if you would turn with me in your copy of the scriptures to Ephesians chapter one we'll be looking a little bit more at a passage that pastor had referred to in the morning meditation as well Ephesians chapter one, I'll begin reading at verse three Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him. before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him. Verse five, in love he predestined us to adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved, in him. We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven, and things on earth. In him, that is in Christ, we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. Let's bow in prayer, shall we? Father in heaven, and we delight at even being able to address you as Father. We pray that you would help us to sense our privilege this evening, even as you and your Son, the Lord Jesus, and this Spirit have conspired to bring us to glory. Help us to sense the privilege and to walk in light of that. We ask this in your name, Lord Jesus. Amen. Our meditation for this Lord's Supper is focusing primarily on verse five of our text, specifically our adoption as sons of God through the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. J.I. Packer, in his book, Knowing God, introduces the subject of adoption with these words. You sum up the whole of the New Testament teaching in a single phrase. You speak of it as a revelation of the fatherhood of the holy creator. In the same way, you sum up the whole New Testament religion if you describe it as the knowledge of God as one's holy father. If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, Find out how much he makes of the thought of being God's child and having God as his father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all. For everything that Christ taught, Everything that makes the New Testament new and better than the old, everything that is distinctly Christian as opposed to merely Jewish, is summed up in the knowledge of the fatherhood of God. Father is the Christian name for God. Of the church collectively, Paul writes in Galatians 4, beginning at verse 4, But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. To us as individual Christians, Paul continues in verse seven, so you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir through God. I have to confess I'm indebted to Pastor Robin Chura for much of her study this evening. So if you find something profitable, it's largely due to his work. but briefly observe with me on your notesheets several introductory perspectives concerning adoption. First, adoption involves the whole Trinity. As we've just said, God the Father initiated our adoption prior to the creation of the world. Secondly, the Lord Jesus secured our adoption by virtue of the sacrifice of himself on the cross. and are being united to him. That fact we celebrate tonight in the Lord's Supper. Jesus is the divine agent of our adoption. So notice as well that the Spirit is the Spirit of adoption sent into our hearts by whom we instinctively call God, Abba Father. Calvin observes this adoption must be preceded, must have preceded the testimony of adoption given by the Spirit. In other words, the adoption and then the witness of the Spirit. But the effect is the sign of the cause. So Paul says to call God your Father, you have the advice and direction of the Spirit of Christ. And therefore it is certain you are sons of God. This agrees elsewhere what is taught by him that the Spirit is the earnest and pledge of our adoption and gives us a well-founded belief that God regards us with the Father's love. Adoption involves the whole Trinity. Secondly, adoption is to be understood within its Roman context. as Paul, in particular, used this concept in scripture. In the Roman Empire, a person could become a son of a father by the man who adopted the son into his family, who was not his son by natural procreation. That adopted son or daughter possessed the right to the name and the property of the person by whom he was adopted. It was considered a tremendous honor that someone important would set this love upon such a one to make him his son. You may recall the book or the movie Ben-Hur, in which the main character Judah Ben-Hur was adopted by a Roman statesman. This elevated this Jewish slave as a citizen and an honored individual in the empire. And so adoption involves the whole Trinity, and we want to understand that term as it's used in its Roman context. But thirdly, adoption is distinct from our justification in salvation. Both of these are legal acts. It's true. Murray writes, justification means our acceptance with God as righteous and the bestowal of the title to everlasting life. In regeneration, that is the renewing of our hearts after the image of God. But by adoption, the redeemed become sons or daughters of the Lord God Almighty. They are introduced into and have the privilege of God's family. As Dr. Waldron has written helpfully, justification refers to the offending sinner in God's criminal court, while adoption references the slave in God's civil court. Justification has to do with sin and righteousness, while adoption has to do with slavery and sonship. Both of these are legal acts, and yet they are distinct in their operations. And fourthly, by way of introduction, adoption is eschatological in its scope, or you could say it's future in its scope. as we've just sung in the previous hymn. While adoption certainly impacts our lives in this present age, the New Testament also points to a fuller and final adoption with our resurrection unto glory. As we've learned in Romans 8 in recent days, beginning in verse 18, Paul writes, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory, with the glory that is to be revealed in us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves. who have the first fruits of the Spirit grown inwardly as we eagerly wait for the adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. So you see in verse 19, sons of God. In verse 21, children of God. And then finally in verse 23, our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. So with these perspectives in mind, Let's consider Roman numeral one. What is the definition of adoption? What is the