Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
He says, accept the man be born again. What is
he born into? He's born into the family of God.
We can say God is my father because we have
been adopted into the kingdom. We have been born into
the Kingdom. And the only person who can call God
father is one who has accepted Jesus Christ, who reveals
(00:24):
the Father, and only through him can he talk about
God being his father.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Welcome to in touch the teaching ministry of doctor Charles Stanley.
A lot of people refer to God as their heavenly father,
but only those who've trusted in Jesus for salvation actually
have a relationship with him. Today, in our series on
the Character of God, we continue Yesterday's message to learn
(00:52):
more about God the Father.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Every single time Jesus prayed the New Testament, he calls
God Father. Let me just give you a few examples.
For example, when he taught us to pray, he said,
when to pray, our Father, which are in heaven. When
he prayed in the garden of gethsemone, he said, Oh Father,
if this cup could pass from me. When he stood
(01:19):
before the closed tomb in this levelanth chapter of John
at the Raising of Lazarus, listened then they took away
the stone from the place where the dead was laid,
and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I
thank THEE. I believe. With one exception, maybe with one exception,
every time Jesus prayed he always addressed God as Father,
(01:43):
and of course on the cross he said, what Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do. Father,
into thy hands, I commend my spirit. Jesus revealed to
us the kind of relationship we ought to have with Jehovah,
self existent, eternal God, Aloheen, infinite in power, absolute and faithfulness,
(02:10):
Adam I Lord and master and ruler of life. These
characteristics and attributes that describe an incomparable, unlimited God. Jesus says,
I've come to tell you there's a love aside to him,
and that is that he is a loving, gentle forgiving Father.
And Jesus attempted to teach those apostles and to teach
(02:33):
us that we all to relate to him as a
loving Lord, a loving father, and not be afraid that
he's going to clip us off at in a moment.
He's a loving father.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Now.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Look in John chapter seventeen, here is his prayer for
his apostles and for us. And I want you to
see how he addresses the Father in this particular passage.
Listen these words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes
to heaven and said, now I want you to watch.
Stay with me. Verse one. Father, the hour is come.
(03:05):
Glorify thy son, that thy son may glorify THEE. He
started ever, saying Father, verse five. And now, O Father,
glorify thou me with thine own self or the glory
of which I had with THEE before the world was
verse eleven. And now I am no more in the world,
but these are in the world, and I come to THEE,
(03:27):
Holy Father, Keep through thine own name those whom thou
hast given me, that they may be one as we
are one Verse twenty five, O, Righteous Father, The world
hath not known THEE, but I have known THEE, and
these have known that thou hast sent me. And I've
(03:48):
declared unto them by name, and will declare it that
the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them,
and I in them. How more beautiful could Jesus have
taught us. He's our father. He's not only his father,
but he's our father. And he said, what listen that
the love wherewith thou hast loved me, may be in them,
(04:09):
and I in them. What did he say? He said,
I am the father of one. Now Jehovah Elohem Adlai
is spoken of his father. Jesus has spoken of his
savior and Lord and Master and many other things. The
Holy Spirit is spoken of his comforter and the empower
and many other things. But Jesus said, we are to
(04:30):
see Jehovah God as our father. And look in John
chapter one for a moment. And John has probably as
clear a definition of the fatherhood as anyone, if not
clearer probably, And now looking at it, you recall in
this first chapter, John chapter one, verse eleven, he came
unto his own, and his own received him not, but
(04:52):
as many as received him to them gave he the
power to be what to become the sons of God.
You have become a son unless you become a son
to a father, become the sons of God, even to
them that believe on His name, which were born not
of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the
(05:14):
will of man, But what born of whom God, who
is our father. How does the man become a child
of God, born what not of the flesh, not of
his works, not the will of man, but what not
of blood in some genealogical race, such as a Hebrew race.
But he becomes a child of God, and the father
(05:37):
becomes his father. How he is born into the kingdom
by faith in Jesus Christ, as many as received him
to them, gave he the power and the privilege to
what to become the sons of God, so that they
are no longer strangers, no longer just friends, no longer servants,
(05:59):
but sons, the children of God. How many times does
John send that first epistle, My little children, my children,
beloved children, my little children. What is he saying? He's
helping us to see that we are to see ourselves
as the children of God. Not just now watch this,
Not just the worshipers of a religion of some ethereal
(06:22):
force out in the universe somewhere. The only religion in
the world that knows Jehovah God as intimate, personal, warm, helping, comforting, loving,
forgiving Father is the Christian faith plus nothing. And when
somebody says, all these religions gonna get to heaven one
of these days, I don't know how they're gonna do it.
