Parallels Between God the Father and Our Physical Father

When you think of your Heavenly Father, what do you think of? And when you think of your earthly father or your husband, in some cases, what do you think of? The Hebrew word for father is spelled AV in English. It is pronounced something like AB, ABABABAB. The first word, the imitative mimetic sound that a child usually does, we call it cooing. The simplest sound of an infant slips is the first word in Strong's Concordance. It is this word ABABABAB, the one that is translated father in the text. ABABABABAB, become DA DA DA DA, and then usually way before become mama mama. And some mothers get upset that they're saying daddy before mother, but in biblical and Hebrew and Greek, father is used in various senses as begetter, progenitor of an individual. The father is the founder of all families. That is God the Father. If you would look at Ephesians chapter 3, Ephesians chapter 3 verse 14. Ephesians 3, 14, the Apostle Paul writing. He's just talked about one of the great mysteries of the ages, that is how Jew and Gentile are gathered together, and Paul uses the generic term Jew to indicate all of Israel by the time of the Apostles and Christ, even though they might be from another tribe other than Judah or Benjamin. Usually they use the term Jew to include all of Israel. We know that, of course, Israel consists of 12 tribes, but in Ephesians 3, 14, for this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. So the Father is the founder of all families. In Genesis 10 we have the table of nations, some 70 families. God is the one who set the bounds, the habitations, the nations, and after Nimrod tried to gather all the people together, one world religion, God went down, confounded the languages, and people were forced to go to the various inheritances. As a doer, God is first and foremost a creator. We talked about that on Pentecost, both in the physical sense and the spiritual sense. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, but we also discovered in Job 38 that before He created the heavens and the earth, He created the angelic realm. And God, of course, is a great spiritual creator. He is our Father. Look at Isaiah 63, verse 16. Isaiah 63, verse 16. Doubtless, you aren't our Father.

Though Abraham be ignorant of us, I've oftentimes wondered about that. I think I know the answer, but cannot pursue that right now. Though Abraham be ignorant of us, of course, Abraham is called the Father of the faithful, but many of the patriarchs did not know the full extent of what God's great plan of salvation consisted of in the total sense. Though Abraham be ignorant of us and Israel acknowledge us not, you, O Yahweh, eternal, aren't our Father, our Redeemer.

Your name is from everlasting. Of course, one of the great qualities of God is that He exists in eternity, and so does the one who became Jesus Christ, the Word without Father, without Mother, without descent, without beginning or end of days, says in Hebrews 7, verse 3. Now you look in chapter 64 there, verse 8, but now, O Lord, O eternal, you aren't our Father, we are the clay, and you are Potter, and we are all the work of your hands. Virtually everything that our spiritual Father is doing for us we should be doing with our wife and children.

There are great parallels between what our spiritual Father is doing for us in the spiritual sense. Then in like manner the physical Fathers should be doing much the same. Of course, they're not spiritual creators, and there's a limit to those parallels, but there are a lot of parallels. If you would turn to Romans 8, 15, one of the most touching scriptures in the sense in the Bible, in Romans 8, and verse 15, there's no deeper, closer, respectful relationship that can exist than Father, Son, Father, Daughter.

Yes, sons need fathers and so do daughters. Daughters need fathers. Some studies say that if you can only have one parent be more important to have the Father. Of course, that's not usually the way it works out in today's society when there's divorce. Most of the time the woman is awarded custody because, generally speaking, the Father has abdicated or done something that he shouldn't. I know it's not always the case. It's not always the man's fault, but we read here in Romans chapter 8 and verse 15, For we have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear.

God has called us to freedom, to liberty, to love, joy, peace, righteousness, happiness, but we have received the spirit of sonship. Now, the King James translates that adoption. We are not adopted. We are literally sons and daughters. The Greek word there is wio thesis. Wios is the Greek word for son, and it has to do with... why are we literally sons and daughters? Because the same essence that is in God and Christ is in us. Who begets us? The Father begets us. He begets us with His Spirit, His very essence. Therefore, we are literally, in the spiritual sense, sons and daughters of God.

