The Perfect Father

Such a great cloud of witnesses. Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood, your blood.

And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons. My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline and do not lose heart when He rebukes you because the Lord disciplines those He loves and He punishes everyone He accepts as a son.

Endure hardship as discipline. God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined and everyone undergoes discipline, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.

Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live? Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good that we may share in His holiness.

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.

Make level paths for your feet so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed. One of the causes for daily encouragement and amazement in the life of a Christian is that God is our Father.

That is, that God relates to His people as a Father to His children. 2 Corinthians 6.18, I will be a Father to you and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.

What an amazing prospect. The Lord Almighty as our Father. Now think of all that God has done to accomplish this and to make it a reality in many of our lives.

He gave His one and only beloved Son and delivered Him up to the cross that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

And though most of the world did not believe in Him and receive Him, yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.

Children born of God. It's by believing in God's unique Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and receiving Him as our Lord and Savior that we become ourselves children of this Heavenly Father.

Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. And so outside of Christ, God is not your Father this morning.

inside of Christ, in Christ, God is your Father today and every day of your life and forever and ever. And that fact is to transform the way that you live.

This is a life-transforming reality that changes everything. Nothing's the same now that God is my Father. And so we find in our Bibles that God is bending over backwards as if it were to make us realize that this is so.

We see it throughout the teachings of our Savior and His apostles. As you turn to that one Sermon on the Mount, you'll find over 12 times Jesus referring to our God as our Father in Heaven, our Heavenly Father, our Father.

Then when our Lord teaches us to pray, He tells us to say, Our Father, who art in Heaven, you see, He would have us think and have us relate to God as our Father.

Furthermore, He's given us the Spirit of Sonship. That is, God the Father has given us the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Sonship. Romans 8 says in verses 15 and 16, For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of Sonship and it's by Him that we cry, Abba, Father.

The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. And so Galatians 4, verse 6, Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts.

Do you realize that? That the third person of the Blessed Trinity takes up residence as a permanent guest, a permanent one that's at home in our hearts.

For what end? To teach us that we really are God's children. To convince us of it. To make us so sure of it that when we talk to Him, we say, Abba, Father.

A term of intimacy. The Spirit of God makes us aware of our Sonship. And so, believers, we are not to think about God without thinking about Him as our Father.

Now, He is much more than our Father. He's the Creator, the Sovereign King of the universe. He's the Judge. He's the Holy One. But He's never less than our Father.

That means the Creator is my Father. The Sovereign King of the universe is my Father. The Holy One, the Judge, is my Father.

My Abba. My Dad. Now, that's to make a huge difference in the way we live then and the way we relate to Him. You know, sometimes because of immorality or unwed mothers, children grow up not knowing who their Father is.

And that's a huge hurdle to overcome. Similarly, it is the conviction of Scripture that Christians do not live the Christian life well without relating to God as our Father, without remembering that He is our Father.

And so, on this Father's Day, I want to remind my brothers and sisters and myself of our great privilege of having the perfect Father.

Don't know about your dad here on earth, but I know this. If you know God, you have the perfect Father in heaven. I want to urge us all that in all of our dealings with Him, we will treat Him as our Father.

We will come to Him as our Father. We will believe Him as our Father. We will rest in Him. We will love Him as our Father. Now, in order to teach us more of this intimate relationship that God has with His children, God gave us earthly fathers.

And in Scripture, God stoops to draw comparisons between our earthly Father and Himself as our heavenly Father. In other words, He is like our fathers, only far better.

So, as we honor our human fathers today, let us, let them lead us to our perfect Father in heaven. I want us to consider four things that we receive from our fathers, both earthly and heavenly Father.

And as we think about our earthly fathers and receiving these things from them, let it teach us about our Father in heaven. First of all, what do we receive from our fathers? Compassion.

Psalm 103 and verses 13 and 14 say, as a father, like a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.

