Word of Salvation – February 2025
Adoption
Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp on W.C.F. ch.12 & Isaiah 43:5-7
Reading: Isaiah 43:1-7; Westminster Confession – ch.12
Singing: BoW.103b O come my soul, sing praise [1,2,3]
– BoW.359 Great is Your faithfulness
– BoW.156 Father in heaven
– BoW.103b O come my soul, sing praise [4,5]
Theme: Adoption, defined, illustrated from Isaiah 43 and it’s blessings enumerated.
Introd: I personally find this chapter one of the most beautiful chapters of the Westminster Confession.
It’s a wonderful statement because it sums up a most beautiful Biblical teaching.
The teaching that we are God’s children and that He is our Father.
That impresses me for two reasons.
First because being God’s children and having Him as our Father is a glorious blessing.
That works itself out in our lives in many practical ways.
And we see that in the details of chapter 12.
It doesn’t just list for us 2 or 3 blessings that come from being God’s children.
Not even 6 or 7 practical benefits that come from God being our Father.
If you count them you’ll find no less than 12 different advantages.
And that leads me to a second and even more important reason for appreciating this chapter.
It’s wonderful that I can count 12 blessings from being God’s child.
But in some ways that’s really a little selfish.
That’s like saying: this is a good Biblical teaching because of what I get out of it.
No! It’s important to me for a more important reason.
Here are 12 different ways in which God is glorified in my life.
So this evening let’s reflect a little on this Biblical teaching of adoption.
A] ADOPTION DEFINED.
- Adoption is the climax of God’s blessing for His saved… His redeemed people.
It’s the climax of God’s blessings – at least, for this life.
Think about it! We relate to God in a variety of ways:
We relate to Him, for example, as creatures – He is the Creator, we are the creatures.
That speaks to us of our utter dependence on God for life and for existence.
We also relate to God as subjects – He is the King of the kingdom, we are the citizens.
That speaks to us of our call to service and to battle for the King.
And we could add to that various other relationships.
We relate to Him as members of His church – His worshipping community.
But surely the most marvellous way we relate to God is as His children.
That speaks to us of closeness and intimacy… of love and care.
That – above all things – gives a sense of belonging.
And then belonging to God… not just as His creature… not just as His possession.
I belong to God as His child.
It’s a wonderful way of relating to the Maker and Sustainer of the universe.
God glorifies Himself in His people by making them His sons and daughters.
Strictly speaking that was not even necessary for our salvation.
God could have forgiven us and renewed us and left it at that.
He could have given us eternal life in glory without the privilege of being His children.
Think for example of the angels – not that the angels need forgiveness of course.
But angels enjoy all the glory and wonder of heaven… they feast on the presence of God.
But angels are not adopted into God’s family the way we are. They are not His children.
God gives us this great blessing as a bonus… so that He may be glorified in us.
- To appreciate this fully it helps us to think through what adoption meant in the ancient world.
Adoption was a very powerful and a very conclusive process.
William Barclay was an expert scholar on the ancient world.
And he has this to say about adoption.
The previous parents completely abandoned all rights and claims to the child.
In the new family the child ranked as a real and genuine son.
He had the full rights of inheritance – as much as a natural son.
“So complete was the process of adoption that, when a person was adopted,
he was regarded as so completely changed that even all his previous debts
and obligations were cancelled.”
In some ways that says it all – that is precisely how God adopts us into His family.
Our sinful past is completely finished and totally done away with.
It will not even be considered anymore.
And the future is now rich with the promises of God.
Because we stand to share in the inheritance of our older brother, Jesus Christ.
Think about the difference that makes for us.
As creatures we are humbly subject to God and utterly dependent on Him.
As citizens of His Kingdom we live under His Kingship and authority.
In the church we are brought into a community of saved people with Christ our Head.
But over and above all of those things we are adopted.
He is our Father and we are His sons and daughters.
So now we no longer fear Him but we are privileged to call Him Abba, Father.
- This evening I must point out that this privilege is only for the redeemed.
It applies only to those who have been saved through the finished work of Jesus God’s Son.
That’s important to keep in mind in our politically correct ecumenical and inter-faith world.
We need to defend this in a culture that says all religions are equal.
Many Christians are ready to say that all human beings are God’s children.
