How Deep the Fathers Love for Us
The Love of God • Sermon • Submitted
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· 20 viewsHow can we fathom the depth of the Father's Love for us?
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Father’s Day 2021
Father’s Day 2021
Welcome to First Baptist Church! We are so glad that you have chosen to Worship with us today and I am honored to share the Word with all of you.
Father’s Day brings many memories to the forefront. My earthly father, who passed into Glory in December 1998, would have been 104 last Sunday. I loved my father, but he traveled with his job. I saw him more during my college years in Wyoming than I dd the 18 years prior.
Our memories of our earthly father are, hopefully positive. However, I know that for some people their father was either absent or unloving. For those people, Father’s Day is not something to be celebrated.
However, today I want to talk about our Heavenly Father, who is never absent nor is He unloving. True, He disciplines us, but that is because He loves us so deeply.
The Scriptures tell us over and over again how much God loves us. In fact, God is called Father 122 times in John’s Gospel, including 53 times in John 13-17.
Today I would like to share a few of those scriptures and remind you of the depth of our Father’s love. No matter the relationship you have with your earthly father, your Heavenly Father never leaves you nor forsakes you.
My focus is on the prayer of Jesus in John 17:1-26, which is called the High Priestly Prayer.
The supper was over. Judas had left to betray our Lord. Jesus had divulged many things to the disciples and was speaking in plain language instead of parables.
He had just assured them that
33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
And, with that He lifted His eyes to heaven and prayed.
Why did Jesus pray this prayer in John 17?
To strengthen Himself for what lay ahead.
To encourage His disciples, praying for their security, their joy, their unity and their future glory.
He wanted you and I to know all He had done for us and given to us and will do for us when we get to heaven.
This prayer is broken down into three parts:
Jesus prays for Himself
(John 17:1-5)
Jesus prays for His disciples (John 17:6-19)
Jesus prays for us (John 17:20-26 )
In each section, we can see examples of the Father’s deep love for us, His children.
This prayer is probably the most intimate, holy prayer we see in the bible. It is a conversation between Jesus the Son and God the Father
Jesus Prays for Himself
Jesus Prays for Himself
1 Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You,
2 even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.
3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
4 “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.
5 “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
In the beginning of time, God the Father created the universe. He did this because He loved us.
If we look at Genesis 1, we see that all three persons of the Trinity were present and active at the creation.
Genesis 1:1–3 (NASB95)
1 In the beginning God [the Father]created the heavens and the earth.
2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the [Holy] Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
3 Then God said [The Word - Son], “Let there be light”; and there was light.
The creation took 6 days. During the first 5 , God created the Universe, the earth and heavens, the water and land. He created the fish of the seas and the beast of the land. He created all the plants, trees and flowers.
On the 6th day He created man - and t He made him different from all other creation.
Genesis 1:26–31 (NASB95)
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
29 Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;
30 and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so.
31 God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
We were the only part of His creation that was created in His image!
What love, that He would create us in His image!
And He created the entire universe for us to thrive in.
He created man to rule over all of His creation.
This prayer was the last that He would pray before He was arrested and led to the cross. Let’s see where the Father’s Love is reflected in this prayer.
Jesus was the creator, as much as God and as the Spirit. He lived in Glory before He came to earth and He returned to Glory when His work was finished. The result of His finished work was that we - you and I - may have eternal life.
We know that Jesus is God’s gift to us.
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
God sent Jesus into this world that we might have eternal life.
But in the High Priestly prayer, we are God’s gift to Jesus! Seven times, Jesus affirms this: John 17: 2, 6,9, 11-12,24 . We are delivered into eternal life through what Christ had finished on the Cross. That is Love beyond understanding!
Think about that - You are God’s gift to Jesus! Do you treasure gifts your father gives you? God the Father gave Jesus to you! A gift with eternal consequences. And, God the Father gave you to Jesus so that He would die for you, and rise for you.
And God the Father sent the Holy Spirit, the Helper, or Counselor, to you that you might have to strength to stand up to this world.
7 “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
13 “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
14 “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.
15 “All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.
These are gifts the Father lavishes upon His children. The gift of the Holy Spirit is only second to the gift of Christ Jesus.
