Oliver Twist, the title character in Charles Dickens’ novel, begins his life as a nameless, unwanted orphan in a brutal workhouse. He’s underfed, mistreated, and ultimately sold into a life of labor. After running away to London, he’s taken in by a gang of pickpockets led by Fagin and corrupted further by men who exploit lost boys with no one to protect them.
But the turning point in Oliver’s story comes when he is taken in by Mr. Brownlow—a kind and noble gentleman who sees something in Oliver that others overlooked. Brownlow provides food, care, and shelter—but more than that, he gives Oliver a name, a place, and dignity. In the end, Oliver is not just rescued from the streets—he’s claimed. The story closes with him being adopted by Brownlow and raised in love and security. He went from neglected to nurtured. From the streets to sonship. From nameless to known.
This is the picture Jesus had in mind when He spoke to His disciples in John 14:18. But here’s what makes Jesus’ promise revolutionary: even the kindest human adoption, like Oliver’s rescue by Mr. Brownlow, depends on the adopter’s continued life, resources, and affection. Human fathers die. Human families fail. Human love grows cold. But when Jesus promises “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you,” He’s offering something no earthly father ever could—adoption by the eternal, unchanging, all-powerful God who cannot die, cannot fail, and whose love never ends.
These words came on the night before Jesus died. The disciples were confused and afraid. Jesus had just told them He was leaving, that where He was going, they couldn’t come. Their hearts were troubled. They felt like children about to be abandoned by their father. Into this moment of fear, Jesus speaks one of the most beautiful promises in all of Scripture:
John 14:18 NASB: I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
But this isn’t just a promise of comfort—it’s an announcement of adoption. He’s telling us that we’re being brought into God’s own family. We’re not just saved from hell; we’re brought home to heaven’s family table.
This morning, we’re going to see how Christ’s promise reveals the amazing truth of our adoption as God’s children. When Christ promises not to abandon us as orphans, He’s announcing our entrance into the greatest privilege any person can know—to be called sons and daughters of the living God. If Christ promises we’re not orphans, then we must understand what our adoption means. If we understand our adoption, then we must grasp how the Triune God works to make us His children. When you get a sense of what that means you will recognize the incredible worth of being God’s child. And if you recognize the value of being a child of God you will naturally want to live differently in light of who you are.
Jesus’ disciples are adopted into His family.
The night Jesus spoke these words, His disciples were filled with fear. They had just eaten the Passover meal. Jesus had washed their feet like a servant. He said one of them would betray Him. Then He told them He was going somewhere they couldn’t follow. These were men who had left everything to follow Him. Now their Teacher, their Friend, their Lord, said He was leaving—and they didn’t understand why. Peter wanted to go with Him. Thomas was confused. Philip asked to see the Father. They were anxious, like children who just found out their parent is walking out the door and not coming back. And into that fear, Jesus says “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
Jesus wasn’t just speaking words of comfort—He was giving them a new identity. In the ancient world, to be an orphan wasn’t just sad—it was dangerous. You had no protection, no inheritance, no name, and no one to speak for you. But Jesus says, that’s not who you are. You’re never forgotten, alone, or unwanted. You belong to Me. And He didn’t just say this to the original disciples. He says it to every believer. If you belong to Christ, you are no longer spiritually homeless. You have a Father in heaven. You have a family. You are not drifting through life, trying to prove your worth. You are known, loved, and claimed.
The opposite of being an orphan isn’t simply having someone who cares for you. The opposite of being an orphan is being a child in a family—with all the security, inheritance, and identity that family membership provides. This is exactly what Jesus is promising. He’s not just saying He’ll visit occasionally or send comfort from a distance. He’s saying He’s bringing us into the family of God itself. We’re not just forgiven sinners; we’re adopted children.
How the Promise is Fulfilled
When Jesus says “I will come to you,” the promise is fulfilled in two ways. First, Jesus came to them through His resurrection. Within days of speaking these words, they saw Him alive, proving that His departure wasn’t final abandonment but temporary separation leading to victory. But the deeper fulfillment comes through the Holy Spirit. The Spirit’s coming is Christ’s coming. Through the Spirit, Jesus Himself comes to live inside His people.
John 14:20 NASB: In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
This is how orphans become children—not by having someone visit them, but by receiving the Spirit of adoption, through whom Christ takes up residence within them. You are not waiting to be adopted someday in heaven. You already are. That means your identity as a child of God is not based on how you feel. It’s based on who is with you. He lives in you.
