The Rick & Bubba Bible Study - LIVE - May 5, 2021

welcome in uh to the wednesday bible study so thankful that you are with us again today and um a couple of programming notes as we start the wednesday bible study you'll have to pardon me having a hat on today uh when we're recording this we've been out doing a show on location with the rick and bubba show i'm co-host of the rick and bubba show i'm rick burgess also director for the man church.com and boy we've been out on the road and seen so many churches implementing the men's discipleship strategy getting tremendous feedback on this from the people that have been doing it for you know as much as uh finishing the complete 40 weeks of the first uh curriculum are you know somewhere in between some people 10 weeks in uh and the feedback just keeps pouring in and as predicted a lot of the feedback the church is getting is actually coming from the women of the church who are thanking the churches that are doing this discipleship strategy because they're seeing the change in their men and if we can help you in any way we'd love to for those of you that are already familiar with themanchurch.com and the first 40-week curriculum that we launched in march of 2020 uh we have a brand new 40-week curriculum uh that is coming out this week and i'm recording this on mar on may the 5th so if you are a few days later it may already be out we think it's going to be out by friday uh it is called real men uh this takes on uh another 40-week curriculum with me teaching 12 to 15 minutes and study guides that go with the group leaders this takes eight men of the bible and we do five weeks on each man so if if you and your group or your church has finished the first 40 weeks of the pursuit curriculum this is now another 40-week curriculum called real men and it's either about to come out or if you're listening to this later in the week it has already come out and you can find it at the manchurch.com also for those men that are listening to this recording and you normally are here in the studio for the bible study we will start back in studio in june uh so we've we made that decision we probably could have done it sooner than that but there's some underlying reasons that we haven't but as of june the first wednesday of june uh we will be back in here if you if you live in around the birmingham area and you were accustomed to coming in here on wednesdays live and watching it we'll give you that opportunity starting again in june so make a note of that and then also i will not be here next week so there is no wednesday bible study on the 12th i will be on a vacation with my wife as we celebrate our 25th anniversary and we are going to spend a week together uh just enjoying rest relaxation and tremendous food uh so uh so we'll be back uh on the uh the 19th uh we'll start back with uh with the bible study so if you have the book together and you want to kind of jump into what we're doing or you have your bible we'll jump into our session today of knowing god by j.i packer we're going to finish remember last week we didn't get completely through the chapter concerning adoption so we're going to finish that today we'll take a break break next week then we'll come back and we'll finish the book in just a couple of weeks once we get back okay so let's open in prayer lord thank you for this time together i pray lord that you would bless our time together i pray lord that you would help us to understand what we're walking through today last week we were all just blown away by this concept of adoption and the fact that we uh through redemption have become children of god uh without redemption we have to understand that we're still children of the world or as your scripture says children of the devil uh so so not all not everyone is a child of god only those that have been redeemed and help us to understand this wonderful thing you offer and apply it to our lives and it may give us great hope and for those of us that don't feel like we are a child of god may it bring us under conviction for us to change that in the name of jesus we pray amen all right so we're going to finish up on the concept of adoption and and what adoption shows us and when we finished last week we had just walked up to christian prayer and i was about to really dive into that and then i kind of said let's tap the brakes and hold right there uh we're about eight minutes from our time being over and i just didn't think that was enough time to really jump into this because and there's a stand-alone message that you might be able to find if you look and i wish i could help you more on more details on on the title to search but if you go to burgessministries.com and click on listen you'll see the wednesday bible study available there and then if you go to the rick and bubba youtube channel that some of you are watching on right now you can hit playlist and start going back through archives but we had a stand-alone message one time when i say stand-alone meaning it it wasn't part of a series it is its own standalone bible study uh and if you remember it we we talked about how to pray and how not to pray uh because scripture says and jesus says you know when you pray don't do this and when you pray do that so the this uh this adoption concept uh also ties into when jesus says this is how you pray uh it appears in the sermon on the mount uh when jesus begins to say this is the way you should pray under the new covenant and and this is what jesus said he says it's in matthew 6 verse 9 just what i said this then is how you should pray now now raise your hand if you think it's a really big deal if the lord of lords and the king of kings and the one and only son of the living god says i when you pray i want you to pray like this that we should pay attention uh so here's what he says in in matthew 6 verse 9 part of the sermon on the mount he says i prayed to uh as jesus always prayed to his god as father abba as we talked about in aramaic which is an intimate family word remember we did talk about that last week that's part of this adoption that's available through redemption that we can speak uh to to god the father in a very