Amen. Amen.
For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son. The most precious thing to the Father’s heart is His Son. You know, isn’t that the most precious jewel in our own lives—our children?
And yet He was willing, able, in some miraculous way, to offer up His own Son, that we might be freed from our sins and brought into His family through a new birth, a spiritual birth. It is the most amazing thing that has ever happened in this universe: that we would be joined to God in such a way as to be part of His family.
And that is what is on my heart this morning. So, let us begin with a word of prayer.
Father, I do not really know how to share what You have laid on my heart. But Father, I ask for grace today. I ask for that spirit of wisdom and revelation as we share together in Your Word this morning out of the Book of Ephesians.
Lord, open our eyes. That was what the blind man requested. He said, “What do you want?” And he said, “That I might see.” Lord, that is on our hearts today: to see more of You. We just ask You to bless us in that way, Lord, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Well, it is pretty obvious that this matter of God our Father is on my heart this morning. We have been looking at the Book of Ephesians.
In Ephesians 3:9, Paul made it very evident what his purpose was in writing this letter. He says that all men might see—to make all men see, as Ephesians 3:9 says. And he had so much to show us.
The last time, I mentioned that there are a lot of key words in this little book. If you do a little word study on these words, it is amazing the world that the Lord opens up to your heart in seeing Him.
Now, I will mention them again:
These are all very key words to the message to the Ephesians and to us. So, I want to begin by reading a couple of Scriptures.
Ephesians 1:2 says, “Grace and peace.” This is the way he begins the letter: “Grace and peace from God our Father.” The emphasis is, “our God, our Father.”
Then, in Galatians 4:6, a companion verse, Paul says:
God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father.”
Now, the Book of Ephesians is full of the wealth of God’s nature, of His work, of His riches in Christ Jesus, that Paul so desperately wants us not only to know about, but to experience.
Paul struggles with human language. I feel like I am this morning as well, trying to express the inexhaustible riches that we find in Jesus Christ—the inexhaustible resources of God that we discover in Christ.
We discover that God has an eternal purpose: to reveal the fullness of Christ in the ages to come. It was a mystery hidden to the Old Testament saints, but revealed by the apostles once Jesus was risen from the dead. God reveals His mystery.
So great is this burden on our brother’s heart that he just stops and prays in Ephesians 1:17:
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, would give unto us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.
The Father of glory would give us His spirit of wisdom and revelation. Oh, when He is the Father of glory, He is the Father of full satisfaction—the Father of bringing us all to completeness in Jesus Christ.
The full measure of Christ is expressed in each and every heart, in all of His children and in His family. Brothers and sisters, this is the God of glory, and that is our end: to bring us all to glory.
The human mind cannot really see or comprehend what these riches are. Only by the Spirit can we know this, brothers and sisters. That is why we need to constantly pray, “Lord, I need to see. I need revelation. I need something further than what I can just discover with my mind. I need the Spirit to reveal what is behind these words in Your Book.”
You know, all the world can see some of the riches of the glory of God in His creation. All you have to do is go outside and look around, and look at all the variations of trees we have. Walk through the forest.
I have been into the Northwest, and it is beautiful out there. Those trees—I think they are gorgeous—those evergreens, brothers and sisters. This is for all to enjoy and see: the fields, the flowers in the fields.
Remember, our Lord Jesus spoke of the lilies in the valley. He was very aware of His Father’s riches on this earth, of His creation.
In the morning, if you wake up early, you can hear the birds singing as the sun arises. That is for all to see. The cooing of the doves in the afternoon.
Now, I like to sit outside at my table in the afternoon and hear the doves cooing, cooing, cooing. It is like the Lord’s love song to us, drawing us to Himself, because that is what the dove is doing—trying to draw their mate to them.
And the sunset—the magnificent sunset. Oh, they are beautiful. Then, at night, we have the stars, the jewels in the sky.
So much of our lives, we never notice. There is that little saying: you need to stop and smell the roses. Brothers and sisters, this creation reveals our God.
