Is God Your Father?

Greetings in the name of Jesus! This is Rob Haymes. This is 15 Minutes with Jesus. Today’s program is called, Is God Your Father? Let’s turn to John 8:12-59, Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. The Pharisees therefore said to Him, You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true. Jesus answered and said to them, Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going. You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me. It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me. Then they said to Him, Where is Your Father? Jesus answered, You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also. These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come. Then Jesus said to them again, I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come. So the Jews said, Will He kill Himself, because He says, Where I go you cannot come? 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. Then they said to Him, Who are You? And Jesus said to them, Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning. I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him. 

They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father. Then Jesus said to them, When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him. As He spoke these words, many believed in Him. Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, If you abide in My Word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. In the King James Version it says, If you continue in My Word. They answered Him, We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, You will be made free? Jesus answered them, Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. 

And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. I know that you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My Word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father. They answered and said to Him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father. Then they said to Him, We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God. Jesus said to them, If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My Word. 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. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God. Then the Jews answered and said to Him, Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon? Jesus answered, I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges. Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My Word he shall never see death. 

Then the Jews said to Him, Now we know that You have a demon! Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, If anyone keeps My Word he shall never taste death. Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Who do You make Yourself out to be? Jesus answered, If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God. Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, I do not know Him, I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His Word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad. Then the Jews said to Him, You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.  

Jesus said, If God were your Father, you would love Him. He said, If you love Me, keep my Words. Let’s turn to John 14:15-27, Jesus said, If you love Me, keep My commandments, and I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him. Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world? Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My Words; and the Word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me. These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Jesus said, If a man love Me, he will keep My Words, and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him and make our abode with him. We love Jesus because He first loved us, and gave Himself for us on the Cross, to take away our sins, and to bring us into fellowship with Him and the Father.  Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father but by Me. So where are we going in this Christian way? We are going to the Father through Jesus; through His sacrifice and His cleansing Blood; through repentance and faith; through continuing in His Word; being washed and delivered from every lie; being conformed to Jesus’ image to become sons and daughters of the Living God! Our Father who is in Heaven: hallowed is His name! Rom 12:1&2, 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. Are we doing this? 

Let’s turn to 1 Peter 1:13-25, Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, Be holy, for I Am holy. And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.  Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the Word of God which lives and abides forever, because All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and it’s flower falls away, but the Word of the Lord endures forever.  Now this is the Word which by the Gospel was preached to you.  Verse 17, If you call on the Father, who without partiality, judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear. Do you fear God? Are you fearing God? Are you afraid to disobey Him? Are you afraid to displease Him? 

Let’s turn to 1 John 3:1-10, Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin, or, does not practice sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins, or practices sin, is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not practice sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Every man who has this hope in him, purifies himself, even as He is pure. If we have the blessed hope of attaining to the resurrection from the dead; to the first resurrection, we will be seeking to purify ourselves, even as Jesus is pure. We will not be continuing in sin. He that practices sin is of the Devil. That’s what Jesus meant when He told the Pharisees , Your Father is the Devil, and you do the works of your father. If God is our Father, we will do His works. We, as little children, will humble ourselves in repentance, and faith in Jesus’ sacrifice for us, to do the things that we see Him doing, as He leads us by His Spirit every day. Jesus said, If any man will be My disciple,  he must deny himself every day, and take up his cross and follow Me. Do you do this? Do you start your day in prayer and the Word of God, denying yourself and your plans; your desires, laying them down before Him? Do you seek to take up your cross: the will of the Father for you, every day? Are you seeking to be led by the Holy Spirit every day? The Holy Spirit is given to us who obey Him, that He might teach us His Word, and lead us in doing it every day, in every situation. Do you build yourself up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit? Are you keeping yourself in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life? Are you always abounding in the work of the Lord that He has for you? Are you doing good, or are you doing evil? Remember, Jesus said, in Mat 7:21-23, Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness! 

Jesus also said, Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.