intimate way uh and jesus says that uh that that we should say to his father now our father uh and and he talked about this in in john 11 verse 42 write that down you always hear me he said to his father and he wants his disciples to know to know that as god adopted as god's adopted children now the same is true of us the father is always accessible to his children and and god the father is never too preoccupied to listen uh to what we have to say and this is the basis of christian prayer uh so so first two things that follow this uh prayer must not be thought of as an impersonal or mechanical term as a technique for putting pressure on someone who otherwise may disregard you see think about what jesus said about not praying he says when you pray do not keep on babbling like pagans for they think they will be heard because of their many words and look we've all been there before we've all been there before when somebody starts a prayer and you can tell this prayer is not about god it's about us being impressed with how many words they can come up with and how well they can pray uh and like jesus says a lot of these people are just trying to bring attention to themselves and he goes on to say do not be like them for your father knows what you need before you ask him this is from again the sermon on the mount matthew 6 7-8 so first of all jesus says now under the new covenant as adopted children of god uh this this adoption and this redemption means you should not be doing these mechanical babbling prayers to god the father anymore as if you're trying to pressure uh some that some absent father who's cold and doesn't want to hear what you have to say and you're trying to put pressure on him or try to come up with the right words that will make him give you his attention jesus says that's not the way we pray anymore i'm here to now make you right with god the father so you as his child can now pray to him in an intimate way just talk to him and jesus says that's the way that we pray under adoption second prayer may be free and bold we don't need to hesitate uh to intimate uh the sublime you know the cheek of a child who is is not afraid to ask his parents for anything because he knows he he can completely count on their love ask it will be given to you everyone who asks receives if you then though you are evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your father in heaven give you uh give good gifts to those who ask him jesus says don't be intimidated about speaking freely to god the father if you're his child this is in matthew 7 verses 7 through 11. he says look he he knows what you need before you ever ask go ahead and ask and and and the beautiful thing is when we same thing with our earthly fo parents because a lot of times the the health wealth and prosperity gospel people uh which is heresy they they try to take these kind of phrases from jesus or from scripture and they manipulate them into something that they're not we don't go to god the father like we have found him in a genie's bottle and we've rubbed the the the bottle and and he comes out and he says i now i grant you three wishes and we begin to say well i tell you what i want more money i'd i'd like to i'd like to have a beautiful spouse i'd like to have a nice house that's not it that's not it at all what are the things that you as a parent if you're a parent watching this or me as a parent or are your own parents what are the things that they usually granted you when you ask them for it things that they wanted you to have anyway things that were what in their will things that they approved of and and if you asked of your parents something your parent approved of or something that the parent thought was good for you or something the parent already had planned for you to have anyway then that parent usually would accommodate that request but a parent does not accommodate a like we say all the time even in marriage it is our job as father i mean it's husbands to take care of our wives every need it is not our call to to fall all over ourselves to appease our wife every time they have a whim that that is not it and so the god the father does not look at us and say well if you roll around on the floor and pitch a fit and i get tired of it i may just begrudgingly give you what you want he's not going to give you anything nor give me anything that is not in his will are not what he thinks is best but but jesus says when you get to know it go ahead and talk to him freely about it and as a matter of fact in john 15 that that great chapter we studied the gospel of john when jesus is talking about abiding in him and that wonderful word abide which means to remain to act in accordance with uh to uh to agree with he said if we we are in sync he says if you're in sync with me and then since my father is the vine dresser i the vine now make you in sync with my father and then he says ask whatever you ask in my name it will be given to you but what he's talking about is if we're if we truly have the proper relationship with with god the father god the son and god the holy spirit if we have that proper relationship and we become so consumed with it and we abide in that and our relationship is is the way it should be as an adopted child to our heavenly father and a coheir with with with our heavenly father's son that you know we start doing we're so consumed in that relationship that we always ask what's already in his will we begin to ask for the right things and he says when you ask for the right things my father gives them to you and he says this is part of of how this adoption affects prayer um so we don't deny the good gifts to our children he said you would be considered evil if you did that and he says nor will my father but our father in heaven always answers our prayers in the form in which we offer them and this is important listen to this sometimes we ask for the wrong thing that's what i was talking about it is god's prerogative to give good things that we have need of and and and if uh if if we ask for something without wisdom and they do not come under these headings god like any good parent reserves a right to say no not that it would