Romans chapter 9 and verse 25
and 26. The Scripture says, Thus saith
also in Osea, I will call them My people, which were not My
people, and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, in
the place where it was said unto them, you are not my people,
there shall they be called, not just the people of God, what?
The children of the living God. I will call them my people which
were not my people. And the place where it says you
are not my people, you're going to be called something greater
than my people, you'll be called the children of the living God. Now, Paul, in this chapter, having
already proved this, that salvation, that all that are saved in time,
were sovereignly chosen of God before the world began. That they were chosen not based
on anything in them. They were not chosen to salvation
based on any merit that they would do for God. But the Scriptures
are clear in verse 11, the children, Jacob and Esau, twins in the
same womb, the children not yet being born, neither having done
good or evil, for this, that the purpose of God according
to election might stand, not of works, Not of works, but of
him that calleth. Said to her, The elder shall
serve the younger as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. God chose for himself a people. Jacob being a type and representative
of all the elect, God chose for himself a people he would redeem
and save by one work, not their work, but by the work of Jesus
Christ. God purposed that He would save
them by His Son. And Christ, you know this, came
to save His people from their sins. Thou shalt call His name
Jesus, for He shall save, who? His people from their sins. And Christ came to save all those
that the Father gave Him. You know, He said that over and
over. In John chapter 6, He said, This is the will of Him that
sent me, that of all He had given me. What? I should lose nothing. That's the will of God. And that
all that He had given me shall come to me. What a blessing, Him that cometh
to me, I will in no way, no way will cast out. Jesus Christ came
to save those that God gave Him. And He did this by honoring the
law of God as a representative man. He did this by dying in
their place. Therefore, Paul was able to say
in Romans 8, there is therefore now, what? No condemnation to
those who are in Christ Jesus. Why? Because He had fulfilled
the law in us. What was weak in the law was
our flesh. The law was good. What was weak
was our flesh. Therefore, Christ came in the
flesh to die in the stead of His people. And in verse 24,
He proceeds to show the evidence of this election. He says this,
even us, He's talking about vessels of mercy. He said, what if God
willing, verse 22, What if God, willing to show
His wrath and make known His power, endure with longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, that He might make
known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which
He had aforeprepared unto glory? Listen, even us. Paul said, even
me. What am I? I'm a vessel of mercy. He aforeprepared the vessels
of mercy for glory. Not by their works, but by His
purpose and by the work of His Son. He prepared the vessels
of mercy. The vessels of wrath are fitted
for destruction by their own work. By their own merits, they're
fitted. But see, we're prepared. We're
not fitted. We didn't fit ourselves for mercy. We were prepared by God for mercy. prepared unto glory who even
us, even us whom He hath called. The vessels of mercy are known
by this calling. Calling. Have you been called
by the Spirit of God? How should no one know His election? How should one know His redemption? Only by this. He has called. Even us who He called. Those
who were chosen in eternity redeemed by the blood of Christ, they
of necessity must be called to faith in Christ. They must be. Why Jesus told
Nicodemus, you must be born again. Why? I died for you. You must
be born again. There's nothing going to stop
that. He wasn't telling him something to do. He's telling what must
take place. Must take place. Isn't that wonderful? If you're born again, that must
have taken place. There was no way to miss it.
It was something that God must do because God purposed to do
it. Christ came to pay for it. It must be done. And so in verse 24, he says this,
following the verses, In the following verses, he will demonstrate
that the calling of the Gentiles and the calling of the Jews are
the same calling. Look at the second part of verse
24. Even us whom he hath called,
not of the Jew only, but also of the Gentile. This election
and calling of God unto salvation was surely pictured by the nation
of Israel. Of all the nations and peoples
of the earth. God chose this one. God chose
Israel. God took Abraham out of Ur the
Chaldees. He took a 75-year-old pagan. 75 years, Abram worshipped false
gods. Abram was a pagan idolater who
knew not God or anything about God. He worshipped pagan gods
for 75 years of his life. Based on no merit of his own,
God called Abram out of Ur the Chaldees, saved him, and said
this, I will make thee a father of a great nation. I will make
thee a father of a great nation. He took Abram out of that land.