So, the spirit of sonship, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. And that's about as close a relationship as you can get in the human realm. The relationship between father and son, father and daughter, mother and son, mother and daughter. Our prayers should begin with, as Christ said in Matthew 6-9, when the disciples came to Him and said, teach us how to pray. And Jesus said, pray in this manner, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Our Father. Of course, we've already read three places. We've read Romans 3-15, I mean, Ephesians 3-15, Isaiah 6-16, and Isaiah 6-4-8.

You are our Father. The Word, the one who became Jesus Christ, gave up His glory and humbled Himself and submitted to the Father. The Father was the one who begat His Spirit essence into the womb of Mary. Look at Matthew 1-20. Of course, we do a lot of teaching with the preaching kind of thing and things that we really want to know. No one can ever deceive us. If we really master these things. In Matthew 1-20, here's where an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream.

Joseph was getting wet feet, I guess you say, in the vernacular of the day. He's betrothed this woman and she's pregnant, but he knows that he's never had any kind of intimate relationships with her. So he's thinking about putting her away, writing a bill of divorcement. Verse 20, But while he thought of these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, you son of David, fear not to take unto you Mary, your wife.

For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. See, that spirit essence, the Word, humbled himself so that he would so submit to the Father that he would be made flesh. Let's look at Luke. The nearest thing you have in Scripture, how this took place, this is a great mystery. Look at Luke 1.35. We'll start a little earlier here, I guess.

In Luke 1, verse 24, And after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived and hid herself five months, saying, I'm reading 24. It's about John the Baptist. And thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days he looked for me to take away my reproach among men. Elizabeth was barren until she and Zacharias came together and John the Baptist was conceived. And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God into his city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph. Of the house of David and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in under her and said, Hail, you are highly favored.

The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women. And when she saw him she was troubled at this saying and cast in her mind what manner of greeting or exhortation, salutation this is. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for you have found grace, divine favor with God. Behold, you shall conceive in your womb and bring forth the Son and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the highest.

He shall be called the Son of the highest. Who is the highest? The highest is God the Father. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever. He that is, the one that is given to you, Jesus Christ, and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Then said Mary unto the angel, How can this be, seeing I know not a man? And here's this verse, verse 35. The nearest thing we have of how this took place, of how the Word humbled himself and was then implanted. Mary was impregnated by the Holy Spirit, the essence of the Word, under the direction of the Father. And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the highest, as God the Father, shall overshadow you.

Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God. And then, of course, in John 1.14 it says, The Word was made flesh, and the Word dwelt among us. The Word exists in eternity, and the Father exists in eternity, but at some point the Word humbled himself and took on the form of man. When I look at Philippians 2, we see this taking place.

What are we establishing here? We're establishing who the Father is, and what all the Father does. Mainly we've talked about begetting. Of course, this was the one and only kind, the only begotten Son of God in this manner. Now we are now begotten sons of God, but we were impregnated, and we came to be from a different process as we were born of the flesh. But we can be of the Spirit. In Philippians 2, verse 5, Philippians is a book about humility and the greatest sense of the Word of giving up self.

