For those of you who need it, I have some words of comfort
for those who know God. An old preacher said one time,
a long time ago, he said, the Lord God got up early one morning,
and He gazed upon His only begotten Son, for some time. Altogether lovely. Perfect in every way. And he
determined right on the spot to make a multitude of sinners
just like his only begotten son. And that's what this world is
all about. He is right now bringing many sons unto glory, those who
are predestinated from before the foundation of the world to
be made just like His only begotten Son. And what I want to talk
to you tonight about is the fact that some of us here have the
liberty the authority to call the God
of the universe, our Father. Matthew chapter 6, talking about
prayer, says in verse 5, when you pray, Christ is speaking,
our Mediator, our Savior, our King. He said, when you pray,
don't be like the hypocrites are. Oh, they love to pray standing
in the synagogue, standing on the corner of the street so everybody
can see them. That they may be seen as men.
Now there are people like that who love to pray to be seen and
heard of men. And when they prayed, that's
it. Period. They have their reward. They prayed and men heard them.
They prayed and men saw them. They prayed and men applauded
them. That's it. That's their reward. But thou,
when thou prayest, enter into thy closets, When thou shut thy
door, pray to thy Father which seeth in secret, and thy Father
which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when we pray, when you pray,
use not vain repetitions as the heathen do, as they did back
on Mount Carmel. For they think they shall be
heard, because they said a lot of words. Be not ye therefore like unto
them, for your Father, our Heavenly Father, we have some of us the
right, the authority to call Him our Heavenly Father. He owns
us as His children. Your Father knows everything
you have need of before you ever open your mouth, before you ever
utter a word. That's the kind of Father we
have. After this manner, therefore,
pray ye. Now this is a good, well-rounded
prayer model, pattern, given by the Lord Jesus Himself. Our Father, those great words,
Our Father, which art in heaven. And the first thing out of your
mouth after that is, Holy, holy, holy be your name. Hallowed,
sacred, set apart, revered, holy be your name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done, on earth or in earth as it is
in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we forgive
our debtors. Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from temptation and evil. We're not praying to a God who
doesn't have any ability. For Thine is the kingdom and
the power and the glory forever and ever and ever. Amen. Now let's just stop there. I just want to make a few statements
from the Scripture tonight. And if you can believe in your
heart, be comfort to you. If you're a Christian, you need
comfort. And if you can believe, it will be comfort to you. The
word Father, as attributed to God, is used in different ways
in the Scriptures. First of all, in Acts 17, it's
used as all men being the offspring of God. You're all, Paul said,
the offspring of God. Your heathen poets knew that.
They wrote poetry about it. all of us being the offspring
of God, all of Adam's race. And then it says, we're conceived
in the mind of God before time, brought forth in this world in
the fullness of time, Ecclesiastes 3, verses 1 and 2, and also Galatians
1, 15. Paul said, when it pleased God,
who separated me from my mother's womb, that's of the Lord. He called me by His grace to
reveal His Son in me. I began to pray. So we are all the offspring of
God. In a very special and unique
sense, God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. John 1.14, Ephesians 1.3, John
3.16, God so loved the world that He gave His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Christ is the Eternal. An only
begotten Son of God. Only begotten Son of God. And
then the Bible talks about God being a Father of mercies. Father of mercy. You ever need
mercy? That's where to find it. That's
where it comes from. True mercy. True mercy. And then, that's 2 Corinthians
1, 3, and then it says, God is the father of all his children,
all saints, all believers, through adoption. He adopted them. predestinated
their adoption unto children before the foundation of the
world, Ephesians 1 and Romans 8.15, Galatians 4.6. Then we
have this wonderful statement concerning these children, these
saints of God, these who are predestinated unto the adoption
of children, those whom God has determined to make just like
His Son. We have this statement, Behold,
1 John 3, verse 1, Behold, what manner of love the Father hath
bestowed upon us that we should be called sons of God. What love
that He should make us His sons. And at what price He hath to
give His only begotten Son to make us sons. Behold what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called
the sons of God. By the first birth into this
world we are born into sin and death. By the last birth, the
second birth, the new birth, we are life and righteousness
and peace, born of God, born of God. Children of the eternal, omnipotent, unchangeable
God of the Bible. We're His children. Born of God. Born of God. Through the Word. Now let's look at just a few
minutes. And He's not ashamed to call us His children. He said,
I'll be their God, they'll be my people. Put my law in their
minds and their hearts. They won't follow anybody else.
