I want you, I'm gonna come back
to John chapter 21, but I want you to go with me to the book
of Isaiah, first of all, and Isaiah chapter nine. Isaiah chapter
nine. And this is my subject this evening,
the father and his children. The father and his children. As you make your way to Isaiah
chapter nine, you may remember, and I'm sure that all of you
who are familiar with the scriptures remember what the apostle said
in the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 11. He said, but I fear,
lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety,
Even so, your minds, your minds should be corrupted. And then
he says this, from the simplicity that is in our Lord Jesus Christ,
the simplicity that is in him. And that which was of great concern
to the heart of this man was that the saints of God would
be carried away, they would be led away by the error of these
wicked people from that pure and really simple message, the
declaration of the gospel of our Lord Jesus. It isn't a complicated
message. And when you start adding to
it, you add works, you add deeds that you've got to do, rules
that you've got to keep, then you've taken away from that blessed
simplicity and you've made it, you've added to it and you made
it complicated. It isn't complicated. Here it
is. This salvation is all of grace. And it is all in the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is through his obedience unto
death that he saved sinners. Now you understand that, don't
you? There's no misunderstanding of
that. There's only one way to God.
There's only one mediator between God and man, and that is the
man, Christ Jesus. That's not over your head. Those
are words that even children can understand. It's a very simple message. And
I say to you, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt
be saved. We read in Romans chapter 10,
with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the
mouth confession is made unto salvation. We understand this. God redeemed sinners through
the blood of Christ Jesus. God saves sinners through Christ. God forgives sinful people for
Christ's sake. God declares all those in whose
stead Christ died to be justified, to be righteous before Him. He
is the Lord our righteousness. Listen to the word of God. This
is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ
Jesus, he came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am
chief. He told the Pharisees of his
day, he said, I came not to call the righteous, those who think
they're okay, those who think they're not too bad, He said,
I came not to call the righteous, I came to call sinners to repentance. Are you a sinner? Well, the hymn
writer said, a sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made
him so. I mean, a real sinner, a genuine,
bona fide sinner, helpless, absolutely hopeless. You can do nothing
for your salvation and you look only to Jesus Christ and Him
crucified, buried and risen again as your salvation. You say, I
do. That's simple. That's not complicated. But now watch this. Though it
is a fact that this gospel is a simple message, that one who
is the embodiment of the gospel, that is the son of God, he is
very complex. He is a mystery that nobody can
fathom. Little wonder that we read in
1 Timothy chapter 3, and without controversy, great is the mystery
of godliness. This is mysterious. This is beyond
our comprehension. Yes, the declaration of Christ
and Him crucified, that's a simple message. And we don't want to
complicate it with rules and laws, because when you do that,
you adulterate the message. You poison the message. It's
a simple declaration. Christ came, He saved sinners
by the death of Himself. Believe on it. and trust Him. But as far as our Lord Jesus
Himself, He is so very, so very, very complex. He is the everlasting
Son of God. He's without beginning of days
or end of days. And yet, and yet He is the Son
of Man. who was conceived in the womb
of a virgin by the power of the Holy Spirit, and he was raised
in Nazareth. This one in whom all wisdom and
all knowledge dwells, he grew in stature and in wisdom. You can't fathom that, can you?
I can't either. He who is life, who gives life,
who sustains life, who gives life to the animals, to men,
to women, to boys, to girls. All life that exists comes from
the Lord Jesus Himself. It comes forth from Him, and
yet He who is life died. Can you comprehend that? He who is God over all, blessed
forever, laid down his life to save his people from their sins. He is the king. And yet the scripture says he was
God's righteous servant. When you think of the king, he's
the highest. But when you think of a servant,
when you think of a slave, now you're talking about the lowest.
He's the highest, he's the lowest. Oh, the complexity of the Lord
Jesus. Look here in Isaiah chapter 9
in verse 6. For unto us a child is born. He is a child who is going to
be born. Now remember, Isaiah wrote this.
