• 0
    Total
    Views

So great a Salvation (Vol.10): We Are God’s Children

Sunday English Service – 01 AUG 21

Transcript

If only we would realize fully who we are in Christ, what we have in Christ, we would not worry, we would not fear, we would not despair. If today we are worried, afraid, or despairing or nearing a kind of hopelessness, that itself shows that we are not thinking about who we are in Christ, what we have in Christ. Our biggest problems are not our problems themselves, but it’s a knowledge problem. What we don’t know; that’s our biggest problem. We don’t know who we are, what we have in Christ, but sometimes it’s not even a knowledge problem; it’s just very simple, simpler, we have forgotten, that’s all. We know but we have forgotten, we know but we’re not thinking about, we know but that’s not in the forefront. We know, but we are not really living out of that. And that’s why, once again, today I want to talk to you about what you already know, what you already received, what you already have: the blessings of your salvation.

The spiritual blessings of your salvation, you’ve already got them, you already have these blessings in Christ, spiritual blessings. You should not get fooled when you hear the word “spiritual blessing” thinking, you know, it’s not very practical or it does not relate to my practical daily life, because sometimes when you say “spiritual”, immediately people think that doesn’t connect with the practical daily life. No, that’s wrong. The spiritual blessings are higher than the physical blessings, are in some ways more important because they are the ones that bring the physical blessings. They are the ones that control the physical blessings. We are meant to live out of our spirit. And so, the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places with which we’ve been blessed with is very, very important and it’s the thing that will make us live and thrive in the daily lives that we live. And I’m focusing on what we already got. Rather, I choose deliberately not to meddle with what may have been lost or what may have, you know, been damaged or whatever. I’m talking about things that have not been touched one bit; I’m talking about things that have not changed one bit. No matter what has happened in the world around us. These spiritual blessings of salvation, today, I want to put forward one more blessing. What is that? Today we’re going to see how we are God’s children and God is our Father. We are God’s children and God is our Father. How many of you can say that’s a blessing? And that’s a blessing that comes in and through salvation, it’s part of that salvation package, it’s one of those higher blessings, right. We are saved, in fact, I’ll show you, we’re saved, we’re redeemed to become a child of God, to become children of God. That’s the goal even.

This is one of the higher blessings. This is very simple. We are God’s children. I mean, what’s simpler than that? We are a child of God; I’m a child of God; God is my Father. Every Christian knows that every believer knows this. There’s nothing more basic than this, and yet there is nothing more powerful, nothing more wonderful, nothing more that can literally elevate you from where you are. Today, if you would look at this with me today and if you would take this seriously and meditate on this, I believe that your faith will be built up and that your hearts will overflow with thanksgiving. That is my hope, as we meditate on this great truth, that we are children of God and God is our Father.

It’s so important for our hearts to be filled with thanksgiving. When there is no thanksgiving, that is a sure sign that there is something wrong in the life of the believer; he’s heading down the wrong path. You’ve got to correct it. I’m not just saying giving thanks, I’m saying there must be thanksgiving, meaning the thanks should fill our hearts. How will it fill our hearts if we focus only on the news or only on what’s happening wrong in the world or what may happen wrong or what we have lost? It won’t come. That’s why people say, “How can we give thanks in these times?” Oh yeah, “In everything give thanks”, the Bible says. Because God wants us to focus more on what we have and what we have is greater than what we don’t have. What we have is always greater than what we may have lost. But we can never lose; it’s greater. That’s what I’m talking about. You have this, you are a child of God, you have a relationship with God, a most wonderful, amazing, glorious relationship where God is your Father, and you are His child. We need to realize what a great thing this is. We need to be amazed by it. We need to be changed by it. So, let’s begin to look at this.

Let’s start here; let’s start with what we used to be. We are now children of God, having been saved in Christ. But we used to be out of Christ, outside of Christ, and we used to be at the time, not children of God. We were not children of God to begin with. God was not our Father as He is now. Before we got saved, before we put our faith in Christ, before we were united to Christ, we were not God’s children and God was not our Father. Now, as soon as I say that some people may think, “Isn’t God the Father of all? Aren’t all humans like, you know, God’s children?” And that is true in one way. In one way — in a narrow way — it is true that God is the Father of all, and that, you know, all humans are His children, because God is the One who created all. Since He created everyone, He is the One who created everything and every human being. He’s the One who gives life and breath and everything we are told and because of that, in that sense He is Father because He is the source of life itself. If you take a baby, the seed comes from the father. The father’s initiation is what gives rise to the birth, the conception, of the baby. And in that way, the father is the source, you know. That’s one of the aspects of the father; he’s the source of life. And so, Heavenly Father is the source of life for all creation really, all human beings. If He did not give life and breath, no person will be alive and breathing today.

If somebody is out there — I’m not talking about believers, but anybody — if they’re alive and breathing today, that itself means God has given them life and breath. That itself means they have received some grace, otherwise they won’t be alive and breathing. So, in that sense, you know, without God there wouldn’t be anybody. There wouldn’t be any creation, there wouldn’t be any living human beings today. And so, without God, we would not be and in that sense, yes, God is Father, as source, as sustainer, so on. But that doesn’t mean God is Father to all in a personal sense, in a relational sense, in a very intimate sense, in a familial sense, right? You know, there are people who, some people will say for example about somebody who’s not their father, they’ll say, “He’s like a father to me. Without him I wouldn’t be where I am today. He’s the one who really mentored me and brought me up and gave me opportunities and without him, I really wouldn’t be where I am today. He’s like a father to me”. That may be true, that person may be like a father to you but that doesn’t mean you’re living in his house. That doesn’t mean you’re eating dinner with him every day. And that doesn’t mean he has put your name in his will. There is a difference between saying, “He’s like a father to me”, and the real Father. He may be like a father, but you’re not calling him “appa”, “daddy”, you know, “dad” or something like that. There’s a difference when we say, “He’s like a father”, versus, you know, “He is Father”. That’s the difference that I’m talking about. Similarly, God, you can say is ‘like a Father’ to all human beings. Yes. But He’s Father to believers in a very special way.

Take a teacher, an example of a teacher in a school for example. They have their own students, you know, and teachers are very possessive about their students. They call their students as, “my students”. They’ll say, “my boys; my girls; my students; my children”. The way they talk is very possessive, ‘’My, my, my’’, you know. And even if the child passes that grade and goes on and grows up, they still don’t forget that child and they still maintain some level of care and affection for the child. They still call, “He’s my student”. So, you can say that the teacher is almost like a parent to them but no matter how the teacher says, “My students”, and thinks of them as “My children, my children”, when she goes home, she has her own children, and those children are always a little more special. Yeah, these children are also special; they’re also her children, in a way but those in her home are her children in a more personal, relational, specific, familial way. So that’s kind of the difference.

