The Father Heart of God | Neil Chitty

Great.

It's good to be back.

It feels like it's been a long time, but it's only been two weeks.

But it feels longer.

Hope you've all had a good summer.

We had a great summer, so it's been nice.

Get away and just unwind.

I was just interested in doing worship, so this is not my sermon, but I just had a sense where we sang a song, come, Holy Spirit, you're all I want.

And if you can, and I had to question, is it what do you do when you want something?

Like there's times when I want a cup of tea.

So I've got to go and do something about it.

You know, so good to say I want a cup of tea.

And everything, okay, it's nice.

You go and make a cup of tea.

You know, there's lots of things I want, but if you really want it, you go and get it.

And I just want to encourage you that when we sing songs, go and do something about it.

You know, I want the Holy Spirit, but I've got to be thirsty for the Holy Spirit.

I've got to open my heart up for the Holy Spirit, and I just want to give an opportunity at the end of this sermon for us to go after the Holy Spirit and receive the Holy Spirit.

You know, as you know, when I first came to Harperton, one of the things that God said to me was, Neil, I want you to get out of the way, and I want you to allow me to be God amongst you.

And we must give time to get out of the way and say, Holy Spirit, come and do what you want to do.

This has got nothing to do with my sermon, it was just a freebie.

Okay.

So this morning I want to teach on probably my favorite subject in the whole wide world, and that's the father heart of God.

And um it's it's something which just resonates in me.

I think it's so fundamental to all that we are and all that we believe.

And I don't know if you women really I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I've noticed it.

See, when women are alone with the kids all day, they get so much done.

That's either with the kids or just generally in the house, go out for a day and leave the man of a house with the kids, it's a slightly different story.

So I just want to show a few photographs of when husbands have been left alone with the kids.

So there's the first one, next one.

Okay, so it's just a bit of like, yeah, I know, I know.

So um, but the great news is that we have the dad of all dads who is not irresponsible, but is absolutely wonderful in every single way.

And this morning, I want us to get a glimpse of what I believe is the most profound truth in the Bible, and if you can understand a fraction of this truth, it will change your life forever.

It just will.

And I'm gonna read from John 14.

This is a famous passage, but we need to hear it again.

Do not let your hearts be troubled.

You believe in God, believe also in me.

This is Jesus speaking.

My father's house has many rooms.

If that were not so, would I have told you that I'm going there to prepare a place for you?

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am.

You know the way to the place where I am going.

Thomas said to him, Lord, we don't know where you're going, so how can we know the way?

Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.

If you really know me, you will know my Father as well.

From now on, you do know him and have seen him.

Philip said, Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.

And Jesus answered, Don't you know me, Philip?

Even after I've been among you for such a long time.

Anyone who has seen me has seen the father.

How can you say, show us the father?

Don't you believe that I'm in the father and that the father is in me?

The words I say to you, I do not speak on my own.

Rather, it is the father living in me who is doing his work.

And this is one of those famous passages that we read again and again, but we get so familiar with, and it starts to lose its impact.

But the more you dig down into it, the more incredible it becomes.

Up until this point in history, God was only seen as the father to a nation, Israel.

Jews would never see God as their own personal father from an individual point of view.

This would have been seen as heretical and almost blasphemous.

However, Jesus blows this out of the water again and again.

Jesus refers to God as Father around 170 times across the four Gospels, and most of these times are in the Gospel of John, where he refers to God as Father over 100 times.

So if Jesus says it over 100 times in one book alone, we have to take notice.

And John 14 is a great place to get a good picture of this and a good place to see our position as followers of Jesus.

So the context of this passage is the Lord's Supper.

This is just before Jesus is arrested and crucified.

Judas is about to betray him, and Jesus announces in chapter 13 that he's about to leave them and that where he is going, they won't be able to follow yet.

Up until this point, they would follow Jesus everywhere.

Everywhere Jesus went, the disciples would follow.

But in this instance, they can't follow him because he's talking about his death.

And only Jesus could die the death that he was about to die.

So we see in John 14:1, Jesus telling his disciples not to be troubled.

John 14:1

Now, for Jesus to tell them not to be troubled would imply that they were troubled.

Makes sense.

If I said don't cry, you'll be crying.

Okay, so it just follows.

But the the word troubled from the Greek is the word terasso.

And the full definition is this to cause one inward commotion, to take away his calmness of mind, and to disturb his equanimity, to disquiet, to make restless, to stir up, to strike one's spirit with fear and dread, and to render anxious or distressed.

It means so much more than just troubled.

Jesus clearly sees that by telling the disciples that he's going to suffer and die, they are struck with fear and dread and are experiencing an inward commotion.

They were completely and utterly lost in that truth.

So he starts to explain more about what they are to expect.

Verse 2 My father's house has many rooms.

If that were not so, would I have told you that I'm going there to prepare a place for you?

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be there where I am.

And again, looking at the Greek, the word father here is the word Peter.

