Would you turn with me, dear brothers and sisters, to three passages in the New Testament?
First of all, in the Roman letter of the Apostle Paul, Romans 8. We will read from verse 14:
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
For ye received not the spirit of bondage again unto fear;
but ye received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God:
and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ;
if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified with Him.
Then, in the letter of the Apostle Paul to the Galatians, Galatians 4, from verse 1:
But I say that so long as the heir is a child, he differeth nothing from a bondservant, though he be lord of all;
but is under guardians and stewards until the day appointed of the father.
So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the rudiments of the world:
but when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
that He might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
So that thou art no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.
Then, in the Ephesian letter of the Apostle Paul, Ephesians 1, from verse 3:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ:
even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before Him:
in love having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.
Just a further word of prayer.
Beloved Lord, we are so thankful that we can turn to You at all times when we are in need. We want to thank You, beloved Lord, that You have provided an anointing for the ministry of Your Word. Into that anointing, grace, and power, we stand by faith, for the speaking of Your Word, the translating of Your Word, and the hearing of Your Word.
Beloved Lord, afternoon times can be a little heavy or sleepy. We have prayed about that already. We ask, O Lord, that You will go through this whole time like a breath of cool air upon us all. Revive us and quicken us, that we might be enabled, O Lord, to receive Your Word.
We shall be careful to give You all the praise and all the glory for answering our prayer this afternoon. We ask it in the name of our Messiah, the Lord Jesus. Amen.
I have been asked, this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon, in these two sessions, to speak about the subject of sonship. I cannot think of a matter more practical to us.
In my estimation, the Lord has His eye, in our generation and at this time, on three matters. One is the church of God, that it may be completed and built up. The second is that Israel might be saved. The third is the question of sonship.
The Lord will use everything to bring us to the place where we can be sons in the household of faith.
I find it interesting because this is one of the many great themes in the Bible. If you look at the very beginning of your Bible, in Genesis 1:28-29, you hear the Lord say to Adam and Eve that they are to be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth, subdue it, and have dominion.
Now, you may not realize it, but that has very much to do with sonship. It is not just a question of being born of God, created by God, or even saved by God. It is a question of responsibilities and duties, and we have to fulfil them.
We have the same thing again in Genesis 2:15, where we are told that the Lord set Adam in the garden to dress it and keep it. It is the same idea again: responsibilities and duties that have been divinely given to us.
When you come to the end of the Bible, in Revelation 21, you hear these wonderful words of our Lord. He says in Revelation 21:7:
He that overcometh shall inherit these things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son.
You would have thought the Lord would say, “I will be his Father, and he will be My son.” But He says, “I will be his God, and he shall be My son.” There is something far more than most people realize in the matter of sonship, because it has something to do with the city of God.
When you look at the city, you have two things. You have a capital city—it is not just any city, but the capital city of a kingdom that has no end. At the same time, you have not only a capital city but a bride.
It is the strangest combination, the twinning of two matters that normally no one in their right mind would put together: a capital city that is a bride—the bride of the Lamb, the bride of God. A bride who is, at the same time, a capital city.
Now, it is interesting that this seems to have something to do with sonship. A capital city is a place where all administration and government are centred. Here you have the question of sonship: “I will be his God, and he shall be My son.”
It is as if, if you and I are going to be part of that city, we have to come to the place where we are not just children, but sons.
Thinking of it from another vantage point, it is just as interesting that our Lord is seeking a bride. She is no ordinary bride. She is not just some beautiful, glamorous creature adorning the household. She is a capital city at the same time.
In other words, it is not just a question of being saved. It is a question of being brought to the place where you can reign and rule with the Lord Jesus. That, to me, has something to do with sonship.
I do not know how many of you use the old King James Version. We, on the other side of the Atlantic, of course, call it the Authorized Version. But if you use that version, you will notice that there is a terrible mix-up of this matter of son and child, as if it does not really matter and as if the two Greek words are synonymous.
For instance, we are told in John 1:12, “As many as received Him, He gave them the right to become sons of God.” Whereas the Greek word tekna is actually to do with children. It is the authority, or right, to become children of God.