Because of all of us being created by the same God.
Of course there is just enough of a fragment of truth in that to give it appeal.
Of course we all stem from that first set of parents, Adam and Eve.
Paul even says that we are God’s offspring because He made us all from one blood (Acts 17).
And yet that is not the way the Bible speaks of adoption.
Scripture does not permit us to speak of the universal Fatherhood of God…
or… the universal brotherhood of man based on our adoption.
God cannot have sinful human creatures in His family.
Adoption is always applied in Scripture only to believers, cleansed and forgiven in Christ.
John 1:12 puts it well. To all who received Him, who believed on His name,
He gave the right to become children of God.
Adoption into God’s family is a blessing of salvation… it is exclusively for the saved.
That’s why, in the Westminster Confession, it follows the teaching about justification.
You really don’t need to look hard to find in Scripture that unbelievers are not God’s children.
Jesus even said on one occasion to the Jewish leaders: You are of your father, the devil.
There is no way you can reject Jesus and still be adopted into the family of God.
B] ADOPTION ILLUSTRATED.
- Again I have chosen Isaiah to illustrate this Biblical truth.
Of course I could take you to many other telling passages in Scripture about adoption.
Some of them even teach the doctrine more precisely.
But there are some benefits in sticking with Isaiah.
I’ve done that – in part – because in this series I’ve wanted you to appreciate Isaiah.
In many ways I see Isaiah as the theologian of the Old Testament.
Just as Paul is the theologian of the New Testament.
And time and time again we have found Christian teaching already here in Isaiah.
Not in the full way that we find it in the NT but it is there nevertheless – in embryo.
But I also wanted to stick with Isaiah to show you that adoption is not exclusive to the NT.
Adoption of God’s people into His family is also a key OT teaching.
In Isaiah it comes up in many places that God relates to His people as Father.
I think for example of the Messianic promise in Isaiah 9:6.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given…!
And then what are the names given to the Messiah?
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father…!
In Isaiah 63 and 64 God is referred to several times as Israel’s Father.
Isaiah 63:16
For you are our father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not
acknowledge us; you, O LORD, are our father; our Redeemer from of old is your name.
Isaiah 64:8
Yet, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
And here in our text in Chapter 43 Israel are spoken of as God’s children… His sons and daughters.
I will say to the north, “Give them up,” and to the south,
“Do not withhold; bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth.”
- Let me bring out some other powerful lessons about adoption from Isaiah.
We know that Israel was adopted at the exodus.
At that point God had said to Pharaoh: Let my firstborn son go!
In the Exodus God redeemed them… He saved them.
And it was this saved people – not the Egyptians but this slave people – that was God’s child.
Being adopted by God is a blessing that flows out of being saved.
So these verses certainly speak of God’s sons and daughters.
But the context is verse 1 where God addresses them as those He redeemed.
God purchased these people from slavery to be His children.
So again the lesson is that it is only the saved who are adopted.
But there is another lesson in these verses about adoption – in verse 7.
When a child is adopted into a family then that child takes on that family’s name.
And that name is forever a sign of belonging… of being a real part of that family.
So too when God adopts the redeemed then they are ‘called by His name’.
Or in the words of the WCF: ‘they have His name put upon them’ to show they belong to Him.
Of course that’s the sad thing about Israel’s idolatry – they abandoned their God.
They were made.. or formed for God’s glory as His sons and daughters.
But these rebellious children turned their back on their Father and therefore were disciplined.
- At the same time that brings out another beautiful point about adoption.
Adoption is not something that can be undone.
I know that today some kids have “divorced” their parents – whatever that means.
And sometimes parents have kicked a child out of the house for its rebelliousness.
But technically an adoption cannot be undone… it is irrevocable.
Here in Isaiah that irrevocability of adoption is clear.
Israel – God’s child – is punished severely.
Isaiah warns they will be sent into exile in far-away Babylon.
Seventy long years of hard labour in a foreign land.
And yet in Isaiah 43 we see God does not give them up completely but saves them.
We also see this binding nature of adoption especially in a passage such Hosea 11.
Read it and we sense the gut-wrenching agony God went through to discipline His people.
It really did hurt Him more that it hurt them.
How can I give you up Ephraim? How can I hand you over Israel?