This is 700 years before the Lord Jesus came. It's seven centuries before he
made his appearance in this world. And Isaiah writes of him as though
he had already come. Just like he does in Isaiah chapter
53 when he writes of him being wounded for our transgressions
and bruised for our iniquities. With the eye of prophecy and
with the pen led by the Spirit of God, he writes of this great
Redeemer and Isaiah says unto him, he's the child who's born.
Like any other child, not born of a virgin, granted, no question
about that. But in his birth, it was a natural
birth. He came into this world just
like you came into this world, came from his mother's womb.
And yet, he's not only the child who's born, he's the son who's
given. Oh, that's different. He's the
son who was given. This is, he's God's unspeakable
gift. This is the one who existed before
he ever came into this world. And it says the government, it
shall be upon his shoulders. The government on his shoulders,
oh yes, must have big shoulders. Well, yeah, he's the God man.
He governs all things. All the authorities, all the
governments, all the kings, all the presidents, all the prime
ministers, all the rulers, all the governments of all the world
are on his shoulders. And yet, he was made, the scripture
says, under the law. He's made under the government.
He was under parental law, parental government. And civil law, civil
government. And God's law, God's government. You know, this verse of Scripture,
It is an excellent commentary on Isaiah chapter 7 and verse
14. Would you turn back there with
me just a page or so back, Isaiah chapter 7 and verse 14. Therefore
the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall
conceive and bear her son. and shall call his name Immanuel. And in Matthew chapter one in
verse 23, we find out what Immanuel means. God with us. That's who
he is. He's God with us. God one of us. God one of us. He is To say he's unique is just putting
it mildly. He entered the world as an infant,
and yet he is the everlasting God. He is ageless. He says in Proverbs chapter eight,
before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought
forth, Proverbs 8.25. And I could go on and on. In
one place it says his hair is as black as a raven and bushy. That's in the book of Song of
Solomon. Revelation chapter one, it says that his hair was white
as snow. Well, now, which is it? You see,
the writers of Scripture, they paint for us a portrait of this
one who is the eternal God, and at the same time, that man, Christ
Jesus, who came to save us. His hair being black as a raven
and bushy, that shows his strength, his vitality. His youth, He's
always young. He's always powerful. He never
gets old. He'll never get weak. He'll never
get feeble. And yet in Revelation 1, when
John says, I saw Him and His hair was white as snow, that
shows Him to be the Ancient of Days. He is the God who is forever.
He preceded creation. He preceded all of time. And when time shall be no more,
He will still be the same. Jesus Christ the same yesterday,
today and forever. That's what the scripture says. The message of our Lord Jesus
is, the deeper you dig, the more you realize how very
little you understand about him. But isn't it wonderful that this
salvation is not dependent upon how much we understand about
him. It's believing him as he's revealed
in the word of God, the complexity of his person, this God man,
this king servant, this son, this child. He's the only Savior
of sinners. And we rest our souls upon Him. I read something Mr. Spurgeon
wrote. He said this, he said, so deep
is the mystery of the person of the Lord that He must reveal
Himself to us or we shall never know Him. I'll read that again. So deep is the mystery of the
person of our Lord that he must reveal himself to us or we shall
never know him. And he went on to say, he is
not discovered by research, nor is he discerned by reasoning. He has to be revealed. And faith
believes the record God has given of his son. That's what faith
does. Faith is a gift of God. And he
gives faith for a very specific reason, to lay hold of Christ
Jesus and to believe the record that God has given of his son.
Not to comprehend it all, you can't take it all in. but to
believe all that God says about him, and to believe that he's
the only savior of sinners. And this has to be a revelation
to you and to me. We've often read that passage
in Matthew chapter 16, when the Lord Jesus asked his
disciples, He said, who do men say that I, the son of man, am?
And they gave various answers. They were very gracious. They
didn't say, some of you, some of them say that you're the son
of Belial, Beelzebub. They didn't say that. They were
kind. He said, who do you say that
I am? That's what I would ask you.
