Sunday, December 18, 2011 - Everlasting Father
This Christmas season we are in Isaiah 9, looking at the promised Child who was born for us and the Son who was
given to us – we know Him as the Lord Jesus Christ. We can look back on His human life and see how He fulfilled
every prophecy about the Messiah and accomplished everything needed to make salvation and restoration to God
possible.
Being able to see Him from this side of history has not always helped us honor and follow Him the way we should. We
sometimes get caught in the trap of seeing Him as a merely historical person – like many other historical people – and
we forget WHO He is. Not who He WAS – WHO HE IS. We have been looking at the four names He would be
known by listed in Isaiah 9. HIS NAME
We have seen that He is the Wonderful Counselor. He is One who sees the issues of human life and miraculously
resolves the problems through His power and wisdom and knowledge. He works in the field of the miraculous – things
that we cannot explain or duplicate. At least He HAS – we are finding that in our western world culture, we have
pushed Him aside in many ways. We live just fine – in our minds – without Him, so we don’t see those miraculous
works like people used to or like people in other, less self-sufficient countries do.
And that relates to the name we looked at last Sunday – Mighty God. This Savior who has come was and is God – the
One who is over all and in all and knows all. He has the power to work in all things. But, connected with what we are
looking at today, as our Everlasting Father, He will not force His way upon us. He can do whatever He wants, but He
desires that we would come to Him and respond in obedience to Him. As Mighty God, He has every right to demand
that we respond in obedience, but He gives mankind the choice of whether we will believe Him. Woe to us and shame
on us if we disregard His grace and mercy to us to obey.
Today, as I mentioned, we are looking at His name “Everlasting Father.” We’ll talk about that in detail shortly. This
coming Saturday – Christmas Eve – we will look at the final name we see in Isaiah 9, Prince of Peace. Next Sunday,
Christmas Day, we will spend our time at 10 AM in adoration of this Savior God sent to rescue us and restore us.
As we start to consider our “Everlasting Father” today, let’s start by asking His help. PRAY
Isaiah 9:2-7. READ. That is a very interesting thing – this Child’s name will be “Father.” How can that be? Let’s
think about this for a few minutes. If this Child’s name is “Father,” there are a few possible explanations. One, He IS
the Father. Two, He later BECOMES the Father. Or three, He is deluded about who He is. Which is it?
Since we started this series, we have admitted that this Child can be only one Person – God Himself. So we know that
the only logical person being spoken of in Isaiah 9 is God. Turn to Deuteronomy 6:4. READ. We serve the true God
who is One – not three or more. By the way, the following verse in Deuteronomy 6 is a familiar one, too – quoted by
the Lord Jesus as the great commandment – and the verses that follow are familiar, too, to remind us that it is the
responsibility of parents to raise their children to trust the Lord.
Turn now to John 10:30,37,38. READ. “The Father and I are one.” Does Jesus mean only that “the Father and I
agree with each other totally?” Is He saying that He and the Father think the same way about things? No, we can see
that He meant by reading the response of the unteachable Jewish people around Him in verse 33. John 10:33. READ.
When Jesus said that He and the Father were one, these Jewish people understood Him to mean that He was saying
He was God just like the Father was.
Jesus – who we now know was the promised Child King Savior from Isaiah 9 – was, is and always will be God. So
He IS the Everlasting Father. This is true regardless of our opinions and regardless of what it looks like and regardless
of our EXTREMELY limited understand of who God is.
A lot of our extremely limited view of who God is – and especially who He is as “Father” – is based on our
relationships with our own human fathers. We have recently seen a dramatic disintegration of the place of the father in
society. A few weeks ago, we talked about the impact of radical feminism – the women’s liberation movement – on
western society. This goes back to what happened in Genesis 3 when God pronounced the curse on humanity for sin –
“your desire, woman, will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
But radical feminism is not the only outworking of the curse – men who withdraw from their place of responsibility and
importance in families (absent fathers), contribute to a lot of heartache, crime and mental health issues that over the
years become – as we now see – the norm. And certainly the insertion of government in place of the family and
especially of fathers has damaged the design of God. Fathers are nearly unnecessary in our world – many even referred
to only as “sperm donors.” Diametrically opposed to God’s design.
