I want to again say how much
I appreciate you inviting Teresa and I and we count it an honor
and a privilege to be here with you. We've made some new friends
this trip and for that we're grateful. And I want to publicly
thank Melinda, pastor's wife, works harder than anyone at a
conference. I know you see that, I saw it.
And I experienced that. My wife's working weeks before
we have a meeting and preparing and planning. And it was just,
everything has just been wonderful. We got to the motel, by the way,
which was just a great accommodation. And the lady said, oh, I have
something for you. And she handed me a bag full
of goodies. And I'm thinking to myself, yes. goodies. So thank you, Melinda. And clay, you know how I feel
about you. My friend, what a capable preacher
and pastor and it's my honor and privilege to be considered
your friend. And I sincerely mean that. I
want to direct your attention again this morning to Ephesians
one if I could please. Ephesians chapter 1 and I want
to begin reading in verse 3. Ephesians 1 verse 3. Paul here writes, Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ. According, as he had chosen us
and him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love and have him predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will. This morning I want to talk to
you about a subject that is very near and dear to me. I want to
talk to you about the subject of the adoption of children by
Jesus Christ to himself. That should be of some interest
to us. By way of introduction, let me
tell you a true story. A little over 64 years ago, hard
to believe it's been that long. There was a young married couple
who had for 14 years, tried to have a child. They desperately
wanted children, but were unable. And they wanted a child desperately,
but they could not have children. And without going into great
detail, in the providence of God, they were made aware of
a young woman who, out of wedlock, was expecting a child. Almost immediately, through a
family member, they made contact with the expectant mother and
arrangements were made for an adoption. All the details were
worked out. They agreed to pay all the young
medical expenses they provided and paid for her living arrangements
and all her expenses until the child was born. And all these
things came about out of their love and desire of being loving,
caring parents and providers to one who would more than likely
have otherwise had a very bleak future. their generosity to this
woman, a woman that they didn't even know, was motivated by one
thing and one thing only, and it was their choice to have and
to love a child that they could call their own. I suppose this
would be a good time for me to tell you that I was that child. That's why adoption immensely
means something to me. Adoption is a choosing. Sally and Leo Edmondson purposed
in their mind and in their heart to adopt a child before I, the
child, was ever born. In other words, purposed beforehand
to have a child and I, that child, certainly had no say in the matter.
I wouldn't get born. I was oblivious to all that they
purposed and hoped to do. And it's the same with the adoption
of God's children. The redeemed child of God has
no say in the matter. what makes sinners think that
in any way they participate and collaborate in their salvation,
I'll never understand. This book is so clear about that,
so clear. Yet man want to have a hand in
the matter of their redemption. The Lord Jesus said as plainly
as anyone could say it, you have not chosen me, but I've chosen
you. Now is there anything about that
simple statement that would make you think that you chose God
and therefore he chose you because you chose him? No. It's just
plain and simple, as all scripture is. Adoption is a choosing. I grew to love my parents, but
my love for them was only because they first loved
me. I remember my dad telling me
one time that he and my mom loved me before I was ever born. And
I'm being honest with you, I never really understood that. How someone could love someone
that does not exist. Not until I became a father.
and had children of my own, because it was with great love and anticipation
that Teresa and I waited for the birth of our children. And
I'm certain that I never understood the depths of God's love for
his chosen children until God adopted me into the kingdom of
his dear son. It was love for me, the unborn
child that motivated my parents to put together and decorate
a nursery, provide me a new baby bed, extra large I might add, to buy me a high chair that my
dad later told me that he worked and saved for six months. to
buy the bed and the high chair. It was out of love and motivated
out of love for a child that was not yet born. Isn't that
amazing? How much more amazing is it that God loved us and provided
for us everything that we needed to be redeemed before we were
ever born, before we were ever sinners? how clear the eternal, the spiritual
eternal adoption, God's adoption of the child of God into the
kingdom was a very costly transaction for our Heavenly Father. My adoption
came at great expense to my parents, but it didn't cost me a thing,
not a penny. It was their love, mercy, and
grace that provided for me everything that I needed, and the child
of God's adoption into the kingdom was a very costly transaction
for our Heavenly Father. It cost Him the sacrifice and
the death of His only begotten, well-beloved Son. And the spiritual,
eternal adoption was free to the believer, but it cost God
great. No wonder the Apostle Paul said
that we've been bought with a price. We have, haven't we? A great
price. The price of his son. How clear, I think, that our
adoption makes us to understand that salvation is not what we
do, but in what God has done for us. For God so loved that
he gave What did He give? He gave His only begotten Son.
