The scripture which we read from Matthew 11 was our text for a message preached about a year ago. It was entitled – “Christ and His Father.” I hope that you will excuse me for returning to a couple of the thoughts which that message contained. But I want to expand those thoughts, because Matthew 18 urges me to do so. If you missed the pair of pronouns, let me point them out for you. Jesus said, “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of MY Father which is in heaven. Then He concluded by saying, “It is not the will of YOUR Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.”
Some people might call me foolish, but I am convinced that when the Holy Spirit gave us the Word of God, He was AS careful about tiny pronouns as He was about major doctrines. For the sake of emphasis, Christ Jesus once said, “Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” “Jots” and “tittles” were to two of the tiny diacritical markings found in the language of Jesus’ day. And Christ said, in regard to the Word of God, that even those things are important and permanent. Which makes me look at the pronouns “my” and “your” in our text and believe that they are important as well.
My title for today’s message is “The Trinity which is God the Father.” Please don’t let the word “trinity” make you think that this will be a boring lecture on theological perplexities. I am going to get to some very practical and down-to-earth material here in just a minute. But first – you need to be aware that there are several trinities in theology and in the Word of God. For example, as Christians, we constantly face a trinity of enemies – “the world, the flesh and the devil.” Another evil triumvirate which will be coming soon is – “the anti-Christ, the false prophet and Satan.” But of course the most important the Divine Trinity – “the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
I will not try to prove it to you this morning, but the Bible teaches that God exists in a Trinity – a Tri-unity. This is one of those doctrines which is impossible to prove to someone who refuses to accept it. But for the person who loves God and believes the Bible, the divine Trinity is a “no brainer.” Like the existence of God Himself, it is just as obvious that He exists in three persons. – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Bible shows us that each of those persons possesses all of the attributes which only deity can possess – omnipotence, omniscience, sovereignty, eternity, absolute holiness and sinlessness, etc. Very often we see one or the other of the Trinity displaying these divine characteristics. And on a few occasions, either two or all three of those persons are seen together. At the baptism of Christ, for example, we see Jesus and the Spirit, and we hear the voice of the Father. Then at the transfiguration, we see both the Father and the Son. Besides these, on other occasions the writers of God’s Word separate and then unite, the members of the Trinity. “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.”
Jehovah exists as a Trinity, but I don’t believe that someone must believe that before he can become a Christian. It’s not my job to convince anyone of the Trinity – the Holy Spirit will do that in His good time. I would far rather talk to someone about his need of Jesus Christ the Saviour, than to argue the finer points of Biblical theology. But for the sake of the gospel this morning I would like to point to the finer points of the trinity within God the Father. We can see them by considering those pronouns to which I referred earlier – God is sometimes described as “my Father,” sometimes as “your Father,” and sometimes as just “the Father” or “O, Father.”
People often think of God as the Father of us all – all human beings.
Nearly everyone agrees that at some point in the history of the universe there were no people – no humans. The media would like you to believe that the vast majority of your neighbors think that we are the product of evolution – that we are the children of “mother nature.” But recent surveys indicate that the majority of Americans believe in some kind of creation or intelligent design. In other words they prefer to think of themselves as children of God – the Father rather than descendants of “mother nature.”
As one who believes the Bible, I accept the fact that Jehovah God created the universe and all the elements of everything in it. I believe Genesis 1, 2 and 3 and take those words literally. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” God once said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” I believe that Jehovah created the first people – people who we know as “Adam” and “Eve.”
But let me ask you – does “to create” mean the same thing as “to father”? Let’s say that I invent something – let’s say I invent a flying chair – something to replace the automobile. Someday it might be said that I am “the father of the flying chair.” But does that mean the same thing as my fatherhood of Kraig Oldfield and Jackie? Will that flying chair ever send me a card or give me a call from Tennessee on father’s day? I say that there is a difference between creating and fathering. And the same applies to God – our Creator. There is an interesting comment in Genesis 3 in regard to Adam’s wife Eve. “And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because SHE was the mother of all living.” After the Adam’s family started to have babies, it was obvious that Eve was the mother of human race. And taking that a step backward, that would make Adam the father of humanity. Jehovah is undoubtedly our Creator, but Adam is our father, and Eve is our mother, of what we are now. It is not correct – it is unbiblical – to speak of God as “the father of humanity.”
In fact, you could say that God has disowned us. He has not ignored creation or humanity, but He has in a sense rejected us. As a race, humanity has adopted a new father and has been adopted into a new family. When Adam and Eve chose to rebel against God’s prohibition to eat the fruit of one specific tree, they divorced themselves from their Creator. In John chapter 8, the Lord Jesus was in the midst of a debate with the Jewish leadership of His day. They were boasting of their heritage and of Abraham one of their early fathers. “We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man.” What a foolish thing to say – Israel had been on bondage many times and for many centuries. “They answered and said unto (Jesus), Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. Ye do the deeds of your father. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.” As the Son of God points out about those Jews, it could be said of all of us, that we are more the children of the Devil than we are children of God. Because we come into this world as sinners, unbelievers and rebels, it is more accurate to say that Satan is our father than God is.