(06:45):
Because there's only one true God, and there's only one
true son, and there's only one true savior, and there's
only one way to get to the Father. I want
you to remember what I'm telling you. The longer you live,
the more the society in which you live will be
more antagonized. When you tell them there is only one way.
(07:06):
Now you mark that down. We're living in a society
and an age where the devil is loose, and I'm
here to tell you it's going to be more and
more opponent of agitation, irritation. It is going to be
more and more the reason for persecution when you and
I tell people there is only one way to heaven,
there is only one God, and there is only one hope,
(07:28):
and that hope is to be found in Jesus Christ.
Because the devil hates that. Theology hates and despises that
because what he wants is he wants to run account
of it. Right along Beside that the stay of the world,
the real God takes everybody in Jesus Christ came to
reveal listen that an omnipotent, omniscient I'm the present sovereign, holy,
(07:52):
righteous God is willing to have fellowship with folks like
you and me. Now, when I got to thinking about
God the Father and that many of the scriptures here,
I got to thinking about the thing that you and
I are most interested in. That is you and I
need to learn to relate to Him as father. Did
you know the most difficult thing in the world today
(08:14):
is people learning how to relate to each other. Here's
what we do. We say, Oh, we want to be
intimate friends. Everybody, don't get too close. When somebody comes
up to you and they want to be your friend,
you reach out to them. What you say, you say
if I like for you to be my friend, but
just don't look inside. I don't mind being your friend
as long as you don't get too personal. Let me
(08:37):
tell you something. You never learned to love and to
be loved until you're willing to become vulnerable to being
rejected and known for what you are. In order for
us to know God, we've got to be willing to
bear our soul to it. If I'm ever going to
understand that God is my father, I've got to be
(09:00):
willing to trust him. You see, we pull the same
trick on God. We send our Lord and we confess
all these sins, and we put him well up there,
and we stay wet in here, and we figure, as
long as he's upthing, i'm down here. I'm a little
bit safe because they got Jesus between us and not
(09:20):
the truth. That's exactly what we do. You see how
many times have you confessed surface stuff? I mean, you
knew it was deeper than a mile deep, and you
just said that the Lord. I want you to forgive
me for so and so as if you didn't want
God to know what was down there. Now, I want
you to listen to him because if you listen, something
can happen in your life. If you don't, you're going
(09:42):
to be a loser. You only love people, now watch this.
I don't mean this, Hi, I love you, bless you.
And sometimes people say that who know how to love?
They mean that you never really and truly deeply love
somebody until you get to know them. You say, oh,
(10:04):
I don't know some folks. Tomorrow I know them the
less I like them. That may be your fault and
not theirs. How can you love genuinely what you don't know?
When you and I are willing to open our heart
and just shed it off, take it off and say God,
(10:24):
here I am. You know what happens. I'll tell you
what happens. The gap between you and an omnipotent, omniscient, righteous,
holy God begins to close, and the Father and you
begin to grow intimately with each other because you stop
wearing a mask masquerading, keeping the net of counterfeit over you,
(10:47):
and God will open his heart to you and the
two can become one. And until that happens, you'll always
feel that God's up there somewhere, and I'm down there.
And even though you know that he's down here, through
the Holy Spirit, you see the intimacy and the warmth
of oneness. But now watch this. I want you to
(11:08):
get a hold of this. You will only open yourself
if you're willing to take the risk of being hurt.
This is what let me shore how foolish this, This is
what we don't want ourselves to God. We say, oh,
you know, if I told him everything, he wouldn't forgive me.
He knows all of it. Before you were ever born.
(11:31):
He knew every sin you'd commit. But you see what
we do, We get so caught up in the world's
we're of thinking we think we are hiding something from God.
And watch this. God is our father, and listen, He
knows us. He knows how many cells or these old
human bodies. He knows every heart beat, he knows when
(11:53):
the next beat, he knows when the one millionth beat
from right now is gonna hit. He knows everything. You
can't keep anything from him. There's no way to hide
anything from him. But listen what we are doing. We're
not hurting God as much as we are depriving ourselves
(12:14):
of a relationship to him because we won't be open
to him. Let's think for just a moment, how are
we to relate to our heavenly father. Let's put this
in the terms of an earthly father. I got to
think about, how does the father relate to his children? Well,
first of all, what does the father do? He provides
for his family? For his children, he says in Matthew
(12:34):
chapter six, he says, you're heaven. The Father knowth that
you have need of all these things, even before you
ask him. A father provides for his children. Then the
Bible says, what a father is to love his children
does not have heaven. The father love us, and I
want you to look at one verse. So let's see
chapter sixteen of John, verse twenty seven. For the Father
(12:58):
himself love it you listen for the Father himself loveth
you because you have loved me and have believed that
I came out from God. I came forth from the Father,
and in coming to the world again, I leave the
world and go to my father, an earthly father.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
What is to do.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
He loves his son? What is he saying to us?
God loves us? You see, look at if you can
just picture for just the moment the heaven. The Father,
in spite of the fact that he's sovereign, omnipotent, transcendent
and all the rest, he says, first of all, what
he's going to care for us? Secondly, the Bible says
that he loves us. The third thing he's going to do,
(13:42):
he's going to chastise us. He didn't say punish, he
said chastise. Hebrews chapter twelve. He says, you've heard earthly
fathers who chasing you. So will the father of spirits
also chasing us. What else does he do? Father? After
he and even before he chastens his son, what does
(14:03):
he do? He's already forgiven him. What did Jesus say
a simple verse that you recall, Father, forgive them, for
they know not what they do. All of us have
had to be forgiven of our earthly father or parents,
and all of us fathers have had to forgive our children.
What do we do We provide for them, we love them,
(14:25):
we chastise them, we forgive them. And what else do
we do? We instruct them? And he says, speaking of
the Holy Spirit. Back in the fourteenth chapter, look at
two verses here. Verse sixteen says, I will pray to
the Father he shall give you another comforter. The Greek
(14:45):
word is alous, which means another one just like me,
that he may do what abide with you forever. Now
watch this. A comforter does not a father comfort his children.
And then, if you'll notice in verse twenty six. But
the comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father
will send in my name, he shall teach you all
(15:07):
things and bring all things to your remembrance. What does
the Father do? He instructs his children, and he comforts
them when they need to be comforted and held and
assured and reminded of his confidence in them. What is
another thing he does. Romans chapter eight, verse seventeen says
what that we become the joint heirs with Christ to
(15:27):
the father's fortune. And a father does what he leaves
his children in his will, they become joint heirs of
everything he has. And listen, if you will take every
facet of an earthly father's life, how he is to
respond and relate to his children. You come to the
(15:47):
Bible and you'll find the verse of Scripture that says
that our heavenly father will do the same thing for us. Now,
one of my favorite verses is Matthew chapter seven. I
want to read this whole passage here, beginning in verse seven,
and I want to show you something. I want you
to see how loving Jesus is expressing confidence. Ask Matthew
(16:14):
seven seven, and it should be given to you. Seek,
and ye shall find knock, and it shall be opened
unto you for everyone that asks you to receive it,
he that seeketh findeth, to him that knocketh, it shall
be opened. What man is there of you whom, if
his son asks for a piece of bread, will he
give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish,
(16:35):
will he give him a serpent? Now watch this. If you, then,
being evil, being a sinner, know how to give good
gifts unto your children, how much more will your father,
who is in heaven give good things to them that
(16:56):
ask him? Fellas said to me today he was just
so blessed, and he was just about to fall all
over himself. He said, I'll tell you God's blessing my business,
and God's blessing my families. God's blessed this. He said.
I'm scared to death. I said, now, wait a minute,
what are you afraid of? Braddy can't last? He said,
(17:18):
I'm waiting for the bottom to drop out. He said,
I'm waiting for the thunder to come anytime. Have not
all of us when the blessings were just pouring out
upon us, we'd said, I'm not sure. Somebody may be
tracking me down. What are we doing? We're expecting God
(17:39):
to do something ugly or painful in our life. You
know what that says. We don't know him as the
father of seven seven to eleven. If you, then, being evil,
know how to give good gifts to your children, how
much more with the Heaven and Father give good things?
(18:00):
Saying them that ask him to listen? How many dads
sitting here, let's say, well, some I'm gonna raise your luance.
I'm gonna buy you a new car, gonna pay your
way through college, gonna buy your new suit of clothes,
Gonna do all these things. Then the father says, and
about three months later, I'm gonna lay it to you,
(18:20):
gonna take away your automobile, cut your allowance in half,
take you out of school, and strip you of your
new suit. That is exactly the way we categorize God.
Now listen, it's funny to us, but it grieves God.
If your some daughter came to you and said, I'll
tell you've been so good to me, you're bound to
(18:41):
be getting ready to get strapped at any time. That's
what we tell God. We act as if he's a father,
but begrudges being so. Now, let's be honest. That is
the way we treat God. You know why, I'll tell
you why. We won't hold up. Now watch this. When
(19:06):
you and I are willing to say, okay, God, I
want you to see it all. Here's my whole life.
Then when we've laid it all out before him and
he says, my son forgiven, and we accept that. Then
we'll be able to accept the love and the forgiveness,
(19:30):
and the kindness and the goodness of a gentle, loving
Heaven and Father.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Thanks for listening to in Touch the teaching ministry of
doctor Charles Stanley. If you're a Christian, is your heart
completely open to God, continually inviting him to correct whatever
is wrong in your life? Once you lower your defense
and yield yourself to Him, you'll begin to truly know
the love of God as you view him as your
(20:06):
perfect Father. To listen to these encouraging truths about God
the Father again, click today on radio at in touch
dot org and you can order a copy of doctor
Stanley's complete message from our online store. The title is
God the Father. It's also included in our teaching set,
(20:27):
The Character of God Again. That's in Touch dot org
or call one eight hundred in Touch if you prefer
to write. Our address is in Touch Post Office Box
seventy nine hundred, Atlanta, Georgia, three zero three five seven.
God the Father is God, and God the Son is God.
(20:51):
And there's only one God. And explanation is just ahead.
In today's moment with Charles Stanley.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
The cross was not something that God gave us as
upon of decoration. The Cross is the message of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
But what is it about the message of the Cross
that can transform you every day of your life. It
is new book, The Gift of the Cross. Doctor Charles
Stanley walks us through scripture to show us how to
see the Cross in a new light. The Gift of
the Cross. Order yours today at InTouch dot org slash store.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Are you living a life of preferences or one that's
based on God's word? To enjoy us strong life, one
that makes an eternal impact. We have to break free
from the factors that make us weak. In doctor Charles
Stanley's book Standing Strong, believers will find encouragement to construct
a life based on the strength of enduring faith built
on uncompromised Biblical convictions. To order your copy of Standing Strong,
(21:51):
call one eight hundred in touch or visit InTouch dot org.
You're listening to in Touch. According to God the Father,
you can't have Him without having Jesus. Here's a moment
with Charles Stanley.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
There is no way for a person to have a
personal relationship with Jehovah, God who desires to be the
father of all men personally, there is no way for
him to be father until, first of all, that person
accepts the father's son. He's in the son, the son's
in him. To accept the son is to accept the father.
To deny the son is to deny the father. How
(22:35):
in the world can a man so I believe in God,
He's my father, but I don't believe in his son.
You see, biblically, scripturally, doctrinally, theologically, it is absolutely impossible
for a man to have God as his father and
reject his son. Because you see, because the two of
them are one, you can't have one without the other.
(22:58):
Now the unbelieving world can understand. The reason I hammel
that away is for you to be able to explain
that to them. You can't have one without the other.
If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. I am
the father of the Father and me John seventeen. What
is he say in that chapter? I am the father one. Listen,
you can't have a piece of God and what most
(23:19):
folks want, they want what God has to give without
having God. But you see, to be saved, I must
receive Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ and the Father won
so that it is theologically, scripturally, biblically absolutely impossible for
any man to say God is my Father, who has
said Jesus is not my savior.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
And Jesus is your savior if you've trusted in Him
to forgive your dead of sin. Learn more at in
touch dot org. And if you have a story about
what you've learned through this program, please share it with
us next week on in Touch. Following these two programs
that focus on God the Father, will turn our attention
(24:02):
to Jesus the Savior. I hope you'll join us when
our series continues Monday on in Touch, the teaching ministry
of doctor Charles Stanley. This program is a presentation of
in Touch Ministries Atlanta, Georgia, and remains on this station
(24:23):
through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and
gifts
He says, accept the man be born again. What is
he born into? He's born into the family of God.