definition of adoption? If you would pick up the red Trinity hymnal in front of you and turn to the back of that so we can look at this together. the Westminster Confession of Faith, and if you're a stubborn Reformed Baptist like some of you I know to be, you can grab the Blue Trinity Hymnal at the end of the pew and turn to the back of that, Chapter 12. They're word for word the same. I'll look the other way as you reach for it. Page 855 in the Westminster Confession, Chapter 12. All those, I think it's at the bottom of the page there, all those that are justified, God vouchsafed, in other words, He graciously granted, God vouchsafed in and for the sake of His only Son, Jesus Christ, to make partakers of the grace of adoption. by which we are taken into the number and enjoy the liberties and privileges of the children of God, having his name written upon them, receive the spirit of adoption, have access to the throne of grace with boldness, and are enabled to cry, Abba, Father, our pity. protected, provided for, and chastened by him as by a father, and yet never cast off, but sealed to the day of redemption, and inherit the promises as heirs of everlasting salvation. The word adoption comes over from the Greek word hoiathesia, which is a compound of hoios, which means son, and tethamine, which means to put or to place. So it's the placing as a son, or to place as a son. So to clarify, there is a sense in which all mankind are the offspring of God, as Paul spoke to those men of Athens there in Acts chapter 17. Adam was a son of God. having been made in God's image and yet his privileged status as a son of God was lost when he rebelled against God. So sonship suggests a shared nature at least in part and this of course is epitomized in in Jesus the second Adam, the only begotten son of God. Everyone in this room possesses tremendous dignity of being created in God's image. Each of us possesses that tremendous value and dignity for that reason. But this is not the relationship which Paul refers to here. In the grace of adoption, we are granted the inestimable privilege of being made sons and daughters of the living God. And yet, does this happen to everyone indiscriminately? Look on with me to Roman numeral two. We've looked at the definition of adoption. Roman numeral two, the recipients of adoption. Who are the recipients? Who are the people that Paul's mentioning in Ephesians chapter one? When Paul uses the term adoption, it is clearly restricted to believers in Christ. Now there are passages throughout the Bible that portray the nation of Israel as God's son. We may look at that at another time perhaps. This status as sons was typical and contrasted Israel's special relationship, special privilege and favor compared to the nations around them. As we heard this morning, that was due to God's election. It is not until the New Testament era that the Church realizes a real and substantial sonship or adoption. As we read in Galatians 4, beginning in verse 4, But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son. born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons. And the Lord Jesus himself is very plain in referring to the Jewish Pharisees, not as sons of God, but as children of the devil in John 8, 44. Paul refers to all humanity as children of wrath under God's condemnation in Ephesians 2. Note what John says in John chapter 1 beginning at verse 12. But to all who did receive him, that is Christ, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And therefore, our actual adoption follows faith in Christ. Not only does the passage inform us of a spiritual birth, but a legal standing of the believer being a child of God. Now, not long ago, it became apparent to me that one of our sons needed a more reliable car to go to work. I began a search by examining used car models based upon their repair history. That detailed search eventually brought us to a dealership down in Wilmington, where I found the exact car I had determined to buy, trusting that this, too, would be a reliable means of transportation for our son. We had a plan. We made a choice based upon that plan. God the Father in eternity past also had a plan of bringing many sons to glory as adopted sons through his only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus. And yet, unlike that car purchase, God the Father did not choose who would be the most reliable persons to adopt. who would bring him the most delight. Unlike our car purchase, none of humanity was reliable nor delightful, as we read in Ephesians chapter two. And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. among whom you also, we also, once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind." Now, back in 2018, To illustrate this, two Russian orphans were adopted. One healthy boy was quickly placed with a family, while the other with a rare skin disease was left. After some time, a Christian couple visited this child in the orphanage, and out of all the children, they chose this little boy in very poor health. His name was Anton Delgado. Some of you may recall praying for this sickly child. And that adoption pictures, in a small way, the very grace of God. Sadly, Anton's life was cut short by his illness, and yet he was dearly loved during his short life. So where did our spiritual adoption originate? We've looked at the recipients of adoption. We've looked at the definition of adoption. We now need to consider, and again back to the confession of faith, we now need to consider the author of adoption. The author of adoption. And in the confession we read that God vouchsafed or graciously granted in and for the sake of his only son Jesus Christ to make partakers of the grace of adoption. Who is the author of adoption? As we go back to our text in Ephesians chapter 1, We see in verse three, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing. in the heavenly places, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. And here it is, verse 5. In love, He, that is God the Father, predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will. We see as well in the Galatians 4 text, in verse 6, And because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. It is God the Father did this, and