There are other instances where children are translated as sons. This is not to run down the King James Version. It is a marvellous version, especially for memorizing, because the Holy Spirit put into it a rhythm which makes it very easy to memorize—more so than many modern versions, which I personally think are extremely awkward when it comes to memorizing.
However, that is only a little aside. It does not have much to do with what we are talking about. The King James Version makes no real distinction between these two Greek words that are used. One should be translated strictly “son” or “sons,” and the other strictly “child” or “children.”
Is there a distinction? I remember how, years ago, my dear brother T. Austin-Sparks got into so much trouble in Britain by declaring that there was a very real distinction between these two Greek words, and that they could not be looked upon as synonymous in meaning.
He said that a child can be a child, but a child could never inherit the family business in a way that he could run it. Well, booklets were published against him. All kinds of things were quoted to say that he was a kind of heretic and that he was teaching something false.
I remember one of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’s close friends—an authority on biblical Greek—saying there was no distinction and that the two words could be used interchangeably. But recently, because I respect him greatly, I was delighted to find in the lexicon he has just published that he says this:
The difference between believers as children, tekna, of God and as sons, huioi, is brought out in Romans 8:14-21. Tekna refers to those who are born of God, and huioi refers to those who show maturity, acting as sons. When the basic relationship as a born-again child of God is referred to, it is expressed as tekna. Huios gives likeness to God’s character.
I do not know whether that is all due to sleep, but I find it very, very interesting. So now we can begin. Is there a distinction between these two words? I say that I think there is a real distinction.
A child can become a son and grow up, be educated, trained, disciplined, and gain a character which means he can administer the family business. A child can never do that. A child remains in relationship to his father—his parents, of course—as a child born of them, but cannot actually run the family business.
One of the first places in the Word of God where the matter of sonship is underlined is Exodus 4:22. This is what the Lord said to Moses:
And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is My son, My first-born:
and I have said unto thee, Let My son go, that he may serve Me;
and thou hast refused to let him go:
behold, I will slay thy son, thy first-born.
You may not have taken that in, especially on a hot summer afternoon. But it is interesting because when the Lord said to Pharaoh, “I will slay your son, your firstborn,” He was talking about the crown prince—the one who was going to inherit the whole great empire of Egypt.
Not just a child: a son, a firstborn. You have the first indication that sonship has to do with inheriting and with government. Israel is My son, My firstborn.
You get an even clearer indication if you turn to Hosea 11:1:
When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called My son out of Egypt.
In other words, when Israel went down into Egypt, they were children. When they came out of Egypt, they were sons. Something had happened in them.
Once you begin to see this, you will see it everywhere. The whole generation of God’s children—the children of Israel—in the wilderness were children. But the second generation was of a different spirit. They went over and possessed the land. It is the difference between children and sons again.
I hope I am not boring you stiff. When I have already mentioned Revelation 21, it is the same idea. This bride is not some beautiful creature who has nothing between her ears. She could not understand her Lord and would have to leave everything to Him. There would be no way she could reign, rule, or share in government.
The point is that every one of us may potentially be part of the bride. But if we are actually, realistically, to be the bride, the Spirit of God has to train us, discipline us, and cause us to grow.
A baby cannot sit on the throne as the bride of Christ. Think of the idea that somehow, as long as you are saved and converted, that is all that matters. By grace, you are going to be on the throne. How in the world is the Lord going to do the things He says He will do in the ages to come—when He says, “Behold, I make all things new”—if all He has is little babies?
Babies are beautiful when they are babies. But when a person is twenty years old and still a baby, there is something repulsive. Think for a moment. Do you not agree with me? When a person is forty years old and behaves like a five-year-old, something has gone wrong.
Is the kingdom of God going to be completely inhabited by little babies who should have grown up but never grew up? Is the kingdom of God going to be managed by people who cannot think straight? A baby is beautiful, but a baby cannot think straight.
What kind of capital city is this going to be? Here we have, at the end of the Bible, a bride and a capital city. They are, as it were, two things in one, and they go out into the future. We do not even know what they are going to do in the future. We have no idea what God’s purposes are for the ages to come.
All He leaves us with is a picture of a bride gloriously produced through the finished work of the Lord Jesus, through the blood and water that came out of His side, by the Spirit of God.