We can say God is my father because we have
been adopted into the kingdom. We have been born into
the Kingdom. And the only person who can call God
father is one who has accepted Jesus Christ, who reveals
(00:24):
the Father, and only through him can he talk about
God being his father.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Welcome to in touch the teaching ministry of doctor Charles Stanley.
A lot of people refer to God as their heavenly father,
but only those who've trusted in Jesus for salvation actually
have a relationship with him. Today, in our series on
the Character of God, we continue Yesterday's message to learn
(00:52):
more about God the Father.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Every single time Jesus prayed the New Testament, he calls
God Father. Let me just give you a few examples.
For example, when he taught us to pray, he said,
when to pray, our Father, which are in heaven. When
he prayed in the garden of gethsemone, he said, Oh Father,
if this cup could pass from me. When he stood
(01:19):
before the closed tomb in this levelanth chapter of John
at the Raising of Lazarus, listened then they took away
the stone from the place where the dead was laid,
and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I
thank THEE. I believe. With one exception, maybe with one exception,
every time Jesus prayed he always addressed God as Father,
(01:43):
and of course on the cross he said, what Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do. Father,
into thy hands, I commend my spirit. Jesus revealed to
us the kind of relationship we ought to have with Jehovah,
self existent, eternal God, Aloheen, infinite in power, absolute and faithfulness,
(02:10):
Adam I Lord and master and ruler of life. These
characteristics and attributes that describe an incomparable, unlimited God. Jesus says,
I've come to tell you there's a love aside to him,
and that is that he is a loving, gentle forgiving Father.
And Jesus attempted to teach those apostles and to teach
(02:33):
us that we all to relate to him as a
loving Lord, a loving father, and not be afraid that
he's going to clip us off at in a moment.
He's a loving father.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Now.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Look in John chapter seventeen, here is his prayer for
his apostles and for us. And I want you to
see how he addresses the Father in this particular passage.
Listen these words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes
to heaven and said, now I want you to watch.
Stay with me. Verse one. Father, the hour is come.
(03:05):
Glorify thy son, that thy son may glorify THEE. He
started ever, saying Father, verse five. And now, O Father,
glorify thou me with thine own self or the glory
of which I had with THEE before the world was
verse eleven. And now I am no more in the world,
but these are in the world, and I come to THEE,
(03:27):
Holy Father, Keep through thine own name those whom thou
hast given me, that they may be one as we
are one Verse twenty five, O, Righteous Father, The world
hath not known THEE, but I have known THEE, and
these have known that thou hast sent me. And I've
(03:48):
declared unto them by name, and will declare it that
the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them,
and I in them. How more beautiful could Jesus have
taught us. He's our father. He's not only his father,
but he's our father. And he said, what listen that
the love wherewith thou hast loved me, may be in them,
(04:09):
and I in them. What did he say? He said,
I am the father of one. Now Jehovah Elohem Adlai
is spoken of his father. Jesus has spoken of his
savior and Lord and Master and many other things. The
Holy Spirit is spoken of his comforter and the empower
and many other things. But Jesus said, we are to
(04:30):
see Jehovah God as our father. And look in John
chapter one for a moment. And John has probably as
clear a definition of the fatherhood as anyone, if not
clearer probably, And now looking at it, you recall in
this first chapter, John chapter one, verse eleven, he came
unto his own, and his own received him not, but
(04:52):
as many as received him to them gave he the
power to be what to become the sons of God.
You have become a son unless you become a son
to a father, become the sons of God, even to
them that believe on His name, which were born not
of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the
(05:14):
will of man, But what born of whom God, who
is our father. How does the man become a child
of God, born what not of the flesh, not of
his works, not the will of man, but what not
of blood in some genealogical race, such as a Hebrew race.
But he becomes a child of God, and the father
(05:37):
becomes his father. How he is born into the kingdom
by faith in Jesus Christ, as many as received him
to them, gave he the power and the privilege to
what to become the sons of God, so that they
are no longer strangers, no longer just friends, no longer servants,
(05:59):
but sons, the children of God. How many times does
John send that first epistle, My little children, my children,
beloved children, my little children. What is he saying? He's
helping us to see that we are to see ourselves
as the children of God. Not just now watch this,
Not just the worshipers of a religion of some ethereal
(06:22):
force out in the universe somewhere. The only religion in
the world that knows Jehovah God as intimate, personal, warm, helping, comforting, loving,
forgiving Father is the Christian faith plus nothing. And when
somebody says, all these religions gonna get to heaven one
of these days, I don't know how they're gonna do it.