Who do you say he is? Who do I say he is? I'm gonna
say he is who God says he is. That's when Simon Peter spoke
up and said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And
you know what the Savior said to him? Flesh and blood. He said,
blessed art thou Simon Barjona, Simon son of Jonah. Flesh and
blood didn't teach you that. My father, which is in heaven,
revealed that truth to you. Oh, we know Him by revelation. Now, look at these names that
are given to our Savior. I only have time to just basically,
essentially read them. Maybe give you a one or two word
definition here in Isaiah chapter nine and verse six. And His name
shall be called Wonderful, It's an interesting word. You
know what it means? It means exactly what I've been trying
to say. Beyond comprehension. That's his name. What is his
name? Beyond comprehension. His name
is wonderful. His name is mysterious. Wonderful, the next word is counselor. That means consultant. He was the consultant with the
Father and the Spirit in the covenant of grace. And then he says, the mighty
God, this brings to bear His great power, unlimited power
and strength. Does he have a will? Yeah, sure
he does. Does he have a purpose? Absolutely. Well, does he have the power
to exercise it and make sure that everything he ordained comes
to pass? Yes. How do you know? He's the
mighty God. Ask any little child whose mind
hasn't been polluted by Armenian free will feebleness concerning
the person of God, ask him, what can God do? And they'll say,
he can do anything he wants to do. Why is that? He's God. He is the mighty God. That's who Christ is. Don't ever speak of feebleness
when it comes to the Lord Jesus Christ, or that he wants to do
something, but folks won't let him. Well, that's foolish. He's
the mighty God. And then he's the everlasting
father. And I'll come right back to that.
And he's the Prince of Peace. He is the everlasting father. Now, the message is the father and
his children. Now you need to understand this,
in this very context, The Lord Jesus is not being presented
in His relationship to the Father and the Spirit. That would be
to confound the Trinity. There's a group of people out
here who take this passage of Scripture, and they're called
the oneness people. Their doctrine is oneness. That
there isn't the Father and the Son and the Spirit, but they're
all one in Jesus, who is the everlasting Father. Now, this
is not a confusing of the divine trinity. I say again, Isaiah
is not talking about the relationship of Messiah, Emmanuel. He's not speaking about his relationship
within the Trinity. That is dealt with elsewhere,
such as in 1 John 5, there are three that bear record in heaven,
the Father, the Word, and the Spirit. These three are one. It's obvious that we're Trinitarians
because when we baptize somebody in accordance with our Lord's
command, baptize them in the name of the Father and of the
Son of the Holy Spirit. So don't misunderstand what Isaiah
is saying. He's not confused. You say, well,
there's God the Father. There is, and God the Son, and
God the Holy Spirit. But Isaiah is not writing about
the relationship of the Lord Jesus, that great Messiah, Emmanuel,
his relationship to the Father and the Spirit. He's writing
about his relationship to us, to his people. And to those of
us who were given to him in covenant grace, he has always been to
us the everlasting father. The everlasting father. He has a role that God has given
to him and appointed for him to be the father of all the children. Now, the word everlasting stretches
back endlessly and stretches forward endlessly. We're loved with everlasting
love. We're chosen to salvation by
everlasting grace. We're foreordained to an everlasting
inheritance. We're redeemed with everlasting
blood for he's the lamb who was slain from before the foundation
of the world. And he is as a father to his
people. His role as protector and provider
is a role that God the Father appointed for him. And that role
was not limited by age or death. He's always been responsible
for his family. You know, let me liken it to,
you'll see the illustration I'm trying to make here. It's not
unusual. for a man to be referred to as
being the father of something or other. In the Bible, Genesis
chapter four, Jabal, Genesis chapter four, verse 20, he's
called the father of those who dwell in tents, nomads. He's also called the father of
those who raise cattle. So if you raise cattle, You can
trace it back to your father, Jabal. He's the father of those
who raise cattle. Then there's Jubal, his brother. Genesis 4.21, he's said to be
the father of music. Abraham, he's said to be the
father of all them that believe, Romans 4.11. And then moving forward, in history. George Washington, he's called
the father of our country. Einstein, he's called the father
of physics. Hippocrates, he's called the
father of medicine. Well, understand this then, the
Lord Jesus Christ is way yonder more deserving of the word father
than any of those men could ever think about being. For you see,
He is the Father of Christianity. There would be no Christianity
were there no Christ. He's the Father of the Gospel.