That whosoever would believe in Him should not perish but
have everlasting life. Salvation is believing, trusting,
and finding all you need in Christ. I love to say it. I love to think
about it. All that God required of me,
Christ provided for me. That's the gospel, isn't it?
How holy God is. You've heard that every message
this weekend. He's so holy that he can by no
means clear the guilty. How are you and I, the sinners
we are, gonna be reconciled to that God? Just one way. One mediator
between God and me and the man Christ Jesus. Let's never make the gospel hard
to understand. There's no life apart from God's
Son. John said another very simple
statement. I like simple. He that hath the
Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life. I can understand that. I can follow that. I must have
Christ if I'm going to have life. God did not make salvation possible. I hate that kind of person. God
made salvation possible, the rest is up to you. If that's
so, I'm a goner, Clay. No hope for me because I cannot
do what God requires and that's perfection. It must be what? Perfect to be accepted. God doesn't make salvation possible
and leave the rest up to the sinner. God made salvation certain. And salvation is not by chance.
Salvation is by divine purpose. God is a God of purpose. You
know that. You hear that every time your
pastor stands to preach. Everything God does is on purpose. God adopts and saves his people
on purpose. Now in one sense of the word,
my parents saved me from what would have more than likely proved
to be a difficult life. And it was totally by love and
grace on their part. Their grace, but even more so
the grace of God, providentially working all this out. I'll just
throw this in, it's not in my notes, but my parents were the
greatest parents on earth, in my eyes. They loved me and it
was obvious to me at a very early age. My earthly adoption was
most certainly for my good. Sometimes I don't know how much
for theirs, but for mine it was and my parents dedicated their
life to do good to me. They really did. They wanted
only good things for me. Friends, my adoption in yours
into God's kingdom and family was something certainly that
God did for our good. Yes, for our good. For our temporal
good, but especially our eternal good. How glorious are the words
found in the 8th chapter of Romans, verse 28, we quote it all the
time, when we know that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are the called, to them who are the
adopted, to them who are the chosen, according to his purpose. My parents made me their own
before I was ever born, and they willed to do so. They determined
to do me good all the days of my life, but how much more did
our heavenly Father purpose to do us good in our adoption and
election of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. All of us have a story,
don't we? All God's people can tell you
that they've seen the divine providence of God throughout
their lives, how God has marvelously arranged things. Oh, it was no
accident I had the parents I had. It wasn't by chance that this
young woman got pregnant out of wedlock. It wasn't an accident. That's what the world said. But
it wasn't an accident. It was by the divine purpose
of God. Adoption is a choosing. Adoption
is not a work done by us. Adoption is an act of grace done
for us done without us and never by us. We had no say in the matter and
I'm so glad of that. You see if there's something
that I can do to be saved then there's something I can do to
be lost. But if God strictly and completely by sovereign grace
saves a sinner and redeems them by the blood of his own dear
son. Nothing I can do to be lost. Safe and secure. Oh, what an
adoption we have. It's an act of free sovereign
grace. I had no say, no work, no decision in the matter of
my parents choosing of me. And if you're one of God's elect,
neither did you. And you're adoption by God. And that's what makes adoption
so beautiful, isn't it? So precious, so wondrous to us.
God choosing us according to the good pleasure of His will.
And God gets all the glory. I love that passage found in
1 Samuel 12, verse 22. I won't turn you there. Let me
just simply read it to you. For the Lord will not forsake
His people for His great name's sake. because it hath pleased
the Lord to make you his people. It pleased the Lord to adopt
you into his kingdom. And the first great truth that
we see in that verse is the fact that the Lord won't forsake his
people. I know a lot of parents that have forsaken their children,
but not our Heavenly Father. He will not forsake His people. What a glorious and comforting
thought that is. If Christ died for you, if you
trust in Christ alone as the only sacrifice for sin, you cannot
be lost. Why? Because the Lord will not
forsake His people. Secondly, we see why the Lord
will not forsake His people. Why won't He forsake them, David?
