Title: Thank You, Heavenly Father
☞Text:14 I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to me. If he sins, I will punish him with the rod of men and with the scourge of a human being; 16 Your house and your kingdom will stand before me forever, and your throne will be established forever.
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Among the privileges of a Christian, there would be no objection to calling God the Father. This is the envy of the angels and the fear of the devils.
In the relationship between God and man, the Creator and the creature, the perfect and the imperfect, the righteous and the sinner, the infinite and the finite, there are absolutely no elements that can achieve an equal relationship between God and man. Rather, Satan is the spirit of the kingdom of God, and he has fallen and was expelled from the kingdom of God. If we fix it and make him a child of God, we can understand it. If you have lived in the kingdom of God and are spiritual beings, if you made them God's children, you can say that there is a basis for it, but humans have no such basis.
However, God killed his only begotten Son and redeemed him with his blood to save him, and made him a child, not an angel from whom he was called, so that he could call him Father.
John 1:12-13 "To all who did receive him, to those who were called according to his purpose, he gave the right to become children of God, to those who were not born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."
The phrase “I am of God alone” means that no one can object or change it because it is the right of God.
Romans 8:30-31 "And those whom he predestined he also called; those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?"
If God does it, no one, no power, can do anything.
Let me explain the background to today's text! One day after David became king, while sitting on the throne in the palace, he suddenly remembered that the ark of the covenant of God was still in the tabernacle. David thought, "As a king, I live in a nice palace made of cedar, and the ark of the covenant of God is still in the veil. , God was very pleased with this, and when God told the prophet Nathan that he would bless David that night, he said, "Go and tell my servant David." Among them are some very significant words.
He promised David many blessings during his lifetime and blessings for his descendants, among which the text is about his son building the temple of God and the establishment of the kingdom. You will be my son, and if he sins, I will discipline him with the rod of men and with the scourge of a human being, but I will not take it from him as I took my favor from Saul, who brought me back from my presence.”
look. What is the difference between being a child of God and calling yourself a father and not being a child of God?
King Saul was before King David. However, King Saul sinned against God and was rejected by God. Because he disobeys God's will, such as disobedience, arrogance, and greed, he loses his kingship, and he dies on the battlefield, so the kingship ceases to exist.
But he said to King David, "If your son becomes king and sins like Saul, he will lift up the rod and the whip of life to strike him, but he will not forsake him." If Saul rejects him because he has sinned and the sons of King David do not forsake him even after he has sinned, isn't God unfair? But it's never unfair. Saul and David are different. Saul did not have a father-son relationship where he could call God his father, but David and his children had a father-son relationship with God.
If you are not a child, you will disobey what you do when you need it, and if you do what you want, you will be sent out, but even if you beat my child, I will make it right! I don't send it out.
The difference between God being my father and not being my father is as follows.
A father will never give up on his children, even if they are disciplined.
No matter how much you sin, God will not forsake you. There is only punishment. Hebrews 12:6-8 “For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” For it is for discipline that you endure, because God treats you as sons. How can a son whose father does not discipline him? If you do not have it, you are an illegitimate son, and you are not a true son."
In the season of gratitude, we ask, 'What are you grateful for?' When asked, 'Write!' It may be true, but the truth is that the graces received over the past year are more than the stars in the sky and more than the fallen leaves. I forgot about it! In fact, is there anything other than the grace of God? But even if we forget all of them, the fact that I call God “Father” “now” “at this time” alone is a grace that cannot be afforded. So I don't know how to thank all of them. Of course, like I said last week, this also happened because Jesus died! I mean.
If we thank Jesus for dying and thank you for being our Heavenly Father, where do we need to look for other things to be thankful for?
God says “I will be fathers to you, and you will be children to me, saith the Lord Almighty” (2 Corinthians 6:18).
1 John 3:1 "Behold, what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God" He bought it with the blood of his only begotten son.
Do you know what the privilege of calling God Father is?
1. It is equal to Jesus.
Jesus called God Father. But now that we are called Father, what is not equal to Jesus? In fact, the book of Hebrews recognizes Jesus and us as equals. Jesus says he is not ashamed to call us brothers. “For both the sanctifier (Jesus) and those who are sanctified (Christians) are of one, therefore he is not ashamed to call them brethren” (Hebrews 2:11). And in Hebrews 1:6, Jesus is described as the firstborn son. Of course we are the second son!!!
2. If you are a child of God, you are an heir of God.
Romans 8:17 "If children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, for we must suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him."
Like Christ, he entered the ranks of heirs proudly.
Titus 3:4-7 “In the manifestation of the mercy and love of God our Savior, he saved us, not because of our works of righteousness, but according to his mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. He has poured out the Holy Spirit abundantly on us through our Savior Jesus Christ, that we, being justified by his grace, may become heirs according to the hope of eternal life."
Dear saints, when Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, he called God “Abba, Father.” And the Apostle Paul teaches us, "For all those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. You did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption, so we cry, Abba, Father" (Romans). 8:14-15).
“Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of the Son into our hearts, calling him Abba, Father” (Galatians 4:6).
"Abba" is the Greek word for "Abba", and it is a title that children use when they call their father in a friendly way and when they call them with teasing.
We are grateful that Jesus died for us, but we are also thankful that we have the privilege of calling God Father and calling Him Father. Because of that one word, Father, we will never be forsaken. It is nag to say that if you listen carefully, you will enjoy abundant blessings.