God the Father
Hal Molloy · Aug 18, 2002
Major Bible Themes (2002-03), No. 07
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/48262246174840

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

We are in Chapter 6 of Major Bible Themes, and the subject this morning is Godfather. If you've read Chapter 6, how many have read Chapter 6? No, you don't have to raise your hand. This is not a test. But if you've read chapter 6, Dr. Schaeffer went through a lot of things, a lot of subjects concerning God the Father.

And in the first part of the chapter, I had some difficulty with the passages of Scripture that he used when he talked about Let me see if I can find it here. He talked about him being the first person, but when he talked about God the Father being the fatherhood over creation, and he used a lot of passages in here in terms of Ephesians chapter 3 verses 14 and 15, Hebrews chapter 12 verse 9. and several other passages. And when I looked at those passages, I said, uh-oh, I don't know that we can use these passages in the context that he's using it. And so as we come to them this morning, I'll point them out to you and tell you about the difficulty that I had.

But basically, I think Dr. Schaffer is right on. So what we're going to do this morning and what I've decided to do is because as you go through scripture, as you go through the Old Testament, as you go through the New Testament, it talks about God the Father. And the context is often different in all of the verses. So I said, wow, how do you get a handle on this? So what I decided to do is to take a look at the definition. What does Father mean?

So going to the Hebrew, and then going to the Greek and looking up what those words mean, and how they're used in context. So we're going to do that this morning. Then, breaking it down, and similar to the way Dr. Chaffer did it, look at the Divine Fatherhood, God as Father, and then he's also depicted or revealed to us as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then as you look at the definition of Father, it's used in several different contexts in terms of creation, or creator, originator, source. There's all of those ideas that are communicated as you look at the word Father, whether it be in the Hebrew or whether it be in the Greek.

And then the last is this intimate relationship. Because as you go through these passages of Scripture, both Old Testament and New Testament, you start to see this intimacy, this intimate relationship that man can have with God. And so we're going to talk about the intimate relationship with mankind, with Israel, and then with the Church. So that's our agenda this morning, and we have ten extra minutes this morning, and so we're going to try and get through this.

Last week, Roger talked about God, one of the subjects he talked about was God the Trinity, and God the Father is part of that Trinity. So I tried to depict, in terms of what is revealed to us in scripture, and put it in a picture form in terms of God's eternity.

And as Roger pointed out, there's three persons in the Godhead, but yet they're one God. And so when he went to Genesis chapter 1, in the beginning, God, Elohim, which is plural, and it's a uniplural noun in the Hebrew, And Elohim is also, as Roger pointed out last week, translated gods in other passages in the Old Testament. So we have God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, this Trinity. But yet, in Deuteronomy, it says that God is one. There's only one God. So there's this unity. And so, try to depict that in terms of the unity. that unity is that they have one heart, one mind, one essence. Their essence is one.

And as you think about God's heart, can anybody think about a passage in scripture that talks about God's heart? What do you say about David? He says that David is a man after what? My own heart. So it's revealed to us that God has a heart. How about the mind? Do you think that God has a mind?

And I think about Romans chapter 11, where it says, oh, the debt of the riches. both of the knowledge and wisdom of God. How unsearchable are his riches and his ways past finding out. And then the next verse says what? Who has known the mind of God? Who has known the mind of the Lord?

So it talks about God having a mind. And we're commanded in Scripture, in Philippians chapter 2, it says, let this mind be in you, that which was in Jesus Christ. So God has a heart, depicted as a heart and a mind, and an essence. And Roger went through God's essence last week. The acronym, what do you call it? His list. What do you call it? Not an acronym. Come on, somebody help me. Doesn't matter.

But it talks about his holiness, and his holiness, his righteousness, and his justice, and the fact that he's infinite, omnipotent, omniscient, and Roger went through the whole thing. But that's God's essence. And God reveals Himself. God reveals Himself to man and He sends the Son. Roger talked about the fact that God commissions or He sends the Son.

