the care in the arms of a perfect father who really loves him more than i was capable of loving him and that really is the truth i was i'm flawed but that but but but broner's heavenly father isn't flawed uh he's with his perfect father he's really with the you know it's almost like our earthly children they're just they're just almost loaned to us by god they ultimately belong to him they're his that's their real father and i know sometimes we it's hard for us to wrap our mind around that but there are to be a lot of comfort that comes with that because i don't know about you i have not accomplished being a perfect father but but my children if they if they are justified have a heavenly father who is perfect so don't take your earthly father baggage and hang that on your heavenly father because it will it doesn't belong there so god has not left us to guess what his fatherhood amounts to by drawing analogies from human fatherhood do not try to see your heavenly father using analogies of your earthly father because they fall well short he revealed this is important the full meaning of this relationship once and for all through our lord jesus christ in his own incarnate son and it is from god that all fatherhood earthly or heavenly derives its name that's paul again talking to ephesus again in ephesus 3 14. so first let's talk about the things in the bible that that are said about fatherhood okay and and i'll list these for you number one here's what scripture says about our perfect father fatherhood scripturally it applies it always implies authority the father commands and disposes the initiative which he calls his son to exercise is the initial initiative of resolute obedience remember jesus said that he he said i'm here i've come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me this is jesus talking about his earthly father which now through him is our earthly father man what a concept he said i have completed the work that you gave me to do this is the son talking to the father and the son says i can't do anything by myself my food is to do the will of him who sent me all of this is in the gospel of john we covered all this in our study of the gospel of john that was in chapter 6 38 chapter 17 verse 4 chapter 5 verse 19 and chapter 4 verse 34. this is all the gospel of john these are comments that jesus made showing us what that that our heavenly father is in a place of authority that's authoritative figure so if you look to scripture for what fatherhood means the one thing it means is authority what's the second thing it means and this is beautiful especially when you think about the beginning of all things the holy holy holy one jehovah the second fatherhood implies affection isn't that cool to know that the father loves the son jesus said the father the father has loved me i've obeyed my father's commandments and i remain in his love so jesus says that when we are obeying our our our heavenly father it is much bigger than obeying our earthly father which we should you know unless he asks us to do something that is immoral but but our heavenly father never asked us to do anything that's flawed and and he says you know what i have the love of the father and so jesus says the love of my father i now pass on to you you have access to the love of your heavenly father that's in john chapter 5 verse 20. it's also in chapter 15 verses 9 and 10. so we know that in the bible fatherhood means authority second it implies affection and then third fatherhood implies what fellowship we now can enter the holy of holies through the justification of jesus christ we're now walking into the presence of our father because of what jesus has done for us i'm not alone for my father's with me the one who sent me is with me he has not left me alone for i always do what pleases him this is jesus referring to his heavenly father and he said hey he's in authority i do his will he he has affection he loves me he also has fellowship with me i'm not alone he doesn't leave me alone i'm with him so the fourth thing that fatherhood applies from jesus talking about his heavenly father which is our heavenly father is honor honor god god's will to exalt his son father jesus said glorify your son the father has entrusted all judgment to the son that all may honor the son just as they honor the father all this now all these things is what we love and by the way what he said about honor was in chapter 17 of the gospel of john right there in verse 1 chapter 5 in the gospel of john 22 and 23. you remember we studied this in our study of the gospel of john if you didn't if you haven't done that with us you can go back to burgessministries.com click on listen search all the different bible studies and you'll see 33 weeks on the gospel of john we unpack every word you can also find that in the archives by hitting playlists on the youtube channel so remember so when we say that jesus told us that that our heavenly father his heavenly father is authoritative he's affectionate he doesn't leave him alone he has fellowship with him and he also is a god and a father that deserves honor and then he also honors those that he loves his children so what you need to celebrate today if you've been justified by jesus all of this that jesus talked about has now been extended to god's adopted children jesus said i'll give you the same relationship is that not incredible listen to it listen right here listen what jesus says christ our lord did this for us through him we become god's adopted adopted children we are ruled we are loved we are accompanied with and honored by the same heavenly father as jesus obeyed god so must we this is the love of god that god wanted us look at this in first john and this is chapter 5 uh verse 1 and and also in verse 3 that we keep his commandments in john 16 as god loved his only begotten son so he loves his adopted sons the father himself loves you john 16 27 as god had fellowship with jesus so he does with us our fellowship is with the father and with his son jesus christ first john 1 3 as god exalted jesus so he exalts jesus exalts jesus's followers as brothers in the one family listen to this if any man serve me he will he will he will also be honored by my father john 12 26 father i want those that you have given to me to be with me where i am john 17 24 to see and share the glory which jesus enjoys so all the things that jesus has and the relationship that jesus has with his heavenly father through justification jesus now provides us to be adopted and become his adopted coheirs isn't that incredible uh but this is straight out of scripture uh as a matter of fact if you take your bible right now and turn it to romans chapter eight we'll hit this again before we wrap up but i want to do this now because i think right now it fits too romans chapter 8 listen