I am so sorry that so many do not see Him or are drawn to Him just by looking at His creation. As a matter of fact, the Lord said, “You are all guilty of at least not searching for God,” because God is so evident in His creation.
All of these things attest to the unsearchable riches that we find in God our Father—the resources that we have. These are all to see and experience, and hopefully to be drawn to Him.
But for those who love Him, for those who have been born again of the Spirit—the new birth—you are a family now, a spiritual family, and He has something special for His family.
Listen to 1 Corinthians 2:9:
Things which eye saw not, and ear heard not,
And which entered not into the heart of man,
Whatsoever things God prepared for them that love Him.
They are beyond imagination, brothers and sisters—beyond all that we can imagine. We have just touched, maybe the better way to say it is, we have just scratched the surface of the riches that Christ wants to reveal to us, of what the Father wants to reveal to us in this life.
Ephesians 1:2 and 3 begin with this: grace and peace from God our Father. Brothers and sisters, we need to know it is not only from God, but it is from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, His Son.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
Brothers and sisters, did you read that first chapter in Ephesians? What blessings we have already received? It says we have been chosen in Him, predestined in Him, adopted as sons in Christ, accepted in the Beloved in Christ. We have been forgiven of our sins. We have been saved—eternal salvation.
And, brothers and sisters, this is just the beginning. That is the beginning of the riches that have already been poured out on us. There is so much more to see, more to know.
He says you cannot even imagine what they are with our human minds. But these riches are for those who love Him. To experience them, you must know Him. And may I say this: you need to know Him as Father. You need to know Him as your Father.
Therefore, these riches are for His family. They are for His children. To be in the family, as I have already said, you must be born again. You must be born of the Spirit.
That is what the Lord told Nicodemus. Nicodemus was interested in coming into the kingdom. That was his interest. The Lord stopped him and said, “Look, you have a real issue. You need to be born again.”
You cannot know the kingdom unless you are born again in spirit by the Spirit. It takes the Holy Spirit coming into your life, into your spirit, to quicken you, to bring about that new birth in you, that you are able to commune with the Father and receive of His riches.
It is all by spiritual birth.
Ephesians 2:18–19, Paul says:
For through Him we both have our access in one Spirit unto the Father.
So then ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but ye are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.
You are of His household. Remember that saying, “There is no place like home”? You are of the household of God.
All the riches of the Father, all the grace and blessings of the Father, are made available to His family in Christ—to His household, to His own.
Paul is so overwhelmed by this point in his letter, with the grace and extent of the mercies of God and His riches, that it says he falls to his knees. This is in Ephesians 3:14–15.
For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father,
From whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.
God is a Father. God relishes being a Father. Fatherhood did not begin with man. Fatherhood did not begin with Adam. Fatherhood began with God Himself.
He is a Father and has been a Father from eternity, brothers and sisters. It is His nature. Fatherhood is His nature. From eternity, He has desired this spiritual family.
Hebrews 2:10 tells us that all things were created for Him and by Him. Especially, man was created for Him. Why? It says He wants to bring many sons to glory.
“Sons to glory”—that includes daughters, by the way. And Romans 8:29 makes it really clear:
Christ is the firstborn among many brethren.
We are His brothers and sisters by spiritual birth. He is the elder Son in the family. Paul is very aware of God’s desire to express Himself as a Father and to have the family. He is very aware of God’s heart for His family.
So, in Ephesians 4, he encourages us in the family to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
He reinforces it in Ephesians 4:6. He reminds us that we need to maintain the unity of the Spirit because we have one God and Father, who is above all of us and in all of us. The Spirit of the Father, in Christ Jesus, is in all of us.
In other words, we are encouraged to keep the family spirit. Unity of the Spirit—that is keeping the family spirit. And that comes from the Father Himself.
In Ephesians 5, Paul encourages us as a family to walk in love. He says we have a responsibility for the family and for one another: to encourage one another, to fellowship with one another, and to be together.