For he knows how we are formed. He remembers that we are dust. Notice in the way, notice in this verse the way that the Lord describes his own compassion for those who fear him.

It's like, he says, it's not like, it's not a king, like a king that has compassion on his subjects. Or a boss that has compassion on his workers.

It's not like a coach that has compassion on his players. It's not like the rich that have compassion on the poor. But he reaches for the greatest, the highest, the most intimate compassion seen on earth.

He has compassion as a father for his own children. It's family, filial compassion, that of a father for his own offspring.

And you know, that's the very same picture that our Lord Jesus uses to describe his compassion for sinners in Luke chapter 15. Remember how he tells the story of the father with his prodigal son.

This younger son of his showed such ingratitude, such dishonor, such dislike for his father and his rules that he didn't want to live anywhere near him anymore.

And so he said, give me my inheritance early. And he went and lived as far away from his father as he could get. The wealth his father had worked all his life for, he wasted with wild living.

He became an embarrassment to the family. And yet, when he came to his senses and decided to return home to his father, what did he find?

He found the compassion of a father for his son. Even before the fathers heard anything of his confession, Jesus says, while he was still a long way off, making his way back home, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him.

He ran to his son, he threw his arms around him and kissed him. Bring the best robe, the ring, the sandals, kill the fattened calf, let's have a feast and celebrate, for this son of mine was dead and now is alive.

He was lost and is found. Not this servant of mine, not this business partner of mine. This is not the kind of compassion that is shown in such situations.

This is the compassion such as only a son receives from his father. He pities him. He spares him. He receives him with great joy.

He does not treat him as his sins deserve, but shows him mercy, compassion. Now that's the mark of a true father. He feels for his children.

This word compassion is a very emotional word. It's a warm word. It speaks of concern and care, of affection and pity. His heart goes out to his children.

It hurts for them when they are being hurt. He would rather suffer in their place. Now, this is all a window then into God's heart for you, child of God.

Because as a father has compassion on his children, so does God on his. Oh, how he pities us, how he spares us, how quick he is to forgive us.

And in your pain and suffering, the devil may tell you that God doesn't care, but don't believe it. The scriptures say he pities you. His heart runs out to you.

Not only feels for his children, but he knows all about us. He knows how we are formed, the text says. How we're made, how we're put together.

He remembers that we're dust, and sinful dust, at that. Weakness, frailty, dependence, and as he looks upon us, he pities us.

There's always much to pity about us, and he does just that. As a father, when giving out the chores to his children, takes the age and the maturity level and the abilities and condition of each into mind.

He doesn't tell the three-year-old to go out and wash the car. He doesn't send the sick teenager out to mow the lawn. He considers their condition.

He remembers their dust, and so the Lord knows our limits. He remembers just how much we can take, and so he measures out our trials and our temptations to sin and our assignments accordingly, according to his perfect knowledge of us, not allowing us to be tempted one whit above what we are able to bear, and by his grace to persevere under and to escape the snare.

And in all of his dealings with us in providence, as he fills up the cup, you see, that he hands to you, that cup of suffering, a mixture of suffering and gladness, he fills our cup with pity for us, remembering what we're made of.

Every day, all day, his compassions run out to us, and they're new every morning, Jeremiah says. And that should change the way we wake up and face every new day, every new trial, every new cup of suffering.

We have a pitying, compassionate Father in heaven. Now, what will a father not do for his own children who have his heart?

The last three things that we'll consider this morning are really things we receive from our father that are expressions of this compassion. These are the things he does for the children of his love.

We'll only mention three due to our time. Protection, provision, and discipline. This is what we receive from our father. Protection.

As a young child, I instinctively knew that the safest place to be during a thunderstorm at night is in my father's bedroom.

And not because he has more lightning rods above that room, but just because dad's in there. Dad's in there. And dads protect their children.

Children instinctively look to their father to protect them. Indeed, God has given him that role to protect his children. And in the security of that protection, they flourish.

