126 The Promises of God - Talk 7 - The Promise of Sonship - a podcast by Dr David Petts - Pentecostal preacher, former AoG Bible College Principal

Great Bible Truths Podcast Episode 126

The Promises of God Talk 7

The Promise of Sonship

In Talk 3 we saw that one aspect of the salvation that God has promised is the fact that all those who have put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ are the children of God. As Paul says in Romans 9, it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring (v8). As believers in the Lord Jesus then we are the children of the promise. We are the children of God.

 

Now there are two ways in which it is possible to become someone’s child. By birth OR by adoption. Clearly, from the natural perspective, it can’t be both. You’re either born as someone’s child or your adopted as their child. But when it comes to the relationship we have with God when we accept Christ as our Saviour, the New Testament teaches that we are both born AND adopted as his children!

 

There’s no real contradiction here. They’re simply two different metaphors that enrich our understanding of our relationship with God. Actually in New Testament times adoption was not common in the Jewish world. A person’s standing was based on his birth. Whereas in the Roman world, adoption was a common practice. So in the New Testament these two different metaphors are used so that everyone, whatever their cultural background, might understand that as Christians we really are God’s children.

 

We’re born again

When we receive Jesus as our Saviour, we are not only saved from our sins and their consequences, but we actually become a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) and this comes about by our being born again. In John 3 Jesus made it abundantly plain that if we are to enter heaven, we must be born again.

 

John 3:1-7 ESV

1. Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
2. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”
3. Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4. Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
5. Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

Nicodemus was not only a deeply religious man, but he would have been well educated by the standards of his day and a man of considerable social and political position. He even acknowledged that Jesus was a teacher who had come from God. He recognised that the miracles that Jesus was performing were undoubtedly an indication that God was with him (v.2). Yet it was to this man that Jesus said, You must be born again (v.7). In fact, if anyone is to see the kingdom of God, they must be born again (v.3).

 

Jesus is here teaching very clearly that our education, our social or political position, even our religion, will not save us. Whatever we do, we are so far short of God’s standards and glory that our only hope is to become an entirely new person altogether! We must be born again! But how? John 1:12-13 gives us the answer.

 

John 1:12-13

12. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
13. who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

 

Notice first that it starts with God. We are children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God (John 1:13 NIV). He chose to give us birth through the word of truth (James 1:18). It is the will of God that men and women be born again.

 

The new birth is not of natural descent - it cannot be inherited from our parents.

It is not of human decision – it is in no way a natural event.

It is not by a husband’s will – it cannot be humanly imparted.

 

God and God alone can regenerate. This fact is emphasised by the frequently recurring phrase born of God (John 1:13, 1 John 3:9, 4:7, 5:1, 4, 18), and the expressions born of the Spirit (John 3:5) and rebirth by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5) show us which person of the Godhead is the agent of the new birth. We are born again by the agency of the Holy Spirit.

 

But what is the instrument the Spirit uses? James 1:18 tells us that he gave us rebirth through the word of truth, and 1 Peter 1:23 assures us that we are born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. The preaching of the word of God under the anointing of the Holy Spirit creates by God’s grace an opportunity for the sinner to believe in Jesus and receive him as their Saviour (John 3:1-16, John 1:12-13, and 1 John 5:1). If he does so, he is instantaneously regenerated by the Holy Spirit. He is born again.

 

So the first great result of our being born again is that we immediately become children of God (John 1:12-13). And if we really are the children of God then we should live like it. And that means living in victory:

 

Everyone who is born of God is victorious over the world (1 John 5:4).

 

The world around us will claim our attention and our loyalty. Sin will always be present to tempt us. But we have been born again. We are members of the heavenly family. We are dead to sin and alive to God (Romans 6:11) and consequently we do not habitually practise sin because God’s nature is in us because we are born of God:

 

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God

(1 John 3:9).

 

This verse does not mean that if we sin at all we cannot possibly be born again. It refers to habitual attitudes, not to occasional actions. John was writing his letter to combat the Gnostic heresy that taught that knowledge was superior to righteousness and that right living was not important! Christians do sin, but, thank God, 1 John 1:9 tells us that

 

if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins, and purify us from all unrighteousness.

 

However, God has made provision for us to live in victory. He has implanted within us his own divine nature. We have been born again. We are his children. Our old sinful nature was crucified with Christ (Romans 6:6) and we need no longer listen to its desires. We are new creatures in Christ. Old things have passed away. All things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17). That is why we not only have victory over the world and over sin; we also have victory over the devil:

 

We know that anyone born of God does not deliberately and knowingly practise committing sin, but the One who was begotten of God carefully watches over and protects him – Christ’s divine presence within him preserves against the evil – and the wicked one does not lay hold, get a grip on him or touch him (1 John 5:18, Amplified Bible).

 

There is absolutely no need to live in defeat! We are born again. We are born of GOD! Let us live as his children. We should live in victory!

 

 

 

 

We’re adopted

As we have seen, adoption is another metaphor used in the Bible to explain how Christians are brought into the family of God. To adopt someone is to make that person a legal son or daughter. But in the Roman world adoption meant something rather different from adoption as we know it today. It was older boys or men who were adopted. If a man had no sons or felt that his sons were incapable or unworthy of managing his wealth, he would adopt someone who would make a worthy son.

 

The adopted son would have all his debts cancelled and would receive a new name. He would be entitled to all the rights and benefits of a son. In fact, although a father could disown his natural-born son, an adoption was irreversible. Similarly, when we receive Christ as our Saviour, our debts are cancelled, we are given a new name, and we are given all the rights that heirs of God possess!

 

Galatians 4:4-7

4. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
5. to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
6. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
7. So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

 

There’s a wonderful mixing of metaphors here. In verse 5 Paul talks about redemption and adoption. No one metaphor is sufficient to explain the wonder of the salvation that Jesus has accomplished for us. In redemption the picture is of a slave being set free because the price has been paid for his redemption. Paul says that before Jesus came we were slaves to the law, but now we have been set free and have been adopted as God’s sons and daughters.  And that makes us heirs!

 

He says something similar in Romans 8.

 

Romans 8:15-17

15. 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!”
16. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
17. and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ..

 

We’ll be talking about what it means to be an heir later in this series, so for now let’s summarise what we’ve seen today. The New Testament uses two different metaphors to show us how as Christians we have become children of God. We have been born into God’s family and we have been adopted into God’s family. Whichever metaphor we think about, the truths about our relationship with God as our Father remain the same. It is God who has taken the initiative in making it possible for us to be his children. All we have to do is believe and receive him. And when we do, our debts are cancelled, we are given a new name, and we are given all the rights that heirs of God possess! Because of these amazing privileges, as children of God we should live accordingly. And his nature within us enables us to do so - to live in victory over sin, over the world, and over the devil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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