At the end of the Bible, we are not told all the things everybody wants to know. Are we going to eat in eternity? Are we going to dress in clothes in eternity? Are we going to have houses in eternity? How are we going to move around in eternity? Will we recognize each other in eternity?
I could spend an hour talking about these things. I suspect I shall know who Abraham is. Nobody will need to tell me; I shall just know it inside, just as sometimes I sit on an airplane, look at somebody, and just know that they are a child of God. It is strange. It is something inside.
Anyway, that is by the way again. I am talking about being prepared for something. How the Bible ends is as important as how it begins. It ends with a bride and a capital city going out into eternity. They are one with the Lord. The wedding has taken place, and now eternity—the ages to come—is before them.
Are you going to tell me that the Lord is going to entrust the whole government of the ages to come to little babies who cannot think straight? Of course not. Normal, below-average intelligence ought to lead us to the conclusion that something has to happen to us as believers if we are going to be able to govern with the Lord.
Campbell Morgan said many years ago, “The kingdom of God is bigger than the city of God.” In other words, you may be born of God and enter the kingdom, but to be part of the bride and the city of God, you have to suffer with Him and know something of His discipline, education, and training.
When you come to Romans—the Roman letter that we read a little earlier—we discover these wonderful words:
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
You did not receive the spirit of slavery, enslavement, or bondage again unto fear. You received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ—if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified with Him.
Now note the “if.” If we suffer with Him, we shall also be glorified with Him. Do you notice a distinction? Sit back. I am not asking you to use your brain box too much this afternoon, but listen carefully to me.
Children. And if children, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. “Children” is the word tekna: those who are born of God. Every single person born of the Spirit of God is potentially an heir of God and a joint-heir with Christ.
But listen: there is a distinction. It comes almost immediately: “If so be that we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified.” There is an even more interesting distinction: “As many as are led by the Spirit, these are sons of God.”
The whole subject here is introduced by these words: those who are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. We are all children of God, and potentially we are all sons. But if we are going to come to the place where we can reign with Him and inherit what is ours in Him—what He has dearly won through His finished work—then we have to be led by the Spirit.
Beloved ones, listen to me. There are very few people who are truly led by the Spirit of God.
I am now reasonably old. Years and years ago—I am sorry I keep quoting Mr. Sparks, but he comes very much into this subject—I remember him turning to me and saying, “Do you know, I am eighty-something years of age, and I can count on the fingers of my two hands those whom I know are truly led by the Spirit of God.”
Of course, we hear people saying, “The Spirit told me to do this,” or, “The Spirit showed me that.” Some people go from disaster to disaster, and it is always the Spirit. I say to them, “How come you get into such a mess?”
“I do not know,” they say, “but if I were to admit that the Spirit had not led me, my whole life would collapse like a pack of cards.” Well, I say, “I think it would be much better if it did.” You will go on always saying, “The Lord said this, the Lord said that, the Lord said the other,” and it is not the Lord.
The Lord does not lead you into disorder and confusion. When the Lord really speaks, you may be tested, as Joseph was. It says, “The word of the Lord tried him.” That is, the word God gave him—that one day he would be governor—tried him when he was in prison, as if it were nonsense. Yet it came to pass.
I could tell you many stories, but I must curb myself. I remember an old sister, a wonderful sister. She was Danish. Some Danish ladies are quite remarkable.
She said to me, “When I was eighteen, God spoke to me and said I would serve Him in Afghanistan. So I prepared and got ready. The Lord met my needs. I was never paid a wage; I trusted the Lord, and He always met my need. But I could not go to Afghanistan because it was closed.”
“So I did the next thing. It was British India. I went to what was then British India, to the northwest frontier, and there I spent a large part of my life, until it became Pakistan when it gained independence. But then the mission said to me that I had to retire.”
“Well,” she said, “I do not believe missionaries retire.” So she had an argument with them. They said, “You can do what you want to, but you cannot be part of the mission once you reach the age of sixty.”
She took a place right on the border. She was an eye nurse, a specialist eye nurse. She took a place on the border of Afghanistan, and there she fulfilled a prayer ministry with others for Afghanistan.
To cut a story short, one day there was a thundering knock on the door. There was a man whom she immediately recognized as an Afghan. She had never seen him before. He asked whether she was Miss Rasmussen and whether she was a specialist eye nurse.