There wouldn't be any Gospel. without Christ Jesus, and He's
the Father of all those given to Him in covenant love and grace.
We are His offspring. We are His children. You know,
there are few words that evoke the kind of feeling that wells
up within us like the word Father. I'm so thankful for my father,
taken from us when he was 51 years of age. And I have such fond thoughts
of my father. When we think of father, we think
of the head of the family. We think of the one who has the
authority We think of the one who disciplines. We think of the one who makes
provision for the children. We think of protection. The father
is the one who's responsible for the welfare and the safety
of the children. The father typically is the breadwinner. He puts food on the table. A wise father in his earlier
years makes provision for his children and his wife by getting
life insurance in case he dies at a relatively young age. And he leaves a last will and
testament providing for his wife and his children when he dies. Well, in the Word of God, our
Lord Jesus, He has this relationship, a very special relationship to
His people. He is the everlasting Father.
There's a head to our family. He's the head, we're called the
body. He has absolute authority. He
is the one who disciplines or he chastens those whom he loves. He's the one who instructs us.
Do you remember when your father taught you something? Maybe he
taught you fishing, taught you how to play ball, taught you... I remember my dad used to teach
me how to build a rapid gun, how to go squirrel hunting, things
like that. And you look back, see, dad taught
me a lot of things. Our Lord Jesus is our father
who instructs his children. And I'll tell you, his children
are well-instructed. He's the one who provides for
us. He's the one who feeds us. He's the one who nourishes us.
He's the one who protects us. He is the one who, before we
were ever born, made everlasting provision for us. And He is the
one who had a last will and testament that went into effect when He
shed His blood that guaranteed we would receive the inheritance
He purposed for us. He's the everlasting Father. Now go with me to the text in
John 21. And I've read this again to you
so that you're well aware of the setting. Here are these seven
disciples who've left the ministry and the Lord Jesus has gone after
them. They went back to their fishing.
They had caught nothing. And he appears to them, and the
scripture tells us very clearly, this was the third time that
he appeared to them after his resurrection. And note verse
five again. Then Jesus said unto them, children. That's a tender way
to speak to them, isn't it? He said, children. Have you any
meat? He's very concerned about their
welfare. You see, He is the resurrected
Savior. There's no question about that.
And He doesn't need food any longer. He doesn't need drink
any longer. When He was before His death,
He needed both food and water. In fact, while on the cross,
he said, I thirst. And I know he was thinking, I
thirst for the presence of God. I thirst for this work to be
finished to the Father's approval. But also there was a physical
thirst that he had because he was a real man. Now, after his resurrection,
he doesn't have those same needs anymore, but he was very sensitive
to the needs of his children. They still had to eat and they
still had to drink. He was still in sympathy with
these men. and he was concerned about their
physical welfare as well as their spiritual welfare. And I think if we took this and
kind of put it alongside of Hebrews chapter two, where he's a sympathetic
high priest, in some way that's beyond our comprehension, he
feels the pain of his people. He feels our neediness. He felt
their coldness. He felt their hunger, just as
He had done before. Yes, He's the resurrected Savior,
but He hasn't changed one iota concerning His love and care
and concern for these men. Listen, He had been a Father
to them all along. You know, in the Old Testament,
in the absence of the father, the eldest son became responsible
to exercise the authority and the responsibility over the rest
of the family as though he were a father. And our Lord Jesus
was that to his brethren. He was their father. They were
his children. Look back with me in John chapter
14. Look at John chapter 14 and verse
15. Now, you know, Judas is gone
now in this context, he's gone. So he only has these 11 men there,
men who believe him, men who love him. men who are faithful
preachers of the gospel, men to whom he will give a great
commission to go into all the world and preach the gospel.
So verse 15, he says, if you love me, keep my commandments.