Abram didn't deserve this, but God gave it. He called him. Even us. Abram was a vessel of
mercy, wasn't he? A Ford prepared under glory.
For 75 years, he had no idea about that. 75 years, he did
nothing to show that. But God, in mercy, called him. And he made of him a great nation.
He said, I'm going to make of you a nation that will be as
the sands of the sea, as the stars of heaven. But all that
were born to the nation of Israel, Though they were a chosen nation,
we know this, they were not all true Israel. Paul says this earlier
in Romans chapter 9. He said, Not all they that are
of Israel are of Israel. What does he mean? All those
that are of Jacob are not the true Israel of God. Just because
you were born after Abraham doesn't mean you are an elect person. He says in chapter 9 and verse
27, Isaiah also crieth unto Israel, though the number of the children
of Israel be as the sand of the sea. Listen, a remnant, a remnant
shall be saved. Why? Because salvation never
did nor never will depend upon the blood or kin of another Nor
will it depend upon their obedience to the law, both of which the
nation of Israel possessed. They were kin to Abraham, God's
friend. Yet that did not make them true
Israel. Israel was given the law of Moses. What other nation had those things?
None. And yet that law did not make
them children of God. Just because they were the seed
of Abraham does not prepare them to be vessels of mercy. Just
because they had the law did not mean that they were vessels
of mercy. So then behold, here in this
verse, something that all those who are chosen and called of
God will come to see. concerning themselves and their
relationship to God. Everyone who is of true Israel,
Jew or Gentile, it doesn't matter. We will all come the same way. We are all brought to see the
same thing. What do we see? Well, what the
prophet Hosea said, he said, I will call them my people, which
were not my people. If you are ever to be one of
the citizens of heaven, you must first say this, by nature, you
were not his people. By nature, we were not the people
of God. We were not the beloved of God,
which were not my people, and her beloved, which was not beloved. God says, I'm going to make you
my people and I'm going to make you my beloved. Out of who? Those
which were not my people and those which were not beloved.
Those are the people God saves. If you're ever going to be saved,
then you've got to understand that. You've got to know this
about yourself. All that has ever been called
to the Holy Spirit, we must see to life, we must first see our
death. If God is ever to bring the blind
and give them sight, they must first see that they're blind
and need sight. If God is to ever make us see
the lameness of our nature, I mean, to heal us from the lameness
of our nature, we must first see that we are lame. We are
lame. And so it is with the calling
of God all that must that all must see that we are called loame. If you go to Hosea, you would
see that he said, all those that are not his people. That's what
that word loame means, is that you are not my people. In order
to be his people, you must first see this, you're not his people.
By nature, you are not his people. You're not born by nature, citizens
of heaven. This is the great teaching of
the Word of God that tells us all men in this life start in
the same place. Now, we may not all be born in
the same circumstances. You could either be born rich
or poor. You could be born in a high rank or a low estate. We all may have different experiences
in this in our natural birth, but this thing we all have in
common. All men share this, that we have a common ancestor. We are the descendants of a common
people. We all come from Adam. We all
come from Adam. In other words, we are Adam's
people. We are Adam's race. We share a common father. Therefore,
we are not by nature the people of God. We are not by nature
the people of God. And so then, I want us to see
these three things. First of all, you have a common
ancestor, which is Adam. Secondly, we're going to see
that we all share a common trait. Because we have a common ancestor,
we all share a common trait. What is that trait? And thirdly, we all share a common
bond. What is that? We love sin. It's not just we're born into
sin. We love it. These are the things that all
the people of Adam share. So let's see these. First of
all, we are not the people of God because we have a common
father. We are sons of Adam by nature. Because all men are born after
their father. We have lost our spiritual heritage. There was a time when Adam walked
with God. Can you imagine? Did you think
for a moment when God would come in the cool of the day, they
could walk hand in hand with their Maker? What a heritage! What a blessing! What a great
privilege Adam had! He was made holy! He was made
upright! He had communion with God. And yet God gave him a law, God
gave him a covenant. It was a very simple law. There
was all the trees. I can't even imagine the number
of trees, and I believe every tree at that time produced fruit.