Then he said, “I have been sent by the King of Afghanistan to ask you if you will come and care for the crown prince. He has very serious eye problems.”
At seventy-one years of age, Ellen Rasmussen went over into Afghanistan, and a tremendous work began. I think this is a wonderful thing: to really hear the Lord. She was a lady, but she was a son.
She had truly heard the Lord and been led by the Lord. I have no doubt about it. She also had an understanding of the church that was something more wonderful.
I could go on and on if you want me to. I remember when I was a little boy, in my mid-teens, and had just been saved, I went to a prayer meeting for Nepal. Everybody thought I was nuts, especially the boys and girls who were my own age.
They said, “What do you want to go with all those white-haired old people on their knees?” There were seven or eight of them praying for Nepal. I learned more at that prayer meeting than I ever learned in a Bible study.
Nepal was a closed land. There were two particular ladies, Dr. O’Hanlon and Miss Lucy Steele, living on the Indian side of the Nepal border. They had received a word from the Lord that He would take them over into Nepal and use them there for the founding of the church.
People thought they were mad. The kids my age thought I was nuts, and they thought the little group was nuts too. One or two said to me, “Nepal will never open. Nepal is closed.”
But I was present, as a fifteen-year-old, on the day when the telegram came from Dr. O’Hanlon and Miss Lucy Steele to say, “We are going over tomorrow into Nepal. We have received permission.”
Everything that has happened in Nepal since came from those two who first went over and preached the gospel. I say they were two ladies, but they were sons of God. They were led by the Spirit.
All through my life, by the grace of God, I have met people who have truly been led by the Spirit of God. It has been practically expressed in their circumstances and situations.
What is all this about? Listen to it. Children—if children, then heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, if so be that you suffer with Him, that you may also be glorified with Him. As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.
Truly to hear the Lord! I must curb myself not to go too far into this matter, or we shall never get where we should get this afternoon. But every true child of God has a little mechanism in his spirit that can hear the voice of God.
Many Christians never hear the voice of the Lord because they are convinced that the Lord would never speak to them. Their view is, from the beginning, “God would not speak to me. Watchman Nee, yes. Stephen Kaung, yes. Maybe even Lance Lambert. God would speak to these brothers, but not to me—small fry, you and me.”
My dear friend, you become deaf when you think like that. Every father speaks to his child, even if it is gobbledegook. Do you understand what I mean? It is an unintelligible language, perhaps, when a father crows over his baby daughter or son, but he speaks. Every father speaks to his son or daughter.
What a tremendous joy it is when suddenly the child speaks back. I remember being once at a tea party, and this little boy, who had never spoken in his life, suddenly said, “Oil.” We all thought, perhaps he is going to be an oil man. It was such an excitement.
When, in your head, you think, “God would never speak to me,” you have closed that little mechanism that can hear the voice of the Lord.
We once had in the assembly in England a brother who was stone deaf. Praise the Lord, he got his hearing back. But he had been stone deaf, and we found out to our great amazement that the reason he became deaf was that he had fourteen brothers and sisters. He could not bear the noise they made.
As a little boy, he just shut himself off and became deaf. Many Christians are like that. They do not like the noise of other believers, so they close off their ears and become deaf. The Lord could shout at them, but they could not hear.
As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. It is tremendous when you begin to see it this way.
You will note straight away that a distinction is made between children and sons. We are all children, and in one sense, potentially, we are all sons. But the idea seems to be that, to be a son, you must grow up, be educated and trained, and be able to take over responsibility.
It has something to do with maturity, full growth, training, education, and character.
If you look in the same chapter, Romans 8:19, we read:
For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God.
Then, in Romans 8:20-21:
For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of Him Who subjected it, in hope
that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.
There are all the children of God in the picture, but it has something to do with those among the children of God who have grown up. In other words, the Lord is seeking those who can share in His government in the ages to come.
The same point is found in Galatians 4. If you look at this passage—forget the chapters and verses for a moment—in Galatians 3:26, you read:
For ye are all sons of God, through faith in Christ Jesus.