And he says, and I will pray the father and he shall give
you another comforter that he may abide with you forever. Well,
who is that? Well, even the spirit of truth,
whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not, neither
knoweth him. But you know him, for he dwelleth
with you and he shall be in you. But now look at verse 18. I will
not leave you comfortless. And in my Bible, in the margin,
it says comfortless or orphans. Your Bible have that? I won't
leave you as orphans or literally, I will not leave you fatherless. I will come again to you." And
he did. Because he went to die, and having
finished the work of redemption the Father gave him to do, he
arose and then he came back to them. And then of course he left
them his spirit, but he said, I'm not going to leave you as
orphans. I'm not going to leave you fatherless." You see, He
had been a father to them ever since He called them and quickened
them by His grace. They live spiritually by His
seed, the Word of God that liveth and abideth forever. Oh, they're
truly His offspring. They're His little ones. An orphan is one who is bereft
of a father. Our Lord Jesus says, I'm not
gonna leave you without a father. You know, the passage there in
John 21, it wasn't the first time he addressed them as children. And I wanna show you this, and
I'll try to move along. John chapter 13, first of all. And I'll just, briefly point
out four things. Number one, as their father,
he instructed them as to the necessity of his death. As their father, that was his
responsibility. He had to teach them as he does
all of his children of the need that he died. Look at John 13,
31. Therefore, when Judas was gone
out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is
glorified in him. What is the cross all about?
It's all about the glory of God. It's all about the glory of the
God-man. He says, If God be glorified
in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway
glorify him. Little children! Time for a lesson. Listen up, little children! Your
father has something to say. Little children! Yet a little
while, and I'm with you. And you're going to seek me.
And as I said unto the Jews, whether I go, He cannot come. So now I say to you, this was
the time of His glory. You see, the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ brought Him infinite glory because there He saved
His people. There He satisfied God. There
He brought in everlasting righteousness. There He put away the sins of
all of His people. And here just before his death,
this is the night before his death, it's like little children
gather in. I got another lesson I need to
set before you. Here's something you need to
learn, little children. I must lay down my life. And then secondly, go to Mark
chapter 10. And of course, each of these
we could work on, but we don't have time to do that this evening. And you can study it out. You
certainly can see the direction we're going now. Look at Mark
chapter 10. And in Mark chapter, chapter
number 10 and verse 17, I'll just read these verses. And when
he was gone forth into the way, There came one running and kneeled
to him and asked him, good master, what shall I do that I may inherit
eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, why
callest thou me good? There's none good but one, that
is God. Thou knowest the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not
kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, defraud not, honor
thy father and mother. And he answered and said unto
him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding
him loved him and said unto him, One thing thou lackest. Go thy
way and sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor and
thou shall have treasure in heaven and come take up your cross and
follow me. And he was sad at that saying
and he went away greed for he had great possessions. In other
words, his possessions were his God. And our Lord, I mean, it could
have been anything. It could have been his family.
You see, men make gods of any number of things. With this man,
it was his possessions. Look at verse 23. And Jesus looked
round about and he saith unto his disciples, how hardly shall
they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God. And the disciples
were astonished at his words. But Jesus answered them and said
unto them, children, time for another lesson. How difficult, how hard is it
for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of
God? You want to know how hard it is? Verse 25. It is easier for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into
the kingdom of God. If you think by your works, by
your merits, by your goodness, you're going to enter into the
kingdom of God, you're wrong. You're dead wrong. And they were
astonished, verse 26, out of measure, saying among themselves, who
then can be saved? And Jesus looking upon them said,
with men, it is impossible. Children, listen up. With men,
salvation by works is impossible. Salvation by merit is impossible. Children, have you learned the
lesson? But he says, not with God. Salvation is not impossible with
God. For with God, all things are
possible. He does save. He can save. Now, you can't save yourself. Nobody else can. But He can. Have you learned that lesson
from the Father who's instructing His children? And then watch
this, Mark 7. Just back up a couple of pages.
Mark chapter 7, as their father, thirdly, his gospel was the bread
that he gave to the children. Mark chapter 7, verse 24, and
from thence he arose and went into the borders of Tyre and
Sidon. He entered into a house and would have no man know it,
but he could not be hid for a certain woman whose young daughter had
an unclean spirit. She heard of him and came and
fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician
by nation, and she besought him that he would cast forth the
devil out of her daughter. But Jesus said unto her, let
the children first be filled. Feed my children first. For it's not meat, it's not right
to take the children's bread and to cast it under the dogs.
