The Spirit Confirms Our Adoption

Romans 8:14‑16

     Well, let's look together, Romans chapter 8 verses 14 to 16, and since you're not going anywhere tomorrow ... sit back and relax. And we're just going to look at God's Word and be blessed.

In Romans chapter 8, 1 want to read for you verses 14 through 16, just that brief three verses, and open up your hearts, I trust, to this most wonderful, wonderful passage.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.

This has to be one of the most beautiful, one of the richest passages in all of the Scripture. It speaks about our relationship with God. A nd the word that keys it is the word "adoption" in verse 15. We are sons of God, in verse 14. We are children of God, in verse 16. A nd that is true because we have been adopted, as verse 15 indicates.

Now, the very word "adoption" needs our attention for a few moments. It's a rich word, it is a word filled with love. It's a word filled with mercy. It's a word filled with grace...the word adoption. To give you just a simple definition, adoption is a legal action whereby a person is taken into a family, usually not in anyway related to him. It's a legal action whereby a person is taken into a family usually not in anyway related to him. And when taken into that family, he is then given all the rights and privileges of a member of that family. It's a very beautiful picture. I think it's a very wonderful thing. I think even in the human realm, adoption is a merciful, loving, gracious, beautiful thing. Especially is that indicated to us in the Scripture.

Go with me for a moment to three cases in the Old Testament. First is Exodus 2 and here we find the first biblical case of adoption.

There went a man unto the house of Levi, took to wife a daughter of Levi, the woman conceived, bore a son. When she saw him that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months and when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes and dabbed it with slime and with pitch and put the child therein and she laid in the the flags, or the reeds by the river's brink. And his sister stood afar off to see what would be done to him. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river and her maidens walked along by the river side and when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to fetch it. And when she had opened it, she saw the child and behold the babe wept. And she had compassion on him and said, this is one of the Hebrew's children. Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child for thee? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away and nurse it for me and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child and nursed him." And she got to nurse her own child. It was all set up not only by them but God. Then verse 10. "The child grew and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son and she called his name Moses, and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.

And so, Moses was the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter. And it was God's plan through adoption to put him in a most strategic place.

Look with me at the second chapter of Esther ... the second chapter of Esther. And it says in verse 5, "Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew," you need to know that the Jews at this point are captives in Persia. "And there was a certain Jew in the palace whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite, who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives who had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away." So these are Jews in exile. "And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had neither father nor mother and the maid was fair and beautiful whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter."

And here again, God has an adoption situation in a very strategic time and place in history. And first of all, Moses was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter in order that he might be placed strategically to be the deliverer of Israel. And here again, Esther is most marvelously adopted into Mordecai's family, that she too might be a deliverer for Israel. And indeed, it was her strategic place in the life of that pagan nation that really saved the lives of the people of Israel who were captive there. So two very strategic and very beautiful and wonderful stories of adoption.

But I think the most tender and loveliest adoption story of all of Scripture is found in 2 Samuel chapter 9. And I want you to look at that for a few moments and I want to share what I think is just a tremendously rich story ... 2 Samuel chapter 9.

Now we might understand that Pharaoh's daughter would be sympathetic to a little Hebrew baby floating in a little ark in the reeds and long to have a child of her own. We might say that that was an adoption out of sympathy. And then in the case of Mordecai and Esther, we might say it was an adoption out of responsibility. In other words, here is a young girl whose parents are dead, she is related to Mordecai and so he feels responsible to take care of her. And if, in fact, the adoption of Pharaoh was a sympathy... the adoption, I should say, by Pharaoh's daughter was a sympathy adoption, and if Mordecai's adoption of Esther was a responsibility adoption, here is an adoption strictly and only out of love. And so, in a sense, this becomes the most lovely of all.

And David is the key to this one. In verse 9...verse 1 of chapter 9, in chapter 9 verse 1, David said: "Is there yet any who is left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?" Now David had had an archenemy in Saul and repeatedly, Saul had done everything within his power to kill David. Saul's life was a tremendous tragedy. He was proud. He was jealous. He was murderous. And he despised and hated David. But his son Jonathan loved David and David loved Jonathan. And so, for the sake of Jonathan, David says, "Is there anyone left in the house of Saul that I may show kindness for Jonathan's sake?" David wants to extend kindness to the house of his enemy. And verse 2 says, "There was of the house of Saul a servant whose name was Ziba. And when he had called him unto David, the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba? And he said, Thy servant is he."

Saul's house by now, of course, as you know, had been fairly well decimated. "And the king said, Is there not yet any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness of God unto him? And Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan hath yet a son who is lame on his feet." He says Jonathan has a son and this son is lame. If you want to know about it, you go back to chapter 4 verse 4. And it says, "And Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son who was lame in his feet, he was five years old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel and his nurse took him up and fled. And it came to pass as she made haste to flee, she fell and he became lame and his name was Mephibosheth." So, from the time he was five, he was crippled in his feet.

