06-19-2022 - Abba Father

OPENING

We’re kicking off a new series this morning titled, “Christianity 101: Lessons from Romans.” Lord willing, we are going to spend a few weeks working through the book of Romans. Romans stands as the clearest and most systematic presentation of Christian doctrine in all of the Bible. Written by the Apostle Paul to the church in Rome, it includes important doctrines such as sin, salvation, sanctification, justification by faith, and Christian service. But not only does the Apostle Paul just discuss these doctrines, he also presents the practical application of how we should put these doctrines into practice.

This morning, in honor of Father’s Day, we are going to begin in Romans Chapter 8 and discuss what it means to call God our Heavenly Father and the blessing of being His children.

I love watching videos of people who go out on the street and ask random people questions to get their responses. I’m extremely fascinated when they ask questions about Christianity or God. Sadly, majority of people have no clue and give some ridiculous off the wall answers. But every once in a while, someone will come along who you can tell is a Christian or who probably grew up in Church that can give the right answer.

I thought, what if we went to downtown Pensacola and asked people that passed by, “What is God’s name?” Seems like a simple question. But I wonder what sort of off the wall answers we would get? Now if we weeded out the ridiculous answers and just focused on the few that actually know the Bible, some might respond: “I AM THAT I AM.” Others might respond: “Jesus” or “Yeshua.” Still others might say: “Jehovah,” “Yahweh,” “Elohim,” “El-Shaddai,” or “Adoni.”

Muslims believe that there are 100 names for God. However, they believe that humans only know 99 of them. They carry a rosary with either 33, 66, or 99 beads that they use to recite these 99 names that include titles like: Creator, Sustainer, Protector, and Provider. I’m not sure there are 100 names for God, but if there were, the Muslims would be wrong in their assumption that humans don’t know the 100th name. Because they are missing one very important name in their list that we as Christians know and celebrate today; and that is Father!

God is certainly our Creator, Sustainer, Protector, and Provider and so many other things to us. But He is also our Heavenly Father! What a wonderful thought it is to know that we can call the Creator of the universe, the Giver of life, the Almighty, All-powerful God, our Heavenly Father!

There are some references to God as Father in the Old Testament, but it really begins with Jesus Christ. He referred to God as His Father and our Father. In the New Testament, there are three verses that refer to God as our Heavenly Father in a special way. One of these verses is when Jesus Christ was praying to God in the Garden of Gethsemane and cried out, “Abba Father!” Paul repeats that phrase in his letter to the Galatians and his letter to the Romans. We’re going to take a look at the passage in Romans this morning with a message titled “Abba Father.”

SCRIPTURE

Romans 8:14–17 NKJV

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

MESSAGE

This morning I want us to consider 3 questions:

Who is our Heavenly Father,

What is our relationship to our Heavenly Father, and

How should we respond to our Heavenly Father?

Who Is Our Heavenly Father?

Our Heavenly Father is Eternal

Psalm 90:2 NKJV

2 Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

Alpha and Omega

Beginning and the End

First and the Last

Ancient of Days

He who was, and is, and is to come

Our Heavenly Father is Spirit

John 4:24 NKJV

24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

God is not limited by space or time.

God is not flesh and blood like we are.

But the Bible describes God as having:

ARMS that can reach out to us,

HANDS that can lift us up,

FEET that run to us and walk along beside us,

a HEART that loves us,

EYES that see us and watch over us,

EARS that hear our prayers, and

a MOUTH that can speak to us in a small still voice.

God can be “touched with the feelings of our infirmities.”

And because Jesus Christ, the Eternal God, put on human flesh, He knows what you are going through and He knows how to help in your time of need.

Our Heavenly Father is Omniscient

Psalm 139:1–4 NKJV

1 O Lord, You have searched me and known me. 2 You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. 3 You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. 4 For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.

We can’t see the future and we don’t know what we might have to face next week.

But God sees it all and knows it all.

God knows the end from the beginning.

I don’t have to worry about what is going to happen next Tuesday, because God already has my Wednesday planned out.

God knows your past, your present, and your future.

Nothing catches God by surprise.

Because He is an all-knowing God, we can trust Him with our lives.

Our Heavenly Father is Omnipresent

Psalm 139:7–10 NKJV

7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.

We can only be one place at one time.

God has no such limitations.

God is not limited by His creation, He is above all creation.

You can’t run from God.

God knows right where you’re at.

God will never leave you and God will never forsake you.

It gives me comfort to know that wherever I go, my Heavenly Father is there.

Our Heavenly Father is Omnipotent

Job 42:1–2 NKJV

1 Then Job answered the Lord and said: 2 “I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.

God just doesn’t have some power, He has all power.

He is not up under anything or anyone, He is above all powers.

He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and He cannot be impeached.

He is not equal with Allah, Buddha, Krishna, or the multiple gods of the Hindu.

He is the One True Living God.

And one day “every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”

God’s power has no limits.

He is able to do “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the POWER that worketh in us.”

That’s why Paul could say “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Our Heavenly Father is Immutable

Malachi 3:6 NKJV

6 “For I am the Lord, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.

The world is changing at a rapid pace.

People may change, politicians may change, but God never changes.

God is not making the rules up as He goes.

He is the same “yesterday, today, and forever.”

He is the same God that Adam and Eve knew in the Garden of Eden.

He is the same God that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob worshipped.