And it means the following the Father of Jesus Christ, as one whom God has united to himself in the closest bond of love and intimacy, made acquainted with his purposes, appointed to explain and carry out among men the plan of salvation, and made to share also in his own divine nature.

Jesus is declaring that he needs to go so that he can prepare rooms for the disciples in his father's house.

Just think about that for a moment.

Think about it.

Jesus is saying, My father has a house which has many rooms.

I'm going to prepare a room for you.

Once I've done that, I'm coming back for you, and you're going to live in my house.

And we are implicated in that.

If you're in Christ this morning, I don't think you're understanding.

Jesus has this incredibly intimate relationship with the Father.

It's close, it's tight, it's amazing.

Jesus is going back to the Father, but He's preparing a place for you and me in that house.

And as the chapter goes on, we realize that this isn't a house for lodgers.

Okay?

We're not going to be a lodger in the house of God.

We are going to be invited to be part of his family.

I'll say that again, because I'm not sure you're getting this.

We are going to be taken by Jesus into the house of God to be part of his family.

Not as lodgers.

Okay.

Over the years, we've had various people living in our house.

Some have been friends, and some have been people we don't know, but they've needed to stay somewhere for a bit.

For those in the last category, we set clear boundaries in the house.

I don't know about you, but there are certain things that I love to eat.

I think the truth is that we all have our guilty pleasures when it comes to food.

Now turn to the person next to you and tell them what your favorite food is, something that you just long to eat when you get home from a hard day.

So do that just for a few seconds.

Don't be embarrassed.

Admit all your favorite food is.

Okay, okay, right.

I know you're getting hungry now.

Maybe that was a mistake, you're all distracted.

But let's let's just turn back.

Now imagine you have that item in your cupboard or in the fridge or wherever you keep it at home.

I know some people amongst us hide their food because it's their favorite food.

I'm not looking at anybody.

And imagine you've been looking forward to eating that food all day.

And then you come home one day, and the lodger is sitting in.

I know it's traumatic for some.

The lodger is sitting in your kitchen tucking into your prized item that you've been looking forward to all day.

Now, let's be honest, how would you be feeling at that moment?

Now it maybe it's just me, but I confess I'd be pretty upset, and I'd probably have some sharp words with said lodger.

Now I know it's not very godly or mature, but I'm just admitting how I'd probably react, and maybe you're just more holy than I am.

I'll let the Holy Spirit decide that.

You see, the truth is a lodger doesn't have the same rights in my home that my family has.

If I'd come home and one of my family members was tucking into my favorite food, I would probably be a little bit sad.

But actually, it's totally fine because I love them and it's totally fine for them to eat it.

Okay, I'll probably go and buy another one.

But anyway, but the reality is my family have free reign in the house.

You know, if my kids say, Oh, could I have something?

I'd be going, What are you talking about?

This is your home, you are free.

The reality is, God the Father wants to include us in his family.

That we have every right and access to everything in his kingdom that his beloved son has.

Amen.

But how many of us live like that?

We say we're free, but are we free?

Look, I could go on and on and on about this point for hours.

But I need to move on to actually my main point.

And it's this.

So verse 4 of our passage says, Jesus says this, you know the way to the place where I'm going.

Thomas said to him, Lord, we don't know where you're going.

So how can we know the way?

And Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.

If you really know me, you will know my Father as well.

From now on, you do know him and have seen him.

Philip said, Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.

And Jesus answered, Don't you know me, Philip?

Even after I've been among you such a long time.

Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.

At this point, the disciples are completely baffled by Jesus.

They don't understand what's going on, they just can't get their heads around the fact that Jesus is saying that he's going to die.

They're still believing that he's the warrior king and messiah.

I mean, Peter turns up in the garden with a sword because he thinks this is the time.

This is when Jesus is going to overthrow the Roman government.

This is it, this is the revolution.

But Jesus is on a different mission and so tells them that they know the way to the place where he's going.

And Thomas says, Look, we don't even know where you're going.

How can we know the way?

And then Jesus makes this famous declaration I am the way and the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.

If you already know me, you will know my Father as well.

From now on, you do know me and have seen him.

Now you need to understand that what Jesus is saying here would have absolutely scrambled their heads.

This is revolutionary and 100% vital to theirs and our faith.

Jesus is explicitly saying that they already know the Father and have seen him.

Now, if he was talking about seeing the Father in person and knowing him on a one-to-one basis, then he's clearly wrong.

The disciples have never actually met the Father, let alone had any interaction with him.

So what is Jesus getting at?

Well, in verse 9, he says, Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.

And the word seen isn't a physiological act of seeing, but the Greek defines it as to see with the mind, to perceive, to become acquainted with by experience.

Now we all have physical traits of our parents to some degree.

Recently, my family have commented that I look just like my mum when I make certain facial expressions.

There is something in my physical appearance that reflects similar aspects to my mum's appearance.

Okay?

There's my wonderful mum.

And you can see a slight resemblance there.

Obviously, slightly older.

But you wouldn't have a clue about what my mum is like with regards to her character or personality by looking at me.