Ephesians 5:19–21 says:
Speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
Singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;
Giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;
Subjecting yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ.
Praise the Lord, we were able to do that this morning—making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanksgiving always for all things unto God and unto the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Brothers and sisters, how He wants His family together. Then he adds, “Submitting yourselves to one another in the fear of God.”
You cannot submit to one another unless you love them. You just cannot do it. The flesh is too strong. Submitting yourself to one another, brothers and sisters—this is family life: being together, praising the Lord together, offering up songs, encouraging one another.
Oh, the love of the Father. He says, “Walk in love.” That love comes through us by the Spirit, comes into our heart. The Father’s love pours into our heart, and we are able—or should be able—to pour that love out to our brothers and sisters in the family, and to whoever.
Then, in chapter 6, there is a great warfare, and we know that. It speaks of principalities and powers of darkness, and Ephesians 6 shows them in full array. What are they against?
They are out to deny the Father His family. They are out to deny the Father that family He has always wanted.
Christ came to redeem sinful man, brothers and sisters—to redeem and have sons for His family. Today, the Spirit is working to bring many sons to glory.
You know what that means? That means full maturity in Christ. You know, Bobby spoke last week of the depth and the height and the length and the breadth—four dimensions, by the way, not three—of Christ in love.
Oh, He wants to bring us all to the fullness of what we were born for and desired to be.
The enemy is exerting all of his effort to divide and destroy the family and to deny the Father His own great desire for the spiritual family—many sons brought to glory, like His firstborn, Jesus Christ.
Finally, Paul ends in Ephesians 6:23:
Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Peace—oh, brothers and sisters, that means something. That means there are difficulties. There are troubles and trials and tribulations. That is why we need the peace of the Father in our heart, knowing that all will be well in Him, even in our trials and troubles.
One thing I can guarantee you in this family: while we are maturing and growing, unfortunately, there will be offenses. We will offend one another, knowingly or unknowingly. That happens quite often.
But, brothers and sisters, we are encouraged to respond to the love of the Father in our hearts for His family and for His own—to put aside ourselves, to deny ourselves, and to maintain that family spirit in love.
If we do this, He will pour out His faith and love. You know, faith and love cannot be separated, because faith is trusting. If you trust the Father, you will love the Father. If you love the Father, you will trust Him even more. The more you trust Him, the more you love Him.
Faith and love—that is what the Father provides for us. It is this faith and love that ultimately triumphs.
Now, brothers and sisters, we are familiar with fathers a little bit, because we all have had fathers. Our fathers are far short, we know, of what God our Father is.
He is perfect in every way. In all of His dealings with us, they are perfect. We know with our own fathers that was not always true.
I am saddened by some fathers who are abusive, and that is tragic. But for anybody who has been in that situation, I want to encourage you this morning: that is not the picture of God our Father. That is not the Father’s intention.
He has never been abusive with anyone. Even in His discipline, it is always in love.
Paul speaks of a mystery. Actually, God as Father was a mystery in that day. It was a mystery to the Jews. It was a mystery even to the religious leaders. They did not really see God as the Father.
So, how is it that Paul had such insight into this matter of who the Father is and the Father’s great love for His family? Until Christ came, the Father was virtually unknown. It was a mystery.
The Jewish leaders did not consider the term “Father” in any way like we do today. But what does this mystery mean when it says it was a mystery? It does not mean that it is a myth. It does not mean that it is mysterious. It does not mean that God is kind of playing hide-and-seek with us on this matter.
What it means is that He has kept a secret—something precious on His heart—hidden and undisclosed until the perfect timing, until the fullness of time, when He felt that He could really reveal it.
In the Old Testament, He hinted at it in types and in symbols. But He did not uncover or reveal the fullness of fatherhood until Jesus came.
You know, in the Old Testament, remember, the ark was a type of Christ. We all know that. The curtains were types of Christ—His body torn. The lampstand, all of these things, spoke of Christ. They were types, but Christ was the reality.
