Text: John 14:18

John 14:18 AV

I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

Our earthly fathers was given to us to represent the relationship that God has with his children.

The relationship of a father with his son or daughter “should” resemble the relationship that God has with us.

Father- One who begets:

Responsibilities of a father:

Love/Care for their children:

Discipline their children:

Instruct their children:

Hebrews 12:9 AV

Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

Father (God)

1. Father of all creation (Genesis 1:1/1 Cor 8:6

Genesis 1:1 NLT

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

1 Corinthians 8:6 NLT

But for us, There is one God, the Father, by whom all things were created, and for whom we live. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created, and through whom we live.

2. Father of image-bearing (Genesis 1:26)

Genesis 1:26 AV

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

3. Father of Jesus Christ (2 Cor 1:3, 1 Peter 1:3)

2 Corinthians 1:3 AV

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

1 Peter 1:3 NLT

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation,

4. Father of those who have been adopted by Jesus Christ (Galatians 4:4-6)

Galatians 4:4–6 NLT

But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”

If we are true children of God then there should be some type of likeness to that of God:

One of the traits of God is that God epitomized love. God is the definition of what true love is because His love is a perfect love. It is a love that will never fail. God’s love is so awesome that He loves equally on your best day and on your worst day. That doesn’t mean that God gives you a pass to just do whatever you want to do, because true love holds you accountable for your actions. Don’t think that you live like you wanna live and bank on the love and mercy of God to get you into glory. There are certain actions and prohibitions that will prevent you from inheriting the kingdom of God (Gal 5:19-21). When we were enemies of God, God still loved us! How were we enemies?

Colossians 1:21 NLT

This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions.

The bible says in:

Matthew 5:44–45 NLT

But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.

So in a sense if we are truly going to be the children of God and if we are the children of God then we must follow Jesus’ teaching on love. It’s easy to love those who love us, but Jesus said what reward do you get from that.

Matthew 5:46–48 NLT

If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.

God is calling us to be different! He is calling us to a higher standard in Him. Let me tell you, it’s not easy to love your enemies, you’re gonna have to do a lot of fasting and denying yourself, a lot of soul searching and being honest and open with Jesus, it’s going to take the power of the Holy Ghost overriding the flesh to be able to love like this. If you don’t truly have the Holy Ghost you can forget about it! That’s why you can’t just stop at speaking in tongues and shouting! That’s the outward sign, you need to have the inward signs as well and love is one of the fruit of the Spirit! I come to let everyone know, that if we are not loving like God wants us to love then just maybe we need to get back on the altar and tarry some more and ask God to fill me until I love right! Fill me, until all the fruit of the Spirit is manifested in my life!

Why is Jesus saying we must love? Because He loved us! He’s saying it because LOVE covers a multitude of sins! You want to see racism go down LOVE! You want to see the murder rate go down? LOVE! You want to see crime go down LOVE! You want to see your enemies stop taking advantage of you? LOVE!!! If we are truly the children of God then we have to LOVE like God loves and only He can help us and bring us to a place that we are able to love right!

As children, if we can go back in time to our childhood (pre-adolescent) as children we desired to please our parents. We always wanted to be around our parents, we watched them, learned from them, we were fascinated by the things that they did. We loved them so much that when they left us to go take care of business and told us we couldn’t go we would cry until they came back. We just wanted to be around them, we knew that they would take care of us, we knew that we could receive love from them and understanding, we knew that if we made a mistake they would correct us....even though we may not have liked the correcting. We desired to be in the same room as them. I believe that we should hold the same principles with God! God I just want to be in your presence, I just want to please you, I just want to make you happy, I just want to feel your love, I just want to feel you touch, I want to be like you, I want to walk like you, I want to talk like you, I want to see like you, I want to love like you!

Orphans:

Are those who have lost both parents:

It is also possible to have parents who are alive and still be an orphan. How? If your parents gives up on you, disowns you, drop you off at an orphanage and keep driving. Does not take care of their responsibility as a parent, does not protect their children, does not provide for their children, does not discipline and instruct their children.

God has a thing for orphans:

There are at least 40 different scriptural references in which God speaks on orphans throughout the bible.

Deuteronomy 10:18 NLT

He ensures that orphans and widows receive justice. He shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing.

In other-words, God looks out for the fatherless or the orphans, not only that, God demands that his children look out for the fatherless and the orphans. Why? Because they need love and care, they need provision and protection, and they need instruction and correction. Why? Because they are not mature enough to provide any of these things for themselves.

Jesus told his disciples before he ascended back to His Father:

John 14:18 AV

I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

Jesus had been like a parent to the disciples. Notice in scripture the great love and concern he had for the disciples. He provided for them (3 fish, 5 loaves of bread), he protected them, he instructed them, he even disciplined them from time to time. Now, the LORD is getting to close out his earthly ministry. Not many days letter, He would offer himself as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind, after three days he would rise again, but after that, he would only be with them for a couple more weeks before he would ascend back to heaven. He wanted the disciples to know that he was going to be leaving them and that sounded like horrible news. However, Jesus gave them some good news in the midst of what seemed like bad news. I believe that is what we need today is some good news in the midst of all this bad stuff that is going on, it’s good to receive some good news.

Anyone in the mood to hear some Good News this morning!?

Well the good news that Jesus told His disciples is that: although I’m going away, I’m not going to leave you comfortless:

The word comfortless means more than just being uncomfortable or being without someone to soothe and comfort you. This word comfort in the greek text means: orphanos which means orphan. So essentially what Jesus is saying is that:

John 14:18 NLT

No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you.

Let’s stop here, what does a parent do?

A parent loves us and cares for us.

A parent provides and protects us.

A parent teaches us and disciplines us.

I won’t leave you fatherless, I won’t leave you parentless:

I won’t leave you by yourself, I won’t leave you unprotected!

As parents, we have a thing that God embedded in us that when our children are threatened, there is something that kicks in and rises up within us to protect our children. When this nature rises in us, fear goes out the door, and we step in front of our child to protect them from the danger that is trying to attack them! I believe that God embedded that protective instinct in us because He has the same instinct.

I believe that when Jesus told his disciples that I won’t leave you comfortless he saw a threat and I believe Jesus saw this threat a long time ago. I believe that when He saw this threat he started put things in motion, things in order to protect us and deliver us from this threat. That threat is sin! Because the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life! I believe that when Jesus died on the cross I believe he was acting just like a father or mother would act.....he stepped in front of death (illustration: use self and 2 people). When he rose from the grave and took the keys of death, hell, and the grave from Satan he (stepped in front). When he ascended on high and sent back the comforter…he stepped in front!

Truth be known, THE LORD is still stepping in front! He’s still protecting me, He’s still fighting my battles, He’s Still Providing for me, He’s still LOVING ME!

Psalm 146:9 NLT

The Lord protects the foreigners among us. He cares for the orphans and widows, but he frustrates the plans of the wicked.

I know that for some, today may be a tough day for you because you may not have your earthly father with you. But I want you to know, and hear the words of Jesus, and I believe that He is talking to us today to let us know that even if your earthly father leave you, even if your mother leave you, I won’t leave you comfortless! Somebody today may be on the outs with your father, but Jesus said “I won’t leave you comfortless”. Jesus is available to give you the love and the care that you need.

Psalm 27:10 NLT

Even if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord will hold me close.

Jesus is here to provide all of your needs according to his riches in glory, Jesus is here to be protection and your shield, a refuge in the time of a storm. The Lord is here to teach us and to discipline us because he is concerned about you, he is concerned about where your gonna spend eternity.