For His own great namesake. for His own great namesake, and
no reason outside and apart of Himself, only because of His
own great namesake, for His own glory, for His own honor. And the Lord will not forsake
His people because of that. Thirdly, this redemption, this
reconciliation of Him and His people is very pleasing to the
Lord. That's something I can't get
over, that the Lord was pleased to make me his child. I think for the most part my
parents were pleased that I was their child. There were times
they weren't and there were times that they showed me that. But it pleased the Lord to make
you his people. I hope that we've learned that
there's only one reason that God was pleased to show mercy
on any of us for his own great name's sake, and it's simply
pleased him to do so. God has hidden these things from
the wise and the prudent, and he's revealed them to who? Babes. Babes, his babes. Can you trust
Christ like a babe? Well, we're gonna have to. We're
going to have to. I remember after I was grown,
after my parents were deceased, one of my aunts told me that
when my mother and father brought me home from the hospital, a
newborn, just five days old, that my mother told her that
I was just perfect. The affections of a loving parent
are often blind. I was perfect because I was hers. But child of God, when your heavenly
Father saw you for the first time, if I can speak that way,
why, you were polluted in your own blood. You were discarded
out in the field, left to die, and he spread the skirt of Christ's
perfect righteousness over you, and he covered your nakedness.
And the God of heaven and earth entered into a covenant with
you, and he looked upon you with only the love that he has for
his beloved son. And he said, Thou art mine. You're mine. Oh, you are mine. And then he made you perfect. Oh, what an adoption, what a
redemption we have in Christ. It's an act, a choosing of God's
pure, sovereign, free grace and mercy found only in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And again in verse 4 here in
Ephesians 1 we read, according as He had chosen us in Him, before
the foundation of the world that we should be what? Holy and without
blame. You know what that is? That's
perfect. Before Him in love. We've been
chosen in Him, in Christ. God chooses, God elects us, He
calls us, He loves us, He adopts us only in Christ. And many men and women hear this
glorious proclamation and they want to charge God with unrighteousness. They say, that's not fair. That's
not fair. You would have had a hard time
convincing my parents that their adopting me was not fair. Men want to charge God with being
unfair because of his sovereign right to choose. But the child
of God rejoices in the fact that God wills to have mercy on anyone. We don't have any problem with
how God could hate Esau. We have trouble understanding
how God could love Jacob and us. God's people know that all
of us are undeserving of his love, mercy, and grace. And how
amazing is the thought that God would, could, or should have
mercy on any of us. Anything short of eternal condemnation
and hell is mercy and greatness. And it's found in Christ. Before
you were ever born, before you ever done any good or evil, that
the purpose of God, according to election, might stand not
of works, how? But of him that calleth. It's
not of him that willeth. Will I exercise my free will?
It's not of him that willeth. but I did a work of righteousness,
not of him that run it, but it's of God that showeth mercy. Your adoption into the kingdom
of God's dear Son is not by a work of righteousness that you've
done, but according to His mercy He saved us. He saved you, my
friend, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost,
Titus 3, 5. And how ridiculous Would it be
for me to say that my parents adopted me because they foresaw
that I was gonna be a good son? But isn't that what people say?