God had hinted at family in the Old Testament. Remember Adam and Eve? He joined them together, and then He told them to multiply. Of course, this implies family. It implies Adam would be a father.
The patriarchs—the name patriarch means head of the family. In Exodus 4:22, speaking to Moses, He said:
Thus saith the Lord, Israel is My son, My first-born.
In Isaiah 63:16 and Isaiah 64:8, Isaiah says to the Lord, “Lord, You are our Father.” The idea of family in the Old Testament was mostly hidden.
Now, I found four instances where God referred to Himself as Father in the Old Testament. I am not saying that is the exact number, because I read another piece by another brother in the Lord who said he had found ten.
He is probably more accurate than I was, because I did not do an in-depth search. But that shows you how little this usage of “Father” was in the Old Testament and up until the time of our Lord Jesus.
The Lord’s people did not speak of Him as Father, nor did they address Him as Father.
The Jewish concept—this is what is so amazing; you have to see why this is so important, brothers and sisters—the Jewish concept of God, up until Jesus came, can be summed up in one word: holy.
Remember, He was always referred to as the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah refers to Him as the Holy One of Israel twenty-nine times.
In Isaiah 6, Isaiah has a vision of the Lord on the throne, and he said, “I saw the Lord high and lifted up.” What did the angels cry?
Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts.
Brothers and sisters, this word holy basically means separate, different, other than others—set apart from others.
The priests were considered holy because they were different from all the other men in Israel. The temple was holy because there was no other structure like this temple, no other building. It was especially from God.
God was holy because He was completely different from all other gods. He was the God of gods. Of course, we know the other gods were really not gods, do we?
Because He was holy and so lifted up, He was unapproachable by sinful man. That was their concept. In fact, you remember, even the high priest could only enter the Holy of Holies once a year.
Kenny mentioned that last time—how rare it was to be able to come into the presence of God. We know that we can do that now. Through Christ, we can come to the Father. We can come into that holy place.
Remember God’s people at Sinai. That is what came to my heart. It is in Exodus 19 and 20, if you choose to look it up.
He was coming down to give the law to Moses and the description of the tabernacle. He came down on the mountain, and it says this: the mountain was engulfed in smoke; there was fire and lightning; there was an earthquake, and the mountain quaked; there was the sound of a trumpet that got louder and louder and longer; and there was the voice of God.
The people retreated from the mountain. They were scared to touch the mountain. In fact, God had instructed Moses. He said, “Anybody who touches the mountain shall die.” He said, “Even keep the animals away from this mountain.”
You know what the people said to Moses?
Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.
That was their concept. They stayed at a distance. They were terrified of God and coming into His presence. This was what Paul was steeped in and brought up in. This is what the Jews were brought up in—the Jewish leaders.
Now, by contrast, in the New Testament, God is referred to as Father two hundred and fifty times. Jesus Himself referred to God as Father one hundred and sixty-five times.
In the Gospel of John, chapters 14 through 17—these are very precious chapters, brothers and sisters—John reports to us the time from the end of the Lord’s Supper, the Last Supper, until Jesus arrives at the Garden of Gethsemane.
It is about a mile-and-a-quarter walk. I do not know how long it took Him, but there is this discourse in chapters 14 through 17 where He is pouring out His heart to His disciples and to His Father—particularly that precious prayer in chapter 17 to God His Father.
During that time, He spoke of God as Father forty-eight times. I figure it was probably maybe an hour, an hour and a half, two hours probably maximum. He speaks of His Father constantly.
This concept of the Father, however, was totally foreign to the Jews. In fact, they considered it heresy to refer to Him as Father.
In John 5:17–18, when the Lord Jesus referred to God as Father, they sought to kill Him. In John 8:19, He told the Jewish leaders, “You know neither Me, nor My Father.” Later, in John 16:3, He tells His disciples that these leaders do these things because they know not the Father.