to what the apostle paul says about what we're talking about right now okay uh he says in um in chapter eight beginning in verse 12 so then brothers we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh this is back to we've been redeemed now you're living for the spirit not the flesh for if you live according to the flesh you will die but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body so that you will live for all who are led by the spirit of god are sons of god 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 that is paul quoting this much less this is a very endearing word to call god the father abba like i said it'd be like us calling him daddy the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of god and if children then heirs heirs of god and fellow heirs with christ and then the part that i know a lot of us don't like because right now we're all in so we get to be coheirs with jesus yes we do but what did jesus always tell us about being with him paul does not hold back on this and he lived this in his own life provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him yeah if you want to take on what it was like to be jesus and become one of the sons of god then until we get to the end of all this we'll also suffer just like jesus so we shouldn't be surprised when that happens this this romans chapter 8 is going to show up again if we have time because this is a long study today it's possible that we'll have to break it up into two sessions we'll see so let's talk about adoption this concept of adoption you hear scripture pointing to it clearly so the first point about adoption j.i packer said it is the highest privilege the gospel offers and this is where some some of you may push back i admit when i first read it i'm like whoa now whoa but listen he makes a great case this is the highest privilege that the gospel offers it's higher even than justification i know there may be some pushback there and he says that he said i know some of you are raising your eyebrows and i got you he said but i think i can make the point he said justification by which we mean god's forgiveness of the past together with his with his acceptance for the future this is the primary and fundamental blessing of the gospel that's not a question he says justification is the primary blessing because it meets the primary spiritual needs so we all we all celebrate that we all stand by nature under god's judgment his law the moral law condemns us guilt gnaws at us makes us restless makes us miserable and in our lucid moments it makes us afraid we have no peace in ourself because we have no peace with our maker so we need the forgiveness of our sins and the assurance of a restored relationship with god more than we need anything else in the world and and this the gospel offers us before it offers us anything else and he says and i totally acknowledge that the first gospel sermons to be preached those recorded in acts lead up to the promise of forgiveness of sins to all who repent and receive jesus as their savior and lord so he acknowledges that you get into the first part of the new testament and we want to be sure we understand what's happening here we want to understand justification you see peter talking about this in acts chapter 2 38 when he calls for them to repent chapter 3 19 chapter 10 43 chapter 13 38-39 also if you compare this to chapter 5 31 and 17 30 and 31 20 uh and 21 22 and 16 26 and 18 and then luke 24 47. but now listen to what paul has to say so we we acknowledge that the book of acts is saying this is the new deal this is the new covenant this is the church and you need to be justified and here's how you're justified here's what jesus did and that's the primary message of the gospel but paul goes on to say on what many people when we study the book of romans we have that study too many call it the fullest exposition of his gospel luther called it the clearest gospel of any of them justification through the cross of christ is it i mean paul hits that in chapters one through five he picks right up where acts left off and again one through five he's talking justification justification justification and praise the lord for that okay and as justification is the primary blessing so it is fundamental it's a fundamental blessing in the sense that everything else in our salvation assumes it rest upon it but adoption is then included this is not saying that justification is the highest blessing of the gospel just because it it's the primary foundation adoption j.i packer says i think i can make the case biblically that the concept of adoption is even higher because of the richer relationship with god that it involves he said this is this is where the relationship starts this is a higher thing to celebrate some textbooks on christian doctrine he talks about treat adoption as something that is just kind of a subsection of justification but j i packer comes out he says i think this is inadequate the two ideas are distinct you shouldn't just lump them together he said adoption is the more exalted justification is more of a forensic idea it's conceived in terms of the law meaning the law has been fulfilled it views god as the judge why what we say we've talked about this i can't really understand why i should be so excited about justification if i don't understand about god's judgment we talked about god the judge we talked about god's wrath we talked about that and we said until you understand that you really don't understand the gospel and and that's acknowledged he said but in this relationship we're being justified and we're recognizing this part of our father that is our creator and our judge we see that we need to be redeemed in order to be accepted by him but packer goes on to say in justification god declares of all penitent believers that they are not and never will be liable to the death that their sins deserve because jesus christ their substitute and their sacrifice tasted death in their place on the cross the free gift of acquittal and peace one for us at the cost of calvary is wonderful enough but justification does not of itself imply any intimate or deep relationship with god the judge an idea at any rate you could have the reality of justification has been accomplished and never really have a close fellowship with god if you just stay with justification and that's all you understand you think all right this this god the judge is no longer going to condemn me that's been done but he's still this distant cold judge that i don't really know he said that's the problem with you treating adoption it just is just a subsection of justification he said no this these are two distinctly different things and yes we have to be justified or none of this even matters but he said in contrast with adoption he said adoption is a family