All right, we're going to be,
we'll begin reading in Matthew, Matthew 11. Matthew 11. I'm going to read verses 25 through
27. Matthew 11, 25 through 27. At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast
revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto
me of my Father. And no man knoweth the Son, but
the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father,
save the Son. And he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal him. I want to speak to you this morning
about our heavenly Father. For those of you who are in Christ,
you have a blessed, blessed blessing in Christ that you can call God,
the God of the heavens, the God of this earth, the God who created
all things, your Heavenly Father. And we shall view this day that
just as a father provides for his family, so our Heavenly Father
has provided all things for his family. All things here that
we need, just carnally of the flesh, but especially all those
spiritual blessings that we must have in His Son, Jesus Christ,
if we are to be His, to be saved from this wickedness that we
are in the flesh. But before I begin, I just want
to specify, you know, we looked at the doctrine of Christ last
time, and this time I was just mistaken, and we'll be looking
at God, our Father. And before I begin, let me just
say that there are three divine persons in the Godhead. These
three are three distinct persons, They are together, they are the
eternal Godhead. And John says in 1 John 5, 7,
for there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father,
the Word, who is the Son and the Holy Ghost, and these three
are one. Each of the three divine persons
is a distinct person in the Godhead. It's not a manifestation, a different
manifestation of God, but rather they are three distinct persons. And some of the works that we
see in the scriptures are attributed to all three of the persons of
the Godhead. And some of the works that we
see are attributed to one or two of the persons in the Godhead. What I want to look at today,
or focus on mostly today, is those distinct words, those works
that are attributed to God our Father. We may see how they're
also attributed to Christ in some way as well, but I really
want to look at God the Father. So our title is Our Heavenly
Father, and it won't be an exhaustive study of all things that there
is to know about God our Father, but rather an outline beholding
God our Father, what He has done, is doing and shall do for his
chosen people. And these will be our three divisions.
Our Heavenly Father, seen in creation and providence. Our
Heavenly Father's provision of salvation. And our Heavenly Father's
many blessings to us in Christ. All right? So let's first see
how God, our Father, has provided for us in creation and in providence. So it pleased the Father That
in eternity past it pleased the Father that He should provide
a people for His Son. And so for those people, for
His Son, He had to create an earth, a place for us to live,
to breathe, to eat as it pleased Him. In Hebrews, if you turn
there to Hebrews 1, Hebrews 1 verse 1 and 2. We see here God the Father and
God the Son as co-equals, both creating the world that we see.
Hebrews 1, 1 and 2. God, who at sundry times and
in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made
the worlds. So we see here that God the Father
and God the Son Both created the world that we see here and
that we know, and Christ is not a tool of the Father. It's not
that the Father just used Christ to do this, but the Father and
the Son as equals both created the heaven and the earth that
we see. Now, we did see previously when I was here and I preached
the doctrine of Christ that all preaching is when we get up here
to preach, it's to reveal the Son to sinners. That's what we
came here to hear, is the Son. So it is that God purposed to
create this world that he might reveal the glory of the sun to
us who are his chosen people. That it's his desire to show
us, like everything that we see points to the sun and reveals
the sun to us and all his glory and his power, his wonder, which
is our need to hear and know him. Revelation 4.11 says, speaking
to Christ who sits in the throne with his Father, says, Thou art
worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for Thou
hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and
were created. Our very being here is for the
pleasure of the Son. It's for His glory, for His honors,
to reveal Christ to the sinner. So regarding His creation, we're
told in Genesis 1, 1 through 4, in the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth, and the earth was without form and
void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and God, yeah,
and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, and God
said, let there be light, and there was light, And God saw
the light, that it was good. So that we know and understand
that everything that God created, it's good. It wasn't corrupt
when He created it. It was perfect and righteous
and pleasing to Him. As it says there at the end of
Genesis 1.31, And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold,
it was very good. And the evening and the morning
were the sixth day. And then he rested from his labors."
A picture for us to see that our rest from our labors is in
Christ Jesus, our Sabbath rest. Now, regarding providence, God
our Father, and God the Son made all the creation that we see
around us, and He therefore is the sovereign over all things.
He made it, He can do with it what He wills, what pleases Him
according to His good pleasure. Romans 11, 33-36 says, O the
depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God,
how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out.