There's a better translation. He thought it not a thing to be seized, to be equal with God. He was on the God plane. They both exist in eternity, but made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant. See, in verse 6, he was in the form of God. Now he's in the form of a servant. It was made in the likeness of man. The Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary. He was begotten in the womb of Mary, and being found in fashion as a man. He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the stake. Wherefore, God also as highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven, things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. God raised him from the dead after he was crucified. He is the firstborn from the dead. You look at Romans 8.11. Romans 8.11 should be a memory scripture for every person in the Church of God. You should just automatically know this as one of the verses that I quoted so often in the early 90s when we were going through the big discussions on the nature of God. In Romans 8.11, but at the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead shall dwell in you, who raised Jesus from the dead, God the Father. He begat him and he brought him to birth. God the Father begets us and he brings us to birth. In the human realm, of course, there is the difference there that the Father begets and the Mother brings us to birth. But if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead, God the Father, shall also make alive your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwells in you. You are a begotten son, daughter of God. And Jesus Christ is the firstborn from the dead. Look at Revelation 1, verse 5. We are establishing now that God the Father is the progenitor of life and that he is the one who brings us to birth. You notice in verse 1, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him. Now, a lot of people misquote that and say it's a revelation of Jesus Christ and don't read that last part. When Christ was asked, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel at this time, Christ replied that this was in the realm of the knowledge of the Father. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, so the chain of revelation is God the Father, Jesus Christ, this messenger, this angel, that gave it to John, and then John passed it on to the church. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, so unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass, and he sent and signified it by his angel, his Angelos, unto his servant John. And John wrote the message sent to the seven churches, Revelation 2 and 3. We skip down to verse 4.

See, the seven spirits which were before his throne, whose throne? The throne of God the Father. And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first born. The Greek word translated here is prototikos. The spell like it sounds.

The Father is the source that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. The Father begets us, turn back there on page 2 or 3 or 5, to James 1.17. And James 1.17, every good gift, every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom his no variable is neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creation. The Father is the protector of all. Look at Psalm 68. There are many places in the Psalm you could turn, but we'll go to 68.

The Father has so many roles. Jesus Christ has so many roles. You could not possibly pursue all of them, probably in a lifetime. In Psalm 68 verse 1, let God arise, let his enemies be scattered, let them also that hate him flee before him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away as wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. But let the righteous be glad, let them rejoice before God. Yes, let them exceedingly rejoice, sing unto God, sing praises to his name, extol him that rides upon the heavens by his name, Yod, and rejoice before him. A father of the fatherless, a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation. God sets his solitary in families. He brings out those which are bound with chains. He is the father of all, as we've read from Ephesians 3.15. Now listen to this. The University of California psychologist Nicholas Christenfeld, F-E-L-D, found that infants tend to resemble their fathers at birth. In a test he conducted, participants picked the correct mom of an infant from photographs 30% of the time, but picked the correct dad 50% of the time. One hypothesis is that nature encourages paternal investment. Oh, he looks just like his dad. And then, in a few years, oh, looks just like his mother.

By having the infant to resemble the father at first, the paternal, paternal is the word for father, paid her father, that up front the father needs to take ownership. I engendered this child. I brought this child into the world. I have a responsibility. See, what if God the father were just to beget us? Say, oh, you're on your own now. Go out and defeat Satan. But, of course, he does not leave us without spiritual weapons, whereby we can overcome all of the fiery darts of Satan through faith. By having the infant to resemble the father, you have paternal investment. Eventually, however, the father's infant resemblance is outgrown and usually a blessing in most cases. God is love, and from his love flows all living things. One time I gave a sermon here at the fees back about the whole idea of 1978 or something like that. God is love. God equals love equals law.

You get to 1 John 5.3, this is the love of God that we should keep. His commandments are not grievous. Law defines love. God is light, and he is life. God and Christ are unconditional givers of themselves. You look at John 3.16. Basically, everybody in here can quote John 3.16. But do we get the full import of it? We had recently a sermonette here in which the speaker was talking about the father and the role he played and what it was like to give your only begotten son. What is the first part of this phrase of this verse say? For God so loved the world. This is God the father. That he gave his only begotten son. We talked about how he was begotten. That whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Now, one of the principal roles of the son, we go to Romans 5.

The wages of sin is death. God the father does not have anything to do with sin. Jesus Christ was given as a ransom. So we look at Romans 5.6.

For when we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Now, this is unconditional love up front. Does that mean that God approves of sin? Well, of course not. We'll pursue that a bit as we go along. Not so much directly as by implication. But when we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely, for a righteous man, will one die yet for adventure for a good man. Some would even dare to die. But God, this is the Father, commended his love toward us. And while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Much more than being now justified by his blood, his life essence, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God.

He removes our sins as far as the east is from the west, and his very essence comes into our being. And the habitation of the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God. But if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God, by the death of his son, much more being reconciled, we should be saved by his life. God and Christ are unconditional givers in themselves. Now look at 1 John. This adds a little more to what we're just expressing here. These verses are what Paul was expressing in these verses. In 1 John 4, verse 8. Very often we quote 1 John 4, verse 8, or verse 16, or we just sort of quote one part where it says, God is love. In 1 John 4, 8, He that loves not knows not God, for God is love. That is a state of being.

And this was manifested, the love of God toward us. Well, how did God show us that He loved us so much that God, the Father, sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him? And we've just read how that reconciliation takes place.

Herein is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us, and He sent His Son to be the propituation. That means to go between. He went in our stead. Why did He have to go in our stead? Because the wages of sin is death. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and His love is perfected in us. Hereby we know that we dwell in Him, and He in us because He has given us of His Spirit.

Sometimes people might wonder, well, now, do I really have God's Spirit? Do you have a different mindset? Is there that new conscience within, a knowing within, that you know, and know that you know that X, Y, or Z is the right path to choose? Hereby we know that we dwell in Him, and He in us because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and do testify, witness, Maturia, that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whosoever should confess that Jesus is the Son of God dwells in Him and He in God. Both the Father and the Son dwells in us through that common essence, the Holy Spirit. And we have known and believed the love that God has to us. God is love! And He that dwells in love dwells in God, and God in Him.

So the Father first loved us. He gave His only begotten Son. I mean, we have read three or four passages about that. And like Manner, fathers should show unconditional love to their children.

Unconditional love does not mean that you approve of everything they do. When Jesus Christ was sent by God the Father to die for the sins of the world, He didn't approve of us in our sins. In fact, He sent Jesus Christ to pay for our sins and also to make it possible for us to receive the Holy Spirit. See, God chastens every son that He loves, but He's not willing that any should perish. So in that sense, He has unconditional love. In fact, He says that if you are without chastisement, you are illegitimate. That's in Hebrews 12. So in like Manner, you don't ever give up on your children. You have that unconditional love. You may grieve, and many do.

And you may be challenged to the very depth of your being, trying to understand. I wonder if God the Father, it says in Genesis 6 that the thoughts and intents of the heart of men were continually on evil, and it grieved God that He had created humankind.

Children learned love from their parents, so we loved God because He first loved us. I just read it from 1 John 4. Once again, we ask the question, when you think of your heavenly or physical Father, what do you think of? Do you view your spiritual or physical Father with a sense of guilt, because you feel that you never quite measure up? I never was able to please my dad, some might say. Or I feel guilty that I just don't seem to make any progress in my spiritual life.

Do you feel that God is never pleased with you and that you don't really feel close to God? I know that God does not want us on a perpetual guilt trip. And if we live our lives in that frame of mind, that is a perpetual guilt trip, then Jesus died in vain for us because we haven't really believed and been set free. And we are, in essence, denying Him. To some degree, we do view our heavenly Father as we view our physical Father. Maybe initially, there have been a lot of people who have had abusive physical Fathers, and then they come into the knowledge of the truth, and they're able to put the past behind them and have such a close relationship with God the Father. You know that your physical Father begets you to physical life, but did you discern from Him that He loved you and that He always had your best interest at heart and taught you how to live? See, God the Father always has our best interest at heart, and He teaches us, if we'll listen, how to live. They often quoted Hebrews 11.6, He who would come to God must, first of all, believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. One of the reasons that God ordained marriage and family is so that we could see in a concrete way what He's doing on the spiritual plane. The Father's position is so absolutely essential to all things spiritual. I hope we have established that here in the last 20 minutes or so. All spiritual things begin with the Father.

The Father is the one who begets us. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. John 15.26.

John 6.44 often quoted, No man can come to Me, that is to Christ, Jesus' words in John 6.44, No man can come to Me, except the Father, draw Him, and I will raise Him up the last day. As we have read, He loved us so much He gave His Son so that we might receive the gift of life. God intended and commanded that fathers be the head of a wife and children. God intended and commanded that fathers be highly respected. Of course, that's been turned around in today's world. Look at that in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 1. I mean, it's indisputable here. The world today would not like this very much. Well, they would trash it immediately. In 1 Corinthians 11.3, Be you followers of Me, as I also am of Christ. Now, praise you, brethren, that you remember Me in all things and keep the ordinances as I deliver them to you. But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. So if you arrange it in the hierarchical structure, it is God the Father, Jesus Christ, the male, the husband, the father, and then the wife, and of course then children. Children, obey your parents, for that is right in the Lord. There are many admonitions about children obeying their parents.

But since World War II, and especially with the advent of television, fathers have been characterized as bumbling idiots. They began with the cartoons like Dagwood and Blondie.

Fathers are often portrayed as somewhat mentally deranged, not able to manage his own affairs, let alone take care of wife and family. He is viewed somewhat to be pitted, to be tolerated, and really they're saying if it were not for fathers, the world would be a great place to live.

You're led to believe he's out of touch with the modern world. He hasn't been enlightened. He just doesn't seem to understand that the world belongs to women and children. And please let's understand that male and female have the same potential. So anything that we say here today is not a put-down of women. If we're going to put anybody down, it'd probably be more the man than the woman, because, as we just read from 1 Corinthians 11, the man is the one who is placed there to lead the family spiritually. God the Father is bringing sons and daughters to glory. We all have the same potential in the sight of God, regardless of our gender. Please look at 2 Corinthians 6. In 2 Corinthians 6.

6, 16. 6, 16. And what agreement hath the temple of God? The temple of God is your being, your mind, your body, with idols. For you are the temple of the living God, as God has said, I will dwell in them, walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be you separate, says the eternal, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. Now, quickly go to Galatians 3. You'll notice there, with regard, God is not a respecter of persons. God is not a respecter of gender when it comes to your God-ordained potential.

But one of the things, of course, is that the roles of father and mother have been, to a large degree, turned upside down. In Galatians 3.26, for you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. It's not through what gender you are. It's not through what race you are. It's not through what your ethnic origin or your nationality. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free. There is neither male nor female. Of course, you still have it in the physical sense of speaking spiritually. For you are all one in Christ Jesus, and if you be in Christ, then are you Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. To a large degree, fathers and husbands are responsible for the way they are viewed. To a large degree, they have abdicated their God-ordained responsibility to be the head of the family in a godly manner. Some of them may have to do with the way this country was settled. They came into the Eastern Seaboard from Europe, a lot from England, Spain, France, all over Europe. They came, they landed, and they were met with a very hostile kind of environment, just forest. The indigenous population are living off the land, hunting, fishing, a little bit of agriculture, growing a bit of corn. But that's not what most of the tribes did to survive. But anyhow, as they pushed westward, and the doctrine of the destiny that you are destined to rule from shore to shore, the men went out and they cleared the land, and they fought the Indians, and they did all these things, and it came to be a macho man as a man that does all of these kind of things. And so if there's going to be a church or a school, oftentimes it was a woman who said, really, we need to have a school here, we need to have a church, we need to teach civility.

So to a large degree, the way that this country was settled had perhaps a lot to do with it. But to a large degree now, men have abdicated their God-ordained responsibilities to be the head of the family in a godly manner. And you take, then, the culture and the sexual revelation that has taken place in this country. Of course, the first few chapters there in Proverbs graphically describe a lot of this.

One dad won a family door prize drawing, and he called his five children together and asked them to help decide which one of them should get the prize. Who is the most obedient, he asked. Who never talks back to his mother. Who does everything she says. And the five children answered in unison, you do, dad, you get the prize.