In God’s design, “father” is a good thing – a benefit and an advantage. He would not refer to Himself as “Father” if
“father” was meant to be a negative thing. When God refers to Himself as “Father,” He brings with it every perfect and
proper aspect and character quality that “father” is supposed to have.
If you have experienced pain and/or difficulty and/or abuse from your father, you may have significant reservations
about opening your life to the Everlasting Father. You may doubt His goodness. You may not believe you will be safe
in His care. Let’s think about that for a minute.
God’s true character is seen in one way by the fact that for those who believe in Jesus Christ, God ADOPTS us into
His family. Turn to John 1:12. READ. Through belief in Jesus Christ people can BECOME children of God. Just a
reminder – not everyone IS a child of God. A person who is a child of God has to do more than be born as a human
being. Every human being who is a child of God is a human being who has believed in Jesus Christ for forgiveness of
sins and restoration to the Eternal Father.
Turn to Romans 8:15-17. READ. As adopted children of God (different from the chosen people of God – Israel), we
gain His inheritance – the same inheritance, notice, as Jesus Christ Himself. Our Father love us. Turn to Galatians 4:4-
7. READ. Verse 4 is often read around Christmas time – at the right time God sent His Son. Isaiah 9 says that a Son
is given to us. And look in Galatians what this Son accomplishes. He redeems those under the law so that we might
receive adoption as sons. Sons of God – children of God. And, verse 6, because we ARE sons, God has given us His
Spirit to live in us and to call out to Him AS Father.
Our Everlasting Father loves us. He adopted us – He chose us to be His children and, in a way we probably don’t
think of very much, He chose to be our Father. He wanted us for Himself. He saw us in our sinful state and He
decided that He wanted to be our Father. If we have had painful or difficult relationships with our earthly fathers, we
need to consider this kind of love. It is unlike what we have known – in fact, even if we had really good fathers, God’s
love for us is far beyond that.
This is a good place to remember what this means for us. Our Everlasting Father came to earth to rescue us from the
mess we were in. James MacDonald said this week that God doesn’t want to leave us as sinners - He wants us to be
His sons and daughters. That’s the good news of Christmas. But when we arrive in this world, we are sinners – sin is
passed to us from our parents. And sin separates us from God.
God had perfect plans for humanity when He created us – life with Him forever, pouring out His goodness on us
eternally. But our first ancestors, Adam and Eve, made the choice we all would have made – we were all in them at the
time – they thought they knew life better than the Maker of life and disregarded His loving instructions. Last Sunday we
mentioned that if we know the right thing to do and we don’t do it, we are sinning – James 4:17. And that’s what our
condition is – sinners and separated from our holy God and Everlasting Father.
And there is literally nothing we can do to take away that sin in us. We can’t be good enough. We can’t work or earn
our way out of it. We can’t buy our way out of it. God tells us that everything we think is righteous and able to get
ourselves out of this trap of sin, is worthless in His sight. We cannot measure up to His holiness. And He, knowing
that, and desiring to be our Everlasting Father, stepped in FOR us to change what we could not change.
Isaiah 9 says that a Child is born FOR us and a Son is given TO us. The thing He was born FOR and given TO us to
do is to release us from the grip of sin and restore us to the plan God had for mankind from the beginning. This
Child/Son came and lived the kind of life God had designed for mankind – and we know Him to be Jesus Christ. And
then, after living that life perfectly, He went another step and paid the price that mankind owed God for His sins –
death. The only satisfactory solution to the sin problem of mankind is the shedding of blood. Jesus Christ paid that
price in our place.
The price has been paid for every person. And as we read in John 1:12, all God is waiting for now is for those who
have that price paid to believe in the Lord Jesus and God the Father will transfer those people from death to life –
eternal life with Him. That eternal life is possible because of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And there is another
benefit of His resurrection. John 10:10 says that Jesus came to give not only eternal life forever, but abundant life
forever, too. Rich and full and meaningful life – life with purpose and direction.