I'll be their God. Now, let us look at the natural
father and the spiritual father for a few minutes tonight. I had a good father. He did the
very best that he knew how, I think, raising his children. And I tried
to, but the old Puritans used a word, we just lacked the furniture. We didn't have enough furniture.
We didn't have enough smarts. Don't have very much sense. We're
not too smart. Make a lot of mistakes. Run out
of resources. We're short of resources on every
hand, as far as being fathers or anything else is concerned. But, the first thing that's parallel
between these two is, the natural Father gives life to His children.
They're born of that Father. Conceived by that Father. And
the Heavenly Father is likewise. He gives life to His children.
On purpose, individually, He gives them life. They're begotten
of Him. James 1.18, of His own will,
God's sovereign will and purpose, He begetteth us, begetteth us
through the Word of His own will. 1 Peter 1.21, I believe it is,
being born, we being born, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible
by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever, born of
God, born of God. And the Bible says Christ came
into this world, He made the world, came into the world, the
world didn't know Him. He came to His own people. They
received Him not. But as many as received Him,
to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believed on His name, which were born. Which were born. Not of blood, nor the will of
the flesh, nor the will of man, His own sovereign will. Beget
he us with the word of truth. As the Father raises the dead
and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom He
will. We're born of God. Nicodemus,
don't question your head about this. It's too much for you to
understand. The wind blows where it wills. You hear the sound
there. You can't tell where it started and where it stops. Even
so, is everyone who is born of God. Born of the Spirit. Born from above. We're born of
God. Born of God. Amazing. Born again. Born of God. Made
partakers of His nature. We're born into this world the
first time we have the nature of our Father. We're born again,
we have the nature of our Father, Almighty God, divine nature. Then we know this, that unless
there's some kind of, well I won't even think about
that, but a father loves his children, naturally. Naturally
love their children, some way or the other they do. And none of them love their children
like the Heavenly Father loves His children. How does that verse go in Romans
8.32? He spared not His own Son, but
delivered Him up to become a man. To suffer the contradiction of
sinners against Himself all the days of His life. to bear our
sin in His own body on the tree, and consequently to bear the
curse of God, the judgment of God. God loved us that much. He spared Him not, but delivered
Him up for us. Delivered Him up for us. And
then the Bible has terms like in Hosea, God said, I love them
freely. There was no cause in us to cause
God to love us. We were totally, completely,
entirely unlovable. We are contrary to everything
God is. And yet He set His love upon
us, somehow or the other, in the Lord Jesus Christ. He said,
I love them freely. He said, I've loved them with
an everlasting love. Therefore, in loving kindness,
I drew them to myself. Everlasting love. John 3.16,
God so loved the world, gave His Son. Here in His love, not
that we loved God, but that He loved us. And gave His Son to
be the propitiation of our sins. Human fathers love their children,
but nothing like God loves His children. And a father does his
best to clothe his children. You know, things have changed
so much as I was talking about this morning. When I was going
to school, we tried to find Levi's that weren't faded and had patches
on them and holes in them. And now they take new Levi's
and make patches and holes in them and fade them. On purpose.
On purpose. But we were well clothed. Always
had clean clothes. Always neat. Always neat. But the father Look with me at
Isaiah 61 just a moment. Isaiah 61. This is amazing. Isaiah 61, verse 10, the prophet
Isaiah says, I'll greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be
joyful in my God. Because he hath clothed me, dressed
me up to stand before God. He hath clothed me with the garments
of salvation. He hath covered me with the robe
of righteousness, his own robe of righteousness. As a bridegroom
decked himself with ornaments, as a bride adorned herself with
her jewels. God hath clothed us. The Bible
says in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 30, Of God, Christ of God, is made
unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
Everything we need for time and eternity, God has given us in
Christ. That according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in God. not in himself, not in
a preacher, not in a church, in God. Of God are ye in Christ,
who of God is made unto us all these things, wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption, fully clothed and clothed so
well. We are clothed so well in the
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ that the Bible says in
1 John, as He is, so are we in this world. That's how we stand
before God. In His righteousness. In His
garment of salvation. In His garment of salvation.
A Father clothes His children, even so the Heavenly Father clothes
His children. And then a Father provides food
for His children, and the Heavenly Father will do no less. He feeds
His children. He feeds them. The Heavenly Father provides
food and nourishment for each and every one of His children. And Christ is that food. Except
you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you.