not be good for you but have this instead remember what he said remember what jesus said in matthew 7 7-11 you do not deny your children good gifts that doesn't mean you don't just deny your children any gift you don't deny good gifts nor does god god god you know is just like a good parent that they they never simply ignore what their children are saying nor simply disregard rather what a good parent usually does understanding the feelings of need versus the feelings of want or whims but but a good parent what gives the child what they should be asking for maybe sometimes rather than what was actually requested how many times have you done that with your children i have no don't do this but i'll tell you what though let me tell you what would be better than that this is what you need to do and if you really if this is what i i will grant you this now i won't grant you that you know i've talked to my children many times when they get out on their own look if you come to me even though you're paying your own bills and you have a subs a legitimate need something that couldn't be helped something that came out of nowhere not because you were irresponsible not because you squandered your money not because you're behaving in a way that i don't approve of but if you had something that happened that was unfortunate how about this i'll i'll help you and you have you have a need that you can't quite pull off yet though you're trying to learn your way but you've been responsible with your money you're a hard worker you're living a life into the authority of christ and you just got yourself in a bind you had a car break down that you didn't think i know some people say well they should have planned for it i got you but usually if you can look into the situation and say this is not a child that is misbehaving this is not a child that's brought an unreasonable request this is not a child that wants me to give them something that is not for their good we usually go ahead and give it and he says god is is the same way but he's not going to give us our whims but he will always give us our needs and if we are requesting something that he deems to be good and in his will for us so uh god you know wants to hear these requests paul asked the lord jesus graciously remember we talked about this in in second corinthians 12 to remove his thorn and his flesh so that was a request paul said i'm gonna and he says he asked three times i would like for this thorn in my flesh to be removed that's what i would want but we know uh that uh that the lord knew best and and to su and and to suggest that because paul's prayer was answered this this is not the the to say it was not answered would be an incorrect answer it would be completely wrong to say that the lord did not hear paul's prayer and he did not answer it as a matter of fact he answered the prayer by saying no why and then paul turns around and says oh i know why you won't do this which makes you wonder why paul asked in the first place but i guess he said i might as well ask he said you're not removing it because it's keeping me from being conceited you have not removed this difficulty because it humbles me and reminds me that your grace is sufficient because paul had been taken up into the third heaven he'd seen a vision that might carry a bit of arrogance with it and what the lord decided for paul is that this thorn is something you need to remain it remains in your flesh and this difficulty remains because ultimately this is what's best for you because it keeps you in the proper place with me and paul goes on to say because when i'm weak that's when i'm strong because i'm weak enough to depend totally on you and what you're doing is not allowing me to become full of myself and become too independent of you so this flesh is here to keep me broken and remind me of the grace that you've given me it's a perfect gift now it's not the one you would want but it's right so so then we talk about the life of faith that comes with adoption third adoption appears in the sermon as the basis of the life of faith that is the the life of trusting god for one's material needs as one seeks his kingdom and his righteousness it is needless and j.i packard says i hope to make the the point that one can live the life of faith without foregoing employment some are called to do this no doubt but an attempt to attempt it with specific guidance uh would uh and just doing this blind faith can also be foolhardiness there's a big difference he said all christians are in fact called to a life of faith in the sense of following god's will at whatever cost and trusting him for the consequences but all are tempted sooner or later to put status and security in human terms before loyalty to god's call and you see this a lot of time when somebody starts taking them a faith approach of well uh truly living by faith means i don't do anything and i just wait for god to handle it these are some of these people that won't go seek medical help these are these people that you keep trying to help them with employment and for some reason even though you found them a job they keep saying that they're going to have faith in god for the job they want we all know this person who hasn't worked in a long time you keep offering job opportunities and they keep replying for their waiting on a management job or they want to show you their resume or some sort of a degree that they have and they're waiting on that magical job uh while their family is not being provided for j.i packer makes it clear that is not the kind of faith that the bible's talking about uh no that that's uh there are some people and and and i've read some of their stories in the mission field that's a different animal there and they go out and say that god provides everything that they need when they need it and there's certainly a call like that but some people take this call to faith in god to a place that was never intended and be sure that that is not the case in your own life because god may be calling you to a different kind of job that you can use to provide for your family and to humble you into maybe what you consider a lower level job uh to also get