My Father

All right brethren, let's turn in our Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 3. Jeremiah chapter 3. Got a red light then. Let's go to the Lord, brethren, before we begin. Our Father, what a blessing that we can call You our Father. Lord, we pray You bless us now by Your Word, by Your Spirit.

Teach us. Make us see how unchanging and how unchangeable Your love is in Christ. Lord, wherever your people are this morning, those that are here, those that are not able to be with us this morning, those that are meeting in other places, we pray you'd bless your word. Make us all in our hearts look up to Christ in the heavenly Zion and hear which you declare to us today. Forgive us, Lord, for our unbelief and our wandering minds and hearts and our sins. We need to be found in Christ only. Lord, we ask you for his sake, hear us and bless us. It's in his name we ask it, amen.

With this Sunday being Father's Day, I was thinking about my father, and I began to think about my children, and then I began to have this joyful thought that every day for God's saints is Father's Day, and it will always be Father's Day. And I got to thinking about that more and more, and this scripture came to my mind, And so I'm gonna preach out of this verse this morning, Jeremiah 3, verse 19. God is speaking and he said, but I said, how shall I put thee among the children and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage and inheritance of the hosts of nations? And I said, thou shalt call me my father. and shall not turn away from me."

For God's saints, who he's truly sanctified and given a new heart, God is our Father. And that in itself is just an amazing thing that we can call God our Father. John said, behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us that we should be called the sons of God.

Therefore the world knoweth us not because it knew him not. We're not of this world. Christ said that, we're not of this world. Nothing that is of a believer, the true new man within you that worships God, nothing about us is of this world. We're born from above. and Christ from above is teaching us in the new spirit he's given, and we're not of this world, and because the world didn't know him, they don't know us.

But what manner of love he's bestowed on us that we should be called the children of God, and this will always be. He said, 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. In the text I read here from Jeremiah, God declares how he will put sinners among the children as his children. And he said, the way he will do that and give us an inheritance is we will call him my father and we will not turn away from him. Now, let's go over this morning, let's go to Ephesians 1.

We're gonna try to behold what manner of love the Father bestowed upon us. Now, you know, you and I who have children, long before you had children, you were planning to have children, and you were preparing for the day when you would have children, providing for them, and you did that before they were ever born.

Well, before time, God made his children in his sovereign purpose. We read here in verse three, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places 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.

Now, the first thing to see here is God already had one son, his son, the only begotten of the Father. And God's purpose was not only to have a multitude of children, but it was to glorify his son by his son being the one who would save his children. He said in Romans 8, 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. So the whole purpose in God having children was to glorify his firstborn, the Lord Jesus.

So God chose his children in Christ. And in doing so, his act of choosing us in Christ, he blessed us with all spiritual blessings. Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places 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. He blessed us with all spiritual blessings by choosing us in Christ.

Now that means, first of all, that he never looked to us. He never looked to the children. He only looked to his son. And by choosing us in his son, he blessed us with all spiritual blessings because Christ cannot fail. He cannot fail. Everything God purposed, Christ shall bring to pass. He cannot fail.

You know Isaiah 42. He said, behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect and whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him. Now listen to these shalls. He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry nor lift up his voice, cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break. The smoking flax shall he not quench. He shall bring forth judgment untrue. He shall not fail nor be discouraged till he has set judgment in the earth and the isles shall wait for his law. By choosing us in Christ, God blessed us with all spiritual blessing, and that means that leaves out none of them. All spiritual blessings are in Christ, and they're given to us by Christ because of what Christ did.

When he chose us in Christ, this is what he did. He did everything Romans 8 said. By choosing us in Christ, 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, by choosing us in Christ, moreover, whom he did predestinate, then he also called. I'm talking about in eternity, when he chose us in Christ. Then he also justified, then he also glorified, in Christ, by choosing us in Christ.

All blessings, all spiritual blessings, because Christ is the blessing. and all the blessings come because of Him. So before the first tick of the clock, God had separated us, He had sanctified us, He had made us holy in Christ, that's what sanctification is, set apart, holy in Christ, and He had made us without blame in Christ, because He never looked to us, He only looked to His Son. Holy and without blame, before Him in love. because Christ became our surety. Christ entered covenant to save his people, to justify us by his blood, by his obedience.

So by choosing us in Christ, here's what it means that he blessed us with all spirit's blessing. You know how Christ said in the end, the king shall say, come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. That's what he did when he chose us in Christ. It says we were the vessels of mercy which he had aforeprepared under glory by choosing us in Christ. It says the works were finished from the foundation of the world by choosing us in Christ. Christ became the lamb slain from the foundation of the world because he became our surety. You know there's people that argue against that. I don't know why anybody in the world would argue against that. That's the best news I ever heard. What a sovereign wise father we have. His purpose can't be frustrated. What he purposed, knowing the end from the beginning, what he purposed he brings to pass.