One wise senior adult who was celebrating his 50th anniversary was asked the secret of their long marriage. He replied, I learned a long time ago, you can be right or you can be happy. David Chansey writes, most dads understand that the best gift they can give their children is to love their mother, but some are slow to catch on. A husband and wife were attending a marriage seminar dealing with communication. The instructor asked the husband, what is your wife's favorite flower? The well-meaning husband, who wanted to show that he was really attuned to his wife's needs, leaned over and said, as he gently stroked her on her arm, it's Pillsbury, isn't it, dear? Yes! So many husbands and fathers are so out of it, it's no wonder that so many are viewed the way they are. We see a world in which people are running to and fro, they're wringing their hands, shaking their heads, wondering what did we do about the behavior that now terrifies the world. We read about it every day. The prophet Isaiah prophesied of such a time as this. Let's go to Isaiah chapter 3. Yes, it is a time. This is Father's Day Eve, tomorrow Father's Day.

How Father's Day came to be recognized nationally is an interesting story within itself, but that's not our purpose today. Isaiah 3, 1, For behold, the Eternal, the Lord of Hosts. I misread that first part. For behold, the Adonai, when you see all caps, lowercase o-r-d, that's Adonai, Lord, the Yave of Hosts, that's God the Father, does take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water. It's a situation of famine, food and drink. The mighty man and the man of war, the judge, the prophet, the prudent, the ancient. The captain of 50, the honorable man, the counselor and the cunning artificer and the eloquent orator. And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them, and the people shall be oppressed every one by one another, and every one by his neighbor. The child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient and the base against the honorable. When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, of course, in that culture, the firstborn, and then the firstborn pass, it went on to the secondborn, and so on, they were to be the leader of the family. You have clothing, be you our ruler, and let this ruin be under your hand. In that day, shall he swear, saying, I will not be an healer, for in my house, it is neither bread nor clothing, make me not a ruler of the people. So how many fathers, husbands, fathers, have abdicated their role, their responsibility, to be that spiritual leader, even when called on to do it? The voice has been ringing out in the Church of God for decades about fathers and their responsibilities. You drop down to verse 12, as for my people. It didn't say for the Iranians. As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them, O my people, they which lead you cause you to err and destroy the way of your paths. Of course, we have a presidential election that is going on campaigning, and one of the big calling cards for some is gender. We better be more concerned about truthfulness and character, but that's another story, too, in a way. O my people, they which lead you cause you to err and destroy the way of your paths. The Eternal stands up to plead and stands to judge the people. The Eternal will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people. The Devil has somewhat the Church in a position now of, well, can we really have any authority in the Church? Can we say this, that, or the other? Well, if I don't like what you say here, I'll just go over here to some other place. I don't have to put up with this. What we all need to be concerned about is, how does God view me and how does he view what I'm doing and the stance I'm taking and what I'm doing with my life?

I mean, God is the ultimate judge. And the princes thereof, for you have eaten up the vineyard and spoil of the poor in your houses. What mean you that you beat my people to pieces and grind the faces of the poor, says the Lord God of hosts. Moreover, the Eternal said, because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, Oh, we have taught our women to be seductive. All you have to do is check out the grocery stand. It used to be maybe the news stand, but now it's from Brookshire's to Walmart to any place you want to name. Of all the magazines there teaching you how to be young, beautiful, sexy, and all that stuff. They walk with stretched forth necks, wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, making a tinkling with their feet. Therefore, the Eternal will smite with a scab, the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the Eternal will discover their secret parts. To some degree, of course, this is where we are in our society, but it must not be so with us. Children are killing children. Children are killing their parents. Parents are killing their children. Sons are going berserk and opening fire on innocent women and children in the name of their God. Much of the confusion, unrest, lawlessness, fear, and terror stem from the fact that fathers are not fulfilling their roles.

