Do you believe in righteousness by heredity?

Mankind has come up with a number of different brands of fake righteousness. We have righteousness by works, of course, and most of us know that this is a “no-no.“ We have righteousness by resolution—on New Year’s Day we’ll give it another try. We have righteousness by denomination—if you just belong to the right church, you’ll make it. We have the righteousness that one person told about of having a prefrontal lobotomy—part of his brain taken out—and then he could be righteous.

We even have righteousness by architecture, where people might curse and swear and drink on the street, but they can walk into a giant cathedral that has enough immensity in it, and it will be so awe-inspiring that suddenly they wouldn’t even think of whispering. I remember walking into St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome and having that happen to me.

Then we have righteousness by heredity. “I’m a second- or third-generation Christian.“ You are? Is it possible to be a third-generation Christian? One of my academy teachers one time stood up in front of the class and said, “How many of you were born Seventh-day Adventists?“ Most of us raised our hands, and he said, “Is that right? Isn’t that interesting. How do you get bom a Seventh-day Adventist? You mean you believed in the Sabbath and the second coining of Christ when you were born?“

Listen, friend, the only thing you are interested in when you are born is where you are going to get something to eat. And he proceeded to show us that nobody becomes an Adventist by heredity; nobody becomes a Christian by heredity. Everyone has to have his own private birth into the kingdom of God. There is no other way. That’s why God has no grandchildren. I suppose we could find some who might qualify, like Abel. Perhaps he would come close to being a grandson, technically speaking.

But God has no grandchildren in the spiritual sense. I’ve wondered if maybe the devil has some. Maybe he has lots of them—the iniquities of the fathers being “visited“ on the children to the third and fourth generation. But not so with God. That’s why He calls us sons again and again. Those who have accepted God’s great plan are sons and daughters. Because of God’s great love and the fact that He has bestowed it upon us, He calls us His children. The Bible says, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God“ (1 John 3:2). Now! When you read that, you might be tempted to ask the question, When is “now“? Does it mean when you are about ready for translation, when you’ve proven that you are going to hold out and that you’re going to keep being a good person? Is that it? No. That’s not the “now.“ Does it mean after you have paid enough tithe and have gone to church enough times? No. That’s not the “now.“

When is it that we become children of God? I have found a first cousin of this text in John 1:12 which specifically states, “As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.“ You can’t do this by your willpower, by your self-discipline. You cannot do it by any human means. It comes through being born of God. The word power in this verse actually means “right“ or “authority“: To them gave He the right or the authority to become the children of God. So when a person believes in Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour, then he is a child of God. And this involves more than simple mental gymnastics, more than generating an attitude of mind. It includes more than mental assent. It includes actually coming into a continuing relationship of dependence and trust, of personal communication with the Father.

“Oh, wait a minute,“ someone says, “a person might slip.“ That makes no difference. He is now the child of God. Here are those who slip and fall and sin, who still makes mistakes. “They are still My sons,“ God says, “still My daughters.“

“Beloved, now are we the sons of God.“ Was John writing to perfect people? No. He himself said, “If anyone sin, we have an advocate with the Father.“ We’re not setting a stage for license here, but we are saying that just because we have an immature child doesn’t mean that we throw that child out of the house every time it does something wrong. And if people are willing to accept each other in spite of their imperfections, certainly God will do that too.

We sometimes forget that each one is individually responsible and must respond to the great plan of salvation for himself. There is no righteousness by heredity. Nobody slides into the kingdom of God on Dad’s coattails or Mother’s apron strings. When I was going off to college, this is one of the things that I had to begin to see for myself. I was out of the friendly atmosphere of the Christian home in which I was reared. Had I really been born again? Was I a child of God by my own private, individual birth? Did I know what it meant to have a relationship with my Father in heaven?

Are you in Christ? Not if you do not acknowledge yourselves erring, helpless, condemned sinners. Not if you are exalting and glorifying self. If there is any good in you, it is wholly attributable to the mercy of a compassionate Saviour. Your birth, your reputation, your wealth, your talents, your virtues, your piety, your philanthropy, or anything else in you or connected with you will not form a bond of union between your soul and Christ. Your connection with the church, the manner in which your brethren regard you will be of no avail unless you believe in Christ. It is not enough to believe about Him; you must believe in Him. You must rely wholly upon His saving grace (Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, pp. 48, 49).

Our physical birth does not make you and me children of God. I am thankful for a Christian background. I am thankful that I am in the third generation. I am thankful for my Grandpa Nels, who came over from the old country of Norway along with his brothers Knute and Ole and Martin. I am thankful for the Lutheran heritage and background of these people, these God-fearing, God-loving, old-country people. Grandpa Nels sat one day reading his Bible when he came across the Ten Commandments, and something hit him. “Where is the calendar?“ he said. He looked, and began to put two and two together.