And the Son, it says in John 1.18, declares the Father. And the word for declare there is an interesting word. It's the word that we get, exegete. The word Jesus Christ, exegete, He reads out the Father. So if you want to know what the Father is like, all you have to do is look at the Son, because He exegetes the Father. And the Spirit reveals the Son.

And as you go to John chapter 16, you see that the Lord Jesus Christ tells His apostles that I'm going to send you another comforter, and a lost comforter, A lost means another, another just like me, another of the same kind. And when He's come, He's going to reveal to you the things of me, the things out of me. It's a little preposition there, the things out of me. He's going to reveal who I am. So there we have a picture and how can you You can't put down on paper the infinite God. There is no way that we can comprehend the Trinity, as Roger pointed out last week, or the unity of God.

But Scripture states it as a fact. And so all God wants us to do is just believe in the fact. believe in the facts that are written and we may not understand them because they are deep and we are very limited and we're talking about an infinite guy and a very finite man, a very finite human being. So, however, and the thing is this, even when we get the glory to be with the Lord, we're going to continue to learn for all eternity. So we're going to be learning about God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God for all eternity. When you think about that, can you think about how infinite God is that will never exhaust who He is?

So, to try to put it on paper. Somebody asked a question at the closing of last week. How does man kind of relate to God? Was that your question? In God's image or something to that effect? Marilyn doesn't even remember her question. Well, here I tried to answer your question and now I've got the wrong question. So we thought that there was a tri-unity, if you will, if I could use that word, with respect to God. And so it is also with man. I mean, we're a triune being.

We have a body, a soul, and a spirit. And not to relate our body with the Father or the soul with the spirit. It's just the fact that we as an entity are a triune being. And God created us this way with body, soul, and spirit. And the body gives us world consciousness, the soul, self-consciousness, and the spirit, God-consciousness. But yet, there's a unity about us. We also have a heart, and we also have a mind, and we also have an essence or nature.

And notice that I've got nature-natures, because if we're a non-believer, we have a nature. And that's the sin nature. If we are a believer, then we have two natures. We have both the sin nature, we have both the new nature, the very nature of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we have two natures.

And we're flesh. And when we get into the study of man, we'll go through more of this, but just trying to answer the question from last week. Let me ask you a question. Is God flesh? Here we are flesh. Is God flesh? The Son is? Is the Lord Jesus Christ flesh right now? How many say yes? How many say no? Okay.

When Jesus Christ was resurrected, was he resurrected as a spirit or was he resurrected as a man? Having a body and flesh and bone. How was he resurrected? In body. Was it the same body? Exactly the same? when he, before he was crucified, was that exactly the same body that was resurrected? Pardon me? Was a resurrected body. Did a resurrected body differ from the body that was put in the tomb?

Yes. How did it differ? Well it was a, if we go to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, it was a glorious body. Right? It was a different kind of body. It was a spiritual body, not a natural body. It was sown in corruption and raised in corruption. But he had a body.

Could he partake of food? Sure, he ate. And then when he ascended, how did he ascend? Did he ascend as a spirit or did he ascend in bodily form? They watched him go up. So he ascended in bodily form. And the angels that were there asked the disciples, why stand you there watching? The same Lord Jesus that you see going up into heaven, the same will return. How is he going to return? In his body. What does he have now? His body. He will be a man for all eternity. He will be divine. He will be 100% God. He will be 100% man for all eternity. We have a man sitting at the right hand of God the Father. Isn't that nice to know? And He understands us. because he went through everything that we'll ever go through, and so there's that compassion.

We're off the subject. Okay. The request is to put up the picture that we had with God the Trinity. Oh, no wonder. Okay, there it is. My question is, what's outside the Bible? What are the differences between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit? Okay, okay. Can anybody... So there's a difference? Okay. Okay. Difference in roles.