Every tree. Imagine every tree you saw had
fruit on it. What a wonderful thing that would be. You can
eat anything. Millions of pieces of fruit.
Anywhere you wanted to go, there was fruit everywhere. And God
said, there's one tree that belongs to me. He said, in the day thou
eatest thereof, here's my covenant. Here's my covenant with you.
And I like this because God doesn't make a covenant like we do. He
didn't ask for permission. We make covenants and we both
have to agree. God makes a covenant, only God
has to agree. And God agreed and He said this,
the day you eat, He died. In the day thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die. We know Adam lived 900 and something
years. He did not die physically, but
what? He died spiritually. He died
spiritually. He became a stranger to God. He who was God had the heritage
of God. Lost is his inheritance. He became
an estranged person. from God. They once were free and innocent,
now the stench of guilt. But rather condemned Him and
cast Him out. His justice demanded payment.
Therefore, they lost their first estate. They were the people
of God and now they were cast out. And so it is, with all that He
represented, you and me, we share a common ancestor, Adam. We are by nature His people. Romans 5, verse 12, Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered in the world, Did you notice that
Satan didn't bring sin into the world? Satan was in the world,
but sin wasn't in the world. Adam brought sin into the world.
And what is the result? Death by sin. What's the repercussions upon
all his race? on all men, on all men, on all
men, on all men, on all men. Why? For all have sinned. I don't care if men like it or
not. When Adam sinned, you sinned. He was your representative man. He was your ancestor. And we
are the offspring of Adam. We are his offspring. Spiritual death. What is that?
Separation from God. That's what it is. It is an inability
to do any good, to be righteous. It produces also an unwillingness
to do good. It's not like we want to do good
and we can't. We can't do good and we want
to do evil. Spiritual death comes upon all
the race. This death is wrought in us to
be unable and unwilling to please God. In fact, we are haters of
God. What Paul says in Ephesians 2,
he says, you were dead, hath he quickened, who were dead in
trespasses and sin. What's the evidence of our death?
We walked according to the course of this world. According to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
who? The children of disobedience. among whom we had our conversation
in time past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of our flesh and the mind, and were by nature not children of
God, but children of wrath, even as others." Haters of God. Haters of God. Haters of God. We were the wrathful ones. We
despised our Maker. That's what man does by nature. We all have this common ancestor,
Adam. Because of this death, we are
all born His people. And secondly, we all share a
common trait. What is that trait? Sin. Sin. I read this this morning in something
that J.C. Philpott wrote about the sin. He said, we must go down to the
depths of the fall to know our hearts And what we are capable
of, we must have the knife of God that cuts deep. He said,
read the scripture, from the sole of the foot even to the
head, there is no soundness but wounds and bruises and putrefying
sores. He said when Adam failed and
temptation, sin rushed in. into every faculty of His body
and soul, and penetrated the inmost recesses of His being. And when a man is bitten by a
poisonous serpent, the venom courses through his arteries
and veins, and he dies a corrupt mass lump from head to foot.
