Hope and HolinessSample

Do You Not Know?— Adoption: The Highest Blessing Of The Gospel

Key Question: How does knowing you are adopted enable and empower sexual purity?

“Adoption puts law-keeping on a new footing: as children of God, we acknowledge the law’s authority as a rule for our lives because we know that this is what our Father wants. If we sin, we confess our fault and ask our Father’s forgiveness based on the family relationship, as Jesus taught us to do—“Father . . . forgive us our sins” (Lk 11:2, 4). The sins of God’s children do not destroy their justification or nullify their adoption, but they mar the children’s fellowship with their Father. “Be holy, for I am holy” is our Father’s word to us, and it is no part of justifying faith to lose sight of the fact that God, the King, wants his royal children to live lives worthy of their paternity and position. . .

How often do you dwell on your adoption? Do you know that you have been adopted? Adoption—the highest privilege the gospel offers—shows us the meaning and motives of “gospel holiness,” which springs from love and gratitude rather than slavish, legal duty. We have been adopted to be holy and blameless (Eph. 1:4–5). God’s children love their Father and actively seek to obey His will out of gratitude for his privileged status. As J. I. Packer writes,

“It [gospel holiness] is just a matter of the child of God being true to type, true to His Father, to his Savior and to himself. . . It is a matter of being a good son or daughter, as distinct from a prodigal or black sheep in the royal family.”

Prayer: Most Merciful Father, thank you for the great love you have given us, that we would be called children of God, and such we are. Impress this highest privilege upon our hearts for our comfort and assurance so that we might be enabled and empowered to live a life of hope and holiness through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.