Then we read in Galatians 4:1:
But I say that so long as the heir, that is, the son, is a child, he differeth nothing from a bondservant, though he be lord of all;
but is under guardians and stewards until the day appointed of the father.
So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the rudiments of the world. That word is almost best understood as the ABCs. We were held in bondage under the ABCs of the world—the world’s order.
But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under law, that He might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. Because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father.” So that thou art no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.
Do you notice again that you have the same thing? First of all, potentially, we are all sons. But then it speaks of children. A child may be a son, but he is under guardians and stewards until he comes of age.
When we were children, we were rightly childish. The only way the word “childish” is used in an unpleasant way is when we speak of an adult who is childish. But when we were actually children, we could be nothing else but childish.
What does it mean to be childish? It means we are self-centred. Very simple. Not in a mean way; we are just happily self-centred. Were you not as a child? There may be one or two exceptions in the world—we all hate them—but most children just think of themselves. Nobody else, really. It is natural.
When we were children, we loved the most incredible things. We say, “Small things entertain small minds.” Can you imagine someone thirty, forty, fifty, or sixty years old playing with some of the things we played with as children?
In many ways, when we were children, we were absorbed with the most ridiculous things. Of course, we say, “Well, it is childish,” but there was nothing wrong with it. We were children. What is wrong with a child being childish?
But when we should be sons—managing things, administering things, ruling and reigning, as it were—and we are still absorbed with tiny little things, that is childish.
When you were a child, you were limited. After all, you could not understand Einstein’s theory of relativity when you were four, five, or six years of age. Of course not. You had a limited brain.
I remember, when I was a little boy, we were taught that dreadful language, Latin, because we were told it expanded our brains. I suppose here in the States you did not have to learn Latin, but it was considered to be the basis of all education in Europe. It was supposed to expand our grey matter.
We have all got grey matter, but few of us have ever really used it properly. It is there, just in your cranium, and is never really used. That is why I have always thought Chinese was so clever—those who learned to write it. In my estimation, there is nothing like learning the written form of Chinese to expand your brain.
The Japanese, in their inimitable way, decided to put a phonetic script in to help. But when you are a child, you act as a child and think as a child. There is nothing wrong in that.
But when you should be old in the Lord—adult in the Lord, mature in the Lord—and you are still thinking like a child, still self-centred, still whirling around some little remark someone made about you which you cannot get over, and which is now destroying your whole life and fellowship, it is incredible to me. Absolutely incredible.
We are so small and mean-minded. It is different when you are children. When children both want the same seat, there is a little scuffle and a fight. Someone sits down and pulls them apart, and there is a little tantrum. We all understand it.
But when you are in the church and we have all this kind of thing, it is a tragedy.
A child is limited in vision, quite rightly. It is only when you grow up that you begin to focus more clearly and understand what you are seeing. A child may be able to see certain things but does not necessarily understand what they mean.
Everywhere we look, we discover sonship is related to maturity, character, growth, education, training, and now I want to add the word inheritance.
I do not know whether any of you have ever known someone who inherited something and then wasted the whole lot. I have known a few of them. They inherited thousands upon thousands. I could never believe that people could go through so much money so quickly.
I remember one friend who had two or three million. He went through it in eighteen months and ended up as poor as the rest of us. Is that not amazing? It is only given us some at the beginning.
Do you know many believers? That is how they would manage the inheritance, because they are unable to cope with it, unable to handle it. So this matter is of tremendous importance.
Let me speak for a while about the phrase “adoption of sons.” You find it, of course, in all three passages we have read together. But in Ephesians 1:5 we read:
Having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.
Or, “foreordained unto adoption as sons.” The Greek literally is “placing as sons”—foreordained to the placing as sons. Keep that in your mind for a moment.
Three times this word adoption occurs in the passages we have read. There are two more times it is mentioned, but we will not deal with those this afternoon. In Ephesians 1, it is “placing as sons,” foreordained to the placing of sons. In Galatians 4:5, it is receiving the placing, or adoption, of sons. In Romans 8:15, it is, “Ye have received the adoption of sons.”
This word “foreordained” means marked out beforehand, or predetermined. It is actually the word from which we get “horizon” in English. You could almost say you have been horizoned beforehand to placing as sons.
