GOD —Whose Father Is He?

1. GOD—Whose Father Is He? “One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” {Ephesians 4:6}

2. Introduction • Many claim that GOD is their Father. • How can we validate such a claim? • Because they believe in God? • Because they are religious? • Because they pray to God? • Because they do things in God’s name? • Because they give Him credit? • Because He is the God of all men?

3. The God of all men? • Is there a sense in which this is true? • He is our Creator. • “…Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” {Genesis 1:26,27}

4. Born Again—the Spiritual Birth • First, one must be in God’s family. • “Jesus answered, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’” {John 3:5} • “Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.” {1 Peter 1:23}

5. Two Possibilities • Jesus said He was from “above” and “not of this world.” • Those who rejected His will were from “beneath” and were “of this world.” • “And He said to them, ‘You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” {John 8:23,24}

6. Father of Believers He is the “Father” of those who have true Bible FAITH. “And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also.” {Romans 4:11}

7. TwoChoices • “Will of God.” • “Lusts of men.” “Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for thelusts of men,but for thewill of God.”{1 Peter 4:1,2}

8. TwoChoices • It is impossible to combine the two alternatives presented to us. • “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” {Matthew 6:24}

9. TwoChoices • It is impossible to combine the two alternatives presented to us. • “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” {James 4:4}

10. Two Hearts • The rebellious heart. • The Devil is the “ruler of this world.”“Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.” {John 12:31}

11. Two Hearts • The rebellious heart. • Description of those under His influence.“You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.” {John 8:44}

12. Two Hearts • The rebellious heart. • Shares the devil’s basic disposition.“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting.” {Romans 1:28}

13. Two Hearts • The receptive heart. • Jesus had a loving receptiveness to God’s will.“I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.” {John 5:30}

14. Two Hearts • The receptive heart. • Those who have God as their Father have this same attitude.“For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.” {1 John 5:3}

15. Differences Between the Two Possibilities • The basic thing that distinguishes the person whose Father is above… • He is honestly willing to obey everything he can learn in order to obey God’s will. • One’s attitude toward obedience determines the following:

16. Differences Between the Two Possibilities • How much truth we are trying to understand. • “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” {John 17:17} • “And with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” {2 Thess. 2:10-12}

17. Differences Between the Two Possibilities • Whether we are drawn toward the likeness of God, or the likeness of the devil! • “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” {John 3:19-21} • NO ONE IS STANDING STILL!

18. Concluding Thoughts • Our basic disposition about obeying God has us headed in one direction or the other. • Determine to obey ALL of God’s will. • While we still have life, it is not too late to change direction. • Romans 6:16-18

19. Be Transformed! “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” {Romans 12:1,2}

20. Who Is Your Father? God or the Devil