you in the proper place with them so uh but but here's what jesus did say and he did say this in matthew 6 25 and this is true matthew 6 25 do not worry about your life says the lord what you will eat or drink are about your body what you will wear and then he goes on to talk about you know look around have you forgotten that god is your father there's that there's that adoption again have you forgotten whose child you are look at the birds in the air your heavenly father feeds them are they not more valuable than are you not more valuable than they so by the way some of you need to hear that jesus himself is giving the pecking order on where animals and human beings rank jesus himself just said that human beings are more valuable than the birds and that he provides for the animals he provides for these birds he certainly will provide for you because aren't you of more valuable more value than they and then verse 26 if if god cares for the birds uh whose father he is not i know i can already see the pet people and the animal people emailing me take this up with jesus jesus says god takes care of the birds and he's not even their father he's their creator but he's not their father don't you think he would take care of his own children because you're more valuable than these birds you're more valuable than these birds i know some of that something that breaks some of your hearts out there but but nothing wrong with animals but then they're a blessing but put them in the right place they're not idols nor are they more valuable than your human children your human spouse and your human family and your church family the point is this jesus is saying that we as children of god should not live a life of anxiety and worry over things like what we're going to eat what we're going to drink he says your heavenly father knows what you need but seek first there you go but seek first your father's kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you okay so there we go again so does he provide everything that's needed for every single person apparently not he says that the people that he's providing for will always provide for are those that seek first not my kingdom if you seek first not your kingdom but to seek first your heavenly father's kingdom as as his child through adoption and redempt redemption we now look to our father and we say his will be done his kingdom first i'm not building my kingdom to rival my father's kingdom and if i'm seeking his kingdom first i want to advance his kingdom he's in the proper place he said those people those true children of god will never have to worry about having something to wear and something to eat now it may not be lavish but you're not going to starve and you're not going to be without shelter and you're not going to be without clothes and that comes directly from the word of god so what else what what else does our adoption show us um it it it shows us of course and this is one of these things that uh that we talked about when we did the um uh we did the the lesson that dealt with the part of jesus being the substitute you remember us talking about this and and we unpacked this quite a bit uh because y'all got to laugh at me trying to say propitiation uh but if you look at adoption in the word of god in english you will see that adoption appears five times you'll see that propitiation appears four times but adoption through propitiation is a summary of the gospel so it says really if you understand that our adoption came through the fact that jesus christ was the substitute that he that he he went in and not only paid the debt for our sin but also averted the wrath of god through through that propitiation we came with jesus through that only way to the father and then became adopted as his child and and so what adoption has done is it shows us god's love i mean when you look at adoption it shows us god's love he adopted us and the cross is the gift of sonship and we say sonship that also includes women who are now his daughters we're using that because christ was his son but but if you say well how was i adopted by god how did this happen well it happened through the cross that was a gift that was given to us it says now through the cross you can become my sons and daughters uh our adoption also shows us the glory of christian hope we are his adopted sons and daughters i mean when you when you and this is what i talked about before in romans chapter 8 16 and 17 when he's saying that that we read this uh last week when he's talking about that now we we have been adopted by god the father we now have become co-heirs with christ and also galatians 4 7. that's what galatians 4 7 said so you are no longer a slave but a son and you can put daughter there if you're a woman and since you are born i mean since you are now a son or daughter of god uh he has also made you one of his heirs so he paul says this in romans chapter 18 16 and 17. we talked about that but then he comes back again at galatia and he says the same thing remember that since christ went to the cross since he was the substitute since he was the lamb who was slain that the wrath of god has been appeased and the price for sin has been paid now through that we go into adoption we become god's sons and god's daughters and that also makes us an heir we have we are now heirs to god's kingdom have you looked at the book of revelation we will be sitting there judging uh i mean uh and that is a level that we belong to god we're his children also another thing about adoption is is the spirit it gives us the key to understanding the ministry of the holy spirit so what does it mean now look this this is the thing that so many people miss and i got to be really careful with this because i know it's going to upset some people and i don't mean it to but um sometimes when you get into this gift of the spirit um i know that in my in my own life sometimes this happens we got to be real careful when we start dealing with the holy spirit and that's the reason why this adoption kind of clarifies that sometimes i think we we don't pay any attention to it at all because we we miss this power that jesus said was very important it's