And she answered and said unto him, yes, Lord. Yet the dogs
under the table eat of the children's crumbs. And he said unto her,
For this saying, Go thy way, the devil is gone out of thy
daughter. And when she was come to her
house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon
the bed. Do you know what the gospel is? Listen to what the Father says.
It's the children's breath. Do you wonder why every time
we gather together, the preacher is always preaching Christ and
Him crucified, he's always preaching substitution, he's always preaching
imputed righteousness, he's always preaching forgiveness of sins
through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why is it the same
thing over and over and over again? Because it's the children's
bread. This is our nourishment. And then the last one, if you'll
go back with me to John 21. As their father, here I'll give
all four of them here at one time. As their father, he taught
them the necessity of his departure, John 13, 31 through 33. Number two, as their father,
he taught them that salvation by merit or works was impossible,
Mark chapter number 10, 23 and 24. Number three, as their father,
his gospel was the bread that he gives to his children, Mark
7, 24 through 30. And here's the fourth one. As
their father, he provided for all the needs that his children had. He says in verse five, children,
have you any meat? And then he says in verse number
12, and Jesus said unto them, come and dine. You come and dine. Our Lord knew their situation.
He was well aware that they didn't have any meat, had fished all
night, they were hungry, they were cold, they were weary. He
approached them as that one who had laid down his life for them,
the one who had died for them, the one who gave them life spiritually
and who sustained their physical life as well. And he spoke to
them in a loving way. He speaks to them as one who
was and is their father. And he asked this question, not
for information, but to make them realize he cared. He was concerned. Children, do
you have anything to eat? You've been out there fishing
all night, hadn't caught a thing. You're tired, you're cold, you're
hungry. He is saying to them, I know
your needs and I will meet your needs. And
he did. While they came up and found
that, there's the fire, there's the fish he had prepared. He
had breakfast ready for them. It's time to break fast. He fed
them. You remember on one occasion,
Our savior had thousands of people following him and they were hungry. And he said to his disciples,
I have compassion on the multitude because they continue with me
now three days and have nothing to eat. And I'm not going to
send them away fasting lest they faint in the way. You know what? Most of those
people in that crowd were unbelievers. And yet He had compassion upon
them. And He fed them all. There's
no question in my mind, but there were people in that crowd that
He fed that would later say, crucify Him, crucify Him. That's
the tenderness of our Savior. That's His great compassion. Well, if He has that kind of
compassion for the world, to feed the world, which he does,
to care for the world, which he does, to provide for all of
his creatures in the world, which he does? How much more does he
have great compassion upon his children? You remember one time he asked
in Luke 11, 13, if ye then being evil, Know how to give good gifts
to your children. How much more shall your heavenly
Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? He is the everlasting Father. And I want you to understand,
He will never cease to be your Father. He'll never cease to
be your Father. You see, back in old eternity,
way back yonder before He spoke the creation into existence,
He took full responsibility for all those the Father gave Him,
all His little ones. And He's not going to lose one
of His children. He's going to keep them all safe.
He's going to take them all to heaven. He's the everlasting
Father. He will never be deprived of
one of his children. Nobody's gonna get one of his
children from him. He's the everlasting father.
He's the founder of a family that will never end. A family
that's safe and secure forever. And he gives to his family, gives
to his children everlasting life. And He gives to His children
everlasting inheritance. Oh, what a wonderful Father He
is to us. And I don't know your situation.
I may be speaking to somebody and you're just going through
a very difficult time right now. He's your Father. You're one
of His children. He cares. I like that old song. I used to sing it, Does Jesus
Care, when I've said goodbye to the dearest on earth to me.
Oh yes, He cares. I know He cares. In fact, His
very heart is touched with my grief. What a wonderful Father He is
to His children. Thank you, dear Lord, for the
gift of Christ, who is the everlasting Father to His everlasting children. He always keeps us safe. While
He died to redeem us, and He keeps us.