But he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood has life and
never die. Never die. Never die. Christ is the bread of life.
Christ is the water of life. Christ is the true manna which
came down from heaven, John chapter 6. And all of God's people feast
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. The Father feeds them. Now listen
to this. The Father protects His children
in this world. I did mine as well as I could.
Nobody picked on them, run over them, stomped on them. without
doing it to me first. I think that's a father's responsibility
to take up his children. And I tried to. But the Heavenly
Father has a hedge around each one of his children. And Satan himself can't get across
that hedge unless God lets it down. What a father we have. We worry
far too much, don't we? Because we believe far too little.
That's the problem. Christ prays for his children. He said, I pray that their faith
fail not. And therefore, Peter said, we're
kept by the power of God through faith. And then he says, I pray
that the Savior said, I pray that those whom thou hast given
me be with me where I am. I want them where I am. I want
them with me. One day they will be. Because
His prayers are always answered. And then the Bible says, teaches
fathers to teach their children. Israel, we have that over and
over and over. And we know that the Heavenly
Father teaches His children. Isaiah 54, John chapter 6, verse
45. They shall all be taught of God. They shall all be taught of God.
Every man that hath heard, therefore, and learned of the Father, come
to run unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Taught of God. Drawn to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Taught and drawn. Drawn and taught. Taught and drawn. Now, a father
also not only teaches his children, but a father is tender and compassionate. Turn to Psalm 103 just a moment. as an earthly father with compassion
upon his children, remembering, if he is wise, that he himself
was a child once. And it says here in verse 10
of Psalm 103, God hath not dealt with us after our sins, thank
God for that, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy
toward his children. How great? How high is the heaven
above the earth? Immeasurable. Infinite. As far as the East is from the
West, so far hath He removed our sins and the judgment of
our sins from us, and judged and condemned His only begotten
Son to set us free. Here's the explanation part of
it. Like as a father pitieth his children, And boy, we do. When they're
so little, we don't understand what the problem is. And they
cry, and they hurt, and they can't tell us where. Our hearts
just pour out. We pity them. We love them. We
want to help them. And like as an earthly father
pities his children, so the Lord pities them that are his children,
those that fear him. For he knows our frame. Thank
God he don't ever forget. He remembers. That we're just
dust. Just a speck of sinful dust. From the dust we came and to
the dust we return. And all the while in between
we're just a speck of living, dying, sinful dust. And God remembers
our weaknesses. He remembers our fray. Look at
the book of Hebrews, just a moment, chapter 2. He knows what we need before
we ever ask Him. Verses 14-18, For as much then
as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, Christ also
himself likewise took part of the same, that through death
he might destroy them, him that hath the power of death, that
is, the devil. deliver them who through fear of death are all
their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham,
wherefore in all things it behooves him to be made like unto his
brethren, like us, seen excepted, but in all other things. that
he might be a merciful, he was one of us, he became one of us,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in faith
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of his people. For
in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to
comfort those that are tempted. Look at chapter
4. Verse 14, seeing then that we
have a, we think that sometimes, and sometimes it might be true
as far as people in this world are concerned, that sometimes
just nobody understands what I'm trying to, what I'm going
through, what I'm trying to say or express or whatever. Maybe
they don't. But He does. Always. Listen, seeing then that we have
a great high priest that's passed into the heavens, Jesus, the
Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not
an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities, but was in all points tempted like is we. Yet he never sinned, but he was
tempted. He's touched with the feeling
of our infirmities. Let us therefore, because He
understands, because He's touched with the feeling of our infirmity,
because He knows what it is to be tempted, let us therefore
come boldly. And that word boldly simply means
freely. Freely. You don't have to make
preparation to come. Come freely. You don't have to
work yourself up to come. Come freely! Just as you are. Because you are receiving from
Him, not based on you, but based on Him. Let us therefore come boldly
to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in every time of need. every time of need. I want to show you one other
place. Turn to 1 Peter chapter 5 just a moment. I preached on
this not too long ago here, I think. Verse 5, 2 Peter 5. Likewise, you younger men and
women, submit yourselves to the elders. Yea, all of you be subject
one to another. Be clothed with humility, for God resisteth the proud and
giveth grace to the humble. Now look at this next verse.