So God the Father, as Sue points out, is if you take all of creation, He's kind of the planner of creation. The Son is the one who executes the plan so that I mean, it's interesting. So you have in Genesis 1-1, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, but we know that it's Father, Son, Holy Spirit, right? And then, because it goes down to Genesis 1-26 and 27, let us create man in what? Our image. Let us create man in our image. So you have, and I think a good way to think of it, as Sue points out, is the Father being the planner, the Son being the executor of the plan, because you get to John chapter 1 and in verse 1 through 3, in the beginning was the word with God, etc. and you get to verse 3 and it says that there was nothing made that was made without Him.

You get to Colossians and Hebrews, all things, Colossians 1.16, all things were created by the Son. And then you have the Spirit of God. And the Spirit of God also participated in the creation and the Spirit moved upon the face of the deep in Genesis 1. In the New Testament you find out that He is the revealer of the plan. He reveals God's entire plan to us.

So there are different We'll be getting to one this morning to point out some of those differences. Okay? And feel free to ask questions, because if I can't answer them, I'm going to turn it over to Roger. Okay. Let's talk about point number one. We're talking about definitions. So if we go to the Hebrew. And we look at the Hebrew word for father.

It's Ab. A-B. Ab. And it's the first two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Aleph, Beth. It's those first two letters. Now Hebrew scholars say there's got to be a third letter. Because every Hebrew word has to at least have three. Anyhow. So they feel that the root of Ab is Abba. And I find that to be very interesting. I think they're right. Can you think of anything that says Abba? We'll be getting there. But as you go through the Old Testament and look at this word Ab or Abba, you find the following.

That it has to do with a source of things, a progenitor, a creator, ruler. It has to do with relationship of love, concern, and nurture, provision, support, etc., protection. It has to do with creator, ruler, originator, the originator of something. And then when you go to the Greek, the Greek word is pater. And interestingly enough, as you go through and look at all of the different utilizations of the word pater, you find a very similar correspondence to the Hebrew, that it's source, sustainer, progenitor, author, there's relationship involved, and originator. did, decided to do, is to kind of follow this outline, if you will, in terms of looking at God the Father.

So, as we get to God the Father, the first thing that is talked about is the fact that He is the Father. He is unique. That He is deity. that he is the first person of the Godhead. Now, I think as Roger pointed out last week, Scripture doesn't say that God the Father is the first person, and God the Son is the second, and the Spirit is the third person, but it's just that as the procession in terms of God sending the Son, and the Son the Spirit, because of that procession, we refer to God the Father as the first person, and God the Son as the second, God the Holy Spirit is the third. Turn in your Bibles please to Galatians chapter 1 and verse 4. Now we're looking at God as God, deity.

Paul in the introduction in verses 1-3 this introduction and he's talking about in verse 3 he says grace be to you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil age according to the will of God and our Father.

So here we see God the Father, and He has a will. And His will is what? What's His will? Stated in verse 4. To deliver us. How is He going to deliver us? Okay? The Lord Jesus Christ. His will is that the Lord Jesus Christ die for our sins. Pay that penalty. Right? That's the will of God the Father. So He sends the Son. So there's a distinction now between God the Father and God the Son. Okay. He's God's end father.

And not to confuse you too much, but in the Greek, and I think I've looked at this, it's called the Granville Sharp Rule, when you have two nouns preceded by the definite article joined by the copulative chi, that You understand all that, right? That when you have that construction that we're talking about, that those two nouns are one and the same. Okay? God and Father. That's who He is. Okay.

Look at verse 1. Verse 1 says, Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead. So, do we have a distinction between God the Father and God the Son? What does God the Father do? God the Son is going to die, pay the penalty for the sins of the world. God the Father is going to what?

Raise him up. I picked out those two passages of scripture for a reason. Can you think of why I honed in on these two passages of scripture and linked in with that Hebrews 13.20?

Hebrews 13.20 talks about the eternal covenant. It's a covenant that was made in eternity past between God the Father and God the Son.

And in eternity past, God, back to the picture, in eternity past, before there was ever a creation, God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, knew that when they created man, that man would sin. Was that causative? Because they knew it, did that cause man to sin? So man had to sin because God knew it? Is that true? Trick question. I'm going to ask you a trick question. The answer is absolutely no. Just because God knows something, it doesn't cause something to happen. Just because He knows something is going to happen.

