Larger Catechism – Day 35 of Lent
Question 74: What
is adoption?
Answer: Adoption is an act of God’s free grace in and for his only son,
Jesus Christ, by which all those who are justified become his children, have
his name put on them, have the Spirit of his Son given to them, are provided
for under his fatherly care, are welcomed to all the liberties and privileges
of the sons of God, and are made heirs of all the promises and fellow-heirs
with Christ in glory.
Before launching into today’s
question and answer from the Larger Catechism of the Westminster Confession of
Faith I would like to thank each of you for being on this journey through Lent
2015. This is the last week of
Lent. Holy Week has begun. I hope and pray that as we go through this
week that we will catch a glimpse of the deep love that the Lord has for us.
Over the years I known many
people who have been adopted. No two
people respond in the same way to knowing that they are adopted. Today I would
like focus on those who had a profound sense of love and thankfulness that a family
made a choice to adopt them. The family
opened their arms, hearts, home and lives to the adopted person. The family gave their name to the adopted
person. Literally and figuratively the
adopted person became one of the family.
People are separate from God
because of original sin and their own sinfulness. Through Jesus people are adopted into God’s
family and given all the rights, privileges and liberties that go along with being
a part of that family. The adopted ones
are written in Christ’s “will” as fellow-heirs of his glory.
It should be of great comfort
to us to know that it is by grace that we have been adopted into the family of
God. It should be of great comfort to us
to know that we have been “chosen” by God.
It should be of great comfort to know we have an inheritance as a part
of Christ’s family. It should be a
comfort to know that we are loved so deeply.
As we progress through Holy
Week I hope that we can see the great love that Christ has for us in that he
secured our adoption through his work on the cross and victory over sin and
death. Truly it is humbling to being
adopted into such a great and loving family.
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