good that i go i will send to you a helper i'll send to you a comforter and we've talked about many times in this bible study that the holy spirit was a game changer for the church age john and peter went from being cowardly about being disciples of jesus to being bold and being recognized always as being with jesus and they wouldn't compromise them at all and that difference was the resurrection and the holy spirit however however the holy spirit is here to help us to grasp this concept of adoption but it is not some supernatural lsd trip this is you know some some people take some of this and you get weird with it and some of the things you know that we see out there and and certainly the gift of tongues is a gift but you got to go to first corinthians 14 and be sure that you are very well versed in what paul says about this gift there are people that believe that if you can't speak in a prayer language or you can't speak in tongues that you're some second-class christian or some second-class child in this adoption and that is not true that's incorrect the spirit is given to christians as the spirit of adoption and in all the holy spirit's ministry to christian he acts as the spirit of adoption as such as such the holy spirit his task and purpose throughout is to make christians realize with increasing clarity the meaning of their relationship with god in christ and to lead them into an ever deeper response to god in this relationship paul is pointing out to this truth when he writes you have received what the spirit and we talked about this in romans chapter eight the spirit of adoption whereby we cry abba father there's a there's that intimate relationship god has sent forth the spirit of his son into our hearts prompting us to cry again abba father that's what i read to a minute ago in galatians chapter 4 6. so the holy spirit the main job of the holy spirit is to usher us into the complete understanding and confirming and giving us the courage to say appa giving us the courage to understand this relationship it's not some weird lsd trip where you do a bunch of weird stuff and flop around and do all this stuff it really is a controlled clarity it is power no doubt about it and and there are many places where you know you would act like the holy spirit is some cousin that everybody's embarrassed of it's not that this father son and holy spirit should be should when you go to the church uh the in the church age you should see a balanced approach to the father the son and the holy spirit but what we find in denominations many times is denominations begin to pick uh you know their favorite part of the trinity and ignore the other two or pick two and ignore the third this is one god three persons but all three persons are to be understood and the holy spirit in this spirit of adoption is what gives us clarity and confirmation of this wonderful concept so what else fourth and uh our adoption shows us the meaning and the motives of gospel holiness now this is a phrase that kind of jumped out i'm like gospel holiness so let's let's unpack that a little bit what is gospel holiness uh this is uh and j.i packer was right when i read this he's like this is probably an unfamiliar phrase it was for me that's an unfamiliar phrase to me this this was the puritans this was um this is what the puritan shorthand basically they used this word gospel holiness and what they meant by that is authentic christian living springing from love and gratitude to god in contrast you know with with some of this legal holiness that consisted merely of forms of routines and rituals and outward is maintained from some kind of self-regarding motives look at me look at these things i do now this is we're not against spiritual disciplines that's not this this this term is not against that it's just saying this is not about some regiment some routine some ritual a couple of points about gospel holiness okay it is simply this a consistent living out of our relationship with god and to which the gospel brings us it is a matter of the child of god being true to the type true to his father true to his savior and true to him or herself it is the expressing of one's adoption in one's life it is a matter of being a good son or daughter as distinct from being a prodigal or a black sheep in the royal family this goes back to again what we're talking about this is what john's talking about in first john chapter 3 john gets very clear about this he starts saying no one born of god keeps on sinning this is in chapter 3 of 1st john no one bored of god keeps on sinning because that that's the devil that's been sinning from the beginning that from the fall and he says you should not look into the a person who claims to be an adopted child through redemption of god the father if that person is is a co-heir with god the son and full of the power of god the spirit then god the father should not see that adopted child behaving in a way that's inconsistent of the claim of adoption it shouldn't be inconsistent with with who your father is you don't look like your father is is the one and only living god you look like you're a child of the devil and and john literally uses that phrase he said if you're if you're he said anyone who says that god's seed abides in him anyone who says they're adopted by god the father will not be living a life of continuous deliberate perpetual sin these people the children of god don't live this way we're not talking about stumbles you've heard me say this many times and i want you to understand that disciples of jesus and adopted children of god the father will struggle with sin until we're finally done with this flesh as long as the flesh is with us the battle goes on we will struggle with sin but what john says what scripture says what jesus says over and over again though it's one thing to struggle with sin it's another thing to give into it and completely wallow in it and and the children of god do not continually deliberately perpetually sin they just don't and he said as a matter of fact that's why how you'll notice that the difference in the children of god adopted children and the children of the devil and that's exactly