So, it was a bit of a mystery. In fact, Jesus said in John 17:6—listen to this—this mystery was revealed when Jesus Christ came:
I manifested Thy name unto the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world.
“I have done what I came for.” In other words, He has manifested the name of God. You know what that name was? It is very clear if you read this chapter: it is Father.
He said, “I have come to manifest the Father. I did not come to give you a teaching on the Father or to talk about fatherhood. I have demonstrated to you the Father and the Father’s heart.”
If you want to know the Father, you need to know Me. In John 14:8–9, remember Philip? Jesus was talking about His Father, and Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father.” Jesus said:
He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.
Brothers and sisters, the mission of the Son was to reveal to mankind God the Father and to secure a family for the Father—to reveal the Father and to secure a family for the Father.
All of His life, He was demonstrating what God the Father is like. Remember, He said, “All I say is what the Father says. All that I do is what the Father does.” He said, “I am representing the Father.”
Jesus, in His person, showed us our Father. What was He like?
Jesus was very open, was He not? Very approachable. He even drew the little children. You know, they were trying to keep the little children from Him. He said, “No, no, bring them to Me.” He was very approachable.
He healed the sick. He restored sight to the blind. He raised the dead. He fed five thousand. He brought love and comfort wherever He went. He reached out even to sinners.
Oh, He was rebuked for talking to a sinner, remember? He talked to sinners. He said, “They need a physician. If you do not think you are a sinner, you do not need Me.”
Anyway, this is what the Father is like, brothers and sisters.
Remember all the “I am” sayings—I think there are seven or eight; I cannot remember—in the Gospel of John. In these, Jesus really shows us who the Father is.
In John 6, Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life.” Then He says, “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me.” In other words, He is saying, “Look, come unto Me. The Father will feed you with the best food. I am the bread of life.” It is the Father’s care for you—spiritual food. The Father will feed His family.
In John 8, He said, “I am the light of the world.” In connection with that Scripture, He says, “I and the Father that sent Me.” In other words, He was sent to be a light—a light for us, a light for His family in this dark world.
You know, in Romans, it speaks of darkened minds. Brothers and sisters, I do not care how intelligent people are. Those who are governing our nation are supposed to be some of the most intelligent men, but we can understand, cannot we, the darkened minds operating there? It is darkness.
He said, “I bring light to you.” Brothers and sisters, we can get very confused in this world, but settle your heart down before the Father and say, “Father, I need the light. You have promised me light through Your Son, Jesus Christ.”
Oh, brothers and sisters, He does not want us to live in darkness. In fact, we are called in His Word the sons of light.
In John 10, He said, “I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep, and the Father knows Me.” What is He saying? “I know every one of you sheep. I am the good shepherd, and the Father knows you too.”
The Father wants a personal relationship with you, just like I do. He knows you. He knows you. He knows everything about you. He loves you.
He has promised to shepherd you all your life. He said, “I am going to make sure you have a good shepherd.”
Jesus, in chapter 11, said, “I am the resurrection and the life,” when He raised Lazarus from the dead. Previously, in John 5:21, He said:
For as the Father raiseth the dead and giveth them life, even so the Son also giveth life to whom He will.
It is from the Father—the raising of the dead. What is He saying? He is saying, “The Father is going to preserve His family. Death cannot destroy His family. Death cannot separate you from the family.”
He has overcome death. We have that resurrection life. We can overcome even death.
Brother and sister, I want to say, I think we experience death every day in this world. We sense it pressing in on us—all the powers of darkness. The Lord is saying, “I, as your Father, you can overcome this death. My Son is the resurrection and the life. Take Him.”
Take that resurrection life in the face of the onslaught of the powers of darkness. Well, this is the Father’s heart for us.
I would suggest sometime that you might want to read the Gospel of John one more time—many times—but with this point of view: that John is trying to show us what the Father is like and who the Father is through His Son Jesus Christ.