So did the poison fang of sin penetrate into Adam's inmost
soul and body, and affect him with its venom from the soul
to the crown. You see, our understanding, our
conscience, our affections are completely contaminated with
sin. You see, we all share this. That
venom that ran through his soul runs through the soul of everyone
born in this world. full of corruption. We share a common trait, sin. Sin. I'll tell you this, God has an
elect people, we just read that, and God loves His elect people
before the foundation of the world, before they're actually
born into this world, before that sin nature enters into them,
God does love His people. For Jacob have I loved, and Esau
have I hated. He loved Jacob. But that love was not manifest
to Jacob until when? That love, him being the child
of God, was not manifest until his calling, until his conversion. Until he is called, and so it
is with us. We share a common ancestor, we all fall in line,
and we share a common trait, which is sin. And yet before
we were called, did we have any hope of the love of God? Did
we have any hope of being His elect? Not in that condition. Could we say we were the people
of God? No. I tell you, God loves His people. But it's not until they're called
does it manifest. Until then, God judgeth the righteous,
and God is angry with the wicked every day. To tell men that God
loves them in their fallen state is nothing but the highest arrogance
and presumption. For we know that God's love is
only toward those who are called. I know God has an elect people,
I know they're out there, and I know they're lost, and God
does love them. Can you point them out to me? Not in their lost condition you
can, and I cannot give them comfort of God's love except they be
called, except they come to faith in Christ, which is the evidence
of what? Their calling and election, their
salvation and the love of God. But because God is angry with
the wicked every day, those that are outside of Christ cannot
be said to be the beloved of God. We cannot call ourselves
the people of God. We cannot say we are the beloved
of God before our calling. My friend, God hates sin. And
all that are sinners and rebels will not bow to faith in Christ.
Those that trust in their will and works to save them are deceived. This morning, you trusting in
anything you've done. Is it Christ's blood plus anything? If it is, that person is deceived. He is not the beloved of God. That person has not come through
the door. The door is what? Christ alone. He said, I am the
door. Not me and you. I'm the door. It's not a cooperative effort. They've come up some other way
by their will and works. And because of sin, what? By nature, we are not the people
of God. Because of the trait of our nature, sin, we are not
the beloved of God. That's what our text tells us.
He said they were not the people of God. They were not the beloved
of God. When? In their natural estate. They are not these things. They
cannot claim these things. Thirdly, we are not the children
of God because of a common bond. We all have the common trait
of sin, which causes us not to be the beloved. But what causes
us not to be the children of God is our bond to sin. It's not only that we are sinners,
we love sin. By nature, men love sin. Our
Lord tells us this. Go to John chapter 3. John chapter
3. I remember preaching a message
a while back called Three Great Loves. There are three great
loves displayed here in John chapter 3. John chapter 3 and
verse 16, for God, here's the first love, God so loved the
world that He gave His only begotten Son. Now that, my friend, is
a great statement. How much did God love? that He
gave the most precious thing in all the universe for them,
His Son. Now, who are the world? Well,
it tells you. Whosoever believeth in Him. That's
who He loved. He loved the world. Who are they? Whosoever believeth in Him. That's
the world. It's not the world without exception.
We know that's foolish talk. foolish doctrine. God loved them. How great is his love. He sent
his son to die for them. And whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. God sent not his son in
the world to condemn the world, but the world through him might
be saved. He that believeth on him is not
condemned. He that believeth not is condemned
already, because he had not believed on the only begotten of the Son.
And this is the condemnation that light has come in the world.
And listen, here's another love. Men love what? Darkness rather
than light. Who is the light of the world?
It's Christ. He said, I am the light of the
world. The light is coming to the world. And what men love
sin more than they love Christ. What a great love for sin they
have, that they would abandon their souls to eternal damnation. They love sin so much. This is a common bond that we
all share. Now, you may love different sins,
more than some, but we all love sin. How much
do you love sin? Listen, you that are lost right
now, you will not come to Christ. Why? You love sin. That's just so. You love death more than life. You love yourself more than God. We all have this love for sin. We are in bondage. Isn't it amazing
that men think sinning is liberty? Scripture calls sin bondage.
Men are in bondage to sin. And yet sinners believe sin is
liberty. Well, you guys at that place,
you don't do these things and you don't like these things.