And so, Ziba tells David that there is this one grandson of Saul, son of Jonathan who is lame in his feet. And there's sort of a tone of disdain. I mean, we've got one crippled person and that's about all. And the king said unto him, "Where is he? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he is in the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, in Lo‑debar." Very interesting ... Lo‑debar.

Now here is the enemy, Saul. And here is a relation to Saul who is part of the enemy, he's crippled. He's not anyone who carries any weight in society. And he lives in a place called Lo‑debar, which, by the way, means "the barren land." He is an insignificant man in an insignificant place.

Verse 5 says, "Then King David sent and fetched him out of the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel from Lo‑debar. Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David, he fell on his face and did abeyance." In other words, he fell down before the king. "And David said, Mephibosheth. And he answered, Behold thy servant. And David said unto him, Fear not." Now David, of course, calling the man in, the man knowing that he was an enemy family to David would have been under fear. David said, "Don't be afraid." "For I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father and thou shalt eat at my table continually."

He says, "I'll give you back all the land that Saul originally possessed. I'll give you back all of that, not because you're worthy," he's very unworthy for his family had done all possible to kill the king. "And he bowed himself and said, What is thy servant that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?" I mean, he had been looked down on so long in his life, for so many years in his life, and this has got to be 14 or 15 years after Jonathan's death. For so long he's been looked down that he sees himself as a dead dog. And when you, in the east, call yourself a dog, that is the worst thing you could say. Did you ever go to the Arab countries and watch what happens to dogs? They're kicked an over the place. You might want to walk up to pet a dog in that part of the world, the dog will cringe and cower and run. And a dead dog is all he can see himself as.

"Then the king called to Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to him, I've given unto thy master's son all that pertained to Saul and to his house." He gives him ... he gives him back everything that belonged to the king in his house. "Thou therefore and thy sons and thy servants shall till the land for him." Not only does he give him the land but he gives him a whole group of people to take care of the land. He gives him all the servants. "And you bring in his crop that thy master's son may have food to eat, but Mephibosheth thy master's son shall eat always at my table. Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants." So he sets off, you know, here's 36 people to take care of the land. He got the land and 36 people to take care of it and they're under king's orders. But he says Mephibosheth is to have all that comes from that, but he's to eat his personal meals at my table.

"Then said Ziba unto the king, According to all that my lord the king hath commanded his servant, so shall thy servant do. As for Mephibosheth, saith the king," here it is, "he shall eat at my table as one of the king's...what? ... sons." Isn't that beautiful? As one of the king's sons. He's an adopted son. David adopts Mephibosheth. "And Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Mica. And all who dwelled in the house of Ziba were servants unto Mephibosheth. So Mephibosheth dwelled in Jerusalem for he did eat regularly at the king's table and he was lame on both is feet." It's as if to say, can you believe that? In that culture where they threw out people that were cripple? He ate at the king's table. Oh, what a wonderful thing.

Here is an adoption, an adoption of grace, an adoption of mercy, an adoption of love. And as you read it through, as I read it through, I was struck at how analogous it is to our adoption into the family of God. See if you can't sense that analogy.

David took the initiative, right?, in adopting Mephibosheth. And the Lord takes the initiative in adopting us.

David showed mercy to one who was unworthy, one who had descended from an evil enemy. So does the Lord seek among the children of the devil His sons to adopt.

     David was motivated by love for Jonathan. And in our case, God was motivated by love for Christ and He redeemed us for Christ's sake, it says.

And David desired to show kindness and so Ephesians 2:6 says that we've been saved in order that God might show us eternal kindness.

And David chose one who was outside the standard of perfection. And so, God has chosen those who are outside the standard of perfection.

By the way, Mephibosheth means "a shameful thing." And he lived in Lo‑debar which means "the barren land," or literally a place of no pasture. He was a nobody from nowhere. And those are just the kind of people God takes as His sons.

And then the climax, David brought him to his own table to feed him as one of his own. And so does the Lord bring us to His table.

And then David gave him an inheritance. And so does the Lord promise to us. And the analogy goes on and on.

It is a beautiful picture of spiritual adoption where God takes men and by His own initiative and based on His own love and not anything to do with their worthiness and for the sake of Christ whom He loves, takes as sons those who formerly were enemies.

In 2 Corinthians chapter 6, listen to two verses, 17 and 18. "Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord. And touch not the unclean and I will receive you and will be a Father unto you and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord almighty." The Almighty God is adopting children. And who are they? Those who separate themselves, touch not the unclean thing and come to Him. It started with the people of

Israel, Romans 9:4 says, "To them pertains the adoption." And, of course, has extended to all the redeemed in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1:5, "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of sons by Jesus

Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will."

So, you see then that adoption is a very marvelous truth, a very beautiful biblical reality. Now let's go back to Romans chapter 8 and understand this particular passage in reference to the general idea of adoption. We who are saved have received the spirit of adoption. We have been made sons of God. We have been made children of God. We, who are unworthy, have been brought in as sons.

Now remember, just to give you a little background again, remember verse 1 of this chapter?