So in eternity past, The Father, Galatians chapter 1-4, you lay your life down for the sins of the world. Galatians chapter 1-1, I'll raise you up again. And he did. He raised Christ from the dead. Now, question. Why did God do that? Why the death of the Lord Jesus Christ for the sins of the world, and why the resurrection? What I want you to think about is, I want you to think about God's eternal purpose. What is His eternal purpose? Because whatever He does, whatever God does, has to do with His eternal purpose. And what's His eternal purpose?

His glory? Okay, good. And what does He want to do with His glory? Share it with us. And why can't He share it with fallen man? Because Because man is separated from God, right? But does God's purpose ever change? That He wants to share that very glory with every human being? No. Purpose never changes, right?

So, in order to share that glory, He has to reconcile man. He has to bring man to Himself. And He has to remove that barrier between God and man. His sins. So God does that to fulfill His eternal purpose of being able to share His glory with man. Isn't that cool? Isn't that neat? Isn't that neat about God in terms of His eternal purpose? So everything He does, as you look at scripture, Everything he does, he does for a purpose. Moving right along, we're going to take a look at the Father of Jesus Christ, which is one of relationship. And as Roger pointed out last week, this commissioning, sending the Son.

And we start out in John 1.14.

In John 1.14, I guess I've got to keep moving here, I've just looked at the clock, it says this, John 1.1, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God. The Word talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, how do we know that? You get down to verse 14, and it says, And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. The Word became flesh, the Word Jesus Christ became flesh, and we beheld His glory.

The glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Here's my question. When it says that Jesus Christ is the only begotten of the Father, is it talking about that God begot the Lord Jesus Christ, just like we were begotten? Just like Roger and Donny begot Mark and Ryan here? Is that the kind of begotten we're talking about? They're both eternal? Okay. So that's a good point. So it's not that same begotten, is it?

When it talks about the Lord Jesus Christ being the only begotten, it's a very unique word only used with respect to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the word is monogenes in the Greece. in the Greek, monogamous, and it has nothing to do with begetting, like begetting children, but it has to do with the fact of uniqueness. You could translate that that the Lord Jesus Christ is the unique one. He's the incomparable one. That's what monogamist means, the unique one, the incomparable one. There is no one like him. No one like him. He's 100% deity. He's 100% humanity. He's monogamist. 100% deity.

And we beheld his glory. The glory of who? The only begotten of the Father. full of grace and truth. So, if we want to know what the Father is like, all we have to do is look at the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, you might say, well, hold it. The apostles were really fortunate. They had the Lord Jesus Christ to look upon. Can we look upon the Lord Jesus Christ? How many say yes? How many say no? Yeah, right now. Can we behold Him right now?

And His glory? All we with unveiled face, beholding as in the mirror, what? The glory of our Lord Jesus Christ? And the mirror is the thing that reflects Him, which is His Word, right? So we can behold Him, we can know what He's like, if we know what He's like, we know what the Father is like.

Just a couple of points on this. As I pointed out, He is the unique one. He is the exact representation of the Father. You see the Lord Jesus Christ, you see the Father. And here is the point. He has designated the Son. not due to his birth, but the fact that what Maryland said, that he's eternal and he's infinite. That's why. And so the father-son principle is one of headship and submission.

So if we had time we could look at 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verses 1 and 3. Now ladies, I want you to listen carefully. It says that the head of every wife is who? The husband. Got that? Now husbands, you don't go home and say, no, I'm the head. I'm the boss head. Because then it goes on to say, and the head of every man is Christ.

And the head of Christ is So there's that, if you will, principle of headship and submission. It doesn't mean that one is greater than the other or better than the other. It is not an organizational chart where one is higher than the other. to point number four, where we're looking at the definition of Father both in the Hebrew and the Greek in terms of what the word means. It's used as creator, originator, source, ruler, sustainer.

Now I want you to help me out as we go through this. I'm going to go down through these verses. When James 1.17 talks about that God the Father, that he's the Father of lights, and the word there is lights. And I think in the context, if you look at it, it's talking about celestial lights, it's talking about the celestial bodies.