You're in bondage. Okay. I am a slave to Christ. What a wonderful master I have.
How about yours? Sin is no kind master, is it? Look at the destruction, sin
leaves. It's no kind master. But I have
a kind master. I'm not in bondage. I'm at liberty.
Sinners are in bondage. Sin is bondage. And all who are
called of God must come to see this first." You've got to see
that. You have to see what? You have a common ancestor. That
you and I died in Adam. You have a common trait. Sin
is all we do. We have a common bond. We love
sin. And if you don't ever see this
about yourself, well, that's not me. Well, look, you've never
come to Christ if that's not you. God says, they that were
not my people, what? They're my people. Those who
are not my beloved, you see, they're my beloved. They're my
beloved. A leper would never seek cleansing
until he first knew his leprosy. The blind would never seek sight
unless he first knew he was blind. will never seek Christ until
first he understands his hopeless, helpless, depraved condition. Have you seen yourself? You are
not my people. By nature, we are not the people
of God. By nature, we are not beloved
of God. So now then, who are the people
of God? Look at your text again. He said, even us, whom he hath
called, not Jews only, but Gentiles, he saith in the prophecy, said,
I will call them my people, which were not my people. You aren't
where it was said. You aren't where it was said.
You aren't where it was said. You aren't where it was said.
You are not my people. There shall they be called the
children of the living God, who are the people of God. All those
who are made to see their need of sin. All those who have no
heritage. and find themselves outside the
covenant of mercy. Those that see that to be delivered,
they must be the people of God. I know this. In order for me
to be saved, I must be one of these elect. I must. I must. Why? Because God will
only save Israel. He will only save His elect people. So if I'm to be one of them,
an elect, I know I must be one of them in order to be saved.
I must be the people of God. I must be His people. How can
we become the people of God? How do we know if we are the
people of God? Well, first of all, you see that
you're not. And secondly, you see that by a calling. By a calling. They must be called,
the calling of God. I will call them, my people,
which were no people. God must call you to come into
the camp. The people of God are called,
how? By the Word of God through the preaching of the gospel of
Jesus Christ. Preaching of the gospel, it goes
out as a general call today. I've made a general, this is
out there, You, by nature, are not the people of God. Do you
believe that? If you believe that, that's good,
because that's something God calls His people to see. He calls
them to see this. This general call goes out, but
that's not all He calls us to see. He calls us to see that
Jesus Christ is the only Savior for sinners. That is a call that
goes out. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And what? What's the result of this faith?
Thou shalt be saved. That's God's Word. God calls them to faith who were
not His people. He calls them to faith in another
representative, another man. All those that were represented
by Adam, what happened? They died. But there is another
representative. Isn't this wonderful? There is
another man who has a people. Adam had a people. They all share
a common trait. They all share a common bond.
But this man has a people too. This man has a people. Jesus
Christ and all that are represented by Him, they're going to live. They live. If you look back in
Romans chapter 5, you see this in verse 19. For as by one man's
disobedience, many were made sinners. Verse 19. So, what? By the obedience of one, shall
many be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound. You want to know what the law
of purpose is? There it is. That the offense might abound. Not
to help you. Not to save you. but that you might know your
guilt, you might know you're not the people of God. He said,
but, here's hope, for sin abounded, grace did much more abound, that
as sin reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life. By who? By Jesus Christ our Lord. You and I have a common Father.
See that we are not the people of God by our physical birth,
Therefore, God must make you his people by a spiritual birth,
by a new birth, by giving you life from the dead. Even the
evidence of this life is simple, faith in Christ. Have you been called to be the
people of God? Well, let me ask you this, do
you have a new nature? Do you have a new heart? Do you
believe on the Son of God? Then you, which were not my people,
listen, God says, you are my people. You are my people. You are the people of God. You
are more than that. You are the sons of the living
God. Therefore, the covenant of grace
applies to you. The covenant He made with Christ
in your behalf applies to you. And listen to this covenant.