If we are adopted, then every gospel blessing belongs to us.
When the Bible speaks of believers as God’s children, it’s describing far more than just being forgiven. It means we’re brought into God’s family—with all the love, security, and blessings that come with being a child of the King. This is why the apostle John marvels:
1 John 3:1 NASB: See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are.
And why Paul writes:
Ephesians 1:5 NASB: He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.
To be God’s child is to have access to everything Christ has earned. It means being loved with the same love the Father has for His Son. It means receiving grace upon grace—now and forever. If you’ve trusted in Christ, then you don’t have to beg for scraps from God’s table. You sit at it. You’re not trying to earn a place in the family—you already have one. You’re not waiting to be blessed—you already are.
This adoption also fulfills the deepest promises of God. Throughout Scripture, the heart of the new covenant is this:
2 Corinthians 6:18 NASB: “And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty.
God’s goal wasn’t just to save people from sin—it was to bring them home. He didn’t just rescue you; He claimed you. And we need to be clear: this isn’t the same as God being the “Father of all” in the general sense of Creator. Only those who are in Christ are adopted. Only those who trust in Him are brought into the family with full rights as sons and daughters.
If adoption is this glorious, then it must be the work of the Triune God.
Our adoption into God’s family is so magnificent that it required the work of all three Persons of the Trinity. From before time began, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit planned and worked together to bring us into God’s family. Each Person has a specific role in making us God’s children, and understanding these roles helps us see just how secure our adoption really is.
The Father’s Eternal Choice
The Father’s work in our adoption begins before the foundation of the world. Long before you were born, before you sinned, before you believed, the Father had already set His love on you and chosen you to be His child.
Ephesians 1:4-5 NASB just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
Your adoption wasn’t Plan B when God saw how your life turned out. Before time began, the Father looked into eternity and said, “I want that person to be My child.” He didn’t choose you because you were worthy—He chose you because He wanted you.
But the Father’s work goes even further. When He chose you to be His child, He also gave you to Jesus as His brother. From eternity, the Father gave His chosen children to Christ, establishing the family relationship that would be worked out in time through Jesus’ death and resurrection.
The Son’s Purchasing Work
But how could sinful rebels become God’s children? This is where the Son’s work becomes essential. Jesus had to purchase our adoption through His death on the cross. Though the Father gives adoption freely to us, it came at the highest possible cost to Christ. Before we could be adopted, several barriers had to be removed. Our sin had made us enemies of God, children of wrath, under condemnation. We deserved punishment, not adoption. But Christ stepped in as our Substitute and paid the full price for our sins. He bore God’s wrath so we could receive God’s love. He became cursed so we could be blessed. He was rejected so we could be accepted.
Galatians 4:4-5 NASB: But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, 5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
But Christ’s work goes beyond removing barriers. When we believe in Him, we’re united to Christ in such a way that His relationship with the Father becomes ours. We share in His relationship as God’s Son. Everything He has earned as the perfect Son becomes ours through adoption. His righteousness becomes our righteousness. His favor with the Father becomes our favor. His inheritance becomes our inheritance.
Romans 8:17 NASB: and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
The Spirit’s Applying Work
The Holy Spirit’s role is to take what the Father planned and the Son purchased and make it real in our hearts and lives. The Spirit is called “the Spirit of adoption” because His special work is bringing us into the experience of being God’s children.
Romans 8:15-16 NASB: For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,
First, the Spirit creates a living union between you and Christ. This isn’t something you accomplish through your own effort—it’s the Spirit’s work. He takes up residence in your heart and forms an unbreakable bond between you and Jesus.
Second, the Spirit transforms your heart. He gives you new desires, new loves, new priorities. Where you once were hostile to God, the Spirit makes you love Him. Where you once ran from God, the Spirit makes you run to Him. You don’t have to force yourself to act like God’s child—the Spirit gives you a child’s heart that naturally loves your heavenly Father.
Third, the Spirit enables you to cry out “Abba! Father!” with confidence and joy. When you find yourself naturally, spontaneously talking to God as your dear Father, that’s evidence that the Spirit of adoption is working in you.
Historical illustration
Amy Carmichael, a missionary to India in the early 1900s, sacrificed everything to rescue children in India. She gave up marriage, a comfortable life in England, and her family inheritance to save young girls from temple prostitution. For over fifty years, she poured out her life and resources to bring these children into her mission family. She faced dangerous opposition, spent her own money, and eventually broke her health caring for hundreds of children who had been abandoned or sold into slavery.