Today's terrorists are not just found in Al-Qaeda, Taliban, Hezbollah, or ISIS. They are oftentimes family members. Dr. Albert Siegel, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, wrote in the Stanford Observer, quote, When it comes to rearing children, every society is only 20 years away from barbarianism. One generation. Twenty years is all we have to accomplish the task of civilizing the infants who are born into our midst each year. These savages, that's his words, not mine, these savages know nothing of our language, our culture, our religion, our values, our customs, or our interpersonal relations. The infant is totally ignorant about communism, fascism, democracy, civil liberties, the rights of the minority, as contrasted with the prerogatives of the majority, respect, decency, customs, customs, conventions, and manners. The barbarian must be tamed if civilization is to survive. Of course, the barbarians have not been tamed. As for my people, children are their princes, and so on. We just read from Isaiah. One author wrote, the barbarians are standing at the door. That's no longer the case. They have arrived. They're in the house.

The world desperately needs men who will exercise true fatherhood in the same way that our spiritual father deals with us. As we have seen in the first part here, the example of God the Father, of physical Father's leadership role, is first and foremost spiritual. To provide spiritual leadership, you have to be a great communicator. God is so concerned about communicating with us that He sent the Word to communicate with us. Look at Hebrews 12. I mean Hebrews 1, verse 1. In Hebrews 1, verse 1, God is so concerned about communication that He sent the Word. This is Hebrews 1.1. God, who at sundry times, different times, and in different ways, spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by His Son. We have the writings of the New Testament writers. He has spoken to us by His Son. God, through Christ, communicated the doctrine of God. I should say Christ communicated the doctrine of God.

Communication is one of the most important things. My father was not a communicator. He didn't have a lot of education, but he had great sincerity and depth and character. And so many of our fathers have not been great communicators. But Jesus Christ, the Word, is a great communicator. He said as an example that we should walk in His steps. Look at the Gospel of John, chapter 7, John 7, verse 16. Jesus answered them and said, My doctrine, My teaching, is not mine. These are the words of Christ. Jesus answered and said, My doctrine, My teaching, is not mine, but his that sent me. And we have read several verses about how he was sent. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself. He that speaks of himself seeks his own glory, but he that seeks the glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. Now look further at John, chapter 15. Once again, Jesus Christ is the one speaking in John 15.

Verse 12, This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you, greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. Sacrificial love. We'll read in Ephesians how husbands are to do the same. Greater love hath no man than this, than a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knows not what his Lord does. But I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you. Jesus Christ is a great communicator. Look at Hebrews, chapter 13. You know, this is said with regard to family problems and what leads to divorce. The three top things are finances.

Intimate problems, sexual problems, and lack of communication. Lack of understanding. Communication is a great, is counted as a sacrifice. This is Hebrews 13, verse 15. By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. But to do good and communicate, forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

Christ said, I, everything that my Father has taught me, I have told you. Christ laid down his life. Are we willing to lay down our lives for our wife and our children? So physical fathers must communicate their love, care, and concern. Tell their wives and children, I love you. It is said that the two greatest ways that people perceive love is one through verbal, saying, I love you, and by physical contact, touching, a pat on the back, a handshake.

But perhaps the number one way love is perceived is through the amount of time that is spent with a person. One person wrote, Dad's know that love is spelled T-I-M-E, time. See, time is a substance that life is made of. We just have so much time. And what this society culture, economic situation has robbed us of is time. Nobody has time. I can't do this. I don't have time to do that. I'm hard-pressed. I go from one task to the other.

One corporate executive who said his five-year-old daughter was the most important part of his life realized that he usually went to work before she got up and she was already in bed and asleep by the time he got home. So he decided to spend some time with her. He took her to the office one Saturday. After looking around the office, she said, she asked, Daddy, is this where you live?

Anna S. Ninn writes, Love never dies of a natural death. Love never dies of a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds. It dies of weariness, of weatherings, of tarnishings. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4, 16 that the inward man is renewed day by day. Our spiritual love dies if it's not renewed. Obviously, our filial love in the family will die if it's not renewed. And like man, our relationships must be continually nurtured or they die.

I know Wanda and I have experienced this so many times in all the various moves that we have made. We have close friends in this state or that state or this city or that city and you move and you try to maintain it, but usually it sort of withers away and of course you don't have to be moving for that to happen. I believe the most masculine activity in this life is to become spiritually mature. Then I would say that the second greatest masculine activity is fathering as God and Christ gave commandment. So many people in the world have never really been fathered. Many of the behaviors that we see extend in our society today stem from youngsters who are in search of a father. They never had a father. The sad reality is that they are showing their contempt for never having been properly fathered, so they become a living advertisement for perpetuating the vicious no-fathering cycle. And it will get worse, but we must not fall into the traps. Those who are opposing themselves, they excuse themselves, blame someone else or something for their behavior since they've never been taught self-discipline and responsibility. They almost always portray themselves as victims. Just as our spiritual father chastens us, fathers must discipline their children and teach them responsibility. And obviously, fathers should be the spiritual and physical leader of their family. He sets the rules. He sets the discipline. He does the teaching. The discipline has to do with teaching. People think of discipline, and they think just in terms of punishment. No, various subjects in school is called a discipline. You have the discipline of, you name the subject, physics, mathematics, English, whatever, and it has the subject matter. And you teach the discipline, the subject. And so it is. A father should do. Do you think about your plan of action for being a good father? God's thoughts are ever toward us. Not even a sparrow falls to the ground unless he knows it. His eyes are continually on us. His thoughts are ever toward us. God always knows where we are, what we're thinking, what we're doing, and more importantly, what we're becoming. God is not afraid to express His emotions. He does not present a phony facade of primitive emotions. So can we rise above the animalistic and truly express our emotions as appropriate? The shortest and one of the most powerful verses in the Bible is John 11.35, Jesus wept. The most powerful three-word sentence in any language, God is love. The second most powerful is, I love you. And probably the third most important is, I forgive you. Have you ever heard the Reba MacIntyre song, The Greatest Man I Never Knew? I gave a sermon on that about two or three years ago here and played the song.

The songs are filled with words of comfort, praise, encouragement. God has spoken the great words of life and hope to us, and fathers should do the same.

So do you lead your family spiritually? Do you provide for their spiritual needs? Do you lead them in Bible study? Do you lead them in the way of spiritual activities? What is more important, providing for your family spiritually or physically? Well, they go hand in hand. I'm quoting now 1 Timothy 5.8, If any man provide not for his own, he is worse than an infidel and denied the faith. And then you consider the providence of God. He's always looking out for our best interests, years in advance, as exemplified by the story of Joseph and the twelve tribes that went down into Egypt and saved from the famine. God the Father forgives us. He holds no grudges. And we are all prodigal sons in our heavenly Father's sight. We have this parable of the prodigal son. One went out and profited living and believed his inheritance. The other stayed home and so called did everything right. But when the prodigal son came home and the father killed the fatted calf, the one that stayed home and did everything right, so called, was angry, upset, because he did not have a heart that understood forgiveness. The parable shows that you could do everything right in your eyes and yet your heart not be right. So I always ask yourself, why do I do the things that I do? Or why do I react without thinking? God the Father is the Father of all mercies and the God of all comfort. So, brethren, we have all these precious promises in the Bible. So much of it is directed toward fathers because God is our Father.

It is the Father's good pleasure. I'm quoting now Luke 12.32.

Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. So as fathers, let us be joint participants in making that a reality for our family. Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. I hope all of you fathers have a wonderful day tomorrow.

My wife has already made a chocolate cake and a lemon pie in spite of everything else, but she just couldn't make it today. So I hope you rejoice and have a great time. with your family, wherever you are, and whatever you do.