Read from that point of view. John saw Jesus as the Son of God. In fact, he said that is why he came; that is what his Gospel was all about: to show us that we might believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
But he also shows us that He is really the full expression of God as a Father. John, of all the Gospel writers, emphasizes the Lord’s words concerning the Father more than any of the others. There are one hundred and thirty-four references in John’s Gospel to the Father.
He was the one who remembered the Lord’s discussion with His disciples on that road to Gethsemane after the Lord’s Table. He is the only writer who recorded that for us.
I think it is for our hearts, brothers and sisters, to show us how much the Father cares for us and loves us.
So, we can understand why John, who was with the Lord for three-and-a-half years, as the other disciples were, could have some revelation of what the Father is like. They observed the Lord. They listened to Him. They heard Him talking and speaking. They heard His words concerning the Father.
Brothers and sisters, they did see that He was an affectionate One—not terrifying. He was not a terrifying Father. He wanted children like His Son, those who would commune with Him as their Father, close to Him, serving His purpose.
But what about Paul? He did not have that kind of relationship, did he? I thought this was most interesting. I could not help but wonder, as I was looking into this, how Paul got such a revelation of God his Father.
It was unknown to Paul. We have already said the religious leaders and those who taught him said nothing about this matter of God his Father. In fact, he considered Jesus, who said He was the representative of God His Father, as his enemy. He thought Jesus was God’s enemy.
But on the Damascus road, brothers and sisters, he met the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, he fell to his knees and immediately submitted to Him as Lord. He said, “Lord, who are You?” In other words, “You are Lord; I just do not know who You are.”
Jesus said:
I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
Remember, that encounter blinded Paul for three days. I am sure the Lord did that so that he could be in total silence before Him, trying to understand what had just happened to him.
But I could not help but wonder. I said, “Now, Lord, he was blinded for three days. That is a bit terrifying to most of us.” However, I do not feel that Paul was exactly terrified. I think he was in awe and wonder.
I wonder if possibly he realized, “You know, I have come in contact with the Son of God, the Holy One, the Righteous One. I have seen Him, and I am still alive. I am not dead.”
“He is not a terrifying Father. I am still here. I have not been destroyed. I deserve it, but I have not been destroyed.”
Well, I do not know for sure. But we do know that he accepted Christ as his Lord, and he had become a son of the Father. He was a part of the family now.
That became a key, I think, to his revelation. Galatians 4:6, I think, explains to us how Paul discovered God as Father:
And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father.”
That is what Paul had—that Spirit coming in. He sensed God was his Father, Abba Father. It was the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, that showed him. It was a revelation for him. It was in him. It was more than just an understanding. He had touched God as Father.
Now remember, the Lord sent Ananias to open his eyes—a family member to open his eyes. This is Paul’s account in Acts 22:
The God of our fathers hath appointed thee to know His will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear a voice from His mouth.
Boy, that most affected Paul. He said, “The Holy One—He has chosen me. He was my opponent. He was my enemy. I hated His Son, and I persecuted His followers.”
But wait a minute, he said, “I persecuted His followers. These are not just followers. They are His family.” He is telling me, “Look, if you are going to mess with My family, you are messing with Me. You give account to Me. I am their Father.”
Once again, I do not know, but I could not help but really wonder if that did not strike Paul. They were His family.
He retreated to the desert for three years, and he began, I am sure, to go through that whole Old Testament in the light of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. He saw all these types that really pointed to Jesus Christ. He had finally met the reality.
That is why he said the shadow is no longer needed. “I have come into the reality.” First, God revealed His Son to him. Then, I think He revealed the fact that He was God the Father, seeking His family.
Israel was His earthly family, but that was just the type. It was a type; it was not the reality. It is His spiritual family that He was looking to and looking for.
The new family, the spiritual man, the spiritual family—these are those who are born from above, out of every nation, tongue, and tribe. Not just Israel, but from every nation, tongue, and tribe. This is His family, His new family.
Did Paul see this? I think he did. In Ephesians 3:14–15, I read it before:
I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
From whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.
Not just Israel. He saw that there was a spiritual family out of every nation, tribe, and tongue.