He said, “I think, Mother, that we have not understood all that God’s Word says.“ Grandpa Nels began to worship God on His special day before he knew there was another person in the whole world who did the same. It got around the farm community in Wisconsin where they had settled, and one day a Seventh-day Adventist Christian colporteur came through that part in a wagon drawn by a team headed west. He stopped at a wide place in the road and asked the farmers if there were any Seventh-day Adventist Christians around. And they said, “What’s that?“

“Is there anyone here that worships on Saturday?“

“There’s a man out here by the name of Venden who does.“ And they told him how many fence posts to go. He rolled into the yard just as the sun was setting on Friday evening. He got out of his wagon and said to Grandpa, “Is your name Venden?“

‘Yes.“

“Are you a Seventh-day Adventist?“

Grandpa said, ‘What’s that?

“Well,“ he said, “do you worship on Saturday?“

‘Yes, sir.“

“Well,“ he said, “shake hands.“ And Grandpa met his first Seventh-day Adventist. He invited the colporteur in to stay for the weekend. They sat down at the dining-room table, and the colporteur got out some books and began to explain some things that Grandpa had been wondering about. Grandma didn’t like it. She got off over into a corner and began to knit furiously, but she listened out of one ear, and soon she moved across and sat in with the rest of them.

Grandpa Nels became a Seventh-day Adventist Christian that weekend. Later he moved to the West Coast. All of his sons and daughters and the rest of the descendants, over seventy of them, have been Seventh-day Adventist Christians! And I say, “Well, isn’t that great! I’m thankful for that.“ I’m proud of Grandpa Nels.

I’m thankful for what happened when he was dying. My father, who was nine years old, and all the family gathered around his bedside. And Grandpa, like the patriarchs of old, prayed that they would all meet in heaven. He asked them one by one to promise to meet him again. I like that kind of simple faith, that kind of trust from the old country. I have become a fanatical half-breed Norwegian as a result of some of these stories.

Yet my heritage, my background means nothing if I have not been born again as a child of God myself.

You can be thankful if you have a background of Bible and truth and Christian loved ones. But you still have to be born again yourself into the kingdom of God. God has no grandchildren.

The Bible makes it clear that once we are born we are adopted into the family of God. You know that, don’t you? It’s found in Galatians 4:4:

When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, than an heir of God through Christ.

I once was an outcast, a stranger on earth;

A sinner by choice and an alien by birth!

But I’ve been adopted, my name’s written down,

An heir of a mansion, a robe and a crown.

As soon as we are born again, God is standing there ready to adopt us. The fact that we accept the call of God to be born spiritually into His kingdom is what makes it possible for God to adopt us. God is the greatest Adopter in the universe. So if any of you have been toying around with the idea of adopting, you have God as an example.

My wife tried to talk me into adopting for eight years. 1 would have nothing to do with it for a long time. I said, “Well, if the father is president of Harvard University, and the mother is Miss America, maybe I’ll consider it.“ She said, “You’re not president of Harvard University.“ And I said, “Neither are you Miss America.“ And the debate went on and on. .

When you have your own children, and you find that one of them is going bad, you have to take the rap. If they turn out good, then, of course, it’s heredity. The advantage for people who have adopted a child is that if the child turns out good it was the environment you provided, while if it doesn’t turn out so good, it’s the heredity you didn’t provide.

You think about all these factors, and you say, “What is this child going to be like? I wonder what they’ll be like.“ And so I thought and debated back and forth and considered all of the different angles. Then one day my wife got me. She knew my weak spot. She found the right one. The baby was half- Norwegian! And we’ve never regretted it. What a thrill! To have your little son or daughter that you have chosen—special, to come and say, “Daddy, I love you!“—you can’t beat that! To know that this child has also chosen you is a unique experience. But whether you have a child of your own or make a child your own by adopting, there are risks involved.

Now I would like to change the picture. Let’s take a look at the great God of heaven, the greatest Adopter in the universe. He looks down, and here is a long list of people who are ready for adoption. Here is a thief hanging on a cross. Now watch out, God! Watch out for the hereditary aspect. God says, “I’ll take him.“ Right? Here you see a man running. He’s a sup- planter, a liar, a stealer, and a cheat. He’s running from his home. He’s a fugitive in the desert, and his brother is mad at him, ready to kill him. And God sends down a ladder from earth to heaven and says, “I’ll take him. I’ll adopt him.“

You see a woman who has been having real struggles.