what this gospel holiness means don't look like that you are living one thing and claiming another second the adoptive relationship which displays god's grace um uh provides the motive for this authenticity uh this this looking at this authentic holy living christians know that god predestined us unto the adoption of children by jesus christ to himself and that that this involves his internal intention that we should be holy and without blame before him in love this is in ephesians 1 ephesians 1 verses 4 and 5 they know that they are moving toward a day when this destiny will be fully and finally realized first john i just gave you this in chapter 3 we know that when he appears we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is remember what first peter says first peter says before we were children of god in chapter one before we were children of god we were ignorant he says but now you've been adopted you've been redeemed so you can no longer claim ignorance as children of god we are to be holy in all of our conduct not some all of our conduct why because you're a child of god now and and you should be holy because he is holy then he quotes leviticus so he says there's a holiness that that is here that doesn't earn uh salvation that holiness is the proof of god's grace it is it is showing that your claim of being a child of god is authentic by by gospel holiness and that holiness comes from what from god himself remember john 15 abiding in jesus he said i produce much fruit in you fruit of what fruit of the spirit proving that you're my disciple which also makes you my father's child somebody say yes is everybody following that and we need to examine our lives as paul says in the second corinthians he says examine examine yourselves see remember back during our series the unsaved christian examine yourself to see if this claim that you make seems to be legitimate look at your life i hope you passed the test you claim to be a coheir with christ i hope you see that in your life so what flows from such knowledge everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself this is again the children know that holiness is their father's will for them and that it is both a means a condition for us and it constitutes our happiness here and and hereafter and because they love the father they actively seek the fulfilling of his benefit his purpose know paternal this one when we're parents is exercised through outward pressures and trials and and helps the process alone now the christian our eyes you know we we look at the knowledge of god and we see our knowledge of him and who he is and the way we're behaving that tells us where we are but it goes back to what i've said a thousand times about knowing the word of god and understanding this i've said it a thousand times because i've lived this way in my past life which i'm ashamed of as a wretched sinner it was impossible for me to know what the gospel holiness life looked like it was impossible for me to know what god expects from me or it was impossible for me to do what jesus would do because i didn't know who god was and i didn't know what jesus did you can't you can't look at your life and compare it to a standard if you've never learned the standard i mean you have to kind of know what what that is sometimes the chiseling process is painful when we're being disciplined by god and the discipline is is irksome i love that word i had a friend of mine you should say well that really irks me uh j.i packer use the words use that word irksome but when the scripture reminds us listen the lord disciplines those he loves and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son or daughter endure hardship as discipline and when you and when you see this discipline for god if god is discipling you understand this because he loves you and god is treating you like his child the writer of hebrews talks about this quite a bit because i've seen it so many times so many times so sad heartbreaking when i see earthly parents that will not discipline their children when you see an earthly parent that will not discipline the child they may tell you that this is some bizarre form of love but it's not you know what it is it's selfish it's it's a parent that doesn't love a child enough to do the difficult things to try to give that child the best shot you ever been around children that aren't disciplined don't you your heart just break for them by the way they're not a pleasure to be around i mean you really can't wait till they leave but there's a side that gets so sad because you think to yourself these parents are so lazy these parents like the idea of having children but they're not willing to get their hands dirty and do the difficult things you have to do if you want that child to truly be loved and you want look people tell me all the time children get around me in coaching and things like that and they'll have a child that you know does this or won't do that or whatever and i never have a problem with them i really don't you know why because i discipline them i tell them what they can and can't do and i don't tolerate anybody who goes against what i say on how things go and you know what those children always do they thrive in it they thrive you know why you know what they think this person actually cares about me this person cares enough to really care how i behave today this person cares enough to whether whether i respect their authority or not well you know where i learned that from i learned that from god and i got to tell you something some of the things i've been through i got a lot to celebrate god must love me a lot because he has loved me enough to discipline me i promise you and i have been better for it listen to what the writer of hebrews said no discipline seems pleasant at the time amen it never has but it can be painful later on however it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it hurts on the front end but don't but on the back end you're better for it you're better for it if you're not discipling your child you're not treating them the way god wants to treat you and when god decides to discipline you know he's doing that because he