Paul himself manifested the spirit of a father. Remember the Corinthian church—many in the Corinthian church were ones that he had actually brought to Christ. He said, “I am like a father to you.”
They were rejecting Paul. They were opposing Paul. Some were being rebellious, and they were very carnal Christians. They tried to undermine his apostolic authority and his leadership over them.
This is Paul’s word to them:
I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more abundantly, am I loved the less?
This is a father’s heart. We love our children. Oh, they make mistakes. Some of them make tragic mistakes, but we love them. That is the Father. Thank God we have a Father who can correct these things.
With Paul, there seemed to be a special revelation of the Father, a unique revelation. It is called “Abba, Father,” that little term, “Abba, Father,” which I have already shared.
Paul’s revelation was really full, brothers and sisters. My heart today is that we would all see Him as Abba Father.
I think Paul wanted us all to see this. In Galatians 4:6, Paul used this term, “Abba, Father.” I have read it, but I want to read it again:
Because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, “Abba, Father.”
In Romans 8:15, he uses it again:
For ye received not the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, “Abba, Father.”
Now, this term “Abba, Father” is used only one other time in Scripture. You know who it is used by? Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Mark 14:36. He is in the garden, and He said:
Abba, Father, all things are possible unto Thee; remove this cup from Me: howbeit not what I will, but what Thou wilt.
Abba Father, all things are possible. “Will You take this cup from Me? Not My will, but Your will be done.”
Abba is an Aramaic term. It is not Hebrew or Greek. It is an Aramaic term, and it means father. The other word joined to it, Father, was a Greek word meaning father.
So, when we read this, are we just saying, “Father, Father”? No, not at all. This Aramaic term is used because it was an intimate term.
In the Aramaic language, it meant intimacy—Father, an intimate Father. It spoke of a personal, loving relationship between the child and their father. It was an adoring family name for the Father.
The child could affectionately come to Abba. The child loved, honored, and respected their father. They reverenced him, yet they could come to Abba.
They could comfortably approach him without fear and share in the affection of the Father.
Jesus used this term when He prayed to His Father in Gethsemane before the cross. He was talking about taking up the cup. Of course, that was the cross where He would die for my sins and for your sins.
He was concerned about the separation that would occur between Him and His Father—a separation that had never occurred in eternity past, a separation that I am not sure He knew He could bear.
It says He began to pray. Sweat drops of blood poured out of His pores—not just sweat, but blood poured out. It was so intense. He was overwhelmed at this thought.
The Father looked down and saw it was unbearable for His Son. I am sure it was almost unbearable for the Father. Yet He knew, to have a family, His Son was going to have to die to bring many sons into the family.
In other words, the cross was unavoidable.
So, what did the Father do? It says He sent angels to Him, to strengthen Him, to succor Him during that time.
Isaiah 53:10–11 says that when the Lord makes His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, and He shall be satisfied.
That was what He was looking forward to, brothers and sisters—His seed, His family. That is us, brothers and sisters. That is why He went through the cross. That is why the Father allowed Him to go through the cross: to see the seed and be satisfied.
Just a little more explanation. In that day, people had slaves. We know there were slaves in the family. Some of them were very close, almost like family members.
Yet, if you were a slave, you could not use the term Abba. You could say “father,” but you could not use the term Abba. It was meant only for the family.
Paul uses that in Romans. He said, “Once you were slaves to your flesh, and you have been set free. You are no longer slaves. You have the spirit of adoption in you, crying out, ‘Abba, Father.’”
You have a new Father. You are in a new family. You are not a slave anymore to your passions and lusts.
In Galatians, it was similar. He was saying to them, “You were a slave under the law. You were bound by the law, and you could not hold up to the law.” But he says, “You now have the Spirit within you that cries, ‘Abba, Father.’”
In other words, you are in the King’s family now. You are no longer a slave. You are free in Christ.
Brothers and sisters, the Lord Jesus came that He might reveal the Father to you. Abba, Father—the Spirit in you should cry out, “Abba, Father.”