Who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been His counselor?
or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto
him again. For of him, and through him,
and to him are all things, to whom be glory for ever and ever.
Amen. So God the Father provides for
all in his creation, especially in a peculiar way for his people,
to show them their need of the Son, to show them that we are
sinners in need of His grace and His mercy, and that Christ
Jesus was raised up of God, purpose of God, to come from the foundation
of the earth to put away our sins, that we might have an inheritance
and have life in Him and not in ourselves. So, in the next
passage that we'll look at in Matthew, we'll begin to see just
the long suffering that our God has had with us, for we know
what sinners we are, even at this very day, right? You can
think back with shame of just the foolish thoughts that you've
had in your heart and in your mind and whatnot, and yet God
is merciful to us in long-suffering with us. And we see that in Matthew
5, 44 through 48. Matthew 5, 44 through 48. You know, would you be the children
of God your Father? Then hear this passage and hear
what he says in Matthew 5, 44. He says, I say unto you, love
your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that
hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute
you, that ye may be the children of your father which is in heaven.
For he maketh his son to rise on the evil and on the good.
and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye
love them which love you, what reward of ye? Do not even the
publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren
only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans so?
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven
is perfect. And that's really the crux for
us, isn't it? How to love God, let alone our
enemies, because we by nature don't have it in us to love God
and to serve him the way he deserves, the way we ought to serve him.
So we see it all around us that there's many that seem to profit
in this world. They seem to be rich and have
wealth and various things by which they feel secure and safe
in this life. Many people trust in and feel
comfort by their own riches and they forget God. And the same
is true of us, you know, who have been blessed and enriched
of many good things from the Lord, and yet we know in our
own hearts how often it is that we forget God ourselves. When
the Lord was speaking to the children of Israel in Deuteronomy,
He said, when you go into that world, into that land that I'm
giving you, and you take possession of those lands and those crops
for those things that you didn't plant yourself, and you possess
those houses that you didn't build for yourself, Be sure of
this, don't forget the Lord. And we do forget the Lord, naturally
speaking. We often do forget to thank him
for our health, for the food, for the jobs that we have, for
the strength to work those jobs. And we ought not to forget our
Lord or push him from our memory. But it's impossible for us to
remember that. And yet, God himself is perfect
and able to do all things so that he's able to bring us to
think of him and to remember the goodness that he's shown
to us. And he gathers us together again under the sound of the
gospel. We remember that God's done more than just bless us
in a carnal sense, but he's blessed us richly, abundantly in his
son, Jesus Christ. And it shows us just what we
are by nature reminds us where we come from and what we are
by nature, how that there's none righteous, no, not one. There's
none that's good. There's none that seeks after
the Lord. And just like the rest of this
world, all of us by nature, we've all gone our own way. We go out
of the way anyway, but towards the Lord that we might know him.
So it's the Lord that must show himself merciful and kind and
patient to us. And so that when we realize that,
when we see that, We all remember to be patient and long-suffering
and kind to those that are without, who may be initially pushed back
and resist the truth, but be patient and pray for them and
just don't get angry, but just speak the truth in love. And think of this verse, Romans
5a, but God commended his love toward us in that while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us. So those people that are
the Lord's that you don't know who are his sheep, you're going
to be speaking to people that are manifestly sinners and don't
want to hear what you have to say, but be patient and kind
and gentle and just declare the truth that the Lord may graciously
grant them repentance and bring them to a knowledge of the truth.
All right, second now, our Heavenly Father's provision of salvation.
First, God predestinated us to receive an inheritance in Christ
apart from anything in us, apart from the works that we do or
have abstained from, and he did it according to his own purpose. In Ephesians 111 we read, in
whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. Which means it's not according
to us and what we've done before God that he says, oh, that person
looks pretty good over there, I think I'll show myself gracious
and kind to It's not what we've done, but it's rather God who
purposed to save us as it pleased Him. And we should never be ashamed
of this truth or fearful of this. God knows what we are. He knows
what we are by nature. He knows that we're sinners because
He saved us out of the punishment and out of the just condemnation
that is our due because of our sin. He knows what we are, so
we don't need to play games with God or try to pretend like we're
something when we're not. Trust the Lord. He sent his Son
to put away your sin. You can rest in him. Every good
gift, every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the
Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow
of turning. Brethren, we're not going to
change the Lord's kindness and love for his people by the things
that we do or don't do. Our salvation is secure in the
Lord Jesus Christ, and that's where we rest. It's in Christ
and what he's done that we rejoice, brethren. Second, our choosing
is according to God the Father's own sovereign choice. God does
not choose us because we chose him. God chose us, or rather,
we chose Him, we choose Him because God first chose us. In Romans 8, 28, it says, and
we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God. Right? If you've chosen God,
if you've asked the Lord, like if you said, Lord, you're what
I need. It's your grace that I need.