loves you because what do we find in romans 8 28 all things work together for good to them that love god do all things work for good for those who don't love god no the bible's very specific about that equally as as uh j.i packer says only he can maintain his assurance of sonship against satanic assault uh when things go wrong so when you're when things go wrong what satan is trying to get us to do is to turn against god because here's one of the things that that satan will use against you you need to be ready for this so he's your father so you belong to him look what he's doing to you i'll tell you what i mean this is a do you want a father to treat you like this i thought that was one of the things that the passion of the christ kind of took a look at i again that was them using some creative freedom but the concept and the theology the theology was pretty good uh when satan starts trying to show jesus that he takes care of his son he wouldn't treat him like this he wouldn't send his son to the cross now that's not biblical that that took place but i understand the concept of satan trying that on us may not have tried it on jesus but he certainly tries it on us you know because remember your faith in a sovereign god satan many times will try to use that against you so he's in control yes so he could have stopped this yes well he didn't he must not love you but if you understand the concept of the god allows us to be disciplined by things that humble us like paul talks about things that refine us things that strengthen us things that teach us to persevere things that get us in such an intimate dependent relationship with god that we truly understand how wonderful he is all these things are biblical so what else as we get ready to close out this week what else does adoption show us uh you know a lot of evangelicals uh you'll continue to debate some of this about assurance what about assurance you know this is one of those things here we go we're going to get into the once saved always saved fall from grace uh chosen before this and that free will all this stuff about assurance uh well and this is a debate but here's one thing that this adoption concept shows us uh it shows us that um what is assurance who whom does god assure all believers some none when he assures what does this mean and by by what means is assurance given uh the the the tangible the truth of adoption can help us unravel this if you want to get you want to wrap your hands around this this adoption concept that's all over scripture really helps if god in love has made christians his children and if he is perfect as a father two things would seem to follow that in the nature of the case first the family relationship must be an abiding one lasting forever perfect parents do not cast off their children christians may act uh you know the the prodigal meaning you may have a child in the prodigal son and and i've been through this where a child decides to leave or rejects the faith of the family but the prodigal father stood there and waited on that child to come back and what he didn't do when the child repented and said i have been wrong i want to return back to my father's house the prodigal father did not deny him he never stopped being a member of the family and he was not allowed like my mother told me and i'll never forget it and it was the gospel when i was living a life of wretched sin and defiance and embarrassing my family embarrassing the god embarrassing the god that i claimed to believe in embarrassing the gospel that i claimed and knew all the concepts of at least the basics of the gospel claimed i'd been saved i remember my mother saying this when she looked at the perpetual continual deliberate sin in my life she said i will always love you but i won't always approve of you and right now i do not approve of you so even though the potential for my love and approval is there if you reject us and you do not submit repent of the way you're living you will not be allowed in my house i may love you but that doesn't mean i approve of you so the potential for my mother's love was never denied me but in order to properly be into the right relationship with her my parent my earthly father my father i had to repent and adhere to their standard and if i didn't i was not approved but they didn't deny me that opportunity and god doesn't either second god will go out of his way to make his children feel his love for them and know their privilege and security as members of his family adopted children need assurance that they belong and a perfect parent will not withhold it remember god's a perfect parent the rest of us are not and this romans 8 the classic new testament passage on assurance paul confirmed confirms both first he tells us that those whom god predestined to be conformed to his likeness to the likeness of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brothers those in other words whom god eternally resolved to take as sons and daughters in his family alongside his only begotten son he called justified and glorified remember what we're saying it is absolutely a foregone conclusion that if we repent and we submit to the authority of god and we acknowledge jesus christ as our lord and as our savior and we abide in him we become his it is a foregone conclusion it is a guarantee that we will become like him because jesus really is that powerful i know some people take this verse and go these verses go another way with it what he's saying is you will be made like my son because my son really is that powerful that will happen and if it's not happening there's something wrong with your relationship and my son then you're not a coheir so so paul says those that are alongside his only begotten they're called justified they're called glorified glorified we note is in the past tense though the event itself is still in the future this shows that my point i just made that paul's mind that this thing is as good as done it's already it's been fixed in god's decree ball's con paul is confident because he declares what for i am convinced underline that that neither death nor life neither angels nor demons neither present nor the future nor any