(06:45):
Because there's only one true God, and there's only one
true son, and there's only one true savior, and there's
only one way to get to the Father. I want
you to remember what I'm telling you. The longer you live,
the more the society in which you live will be
more antagonized. When you tell them there is only one way.
(07:06):
Now you mark that down. We're living in a society
and an age where the devil is loose, and I'm
here to tell you it's going to be more and
more opponent of agitation, irritation. It is going to be
more and more the reason for persecution when you and
I tell people there is only one way to heaven,
there is only one God, and there is only one hope,
(07:28):
and that hope is to be found in Jesus Christ.
Because the devil hates that. Theology hates and despises that
because what he wants is he wants to run account
of it. Right along Beside that the stay of the world,
the real God takes everybody in Jesus Christ came to
reveal listen that an omnipotent, omniscient I'm the present sovereign, holy,
(07:52):
righteous God is willing to have fellowship with folks like
you and me. Now, when I got to thinking about
God the Father and that many of the scriptures here,
I got to thinking about the thing that you and
I are most interested in. That is you and I
need to learn to relate to Him as father. Did
you know the most difficult thing in the world today
(08:14):
is people learning how to relate to each other. Here's
what we do. We say, Oh, we want to be
intimate friends. Everybody, don't get too close. When somebody comes
up to you and they want to be your friend,
you reach out to them. What you say, you say
if I like for you to be my friend, but
just don't look inside. I don't mind being your friend
as long as you don't get too personal. Let me
(08:37):
tell you something. You never learned to love and to
be loved until you're willing to become vulnerable to being
rejected and known for what you are. In order for
us to know God, we've got to be willing to
bear our soul to it. If I'm ever going to
understand that God is my father, I've got to be
(09:00):
willing to trust him. You see, we pull the same
trick on God. We send our Lord and we confess
all these sins, and we put him well up there,
and we stay wet in here, and we figure, as
long as he's upthing, i'm down here. I'm a little
bit safe because they got Jesus between us and not
(09:20):
the truth. That's exactly what we do. You see how
many times have you confessed surface stuff? I mean, you
knew it was deeper than a mile deep, and you
just said that the Lord. I want you to forgive
me for so and so as if you didn't want
God to know what was down there. Now, I want
you to listen to him because if you listen, something
can happen in your life. If you don't, you're going
(09:42):
to be a loser. You only love people, now watch this.
I don't mean this, Hi, I love you, bless you.
And sometimes people say that who know how to love?
They mean that you never really and truly deeply love
somebody until you get to know them. You say, oh,
(10:04):
I don't know some folks. Tomorrow I know them the
less I like them. That may be your fault and
not theirs. How can you love genuinely what you don't know?
When you and I are willing to open our heart
and just shed it off, take it off and say God,
(10:24):
here I am. You know what happens. I'll tell you
what happens. The gap between you and an omnipotent, omniscient, righteous,
holy God begins to close, and the Father and you
begin to grow intimately with each other because you stop
wearing a mask masquerading, keeping the net of counterfeit over you,
(10:47):
and God will open his heart to you and the
two can become one. And until that happens, you'll always
feel that God's up there somewhere, and I'm down there.
And even though you know that he's down here, through
the Holy Spirit, you see the intimacy and the warmth
of oneness. But now watch this. I want you to
(11:08):
get a hold of this. You will only open yourself
if you're willing to take the risk of being hurt.
This is what let me shore how foolish this, This is
what we don't want ourselves to God. We say, oh,
you know, if I told him everything, he wouldn't forgive me.
He knows all of it. Before you were ever born.
(11:31):
He knew every sin you'd commit. But you see what
we do, We get so caught up in the world's
we're of thinking we think we are hiding something from God.
And watch this. God is our father, and listen, He
knows us. He knows how many cells or these old
human bodies. He knows every heart beat, he knows when
(11:53):
the next beat, he knows when the one millionth beat
from right now is gonna hit. He knows everything. You
can't keep anything from him. There's no way to hide
anything from him. But listen what we are doing. We're
not hurting God as much as we are depriving ourselves
(12:14):
of a relationship to him because we won't be open
to him. Let's think for just a moment, how are
we to relate to our heavenly father. Let's put this
in the terms of an earthly father. I got to
think about, how does the father relate to his children? Well,
first of all, what does the father do? He provides
for his family? For his children, he says in Matthew
(12:34):
chapter six, he says, you're heaven. The Father knowth that
you have need of all these things, even before you
ask him. A father provides for his children. Then the
Bible says, what a father is to love his children
does not have heaven. The father love us, and I
want you to look at one verse. So let's see
chapter sixteen of John, verse twenty seven. For the Father
(12:58):
himself love it you listen for the Father himself loveth
you because you have loved me and have believed that
I came out from God. I came forth from the Father,
and in coming to the world again, I leave the
world and go to my father, an earthly father.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
What is to do.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
He loves his son? What is he saying to us?
God loves us? You see, look at if you can
just picture for just the moment the heaven. The Father,
in spite of the fact that he's sovereign, omnipotent, transcendent
and all the rest, he says, first of all, what
he's going to care for us? Secondly, the Bible says
that he loves us. The third thing he's going to do,
(13:42):
he's going to chastise us. He didn't say punish, he
said chastise. Hebrews chapter twelve. He says, you've heard earthly
fathers who chasing you. So will the father of spirits
also chasing us. What else does he do? Father? After
he and even before he chastens his son, what does
(14:03):
he do? He's already forgiven him. What did Jesus say
a simple verse that you recall, Father, forgive them, for
they know not what they do. All of us have
had to be forgiven of our earthly father or parents,
and all of us fathers have had to forgive our children.
What do we do We provide for them, we love them,
(14:25):
we chastise them, we forgive them. And what else do
we do? We instruct them? And he says, speaking of
the Holy Spirit. Back in the fourteenth chapter, look at
two verses here. Verse sixteen says, I will pray to
the Father he shall give you another comforter. The Greek
(14:45):
word is alous, which means another one just like me,
that he may do what abide with you forever. Now
watch this. A comforter does not a father comfort his children.
And then, if you'll notice in verse twenty six. But
the comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father
will send in my name, he shall teach you all
(15:07):
things and bring all things to your remembrance. What does
the Father do? He instructs his children, and he comforts
them when they need to be comforted and held and
assured and reminded of his confidence in them. What is
another thing he does. Romans chapter eight, verse seventeen says
what that we become the joint heirs with Christ to
(15:27):
the father's fortune. And a father does what he leaves
his children in his will, they become joint heirs of
everything he has. And listen, if you will take every
facet of an earthly father's life, how he is to
respond and relate to his children. You come to the
(15:47):
Bible and you'll find the verse of Scripture that says
that our heavenly father will do the same thing for us. Now,
one of my favorite verses is Matthew chapter seven. I
want to read this whole passage here, beginning in verse seven,
and I want to show you something. I want you
to see how loving Jesus is expressing confidence. Ask Matthew
(16:14):
seven seven, and it should be given to you. Seek,
and ye shall find knock, and it shall be opened
unto you for everyone that asks you to receive it,
he that seeketh findeth, to him that knocketh, it shall
be opened. What man is there of you whom, if
his son asks for a piece of bread, will he
give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish,
(16:35):
will he give him a serpent? Now watch this. If you, then,
being evil, being a sinner, know how to give good
gifts unto your children, how much more will your father,
who is in heaven give good things to them that
(16:56):
ask him? Fellas said to me today he was just
so blessed, and he was just about to fall all
over himself. He said, I'll tell you God's blessing my business,
and God's blessing my families. God's blessed this. He said.
I'm scared to death. I said, now, wait a minute,
what are you afraid of? Braddy can't last? He said,
(17:18):
I'm waiting for the bottom to drop out. He said,
I'm waiting for the thunder to come anytime. Have not
all of us when the blessings were just pouring out
upon us, we'd said, I'm not sure. Somebody may be
tracking me down. What are we doing? We're expecting God
(17:39):
to do something ugly or painful in our life. You
know what that says. We don't know him as the
father of seven seven to eleven. If you, then, being evil,
know how to give good gifts to your children, how
much more with the Heaven and Father give good things?
(18:00):
Saying them that ask him to listen? How many dads
sitting here, let's say, well, some I'm gonna raise your luance.
I'm gonna buy you a new car, gonna pay your
way through college, gonna buy your new suit of clothes,
Gonna do all these things. Then the father says, and
about three months later, I'm gonna lay it to you,
(18:20):
gonna take away your automobile, cut your allowance in half,
take you out of school, and strip you of your
new suit. That is exactly the way we categorize God.
Now listen, it's funny to us, but it grieves God.
If your some daughter came to you and said, I'll
tell you've been so good to me, you're bound to
(18:41):
be getting ready to get strapped at any time. That's
what we tell God. We act as if he's a father,
but begrudges being so. Now, let's be honest. That is
the way we treat God. You know why, I'll tell
you why. We won't hold up. Now watch this. When
(19:06):
you and I are willing to say, okay, God, I
want you to see it all. Here's my whole life.
Then when we've laid it all out before him and
he says, my son forgiven, and we accept that. Then
we'll be able to accept the love and the forgiveness,
(19:30):
and the kindness and the goodness of a gentle, loving
Heaven and Father.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Thanks for listening to in Touch the teaching ministry of
doctor Charles Stanley. If you're a Christian, is your heart
completely open to God, continually inviting him to correct whatever
is wrong in your life? Once you lower your defense
and yield yourself to Him, you'll begin to truly know
the love of God as you view him as your
(20:06):
perfect Father. To listen to these encouraging truths about God
the Father again, click today on radio at in touch
dot org and you can order a copy of doctor
Stanley's complete message from our online store. The title is
God the Father. It's also included in our teaching set,
(20:27):
The Character of God Again. That's in Touch dot org
or call one eight hundred in Touch if you prefer
to write. Our address is in Touch Post Office Box
seventy nine hundred, Atlanta, Georgia, three zero three five seven.
God the Father is God, and God the Son is God.
(20:51):
And there's only one God. And explanation is just ahead.
In today's moment with Charles Stanley.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
The cross was not something that God gave us as
upon of decoration. The Cross is the message of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
But what is it about the message of the Cross
that can transform you every day of your life. It
is new book, The Gift of the Cross. Doctor Charles
Stanley walks us through scripture to show us how to
see the Cross in a new light. The Gift of
the Cross. Order yours today at InTouch dot org slash store.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Are you living a life of preferences or one that's
based on God's word? To enjoy us strong life, one
that makes an eternal impact. We have to break free
from the factors that make us weak. In doctor Charles
Stanley's book Standing Strong, believers will find encouragement to construct
a life based on the strength of enduring faith built
on uncompromised Biblical convictions. To order your copy of Standing Strong,
(21:51):
call one eight hundred in touch or visit InTouch dot org.
You're listening to in Touch. According to God the Father,
you can't have Him without having Jesus. Here's a moment
with Charles Stanley.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
There is no way for a person to have a
personal relationship with Jehovah, God who desires to be the
father of all men personally, there is no way for
him to be father until, first of all, that person
accepts the father's son. He's in the son, the son's
in him. To accept the son is to accept the father.
To deny the son is to deny the father. How
(22:35):
in the world can a man so I believe in God,
He's my father, but I don't believe in his son.
You see, biblically, scripturally, doctrinally, theologically, it is absolutely impossible
for a man to have God as his father and
reject his son. Because you see, because the two of
them are one, you can't have one without the other.
(22:58):
Now the unbelieving world can understand. The reason I hammel
that away is for you to be able to explain
that to them. You can't have one without the other.
If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. I am
the father of the Father and me John seventeen. What
is he say in that chapter? I am the father one. Listen,
you can't have a piece of God and what most
(23:19):
folks want, they want what God has to give without
having God. But you see, to be saved, I must
receive Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ and the Father won
so that it is theologically, scripturally, biblically absolutely impossible for
any man to say God is my Father, who has
said Jesus is not my savior.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
And Jesus is your savior if you've trusted in Him
to forgive your dead of sin. Learn more at in
touch dot org. And if you have a story about
what you've learned through this program, please share it with
us next week on in Touch. Following these two programs
that focus on God the Father, will turn our attention
(24:02):
to Jesus the Savior. I hope you'll join us when
our series continues Monday on in Touch, the teaching ministry
of doctor Charles Stanley. This program is a presentation of
in Touch Ministries Atlanta, Georgia, and remains on this station
(24:23):
through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and
gifts
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