In other words, God’s horizons for you—the boundaries, if you like—are all to do with the question of sonship. When He saved you, He had sonship in mind. It was not merely that you should be born of God, but that you should become a son in the household of faith.
Here is something very wonderful. I know some of you do not share my view of predestination, but you will share this: all the determination of God is behind your sonship.
All the grace of God is made available for every child of God to grow in grace, to come to maturity, to be trained, educated, and disciplined. All the grace and power of God are made available to every child of God that they may be conformed to the image of God’s Son. In other words, character. It is all there.
Maybe you think you have a temperament that stops you from being like the Lord. Somehow, you do not have that kind of character. You feel you are special and unique. You have problems from your background, circumstances, divorce, unpleasant parenthood, and circumstances that seem demonized.
Listen to me: you hide in it. You are all the time saying, “Well, you see, it is wonderful what he is saying, but it does not work for me. It does not work for me, because I have special circumstances and special problems that are really insoluble.”
Every child of God has grace given to them commensurate with their problems. It does not matter what problem you have, what you have inherited from your family background or pedigree, or what situation you are in, however devilish it may be. If you have been born of the Spirit of God, grace is available to you to overcome the problem.
Do you believe it? Do you really believe it? If you believe it, something will happen in your life. You will no longer blame your husband, your wife, your parents, your children, your circumstances, or your temperament.
For the first time, you will say, “I believe that God’s grace is sufficient for me.” This will be the first step to sonship.
It is predetermined. Think of it. Believers seem to think everything depends on them. That is why I never accept Arminianism. Everyone believes it is all dependent on the human will and the human decision.
My dear friend, how far have you gone with the Lord if you really think it all depends on you—on a decision you made? You decided to come in, and you may decide to get out. I have never heard of such nonsense.
The Word of God is very clear:
All that the Father giveth Me shall come unto Me;
and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.
Is it not interesting that people never quote the first part of that? “All that the Father hath given Me shall come unto Me.” Then, a little later, “I will raise him up at the last day.”
What a salvation! It began in the heart of the Father, giving you to the Son. Then you came to the Son, and you were saved by the grace of God—however you came, whether you made a decision or whether you were in such a mess that you did not know where to turn. You found the Lord; the Lord found you.
In the end, if you live long enough and your poor old body is decaying rapidly, you will know how wonderful it is to think, “At the last day I will raise him up.” What a salvation.
It begins with justification in the spirit, goes on into the salvation of the soul, and ends with the redemption of the body. Could there be such a salvation? Yet so often we despise it. We make excuses.
“Well, it is wonderful. I believe in the salvation of God. I believe that the Lord Jesus died to save me. But for me, I have very special problems. My circumstances are quite unique. It really does not work for me. I think it is wonderful the way it works for others, but it does not work for me.”
Why do you not take a new step today? It is predetermined, marked out beforehand. You are marked out beforehand; it is predetermined that you should be placed as a son.
God is not merely interested in delivering you from the power of darkness, tremendous as that is. He is not merely interested in saving you or in you being born again, tremendous as it is to be born of God. He is interested in you becoming a son, reaching the goal, and being a son.
What is adoption? Some of you may want to go to sleep at this point, because I will try to explain this word. Adoption is no easy matter.
There are two pictures we have of this. To be honest, I think it depends on your background which one you choose. There is the Gentile picture. It is a wonderful picture, absolutely wonderful.
Adoption in Jewish or Hebrew circles was virtually unknown. We have only one example: Eliezer of Damascus, who was adopted by Abraham. He was born in the household and adopted as the one who was going to inherit everything if Abraham had not had an heir.
But in the Gentile world, there was a tremendous amount of adoption. Very often, parents were fed up with their own children. They were debauched and depraved, while there was in the household a slave who was more a real son than the son. Then they would adopt him.
There had to be no less than five witnesses—normally seven—for the adoption to take place. Money had to be exchanged. It was called redemption money.
Then listen to this: the person adopted was considered to be a new man. Actually, the phrase sometimes used was “born again,” with a new name, a new destiny, and a new future.
Is this not wonderful? It seems as if it is actually the Scripture. Remember how the Spirit Himself beareth witness? You do not need those human witnesses. The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit that we are children of God; and if children, then heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ.