But Carmichael’s sacrifice, as beautiful as it was, points us to something infinitely greater. Her love was costly but limited. Her resources eventually ran out. Her life eventually ended. But our heavenly adoption rests on the unlimited love of the eternal God. The Father’s choice can never be reversed because He never changes His mind. The Son’s payment can never be insufficient because He is perfect. The Spirit’s work can never fail because He is all-powerful.
When all three Persons of the Trinity have committed themselves to making you God’s child, what power in heaven or earth could reverse that work? Your adoption is as secure as God Himself.
If we are truly God’s children, then we are not abandoned when we stumble.
What about when we fail? When God’s adopted children struggle with sin, fall short of their calling, or battle weaknesses that seem to contradict their identity—what then? This is where many believers find themselves in crisis, wondering if they’ve lost their place in God’s family. Here we need to anchor ourselves in Christ’s own promise from John 14:18: even when we stumble, we are not abandoned as orphans.
Understanding Different Types of Spiritual Struggles
There’s a crucial difference between the settled rebellion of those who remain outside God’s family and the spiritual struggles that still mark genuine children of God. These struggles often appear in three forms: sins of ignorance, when we don’t yet fully understand God’s will; sudden temptations, when we’re caught off guard and overtaken before we can respond rightly; and deliberate battles, where we resist sin but lack the present strength to overcome it—like Paul’s honest confession:
Romans 7:19 NASB: For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.
Paul wasn’t describing the experience of an unbeliever who loves sin, but a believer who hates it yet still struggles with it. This is the normal Christian experience—not sinless perfection, but a heart that increasingly loves what God loves and hates what God hates, even when we don’t always have the strength to live up to what we know is right.
Three Questions to Test Your Heart
But how can we know whether our struggle is the weakness of a child or the rebellion of a stranger? Ask yourself three questions: First, is this sin your settled choice, or does it go against the grain of your new nature? A true child of God may fall into sin, but it will feel wrong, like wearing clothes that don’t fit. Second, does it grieve you, or are you at peace with it? God’s children are bothered by their sin in a way that unbelievers simply aren’t. Third, do you long to be free and actively seek to overcome it? The desire for holiness, even when we fail to achieve it, is itself a mark of God’s Spirit at work.
If these marks are present—if you hate your sin, fight against it, and long for holiness—then you can rest assured: you are still God’s beloved child. The Spirit of adoption still dwells within you. And Christ’s promise remains true: “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
For Those Who Question Their Adoption
If you find yourself doubting whether you truly belong to God’s family, look for the Spirit’s work in your heart rather than focusing on your failures. Do you find yourself naturally crying “Abba, Father” when you pray? Do you have a growing desire for the things of God and a growing distaste for sin? Do you find your identity and security in Christ rather than in worldly achievements? These are marks of the Spirit of adoption at work, even when you’re struggling. Remember that adoption is not based on your feelings or your performance, but on God’s eternal purpose and Christ’s finished work. Your emotions will fluctuate. Your performance will be inconsistent. But God’s choice of you is unchanging.
Romans 8:16 NASB: The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.
This testimony doesn’t depend on how well you’re doing spiritually today. It’s the Spirit’s constant witness that you belong to God’s family.
When Life Circumstances Make You Feel Abandoned
When earthly relationships fail, when financial security disappears, when health declines, when dreams are shattered—these are the moments when you may start feeling like an orphan again. You start feeling alone, unprotected, and without hope. But remember your adoption. You have a Father in heaven who will never leave you or forsake you. You have an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade.
1 Peter 1:4 NASB: to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.
The sense of being alone, unprotected, and without hope that the world promotes has no place in the heart of the adopted child. Your circumstances may be difficult, but they cannot change your relationship with God. Earthly fathers may disappoint or abandon their children, but your heavenly Father never will.
When Worldly Values Tempt You to Find Worth Elsewhere
When the world measures worth by wealth, status, beauty, or achievement, it’s easy to start believing that your value comes from what you accomplish rather than whose you are. But remember your true identity. You are a child of the Most High God, chosen before the foundation of the world, purchased by the blood of Christ, sealed by the Holy Spirit. No earthly honor can add to this dignity; no earthly shame can diminish it.