idea conceived in terms of love and it now views god not as just judge but his father in adoption god takes us into his family and we now fellowship with him he doesn't just going back to wherever he came from said okay i'm not going to kill you now you know without adoption you just stop with okay i guess i'm good with this judge and i don't have to fear god's judgment but what now what well then adoption comes it says no no justification now adopts you've been adopted by god you haven't just been saved by jesus and now won't receive his judgment that's all true but it's more than just not receiving his judgment you now have become his son his daughter and that's a really really big deal so it's more than just i guess i won't be judged now no you you have been adopted and you you now you're now able to look to the great i am the beginning who spoke creation and say abba father and him said things like talk to me uh seek me and you'll find me i don't withhold myself for my children fellowship with me have you ever felt the presence of god i have and i'm thinking this is the creator of the universe and now through jesus i i have a fellowship with him i'm his son in adoption god takes us into his family and fellowship he establishes us as his children and heirs closeness affection generosity are at the heart of this relationship to be right with god the judge is a great thing there's nothing wrong with celebrating that but to be loved and cared for by god the father and j.i packers opinion is greater that's even that's even better news and and he he has a ton of scripture to to try to make his case it's hard to refute it when you really think about it now and i love him taking the time that he made sure we did think about it so let's do adoption the basis for our life so the second point about adoption is that the entire christian life has to be understood in terms of it so sonship and when i say sonship if you're watching this and you're female this means daughters as well uh must be the controlling thought you got to see yourself as a child of god maybe that's a better way to put it this is this is a this is the way to look at it at every point and he says this follows from the nature of the case and is strikingly confirmed by the fact that all our lord's teaching on christian discipleship if you think about it jesus teaches this like we're like god's our father that's how he teaches it he said listen to this he says this in mark 3 35 this is jesus whoever does does god's will is my brother and sister and mother do you remember that his biological well when i say that from from the mary side so mary and joseph's other children show up i know some of you think they didn't have the children i don't know i don't know why you're ignoring this scene in the gospel of mark but we don't have time for that today and if you want to talk about that then you can email speedy but anyway but but so so his family shows up and they're embarrassed by this him trying to act like he's messiah and so they're like go in there and get him and they come in and say hey your mother and your siblings are out here and they want you to come out well he's in with the people who are following him and what does he say no this is my family if if my earthly uh brothers if james and jude and we think that they even had sisters based on some of the references if my earthly siblings do not see me as messiah and they're not justified by me they're not my family and i know that's an uncomfortable thought for some of you but scripture says right here those that are justified that's your brother that's your sister that's your mother and if you're if your earthly mother father and sister or children if they're justified to yeah then they'll always be part of your family but the redeemed that's your family above any other family and and jesus makes that very clear he says right he goes anybody who's doing god's will if you're justified and you're belong to me then you are my sister you are my brother you you are my my mother and of course we know also that uh when when you see uh the the the scriptures what what what do you hear uh the two evangelists note after after jesus was in the resurrection what does he say he now calls his disciples what his what does he say what does jesus call the disciples after the resurrection his brothers that's what he calls them uh remember the women hurried away from the tomb and and ran to tell the disciples suddenly jesus met them and what did jesus say to the women he said do not be afraid go and tell my brothers to go to galilee and there they will see me that's in matthew 28 9-10 go to my brothers and tell them jesus now calls them his brothers again matthew 28 9-10 he says tell them that i'm returning to my father and your father to my god and your god see him clarifying that i'm going to the father which by the way that's your father now i'm going to god which is by the way your god so he's clarifying i'm i've resurrected now i've changed all this you're now going to be adopted and then of course mary magdalene went to tell the disciples the news uh and um and and so listen to this listen what the writer of hebrews says he assures us that the lord jesus regards all those from whom he has died and whom he makes into his disciples as his brothers listen to what the writer of hebrews said in chapter 2 verses 12-13 write that down hebrews 2 12-13 here's what it says the son does not shrink from calling men his brothers when he says i will proclaim thy name to my brothers and again here am i and the children whom god has given me you see as our maker is our father so our savior is our brother when it comes to the family of god that's really cool so also we see that adoption appears in the sermon on the mount as the basis of christian conduct it is often remarked that the sermon teaches christian conduct not by giving a full scheme of rules and a you know in in details to be followed by the letter with this some mechanical precision but by indicating it in a broad and general way the spirit direction and objectives objectives the guiding principles and ideals by which the christian must steer his course it's often noted that this is kind of a it's it's really an ethic of responsible freedom which is a little different before the the new covenant uh this is this is much different than the way we saw things in the old testament uh he said also the sermon has a quality uh that uh is not far to seek it is because it is in truth instruction for the children of the family he says as you can tell in the sermon on the mount if i can kind of summarize what j.i packer is trying to say here on the sermon on the mount this has a different feel than the way god spoke to the his his chosen people in the old testament jesus is there on this hill and he's talking