Give me a few more minutes, if you will. In 1 John 3:1, it says:
Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God.
That is our brother John. How great is the love the Father has lavished on us.
John 16:26 says:
The Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved Me.
Brothers and sisters, the Father wants us to be close to Him. We should be reverent; He is our Father. But we can also have an intimate relationship with God our Father.
He wants to lavish His love upon us. That is why He sent His Son, Christ, to show us His love.
But one other thing I need to share this morning: the Lord loves you like that, and yet He does not spoil His children. He is not a Father who spoils His children—His family.
You think of it. Paul obviously saw Him as a loving Father, and he knew the Father’s love for him. Yet, as you read 2 Corinthians 11, remember Paul said how much he had exhausted himself in laboring diligently for the Lord.
Five times he was whipped with thirty-nine stripes. Once he was stoned. Three times he was shipwrecked. He spent a day and a night treading water in the ocean.
He was always on watch for thieves and robbers. He was always followed by the Judaizers, trying to discredit his ministry and apostleship. He said he was weary and in pain.
Then he said, by far the biggest burden is my care for the church—the Lord’s family.
He was even given a thorn in the flesh by the Father to keep him humble. He had seen, we remember, he went into the third heaven and saw things that he could not even share.
Brothers and sisters, God the Father did not remove that thorn. What He said was, “My grace is sufficient, Paul. You need to learn. My grace is sufficient.”
“You need to humble yourself. You will always need to depend on My grace. But in grace, the riches of My grace, you can overcome it. I am sufficient.”
Is this love? I say it is.
The Lord does not want to spoil us, brothers and sisters. It says in Hebrews that those whom the Lord loves—His children—He disciplines. He corrects us.
But, brothers and sisters, this word for discipline is more than just punishment. You are in child training. He said He is training us—training us to live an overcoming life.
Not a life of luxury and pleasure, but an overcoming life. He is training us for life in the kingdom, to serve in His kingdom, to be His family in the kingdom.
In fact, we are to be the governing family in the kingdom. To govern, brothers and sisters, we have to come to maturity. We have to be trained.
In Ephesians 3:10, He says, “Through My family, I am going to make known the manifold wisdom of God to all the principalities and powers.” I am sure He is talking mainly about the good principalities and powers.
He said, “My wisdom is going to be manifested through My family.”
In Ephesians 5:23–32, he talks of His family as the helpmate to the Lord Jesus, His bride. What does he say? He loved the church, and He gave His life for us. Through His Word, He is removing all the spots and wrinkles.
Brothers and sisters, the Lord is not going to spoil us, but He is going to train us. He is going to bring us to maturity in glory. All the spots will be removed.
What does that mean? All that is not of Christ in your life will be gone. That is what He is working on.
There will be times, brothers and sisters, in our lives when things happen—unexplainable things, things that make us wonder, that maybe give us difficulty in our life with the Lord, even darkness at times.
But the Lord is teaching us to trust Him as Father. That is what He is doing with all of these difficult times. He is teaching us to trust Him as Father, as a loving Father.
Faith and love—that is what He wants to give us.
I can only say this morning, until I started looking into this word Father in the Book of Ephesians, I had no understanding—no depth of understanding—of what it meant to call God our Father.
But I am thanking and praising the Lord that a little bit of light has been given, and I see the Father in a new way.
I pray that I will see Him more. I pray that we all will. I think the purpose of my sharing this morning is that we would really know God our Father—Abba Father.
Abba Father, we come to You this morning. We praise and thank You that we have been called the sons of God, and, Lord, that You are going to bring us to glory as sons, to have this marvelous family that You have wanted all through eternity.
We will share with You and Your Son throughout eternity future. Lord, it is actually more than we can really grasp with our human minds. But Lord, You have said You were going to show us things that we could not fathom.
But Lord, we are grateful that we are Your children and that today we can call You Abba Father. In Jesus’ name, amen.