Lord, save me by your mercy, by the provision of your salvation
in your Son, Lord, I desperately need your grace and your mercy.
You can be sure that the way that you came to that, to that
understanding, is by the goodness of God who's worked all things
together to bring you to that point to see that He is your
life. He is what you need. He is your
salvation. All things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He
also did predestinate, to be conformed to the image of His
Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren, Moreover,
whom he did predestinate, then he also called, and whom he called,
then he also justified. And whom he justified, then he
also glorified. And what shall we say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us? God purposed
to save his people as it pleased him. And there's nothing that
we can do or not do that can change that very fact. We are the Lord's people, that
he's gathered together for His Son, to be the bride of His Son,
and we're not going to be able to change that, and the Lord
knows exactly how to get us and how to keep us and how to hold
us by His power and His grace and His mercy, so rest in Him. I know that we look at our hearts
and we know the thoughts that we think, and we think, surely,
I'm undone, I'm to be cast off, but think of the mercy that God
has shown you in gathering you here together, even to this day,
in keeping you. with all the things that, you
know, many of you have shared with me that you've been through
in religion. And yet, the Lord has kept you
and kept you to see that He is what you need. There's many people
that get frustrated and just walk away and blame God for so
many things, and yet, God, by His mercy and grace, has kept
you so that you continue to see your need of Christ and that
He is the one that is able to save and has saved and done all
the work All right, third, our Heavenly Father provided the
way of salvation. We're sinners. We've broken God's
holy law. It says, in Adam, all die. All die. And God is holy, and
His holy justice demands that the soul that sinneth, it shall
die. It must die. And we know that's
us. That's all of us. For all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We deserve that
just wrath of God. But the Scriptures declare to
us, what a mercy, the Scriptures declare that God is rich in mercy
for his great love wherewith he loved us. But how can the
Father show us mercy? How can he show us mercy? Well,
the Scriptures declare that he has found a ransom, his son Jesus
Christ, who agreed to come before the foundation of the earth that
he would lay down his life for his people. So that in Christ,
he's our ransom. by him were delivered from that
just wrath upon us. It says in Job 33, 24, Then he
is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to
the pit, I have found a ransom. So our Father sent Jesus Christ,
his Son, to be our substitute, by whose sacrifice we are healed,
we are forgiven, we go free by what Christ has done. As Hebrews
9.26 says, Now once in the end of the world hath Christ appeared
to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, so that because of
Christ justice has been satisfied. God is just to forgive us of
our sins. It's not wrong for God to forgive
us. It says there in Revelation that
Satan argued and fought with Michael, right? Because before
Christ laid down his life, he was saying, why are these people
here? Why could these people be here? And yet God was faithful
knowing that, hey, in the covenant, in eternity, Christ has put away
the sins of his people. And when Christ came and did
that, Satan's mouth was shut and he was cast out of heaven
forever because he's got nothing to say. God has found a ransom
and we are saved and delivered from the just wrath of God because
it's been poured out upon his son. To declare, I say at this
time, God's righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier
of him which believeth in Jesus. So this was all accomplished
by the shed blood of Jesus Christ there in the eternal covenant,
so that there was nothing left for us to do. All that had to
be done was that Christ came to be a substitute and put away
the sin of his people that he would be the sacrifice to put
away the sin of his people and that's exactly what he did so
it's not it's not upon it's not about us brethren it's what christ
has done he's the lamb slain from the foundation of the world
and we rejoice in him isaiah 49 8 says thus saith the lord
in an acceptable time have i heard thee and in a day of salvation
have i helped thee and i will preserve thee and give thee for
a covenant of the people to establish the earth, to cause to inherit
the desolate heritages, so that the Lord to the church says through
Jeremiah the prophet, and they shall be my people, and I will
be their God, and I will give them one heart and one way that
they may fear me forever, for the good of them and of their
children after them, and I will make an everlasting covenant
with them that I may not turn away from them to do them good,
but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart
from me." And that fear that the Lord works in our heart isn't