In one sense, yeah, God is the Father of all, and all our children. But, furthermore, not just as creator, God is Father of all. In another sense, God actually desires to be Father of all, in a close sense. God desires to be the Father of all human beings; I’m talking about human beings. That’s why He made human beings in His image. I think this is important background to really appreciate the whole sweep of Scripture. Why did God make man in His image and likeness? You know, God made man very special. When I say man, (both men and women) God made human beings very special from the rest of creation. They’re the only creation described as made in God’s image and likeness. What does that mean? It means ‘like God’. You can almost say, “God made man to be His child, to be His Son and daughter”. 

Why do I say that? Go to Genesis 5:1. There’s an interesting passage there. I don’t know how you understand image and likeness, right? There’s a lot of things said about it and it’s a very rich description but here’s one interpretation of it. Genesis 5:1, and here I want you to note as we read verse 1-3 there are two things you should note. One is, it talks about how God created man in His image and likeness and then verse 3 talks about how there was somebody born to Adam in his image and likeness. Genesis 5:1-3, This is the book of the genealogy of Adam in the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created a male and female, blessed them, called them mankind in the day they were created. And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. Very interesting. Verse 1 says, recalls chapter 1 and says, “God created man in His likeness” and then, verse 3 says, “Adam fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth”. The one who was after Adam’s likeness and image was the son of Adam. The one who was made after God’s image and likeness was… That’s why Adam is called… If you read, one of the ways the Bible refers to him is, “He is the son of God”, do you see that? In Luke, chapter 3, verse 38, there’s a genealogy of Jesus, where the roots of ancestry of Jesus is traced all the way back to Adam himself. And so, it goes, you know, “the son of, the son of”, you know how genealogies go. And so, they keep going back, back, back, back, and they go all the way back to Adam. Luke 3:38, there’s nobody before him, Adam is the first man. And then, Luke ends with saying, “Adam, the son of God”. It’s the most shocking statement: “Adam, the son of God”. In other words, God made Adam to be His son. Now here, there’s a huge difference between Jesus and Adam. I’m not saying it’s the same but what I’m saying is, God made Adam to be in that Father-Son relationship, to enjoy that Father-child relationship with Him. That’s how He made Adam. That’s why He made human beings like Himself, not like the other creation. Human beings are very different in that way, to have fellowship with God, to enjoy this kind of close, intimate, personal, familial relationship with God as Father and man as His child. That’s how He made Adam, but Adam, what did he do? He did what the prodigal son did. He went off, rejected God as Father, he rejected God as, you know, Lord. He rejected God from his life. He basically said, “I can live my own life; I’ll do what I want. I know what to do; You don’t have to tell me what to do. Even the one rule You give me to keep, I can’t keep”.

So, he rebelled against God and his rebellion was so great that he had to be driven out of the Garden of Eden, away from the presence of God. The damage was not only for Adam, but it was also for the entire human race. Not only Adam, but the entire human race suffered; how the image of God, that God gave us was— you may say— “tarnished”. We didn’t lose it completely, but it was spoiled or tarnished or damaged, you can say, “marred”. The image of God, something happened to that you see. Not only that, but the relationship also that Adam enjoyed with God was cut off; that close relationship was cut off there. Not only for Adam, for the entire human race. The entire human race now wanders around like orphans away from God.

So, you can say, God, yes, made humans to be His sons and daughters, with the goal of being sons and daughters. Yes, but you can’t say God is the Father in a very special way to all and all are in a special way His sons and daughters, right? The gulf that sin created between God and man was too great for the relationship to be the same. Sin separates man from God. And so, we were not, what I’m trying to say is, yes, in one way— if you appreciate the entire biblical storyline, in one way— yeah, you know, there is this Fatherly love that God, in one way, as Creator shows to all. And then, more specifically, one more specific, special intimate way, He wants to show to all, but He cannot, because they’re away, separated from Him. But, if you come down to it, the Bible clearly says, “We were not children of God before we were saved; God was not our Father”. In fact, our situation was worse. We were not just wandering; we were strangers and aliens to God. Ephesians 2:19, So, then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens. Paul is talking to believers and saying, “Now you are citizens but before you were strangers and aliens”, and the situation was worse, the Bible describes it quite, you know, badly. Look, for example, Ezekiel chapter 16. So here, we are wandering without God. The Bible actually describes the people of Israel as a helpless, orphan before God entered into a relationship with Israel. Have you seen this passage; Ezekiel chapter 16? I’m talking about how we were; you know, why am I talking about how we were before? Because only if you appreciate where we were, how terrible our state was before, then only you will appreciate how good our state and condition is now. Part of the reason we don’t have thanksgiving is, we are looking at the present state and we are unhappy with it, we wish it was better, but we forgot from where we came, how terrible the situation was. Today, I’m reminding all of us of our past, spiritual condition.

We were not children of God; we were actually orphans. Look at this, Ezekiel 16, verse 4 onwards. God is speaking through Ezekiel, the prophet and describing the condition of the entire nation of Israel before He entered into a relationship with Israel. Okay, and so, it’s a picture of a baby who no one wants, like an orphan. So, you’ve got to kind of picture it, imagine it, but this is about the whole nation of Israel. Ezekiel 16:4, And as for your birth, on the day you were born, your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. He says, “When you were born, nobody did what they normally do for a baby. Even your cord was not cut, nobody washed you, they just left you like that”. Look at the next verse 5, he’s talking about the nation of Israel: No eye pitied you—or had compassion upon you—to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, but you were cast out on the open field—you were like a baby, rejected, thrown out, cast out on the open field—for you were abhorred, on the day that you were born. He’s saying, “No one had compassion on you; no one loved you. In fact, they threw you out, they took advantage of you; they hated you”. He’s talking about the nation of Israel. The people of Israel are very proud people. “There’s nobody like us’’, they usually think, right? And good pride is good, but sometimes the good pride slowly goes into bad pride, you know. They forget that before God chose them, they were nothings and nobodies. And so, sometimes God likes to remind His people, you know – “Don’t forget where you were”, you know. He says, “This was your condition: cast out, rejected, orphaned”. Verse 6, “And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ I said to you, in your blood, ‘Live!’. He says, “I came by you, I saw you wallowing in your blood. If I had left you to wallow there, you would have died, and perished, but I looked at you and I said, ‘Live!’”. Twice he says, “I said ‘Live!’ and because I said “Live!”; you lived. If not for Me, you would have been nothing.” That’s what he’s trying to say to the nation of Israel.

Why did God choose Israel? Because they were somebody great? You know, we should get the history right. Yeah, Israel is a great nation, but only because God chose them. God didn’t choose them because they were a great nation; they became a great nation because God chose them – huge difference. Go to Deuteronomy, chapter 7. Again, there, also look, through Moses God reminds the people of Israel, “Why did I choose you? Because you were a great nation? No, you were in fact a small nation”. In Tamil, ‘arpamana desam’ [Tamil], “You were an insignificant nation. You had nothing that made Me want you, really. It was not your merit, because of your merit that I chose you, no, no. I love you, because I loved you”, I don’t have time to read that passage, one of the most beautiful passages in the Bible: Deuteronomy 7, verse 6. He tells people of Israel, “I didn’t love you because of who you were; I loved you because I loved you”. What I’m trying to say is, this is not just the story of Israel, this is the story of the church. This is the story of believers. We were nothings and nobodies and God had mercy upon us when God showed His grace to us. We were orphans and if you think that is a bad enough description, go to Ephesians 2:2, it becomes worse.

Like I said, we need a reminder of where we were, from where we have come. Ephesians 2:2 and this is written to believers. You may say, “Do we need the reminder?”, I say, Paul says, “We need the reminder”. He’s writing to believers in Ephesians in Ephesus and he’s telling them, “Don’t forget, here’s how you were”. Ephesians 2:2, You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. This whole passage I can preach on, but I wanted to just look at those final words where it talks about children. We were not children of God, but we were children of wrath. See that, by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. That means, ‘by nature’ means, Adam gave us that nature, because of him and the nature we got from him, we were children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. Paul is talking to believers, about how they were before they became believers. We were like the rest of mankind by nature children of wrath, what does that mean? Children of wrath means; God’s wrath was upon us before we came into Christ. We were under the wrath of God; we were deserving of God’s wrath. Wrath was due upon us, not blessing, but God’s wrath was due upon us. That was our state and condition and most terribly, we were on the way to receive the outpouring of God’s wrath on final judgment day. We were on the way to have a head-on-collision with God’s wrath on the final judgement day. That’s where we were, ‘by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind’

When the Bible, New Testament talks about the wrath of God, most of the times, it talks about the final manifestation of God’s wrath on the judgment day. And so, Paul is saying that we were heading towards that. And that’s when the next verse he says, “But God, who’s rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us”, and he talks about how God saved us. So, our situation was pretty bad. And let me give you an even worse description, not only children of wrath. Go to John chapter 8, and this comes from Jesus Himself. This is a little bit harder to swallow probably, but it’s Jesus and He’s talking to the Jews. Like I said, the Jews, the proudest people, the people who are most proud about their relationship with God. They thought, you know, nobody knew God, we know God, I mean nobody can compare with us. And Jesus is talking to them, and they are arguing with Jesus, you know, and it gets to the point in this chapter, where they say… It gets really bad at this point, they try to actually stone Jesus, and the build-up to that is, at one point they say, “Abraham is our father”. They are boasting about themselves to Jesus, they say, “Abraham is our father. Do you know who we are? How great we are? Abraham is our father!” And Jesus says, “If Abraham was your Father, you would live and act like Abraham, but you seek to kill me. This is not what Abraham would do”. He says, “Yeah, Abraham is not your Father. Your Father is somebody else”.

And then in verse 41, they go to the next level, and they say, you know, they make fun of His fatherhood, Jesus’ fatherhood, because Jesus was born of a virgin. Nobody knew about His father and there was a question about it, you know, who was the father of Jesus and so they preyed upon that, and they said, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father”. Basically, they were accusing Jesus. They didn’t recognize the virgin birth of Jesus. And then they said, “But we have one Father—God”, speaking to Jesus, imagine that? Jesus again replied similarly and said, “If God were your Father, you would love me”— in verse 42— “because I came from God”. “I’m God’s Son. I’ve come all the way from here and you fellows want to kill me? How can God be your Father?”, Jesus is saying. And then, verse 44, Jesus reaches a kind of climax here, well actually, it keeps getting worse. But Jesus says, in 44, one shocking statement to the Jews. Imagine this, He says, “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires”. What a harsh statement to the Jews! Nobody spoke to the Jews like that. “You are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires”. Previous verse, He says, “That’s why you can’t stand My Word; you can’t stand Me speaking”. What I am trying to say is, not only here but in 1 John 3:10, I am not going to read it, but you can see for yourself. The Bible is very clear. The world, in one sense, is divided into two, the children of God and the children of the devil; 1 John 3:10. It’s there; you can see it.

Jesus again, in Matthew chapter 13:38, again divides the world like that in a parable of the weeds. He says, “The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one”. The whole world, the field is divided into good seeds and weeds; sons of the kingdom and sons of the evil one. What I’m trying to say is, we were not in a, you know, neutral condition, we were not just like, okay we were outside God’s family, we were just not His children, and He was not out Father. No, no, it was worse than that! We were strangers to God; we were orphans without God, without anybody, everybody taking advantage of us; we were slaves to sin. Like the people of Israel were preyed upon by Pharaoh and Egypt, we were preyed upon by the devil, by sin, and everything was holding us down, and we were in slavery to them. That was our condition. We were children of wrath, heading for the great outpouring of wrath to receive that. We were children of the devil himself. From there, from that depth, from that low place, God lifted us, made us His children. Just think about that for a minute. 

This is the story of every believer, from one extreme to another extreme. From the bottom heaps, from the depths, from the lowest position to the highest position, the children of wrath, children of the devil, to the children of God. We are children of God, everybody say, “We are children of God”. We are not servants, although the Bible does describe us as, in one way, ‘servants’. That is because we serve Him. We do what He says in that way. So, we’ve got to understand all the metaphors and put them in their rightful place, but our primary identity is not servants, but children; not slaves but children; not employees, but children. We, sometimes in our relationship with God, we act like we are an employee, right. You know, “God I did everything you asked me to do, you know, now where’s my pay? Where is my promotion? I deserve it now”. We are children of God. Everybody say, “We are children of God” God is our Father, not our boss. Not just our master or Lord, although that is also there. We do what He says, we obey Him, and, in that sense, He is our Master, He is our Lord. His primary identity in this relationship is Father, not just ‘like a Father’; He is our Father. So much so, that we now call Him, “Abba Father”, right. “Abba”, “Abba”, “Abba”, or in English the equivalent may be daddy, or dad or something like that. 

What a big change from “strangers and aliens” to “members of the household of God” – Ephesians 2:19. From orphans to children of God, from children of wrath to children of love, from children of the devil to children of God. This is huge – from one extreme to the other; from the depths of minus to the heights of plus. This is bigger than some of the other blessings we have spoken about earlier. Like, for example, this much bigger than being forgiven. Being a child of God is much more, much bigger than being justified, being made righteous; it’s bigger. Being forgiven, if I can give you an example, maybe because I want you to realize how big this is. I want you to realize how amazing this is, that we are children of God. You know, it’s much more than being forgiven and made righteous.

It is one thing for a judge to forgive a criminal, and say, you know, “You can go free; you’re not guilty”, that’s forgiveness. It’s one step higher for the judge to say “Oh, it’s not just that you’re not guilty. Oh, you are the most righteous person who ever lived!”. Imagine a judge says that to a criminal? “Not, not guilty, but super righteous”. And he talks about all the accomplishments of this fellow who’s accused of being a criminal. Can you imagine a scenario like that?  Where a judge doesn’t just pronounce a ‘not guilty’ verdict. But he says, “Oh, you are the most righteous person”, you know. That is what justified means, because God doesn’t just pronounce us not guilty, He pronounces us righteous, He clothes us with the righteousness of Christ. He counts the righteousness of Christ in our account. He imputes that and He counts it as though we did it and He appreciates us and welcomes us and accepts us as righteous in Christ. It’s huge! So, forgiveness itself is amazing, but righteousness is even more amazing. But now we’re talking about something even more amazing. This would be like the judge doesn’t stop with “not guilty”. He then says, “super-righteous; nobody righteous like you”. But then he comes down from the bench and he goes to that fellow, and he says, “Oh my goodness I’m going to adopt you. I’m going to, you know, take you into my family, make you my son. From henceforth, you’re coming home with me to be my child; I’ll be your father”. Imagine that? That is how much bigger this is than righteousness. This is much bigger. 

You can think of it from another perspective, how big this is, how amazing this is. If you think of it from the Old Testament to New Testament perspective, from what the Jews had—the people of God in the Old Testament had—to what we have. You know this, the Jews had the teaching that God is Father, and we are His children in a shadow form. I’m stretching out my hand, there’s a shadow on my hand falling, right. So, the shadow kind of gives a faint, vague idea but not the clear picture, not as clear as my hand. It’s like that the. The Old Testament gives in shadow, the truth that is both clearly and fully revealed in the New Testament. So, even in the Old Testament, the truth that God is Father, and we are His children is there in shadow form, but they didn’t know it, they couldn’t see it, their eyes were not opened. So, they knew so much about God, but they didn’t know God is their Father. They knew He is the Creator, He is holy, He is righteous, He is you know, powerful, He is El Shaddai, He is this and that, they know so much but they don’t know this most basic truth that God is Father. And not only that, like you’ve come to church today, imagine if somebody told you, imagine if they said, “Oh no, no, nobody could enter the hall today. You all have to stay outside”. That would be the most ridiculous thing, right? Imagine you came and imagine they allowed nobody in the hall. That’s what happened in the Old Testament temple, tabernacle. Nobody was allowed past the outer court. Even in the middle court, only the priests were allowed. In the most holy place, only the High Priest was allowed that to, once a year. I just imagine that scene every time you go, you try to go near God, the message you get is, “Don’t come too close. Don’t come too close because He’s too holy. You can’t just approach Him like that. You stay out there”. Every time they tried to come near, the message was, “Don’t come too close”. You come to the New Testament the message is, “Come all ye to the throne of grace, come all ye”. I mean this is a different level that’s where the New Testament is on a different level. It fulfils the Old Testament, but it’s like this; it’s like this.

Hebrews 10:19 says, “We have boldness to enter the holiest place, the most holy place”. Read Hebrews 10:19, you will see this: we have boldness to enter the most holy place through the blood of Jesus. What the Old Testament saints never had. I’m talking people like you know Abraham and David and Moses and Elijah and all these people never had, we have. We have a relationship that is closer, tighter, that is more of a family type of relationship. God is not just our Creator, our Lord, and our Master, He is our Father. And we are not just His servants—however exalted that may be—we are His children. We are His sons and daughters. What an amazing thing this is, my friend. Are you amazed by it?

1 John 3:1. You know, it’s pretty important how we react to this truth, right. Are you reacting with “Yeah, you know, what’s so amazing about this? Yeah, God is Father, and we are children. Yeah, I know that. You know, why is this even necessary? You know, is this teaching even going to do anything? Right. Are you reacting like that? Or is this making you to be amazed? Is this thrilling your heart? God is my Father; I am His child. What kind of reaction do you have? That determines how you’ll benefit from it.

1 John 3:1; the apostle John in a state of maturity, he’s writing here. 1 John 3:1, he says, “Behold (or see) what kind of love the Father has given to us”. “See what kind of love the Father has given to us”. You may say, “What is this love?” He says, “That we should be called the children of God”. He says, “See, behold!” Behold is a word which says, which means in the Bible, stop and look! Don’t look past it; don’t say, “I know”. Don’t say, “Yeah, so what?” Behold – stop, see, realize, look, ponder, behold, see what kind of love the Father has given to us. What’s this great love? That we should be called children of God. John is saying, “Just the fact that we are called children of God, that we are the children of God, and God looks upon us as His own children, is amazing love. It’s amazing love”. Where we were; where we are. We are a child of God; a child of God, right. Think about the access we have to God; we can go boldly before Him. Like a child just walks in boldly before the father’s presence. The father may be a president, but the child goes boldly. The child doesn’t need an appointment to see the father, the whole world may need, but the child doesn’t need. The child can go and ask boldly and because the child is asking, the father will turn the world upside down and give some things, if he’s a powerful father, because the child is asking.

It’s all about, when you’re amazed by this, when the light floods your heart about how amazing just this one simple truth is, that God is your Father and you are His child, your prayers will be different, they will be bolder, you will ask big, you will ask in faith, you’ll receive. It changes everything. People talk about, you know, practical. Well, this is practical plus, like I said. This is a spiritual truth but if you get it and if it gets deep into you, it will change everything. How you face your challenges tomorrow. God is our Father; we are His children. See what kind of love, how amazing this love is that the Father has given to us. If you have nothing today but you are a believer, you are a child of the living God. God is your Father and you have everything, therefore. Just think about that. If you’ve lost many things, you have not lost your Heavenly Father; you’ve not lost your relationship to Him. Especially, I say, even if you’ve lost an earthly father, remember that you have your Heavenly Father, and the most glorious relationship you have with Him as His child.

We look upon the people in the world as the son of so and so, you know. He’s the son of “so and so”, great businessman, great this man, that man, every man. But no matter how great the son of “so and so” is, because the “so and so” is great (we think), it can’t be as great as we are the children of God. We are sons and daughters of God. You know, they may be the son of “so and so”, but the Bible still calls them as “children of wrath”. Let me stop there. You know what I mean. That doesn’t matter as much as, are you a child of the living God? Thing is, that looks more amazing to us. You see, that is only being worldly, we are looking like the world, processing reality like the world. This needs to be more amazing, that’s what John says. See what manner of love the Father has given to us that we should be called the children of God. Let’s go on.

So, we were so terrible in a position, and now we are children of God. God is our Father. How did this happen? How did we go from one extreme to the other extreme? You know, the first answer, when you ask the question, “How?”, is, Jesus Christ; that’s how. It’s through Him and it’s by Him and it’s in Him. What do I mean by that? It’s through Him, meaning only through Him, this revelation that God is Father itself came for the first time. Think about this: who’s the One who for the first time brought this idea that God is Father? It was Jesus. The Jews didn’t have a clue about it. Like I said, they knew everything else about God, He’s creator, Lord, Master, holy, holy, holy, you know, righteous, wise and this and that and everything. They didn’t know He is Father. Jesus comes on the scene, and He says, “I’m the Son of God”, He claims to be the Son of God, and immediately people start thinking now. He’s here, He’s saying, He’s the Son of God and He’s Himself God and He’s saying, the God who is up there is His Father and He calls him “Father”; it rocked their world, you see. 

Until that time, they thought God is one person, that’s it. But here is one person: The Son, saying, “I am the Son of God the Father”. That means, merely there’s two persons the Father and the Son and then later on, Jesus reveals that the Holy Spirit is also part of the Godhead. He says, “Baptize, in the name of the Father and Son of the Holy Spirit” and so on. And you know this basic truth about God that God is Trinity, three persons. One God is revealed only through Jesus. Forget about Trinity; they did not even know that the first person of the Trinity is Father. The title that the New Testament gives the most important name… J.R Packer, I think calls this the Christian name for God. Is what? “Father”. Most important name in the New Testament for the first person of the Trinity, the Jews didn’t know, He is Father. They didn’t even know that He had a Son.

Imagine, somebody knows a lot about you. They know what colour you like; they know you know what time you go to bed, what time you wake up, how you work, or you don’t work. Imagine they know a lot, because now, people know a lot just through our phones. They get to know about us. So, imagine a person knows a lot about you, but they don’t even know that you have children. Just imagine a person like that. They don’t know how many children you have; they don’t even know whether you have children or not. Would you say that person knows you well? No. If a person knows me well, they know that I have two children, at least. It’s like that. The Jews claim to know God so well, they didn’t even know the most basic reality of the first person of the Trinity, that He is Father; His very title is ‘Father’. They didn’t know that He’s the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, the most basic truth of the New Testament. Jesus is the one who came and revealed that. He says, “He is Father; I am the Son”. And not only did Jesus reveal that God is His Father, but Jesus also revealed that God is our Father, through Jesus. And He didn’t just teach that God is our Father, He also died, suffered, and died and rose again too, so that God can become our Father and we can become His children, right. Through Jesus only, the revelation came, by Jesus’s work on the Cross only, it became possible to become a child of God. Why did Jesus die on the Cross? To bear our sin and to remove it. Why, to bear our sin and remove? Because we need to be forgiven of our sins. Why should we be forgiven of our sins? To be clothed with His righteousness. But why should we be clothed with his righteousness? To be accepted by God as righteous. But why should we be accepted by God? Why should we be sanctified, made holy? So that we can get close to God. But why do we need to get close to God. See, I can ask question after question about each blessing of salvation. Why should we be born again? So that we receive the nature of God, the seed of God, the life of God within us. But why should we receive God’s life and seed and nature and be changed and transformed; why all this? If you ask the questions, it’ll all lead to what place? So that you can get so close to God, in a relationship with Him as Father and children. That’s why; that’s why the righteousness, that’s why the sanctification. It all has a higher purpose so that we can get into this relationship with God. This family relationship – God can be our Father and we can be His children. The very purpose of redemption itself, Paul says, in Galatians chapter 4. Look at Galatians, chapter 4, the very purpose of redemption, He says, is that we might become sons of God; sons and daughters of God. Galatians, chapter 4.

Why were we redeemed? Why did Jesus come? There are a few places in the Bible where this question is answered, here is one of them. Galatians 4, verse 4 and 5. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who are under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Why did Jesus come? Why did God send His Son? Here’s an answer, if I summarize verse 4 and 5, let me summarize it in a short way. God, when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son to redeem those who are under the law, that we might receive adoption as sons. I didn’t really summarize it very short, did I? God sent His Son to redeem, so that we become sons. God sent His Son to redeem us, so that we end up becoming sons. The ultimate goal is, we become sons. The way we become sons is through the redemption. That’s why Jesus came, to redeem that we might become sons. The revelation came through Jesus. It was made possible through Jesus’s suffering, death, and resurrection. And then, finally, the actual thing happens in Christ. We become children of God, in Christ. What does that mean? We are joined to Christ, and it is in our union with Christ that we become children of God. Not just Jesus reveals God as Father, not just Jesus makes it possible through His work on the Cross, but by joining Himself with us, in union with Jesus, only we become God’s children and we remain God’s children. Galatians 3:26, You don’t have to go there but I’ll just read it, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God. “In Christ Jesus” in salvation.

We’ve already been talking about this “in Christ Jesus”, we are united to Christ, joined to Christ, that’s the most basic thing and salvation, right. And everything comes “in Him”, not just through Him but in Him. And so, if you think of it like that, if we’re united with Christ and if we are so one with Christ that He is the vine and we are the branches, He is the head we are the body, and there is such a tight union. If this is true, then everything that belongs to Christ belongs to us; everything that belongs to Christ, belongs to us. What is the greatest thing that belongs to Christ? What is the greatest thing that belongs to Christ? It’s not the world, it’s not His kingship even. What’s the greatest thing that belongs to Christ? It’s His relationship with His Father; that’s the greatest thing. Everything else comes from that only. His relationship with His Father gives Him everything; that’s the greatest thing for Jesus Christ. And when we become so one with Jesus, we share in Jesus’s relationship with His Father. I’m not saying we become Jesus, I’m saying, we share, by union in Jesus’s relationship with the Father. Union with Christ grants us union with the Father. If we are so one with Him and Christ is so one with the Father, then we are also one with the Father.

That’s what Jesus says, in John 17. I don’t have time to read it, but you can read it; John 17 verse 20 to 23. One of the most, glorious passages, Jesus’s prayer and He prays for all believers, and He says, “I pray that they may be in us”— not just in Me—in us, in the Father and the Son, is what he means in the Trinity”. And then He says, in verse 23, “I pray that I be in them and you in me”. That is Jesus in believers, and the Father in Jesus that they become perfectly one; Jesus in us but the Father is in Jesus. Think union, right? Otherwise, you’ll break your head. Union, Jesus is joined to us, Father is joined to Jesus, therefore we are all one. Union with Christ gives us union with the Trinity. Union with the Father, union with the Son, union with the Holy Spirit and so on. That’s how it happened through Jesus, by Jesus, in Jesus. How did it happen?

Another answer that the Bible gives is, it happens, you know, in the normal ways. If you think about it in a different way. It happened in a normal way that any person enters a family. How do you enter a family? There are two ways that you can enter a family, at least: by birth, or by adoption. You can be born into the family, or you can be adopted into the family. The Bible, when it talks about believers becoming children of God, it says that we are both born of God, and also adopted by God. Adopted as sons, born of God. You know, the verses: John 1:12-13. I think it’s important to read it: But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born—these children of God, right, these believers were born—not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. Everybody say, “Born of God”. 

If you’re a believer if you’ve received Jesus – that’s what this verse says. If you believed in His name, He gave you the right to become children of God, and you didn’t just have a human birth, you know. You don’t just have a human Father, but you have a Divine Father. You were born of God; you have had a divine birth, you have had a supernatural birth, so much so, that God’s seed abides in you. The Bible says that in 1 John 3:9. God’s seed, think about that, not only your Father’s seed is in you, not only your Father’s DNA, but God’s seed abides in you. His DNA is in you. You know, we spoke about this in the new birth, being born again. God gives us His life; He births us in a spiritual miracle. That’s the new birth. He makes us to be born again, a new creation and so on, and He puts his own nature inside and He changes our very deepest inclinations, desires and so on. We are partakers of God’s nature through the new birth. His DNA is inside of us, and all of this comes through the teaching that we are born into God’s family.

But not only that, but the New Testament also gives importance to the other way. We are adopted into the family. You see in these verses, immediately, when we say, “We ae adopted”, some people somehow think of that as a slightly lower thing. That is because of, perhaps, today’s culture and society and, you know, some people think of adopted children sometimes as, in some way, inferior to biological or natural-born children. But when the New Testament was written, you have to understand, it was not written in today’s society and culture. When the New Testament was written, 2000 years ago, the Roman culture and the Roman society, viewed adoption in the most honourable terms, in the loftiest terms. In the Roman society, an adopted son was in no way inferior to a natural-born son. They were equal, not only in the eyes of the law, but also in the eyes of society, in the way society accepted them. They were equal, no way inferior. Go read about this. In Roman society, they respected the legal establishment of family relationships. They recognized that, you can enter the family, not only through natural means but also through legal means. You can be adopted and once you’re adopted that’s it. You’re adopted; you’re a son, that’s it. They don’t call you an adopted son; they said “son”!

Even today, why do people, I’m talking about the people who adopt with the best intentions, why did they adopt? In order to make that child in every way, equal to a natural-born. That’s the best intentions. Even today, there may be people not doing it rightly, but the ones who do it rightly, with the best intentions, do it why? To make this adopted child, in every way equal to the natural-born child and that’s why they do it. But this was much more at the time, in the in the Roman culture, there were many emperors who were adopted. They were adopted by the previous emperor to be the successor. Examples, the emperor who was in power when Jesus was born, Augustus Caesar. Mentioned in Luke, he was adopted by the previous emperor. The next emperor Tiberius Caesar, who was also mentioned in Luke, chapter 3. That’s when John the Baptist begins his ministry, under Tiberius Caesar. He was adopted by Augustus, the previous emperor. So, this was viewed very, you know Marcus Aurelius, that’s another emperor and then there are Roman generals and senators and so on. Many people of higher stature and so on, adopted. They were in no way viewed inferior and the way they got to the high stature, the high position, was through adoption. And so, if we’re going to think in such low terms as what people think today out in society, we will lose what Paul and the New Testament are trying to convey here. You know, forget about Roman culture, Paul actually takes this teaching of being adopted as sons to another level, you know, beyond the way the Romans used it. you know, for example, in Romans 9:4. 

I’m not going to say much, but I’ll just quickly say and go. And if we have time later, we’ll see. But in Romans 9:4, Paul uses this term, the “adoption as sons”. Some translations will say “sonship”; some translations will say “adopted as sons”; some translations will say “the adoption”, right? But it’s all the same word. It basically means to legally place as a son, to legally appoint as a son, to legally make a son, a very strong word. In Romans 9:4, when Paul is listing the great benefits of the nation of Israel, adoption comes first. If you read his list, he says, “These Israelites, to them belong, the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law, the worship, and the promises”. The first in the list is the adoption. The next in the list is the glory. So, Paul has something else in mind.

For example, in Galatians chapter 4, I already showed you the very goal of God sending the Son is not just to redeem; it’s to redeem so that we can be adopted as sons, that’s the word that’s used in Galatians 4 and verse 5. Or take Romans, in Romans chapter 8, Paul uses the word two times in 15 and 23. Romans chapter 8, you have to understand is one of the greatest chapters in the Bible, where Paul brings to a glorious climax, the great blessings of salvation and what it means for us to be saved and redeemed. He brings it to a glorious climax and how does he do it, when he brings it to the top, he brings in this word as “adoption as sons”. “Adopted as sons”, in Romans 8:15. When he’s trying to bring it to a great conclusion, he says, “For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, whereby the cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” The Holy Spirit makes this adoption, a reality in us and through him we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Holy Spirit is referred to here as the ‘Spirit of adoption’; ‘the spirit who adopts’. He has a role in the adoption, and it is only through the Holy Spirit we cry, “Abba! Father!”

What do you notice? The terminology, the word “adoption” is used in a very lofty way, a very honourable way and Paul takes it even higher. He says in 8:23, he talks about how even though we’re already adopted, we are still waiting for another adoption. Romans 8:23, we are waiting, eagerly waiting along with the whole creation, the adoption as sons, which is the redemption of our bodies. What’s he talking about? He’s talking about one day, Jesus is going to come, and when He comes, our bodies are going to be glorified. And when our bodies are glorified, it will have such an effect, that creation itself will achieve its intended glory! It says, “Creation itself waits in eager anticipation and we also wait”, for what? Here’s the term, the “adoption as sons”. We think it’s something that’s small. No, no, it’s something very great. We wait for the adoption. What is the adoption? The redemption of our bodies. Adoption is something great, if we have time later on, we’ll see all that’s connected to so much more.

But what I’m saying is, this is, if you have any inferior thoughts about adoption, put it away. There is nothing inferior or lacking in it. There is only one thing lacking in it. What is it? You cannot transmit the parent’s DNA through the adoption. Somebody is adopting somebody; their DNA is not in that person. That is the only fault, you may say, there, right? There cannot be a transferral of nature, but that is not the point. In the New Testament, that is covered by the new birth. Adoption cannot transfer God’s DNA to us, God’s nature, but that is why we have the new birth. That is why we have the born-again truth. That is why we are born of God. So, the New Testament takes care of that. We are born of God and God’s nature is put in us, but it uses adoption because a lot more can be conveyed through adoption. 

Paul uses the metaphor of adoption because you can actually convey a lot through that. What can you convey, for example? You can convey this: that adoption shows, in a much clearer way that once, we belonged to another family, once we were orphans. There was a time, right? Adoption shows that more clearly than the new birth, doesn’t it? New birth just sounds like you know we were just born from above, just a new beginning, That’s it. No, but that’s not the whole truth. We’ve actually belonged in another place, we were orphans. We didn’t have a family. We were strangers, we were children of wrath, we were children of the devil, adoption shows you actually came from there. It shows that you had a previous reality. And people don’t like to hear that. People don’t like to hear that, and adoption says, “Well, this is the story of our lives; we came from there”. God in His grace and mercy has brought us here, adopted us into His family but it shows much more, what else?

Another example, adoption shows, you know, in its highest sense or not in the highest sense, in its right sense, adoption, if done rightly, if done in the best possible way, can I say, if not done out of need, but it is done out of love. Why do people adopt? See, many times people adopt because they have a need; they can’t bear a child of their own sometimes and so they adopt a child, right, that’s fine. But what I’m saying is that’s not adoption in the best sense, with the best intentions. Adoption with the best intentions, highest, is like this. Have you seen people, they already have natural-born children, but they still go and adopt? Have you seen people like that? I know people like that, right. People ask why are they doing that? What’s the meaning of that? Why is it necessary? It’s not necessary, but it’s still done. Why is it done? Out of love. That person has got way too much love. I’m talking about people who adopt like God because God doesn’t adopt out of need. 

The Bible talks about how God planned our adoption. Have you ever read this? Ephesians, chapter 1, look at the background to your adoption. Ephesians chapter 1, how God planned it and then I’ll say why He planned it. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 4, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world— before the foundation of the world, He chose us— that we should be holy, and without blame before Him in love having predestined us to adoption as sons. Here is this amazing term. In Ephesians 1, in the list of great spiritual blessings, God not only chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, but He also predestined us to adoption. That means what? Predestined us to be adopted as sons by Jesus Christ, to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. What is he talking about? He is saying, “Before the world was made, before you were born, before the world was born, God chose you in Christ. God, in His mind, connected you and Jesus and not only that, but God also predestined you to be adopted as sons”. It’s unbelievable, predestined us to be adopted, that means God predestined you. God thought about you, planned that you will one day become His child, way back then. Adoption is the initiative and adoption is always taken by the parent. The child is not scratching and saying, “How can I go get myself a parent?” The parent decides, goes after the child, adopts, and does everything. The child just says, “Yes, that’s our story”. 

You see, before we chose God, God chose us. And not just now, but before we were born, not just before we were born, before the world was made, before the foundation of the world, He had us in mind. And He said, “This person is Mine and I’m going to save him and redeem him and through Jesus, do everything necessary to make him My son and daughter”. He planned it. That’s why, everything was done according to that plan. It says here, “According to the good pleasure of His will”. So, it’s not just a spur of the moment decision. It was His will, and He was pleased with it. And He planned it. What did He plan? He planned creation, redemption, everything accordingly. He made man just like Him, so that he can enjoy this Father-child relationship, and even though it was broken, He made provision for that as well, sending his own Son to repair that. So that what? Finally, we can be adopted as sons. When it says, “sons”, you know the daughters should not get offended; there’s actually very rich meaning. For now, you just take it as adopted as children, but there’s a very specific reason why he says, “sons”. But we have no time to cover that today but really you should take it as adopted as His children, you know, sons and daughters because He’s speaking to, male and female.

God planned it. Why did He plan it? This what I was trying to say earlier. Why did He plan to have a relationship with us as His children? Because He needed it? No. Because He didn’t have children of His own? No. Some people think, you know, God was up there before the creation of the world and that He was so lonely. And He wanted children to be with Him, to fellowship with Him because He was so lonely and that’s why He created us. Wrong! He was not lonely. That’s why the Bible says, “Father, Son, and Triune God”. He was not lonely. He had the Son, the Father loved the Son, the Son loved the Father, there was love before there was a world. There was love within the Trinity, and that love overflowed. In fact, the very creation of the world itself, if you look carefully and kind of, look at the undergirding of Scripture and if you look at the very creation itself, you’ll realize that the creation itself was born out of love. It must have been. I’m talking about the way God created the world, not the way that man spoilt the world.

Today, when we think about the world, we think about the diseases and all that. No, no, forget about that. Go to a place where man has never been. You see how beautiful that is. Where man could never spoil things. Have you gone to places like that, at least if you see it in the pictures, the videos? It’s so beautiful, creation. Just looking at it, it must have been created out of love. Today, thank God, God didn’t make the world like we make our buildings. Yes, you know, serving some function, here’s a room for this and that and they are looking like a box everywhere right. And even that is not sometimes done well. God didn’t create the world like that, He just didn’t look at function alone. He made a beautiful world. You can tell it was born out of love. Even a baby is created out of love in the womb. When the manifestation of love reaches its peak, that’s when conception takes place. Have you thought about that? He made it; God made it in such a way that the explosion of love leads to life. It’s what happens in the womb.

It’s an analogy, I think. There was an explosion of love within the Trinity. There was an overflow of love and that’s why He created the world. It’s to show them His overflow of love. God didn’t start loving when He loved us. No, no, no. He is eternally a God of love because He loved his Son. God didn’t just start being a Father because He is a Father to us. He is eternally Father to His Son. See, this God is different, my friend. This God will blow your mind. Pray that your eyes be opened to what you have got yourself into, through your salvation. You have entered an eternal family. God is the Father, overflowing with love from the beginning. He planned your adoption in love. You read that Ephesians, that passage we just read. You read it carefully, you will see, in love He predestined us to be adopted as Sons. In love, it was done, the planning was done. In love, it was executed. His Son came and died, suffered, and died for us and rose again, and in love, He saved us, in Christ. That is also there, “in the Beloved”, in verse 6. No time to read. It’s all in love. It’s all through Christ and in Christ. See, this kind of thing Paul wants to convey. I don’t know how much of it he has in mind, but this is all there. It’s so rich, this term, “adopted as sons” is so rich. God adopted us out of love, to show His overflowing love upon us. 

Furthermore, why does adoption matter for you? And this is what I’m about to say, is the clearest, right. you may or may not agree with what I said before this. May think, well that’s a stretch of imagination. Well, here’s something that’s easy to get. Adoption is a very legal matter; have you noticed? Have you thought about that? Adoption is something done very, legally, isn’t it? There’s something very legal and proper serious and formal about it, it’s not something done out of sentiment. It’s not just you know, you’re moved at the moment, and you adopt, no. Adoption, you have to go through a very rigorous process, you have to follow all the rules and regulations, go to court to sign the papers in front of the judge. He has to approve, and once adopted, the child is adopted, you can’t go back, that’s it! It’s very hard to do; it’s very tedious; it’s very legal. That is why the metaphor is chosen to convey the legality, the seriousness of our adoption. God does not just love us in a sentimental way, you know. Well, I just I have pity towards you, I have compassion towards you, I’ll just treat you like my child, and you just think of me as your Father. No, no, no it’s not like that. God legally—the Supreme Judge—legally, seriously, formally, in an irretrievable manner, He adopts us. Once adopted, He will never push us away. He will never cast us off. Even in the Roman culture, once adopted, you cannot just get rid of them, that’s it, finished. And nobody did that because it is an honourable thing, to adopt and to stay loyal. 

