The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God… 

Romans 8:16 

To pursue this idea of the practical implications of adoption a little farther, let us consider our text for today. One of the results of the transformation which occurs at salvation is that the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us. According to our text today, one of the things the Holy Spirit does is to ‘bear witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.’ How often does this ‘witness’ take away the ‘spirit of bondage again to fear’ that would pull us backward into doubt and unbelief. It seems at times, as if our corruptions are so great, our growth in grace so slow, our apprehension of truth so long in coming, that we would nearly despair of our standing in Grace. Then the Blessed Comforter draws alongside us, and shows us again the Living Christ. He draws our hearts out after ‘The Ever-Living One, Whose wounds for us do plead.’ He assures us that we are indeed, the sons and daughters of the Great God of Wonders. This lifts us up from our downcast condition. We look again to Christ. We peruse the Word of God and lay hold on the promises. We confess, forsake, lay aside the weights and sins which so easily beset us.  We rise with renewed hope and anticipation of the day when ‘the faith shall be sight.’ We are, and shall forever be, ‘the children of God.’ So the Spirit has witnessed, and so it must be. 

Our most Holy and Wise God, 
We rejoice that You have given us Your Spirit. 
We praise You for all that He shows us of Christ, 
And how He convinces us, that we are Yours forever. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” 

Romans 8:15 

Let us today, extend our consideration of the subject of adoption a bit farther. Consider, the implications of our text. What is the fruit of our adoption by God in practical terms? It is, so far as our text declares, the ‘spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, “Abba, Father.”’ The story goes that the word, ‘Abba’ is one of the first a toddler learns by which to address his father because it requires no teeth to say. We are much like toddlers in the early days of our spiritual experience. We stumble and tumble, whimper, whine, and drool. We have little knowledge and experience, and are bottomless pits of wants and needs. For all our weaknesses and lack of stalwartness, we look up with tear-stained faces and cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ Perhaps you find this description very accurate of yourself today. Realize, trembling Child of Grace that, ‘This God is our God forever and ever.’ He marries and never divorces. He adopts and never disowns. You have found yourself failing in spiritual matters at every turn. You stumble from day to day, feeling as if you will never find your feet or make a right decision. Yet, you are a Child of the King. He has adopted you into the Royal Family. You may feel as if you are a failure today, but understand, Christ has lived and died; has risen, and intercedes. He is coming again to receive you unto Himself. There is for you a place at the King’s Table where the Children of the Realm sit. The Sovereign God of Heaven is your Heavenly Father, and He loves to hear you cry, ‘Abba!’ 

Our Loving and Kind Father, 
You are acquainted with all our ways. 
You graciously tolerate our weaknesses, 
And labor over us, until You have made us strong. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 

Galatians 4:4,5 

‘Adoption is an act of God’s free grace, whereby we are received into the number, and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God.’ It is to this glorious end that God the Father waited until ‘the fullness of time.’ It is to this end that He ‘sent forth His Son.’ It is to this end that Christ came, ‘made of a woman, made under the law.’ It is to this end that He accomplished His Mission, ‘to redeem them that were under the law.’ God finishes what He starts. We may have entered this world, ‘by nature the children of wrath,’ but because of the redemptive work of God, through Christ, ‘Beloved, now are we the sons of God.’ Here is a God Who makes ‘king’s and priests’ out of wretched, vile and helpless sons and daughters of Adam’s fallen race. Here is a Christ Who condescends ‘to men of low estate,’ not that they might remain there, but that He might raise them up, ‘that we might receive the adoption of sons.’ As we realize this, in practical ways, we will find that it transforms our approach to everything and everyone around us. We need not have the recognition of man, as long as we are accepted of God. We need not live to please, ourselves or others, so long as God claims us as His Own. We need not fear the shunning of society, so long as Our Father embraces us and our Elder Brother upholds us. 

Our most Gracious and Loving Father, 
we rejoice that from all eternity You have chosen us, 
to be members of Your Royal Family. 
We shall be forever grateful, that You have included us, in such a Grand Company. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 

Galatians 4:4,5 

As we continue to contemplate the subject of adoption, we come today to consider, who will God adopt into His Family?  Our text has laid the groundwork for this discussion.  Looking back over our previous thoughts upon this text, we see that they are a people included in the Providential Plan of the Sovereign God.  They are a people for whose sake God the Father sent the very willing, obedient Son.  They are a people for whom Christ endured great humiliation, both in life and in death.  They are a people whom Christ came ‘to redeem,’ according to the phrase we are considering today.  They are a people ‘under the law.’  These are all indicators as to whom God intends to adopt.  Ephesians tells us that these are people whom God ‘predestinated…unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the pleasure of his will.’  To this point, David, speaking in the 110th Psalm declares, ‘Your people shall be willing in the day of your power.’  There, David is quoting God the Father, Who is addressing Christ.  Christ declared in John 6, ‘All that the Father gives me shall come to me.’  From these evidences, taken together, we conclude that Christ came ‘to redeem’ these people who were, ‘chosen…in him before the foundation of the world.’  We have no reason to equivocate about our inclusion in this company since what it elicits from us by way of response is, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.’  Many of us have heard the call of a loving Savior.  We invite you to hear His call as well. 

Our Great and Saving God, we rejoice in Your Redemption, 
accomplished and applied, 
unto all for whom You have intended it. 
We look to You, the only Redeemer of God’s Elect.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning