The Love of the Father

Well, brethren, as we approach the Passover every year, our focus is always and appropriately directed towards the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. You know, we think about what He did for us, the manner in which He laid down His life. In that package, we consider His heart of service. The fact that He was this divine being, God with God from the beginning, who divested Himself of glory, came in the flesh, was willing to lay down His life unto death, so that you and I could have life, ultimately spiritual life, in the family of God. We focus often on the words of His ministry at this time of year, which tell us that we should be developing the very same servant's heart as was in Jesus Christ. And we consider terms such as being a living sacrifice. You know, what does that mean to lay your life down for someone else? It's a reflection of what Christ did for us. How do we do that in the sight of God and before one another? We often think about and discuss those things. We also consider subjects such as, as He loved us, we are to love one another. You know, those are built into the Passover service, even themselves, in terms of the foot washing and the bread and the wine. We understand the service and the life that was poured out in service for us. And again, these are all appropriate things to be focused on as we come up to the Passover, but there's another element that I want us to make sure that we acknowledge, because it is just as important as the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And in fact, I would say, perhaps even more important than that, because it is the sacrifice of Christ came from this point. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ came directly out of this. And it is the role that the love of the Father plays through this whole process. The role of the love of the Father. And I appreciate the message Mr. Frickie gave us beginning today, because it ties in very well with what I would like to talk about today. He talked about the fact that God sees us, He knows us, and what it is that we do in our life, but He's always there standing ready to forgive. And that is the role of a loving Father. So as we come up to Passover, we must be considering that all these things we're about to walk through and symbolize and recognize, and even on out through the entire Holy Day process, all the way through the eighth day, this is all tied back into the love of the Father for us. And Passover is first and foremost about the love of God the Father for His children. I'd like to begin today in John chapter 3. It's a familiar passage. Sometimes it gets quickly quoted or read over, and part of the emphasis of it can be missed. It's important we don't miss it. John chapter 3 will begin in verse 13. These are the words of Jesus Christ. John 3 in verse 13, Jesus says, No one has ascended to heaven, but he who came down from heaven. And John here has inserted, that is, the Son of man who is in heaven. Verse 14, And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up. And you could go back probably a year or so in the archives I gave a sermon on the bronze serpent being lifted in the wilderness and how it pointed to Jesus Christ. It was lifted up to stop the plague of death in our life as well. Verse 15, That whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. So, yes, we see and we acknowledge clearly Jesus Christ laid his life down in sacrifice for us willingly, and we commemorate that at the Passover service each year. But we also want to remember that it was God the Father who sent him out of his love for us. Again, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. God did not send his Son in the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. And so we need to remember that it was God the Father who sent him out of his love in order to fulfill a purpose that God intended from the beginning. And so the title of my message today is The Love of the Father. Love of the Father, as I said, it is tied up intimately in all that we represent and what we portray as we walk through Passover, days of 11 bread, Pentecost, all the way through. God's plan of salvation is motivated out of the love of the Father. And so as we go through this message today, we're going to see that the deep love God has for his children is the driving motivation behind all that he does for us, from sending Jesus Christ to the resurrection of the saints at the end of the age into his glorified family. The need for a Passover sacrifice became evident in the Garden of Eden, right? Right at the very beginning with the first man and the first woman, Satan the devil introduced sin into the world. Adam and Eve were beguiled by the serpent. They fell into his deceptions. Eve was deceived and her husband followed along as the Bible shows. And so that need for a sacrifice was there because through sin Adam and Eve decided through themselves, through self-determination, what would be right, what would be good, and what would be evil. And they rejected the instruction and the wisdom of a loving God who said, this is the way, walk in it. God gave them a choice and he gives us choices as well. The tree of life was in the garden, the tree of knowledge of good and evil was in the garden. And so God allowed them to be presented with a choice and God does allow us at times to be tested. But he does not tempt us unto sin. God said, stay away from that, choose life. But man still had to make their choice. And so as they did this, as they made their choice, and self-determination of what is right and wrong is now going to rule the day, when that occurred, a breach in relationship was created. Right? A breach between mankind and their creator God. And when you read through the first few chapters of Genesis, you come to see that Adam and Eve's sin created an environment where the relationship with God was not now any longer what it could have been. What God intended from the beginning was disrupted.

They were exiled from the garden. They were cut off in that way from that direct relationship, denied access to the tree of life. And they were subjected to the wages of sin, which is death. That's the first man and woman. And you could say, well, you know, look at where their choice left the rest of humanity. I think if we're honest with ourselves, we would recognize it wasn't just their choice that impacts us today. We all make choices. And I would suspect that many would have made the same choice. But nonetheless, there is a point that we see that sin is now plaguing this relationship, and it's creating a disruption between the Creator God and His children who He created for a very specific purpose. Isaiah chapter 59 expresses the devastating consequences of sin, what it does with our relationship with God, how it disrupts, how it breaks apart what God truly intended from the beginning. Isaiah chapter 59 in verse 1 says, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, nor is His ear heavy, that it cannot hear.

There's nothing that's outside of God's power or His control to accomplish that which He purposes.

He says, But your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear. There's a difference between will not hear and cannot hear. You know, God can hear and God can see, but God says, I'm not going to sit here and dwell in relationship with sin. I'm a holy righteous God who is bringing a family into a state of holy righteousness themselves, but God is not going to sit there and exist and be content to exist in a relationship with sin leading to death because God is a God of life.

So sin erects that wall of separation between us and Him.

Romans chapter 3 in verse 23 tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and all means all. Right? So even if Adam and Eve, Hatton themselves, made that choice in that time in that place, all of us have made choices in our lives that separate us from God.

And so from the very beginning, it is mankind who has borne the full responsibility of the breach of relationship that's existed between God and man, because God is perfect.

God created an environment for man and said it is good. God's not offensive. He would not have done anything in any way that was an injury to that relationship. It is man towards God that created this breach. And so the fault lies with us. And Passover reminds us that you and I serve a very loving and a very compassionate God who desires that breach relationship to be restored between Him and every human being. Again, that's the focus of Passover, that we serve a loving God who desires to restore that breached relationship between Himself and every human being. God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son. 1st Timothy chapter 2 explores this concept. It is God who has this desire to be back into relationship as He intended from the beginning.

1st Timothy chapter 2 in verse 1. Here's the Apostle Paul writing.

He says, Therefore I exhort, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and the giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. Verse 3, For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. I want to draw your focus in on this phrase, God our Savior, because we look at Jesus Christ as our Savior and He is.

But in my mind, I kind of process this as, you know, we were in the middle of the ocean.

I was in the middle of the ocean drowning, right? No way to save myself. And here comes God, desires to save me, throws me the life ring that's tethered to Him, and I grab hold of that for life. Right? And God brings us to Himself, saves us through the Savior He provided, but God Himself as well is our Savior. So Paul says this is good, acceptable, and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and who come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ, Christ Jesus, verse 6, who gave Himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. And so we have Romans 3, 23, that tells us all have sinned. And then we have 1 Timothy chapter 2 here that tells us God our Savior desires all men to be saved. All have sinned, but God desires all to be saved.

And come to the knowledge of the truth. So the point that's being made is that God Himself has set this whole plan of redemption into motion out of a personal desire to reconcile the relationship and the breached relationship between Himself and all of mankind.

God's not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance. And we know that not all will. Man has to make their choice, each and every person. But it's God's desire to heal that relationship in that breach. God has an incredible purpose that He's working out. And He created human beings after His likeness with the intent that they would one day be glorified daughters and sons in His eternal family. That they would be as He is. This human state is simply a training ground for what God is doing. He's working with us at this time. But our incredible human potential is to be sons and daughters glorified in the family of God. That's the reason we were created. That's why we were born. You know, the oldest booklets in the Church of God going back decades is, why were you born? And then it was, as it came out here in recent years, it was, what is your destiny? Again, it's the same thing. What is the purpose of your life? What is God doing? And I think we've gone back to the title of, why were you born? But the answer to that is something that we understand, you know, we probably knew that from very early in our time in the Church.

Generally, most of my life I grew up in the Church. I was six, seven, eight years old when we started attending. And as a child, I could tell you, why were you born? What is the purpose of your existence?

Well, God wants a family, right? And He's bringing sons and daughters to glory, but let's never take lightly the understanding of that. This is something most of the world is groping for.

And you and I know it as second nature, I would say, right? But what is my purpose? What is my destiny? That should give us incredible comfort. But growing towards that purpose requires a close and an intimate relationship with our Creator. You know, we don't just get to waltz up and say, I'll take that ticket. Eternal life sounds good to me. No, this is a relationship that is grown. And that's why God in His abundant love sent Jesus Christ so that we could be reconciled into a direct and personal relationship with Him apart from sin. That obstacle, that wall of separation removed, a relationship restored. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 18.

Apostle Paul has quite a bit to say about the love of God in this process.

2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 18.

It says, Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. So I want you to notice that the reconciliation originated from God the Father Himself, of God through Jesus Christ, just like so many other things that we see in the Scripture. The creation, the Passover, the reconciliation, the giving of the Holy Spirit, the resurrection, all these are of God through Jesus Christ. It is how they have worked together in this process, but the originator, as Paul shows, is the Father Himself. And it is God who literally reached out to mankind through the person of Jesus Christ in order to repair that breach in our relationship. Again, in my mind, it's like you're drowning in the middle of the ocean and waves everywhere, land nowhere in sight, and God throws you the life ring to draw you to Himself.

And that is Jesus Christ's sacrifice that you grab hold of, through which God reconciles our life.

It brings us back into this relationship. It's an incredible action of love and mercy on the part of God. Verse 19, Paul says, that is that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. And so Paul says, this is a work God's given to us now, of what we proclaim, right, is a message of reconciliation. And it's what the church preaches today in the gospel message. Repent, be baptized for the remission of sins, receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, be reconciled to God. You can be in His kingdom. It's what God is continuing to do to reach out to the world for reconciliation through us. Verse 21, For He made Him, God made Christ, who knew no sin to be sinned for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. And so again, the Father is the originator of this process, for a very important reason. You know, from our perspective, we come up on the Passover end, and you know, from our view, we're looking towards the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as that's life-saving, right? He died for me. I come under that sacrifice. I can be saved from death. I can have eternal life. And that is a correct perspective, but what is God's perspective?

As He's looking from His end towards the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, what is God's perspective?

God's perspective is, I can be reconciled to my children. I can have this relationship restored that was breached. I can bring them to the potential for the purpose that I created them from the start. And it's an outflowing of love of a parent wanting to see their children, his children succeed. That's very much how, from what I see in the scriptures, how God views the Passover and the sacrifice of Christ. My children can now be reconciled to me under that sacrifice and be saved. And so that's a very loving Father. Just like any good human Father, God wants to see his children succeed. Of course, He's so much more than a human Father, but He's built that into us as human beings. And as we have children, we want to see our children succeed and to reach the fullness of the potential that's been set before them. And God wants to give everyone opportunity within reason to reach the goal. Again, He's not willing that any should perish, but all would come to repentance. We all have a choice to make. But God says, I'm extending to you the lifeline, the sacrifice of my Son. You know, this week there were challenges to...

I had things I needed to get done, I'll just say that. And on Monday, I was in front of my computer. I really didn't want to be disturbed. I'm working on a project and the phone rings. And it's Austin. You know, it's my son. And he's calling and he says, I just heard this strange noise and now there's no water pressure in the house. And I hear water running from somewhere. And I said, oh, you've got a... sounds like a blown water line. You know, so I said, I'll be right over. He just lives about a mile away, manufactured home. And so I get up, I put my grubby clothes on, and grab my toolbox. And in my mind, I'm thinking, okay, this is, you know, 20 degrees. We're going to be climbing underneath the manufactured home in a puddle, laying in water, fixing this leak, you know, in 20 degrees. And I get over there and we scope it out. We track it down, unfortunately, with something that could be pretty quickly isolated. It wasn't that hard to get to, and we could restore water pressure to the house again. But it was sort of like, you know, at that point, I'm trying to finish this up. I was really hoping the phone wouldn't ring. I was hoping nothing else would happen. But, you know, when your son calls and says, I think I need some help, what do you do? You just jump up, I'll be right there. And that's our Father, right? That's God towards us. The desire to say, these are my children. I want to help them in any way possible to achieve what I have set before them. That's why he sent Jesus Christ into the world.

That's why that wall of separation needs to be removed so that he can give us his Spirit and fulfill the purpose that he intended from the beginning. Romans chapter 5 and verse 6.

Romans 5 verse 6. Paul says, For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. He says, For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man, someone... Let me back up, did I misread that? Excuse me, verse 7. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But notice verse 8.

But God demonstrates his own love towards us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Notice again, it is God the Father's love that is demonstrated towards us by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It's like, you know, what has God ever done for me? I mean, Christ died for me. I know what Christ did for me, but what has the Father ever done for me?

This is what the Father has done for us. He has demonstrated his own love for us while we were still sinners, while we were enemies of God, right? While we were in a position that we couldn't possibly do anything for ourselves. It's not like you can pull yourselves up by your own bootstraps and solve the problem of sin in the penalty and be reconciled to God. So God didn't wait for us to fix our life and become acceptable enough to be worthy of his love. No, this is the love of God, that while we were still sinners, he demonstrated that love towards us. Christ died for us. So it's an incredible blessing of love that has been poured out.

Now again, Jesus loved us as well. We understand that. And he said in John 15 13, greater love is no one than this, and to lay down one's life for his friends. And that is what Christ did for us. And that tends to be our focus. And again, appropriately so as we approach the Passover. But again, let's not brush aside the origination of the sacrifice and the purpose. God did not wait for us to correct our own condition before he reached out to us in love.

But he extended his hand of mercy even while we were in that condition. And so this is what we would call unconditional love. And yet sometimes unconditional love gets mixed up with, it doesn't really matter what you do. You know, God's love for us was unconditional. He sensed Christ while we were in our sins, but we are still to respond to that love. We don't stay there where we are. Verse 8 says, but again, God demonstrates his own love towards us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Much more than having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him, through Jesus Christ. For stand for if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son. Much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

It says we rejoice in God the Father, because he so loved the world that he sent his Son. And as any parent would understand, and as any human being, I would say, would understand, no parent would be comfortable in watching the agony of their child die in such a way. But again, this was an extension of the love of God and Christ for us.

The purpose was reconciliation. Romans chapter 6, just across the page, in verse 20, Paul says, for when we were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. You know, there wasn't really much on your account in terms of righteousness when you lived according to sin. But verse 21, what fruit did you have in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now, having been set free from sin and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness and the end everlasting life.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God, the gift of God, okay, is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. So again, I want to focus in on the fact that eternal life here, it's God's gift.

It's something that was freely given. It will be freely given, okay, when we receive it in its full measure, something we cannot earn on our own merit. And that's why it is a gift. And you notice that the source of the gift, the gift of God, God the Father, is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

He is the source. God's the source of all good gifts. God's the source of all the spiritual blessings that he pours out. We won't turn there, but you jot down James 1, chapter 17.

James chapter 1, verse 17, for every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

Again, James 1, 17. So what we find is God the Father is the giver of all good gifts.

He's the giver of life itself. He's the giver of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

As we heard in the sermonette, he's the giver of forgiveness upon our repentance.

God our Father is the giver of the Holy Spirit. He's the giver of the gift of the resurrection unto eternal life. These are all gifts that stem from the love of God poured out on us through Jesus Christ, but God is the originator. He's the source. He's the one from whom this blessing comes. The book of Psalms gives us insight into why God's loving-kindness towards us is so great. Psalm 103 and verse 8. Psalm 103 verse 8. You know, we're fortunate, brethren, that God is as patient as he is because he could have just sort of wiped the slate clean.

Very early on, why is God so gracious to us? Psalm 103 and verse 8. It says, The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in mercy, and he will not always strive with us, nor will he keep his anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. You know, David's saying we really haven't received what we deserve from God. In fact, what we have received is what we do not deserve from God. That's the blessing. Okay, verse 11. It says, For as heavens are as high above the earth, so great is his mercy towards those who fear him. As far as the east is from west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear him. For he knows our frame, and he remembers that we are dust. This is a very encouraging passage about the love of our Heavenly Father, because God's great compassion for us extends from the fact he recognizes our weaknesses as a human being. He knows our constitutions.

He knows that we're frail, that we're weak, that we're dust. Right? Because you go back to Genesis, again, we were dust that was gathered together, and he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being, but was dust by origin and frailty. And so it says, God pities us in that condition. As a father, pities his own children. And it doesn't mean that he gives us a pass on sin, or that he tolerates our sin, but it means that in his love he has reached down to us in order to offer a helping hand, again, to reconcile us to him, to allow us to make an effort towards fulfilling our potential. On our own, as dust, we can do nothing, but by the love and, frankly, loving pity in a proper way of God, we have the future set before us. He sent Jesus Christ as our Passover, and God demonstrates his own love to us through the extension of that mercy. But we still respond, right? It's not come as you are, stay as you are. It is while we were under the death penalty, he threw us the life ring. He threw us Jesus Christ's sacrifice that we can grab hold of for life, be drawn and reconciled to him, but we must change, we must grow, and we must overcome. Verse 15, for as for man, his days are like grass, and as a flower of the field, so he flourishes, for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. Verse 17, but the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to the children's children, to such as keep his covenant, and to those who remember his commandments to do them. Again, we all have our part to play in response to God's mercy.

He doesn't offer us a free pass, but he does offer us the opportunity to overcome.

You know, the opportunity to rise above our circumstances. I come back to, again, as a father, and I look at my own children, and I desire to help to set before them opportunities, something that can help them reach their potential, because this is a hard world, right? It's hard to get a financial start in this world, even. Darla and I have had help. We've had opportunities and blessings that have come through family that have helped us to be able to step up in certain ways as well. And it just reminds me of the love of our Father that says, I want to give you every opportunity to succeed, because this is your purpose. That's why I've created you. And so he does so through Jesus Christ. God's mercy never fails, and he looks on us with great hope, the hope of the purpose that he set before us to be in his family. He looks on us with great compassion, again, remembering that we are dust, that we are weak and we are frail, and he looks on us with great love. And again, that love is the driving motivation behind all that God does towards us. He so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son. 1 John 4, verse 8. 1 John 4, 8.

Book of 1 John is full of writings about the love of God. His love out poured on us what our response ought to be back towards God and return in towards one another in love. 1 John 4, verse 8 says, He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. And it's so easy to read quickly over that term, but it says God is love. And here, love is expressed as a state of being. It's who God is. It's what he is. That's his character and his nature. God is love. And if we're truly going to know him, we need to be individuals born of that same love as well. Verse 9. In this, the love of God was manifest towards us, that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him. So again, we have the expression of God's love towards us, the manifestation of his love. It was the action of sending Jesus Christ into the world on our behalf. This is the love of God that was manifest towards us. Verse 10, he says, In this is love. Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and his love has been perfected in us. By this, we know that we abide in him and he in us because he has given us of his Spirit.

And so the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is evidence of God abiding in us.

And it's very poetic language, but it's literal as well. By this, we know that we abide in him and he in us because he's given us of his Spirit. It gives you understanding into what Jesus Christ said when he walked the earth. And he says, you know, don't you know I am in my Father and my Father's in me. It's not some Trinitarian concept. It is a spiritual unity that exists in us.

That exists between the Father and the Son, between those God has called and given his Spirit to. We are to be one with God in a unified spiritual relationship that goes beyond the physical.

And it is a blessing. He's given us of his Spirit. Verse 14, and he says, and we have seen and testified the Father has sent the Son as a Savior of the world. So Jesus Christ is our Savior as well.

Verse 15, whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God.

And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him. And so we see that the Father, as it says, first loved us before we even loved him. It extended from his direction towards us first before it turned around back in response. He first extended his mercy towards us even when we were enemies, unable to do anything about this relationship and solving sin for ourselves. And it is God who first looked on mankind, and I would say at birth, right? When a new child comes into the world, God looks on that child, seeing the full potential that he has purposed. I come back again to my position as a father in the family, and I think of when Tabitha was born. Darla had a c-section with both our children, and you know, Tabitha was born, and Darla said, stay with the baby.

And also, as they're finishing up with Darla in the operating room, I'm out there in the nursery with Tabitha, and just holding her in my arms when she was just a few minutes old. And I just remember looking down at her, feeling this incredible love as a parent for this child.

And I remember she turned her head. She was actually trying to nurse my arm as I'm holding her. They're just a couple minutes old. The mouth is opening, and that instinct that God built in was there. And I kept thinking, you know, you better get mama out here pretty quick.

But it's like, here's a trust. Here's a reaching out of this defenseless child. And I remember just looking at her, thinking, who are you? Who are you going to be? You know, what's your potential, you know, in this life? I see God as looking at every child that is born and comes into the world, thinking, I sent my son for you to die for you in this great potential that is set before an infant that doesn't even know to reach out or respond to God, doesn't even understand the purpose. So God says, I loved you before you loved me. And this is the basis for all that I've done for you, my children. And so these concepts should impact us all dramatically as we walk into and take the Passover. And we think this Passover represents the love of the Father for us so that we can reach our potential. When we consider the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we should remember that this was not only the love for Christ, it was the love of the Father for us. When we consider the bread and the wine symbolizing His broken body and His shed blood, that is the love of the Father for us. Manifest. Right? God manifests His love by sending His Son. When we consider the forgiveness of our sins that we receive, that is the love of the Father for us. When we consider the Holy Spirit, He's poured out of God through Christ. Number of scriptures show that we receive that Spirit. It is a manifestation of the love of the Father for us. And we need to remember these things. When we consider the future that God has in store outlined by the Holy Days, which we're beginning to walk through again very shortly, step by step by step, those days outline the love of God for us.

And the fact He desires His children to make it. All that He does, driving motivation behind all these actions, is the love of God. God is love. And if you're going to know Him, you're going to be expressing that same love as well. Every human being was born into this world as a child of God by creation. And we are the work of His hands, but we need to understand there's a difference between physical creation as a child and the fact that we are being brought to salvation as the glorified children of God by Begettle. So there's a difference. Again, a difference between created as a child of God and born into the family of God by Begettle. You know, the Bible shows that even the angels are considered the sons of God by creation, but it does not compare to the full potential God has purposed for humankind, again, to one day be children by birth into the family of God. And that's God's ultimate plan of love for us to bring many sons to glory. Romans chapter 8 and verse 12.

Romans 8 and verse 12. We understand this process begins by forgiveness and reconciliation, but what God does next through His Spirit is actually the Begettle process by which we will one day be fully born into the family of God. Romans chapter 8 and verse 12. Paul says, therefore brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh to live according to the flesh, for if you live according to the flesh, you will die, right? Wait just a second, his death. He says, but if by the Spirit you pet the death, the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. It's referring to the sons of God by the process of Begettle through His Holy Spirit, not simply the process of physical creation. Again, upon receiving the Holy Spirit of God, we have His literal essence implanted in us, and that makes us His children. We become, as Peter said, 2 Peter 1, 4, partakers of the divine nature when we receive God's Spirit. It's when you have physical man and woman, and the sperm implants into the woman, and the egg, and a life is created, okay? That is a son, daughter of God, by creation. God begets us through the implantation of His Spirit. It is who and what He is that is now growing and developing in our life into what eventually we will be at the resurrection as we are born into the kingdom of God, as our change comes. But we are growing today. As partakers of the divine nature, we are taking on the genetic traits, if we want to say that, of our Father, becoming like Him, looking like Him, developing into that character, and yet more is purpose for the future. Verse 15, He says, For you did not receive the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, Abba, Father, that that word adoption should be more accurately translated sonship, because we are not adopted into the kingdom of God. We have God's genetic makeup by begettle, as we are then transformed into the kingdom of God by birth. And so there is a difference there of the fact that His Spirit makes us sons of Him. Verse 16, Paul says, let me go back, verse 16, Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, of children, then heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. And so our glorification, the change, comes at the return of Jesus Christ.

And that is when, at our resurrection, we are literally born into the very likeness and spirit essence of God Himself, fully sons and daughters in the God family, not by creation, but by birth.

Again, Adam, in the genealogies, is called the Son of God. It was the Son of God by creation, made in His image and likeness. But Christ was the only begotten of the Father, the firstborn from the dead, of which there will be more to follow. And that is the birth into the family of God by spiritual begettle process. So along the way, in that process, God works with us.

Because we still have to grow and overcome. And He is a loving Father, and we are His children, and He's bringing us along in the process to success. Hebrews chapter 12, in verse 3, shows us His intimate and actual involvement in our lives. The fact that God actually, at times, has to give us course corrections, just as a parent gives their child, at times, course corrections out of love. Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 3 says, For consider Him, speaking of Jesus Christ, who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. For you have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as sons, saying, My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him, for whom the Lord loves, He chastens, and He scourges every son whom He receives.

Even God's rebuking and chastening is done out of love, and is done out of a desire for Him to receive us literally into His family. He wants us there. And yet, there's a more molding process along the way. Verse 7, If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which we all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Verse 9, Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more be readily in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?

For they, indeed, for a few days chastened us as seen best to them, but he for our prophet, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Partakers of the holiness of God.

So He instructs us. He corrects us. He encourages us along the way. It is done as a loving father towards his own children, and it's a love that He expresses so that we may ultimately reach the full potential, again born into His family, of His kind and of the same likeness. That is the love of the Father towards us. Let's conclude in 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3 verse 1.

It says, Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us. John's saying, let's even just consider what God has done for us out of His love, where it has brought us and where it is taking us.

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God.

Therefore, the world does not know us because it did not know Him. And again, our begettle by the Spirit is that expression of God's love. These are my children coming to birth. Verse 2, Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. We are not there yet, right? Our change has not come. He says, But we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is of the same form, of the same likeness. We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Verse 3, And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure.

This is a process, brethren, that begins with the coming under the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. All right, God so loved the world He sent Him. We come under that sacrifice at baptism. That action then produces a reconciled relationship with God the Father, whereby we receive His Spirit. Jesus Christ is the mediator of the new covenant. Our covenant is with God the Father. He says, I will be a God to you, Father to you, you will be my children. He gives us His Spirit by the laying on of hands, and ultimately it culminates with our birth into the glorified family of God at the return of Jesus Christ. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Brethren, as we prepare for the Passover once again this year, let's make sure that we keep this aspect of God's love first and foremost in the front of our mind. It is absolutely central to all that God is doing to bring many sons and daughters to glory. Again, of God through Jesus Christ. His plan, His purpose is for a family. In light of all that we looked at today, I want to conclude by quoting for you the Apostle Paul's words from Romans chapter 8 verse 37 through 39, because I think he summed it up well. Again, he wrote all about the love of God expressed towards us. And Paul said in Romans 8 verse 37 through 39, he says, yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. He says, where I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Brethren, God the Father is absolutely essential to all spiritual things.

He is the originator. He is the source. They are of God through Jesus Christ. And the blessing is that you and I have been brought into a position where He calls us His children. We have been the recipients of that love outpoured. As we approach the Passover this year, again, let's remember the love of the Father for us. We were drowning. No way to save ourselves. And in His mercy, He threw us the lifeline that we might be reconciled to Him. Greater love has no one than this, and He lay down His life for His friends. That is indeed what Jesus Christ did for us. But also, no greater love is there than God the Father, who is love, who offered the sacrifice, who sent His Son, and who rejoices in the opportunity to be reconciled to His children.