a fear of terrors, but rather to know that this is the way
of salvation. God has provided His Son to be
the propitiation for our sins, to be the means of forgiveness,
so that we know there's not another way. There's not many ways that
we can come to the Father. We come one way, and that way
is through His Son, Jesus Christ, established and built upon the
obedience of the Son to be our substitute forever to put away
our sins. You know, men look to the covenant
of the law given by Moses, right? And they say, well, God would
never have given a covenant of law if we couldn't keep it. But
the law wasn't given for us to keep the law. The law was given
to show us the offense that we are in Adam, right? If we didn't
have the law, we might not have even realized just what we did
in Adam. So the law was given that the
offense might abound so that our sin and our sinful nature
might be more and more apparent to us that we're sinners that
justly deserve the wrath of God. So it was given to that the offense
might abound and to shut us up, to show us our great fall in
Adam, that we need a Savior, that we need a substitute, that
then in God's time He might bring us to hear that gospel, to hear
the glorious good news of what Christ Jesus has done for His
people in putting away their sins, that He's a successful
Savior. He did not fail. He accomplished
salvation for His people. He shows us that rather than
our righteousnesses, our good works, adding in some measure
to what Christ has done, they haven't added anything to what
Christ has done. Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, he says.
Our righteousnesses are as good as our iniquities. Neither one
of them helps us with God, not our good works. Our righteousnesses
Our righteousness that we stand before God, holy and acceptable
is that righteous work that his son Jesus Christ did on the cross
there for his people. This is what it says, to Him
give all the prophets witness that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish but have everlasting life. They shall receive the
remission of sins. All the prophets give witness
to that. It's in Christ Jesus that was to come. So there never
was a possibility that Christ would fail in this. There is
no possible way that Christ would fail. He's God, He's able to
do whatsoever pleases Him, and He did not fail. He came willingly
obeying the Father, to lay down His life for the people that
we might go free in Him. And then God sends His pastors
there to preach this gospel, to feed the flock of God, which
He purchased with His own blood. All right, third now. Our Heavenly
Father's many blessings for us in Christ. We saw how He's provided
the way of salvation, He's provided that means of forgiveness through
His Son. Now let's look at the many blessings
that we have in Christ. All right. Our Heavenly Father
secures us eternally in the Son, and our Savior declares in John
6, 37 and 39, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And
him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. And then
he says, this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that
of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should
raise it up again at the last day. So that because of what
Christ, the Son of God has done for his people, God richly blesses
us in his Son. Don't miss this most important
thing. I know in religion I never ever
got this or understood it that all the blessings that the child
of God has, they're in Christ. Outside of Christ, we're not
blessed. He blesses us in Christ. Christ
just isn't a door that we walk through and then we kind of leave
him behind and get on to religious things. We live and breathe in
Christ. We're rooted in the Lord Jesus
Christ and that never changes. Our need to be connected to him,
to the vine, we don't bear any good fruit except we're connected
to him. It's rooted and established in
what he has done. So that he'll bless us in Christ
in the beginning and he'll settle us in Christ now and forevermore
we'll be established in Christ. We'll live in eternity. because
of Christ and Christ being blessed in the Lord Jesus Christ. So,
he'll do that. The Lord does all that work in
leading us to him and showing us more and more, stripping us
of our vain confidences and the things that we have done this
day or haven't done this day, you know, where we once trusted
in those things, but he shows us that's all just vanity and
vain religion. He shows us how Christ is everything
that we need. So first, we see adoption. Turn
over to 1 John 3. 1 John 3. 1 John 3, verses 1 and 2. Behold,
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth
us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know
that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall
see him as he is. So that we're sons by adoption,
and Galatians 4, 5 through 7 declares to us that Christ being born
of a woman, 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, then an heir of God through Christ. So brethren, it's one thing to
be a forgiven sinner, but it's another thing to be a son and
a daughter of God. And that's all because of Christ.