Jesus died to save you - Justification is the first form of salvation. You have been made righteous before God our Father because of the Gift of Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit came to guide us through the perils of this world and to strengthen us as we grow to be more and more like Jesus - Sanctification is the second form of salvation.
Jesus promise to return to take you home and share in His glory. This is Glorification, the third form of Salvation.
Justification saves us from the penalty of sin.
Sanctification saves us from the power of sin.
Glorification saves us from the presence of sin.
How deep the Father’s love for us that He would provide for our salvation by walking with us (Jesus) and filling us (Holy Spirit) until He calls us home to dwell with Him (The Father)
Jesus pray for His disciples.
Jesus pray for His disciples.
6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.
7 “Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You;
8 for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.
9 “I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours;
10 and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them.
In these verses there is the Joy of knowing the Father! In vv. 6-10, Jesus reminds us that He manifested the Father to the disciples.
This clarifies what He had said earlier in John 14:9
9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
The Father gave them to Jesus to teach, to grow and to prepare to carry the message forth. God provided everything needed for the Truth of Him to be made know to the entire world.
11 “I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.
12 “While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.
13 “But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.
14 “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
15 “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.
While Jesus walked the earth, He protected the disciples and prepared them to walk alone. He knew they would still need protection, which He asks the Father to provide. And the Father provided the Holy Spirit.
He knows the world would hate the disciples, as it hates us, as it hates all truth but He knows that the Spirit of the Father would protect them.
It doesn’t mean that they would not die; Indeed, all but John died a martyr’s death.But He asked the Father to protect them so His love would overflow to the entire world.
16 “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
17 “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.
18 “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
19 “For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
Jesus prays that the disciples be sanctified - made holy in the image of Christ - when they go out into the world.
Jesus has sent them forth and God the Spirit sanctifies them until that time they join Him in Glory.
How deep the Father’s Love for us that He provided all this protection so the Word would spread across the world and across time to you and me.
And these same promises apply to you and I.
During this final passover meal, Jesus had revealed many things to His disciples (and to you and I). These revelations show how deep the Father’s love is for us. One of these is found in John 14:2-3
2 “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
3 “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
He promised there were many rooms awaiting us in His house and that He would bring us home. What great love that our Father would not only provide a place in His home for all His children to live, but He would personally accompany them home!
Jesus Prays for Us
Jesus Prays for Us
The final section of this prayer is focused on those who would come after the time of the Apostles. Specifically those who believed by hearing the Word passed down through time.
20 “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word;
Jesus makes it plain that He is asking that those who come later have the same protection as the disciples - that they be sanctified by the Holy spirit.
21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.
He promises to be in us as we are in Them, so the world knows where the Word comes from.
22 “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one;
Verse 22 promises the Glory revealed in the Father and the Son will be revealed in us as well!
23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.
And Verse 23 promises we will be perfected so the World knows the Father’s love.
Jesus finished His prayer:
24 “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
25 “O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me;
26 and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
He wants His Glory revealed to and through us.
He wants the Father’s love revealed to and through us to this fallen world.
And He wants the Father’s love for Jesus be the same as His love for us.
His love is so all-encompassing that it extends from the Father to the Son to all of us!
How deeply the Father must love us, that he would have a plan from before creation until the end of this world to create us, to save us, to protect us and to guide us home to live with Him for all eternity.
The Holy Bible is a love letter from the Father to us! Here are just a jew of the verses that show the magnitude of God’s love.
3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;
4 What is man that You take thought of him,
And the son of man that You care for him?
5 Yet You have made him a little lower than God,
And You crown him with glory and majesty!
6 You make him to rule over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
5 For the Lord is good;
His lovingkindness is everlasting
And His faithfulness to all generations.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.
My Favorite Illustrations Infinite Love
In 1973 a California newspaper carried a story about a discovery made by astronomers in the giant observatory of the University of California. The scientists picked up radio signals from a body in space that they estimated to be fifty million light years from the earth. Prior to that the most distant object known was ten million light years from earth. Distances such as those are beyond our comprehension, but illustrate well the infinite boundaries of God’s steadfast love. “For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy (steadfast love) toward them that fear him” (Ps. 103:11).
13 For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs.
7 He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.”
9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.
10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies;
34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.
35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.
38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I have a short video I would like to share with you this morning and then we will pray.