Which word for Father would you use? Which aspect of the Father would you use here? Creator, Originator, Source, Ruler, Sustainer? Which one would you use? He's the Father of Life. He's the Creator. Anything else? He's the Source. He sustains it. Tonight you're going to look up and you're going to see those stars and they're still there. He sustains it.

He's the father, and I didn't know what word to use here, of physical conditions. And I asked Lindy, I said, when you think about rain and snow and lightning and thunder and wind and calm and all of these things, what's a word, what's one word that I could use? And we couldn't think of that one word, so I just called it physical conditions. But when he's talking to Joe, He's saying, who's the father of RAIN? So when he's talking to Job and he's asking the question, who's the father of RAIN, what aspect of father is he using there? We've got to move. Source, okay? He's the source of RAIN. And the originator, okay?

And when it says that the Father made and established Israel, what aspect of Father are we talking about here? It's not Creator, Originator, okay? I mean, there would be no Israel unless God the Father did the origination of Israel and chose Abraham. get out of thy land and go into the land which I'm going to show you. It goes on that God the Father makes Abraham the father of many nations and as you go through scripture in terms of Genesis chapter 12 through 15 and you get into Galatians and also to Romans you find out that the many nations are those who or believers out from many nations.

He says this, He's the Father of grace and peace. He's the Father of grace and peace. What aspect of Father would you use here? If He's the Father of grace and peace, what aspect of Father is it talking about? Is it talking about the Creator? Source? Source is a good word, right? I mean, He is the source.

There is no other source of grace and peace. And peace can't come from within. Because if He's the Father, He's the source. The only peace that there is, true peace, is from Him. And so when the Lord Jesus Christ says, What? My peace I give unto you. Not as the world gives. You can't find any peace in the world. Right? But he gives the peace. Okay, he's the source. He's the source of eternal encouragement and hope.

It says he's the father of mercies. He's the father of compassion. There is no other source of compassion than from him. He's the father of glory. And when we talk about the glory of God, I mean, I don't know how you depict that, but when you think about His glory, the fact that He's holy, and He's righteous, and He's just, and that He's infinite, and that He's love, and grace, and mercy, and goodness, all the aspects of His glory in terms of who He is. He's the Father of Glory. So what word would we use here for Father of Glory?

Would you use Originator? Here's a good test. Here's a good question. Would you use Originator? He's the Originator of Glory? Would you use the word Creator? That He's the Creator of Glory? How many... What word would you use? Source. Why wouldn't you use creator or originator? Because...

Marilyn, you get the gold star this morning. Because if it was eternal, it never had a beginning. Right? His glory never had a beginning. Okay. So he's the father of glory. Yeah, I think it's taken it too far because what happens when you talk about the Father of glory, you know, the very glory that the Father has, so is the Son, so is the Holy Spirit. Okay?

So, it's It's a little difficult to get in there with a scalpel and carve out. It's hard. It's difficult to do that. Here's one verse where I disagree with Dr. Schaeffer. In Hebrews chapter 12 verse 9 we wouldn't have time to do it. But it says that he's the father of And Dr. Schaeffer interprets it as spirits of all men. But I think in the context, it's talking about believers. He's the father of our spirits. We are regenerated. We've been born again. And our spirit now has been Yeah, then born again. So it's talking about believers.

Okay, so here ends the reading of the Father as creator, originator, source. You can see from just this small sampling of scripture how the word Father is used in a different context depending And the only way you can translate it is you've got to go to the Scripture and you have to look at the context as to when you talk about Father, is it talking about Creator, Originator, Source, Ruler, Sustainer? And that really helps if you can think about the fact that Father means all of these things. Okay, the last point, point number five, talks about intimate relationship. And the first thing is intimate relationship with mankind.

So here's a question. It may be a trick question, it may not. Does God have an intimate relationship with mankind? The silence in this Let me just tell you something. What is neat is that if you volunteer an answer and you say it, and then you find out, hey, that wasn't quite right, there is no better way of learning. to this church, I knew, I mean, I was just a relatively new believer.

And so I'd ask questions, I'd answer questions. They were almost always wrong. But the thing is, I said, oh, oh, I see that now. But that's the best way to learn. There's no better way of learning than to try and think, and then you might spit out the wrong answer, but that's okay. and no one's greeting you.

Okay, so, is there an intimate relationship with God and mankind? No. We're talking about intimacy, and an intimate relationship. One person said, yes, through Jesus Christ. Here's the question, does mankind know Jesus Christ? Do they believe in Jesus Christ? If they don't, can they have an intimate relationship with God?

Okay, the answer is, as one guy used to do it, the answer is no. And the point that I've got here, is Scripture does not teach anywhere in Scripture the universal fatherhood of God towards man. In fact, when I went through all of the verses on Father, you cannot find one passage of Scripture that talks about God being the Father of mankind. It's not there. And I think it's not there for a reason. You know what the reason is? So let me ask another question. Does mankind have a father? And who is mankind's father? The devil. And you remember the discourse between the Pharisees and the Lord.

We're talking about the aspect of father as Intimate relationship. Intimacy. Because as you go through Scripture, you find all these different aspects of Father. Creator, Originator, Source, Sustainer, etc., etc. And you find another one, one of relationship, one of intimate relationship. That aspect of the Father. You'll never find a passage that talks about God the Father of Mankind. Because, as you said, Satan is the Father of Mankind, unbelieving Mankind.

Okay, talking about intimate relationship with Israel. And it's interesting as you go through these passages that that you see the intimacy that God has with the nation Israel. He originated, as we saw before, the nation Israel. And there's this sustaining relationship.

And God says, Israel is the apple of my eye, and always will be the apple of my eye. We'll never be anything different. And it talks about the father being the potter and Israel being the clay. And then in other passages, it talks about the father, his concern for Israel, who has rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, that in the future he's going to regather them. He's going to regather Israel, he's going to restore them as a nation, and he's going to bless them. So this intimacy that God has with Israel from His part, from His standpoint, never changes. He has that intimacy with Israel. Does Israel have that intimacy towards the Lord?

Uh-uh. Otherwise they'd be believing today. But they will. They will believe. Okay. Then the last thing talks about the intimacy of God the Father with the Church. In John 1.12 talks about the fact that becoming a child of God through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and then in Romans it talks about the fact that there is this intimacy with the believer and the Father, and the interesting thing is It says this, it talks about adoption. It says we are adopted as sons, and the word for adoption means to be placed as sons, to be placed as an adult son with all the rights and privileges. And we are adopted the moment we believe. We have all the rights and privileges the moment we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And we are placed as sons, and you know what it says? We cry Abba. Where does that come from? That's the Hebrew word, right? For father. We cry Abba, Father. So you see how Abba in Hebrew is used for intimate relationship. We cry Abba, Father. We cry Papa, Father.

Okay, you can go down the list. We've got to close. But where I've got the asterisks here, okay, and the asterisks in your notes will say that this is in a little disagreement with what Dr. Chaffer says. Dr. Chaffer uses these verses for all of mankind, and I'm saying, no, if you read the context, you can't apply these verses to all of mankind. They are applied to believers, or they're applied to Israel. This one up here, talking about believing Israel, Not talking about all of mankind, but that's what the asterisks are for.

Bottom line here is, here's what we're to do, is to always giving thanks to the Father for everything. Shall we close? Father, we are again just so thankful for your your entire purpose. And Father, for that purpose to share your glory with us is just unfathomable. And only you, Father, can really know it. But we thank you, Father, for revealing it to us, that you would include us in that very intimacy that you have with the Son and the Spirit. and that we're seated with you in the heavenlies with Christ and we're blessed with every spiritual blessings and you haven't left none out. Oh well Father we just thank you for who and what you are knowing Father that we'll never comprehend all that you are but we thank you for what you have revealed to us that we can just Take it on faith and rest in it, and we give you thanks, in Christ's name.