This is the true meaning of Christmas. I know we hear many things during this time of year that claim to be the “true
meaning” of Christmas. This is the message of God’s Word – the truth. If you have not admitted that you are a sinner
and cannot solve your sin problem, as God says, but you see now that He has provided the ONLY way to be free of
sin and to be restored to Him through Jesus Christ, today is the day of salvation for you. God calls you to repent – to
turn away from your sin – and believe in Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
If you have believed this today for the first time, let’s take a minute for you to quietly respond to your Everlasting Father
with gratefulness. He wanted you for His child and He made it possible – thank Him.
- -
If God is our Everlasting, Eternal Father, that means some things for us who claim that He is our Father. He adopted us
as His children to show His love and grace and mercy, His forgiveness, goodness, kindness, care, provision and all else
of who and what He is. Jeremiah 29:11 – I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for good and not for
evil, to give you a future and a hope. Our lives as His children should revolve around Him and who He is and what He
desires to do for us and for those around us who are not yet His children.
We provide nothing to Him – nothing He NEEDS. It is the “Father-ness” of God that led Him to make this relationship
with us a reality. He desires to have us – His prize creation – experience His Fatherhood. Everything good and perfect
you think a father SHOULD be is what God IS – and He exceeds our expectations ETERNALLY. He is the
ETERNAL, EVERLASTING FATHER.
So, considering all this, what do you think – is it pleasing to our Everlasting Father that we who claim to be His children
live in outright sin against Him? Is it pleasing to our Everlasting Father that we celebrate and give approval to others
who claim to be His children when they live in outright, unrepentant sin against Him?
Are we honoring our Everlasting Father if we do not call sin “sin” and repent of it. Does it honor our Everlasting Father
if we do not seek to correct those who claim to be followers of Jesus and children of God when they – or WE – live in
sexual sin or lie and cheat and steal from work or when we speak evil of people by painting them in a bad light with
gossip or flippant remarks about their character?
Look at Colossians 3:5,6. READ. It is quite presumptuous of us to think that we can do the very things that others
who do not believe in Jesus will end up eternally separated from God for, and we are somehow off the hook. Read on
in Colossians 3:7-10. READ. We should not presume upon our Father’s patience. He did not rescue us so that we
could continue to ignore Him and disregard Him. He wants us to look like Jesus.
In fact, our Everlasting Father pours all His “effort” into making His children Christlike – like HIMSELF. To be like
Jesus Christ the Son of God is to be like God the Father – READ John 17:11. Colossians 1:27 says that God’s desire
is for us to experience Christ in us. To be filled with Christ is to be filled with the Spirit of God – a glorious kind of life
– “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Consider your Everlasting Father this way – if God was a human father, as you think through your actions, your
obedience and lifestyle and words, would He be pleased or disappointed with you? The Spirit can be grieved – God
can experience grief as we disobey Him. He can and does become angry. But we also know from Romans 8:1 that
He will not condemn those who are in Christ. BUT, the point is not that can get away with bad behavior and poor
choices and disobedience because of His mercy.
The point is, WHY DO WE TRY TO LIVE IN DISOBEDIENCE? Why are we OK with disappointing our
Everlasting Father? What possible good can result from us excusing our sin or any other believer’s sin? Sin always
damages our relationship with our Father.
As we consider our Everlasting Father today and this Christmas season, let’s look at our lives – our actions and our
attitudes – and repent of sin and turn instead to our loving, caring, providing Father who wants to give us His fullness.
He seeks to let us know when we are off-base in our lives and not acting like children of God. And that’s another thing
we need to think about before we quit today.
Turn to Hebrews 12:6-11. READ. Do you experience the discipline of God? Do you know when you are obstinately
sinning that God is convicting you and calling you to repentance? What did we just read? If you don’t know His
discipline, you are not His child. I didn’t say that – GOD SAID THAT. If you can sin and experience no conviction
from the Spirit of God, you are not a child of God. Honestly think through what you do and if there is any leading or
guidance or conviction to turn away from sin. If there is none, there is no relationship with God – but that can be fixed,
as we talked about earlier.
James 1:17 says that every good and perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights. Our
Everlasting Father WANTS to show Himself like that in our lives. If we don’t see that kind of Fatherhood, once again,
it is our disobedience and unbelief that are restricting God from being that kind of Father to us. Take time this
Christmas season to put yourself under the Father’s care. Only GOOD can result from being a child of God – a child
of the Everlasting Father. His name is Everlasting Father.