When he chose his children in Christ, he predestinated us to the adoption of children, and he did that by Christ the firstborn. That's what it says there, verse five, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, it was according to the good pleasure of his will.

I'm so thankful we're saved by God's will and not our will. It was to the praise of the glory of his grace, his glorious grace. We're gonna give him all the glory and all the praise for choosing and trusting his son, choosing us and trusting his son to save us. He made us accepted in the beloved. Even then, when he chose us, we were accepted in the beloved.

This is why God didn't destroy the world when Adam sinned. He'd already ordained this. He said, how shall I put thee among the children and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of the nation? I said, thou shalt call me my father and shall not turn away from me.

Now you think about when a father purposes to adopt a child, there's a lot of things that have to be done before that child is ever brought home. And the father does it all. The child doesn't do anything. The father does it all. The father chose the child for no reason in the child. The father set his love on the child for no reason in the child. The love of the father. That's what God the father did for us. There was no cause in us, it was in him. And then the father takes care of all the legal matters. There's a lot of legal matters that have to be taken care of. There's a high price that has to be paid to adopt a child.

Well, that's what our heavenly father did for his elect before the foundation of the world. Do you see what manner of love The Father has bestowed on us that we should be called the sons of God. He was our Father long before we knew He was our Father, long before.

Now let's go over to Galatians 4, talking about these matters that had to be taken care of in order for a holy God to put unholy sinners among His children. We're gonna have to be like God. We're gonna have to be righteous and holy like God, because God is holy. He can't have a thing to do with us unless we're just like him, holy and righteous. But we broke his law, we offended his justice, so his justice has to be satisfied, and this is why he chose us in Christ, so that the firstborn would come forth and do everything necessary to make God just to bring us home as his children.

So verse four says, when the fullness of time was come, Galatians 4.4, when the fullness of time was come, the time, 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. God sent his son to take care of all the legal matters. to pay the price that had to be paid for us to be adopted. The children were flesh and blood, so the Son of God took flesh and blood. Paul said, since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. As in Adam all died, so in Christ shall all be made alive. Everybody Adam represented died, everybody Christ represented shall be made alive. That's the good news.

The children were under the law, we had sinned, we were in bondage, so Christ came and was made under the law to redeem the children who were under the law. You know, God the Father did not choose children from an honorable family. We were the aborted child. We were the child cast out into the field. Our father was a rebel against God. His father was a rebel against God. All the way back to our grandfather, Adam. The whole family was nothing but a bunch of rebels.

And yet God chose to make us his children. In this was manifested the love of God toward us. because that God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him here in his love. Not that we love God, but that he loved us, and sent his son to be the sin-expiating sacrifice, to be the one who would propitiate God for our sins and put our sins away.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. This is what makes a father that knows the Lord do whatever it takes for his children. And this is what makes us love one another. If God so loved us, if he loved us after this manner, this is the manner in which we ought to love one another.

You should never have to do something to make me love you. That's what it means. I should never have to do something for you to love me. And it goes further than that. Even when you do everything that would ordinarily make me not love you, I should still love you, because that's how God loved us. We not only did not love him, we did everything to show that we hated him, and yet he loved us.

Send his son. That's an amazing, faithful, loving father. Behold what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. We saw Christ shall not fail. That's what we saw. Well, he didn't. See, God the Father knew who he was saving because he chose us. And Christ knew who he came to redeem because the Father gave us to him.

And he came and he paid the price. And nobody has ever paid the price that God paid to adopt a child. To adopt his children, God had to give his only son. And his son gave his life. And not only just died for us, he died under the fury of God's wrath for us. He died suffering the condemnation of God that we earned and we deserve.

But that was the price that had to be paid Galatians 3.13, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us.

That should just, that verse should make it so that any man that stands in a pulpit and said, Christ has done all he can do, he wants to save you, why don't you make it effectual? That verse just dashes that to pieces. Christ didn't need us to make it effectual. He made it effectual. He hath redeemed us from the curse of the law.

And why did he do it? Verse 14 says, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise, that it might be of the Spirit, that it might be through faith. That's why he did what he did. Now, from what I understand, Like I said, adoptions are very costly, but there's never been an adoption where somebody paid the price that God paid to adopt us. The blood of his own son. So the legal part's finished. He did that. He accomplished it. He redeemed us. We're legally, justly his. He can bring us into the family now.

But remember, God said, how shall I put thee among the children and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the host of nations? I said, thou shalt call me my father. We're not yet to that part. We're still accusing him and blaming him and running around mocking God. So how's he gonna bring us to call him my father? Well, let's see what manner of love he bestowed on us. Verse, Galatians 4, 6. And because you are sons, I love that, you didn't become a son by believing. We didn't become a son by believing. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. We were carnally minded. We were minding things of the flesh. We hated God. We wanted nothing to do with God. Maybe we were outwardly religious. Maybe we showed up because mom and dad wanted us to show up.