That's exactly what ignorant men and women say about our sovereign
and amazing God. God does not adopt, elect, or
choose sinners because he looked ahead in time and saw that certain
men and women would be holy, righteous, and faithful. Well,
that's nothing short of works. God makes His chosen people holy,
righteous, and faithful in Christ and in Christ alone, who is His
holy, righteous, and faithful Son. But of Him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. Now some 63 years later, I know
you're sitting there thinking there's no way he's 63 years
old. But now some 63 years later,
I think back on the sacrifices my parents made for me. And I'm so grateful. I only wish
that I could tell They often did without to see
that I didn't. They worked hard to see that
I wanted for nothing. When I was sick, they pitied
me. When I was in need, they provided
for me. When I needed correction, they
chastened me. But my heavenly Father, when
I was sick, oh no, even dead, in trespasses and sin, healed
me and gave me eternal life. And when I had nothing, he provided
all that I needed and all that he required. And it's in love
that he chastens me. For the scripture's clear, he
that spareth his rod hateth his son. But he that loveth him chasteneth
him, Proverbs 13, 24. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. And child
of God, if you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with
sons and with daughters. For what son is he whom the father
chasteneth not? My parents would have died for
me, but hear me when I tell you that my God did. God the Son was made flesh and
blood and He dwelt among us and He was made in the likeness of
men, yet without sin. But He was made sin. Men want
to argue about if Christ was made a sinner. He made sin. But His adopted
sons and daughters might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
Again, we find those precious two words in him, in him. We're
made the righteousness of God in him. Now, I want to hurry
here but turn back just a couple pages. I want to show you this
in Galatians 4. Galatians chapter 4. Look at
verse 1. Let's just read a few verses
here. Paul says, now I say that the
air As long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant,
though he be Lord of all. But he's under tutors and governors
until the time appointed of the Father. And even so we, when
we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.
But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his
Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that
were under the law, that we might receive what? The adoption of
sons. And because you are sons, God
has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father. I don't know if it's so, but
I like to think so. I've heard people say that. That
means daddy. Daddy, daddy. Oh, what an endearing
word that is to me as a father. Daddy. Oh, I remember. I had three hairy-legged boys
before I ever had a girl, and I remember the first girl I had,
and she batted them eyes at me and said, Daddy, I just melted. Here, take the car, whatever
you want. Daddy, Abba, Father. Verse seven, wherefore thou art
no more a servant but a son, and if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ. Oh, there's blessed benefits
that come with this adoption of grace, this blessed inheritance,
while we have continual access to the throne of our heavenly
Father. Growing up, I'm telling you,
I never once thought about having to ask my parents for permission
to come into their house. It was my father's house. I just
boldly went in. I never asked for permission. I never had to knock on the door.
I had free access. And even when I was grown and
married and had my own place, my parents gave me a key to their
house. And they gave me access to all
that they had. You know why? Because I was theirs. Child of God, do you have need
of something from your Father? Therefore let us come boldly
into the throne of grace, that we may obtain what? Mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. Do you need help? You don't
have to knock on the door. Come on in. Come on in. Your adoption has great benefits.
You're no more a servant. You're sons and daughters, heirs
of God through Christ. Joint heirs with Christ. When
my parents left this world, all that they had became mine. I was an only child, and I guess
I broke them on the idea of wanting to have more children. It's the
only thing I can think of. One was enough when that one
was me, I suppose. but all they had, and they didn't
have much, but all that they had was mine, and they left a
last will and testament, and it was all mine as a benefit
of my adoption. Adoption legally made me their
child. And in the covenant of God's
grace, all God has is ours. Our inheritance in Christ and
being a joint heir with him gives us not all only the same, but
it gives each of us, his children, all that he has. God didn't have to divide it
up equally, does he? We get it all. All of us get
it all. Only God can do that. Isn't that a wonderful thought? I don't know all the legal reasons,
but I discovered later in my life that my birth mother, by
law, had to carry me out of the hospital
and physically hand me to my mother and father. It was according
to the law of the land. In 2013, Teresa and I, actually
with Paul and Mindy, went to Mexico to visit the missionaries
there, the Groovers, and I had to get a passport. had to come
up with my birth certificate to get one and couldn't find
it, you know. So we started going through some
things of my mother's and I found not my birth certificate,
not my legal one, but I found a makeshift birth certificate
that the hospital had, very unofficial, had given my mother and on it
It said born January the 14th, 1956 at 9 p.m. And the name said Baby Wales,
not the whale like on the beach. I know you find that hard to
believe, but my parents, my birth mother's last name was Wales,
Baby Wales. When I left at a hospital, I
didn't have a name. And in that sense, I was nobody. But when I received my official
legal birth certificate from the state, in bold letters, it
said, name David Edmondson. I left that hospital without
a name, but my adoption gave me my father's name. My adoption
officially made my father's last name mine. And friends, in our
adoption into God's family, we're given his name. We're called
the children of the living God. We're called the elect of God. We're called the redeemed of
the Lord. I like that name. My earthly
parents gave me their name, but my heavenly father not only gave
me his name, but he gave me his nature. Christ was made sin so
that I might be made the very righteousness of God in him.