through how you live out this christian life and he's kind of talking to you like you're his family it's it's a different concept and he says so number one in the sermon on the mount is the principle of imitating the father listen what he says i tell you love your enemies that you may be sons of your father in heaven be perfect therefore as your heavenly father is perfect remember we've said that before very unpopular people always say well you know you don't have to be perfect yeah you do that's the reason why we need justification in jesus because jesus said if you want to be a child of god then you have to be perfect because he's perfect so i make you perfect very clear in the sermon on the mount the children must show the family likeness and their conduct jesus is spelling out be holy for i am holy and he's spelling this great concept out in very simple family terms we got to be like daddy and and i'm the one that'll make you like him you can be uh his heir as well number two what does he say in the sermon on the mouth the principle of what remember all these concepts of fatherhood glorifying the father what does he say in the sermon let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven that's matthew 5 16. uh how does jesus tell us how to pray in matthew 6 on the sermon he says we pray how our father hallowed be your name number three is the principle of pleasing the father in matthew 6 1-18 jesus dwells on the need to be single-minded we need to be god-pleasers uh you know he states beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them for then you have no reward from your father who is in heaven don't go out and live this life to for for human beings to applaud you you go live a life that is devoted to pleasing your heavenly father and you do it for him to be pleased not for you to get the applause of human beings he said this is a reward that's within family an extra love token such as parents love to surprise their children when the children have been have tried especially hard to please the purpose of our lord's promise of reward which we find in matthew 6 4 and matthew 6 and also in verse 6 and 18 it's not to make us think in terms of wages like you know quid pro quo you do this and then i do that but simply to remind us that our heavenly father will notice and show special pleasure when we concentrate our efforts on pleasing him and him alone the audience of one we are looking for the applause of an audience of one and because of the justification provided by jesus christ this audience of one is our heavenly father have you ever those of you that maybe had a good relationship with your earthly father do you uh do you know this concept you know it's it's it's it's one thing you know for strangers to tell you that you did well but but it's quite another for your father to tell you that you did well that does it's a whole different feeling if you have a good relationship with your father and and even if you don't have a good relationship with your earthly father it's probably something that you craved especially men uh but women as well but especially men the insult of a bad relationship with an earthly father to males is it's paramount because they're always seeking for their earthly father to say i'm proud of you you did a good job if you're an earthly father watching this right now don't withhold this from your children i'm not saying that you tell them that if they're not behaving appropriately but don't be the kind of father that all your children ever hear is what they did wrong and it's okay to correct them there's nothing wrong with that they need to be taught but be sure that they hear from you that you're proud of what they do right and this is what this is what jesus is talking about with the concept of our heavenly father let's let's hold right there because i don't think we're going to be able to go into the rest of this when we come back next week to kind of get us ready for a little bit of a break i'm going to unpack the rest of this chapter on this concept of us being adopted into the family of god and and it's going to talk about more on the sermon on the mount because when we start talking about the concept of a true christian prayer what does it look like now for us to pray as adopted sons and adopted daughters and we'll kind of pick up right there when we come back next week uh but but but take away i hope right now we've we've done enough walking through at least a little over half of the chapter for you to understand why j j i packer talks about this adoption as being something that should be celebrated even more so than justification because it it it's yes it's the result of the justification and the justification is something to be celebrated but this justification was more than just appeasing god the judge it also caused us to be adopted by a perfect heavenly father and to have access to god that the rituals of the old testament never provided never provided so how does it feel to know that if you're justified that you're adopted into the family of god it's really something to celebrate and if you're not you don't think that that's ever happened in your life that is available to you god is not withholding this fathership from you you really can speak to the great i am in a way that you would speak to a father who yes has authority uh yes a father that should be honored but also a father that that desires fellowship with you that cares for you that loves you and that is something to celebrate let's pray lord thank you for this uh incredible study today to to just think about this and just celebrate this you know we always talk about the gospel you know it's good news and it truly is but as i think we're understanding it's not just good news because of justification that's important and that's a must it's a foundation but it's really good news because we now can call you abba father we we have we have been adopted by you we have been born again and we now have a perfect father and lord help those that may be struggling with that today and and help those that may be because of a bad relationship with their earthly father it's it's caused them to see you in a way that's incorrect that somehow they've put the characteristics of their flawed father on you their perfect father and maybe today that was corrected go with us lord as we go through the rest of our day and take the things that we've learned and apply it to us lord in your holy name we pray amen thank you for being with us we'll finish this the rest of this concept uh in next week's study if you need to need to reach out to me you always can rick rickbubba.com thanks for being with us you

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Id: _xINjIY_GOc

Length: 52min 22sec (3142 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 28 2021