Part Five: "Salvation, A Deeper Look" (Adoption)

Our text is found in Ephesians 1:5-6, which reads, "He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will," "to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved." What does it mean for the Christ follower to be adopted by God? How many of us who are Christ followers ever pause to reflect on and embrace the awesome truth of being adopted into God's family through faith in Christ Jesus? Adoption is a wonderful and precious doctrine for the Christ follower to know and understand! From our passage, we see that adoption is from God. It's His plan. It's something God has purposed to do. It's God sovereign, eternal plan. Apostle Paul says, "He predestined us to adoption." The word "predestined" means, "To mark out, appoint, or determine beforehand." In other words, God determined beforehand our adoption. Those God has determined beforehand, He destines for adoption into His family! It means that God did not figure this out when humanity sinned and orphaned themselves in this world! God determined beforehand our adoption before we could have anything to do with it! In other words, our adoption into God's family is not based on anything good or right with us. It has nothing to do with our worth, or whether we deserved it. Adoption is based on God's eternal purpose, which never changes, and on His amazing grace and mercy. This also means that our adoption into God's family is not fragile, uncertain, or in any jeopardy of being lost! God does not adopt and then decide that we're not worthy and orphan us! He already knows that we're not worthy and still chose to adopt us. How awesome is that? If that's not good news, I don't know what is! Let me close with these remarks: If you want to know how well a Christ follower understands salvation, find out how much he or she makes of the fact of being God's child, adopted into His family, and having God as his or her Father. Let us thank God for His gracious gift of adoption and the wonderful privilege of claiming the exalted title of "children of God." Your move. Be encouraged!