he did it prior to the world's making. when we were spiritually dead to him, vile offspring of fallen Adam. Not only orphans wandering aimlessly through life, but active rebels against him, defiling all that had the impress of our Creator upon it. We worshipped the creature rather than the Creator. As Scottie Smith has said, we weren't in the orphanage of loneliness, we were in the morgue of hopelessness. And what's more, in adoption, God gives us as gifts to his beloved son. I read from John 6 in verse 37. All that the Father gives me will come to me, Jesus says. And whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. We are granted, given to the Son by God the Father. In verse 44 of the same chapter. No one comes to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day. And verse 65, and he said, Jesus said, this is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by my father. Does this impact how you pray for your unconverted loved ones? This directs our minds to the role of the son in the adoption process. So we need to turn to Roman numeral four, the mediator of adoption. We've looked at the definition, the recipients, the author who is God the Father, and now the mediator of adoption. And again, in the 1689 confession, God vouchsafed or graciously granted in and for the sake of His only Son, Jesus Christ, in and for the sake of His only Son, Jesus Christ, to make partakers of the grace of adoption. If you would turn forward with me to Hebrews chapter 2, for a moment, Hebrews chapter 2. And we'll pick up the reading in verse 10. But as we read through this, I'd like you to note the relation of the adopted sons of God to the Lord Jesus as I read through this paragraph. Hebrews chapter 2, beginning at verse 10. The writer to the Hebrews says this. For it was fitting that he by whom for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source, and that is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers. saying, I will tell of your name to my brothers in the midst of the congregation. I will sing your praise, verse 13. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, behold, I and the children God has given me. Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. And surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. while this passage doesn't drill down to adoption per se, it certainly alludes to it. Our author here uses the phrase many sons in verse 10. we're assigned a familial term, brother, in verses 11 and 12. And in verse 13, we're referred to there as children God has given to Christ. So we who believe in Christ are the spiritual offspring of Abraham, a brother to the Lord Jesus, is a child of God through him. So we are among the many sons brought to glory through Christ, the founder of our salvation. We are his brothers, his flesh and his blood, as it were. We are among the children that God the Father has given to his son. Jesus partook of our flesh and blood to destroy our adversary, the devil. And in so doing, he delivered us from the fear of death and our slavery to sin and the fear of judgment. Praise the Lord Jesus Christ. But consider as well, going back to John 6, 37, where Jesus says, all the Father gives me will come to me. and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. My hearer, if you have believed in Jesus for salvation, it is only because God the Father marked you out before creation to give you as a gift to his son. And Jesus would secure your adoption as a child of God. Receiving you as that gift, Jesus gladly laid down his life for you. It is of this reality that Isaiah speaks in Isaiah 53 verses 10 and 11. And yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He's put him to grief when his soul makes an offering for guilt. He shall see his offspring. Isaiah writes, he shall prolong his days and the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Verse 11, out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied. He shall see his offspring. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous and he shall bear their iniquities. Note Jesus' role in the adoption process in Ephesians 1. He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has blessed us in the Beloved, in Christ. Dan Kruver observes, Paul is revealing that adoption was not given to us apart from or in isolation from Jesus, nor was it given to us in addition to Jesus. Rather, adoption is nothing less than the placement of sons in the Son. These two concepts, adoption unto the Father and being in Christ, or united to Christ, are so necessarily joined to one another as being inseparable. Pastor Robert Ventura makes this observation. Adoption has only one ground, the sinless life and the substitutionary, sin-bearing work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. Adoption has only one ground, the person and work of Christ. R.C. Sproul puts this all together when he said these words. It is through the grace of God that we are brought into the family of God through adoption. And we, in turn, are the Father's gift to the Son. From all eternity, the Father and the Son were in agreement in this enterprise. And so the Father was pleased to give us to the Son. And the Son was pleased to receive us from the Father. The Son was so pleased about this gift that He laid down His life for us while we were still sinners, so that we might be His brothers and sisters. Well, we've seen that it's only believers that can become sons of God, that it is God the Father who is the author of the adoption process, and it is only through our union with Jesus Christ, the mediator, that we can become children of God. So what does this mean to you and me? What are the reflections that we need to consider and the applications? First, Letter under A, I think, on your outline, reflect your father's likeness. Reflect your father's likeness. If you would turn forward with me to 1 John chapter 3, where the apostle writes, 1 John chapter 3, beginning at verse 1, see, see what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now. And what we do, what we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him. Because we shall see him as he is. Verse three, and anyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. Go back to verse one. John the Apostle wants us to focus on two wonderful realities. The first, who is greater than God himself? And second, who is closer What closer relation could we have than to be technon, to be children? God, who created the worlds by his word, has called us children, made us heirs of eternal life with him. Child of God, wonder at your privilege. As Pastor Martin used to say, we have the run of God's house in grace. And further, John calls us to action here. One of my sons bears a striking resemblance to me, especially when I was younger. There's no denying the fact that he's my son. He bears my likeness, we say. How sad for him. But God would have us resemble him as well, and we are to actively engage in putting off anything that resembles our previous master, the devil, and put on all that we know of our new family as children of the living God. And you know the text from Romans 8, verse 29. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. You can see that our adoption is woven into Paul's patterns of thought even here. God's plan is to make us like our older brother, the Lord Jesus, conformed to his image. But let's follow that line of thought a little deeper under B. We're to imitate our Savior's relationship to the Father. We're to imitate our Savior's relationship to the Father. Now, of course, only the Lord Jesus is the eternal Son of the Father. The best saints in heaven will never be deity. And that is why I'm suggesting that we're urging that we imitate that relationship perhaps in a more limited way. But we must realize our utter dependence upon our Heavenly Father and to live in light of that reality. If you would look with me at John chapter 5 beginning at verse 19. So Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord. John 5 verse 19. But only what he sees the Father doing. And whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. That's what children do, isn't it? They imitate their dads. If you turn over to the next chapter in John 38, we were here earlier. Jesus says, for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. Verse 38, I speak of what I have seen with my father and you do what you have heard from your father. And of course, he's speaking to the Pharisees there. And this is an aspect of sonship that was evident, of course, in Adam prior to the fall as well. God spoke in his creative acts. Adam used his words as well to give definition to the world that God had made. God rested on the seventh day, on the Sabbath, and Adam did as well, imitating his heavenly father. And so this reality is reflected in Jesus' practice of often retreating, often before dawn, to commune with his father. In Mark 1.35, and rising very early in the morning while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place and there he prayed. from Luke 4 verse 42. And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people saw him and came to him. and would have kept him from leaving them. Again, in Luke's gospel, chapter 6, in verse 12. In those days, he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. Jesus certainly practiced what he preached in the prelude to the Lord's Prayer of Matthew 6. But when you pray, Go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. So this is the Son of God who spent all eternity past living in unbroken communion with the Father. As the God-man or Savior lived, not only in utter submission to the Father to do His will, but evidenced in His pure life a complete dependence upon the Father. To illustrate this in Matthew chapter four, you know of Jesus' temptation being let out by the spirit to the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. In verse two, when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, afterward he was hungry. Now when the tempter came to him, he said, if you are the son of God, command that these stones become bread. And he answered and said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Jesus lived upon the Father's word. Never a moment did he consider himself independent of the Father. Jesus was never the source of his own sufficiency. And this is what made the agony of the cross, as we're considering, being abandoned of the Father, being made sin on our behalf, for this Son to be cut off from that union in His perfect humanity was unbearable. As we read in Psalm 22, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me from the words of my groaning? This abandonment was unknown by the Lord Jesus until that time. And again, think of the object lesson that the Lord Jesus gives the disciples as they're on their way to Jerusalem in Matthew 18. At that time, the disciples came to Jesus saying, who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And then Jesus called a little child to him and set him in their midst. And they're all looking at this child. And he said, assuredly I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of God. And therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives this little one like this in my name receives me. You know, a child intuitively lives in complete dependence upon his mom or dad. Jesus urges his disciples to have the same lowliness of mind, a childlike trust and dependency, like that widow who gave her last mite to the temple. We are never greater in God's kingdom than realizing our dependence on the Father's care. Because that could only have been done by an implicit trust in her Heavenly Father. Social Security may go bust in 10 years. Our Father will never go bust. He will always care for His own. And again in Galatians 4, And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into his hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Paul Miller writes, It is the Spirit of His Son praying. The Spirit is bringing the childlike heart of Jesus into my heart and crying, Abba, Father. Jesus' longing for his Father becomes my longing. My spirit meshes with Jesus' spirit. And I, too, begin to cry, Father. When Jesus prayed, most scholars think that he regularly addressed his Father as Abba. It is similar to our word Papa. Their logic runs like this. You know the word Abba because it burned itself into the disciples' minds. They were so stunned. No one had ever spoken to God so intimately before. that when they told the Greek Christians about Jesus they carried over the Aramaic Abba into the Greek translations of the Bible. This so shocked Paul that he never that he used Abba both in Romans and Galatians. Translators have continued the pattern set by these early disciples and no matter what language scripture is in it is still used as Abba. The one word prayer, Father, is uniquely Jesus' prayer. His first recorded sentence at age 12 is about his father. Did you not know that I must be in my father's house? In Luke 2 49. Abba is the first word of the prodigal son utters when he returns home. It is the first word of our Lord's prayer. It is the first word Jesus prays in Gethsemane. It is his first word on the cross. Father forgive them. in Luke 23, 34. And it is also his last. Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. In verse 46. Is there in you a growing sense of your dependence upon your heavenly Father? Even as a child is upon his or her parents. We considered Zechariah 4, 6 this morning, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. Jesus knew this, but is there a growing in you, a longing to be in the presence of the Father? How long can you go without prayer to your heavenly Father? Is there an awareness of the Father's desire to communion with you as Jesus knew that? Is there a longing for the Father as Jesus longed for communion with Him? A recognition that we live in complete dependence upon the Father? It was just so natural for Jesus to spend time with the Father. And it was just so natural for Jesus. And you having this spirit of adoption, the spirit of his son, can have the same natural bent bringing forth that little prayer, Abba, Father. Go to him privately and early. Also go to him as often as you can throughout the day, maintaining that spirit of prayer, even if but briefly. Well, we've reflected upon our relationship with the Father. We need to imitate that relationship the Son has with the Father. Thirdly, appreciate. Appreciate the covenant meal of your spiritual family. Appreciate the covenant meal of your spiritual family. Our confession of faith describes one of the privileges of adoption, is that we are taken into the number. And by that they meant that the Father cut us free. from the natural family of Adam, in which we once belonged as children of wrath. And now we are grafted into Christ, and in him, and into the covenant family of the people of God. As Peter writes this in 1 Peter 2, verse 10, once you were not a people, but now you are a people. You are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now have received mercy. Paul writing in Colossians 1 beginning at verse 13, he has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins. So we need to consider that we're taken into the number and as this covenant meal is set before you and before me, consider how that Consider how it is this honor that has come to you and to me this evening. Before the worlds were fashioned, the Father and the Son together made a pact to redeem you and to redeem me. The Father chose you for nothing but his good pleasure, took pity upon you, so full of self, of pride you were, and me, yet blind to how despised a thing you were. You, a partaker of Adam's rebellion, of a rebel race, An active rebel you proved to be as well, hating God and hating one another. But out of his sheer good pleasure, gave you to his son as a gift to redeem. The son delighted to include you in those relative few. He agreed wholeheartedly to lay down his life so that you might sit here this evening at this table. The Father and the Son sent the Spirit to arrest you, to make you know your guilt and liability for judgment. The Father called you by His Son. As we heard this morning, to be united to Jesus gave you new life and a true hatred for your sins. He justified you, sanctified you, and adopted you as Jesus' sibling into His family. And so we do this not as individuals, but as brothers and sisters, don't we? United to Christ, our firstborn brother, and united to one another as well. From Ephesians 4, Paul writes, I therefore, prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've been called with all humility. and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. For there is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to one hope that belongs to your call. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. So I ask you as I ask myself this evening, is there anything in you that would threaten that unity to which you've been called? a sinful pattern, a breach of love, your self-will. Before your Father and the Lord Jesus, make quick work of your repentance. Resolve before God, you'll commit yourself to addressing whatever that concern would be if there is one. And finally, to those this evening who are not ready to participate in the Lord's Supper, Please appreciate what this symbolic meal represents to us here. Jesus, our Passover lamb, was sacrificed for all God's people to turn away his wrath for our moral crimes and rebellion against him. These simple elements of the fruit of the vine and of the bread are a memorial to Jesus, who secured our way to become children of the living God and that for all eternity. May I provoke you to jealousy, my friend? Agree with God about how you've turned out of the way of His commandments and admit your crimes. Trust Jesus Christ to take away your offenses and their guilt. Let Him bear your death sentence for you. Hear the Father's call to you in the good news of His Son. Let's pray. Father, I've had such low thoughts of you and your desire that I would be your adopted son. Help me to sense my privilege, O Lord. May that also be true of all of us, O Lord, that we would have a greater sense of how loved we are by such a father. that you would give each one of us here to your son, who would gladly lay down his life that we could be restored and adopted, that he would be our older brother, that we would be of his flesh and blood. that we would be heirs of God through Jesus Christ. O Lord, help us, forgive us, help us to walk in light of the privilege that we have, that we've even read this evening. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.