How much more God, my friend? He has adopted you and me as His sons and daughters. He will never cast us off. If you are truly adopted by Him, that means if you are truly a believer, that means if you have truly received Jesus, if you are truly born of God, God has adopted you and the result is, you are His, forever. Forever His son, forever His daughter. And there’s more to adoption but I’m going to stop there, you know. The main thing is, inheritance, adoption gives you the full rights of inheritance. No difference between the adopted son and the natural-born; full rights of inheritance, which is actually the goal.

Even in the New Testament, inheritance, maybe we’ll talk about that later but, but I hope we can stop there and just reflect as we close. Does this do something to you? Does this amaze you that God set His love upon you? God chose you, planned you to be His child from before the foundation of the world, planned your redemption for it, saved you for it and has entered into this close relationship with you? Does this mean something to you? Does this mean everything to you, my friend? If it means what it should mean, then fear cannot be with you at this moment. No matter what you are facing, no matter what may come against you, so what? He is our Father; we are His children. What more do we need? That’s the attitude this gives you. You don’t get afraid of anything because He’s not afraid of anything. You can’t control everything but yeah, He can. No matter what has happened, no matter what you may have lost, you still have your Father. You are His child; you still have this relationship. Does this mean something to you in your prayer life? For example, when you go to God in prayer, do you pray? Do you think of prayer as a great thing? Do you go boldly to God in prayer? Do you call Him as ‘Father’? Do you call Him as ‘Abba’, ‘Daddy’ or ‘Dad’? Does that ever happen? Are you led to do that? Is there a heart cry from you that goes to your Father? Is there some knowledge in the depths of your heart that He is your Father, and you are His child? And does this amaze you in prayer? Do you go boldly to Him? 

A child, I said, goes boldly. A child doesn’t need this or that person to take them to the Father. We have only one mediator, Jesus. That’s why it’s wrong for us to say, “You come to us, and we’ll pray for you. We’ll, you know, recommend you to the Father”. No, all that is not New Testament Christianity. You go boldly to the Throne of grace in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you go boldly? Do you ask boldly? When you ask, are you hesitant? Are you thinking, “Will He give? Won’t he give?” You see, that’s how everybody asks. Everybody prays, everybody goes to God when they need help and nobody else is there to help them. Everybody goes to God, but they’re wondering, will this God help me? You know, He has all the power. If He wants, He can help me. But are you thinking like that, my friend? If you’re thinking like that, then there is no difference between us and the world out there. No, we don’t go to God in prayer like that. We go, knowing He is our Father, I’m His child. I go to Him, I ask Him, and He receives me differently, because I am His child.

If my child comes and ask me something, I’ll do because he’s my child. Do you have that confidence? Do you have the sense? See, these things even little children have, that boldness. That sense that whatever happens, they can go to the father. Faith. A child has a lot of faith in the father. Have you seen that? They think that whatever happens, their father can take care. They’re not sitting there worried and scratching their head. Some children maybe, but mostly the small children, they put too much faith in the father. Whatever I did, he can take care. When they have that kind of faith, you can’t call it ‘big faith’, because they are children, they don’t know anything. Out of ignorance, they are believing. But if you have that kind of faith, that is big faith. If you have the faith of a simple little child, that no matter what happens, He’s there, He’s going to take care of it. He’s on my side, He is my Father, I am His child, I’m not going to worry, He’ll take care, let Him take care. If you have that, that’s big faith, my friend.  The faith of a little child is big faith if it’s in you.

The sense of the Father’s love, do you have that? That little child, it’s amazing, how much they know that the Father loves them. It seems, they asked a little four-year-old daughter… I read this somewhere; I don’t know if it’s true or not. Somebody asked this four-year-old girl, you know, “What’s it like to be a four-year-old?” And the girl said, “Oh, it’s super special”. And so, this person said, “What do you mean; why is it super special?” The girl said it seems, “Well, I know that my mommy loves me”. And the whole world for that little child is different. Life itself is different because she knows that mommy loves her. Again, you can’t say, “Oh that’s so great”, in a little child. Children are often like that but that’s why we are told to be like children. If it’s found in us; it’s great.

Do you have a sense of the Father’s love? That no matter what, He loves me. No matter what circumstances look like, no matter what’s happening, He loves me. He’s my Father. You know, maybe, let me say also that some people have had bad experiences with fathers, either personally or they know people like that, so they’re wondering, “Oh, God is Father; yeah, what’s He like?” Well, if you’ve had bad experiences then the way you think of it, God is totally opposite to the bad father, you’re thinking about. And even if you don’t have a father, He is in place of that, and He’s much more wonderful. So, if you have a bad father, don’t wonder whether He’s like that, think that He’s exactly opposite, in the best possible way. And if you have a good father, if you say, “Well, I got the best father you can ever have”, then you have got to think this Father, Heavenly Father, is a thousand times, a million times better, than your earthly father. So, He’s a good Father. Do you have a sense of his love? God always loves us, and He always has that Father’s love. Because that’s who He is. Eternally, He’s Father; eternally, He loved as Father. He didn’t start learning how to love when He started loving us. Eternally, He loved His Son and eternally He will love us like that. He will always love us.

As I was driving to church today, in the morning. You guys are lucky, you get up late and you come for the English service. We are here from 6 a.m. So, we were coming but today, as I was driving, we were coming here, you know, the sun was rising and it was one of the most beautiful sights, because sometimes, sun is shining so brightly that you can’t really see it. Today, it was like that perfect glow, where you can see it, and just be amazed by it. I just wanted to keep on looking at it. So, we’re driving and coming and suddenly a truck pulled over, pulled ahead of us, and I lost the view. I was just waiting for the truck to leave. In just a few seconds the truck went by, and then I look and it’s not there; it’s gone. Because then I realized that the road angle had turned so that now it’s all trees and, you know, I couldn’t see for a while, and then again, I saw it.

It seems like the Father’s love is like that. As the sun always shines, the Father always loves. Problem is, sometimes it gets hidden; we can’t see it. Sometimes, we go lock ourselves up in a dark room, close all the curtains, and then say we can’t see His love and feel His love. That’s our fault sometimes. But sometimes, it’s not our fault; the truck pulling ahead of me was not my fault. I didn’t do anything. I was upset. And then after that, what happened was not my fault. The road curved and all kinds of things happened but through it all, the sun is still shining, and it always shines. The Father always loves; there is no change in that. Circumstances may hide it, circumstances may even make you wonder, does He love me? But He’s your Father; you are His child. And this relationship lasts forever. And there is no change in His overflowing love towards you. 

Amen. Let’s all stand up. Meditate on this truth. Let us thank God for it.

Related Videos
Malcare WordPress Security