Now I'm ready. Father, would you bless us this morning with your word. Would you open our hearts, open our ears, open our minds that we might see you for who you truly are, that we might see the beauty of your Son. Father, work through my words that we might give you praise and glory and adoration. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. I want to begin this morning by giving you a bit of history about a couple of people, primarily because I want us to see the common thread, common ground that we have with each of them. The first you probably know some things about, the second you probably don't. The first is a man named David Brainerd. Brainerd was a contemporary of Jonathan Edwards. He lived in the early 1700s. He was educated theologically at Yale University. Although he didn't graduate, he got into a row with one of his professors in his second year and he was asked to leave. Because he didn't graduate, he did not qualify to serve as a pastor in the church, but he did qualify to serve as a missionary, and that's indeed what he did. He served as a missionary primarily to the Native American tribes in the Northeast. He had a tremendous work taking the gospel to the Delaware Indians in Pennsylvania, and he also ministered for a number of years in New Jersey. Brainerd is notable for many things, but maybe one of the most significant is the degree of suffering that he was made to endure. Brainerd suffered physically from a respiratory ailment that today undoubtedly would have been diagnosed as tuberculosis. He eventually died from it. He spent the last weeks and months of his life in Jonathan Edwards' home being ministered to by Jonathan's daughter, Jerusha. Jerusha died a year after. Brainerd died, also presumably from tuberculosis. Brainerd passed away at the age of 29. She passed away at a similar age. But Brainerd also suffered emotionally. He was in the habit of writing a journal. He is a great example for all of us in recording his thoughts and his prayers in a journal. And they're accessible today. You can still read Brainerd's journals, especially when he was ministering to the Native American tribes. He suffered emotionally because in his journals, many, many times he expresses this desire to share his life and his ministry with someone else. He expresses how lonely he is, not speaking the language, seeking to learn the language and not having someone to share his day-to-day living with. But Brainerd also wrote in his journals about a third type of ailment. Let me just read what he wrote. Brainerd writes this, these past weeks I've become more and more aware of the depths of my depravity, the constant presence of unrighteousness. I see that even my most selfless work is enveloped in sin. My sin overwhelms me and robs me of rest. I can scarcely see how a holy God could and should utilize one such as I. What's Brainerd say? I think he's saying that he suffered from an ailment that everyone in this room who has trusted Jesus Christ with their future and with their soul has suffered with. Some of us suffer a great deal. Some of us suffer a little. Some of us suffer very frequently from this ailment. Some of us infrequently, but it's a common ailment to all believers. What's the ailment? It's the ailment of doubt. It doesn't come when you're flying high. It comes when you're riding low. It comes when you are looking at your life and saying, I failed. It comes when your kids are acting up and you think, haven't we gone over this a hundred times? Honey, we failed. We're not raising godly kids in our home. We're raising heathens. It comes when you're not as kind to your spouse as you might be. It comes at low moments. Most of us don't so much doubt. I don't think that Jesus is who He says He is. And most of us don't doubt that Jesus did what He said He would do. During low times, we doubt that we're really one of His. It's especially when we look closely at ourselves and it's especially prevalent in those people who are super sensitive spiritually. They are the folks who go over their lives with a fine tooth comb on a regular basis. And what do they always find? They always find sin. They're the ones who become disheartened by their sin and their lack of righteousness, their seeming lack of righteousness. Those are the ones who doubt if they're really a child of God. We've all been there. Some a great deal. You know, in this room, you know who you are. You know better than anyone who you are. I prayed last night that this message would be a great encouragement for you because the scripture has a definitive answer for you, whoever you are. I pray that you take it with you today and you embed it deeply in your heart. So we'll get to the scripture in just a moment. I'll introduce you to the second person. David Brainerd was the first. This person is the newest member of my extended family. Not the guy on the right. The guy in the middle. His name is Malachi. Malachi was born in Ethiopia. He's now home in central Kansas. He's going to be a wheat farmer. Probably a Jayhawk, too, but we won't talk about that. Actually, he'll probably be a wildcat. Malachi's first family, his first father, could not care for him. Could not protect him. Could not shelter him. Could not provide for him. Malachi was left in great danger. But he's been adopted. He's been adopted into a family now that will care for him and shelter him, provide for him, look after him, train him, preach the gospel to him. Malachi has gone from being an orphan to being a son. He's been transferred from orphanhood to sonhood. Now, you may not think about it much, but