Like we're adopted now into the family of God by the Son, Jesus
Christ. So that we're not just forgiven
sinners now to figure things out on our own, but we're children. Children of the Most High because
of what Christ Jesus has done. Alright, second, we see acceptance. Acceptance. To be accepted with
God, we must be perfect brethren. Are any of you perfect in and
of yourselves? Not by our works, we're not perfect
at all. We'd never be able to stand before Holy God. So our
acceptance, brethren, is because of Christ. It's in Christ Jesus
that we are accepted with God the Father. So that it's unconditional
and absolute. It means that when God looks
upon us, He sees the Son. He sees us covered in the blood
of the Son. He sees us robed in the righteousness
of Jesus Christ so that we are perfect and able to stand before
His holy throne in that day not in our own righteousnesses, which
we've done, but in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, which he's accomplished
for his people. Turn over to Ephesians 1. Ephesians
1, and we'll see in verse 3 and verse 6. I'll read 3 through 6. Ephesians
1, 3. Yeah, 1, 3. Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, look where it is, in
Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to what we've done? No, but according
to the good pleasure of his will. to the praise of the glory of
His grace wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved."
Whose perfection are we accepted by? It's by the perfection of
Jesus Christ. It's what He's done for His sheep,
for His people. Third, all spiritual blessings.
God promises to bless us forever in the Son, for Christ's sake.
There in Ephesians 1-3, we'll read it again, verse 3, blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. That means that everything that
is necessary for our salvation, all the works that are needed
for our salvation, They're finished, they're complete in the Son.
He's blessed us and filled us with all things necessary in
the Son. 2 Timothy 1.9 says, who had saved
us and called us within holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Just think about
it, brethren. God the Father slew his own Son. to put away our sins, that we
might be accepted of Him and be adopted into that family,
He slew His own Son, Jesus Christ, to bear the sin of His people
in His own body and to put it away before God the Father, so
that God saw Him there as the sacrifice bearing the sin of
His people and poured out His just wrath upon the Son. For you and me, you and me who
believe, that's just Amazing that he would do that for his
people. Romans 8.32 says, He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely
give us all things? Rejoice in what God has done
for us through his son. Fourth, he gives us his Holy
Spirit. Our Savior told us plainly in
John 14, 16 through 17, I will pray the Father and he shall
give you another comforter. that ye may abide, that he may
abide with you forever. Even the spirit of truth, whom
the world cannot receive because it seeth him not, neither knoweth
him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth in you and shall be
in you. All right, fifth. He effectually
teaches us. God leads us to Christ. He knows
exactly how to deal with us, how to lead each of us to the
Lord Jesus Christ, to see that we have nothing and that we're
nothing in ourselves before God. He brings us gently to the Savior,
showing us the need that we have in Him, that we are sinners,
and He reveals that Christ is the sufficient Savior, able to
save, that He is the one by whom we must be found in, in the Lord
Jesus Christ, that we might stand confidently before God. Christ
said, it is written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught
of God. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. You wonder, you know, some people
wonder, well, how is it that I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ?
It's of God. If you've come to the Savior
in spirit and in truth, and you worship Him in spirit and truth,
that's of the Father, because no man in the flesh comes to
the Father. None of us. We come to the God,
the idol God of our imagination. We come to the God that we think
is the God of our salvation, that can't save. We come to a
weak Jesus, or a baby Jesus, or some other Jesus that can't
save, but only the Father leads us to the King, the Lord of glory,
the one who sits on the throne even now, the Lord Jesus Christ,
ruling and reigning. 6. He keeps us in the way of
life. Brethren, we are kept. kept by
the power of God, not kept by your power. God didn't save us
and then says, all right, now it's up to you to keep yourselves
holy now, keep yourselves sanctified. No, just as he justified us,
so he sanctifies us, he does all the works through us, and
we'll see that more in the next hour, but brethren, we're kept
by the power of God. 1 Peter 1, 5 and 6 says, who
are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last time, wherein ye greatly rejoice. And so, brethren, our rejoicing
is in the Father through the Son, because it's in Him that
we stand before God. And I thought of this little
poem for what it's worth. Rejoice not in your choice or
power. Rejoice not in your strength or resolve. Rejoice in God, your
Heavenly Father, who through the Son we're eternally loved. Amen. I pray the Lord will bless
that to your heart.