He said, This shall be the covenant that I will make with them of
the house of Israel. After those days, saith the Lord,
I will put my law in their heart. That's not the law of Moses.
That law is put in your heart from birth, isn't it? You know
that law of Moses from your from your birth. That's not the law
he puts in your heart. What is the law? It is a law
of faith in Christ and love. That's what John says in 1 John
chapter 3, I believe in verse 24 and 5. He says that this is
the commandment, that you believe on Jesus Christ and that you
love the brethren. That's the law he puts in our
heart. and writes it in our hearts, and listen to what he says. Those
that have that law. He says, I will be their God,
and they what? Shall be my people. My people. You that believe, God claims
you as his own. He said, you're mine. You're
my people. And that's done by a covenant,
an oath. You that have bowed the knee
to Christ, you are the people of God. You are citizens of heaven. You that were once cast out by
your father Adder have now been brought by the decree of God
into the kingdom of heaven. And more than this, you are not
just His people. That's one thing. That's one
way to view our relationship with God. Christ is our King
and we are His subjects. What a blessing that is. Christ
our King delivered us. He brought us into His Kingdom. He now secures us. He protects
us. He is our refuge. He is our King.
He provides for us. But much more than this, in our
text, it says this, you are not only where it says in the place,
you shall not be my people, there shall they be called, not just
the people of God, but what? Verse 26, the children of the living God. You are His. You are His son. How in the world
could sons of Adam be made the sons of God? How far and how
distinct are those two lineages? The only way is this, union with
The Beloved Son. The only way we could be sons
of God is by the Son of God. All those that have a common
trait of sin cannot be beloved of God because God hates sin,
but all that are chosen and called of God, we hear the sweet message
of love, of grace, of forgiveness of sins. We hear a message of
the perfect that covers our sins, we hear a message of the robe
of righteousness sewn by the very works of Christ on the face
of the earth. That this blood and this righteousness
are given to all who believe, all who receive Him. Isn't that
what it says? As many as receive Him. To them
gave he the power, the right to be called what? Sons of God. You realize you could actually,
you that believe, you could put this down. You put your name
and your title right next to it. The Son of God. Isn't that
something? The Son of God. We are sons of
God. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us that we, sinners, should be called the sons of
God. The sons of God. How can guilty,
vile, unloved sinners become the sons of God? The almighty
gospel says Come and believe on Jesus Christ, for God has
provided all that you need to become the sons of God. You know,
when Abraham and Isaac went up that mountain, Isaac knew something
about being accepted of God. He said, Father, here's the knife
and the wood and the fire, but we're missing something. There's
no way we can approach unto God without a sacrifice. And he said
this, son, God will provide Himself a lamp. God did provide, who? Himself a lamp. And they were accepted This is
a glorious message of hope. This is the light of the gospel
that Jesus Christ has crucified for the sins of His people. Behold,
the sinner, the Lamb of God that taketh away, beareth away the
sin of the world. How can you be a son of God?
Because the Son of God has borne away your sin. Borne away your
sin. So much so, that God himself
cannot find it. I know this. If you're a believer
in Christ, you find it. Don't you? You looked in the
mirror this morning, found it. Have you looked in your heart
this morning? Have you not found sin? God says, I can't find it. You
know why? Because whatever that sin is,
Christ has already borne it away. He carried it. He suffered for it. He died. Under the just wrath of God. So that what? You and I might
become the sons of God. I'm going to illustrate this
rather quickly. If you go to Ezekiel 16. Go to
Ezekiel 16. I'm going to try to illustrate
this through this passage of Scripture. Look at Ezekiel 16.