Or again, think of Galatians: redeemed, that we might be heirs of God. It does seem as if this is the picture.
The Apostle Paul was not the least bit afraid of taking illustrations from the Gentile world. He spoke of races—running a race. Most Christians had very little idea of those races. You had to run naked, stark naked. Paul spoke of wrestling; you wrestled stark naked. Horror to the Jews.
There were many other things Paul used. He was not afraid of using these Gentile pictures. He grew up in Tarsus. He saw it all. Some of these pictures are among the most wonderful pictures we have in the New Testament.
“All run in the race, but only one obtaineth the prize.” Paul had many illustrations from Tarsus. It is interesting that the other apostles, all of them except Paul, never used such illustrations. John never used them. Peter never used them. James never used them. Jude never used them. Only Paul—dear Paul.
Therefore, I think it is quite possible that he used the Gentile picture of adoption. It was so common. Some archaeologists say that a large number of monuments have inscriptions using these words, “placing as sons.” There are more of them than most others. In other words, it was so common that people would put a monument in the home recording that so-and-so had been adopted as the son.
But there is another picture, and I will call it the Hebrew picture, the Jewish picture. It is not, as some Bible commentaries say, Eliezer of Damascus. I think we must consider the possibility that it was the Jewish bar mitzvah.
When a Jewish boy was born in a Jewish home, he grew up. When he reached thirteen years of age, he had a bar mitzvah. Bar mitzvah is an Aramaic expression, used today in Hebrew, for a son of the law—or a son of the Word of God. Beautiful.
When a Jewish boy reaches thirteen and is recognized as a son in the house of Israel, he has responsibilities and duties that he never had before. He can be called up at any time in the synagogue to read the Word.
In the old world, in the ancient Jewish world, he could marry. It seems incredible to me to think of thirteen- and fourteen-year-olds marrying, but they did. There is every likelihood that Mary, when she bore the Lord Jesus, was only fourteen.
Now we have something tremendous. I remember Mr. Sparks saying to me—he never put it in print as such in a book—“I think myself that adoption of sons, placing as sons, is the bar mitzvah and not the Gentile form of adoption, wonderful as that picture is.”
He said, “Did you notice that Romans 8 speaks of children? You mean there are two pictures here? One of actual children being born of God—children of God, born of His Spirit—and then suddenly you are adopted, as if you were not born of God but born of somebody else.”
Others say that does not matter; it is a picture. They are two wonderful pictures. I wonder very seriously about it. In Galatians, it is even clearer because it speaks of a child not of age, under guardians and stewards until he comes of age and can inherit.
Whichever picture you take, the wonderful thing is this: there is an inheritance to be possessed. That is the point.
I personally wonder whether the bar mitzvah is the real picture. Here is someone born of his parents, reaching the age of maturity—thirteen—and being recognized as responsible in the household of faith. Is that not a marvellous picture? I think it is.
But in a way, it does not matter which picture you take. The real point is that there is an inheritance.
Now I am going to finish. You all know that usually means another half hour, but I actually am going to finish.
There is an inheritance, and the inheritance can never be possessed by children. A child can have an inheritance, but to really possess that inheritance in practical terms, that child has to grow up. He has to grow up and be educated.
The more special the place you will occupy in the eternal government of God, the more special the education. The more special the place destined by God for you in the ages to come, in His government and reign, the more special the training.
There is not a vestige of the idea that somehow you can be as mean, ugly, crabby, and cranky as you like, and then suddenly, at death, become the sweetest saint that ever lived.
You could not manage the household down here, could not manage the business, could not even manage the pet dog—they all ran away from you. But somehow, when you die, a wand will be waved over you and you will be able to govern whole areas of the earth with the Lord. It is nonsense.
If you and I are to possess our inheritance, then we have to be trained and educated, and we have to grow. We have one short life in which it all happens.
When you are young in the Lord, you have a whole life before you, and the enemy comes and whispers, “Do not be extreme. Do not be too devoted. Do not give yourself wholly to the Lord. You are young. Kick over the traces. Have a little bit of the world. Enjoy yourself.”
“You do not want to become like a sort of spiritual machine, a sanctified automaton. You do not want to look like an alien. Be human. Relax. Enjoy yourself.” You see? Yes, yes, yes—and you do.
