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1. The need for adoption
a. We have a terrible parent
John 8:42-47
"Jesus said to them, 'If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on My own; but He sent Me. Why is My language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me! Can any of you prove Me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe Me? He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God." NIV
b. We were missing out on good parenting
Genesis 17:14
"Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant." NIV
Genesis 12:2-3
"I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you." NIV
Ephesians 2:12
"remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world." NIV
Romans 1:28-32
"Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them." NIV
2. The benefits of adoption
a. Children are wanted because parents choose to adopt
Hosea 2:23
"I will plant her for Myself in the land;
I will show My love to the one I called 'Not My loved one.'
I will say to those called 'Not my people,' 'You are My people';
and they will say, 'You are my God.'" NIV
Romans 9:24-26
"even us, whom He also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? As He says in Hosea:
'I will call them 'My people' who are not My people;
and I will call her 'My loved one' who is not My loved one,' and,
'It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are not My people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.'" NIV
b. The child gets a family
John 3:3
"In reply Jesus declared, 'I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." NIV
2 Corinthians 6:18
"I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." NIV
Galatians 3:26-29
"You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." NIV
Galatians 6:10
"Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers." NIV
Hebrews 2:11
"Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers." NIV
c. The child receives a new identity
Romans 4:16-17
"Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring — not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written: 'I have made you a father of many nations.' He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed — the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were." NIV
Romans 9:8-9
"In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring." NIV
2 Corinthians 5:17
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" NIV
d. People get excited about the new family member
Romans 8:18-19
"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed." NIV
Romans 8:23-24
"Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies." NIV
e. The child receives all the rights and privileges of the family
Galatians 4:4-7
"But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, 'Abba, Father.' So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir." NIV
2 Corinthians 6:18
"I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." NIV
Ephesians 1:4-11
"For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will— to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment — to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.
In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will," NIV
Ephesians 3:6
"This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus." NIV
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