I want you to see that we who are not His people, we who are
not beloved, are now made the sons and heirs of God, the people
of God. Ezekiel chapter 16, and look
at verse 3. He said, And say, Thus saith
the Lord God unto Jerusalem, Thy birth and thy nativity was
in the land of Canaan. Thy father was an Amorite, thy
mother a Hittite. And as for thy nativity, in the
day thou wast born, thy navel was not cut, neither was thou
washed with water to supple thee. Thou wast not salted at all,
nor swaddled at all. None eye pitied thee to do any
of these unto thee, to have compassion on thee. But thou was cast out
in the open field to the loathing of thy person when in the day
thou was born." Listen, your father was a pagan, your mother
was a whore. What is he saying? And you were
loathsome in everyone's sight. You were worthless. Just as a worthless child was
in that day, they cast him out into an open field thinking death
was better than life for this child. None eye pitied them. No one had compassion on them. You were cast out. You were not
my people. You were not beloved. This is
what we are by nature. No one... No one was able to help. Look what he says in verse 6.
But when I passed by thee, I saw thee polluted in thine own blood,
and said unto thee, When thou wast polluted in thine own blood,
what did I say? Live! Live! Yea, I said, when thou wast in
thy blood lit, I have caused thee to multiply as the blood
of the field, and thou wast increased, and waxen great, and thou art
come to excellent ornaments. Thy breasts are fashioned, and
thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare when
Now when I passed by thee, I looked upon thee, and behold, thy time
was a time of love. And I spread my skirt over thee,
and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee, and entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God. Thou becamest mine. Then what? I washed thee with
water. I thoroughly washed away thy
blood from thee. and I anointed thee with oil,
I clothed thee with brooded work, and shod thee with badger skin,
I girded thee with fine linen, I covered thee with silk." What
a picture of what Christ has done. There we were, not the
people of God, not beloved of God, and God passed by us and
said, live. Was that a question? When he
said, live, to you, was that a question? That was a word of power. And
when I said live, you lived. When did I say it? When you were
better? Did I wait till you were better? No. When thou was polluted
in thine own blood, I said live. Then what? I washed thee. From what? Thy blood. You are
no longer sons of Adam. That's not your heritage anymore.
Your heritage is a son of God. You're my son. You're my people. My people. We were sons by adoption. Isn't that right? Not sons by
nature, but sons by adoption. One thing about being adopted, God purposed to adopt you, didn't
He? You go to an adoption agency,
a parent, they go in with a purpose, don't they? They want a son.
They want a child. Listen, God purposed your adoption. He not only purposed your adoption,
He paid for it. There you were in the orphanage
of sin and someone came along and said, Hey, there's a parent
whose purpose is to adopt a son. And someone comes along and says,
you're the son. And one day, what? He comes and
gets you. We're waiting on that, right?
Here we are. We're still here. We believe.
We've been called. We've been told of our adoption.
It's been manifest. The payment has been made. We
trust in Christ who has made that adoption payment. And now
we with patience wait for him to come and receive us unto himself. You see, we were by nature not
the people of God. But now God says, I will call
you my people. When? When he comes in power
and gives you faith in new nature. Do you believe on the Son of
God? Do you cast your soul on Him? Then listen, God says, you're
my people. I made a covenant with you. You who are not the sons of God
by nature are now by adoption, what? The sons of God. The sons
of God. I pray God will comfort you with
this. And listen, no matter what happens, That's still true. Don't you realize that nothing
in time or eternity can alter that? Not even you and all your sin
could alter that. Isn't that a blessing? Paul said, I'm persuaded neither
life, nor death, nor angels, nor principality, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor life, nor death,
nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the
love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. We are the people
of God. We are called the living sons
of the living God. And I like that living God because
that means he's constantly watching you. He will forever be your
Father, and you will forever be His son. Our gracious Father, thank you
for this, your Word, Lord, poured into the hearts of your children. May it be a rock we could stand
on, even Christ our Savior, who has accomplished all our salvation,
by whom we are washed of our sins, robed in the righteousness
of God. Thank you for making us your
people. Thank you for making us your sons. I pray you'd bless
this in Jesus name. Amen.