And what an adoption we have in Christ Jesus. My earthly parents
endeavored to teach me to be self-sufficient, but my heavenly
father is teaching me to be totally dependent. I'm totally dependent
on His Son. And on that great day of judgment,
the redeemed of the Lord will not stand boasting in and on
the things that they've done. If they do, they'll hear, I never
knew you. I never adopted you. You were
never mine. So it's not about what we've
done. It's all about what He's done for us and in us in Christ. And I'm telling you, on that
day, I'm not gonna offer Him my heart because my heart's deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked. But I tell you what,
I am gonna present whatever you wanna call it. I hate to even
use the word offer. We've made that such a bad word,
religion has. But I'm gonna plead the merits
and work of His Son. I can't offer him my heart, so
I'll offer up his son. My heart, not only deceitful
above all things, but it's only evil and only evil continually.
My heavenly father provided, as Brother John so ably said
the other night, for himself a sacrifice, and he provided
himself as the sacrifice. And he's also the altar, he's
the sacrifice, he's the high priest who offers it. You see, before God could ever
do anything for you, he had to do something for himself. He
had to fulfill his own law, he had to satisfy his own justice,
he had to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. And what
am I? I'm just simply an heir. I'm
an heir of God through Christ. I did nothing to deserve this
inheritance. Not the one of my earthly parents,
and most definitely not the one of my heavenly father. You know,
if we did, it'd cease to be grace, wouldn't it? But I'll tell you
this in closing, because of all the things that my parents did
for me, it brought about some definite results. I depended
on them when I could depend on no other. My dad would stop any
time of the day to come get me if I needed for him to come get
me. I could depend on my dad and my mom too. And I trusted
them when others couldn't be trusted. I loved them greatly,
but it was because they first loved me. And how much more should
we depend, trust, and love our Lord who loved us and gave himself
for us? You know, my folks have been
gone for years now. They had no choice but to leave. You see, it's appointed unto
men and women once to die, and after this, the judgment. But
be encouraged, dear child of God, for your heavenly Father
says unto you, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. Rejoice. Wherefore thou art no
more a servant, but a son, a daughter, and if a son and a daughter,
then an heir of God through Christ. All that is God's is now yours. That's just the best news I ever
heard. And that's why we call it, it's called the gospel. It's
good news for sinners. Now let me just quickly fast
forward for 61 years. There was another young couple
that couldn't have children. They tried for over 10 years.
They tried all the modern day technology of fertilization to
no avail. They were in their early 40s
and running out of options and times to have children. And now
I'm speaking of my oldest son and his dear wife. And I got
a call right at two years ago and he said, Dad, we're adopting
a child. And they did. And they named
that little girl Sally after my mother. People often ask me
if a parent can love an adopted child as much as they can love
a natural born child. Oh, can they ever? The first hint to that question
answers, to that question's answer should be can God love you The
ungodly sinner as you are, as he loves his own dear son, you
better believe he can. And by our union with Christ,
his love for his elect is exactly the same as the love for his
beloved son. Nothing can separate us from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Story doesn't end there. My youngest daughter, And her
husband, they have a little girl six years old and a little boy
who was four. They're seven and five now. And
one day they stopped by the house and I knew something was up because
they were smiling from ear to ear. And my daughter said, we're
expecting another child. And I said, well, when? She said,
later this month. And I looked at her and I said,
well, you know something I don't know then? She said, dad, we're
adopting a baby. And a year ago, little Iris became
a part of our family, and I can assure you that no one loves
little Sally and little Iris any more than their parents or
me and Teresa do. They didn't do anything to deserve
our love. We love them freely. God says
concerning his children, I will love them freely. He that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not freely give us all things? Being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. What
a picture God gives Teresa and I every day of His love for us
in Christ. Every time I see one of those
little girls, I'm reminded of Christ's love for me. Adoption's a beautiful thing. So, if you're without Christ,
come to Him. Trust in Him. You can come, we're
not gonna ask you to come down front, come to Him right here. Come to Him, trust in Him, lean
on Him, depend on Him. And if you're one of God's elect
children, it's the Father's good pleasure to give you His kingdom. Amen. Thank you.