My heart is changed within me… all my compassion is aroused.
That is the whole point of these verses in Isaiah 43… the Babylonian exile will end.
Adoption is irrevocable… God cannot totally abandon those He adopts.
They will be restored from all the points of the compass where they have been scattered.
And so Isaiah mentions the east and the west, the north and the south.
None can be held back… they must come to be gathered home once more.
Of course we do need to notice one small detail.
Not all biological Israelites belonged to the Spiritual Israel.
We know that many did not return from exile – only a remnant returned.
The remnant in which was the seed of the true church… the true family of God.
That’s why Isaiah says that this applies only to those called by God’s name.
It only applied to those whom God had formed for His glory to be His children.
C] ADOPTION’S BENEFITS.
- All of this has already highlighted some of the wonderful blessings that come out of adoption.
Already we see something of the wonderful interaction between God and His people.
The redeemed are called by God’s name to give Him glory.
And God is most glorified when His people most live up to what they are meant to be.
It is as we live out of the blessings of our adoption that God receives the glory and praise.
So we have this dual purpose of our adoption into God’s family.
It is the source of rich blessing for those purchased by Him thru the blood of His Son.
And God is glorified when we live out the purpose for which He formed us.
And that purpose is that we be His sons and daughters.
I mentioned earlier that the W.C.F. spells out twelve different blessings flowing from adoption.
I don’t have time to deal with them all in detail.
Some of those twelve items deserve a separate study all of their own.
So today all I can do is take you a quick ‘Cook’s Tour’ through them.
When we do that we find that many of these blessings are already seen in Isaiah.
And if not specifically then they are implied.
They are the undercurrents to what Isaiah is saying here to God’s people in exile.
Somehow the blessings all flow out of being God’s adopted sons and daughters.
- 1) Our confession says that the adopted enjoy the liberties and privileges of God’s children.
It’s the children of God who know real freedom… because Christ sets them free.
2) We’ve already talked about having God’s name put on us as a sign and seal of belonging to Him.
3) We receive the Spirit of adoption as the Spirit witnesses within us that we are God’s children.
4) We have access to the throne of grace. You have a right to come to your Father in heaven.
And you have right to come with boldness, knowing that you are His child.
5) We are enabled to call God our Abba, Father… just as Israel did in Isaiah’s day.
6) In Isaiah we already saw that the adopted are pitied, protected and provided for.
They gave up on God but God never gave up on them.
And even in that foreign land of Babylon they were pitied, protected and provided for.
7) In Isaiah we also saw that at times the adopted are disciplined.
The Father does not spoil His adopted sons and daughters.
Instead He disciplines them when at times they wander away from Him.
8) Above all we see in Isaiah that they are never cast off… never rejected.
Because adoption cannot be undone.
That’s why we believe in the perseverance of the saints. God will never let us go.
9) And to bring that home God says that we are sealed until the day of redemption.
God marks us as His for all eternity…
so that neither demons nor death nor hell can ever separate us from His love.
10) And finally we are heirs of everlasting salvation.
We will share fully in the inheritance of Jesus our older brother.
- You read a list like that and you say: Wow! What amazing blessings!
And all because God adopts those who are saved through Jesus His Son.
Yet, so much of it was there already in Isaiah.
And that makes sense – Jesus is also at the centre of the OT.
It’s all about His coming.
And so we are linked with Israel. God only has one family.
We today are one family with Israel and Judah of the OT period.
Abraham… the man of faith… is our common spiritual ancestor.
They were God’s children and so are we… one in the Family of God.
And yet… for us the blessings are greater than they were for Israel and for Isaiah.
Paul shows in Gal.3:23-26 that Israel still lived under the law.
And the law was like a guardian… Paul calls it a ‘custodian’.
We as NT Christians are no longer under the custodianship of the law.
So all of those twelve blessings are ours in even greater measure than for Israel.
Today we have the Holy Spirit in our hearts in a way that Israel didn’t.
And He bears witnesses with our spirits that we are God’s children.
Of course it’s great to sit here and think of these wonderful things in church on Sunday.
But God is not glorified if this is just some theory we think about in worship.
God is most glorified when you live as His adopted child tomorrow and Tuesday.
Let the whole of your life be lived as sons and daughters of the living God. Amen