This means you can face both success and failure differently than the world does. Success without remembering your adoption leads to pride and the fear of losing what you’ve gained. But success with adoption leads to gratitude and the knowledge that your worth doesn’t depend on maintaining your achievements. Failure without adoption leads to despair and the sense that you’re worthless. But failure with adoption leads to the knowledge that your Father still loves you and your place in His family is secure.
When Ongoing Sin Makes You Question Your Adoption
This is perhaps the most common struggle for believers. You find yourself repeatedly falling into the same patterns of sin, and you start wondering, “If I’m really God’s child, why do I keep doing this?” Here’s where we need to understand the difference between relationship and fellowship.
Your relationship with God—your legal standing as His adopted child—never changes based on your behavior. You are either in the family or you’re not, and if you’ve trusted in Christ, you’re in. But your fellowship with God—your sense of closeness, joy, and peace—does fluctuate based on how you’re living.
When a child disobeys their parents, they don’t stop being their child, but they may lose privileges, feel distant from their parents, or experience discipline. The same is true spiritually. When you sin, you don’t lose your adoption, but you may lose your sense of God’s nearness, your joy in prayer, or your peace of mind.
The solution isn’t to try harder to prove you’re God’s child. The solution is to remember that you already are God’s child and then live in light of that reality. Come to your Father in repentance, not as a stranger begging to be accepted, but as a child who knows they’re loved.
1 John 1:9 NASB: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
This promise is for believers, for those who are already God’s children. Confession doesn’t make you God’s child—it restores the fellowship that sin has damaged.
If we belong to God, then our worth is rooted in being His children.
Understanding the security of our adoption should transform how we see ourselves. When you grasp that you’re truly God’s child—chosen by the Father, purchased by the Son, sealed by the Spirit—you possess a worth that surpasses anything this world can offer.
Those without Christ, no matter their success, wealth, or reputation, remain enslaved to sin and face eternal judgment. But the believer who struggles financially, who lacks earthly influence, who is overlooked by the world—this person possesses a dignity that surpasses kings and emperors. When God looks at you, He doesn’t see your bank account, your job title, or your social media followers. He sees His beloved son or daughter, precious in His sight, worth the blood of His own Son.
1 Peter 1:18-19 NASB knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
This should completely change how you view both success and failure in worldly terms. Success without adoption is ultimately meaningless—you can gain the whole world and still remain spiritually bankrupt. Failure with adoption is temporary and small—you can lose everything else and still possess the greatest treasure. When the world tells you your worth depends on your performance, you can reject that lie. Your worth was established before you were born, purchased at Calvary, and sealed forever by the Spirit.
This incredible dignity should change how you live. When you remember that you bear the family name of God Himself, it affects your choices. You don’t live righteously to earn God’s love—you already have it. You live with integrity because you’re representing your Father’s name. But remember—you find your security not in how well you’re living up to your calling, but in the fact that you’ve been called at all. Your adoption is more secure than any earthly relationship because it depends on the love of the eternal, unchanging God. You belong to God’s family forever.
The Security of Divine Adoption
Here’s the beautiful truth: your adoption is more secure than any earthly relationship because it doesn’t depend on human love, which can fail, or human life, which can end. It depends on the love of the eternal, unchanging God. The Father chose you before time began. The Son purchased you with His own blood. The Spirit sealed you forever. What could possibly undo that work?
Your adoption papers, so to speak, are signed in the blood of Christ and sealed by the Spirit of God. They can never be lost, stolen, or revoked. You may feel like an orphan sometimes, but feelings don’t determine facts. The fact is that you belong to God’s family forever, and nothing—not your failures, not your circumstances, not your struggles—can change that reality.
John 14:18 NASB: I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
But this isn’t just a promise of comfort—it’s an announcement of adoption. He’s telling us that we’re being brought into God’s own family. We’re not just saved from hell; we’re brought home to heaven’s family table.
This morning, we’re going to see how Christ’s promise reveals the amazing truth of our adoption as God’s children. When Christ promises not to abandon us as orphans, He’s announcing our entrance into the greatest privilege any person can know—to be called sons and daughters of the living God. If Christ promises we’re not orphans, then we must understand what our adoption means. If we understand our adoption, then we must grasp how the Triune God works to make us His children. When you get a sense of what that means you will recognize the incredible worth of being God’s child. And if you recognize the value of being a child of God you will naturally want to live differently in light of who you are.