He is the same God who healed the sick, fed thousands of people with a little boys sack lunch, cast out devils, and raised the dead.

If He has done it before, He will do it again.

He is the same God no matter where you are.

He is the same God no matter what social class or tax bracket you are in.

People may change and let you down, but God will never let you down.

Our Heavenly Father is Holy

Isaiah 6:3 NKJV

3 And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!”

God is completely separated from evil and sin.

It is why the Heavenly Father had to look away as His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ was dying on the Cross in order to pay the sin debt for all mankind.

Jesus Christ “became sin who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”

God is high and lifted up.

The angels in Heaven declare his HOLINESS without ceasing.

The HOLINESS of God is what caused Isaiah to fall down on his face and declare “Woe is me for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips.”

You might compare yourself to someone else and you might not look too bad.

But when you come into the presence of a HOLY God, all you can do is fall on your face and say “my righteousness is as filthy rags.”

And God removes your unrighteousness and clothes you with His righteousness.

Our Heavenly Father is Good

Psalm 145:9 NKJV

9 The Lord is good to all, And His tender mercies are over all His works.

God is completely just, right, and good.

God never makes a bad decision.

God has what is best for you in mind, even if you don’t understand it now.

God is “working everything out for the good to them that love Him, to them who are called according to His purpose.”

Our Heavenly Father is Faithful

Deuteronomy 7:9 NKJV

9 “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;

God will never let you down.

Man may let you down.

Family and friends may let you down.

The waitress or the cook at the restaurant may let you down.

But God is FAITHFUL.

Even when we are not FAITHFUL, God is FAITHFUL.

Our Heavenly Father is Love

1 John 4:8 NKJV

8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

God just doesn’t have love, God is love.

Love is not just something God does, it is who He is.

God just doesn’t love those that love Him or certain groups of people.

God loves everyone, including sinners.

We can love the sinner, without condoning the sin.

The love of God is about meeting people where they are in the middle of their need.

Lest we forget, God did the same thing for you and me.

Romans 5:8 NKJV

8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God just didn’t say that He loves us, He demonstrated that love by giving “His Only Begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

It was my sin and your sin that sent Jesus Christ to the Cross.

But it was not:

Pilate that kept Jesus on the Cross.

The Roman soldiers that kept Jesus on the Cross.

The nails that kept Jesus on the Cross.

It was love that held Him there.

It was my sin that sent Him there, but it was His love that held Him there:

I was the THORN in His CROWN, but He LOVED me anyway.

I was the SWEAT from His BROW, but He LOVED me anyway.

I was the NAIL in His WRIST, but He LOVED me anyway.

I was JUDAS’ KISS, but He LOVED me anyway.

What is Our Relationship to Our Heavenly Father?

If we have been born again, we are the children of God. And if we are the children of God, then:

We are being led by the Spirit of God.

If we have been born again, we are His child.

And He is our Heavenly Father.

We have been adopted into the family of God and we are His children.

We are not under a spirit of bondage.

We have recieved a Spirit of adoption.

In ancient times, when a son was adopted, he recieved all the rights of a son.

His identity from his previous family and previous life was completely erased and he was given a brand new identity with his new family.

It was as if he was not adopted, but had been born into his new family.

In Christ, we have been adopted into God’s family. Our past has been erased and Our new life has started.

We have an inheritance from God.

Since we have been adopted into the family of God, we have been given all the rights of being His child.

That means we have an inheritance that cannot fade away.

We are an heir of God and we are joint or co-heirs with Jesus Christ.

Whatever belongs to Jesus, also belongs to us.

Jesus’ inheritance is the whole universe.

That means God will move heaven and earth to come to our rescue and give us all things that pertain to life and godliness.

How Should We Respond to Our Heavenly Father?

We should cry out “Abba Father” to Him.

“Abba” is Aramaic for Father.

So in the original writing, Paul uses both the Aramaic and Greek words for Father like Jesus did when He cried out to God in the Garden of Gethsemane.

“Abba” would be the way a young Jewish child would refer to their dad.

We should seek an intimate relationship with Him.

“Abba Father” speaks of intimacy with God.

Crying “Abba Father” is a way to express “Father, my Father.”

In other words, it is making a choice to enter into a relationship with the God of the universe and make Him our Father.

It means that we can approach God with boldness.

It means that we can trust God with our lives.

It means that we can be assured that God is working everything out for our good.

We should align our lives in obedience to Him.

Crying “Abba Father” is bowing the knee of our heart in devotion and submission to the one with the rightful authority of our souls and trusting in His love.

It means that we choose to obey God, not so that He will love us, but because He already loves us.

Issac and Abraham

As Abraham and Isaac are making their way up Mt. Moriah, Isaac turns to Abraham and says, “Father, I see everything we need for the sacrifice except the sacrifice.” Abraham assured Issac that God would provide a sacrifice. And Isaac walked in complete obedience to his father Abraham. Jesus cried out “Abba Father” from Mt. Moriah and walked in complete obedience to His Father. He said, “not My will, but Thy will be done.”

CLOSING

On every day of the year, but especially on Father’s Day, we as Christians can show our love, submission, and dedication to our Heavenly Father by crying out “Abba Father.” Through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, we have been granted the spirit of adoption and have become children of God. As children of God we have an eternal inheritance that will never fade away. It is the Holy Spirit inside of us that moves us to cry out “Abba Father” and to seek intimacy and obedience to our Heavenly Father.

ALTAR CALL