Then you meet the girl or boy, fall in love, and marry. The enemy comes and says, “You are too busy now. You have a family to set up, children are coming, a home to get in order. Later, later. Do not commit yourself now. God understands. You have a lot of commitments.”
We put it off, and then we get to the glorious middle age, when we spread out where we do not want to spread out. In middle age, we say we do not feel like being too extreme—getting up at five in the morning for a prayer meeting.
“I think the Bible study is far too long. They should have it only half an hour and ring a bell at the end of it. Stop it all. We have middle age—the middle-age spread.” We think, “Oh, how wonderful, those young people are so on fire for the Lord,” but we are no longer on fire for the Lord. The fire has gone out.
Then we say, “When I retire, I will give myself to the Lord’s work. Then I will have time.” Of course, we wait and retire. By then we have aches and pains and disabilities. We cannot hear quite so well, see quite so well, or walk quite so well.
Our heart begins to play up, cholesterol becomes a problem, and a whole number of other things arise. The enemy says, “Now look here. You have far too many problems. You cannot give yourself to the Lord now. You have got to survive.”
Then, when you are really old—and now I am talking about being in your nineties—the enemy comes and says, “There is no need for you. You cannot be one hundred percent at ninety years of age. You are just in the anteroom, waiting to go home. They will wheel you in.”
How clever the enemy is, do you not think? When I was young, a year seemed to me a millennium. I used to think how amazing it was to wait for another event, like Christmas, when we got gifts, or a birthday, when we got gifts.
I would go to my mother and say, “When is Christmas?” She would say, “Christmas is at the end of December.” I would say, “Well, when is December?” “December is quite a few months off.”
Or I would ask about my birthday: “When is my next birthday?” Mother would always say, “You have just had your birthday.” Always the same.
I do not have any problem today. Birthdays come so fast I can hardly keep up. I hardly know my age. I have to ask them at home—my sister and the others—“What age am I?” They go so fast, I cannot keep up.
Was I sixty-eight two years ago, or was I sixty-nine? I cannot remember. Am I seventy-two? Am I seventy-one? I do not know. They have gone so fast.
To quote Mr. Sparks again, I remember him in Switzerland saying to me on one occasion, “The last fifteen years of my life have gone so fast, I do not know where they have gone.” You almost feel at times that perhaps the world is speeding up somehow; it is going faster.
But to come back to it: you have one life. In that one life, God has to convict you, save you, bring you to new birth, and then begin all your education, training, and discipline to be a son in His house. One life.
Is it any wonder that the Word of God says, “Today, if ye shall hear His voice, harden not your hearts”? Do not put it off. Do not put it off. Have dealings with the Lord. Commit yourself to the Lord. You will never regret it.
I have gone all over the world, and I have met many, many people, many of them full of regrets. They tell me their lives have been wasted because they did the wrong thing. They chose something they knew was not the will of God, and they have spent most of their lives in a wilderness, going around and around in an endless cycle and getting nowhere.
I have never met a single person who said to me, “I committed myself one hundred percent to the Lord at such-and-such a point in my life, and I deeply regret it.” I have never met a single one.
I can tell you, the people who have really committed themselves to the Lord are full of laughter, full of life, and full of grace. Those who are miserable are always those who put self first.
May the Lord help us in this matter. You have been called to be sons. If you are born of God, you are potentially that son.
But God is interested in you inheriting, coming to the throne, and reigning with Him. May the Lord somehow speak to our hearts something that we will not be able to get away from.
Shall we pray?
Beloved Lord, we bow here in Your presence. We know that each one of us, Lord, has been led by You. You have brought us here.
Our prayer, Lord, is that this time may not be wasted in any single part. Will You speak into our hearts, Lord? Will You challenge us? Will You help us by Your grace to respond, that we may be those who are one hundred percent committed to You?
We want, Lord, since You have marked us out beforehand for adoption, or placing as sons, that we might come to that sonship. May we be sons in Your house.
Beloved Lord, grip us by Your Spirit. Do not let us go, Lord. Grip us by Your Spirit, as once You did with Jacob when You appeared to him in his desperation, and he would not let You go.
Come to us, Lord, and do something in our lives. We ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.