Well, our heavenly father provides even greater protection for his children. When Jesus teaches us to pray and say, our father in heaven, how are we to pray?

Deliver us from the evil one. Lord, you father, you're our protector, so deliver us from the evil one who seeks to pull us down.

We turn to him. Jesus himself prayed, Holy father, protect them through the power of your name. Then in Matthew 18, Jesus tells that parable of the wandering sheep.

In verse 10, he says, see that you do not look down on one of these little ones. And these little ones here stand for the ordinary average Christian who is so prone and vulnerable to falling away and therefore needs help.

And this parable shows that the father cares and protects these vulnerable little ones. And so should we in the body of Christ.

That's the point of his parable. And so the parable goes this way. What do you think? What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep and one of them wonders away, will he not leave the 99 on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?

And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about the one sheep than about the 99 that did not wander off. In the same way, your father.

in the same way, your father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost. What a father we have.

We have wandering hearts, don't we? And straying feet. And when we wander off, such is the father's love for us, that he doesn't stay with the 99, but he goes out after us and he renews our repentance and he calls us back and he holds us to his breast and he assures us of his love and he sets us back on the straight and narrow.

That's your father. Your father in heaven is not willing that anyone should be lost, none of his children. And so it's under his security, his protection that we live out our days is not what Jesus says, that he gives eternal life to his sheep in John 10, and they shall never perish.

No one can snatch them out of my hand. My father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one can snatch them out of my father's hand. So being held in the father's grip is security, it's protection.

That's what our human fathers do for us in their limited way. It's what our heavenly father does for us in his perfect way. Bless the Lord for his protection.

Another thing we receive from our fathers is provision. Provision. Children, why does dad go off to work every day during the week?

Why is he off to work? He's out there to provide for all your needs. You see, God has made him to be the main material provider in that home.

And he takes it seriously. And so he's off to work to provide for your needs. Oh, you owe him a lot. You eat the fruit of his labors every day. Do you thank him? He's your provider.

And you know, God says if you don't provide for your family, you're worse than an infidel. will. Now, do you think God would say that to your dads and then himself not provide for his children?

Not in your life. God provides for his children. There's a section on worry in the Sermon on the Mount. You're familiar with it. Matthew chapter 6.

And the key to not worrying is to remember that God is your father. That's the key, isn't it? Therefore, I tell you, Matthew 6, 25 and 26, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink or about your body, what you will wear.

Is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or store away in barns. And yet, your heavenly father feeds them.

Are you not much more valuable than they? How many birds do you think there are in the world? In 1951, a British ornithologist gave a guess, an estimate, of more than 100 billion birds.

Well, however many there are, your heavenly father is feeding them. Your heavenly father is feeding him. Now, would he take care of birds and neglect his own children?

Do you feel the force of that? You must. As you see the birds eating, what do you feed them and not me? His child. So, no need to worry, said the robin to the sparrow.

I would really like to know why those anxious human beings rush around and worry so. Said the sparrow to the robin, well, I guess that it must be that they have no heavenly father such as cares for you and me.

Oh, but we do. We do. And that's why we shouldn't worry about our life, about food, about clothing. Pagans worry and run after these things because they don't have a heavenly father to take care of them.

But your heavenly father knows that you need them, verse 32. So seek first his kingdom and righteousness and all these other things will be added to you as well. Do not worry about tomorrow.

You see, the child of God doesn't need to worry because we have a father in heaven who provides for us and he's none other than almighty God who pities us and remembers that we get hungry three times a day and sometimes more.

He remembers what we're made of. You're not fed by a politician. You're not fed by a rich man. You're fed by a father, one who has moved with compassion for you.

And so instead of worrying, we're told to pray to our heavenly father. There in the Sermon on the Mount, that's where he tells them to pray. And when you pray, say, our father, give us this day our daily bread.