everyone in this room who has trusted Jesus Christ, who has given your soul, the care of your soul to Jesus Christ, you are an orphan also. I don't mean a physical orphan, although there are people in this room who are physical orphans who have been adopted physically into families. What a blessing that is and what a picture that is for all the rest of us because every single one of us who has trusted Christ was an orphan. You were born into the family of a spiritual father who did not care for you, who did not protect you who did not shelter you, who did not train you, and who did not love you. Every one of us. In fact, Jesus called your first spiritual father, the father of lies. He was a liar even in his fatherhood. But you, if you've trusted Jesus Christ, you've been adopted out. You now belong to another family. You belong to a Father who cares for you, who nurtures you, who provides for you, and most especially, who loves you. For you tender-hearted, tender-spirited people, your adoption in Christ is the key to curing your ailments of doubt permanently. It's all about your adoption. And we're going to look at three passages of scripture which either directly or indirectly speak to your adoption. And I'm going to give you an illustration as we go. And bear in mind, it's just an illustration. This is to show a point. Don't take it literally, although it might be literal. Don't take it literally. We're going to look at these three passages and they speak to your adoption chronologically. The first one is from your distant past, extremely distant past, and it's going to be out of Ephesians chapter 1. The second one you can turn there as I tell you these other two. The second one will be from your more immediate past, that will be in Galatians chapter 4. And finally, your future in Revelation chapter 12. So let's look at the first passage in Ephesians chapter 1. We're going to look at verse 4 and 5. We've been studying this in Sunday school for a time. Ephesians 1 verse 4 and 5, it's from your distant past, and let's see what it says about your adoption in Christ. Paul writes, Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him, in love He predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of His will. Now, there's something in these verses we don't want to miss regarding our adoption, and it's this. It says that you were chosen to be predestined for adoption before the foundation of the world. Before creation came into being, you were chosen to be predestined for adoption. So before you were born, God knew you would be an orphan. Before you were born, God knew you would be abandoned by your first spiritual father. Before you were born, God knew that you would be uncared for, unprotected, unprovided for, and unloved before you ever existed. But there's more. I have to tell you, Many, many times, particularly in prison ministry, I'm sure that Jack has heard this dozens of times. I've heard it dozens of times as well. Something like this. But Steve, you don't know my past. You don't know what I've done. You don't know the bridges that I've burned. You don't know what I've done to my family. to my kids and to my wife. You don't know my thought life. You don't know when I go to my room what I'm really about. My answer to that person is always the same. I tell them you're right. I don't. But I do know something that you don't know. And what I know is this, that brothers and sisters, if that is the trap that you've fallen into, if you're weighed down by your sin to the degree that it causes you, like Brainerd, to doubt, who you are in Christ. Look closely at this passage because it says this, God marked you to be adopted as his son or daughter before the foundation of the world. His hand was on you before you ever sinned. His hand was on you before Adam ever sinned. His hand was on those who would be adopted as his children before sin even came into existence. You were already marked. Write this down. Your sinlessness is not a qualification for adoption. It's the end point of your adoption. Let me say that again. Your sinlessness is not a qualification for your adoption. It's the end point of your adoption. It is true. One day you will be sinless. But it's because of your adoption, not a condition of it. Think of it like this. This is an adoption certificate. This is the illustration. Don't take it literally. This is an adoption certificate. It even says so at the top. It says, We, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit do so sovereignly and permanently transfer to our family by adoption. Dennis and Dawn and Matt and LaShawn and Darwin and Trevor and Ron and Steve and Tony and Paul and Jeff and Diane and Trish. and Kayla, and Dale, and Valerie, and Jeremy, and every single person here who has trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior. It says it on paper. I believe it. And at the bottom it says that in the fullness of time they are our adopted sons and daughters with full rights as co-heirs of all things created to the praise of His glory and its dated eternity past. There it is, folks. I'm holding it in my hands. But there's one thing that's missing from your adoption certificate. And that's the signature that validates it. Because in eternity past, it hadn't been signed. The document was prepared, but it hadn't been signed yet. So with that in mind, let's look at our next passage of Scripture. Flip over to Galatians chapter 4. We're going to read verses 3 to verse 7. In the same way, we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you were sons, God has sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God." We