powers neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us who the children of god from the love of god that this is the redeeming paternal love of god that is in christ jesus our lord that's romans chapter 8 29-30 and then verses 38 and 39. so secondly paul says we're glorified because of jesus then paul tells us that here and now the spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are god's children that's in verse 16 in this wonderful chapter of eight and further that if we are children then we are heirs we've covered this verse 17. the statement is inclusive though paul has never met these romans that he's writing to stay with this he felt able to take it for granted that if they truly were disciples of jesus they truly were christians then they would know the inner witness of the spirit to their happy status as sons and heirs of god it was assured if they truly had this relationship with christ it was assured that they should feel assurance that they are coheirs with christ and they are children of god and nobody can take them away from god now the key to all this though to get to assurance is you and i gotta look at our lives and see that we see the uh the evidence of this adoption that's the key because if the evidence is there and and you know it goes back to the things we've been saying uh and i think this needs to be said a lot dallas willard when we did the uh the study here on the spirit of the disciplines a very difficult study if you want to go find the archives from that but boy it was a good one and uh and and what dallas willard was saying is he said i believe the problem especially in the western church is that the the power and and the standard of the gospel has been set far too low um you know it goes back to the concept we talked about before that in in the in the new testament uh the word christian is only used three times twice in the book of acts and then one in first peter and in the book of acts it's the discussion have this been a derogatory statement those that oppose the church made fun of what they said these little messiahs or christ-like they were being made fun of by using the term christian we get the first paul i'm sorry first peter chapter 4 and then you see first peter saying let's embrace this this word as we embrace it they call us christians and they're they're trying to be derogatory but the thing that i think we've missed is is on this assurance and why there's so much confusion about this adoption and the assurance of adoption is that we've we've allowed in the western church people to be called christians that never were disciples and there's no one in the new testament if you as you've heard me say quoting dallas willard and he's right there's no one in the new testament that was that was a christian that was called a christian that got to be called that that wasn't already a disciple and what we've done too many times is we have taken in the western church we're not making disciples so that assurance of being a an adopted child of god doesn't seem to be so readily available and you kind of blow in the wind wondering if you if you're there because we haven't taken the time to nurture these babies of of the faith we get you converted we just kind of go off and leave you many times just like your little baby thrown out in the middle of a field and you're like anybody going to nourish me we're like oh you're converted you're in and then satan takes that as jesus talks about when in the story of the sower and these seeds and what happens is we don't take that person and disciple them into the full assurance and the power because i got news for you the son of the one and only living god and the power of the holy spirit scripture says over and over again if that has taken place in your life you'll know it and and you will see full assurance because it is predestined and foreknown that those that are in christ will be made just like him and so if you're not then the relationship with the son is probably not the proper relationship because of the power of him not because of some legalism or you know new commitment to self-control but because of the power of jesus who makes us co-heirs with him and adopted sons and daughters of the one and only living god let's pray lord thank you for this time today i thank you lord for this concept of adoption is really mind-blowing but but also reassuring and much to celebrate today lord jesus we're so thankful for you thank you for what you did for us and we could not do it for ourselves thank you for giving us the ability to be children of god unbelievable thank you lord and and and just forgive us for the times that we take something so wonderful and so powerful for granted and treat it with such disregard i pray lord for vacation next week and folks that'll have an opportunity to to maybe spend some time with their their families and spend time with you lord there and as we approach this time of year where vacations are popping up i pray if there's anybody lord that needs help today that that you'd have them reach out to me and give me the the proper words and comments to help to give them that same assurance that they too would like to be a child of god through the redemption of jesus christ provided only by him he is the way he is the truth he is the life and no one can become your adopted son or daughter except through him and we praise his holy name and we thank you for the grace you've afforded us in your holy name we pray amen next week since we will not have a bible study if you'd like to go back and hit some of the archives man this is a great opportunity to do that go back to burgessministries.com click on listen maybe go find some bible studies that you didn't hadn't heard before or something you'd like to catch up on or you can stay here on this youtube channel if you're watching right now just click playlist and go back some of those archives go through some of those archives i covered your prayers as we spend some time away next week and i look forward to being back with you two weeks from today thanks for being with us you

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Published: Wed May 05 2021