And we're taught instead of worrying to pray, to ask, to seek, to knock in Matthew chapter seven. And he bolsters our faith by pointing to our earthly fathers and their care for their children.

Verses nine through eleven. Now Jesus is talking to fathers. And he says to them in verse nine of Matthew seven, which of you, you fathers, if his son asks for bread, we'll give him a stone.

Or if he asks for a fish, we'll give him a snake. And the answer, none of you. And why not?

Because you don't respond to requests for food with useless and harmful things. Because you have compassion for your son.

You pity him. You only give him good gifts to benefit him. Not things that would mock him. He asks for bread and I give him a stone. No, no mocking of his children.

No harming them, giving them a snake instead of a piece of fish. There is a fatherly disposition to give to his children.

Now, I would just ask the children not to listen at this point. And I have a word to say about you fathers. You know that fathers have a soft spot to give to their children.

And sometimes children are very aware of that and know how to make it work for their advantage. All right, kids, now you can listen again. That's the point.

Fathers have a heart to give to their own children. And then Jesus drives his point home.

Verse 11, if you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him.

You see the contrast. He's often comparing himself to fathers. Here he's contrasting himself. He's kind of like a father, but it's far more. There's a difference here as well.

Earthly fathers, by nature, are evil, are sinful. And yet, as sinful fathers, they still know how to give good gifts to their children.

He, on the other hand, is not evil, but is perfectly good. Now, many of us have had great fathers, and we honor them today, but you take the best earthly father, he doesn't even come close to your sinless heavenly father.

And if even human fathers who still have evil within nevertheless give good gifts to children, how much more will God give good gifts to his children who ask him?

Surely, including all of his physical needs, what he's talking about in this sermon, what you eat and drink and wear and shelter, but also speaking of spiritual needs for this very same parable in Luke's gospel promises.

How much more shall your father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? Indeed, he is the one who works all good gifts in us.

And what's the reason for all of this? It's to tell us. He's telling us all this about his father in heaven having this soft spot in his heart.

Why? That we might ask, we might seek, and we might knock for more. Your father has a giving heart. There's no reluctance on his part. So ask and seek and knock.

If the truth of God being our father in heaven gripped us more, then we would be found knocking on father's door. Far more than what we do, even as some of our children who know about that soft spot in our hearts, make much of it and ask us for much.

God knows what is good for us and knows what is best for us, and he will give it. He gives only good gifts to his children.

You know that I can ask my father for things that I wouldn't dare to ask of anyone else, just because he's my father. He's my father.

Like a car. I'm in a jam, and so I call, Dad, can I borrow your car? When? When would you like it? Well, like right now. And oh, by the way, I don't have a way to town, so could you pick me up?

I kind of like Enterprise. Or when I need some cash. My family's attending an evening program at the high school, and it starts in ten minutes, and we're rushing around to get cleaned up and ready to go, and now we're ready to leave.

Oh, there's no cash in my billfold, and we ransack the house, and we can only come up with a few bucks, and we don't have the money for the fee to get in to the event.

They don't take credit cards, so I call. Dad, can you loan me ten bucks? When? We'll be there in five minutes.

And so five minutes later, we pull into the alley, and he's standing there with his wallet in his hand, open. And I don't even have to get out of the car, I just roll down my window, take the ten dollars, and go on my way, like an ATM machine, but without fees, and that's why I go there.

But don't you try it. Because sonship has privileges. Privileges.

Why is it that I call my father when I'm in one of these jams, and not your number? Well, just because he is my father, and I know that he has a fatherly disposition.

You call it a soft spot in his heart, you call it whatever you want, but I know that he has this fatherly disposition to give to me because I am his son. And that encourages me to ask from him things I couldn't ask from any of you.

And in the same way, but in a far greater way, there are things that I can ask my heavenly father that I wouldn't dare to ask any human being on the planet.

Lord, would you move this mountain of unbelief in my heart? Lord, would you subdue this stubborn will of mine to your will?