Let me assure you – as someone who has read God’s Word over and over again – the Bible never describes God the Father as the father of us all.
But He IS described as the Father of Christ – the Son of God.
As I pointed out in that message a year ago, there exists a unique relationship between God the Son and God the Father. Our first scripture from Matthew 11 partially describes it. While blending prayer with exhortation, Jesus said, “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.” So, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Notice that Christ said that no one knows God the Father, except God the Son. And no CAN know the Father – except those to whom Christ reveals Him. Let that idea sink into your soul – no one can ever know God who does not know Christ. And “whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.” Christ says to us all, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
Jesus’ knowledge of the Father is different from any knowledge that we have – that we have of anything. His was not an intellectual knowledge, an emotional knowledge, something learned or something instinctive. We think that we know our spouse or our children, but sadly we very often don’t know them as well as we think that we do. Furthermore we don’t even know ourselves as well as we think that we do. We have yet to be in certain situations and positions where we would be tested in new ways. We may think that we know how we would respond to something, but we’ve not been there yet, and our reaction might be entirely different from what we believe that it would be. In other words, we don’t even know ourselves, because our hearts are deceitful and naturally wicked.
Christ’s knowledge of His Father was, and still is, perfect – thoroughly intimate. Divine knowledge is absolutely absolute – even beyond mechanical observation or theological omniscience. It is pure intimacy. “All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.”
The Apostle John, after declaring the deity of Christ in John 1, goes on to say, “No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” What is meant by the words, “which is in the bosom of the Father?” It is speaking about all of the things which I’ve just said in regard to the divine relationship. And the words “only begotten Son” remind us of that unique relationship between the Father and the Son. But it stops short of saying that Jesus is the Son of God “because of his birth.” It is speaking about their relationship, but not of how that relationship began. However, the glorious, the invisible God, has been revealed to us through the incarnation of the Son. In studying the Son, those whose hearts God has touched can see the infinite God. Do you want to know Jehovah God, then look to Christ Jesus.
In John 6 Jesus says something very similar to what He says in Matthew 11 – “No man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God (referring to Himself), he hath seen the Father.” There are many other scriptures which run along this line, but I don’t want to stray too far from my theme. Christ Jesus often spoke of God as “His Father” – and it referred to a very special relationship. “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of MY Father which is in heaven.” But then four verses later He said, “Even so it is not the will of YOUR Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.” Without ever saying that God is our Father – His, yours and mine all in the same way –
Christ does speak of the God OF THE CHRISTIAN as “your Father.”
Unlike the teaching of some cults, you and I will never become equals with Christ, the Son of God. We will never be able to say with Christ “all things are delivered unto me of my Father which is in Heaven, and no man knoweth the Father in the way that I do.” But still the scripture does say that we may become children of God through Christ Jesus. The Bible does say that we may know God through the revelation which Christ may share with us.
The Bible speaks of two things – two events – by which we, who are children of our father the Devil, may become children of God. The first is called “regeneration” – or “the new birth.” One place where this is found is I Peter 1 where Peter says “It is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy.” Immediately we have a problem, because as I said earlier, holiness is an attribute of God alone. How can we who are sinful, and children of Satan be holy? Peter answers that question by saying, “ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit. “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” As Christ Himself once said, “Ye must be born again.” Peter went on, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot; Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.”
How can a sinful man become holy? How can he be born again? This was the same question that a man named Nicodemus asked of the Saviour. And the Lord’s reply was, “Put your faith and hope in me.” “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
How can a sinful man become holy? He must be born again. But there is another aspect to the business of becoming a child of God. There is another way in which we are given the right to call God “our Father.” “Ye must be born again,” and ye must be adopted by the Heavenly Father. Adoption was more to what John was referring in the first chapter of his Gospel. In speaking about Christ Jesus he said – “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not (because they were not children of God) But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Paul tells us in Galatians 4 – “When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. and because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”
Let me wrap all this up for you this morning. Christ Jesus is the eternal Son of God, and calls God “my Father” in a very special and unique way. You and I, as sinners before God, have no right in ourselves to call God “Father.” However, if you will humble yourself before Him – before both the Father and the Son – acknowledging your sinful condition and that you deserve eternal judgment for your sin. That is, if you will repent before God, and then put your faith in Christ to deliver you from yourself and your sin, it will prove that the Lord has made you one of His children. As Paul told the saints in Galatia – “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” Is your faith in Christ Jesus? Do you have any right to call God “MY Heavenly Father?”