But because your sons, because he already made us children from eternity. God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. Look, not only were we redeemed by Christ, the only way that we're brought to call God our Father is by the Spirit of Christ. He sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our heart. Think about how the Son loved the Father. Where are we gonna get the love to love God? He sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. And we began to cry, Abba, Father.

That's how we were brought, we had the spirit of bondage before. Just like God said in Romans nine, we were calling God unrighteous to choose who he would. We saw that scripture says, God has mercy on some and some he hardens and we were saying, why does he find fault? Since we're all gonna do his will, how can he be just to find fault with us? objections we were making.

And he sent the spirit of his son into our heart. You know, if you adopt a stray dog and that dog's been abused, any little movement around that dog and that dog's going to cower down and he's going to run away from you. But if you start feeding him and you start dealing real gently with him and slowly with him and you love on him, Pretty soon he'll just come running right up to you wagging his tail, just happy as he can be to see you.

We had a spirit of bondage. We were afraid of God. We didn't want to hear about him. If somebody, if we were in a room full of people, we could be talking about sports, we could be talking about the stock market, we could be talking about anything. Somebody brought up God and we zipped our lip and tried to find a way we could ease out of the room. Didn't want to talk about it.

But God sent the Spirit of His Son into our heart. And look over at Romans 8. He began to reveal to us all these things He did for us. And He said here in Romans 8.15, You've not received the spirit of bondage again to fear. but you've received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father, because the spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we're the children of God. God begins to make you see he loved you from before the world was made.

He chose you by grace, not because of anything in you. He predestinated you to be called by his gospel, by his son, He sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your heart. He robed you in the righteousness of His Son. In His Son, you've been made perfectly righteous and perfectly holy. He begins to teach you these things. Dropping the crumbs from the master's table. And us stray dogs are just eating those crumbs. And pretty soon, you just ride on His heels.

Wherever He goes, you want to go. Whatever He says, you want to hear. Now remember, the other part of our father's purpose, not only to bring us to call him my father, but he said, you shall not turn away from me. And he will not let us turn away from him. If he left us to ourselves, could we turn away from him? Absolutely. But he won't let us turn away from him. He's gonna keep us hearing Him and hearing His gospel and knowing what He's done for us, and He's gonna keep us coming to His Son, coming to Him through His Son.

And then the other part of this promise, this purpose of God was to give us an inheritance. If you have children, you wanna give them an inheritance. And God purposed to give us an inheritance. And look here now, Romans 8, 16, The spirit bears witness with our spirit that we're the children of God, and if children, then heirs. Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.

If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. He told us in Galatians, you're no more a servant, you're a son. And if you're a son and you're an heir of God through Christ, we're joint heirs with Christ. Do you reckon the Father's going to give Christ a goodly inheritance? Oh, well, we're going to be joint heirs with Him.

Everything He gives to Christ, He's given to us for the sake of Christ. And He's going to keep us coming to Him. He's going to keep us loving Him. by doing what we're doing right here today, hearing of Him and what He's done for us. And this is everything. It's His love for us that makes us love Him and makes us love one another. It's His faithfulness to us that makes us faithful. He makes His children like Him by the Spirit of His Son in us. We can't glory in it. It's what He does. But He's gonna keep us calling.

Now, instead of all the objections we used to make, Paul said, we give thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Do you see how God the Father loves His children, the lengths and depths and height? Paul said he prayed that we'd see the height and depth and width and breadth and length of His love. And here's the good news about it.

Are we ever going to turn away from Him? We will in our sinful flesh, but we won't turn away from Him in spirit forever. He won't let it. Here's what Paul said. Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Nothing. Nothing. I pray this. This was what Paul prayed for the Thessalonians.

The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and the patient waiting for Christ. That's what we need. The Lord direct our hearts into his love, and that will make us patiently wait for Christ. All right, brethren, let's go to the Lord. Our Father, oh, what a blessing, Lord, that we can call you our Father, that we are your children, Lord, don't let us ever lose the value of that and the glory of it and just being astounded that you are our Father and we're your children. What a price you paid to make it so. Lord, make this Make this to grow in our hearts. Make us to know you more and your love more and the love of our Redeemer more and conform us more to Christ. Make us like Him in loving and forbearing and being long-suffering, being kind, tender-hearted, forgiving. Lord, make us like our elder brother, like the firstborn.

Thank you, Lord, for faithful fathers. Thank you for faithful children. Thank you for fathers in the gospel that preach the truth to us. Thank you, Lord, that you have given us earthly fathers, many that have earthly fathers that are faithful. Whatever the case, Lord, don't ever let us lose sight that if we're your child, We have a faithful Heavenly Father, and we always will. Thank you, Lord, for this message, and thank you for this glorious good news. In Christ's name we pray, amen.

My Father

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