Would you renew and revive and refresh me with your word? Would you forgive me of this sin again, again?

would you wash it away and blot it out by the blood of your own son? Will you help me? I'm in a mess again.

It's me again, your poor and needy son. And I know I was just here asking this morning, but I need the every hour.

and I need your presence and I need your power every passing hour. Will you strengthen me to do your will? You see, we're bold to ask because we know the giving disposition of our father.

How much more will your father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask? So what are you in need of, child of God? What do you need?

Daily bread, forgiveness, protection from the evil one. Ask, seek, knock at the door of your father in heaven. You've got one there with a soft spot in his heart for you.

He gave his own son to die for you. What works of the Holy Spirit do you stand in need of? Sanctifying power over some nasty sin that won't let go.

You need understanding of God's will. You need comfort, encouragement. Ask your father in heaven. He gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. What fruit of the Spirit do you stand in need of?

You need more love? You're running thin on patience. Do you need more self-control with your tongue, with your appetite, with your eyes? How much more will your father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask?

You see, he has compassion on his children and so he protects them and so he provides for them and lastly, so he disciplines them.

Discipline. How many of you remember being disciplined by your father? Can I see a show of hands? Some spanking that you got, perhaps?

Okay. He was right, wasn't he? He said he was going to give you a licking that you would never forget and you haven't forgot it. You still remember.

How many of you liked it at the time? Not a one of you, because no discipline is pleasant at the time, but rather painful. How many of you respect your father for having disciplined you and now are glad that he did?

it was good for you. You now see he was driving home some important truth, valuable lessons for life, driving out of you some of the foolishness that you were born with, and you find it's a real blessing to have a father who disciplines you, as many of you are finding in the parenting class during Sunday school.

Now the Lord takes this human father and teaches us something about himself. In Proverbs chapter 3 and verse 12 he says, the Lord disciplines those he loves as a father the son he delights in.

The Lord disciplines those he loves as a father the son he delights in. Now this is something we can forget about our heavenly father. As much as it's common knowledge about earthly fathers, we can forget it about our heavenly father.

That is that he disciplines the children he delights in. When we forget this, we grow discouraged under our hardships.

Please turn to Hebrews 12, the passage read for us. Now these Hebrew Christians were discouraged and they're discouraged precisely because they're misreading their trials.

They took them as evidence that God didn't care about their good when in reality God was treating them as sons of his love, his delight. Their hardship was his discipline.

And so far was it from being proof that he didn't care about them, that it was actually proof that God is their heavenly father and it's proof that they are his true sons and not illegitimate children.

For what son is not disciplined by his father? No, their hardships were disciplines that prove he loves them and he's seeking their highest good. Could it be, brothers and sisters, that some of the hard and difficult circumstances that are presently discouraging you are really causes for your encouragement?

You really ought to be encouraged by that hardship because God is treating you as sons, true sons of his love and pity.

he's up to something good pursuing the very best thing. And so he reasons from the lesser to the greater again, from earthly fathers to spiritual fathers in heaven.

Verse 9, moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. I suppose this was written in another age because not all human fathers discipline anymore, do they?

But this was taken for granted. Moreover, we've all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the father of our spirits and live?

Why so much more should we submit to the father of our spirits? Well, he tells us why. Because our fathers, verse 10, disciplined us for a little while as they thought best.

That is, with their own limited knowledge. age. Sometimes with their own sinful loss of temper. Sometimes their discipline was too severe and sometimes it was too lenient and sometimes they were even punishing the wrong child.

But it was all as they thought best. Now, if you can believe this, I just learned last night about a little boy who was disciplined by his father for digging little holes in his yard and was also accused of lying when he denied it.

But the facts are he was telling the truth. And the skunk was later found to be the culprit. Yes, our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best.

And their best was not always very good, was it? So, Andrew and Ryan, we still respect dad. for imperfect discipline.