Humble yourself, therefore, unto the mighty, mighty, mighty, almighty
hand of God, that he may exalt you in due
time. Casting all your cares. The thought doesn't say that.
Stop there, but it goes on. Casting. Humble yourselves under
the mighty hand of God. Casting all your cares upon Him. Because He cares for each and
every one of you. Wonderful. There is nothing that
concerns us that doesn't concern Him. There have been times when we
couldn't help our children because our furniture was short and our
resources were short. But the whole universe is at
His disposal to help us in whatever way we need. All the universe. Everything. I'm talking about
the God is our Father who spoke this world into existence out
of nothing. What a God. Nextly, a father does good for
his children as well as he is able. And the
Heavenly Father is infinitely able. He has boundless ability, infinite
power. And the Bible says in Romans
8, verse 28, He is able to do it, and He does it, to make all
things work together for good to them that love Him, to them
who are called according to His purpose. He's able. He's willing. He does it. He does it. All things work together for
good to them that love Him, to them who are called according
to His purpose. Everything, one day we'll see it clearly, everything
that transpires in this world is subservient to God's eternal
purpose of saving His elect. Serves that purpose. And God's in charge. God's in
charge. And you know, the Bible says,
I mean, The Bible says it too, but the world teaches us that
sometimes fathers leave inheritance for their children, the best
they can, the best they have, leaving inheritance. But the
Apostle Peter said, God has left us an inheritance that is incorruptible,
undefiled, and never fades away. It never gets old. We never get
tired of it. It never fades away. Reserved
in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God, under salvation. At the best, an inheritance in
this world is temporary. But spiritually speaking, it may be a curse instead of
a blessing. But what God gives us is always a blessing instead
of a curse. The Heavenly Father lives, lives
to give His children this world. lives to give his children this
world. That's what was promised to Abraham
a long time ago. Genesis 12, Genesis 15, Romans
4. God promised him the world. And
it's been his days. His heart set on things above. Looking for a city which hath
foundations whose builder and maker is God. He wasn't looking
for land and empires down here. He was looking for a city in
glory. The Lord has promised us this
world and shall give it to His children with all sin removed from the
world. wherein dwelleth righteousness
only, and no sin in us either. That's all gone too. That's all
gone too. It is, as I said, incorruptible,
undefiled, fades not away, never loses its splendor. All of these
things men and women have if they have Christ. God is our
Father, if they have Christ. And all of these things are true,
if they have Christ. They can address Almighty God as our Father. Let me read you a few verses
that just came to mind. Romans 8, just a moment. Turn
to Romans 8, we're close. Verse 14, I'm going to read several
verses. As many as are led by the Spirit
of God, they are the children of God. For you have not received
the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the
spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Father, Father. The Spirit itself, bearing witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God, And if we are
the children of God, we are the heirs of God. Join heirs with
Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also
glorified together with Christ. 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. This is written by the
Apostle Paul, who suffered more than any of the other apostles.
suffered more than any individual I know of, unless it's except
Christ himself. For the earnest expectation of the creature, the creation, waiteth
for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creation was made subject
to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected
the same in hope. Because the creation itself also
shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God. Glorious liberty of the children
of God. Well, we know that the whole
creation groaneth and drafaileth in pain together until now. Not only they, all the creatures
in the creation, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits
of the Spirit, even we ourselves, groan within ourselves, waiting
for the adoption, that is, the redemption of our bodies. when
we'll be completely and totally and forever saved. Changing the
glorification of our bodies. For we're saved by hope. Saved
by hope. But hope that's seen is not hope.
But what a man seeth, why does he yet hope for it? For if we
hope, for that we see not, then do we patiently wait for it. Patiently wait for it. patiently wait for him. I'll tell you a story that I've
told here before, probably been several months ago. Years ago,
when times were harder than they are now down in Birmingham, there
was a black woman that washed the white folks' clothes. Go
back and forth through town picking them up and take them and wash
them and press them and then carry them back, always coming
back and forth through town. Always happy, always smiling,
always whistling or singing or something. An old white man stopped
her one time and asked her, said, I'd like to know something. How
in the world you don't have anything? working for other people. How
in the world do you manage to stay so cheerful?" She said,
look up above you, look all around you. Said, it all belongs to
my father. It's all mine. Said, you white
folks just pay taxes on it. It's mine. Okay, you're dismissed.