Seven times the devils have plagued her. Heredity? Better watch out, neighbor. Better watch out for that one! It’s too risky! But God looks down and says, “I’ll take that one too.“ And I say, “This is not human. This is divine.“

Here’s one who is yellow. God says, “I’ll take him!“ Here’s one who is black. God says, “I want him!“ Here’s one who is brown. God says, “I’ll adopt him!“ Here’s one who is white. “I’ll take him too.“ Right? I’ve heard about a few people around the country who seem to have this same kind of compassion in their blood. Anyone who needed a home, they’d take them. Fabulous stories! A few people, just a few, who seem to have had that kind of heart. But God is in that business! And He adopts me. He adopts you. He adopts anyone who is willing to be adopted and welcomes him into His family. He says, “I am your Father.“

When do we become children of God? Now. When is now? When we believe, when we accept. And He has made provision through the mighty power of the Holy Spirit for us to become conformed to the image of His Son—His Son. And He says, “If you have My Son, you have life, eternal life.“ And whatever hereditary or cultivated tendencies you have that don’t look good, there’s power to transform you so that you will be happy and have peace for eternity. And He says along with His own Son, ‘You are My beloved. I am well pleased with you.“

“Oh, but I’ve been blundering,“ you say. “I’m immature, and I make mistakes, and I fall.“

“Yes,“ God says, “but you are still My son. You’re still My daughter.“

“But, God, how can You adopt people who are children of the devil?“ Jesus Himself said, ‘Ye are of the devil, your father, the devil.“ And some of those same ones who listened were adopted. Sons of Belial? Yes. Sons of thunder? Yes, thunder too. Again and again you see the mighty love and the fatherly devotion of God.

You say, “I thought God was a tyrant. I thought He was out to get you.“ No, He is your Father, and He wants you and me to be more than just His grandchildren. He wants us as His children.

I think of Moses, who was the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter. Pharaoh’s daughter, Hatshepsut, was the only woman king of Egypt. She chose Moses because her father did not have someone else to be king. Moses was adopted into the earthly, worldly family for the purpose of kingship. But the day came, it says in Hebrews 11, that he “refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season“ (verse 24). Why? Because he had already been adopted by God!

One day I looked through those glass-topped caskets in Cairo at the Egyptian mummies, those in whose place Moses might have been. I couldn’t help but think what a difference it was to choose to be a son of God, adopted into His family, than to be born into the greatest nobility of the world with its palaces and its ivory thrones and carved lions. How much greater a privilege! Is that right? He chose rather to be a son of God.

I’ve known young women who wanted to marry a minister because they were sure this would be carte blanche to enter the kingdom of heaven—righteousness by matrimony. But the truth is that they had to be born again and adopted into the family of God in the first person.

And so, my question today is, Have you discovered the great truth that, though Noah or Job or Daniel were in the land, we can but find deliverance through personal accountability to the plan of salvation? Have you discovered, with Moses, that it is the happiest experience to be adopted into God’s family, to call Him Father, to realize that He is going to fight every inch of the way to make sure you get your inheritance? That’s what fathers are like. Right? Do you know this Father as your personal friend, as your Father?

A barber asked me what kind of work I did. I told him I was an Adventist preacher. He said, “Why are you an Adventist?“ And I gave him all the good reasons. And then he said, “What was your father?“ And I said, “He was an Adventist.“

And then he said, “Why are you a preacher?“ and I gave him all the good reasons. And then he said, “What was your father?“

And I said, “My father was a preacher.“ Right then I wanted to leave the barber shop.

Although this man was a skeptic who delighted in needling people about God and religion, I can’t help but hear God, in His own way, asking me the same questions. He asks everyone—college students, young people, forty-year-old church members, and those who have been church members for forty years.

God is asking, Why are you a Christian?

“Oh, I’m a third-generation …“

Doesn’t count.

There are some advantages to being a third-generation Christian, but it doesn’t count. Why am I? Because I have found a personal, meaningful relationship .with my Father.

Why are you a Seventh-day Adventist? “Well, I grew up that way. That’s my background. Didn’t have much choice.“ No, I think God Himself, instead of a skeptical barber, is asking the same question. Why are you what you are? Why are you? And as He does, I want to respond with a mature, intelligent, understanding, deliberate answer. Don’t you?

I’m thankful today for the love of God, who puts that love into fathers’ and mothers’ hearts when they are sitting reading or doing the dishes, and a little tyke comes toddling up and tugs their apron or trouser leg, they respond kindly. When your child says, “Mama, Daddy, I love you,“ you realize that the thrill which goes through your system is very close to the way God feels when we respond. Whatever love we see here reflected is simply a sandbox illustration, a mini-example of the great God of love, who is Himself the author of it all. And when we go to our knees before God spontaneously, without someone in church probing us and without some external stimulus, and we say, “God, I love You,“ it must mean ten thousand times more to Him than when that little tyke comes and says it to you and me. Right?

God, who allowed the cassette recorder to be invented, who could have had ten million cassette recorders saying, “I love You, God,“ saw a much bigger prize in individual human intelligences choosing to say, “Thank You, Lord, for adopting me. I love You. I choose You.“