need to understand what this passage is saying. In verse 3 it says, When we were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world, In other words, when we were under the fatherhood of our first spiritual father, who made sure that we were completely enslaved to the world because of his love for himself, not his love for us. He had us dead in our trespasses, consumed by the passions of our flesh, We were uncared for. We were unsheltered. We were unprovided for. And we were in great danger. But verse four begins with two critical words. But. When. Something happened. They mark the finalization of your adoption certificate. But when. But when the fullness of time had come, Jesus became incarnate. Think about this. He became a man and ventured to where you lived. And he signed your certificate of adoption. He signed the documents so that he could take you home with him. Just like Malachi to central Kansas came home. You don't need a plane to fly home, but you're going. The fee's already been paid and the flight is already booked. It's just a matter of time before you fly away to your home with your true spiritual Father. When Jesus finished His work on the cross, do you remember the last three words that He said? It is finished. Now that applies to many, many things. But one of the things it applies to is your adoption. The documents were signed on the cross by the Lord Jesus Christ. The transferal had occurred. The signature was affixed. Now we see on your certificate the signature of Jesus the Christ. It's done. It's finished. You're now a son or a daughter of God Himself because of the work of the cross. But there's one more issue we need to look at with your adoption and that's this. Turn to Revelation chapter 12. This pertains to your future. Why? Because your adoption is going to be contested. In fact, it's being contested even now. But there will be a day when it will be severely contested. Revelation chapter 12 verse 10 and 11. And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down who accuses them day and night before our God. and they have conquered him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony for they love not their lives even unto death." Who is it that Satan is accusing? It's the brothers. Some versions say the brothers and the sisters. It's the family that Satan is accusing. He's going before the judge, God himself, and making accusations against the family. I think the accusations will be something like this when you stand before the White Throne, before the Lord himself, Satan will say, look, Jesus, look at him. Look at his sin. He's not a holy man. And you know what Jesus will say? He'll say, yeah, I know. And then Satan will say, he hasn't loved you with all of his heart and mind and soul. And Jesus will say, yeah, I know. And then it's very possible that Satan could say, he's not your son. The adoption is a fraud. It's fake. It's a fallacy. He doesn't belong to you. He belongs to me. I am his spiritual father. And then I think Jesus will say something like this. Let's check the certificate, Satan. Let's see. Nope. There's his name on the certificate of adoption that was written in eternity past. And there's my signature on that same document. And Satan, there's my seal in my blood on his certificate. It's real. He's a son of God and a brother of mine. He doesn't belong to you, Satan. He belongs to us. He's our family. Be gone, Satan. Now, obviously, I don't know if there's going to be an adoption document. I'd love it if there was. I'd love it if Jesus whipped that out while we stood there and went, whoa, watch this. I'd love it if he showed that it was sealed in his blood. I don't know if that'll be the case or not, but I do know this. When that time comes, your adoption is going to be defended by the Lord himself. You're not going to have to descend it. The Lord himself is going to say, no, he's mine. His future was sealed and signed in my blood, not his. Now, three quick points of application and I'll finish up. If we can go back one. Here it comes. That's good too, but yeah. Three quick points of application, especially for you who know who you are. Malachi did not pick his second father, and neither did you. He was chosen by His new family. And you were chosen by yours. It's not Malachi's signature on his adoption certificate that makes it valid. Neither is it yours. His father signed his. Jesus signed yours. And lastly, remember this. Malachi is not a perfect boy. And neither are you. But he's been adopted into a family that's committed to caring for him and loving him and providing for him and protecting him and nurturing him. And so have you. you can finally rest in your adoption. Let's pray. Father, our hearts sometimes condemn us. Our old fathers, Satan himself tries to And yet you have placed your seal on our lives. You have claimed us out of great danger to be your adopted sons and daughters for all eternity. You have placed your hands of care and love around us. and brought us into the family. Father, burn that deeply, deeply, deeply into our hearts and into our minds. When our minds cause us to doubt, Father, drive it away by thoughts of our adoption in Jesus Christ. Father, when the evil one would accuse us stand as our adoptive father and say, no, it wasn't their sinlessness. It wasn't their signature. It was my blood that sealed them into my family. Father, cause us to rejoice this day. and being brought into your family and to be given the right to be called your true sons and your true daughters. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.