Grace Fellowship Church www Grace Doctrine org PastorTeacher

Grace Fellowship Church www. Grace. Doctrine. org Pastor/Teacher Jim Rickard Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Doxology Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. — Amen.

Memory Verse 2 Tim 2: 4, “No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. ”

John 15: 18 -21 Obstructions to Divine Good Production: Reason #1: Satan’s Cosmic System hates the believer! Reason #2: We are not of this world-Election out from the World! Reason #3: “The servant is not greater than his Lord, ” therefore we too will have persecutions! Reason #4: “The Cosmos does not know God and is ignorant to His Plan. ”

John 15: 21, “But all these things, (persecutions), they will do to you all for the sake of My name. Because they inherently do not know the One (God the Father) who sent Me. ”

Doctrine of God the Father

Father qu Co -E ite fin -In Co al Planner Co-Eternal Son Holy Spirit Executor Enabler

Major Attributes of God • • • Sovereignty Righteous Justice Love Eternal Life • • • Omniscience Omnipotent Omnipresence Immutable Veracity

III. God the Father st A. The 1 person of the Trinity is identified as “Father”.

B. The title “Father” designates His relationship to: 1. The Trinity as the 1 st Person. 2. Jesus Christ. 3. The believer. 4. The Jewish nation. 5. The universe. 6. The Angles. 7. Man.

C. The distinctive Fatherhoods of God include:

1. Fatherhood over creation. (Universal Fatherhood) 2. Fatherhood over Israel. (National Fatherhood) 3. The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Eternal Fatherhood) 4. Fatherhood over all who believe. (Relational Fatherhood)

God the Father’s Relationship to Jesus Christ

God the Father’s Relationship to Jesus Christ Eternity Past Eternity Future [Deity of Jesus Christ]

God the Father’s Relationship to Jesus Christ Eternity Past Eternity Future [Deity of Jesus Christ] (The 1 st Person has always been and will be the Father of the 2 nd Person in Deity. )

God the Father’s Relationship to Jesus Christ Eternity Past Eternity Future [Deity of Jesus Christ] (The 1 st Person has always been and will be the Father of the 2 nd Person in Deity. ) (The 1 st Person has never been and will never be the God of the 2 nd Person in Deity. )

God the Father’s Relationship to Jesus Christ [Humanity of Jesus Christ] Eternity Past Eternity Future [Deity of Jesus Christ] (The 1 st Person has always been and will be the Father of the 2 nd Person in Deity. ) (The 1 st Person has never been and will never be the God of the 2 nd Person in Deity. )

God the Father’s Relationship to Jesus Christ Virgin Birth Resurrection Ascension & Session [Humanity of Jesus Christ] Eternity Past Eternity Future [Deity of Jesus Christ] (The 1 st Person has always been and will be the Father of the 2 nd Person in Deity. ) (The 1 st Person has never been and will never be the God of the 2 nd Person in Deity. )

God the Father’s Relationship to Jesus Christ Virgin Birth Resurrection Ascension & Session [Humanity of Jesus Christ] (The 1 st Person became the God and Father of only the humanity of Jesus Christ at the Virgin birth. ) Eternity Past Eternity Future [Deity of Jesus Christ] (The 1 st Person has always been and will be the Father of the 2 nd Person in Deity. ) (The 1 st Person has never been and will never be the God of the 2 nd Person in Deity. )

God the Father’s Relationship to Jesus Christ The 1 st Person is the God and Father of the Humanity of Jesus Christ, yet only the Father of the Deity of Jesus Christ.

4. Fatherhood over all who Believe, (Relational Fatherhood):

This aspect of the divine Fatherhood is a most intimate relationship and abiding reality.

There is a subtle difference between generation and regeneration.

Generation is the begetting of life which is the starting point of physical existence.

While regeneration is the begetting of spiritual life which is the starting point of spiritual existence.

Jesus distinguished the difference between the two when evangelizing the Pharisee Nicodemus in John 3: 1 -7.

Peter reiterated the significance of regeneration compared to generation in 1 Peter 1: 3, 23 -25 a.

Paul signified the difference of the regenerated spiritual life in 2 Cor 5: 17.

2 Cor 5: 17, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. ”

a. God’s Word testifies that men in their natural estate of generation are spiritually dead until born again (regeneration).

b. Being born again gives the impartation of the Divine nature to the believer.

c. Men are either perfectly lost, being unregenerate, or perfectly saved, being regenerate as to their relation to God.

d. Regeneration is one of the 40 things God provides the believer at the moment of salvation.

e. Being regenerated is made possible by God the Holy Spirit and results in legitimate Fatherhood on the part of God, and legitimate sonship on the part of the one who believes.

f. This sonship, though it brings the believer into the position of an heir of God and a joint-heir with Christ, is not the same as the Sonship of Christ which is from all eternity.

1) Christ never used the phrase “our Father”, other than when instructing believers how to pray in Mat 6. 9.

2) He spoke of “my Father, and your Father; my God, and your God. ”

3) Paul spoke of “our Father”, in opening or closing salutations, etc. , Rom 1: 7; 1 Cor 1: 3; 2 Cor 1: 2; Gal 1: 3; Eph 1: 2; Phil 1: 2; 4: 20; Col 1: 2; 1 Thes 1: 1; 3: 11, 13; 2 Thes 2: 16; Phile 1: 3.

g. Regeneration is God’s own plan by which the lost may enter into that relation to Himself which is infinitely near and real.

h. Everyone who is born of God has become a son of God in the most vital and immutable meaning of sonship.

And he has been received into the household and family of God. Mat 5: 9; Luke 20: 36; John 14: 2; Rom 8: 14 -19; Gal 3: 26

i. The regenerate one may say as Christ did in Mark 14: 36, “Abba Father”, a term of filial relation. Rom 8: 14 -17; Gal 4: 6 -7

Grace Fellowship Church Tuesday, November 23, 2010 Tape # 10 -129 Obstructions to Divine Good Production, Part 24 (Not Knowing God) God the Father, Part 4 Upper Room Discourse, Part 443 John 15: 21; 3: 1 -7; Rom 8: 14 -17; 1 Peter 1: 23 -25 James H. Rickard Bible Ministries 2010