He's trying. If he ever tries to spank that skunk, you call me. But if we respect even a father with evil and doesn't always get it right and never gets it perfectly right, how much more should we submit to the father of our spirits and live.

Because he always gets it just right. He has perfect knowledge of the situation and he's always disciplining us for our good.

Because though our earthly fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best, God disciplines us for our good that we may share in his holiness.

Our perfect father's discipline is always good. It's always best. It's never lacking in the least bit. It's never one tiny bit too strong.

It's never once too lenient. It's just what we need to produce the best effect in us. And what is that effect? He disciplines us for our good that holiness.

That we may share in his holiness. Do you know our father knows that we're happiest when we're holiest? And so he knows how to make us more holy.

And he designs personally designed discipline for our holiness. Oh, when everything's going so well and smoothly, our pursuit of holiness slackens, doesn't it, often?

And we don't need God as much and we don't seek him as much and we don't pray as much and we don't read the Bible as much, perhaps. And we start slacking off and distance between us and God.

And a perfectly designed discipline of hardship sends us running to Christ. And we get desperate for him. And we're panting after grace. And then do we grow stronger in holiness.

forgiveness. Philip Hughes says the strong Christian is the disciplined Christian. So endure hardness as discipline.

God is treating you as sons. It's how he strengthens you in holiness. And then Hughes quotes Chris Ostrom who says women who are brought up in the country are stronger than men who live in towns.

Now I was a city slicker myself, but you get his point that women brought up in the country on the farm like my wife and has endured the hardships of farm life.

There's something about toughness, a medal, you see, to her character. And the hardness is working strength into the Christian.

Let's not be city slickers. God doesn't let us be city slickers. He sends some hardness into our life that we're to accept as discipline.

It's strengthening us in holiness. How hungry are you for holiness? That's the question, isn't it? How hungry are you for holiness? Our heavenly father has discipline as the way to holiness.

So submit to it and live. Don't chafe against the hard times he's sending you. Don't grow discouraged and jump out of your father's school of discipline. Because though you're hurting now under the discipline, later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

So submit. Put your neck under the yoke of his discipline and learn from him greater holiness, greater humility. What a privilege to have a loving and wise father who disciplines us for holiness.

holiness. Because without holiness, no man will see the Lord, as verse 14 says. In conclusion, God wants us to know his fatherly heart for us, children of God.

You won't live right without counting on this. As a father, he has compassion for us and as a father, he protects us and as a father, he provides for us and he disciplines us all because he loves us.

And fathers, there's something here for you. You have a perfect father in heaven. Learn from him. The better you know your father in heaven and his dealings with you, the more you will become like him and become a better father to your children.

I don't know what kind of father you had or you still have. You may not have had the best earthly father. But if you are in Christ, I can assure you, you have the perfect father in heaven.

Then rest in his love. Give him the honor that fathers deserve, your thanks, your trust, your submission, your love in return. And if you're outside of Christ this morning, Christ is not your savior and Lord.

I can tell you this, on the authority of scripture, God offers himself to become your father this morning. I will be a father to you and you will be my sons and daughters.

If you will come out from among them and be separate, come out from the world, turn from your sin and come to this savior, Jesus, receive him and his father will become your father.

And you need this father. You need this father. He's the only one who has eternal life to give you. God. Your earthly fathers can give you much, but they cannot give you eternal life.

Come to Jesus Christ and live. Amen. Let's pray. we thank you, our father, for making us sons and that through the blood of your own begotten son, make him more precious to us.

Shed abroad in our hearts your love for us that we might know this giving heart that you have for us. we would run to you often and we would look to you for your protection from the evil one and from our sin and from ourselves and that we would depend on you for all that we have need of and not sin against you with worry and then that we would bow our necks to your discipline in our life and endure hardness as discipline and all because we know that you love us you pity us as a father his sons so help us we pray and we'll give you thanks in Jesus name Amen