See, I find twins fascinating.

You can have two people who look identical, and you might not be able to tell them apart, but their character and personality might be completely different.

One might be introvert, the other is extrovert.

One might be really artistic, one may be purely academic, one may be the funniest person on earth, the other might be the most serious person on earth.

What's my point?

Look, Jesus isn't saying that my father looks exactly like me.

He's got long hair, he has a beard, he's got the same shaped nose, the same color eyes, and so on.

What he's saying is look at my character.

Look at the way I behave, the way that I treat people, the way that I love people, the way that I stop for the one, the way that I heal all that come to me, the way I weep over loved ones, the way I welcome small children, the way I care for the widows, the way I wash people's feet, the way I forgive prostitutes, tax collectors, and sinners, the way that I love those who everyone else shuns and despises, and so the list goes on.

Everything you see in me, that's what the father's like.

Amen.

Everything you see in Jesus is exactly what the father's like.

So many people say to me, I don't believe in God, He's a God of judgment and anger and throws lightning bolts down to earth.

No, no, that's not a God that's for.

Okay, and I would say to Maria, I don't believe in that God either.

I believe in the God that I see in Jesus Christ.

That's who the Father is.

Hebrews 1 says this the Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being.

And the phrase exact representation is from the Greek word character, and it means the following the exact expression or image of any person or thing, marked likeness, precise reproduction in every respect.

Jesus is saying that he is the exact expression of the Father, or the precise reproduction of the Father.

And we need to understand in the context of Jewish culture, this has to be the biggest and most seismic revelation that any Jewish person could ever hear.

Do you understand?

This is revolutionary.

This is mind-blowingly crazy.

That Jesus is saying, I am the exact representation of the Father.

Everything you see in me, in the way that I behave, is exactly what the Father's like.

In 1 Peter 1, it says this in verse 10, concerning the salvation, the prophets who spoke of the grace that was to come to you searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow.

It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit, sent him from heaven.

Even angels look into these things.

We see from scripture that for centuries and centuries the prophets long to know the revelation that is seen in Jesus Christ.

It says, even the angels long to see it.

Yet we have been given it.

We've been revealed this incredible salvation.

Jesus' number one mission was to reveal the Father and to make a way for us to know Him.

Grace upon grace is being given to us.

Listen, if you get hold of this revelation, it will change you forever.

It is the best thing you'll ever hear.

The biggest issue that I come across in pastoral care is the impact and pain that people encounter because of their relationship with their parents, particularly the father.

And we're living in a society where about 50% of households have no father.

And it's increasing.

People struggle with the concept of God being father because of their own experience.

And I want to say to you that God the Father is nothing like our earthly parents.

My dad was great, he is great.

I love him, but he wasn't a perfect father.

And I've had to deal with some of the issues in my walk with God because of my experience of my earthly father.

I love him, I honor him, but he was lacking because he was only taught how to be father by his father and his father goes back.

And you may be here today and you struggle with understanding who the father is.

You can relate to the Holy Spirit and you can relate to Jesus, but relating to God as Father is difficult.

That's why this passage is so vital.

Because the father that you think you know isn't the father of the Bible.

Jesus is the exact representation of the Father.

You see, so many Christians view the Father as this awful authoritarian God that's unpredictable, or as judge and punisher, or as a distant figure who is largely absent, or they see him as an angry God, and you never know how he's going to react to you if you feel you've done something wrong.

And when you do things well, you think the father's going to say, Yeah, but what about the thing you did wrong?

And it's so vital that we look very closely at Jesus and recognize that if any of those aspects I just mentioned regarding how we view the Father isn't seen in Jesus, then you're believing a lie.

Does that make sense?

Was Jesus unpredictable?

Would he suddenly fly off the handle if the disciples got it wrong?

Was he a judge?

Was he a punisher?

No, he was none of those things.

Was he harsh?

No.

It doesn't mean he wasn't holy, it doesn't mean that he condoned sin, but he was so loving.

And I want to look at a few passages and then I'm going to close.

Because I want you to understand the way that Jesus treated people was the way that the Father treated people.

Because everything Jesus did, he did because the Father was in him.

Does that make sense?

So, firstly, there's a woman who was caught in adultery, and all the Pharisees were ready to stone her.

And Jesus comes along and says, Okay, anyone's without sin, you throw the first stone.

And one by one they drop their stones and they walked off in shame.

And Jesus is there with the woman.

And what's he say to her?

Who condemns you?

I don't condemn you.

Go and sin no more.

And you may be here this morning and you feel condemned, you feel shame, you feel I've blown it again and again.

I've blown it.

Jesus stands before you and says, I don't condemn you.

Just go and sin no more.

And because Jesus said it, that's exactly how the Father says it.

The Father stands in front of you and says, I don't condemn you.

I don't condemn you.

Barmaeus in Mark four Mark 10.

Jesus comes up to Bartimaeus.

He's shouting at the top of his voice, feeling very noisy, disturbing what's a very nice day.

Everyone hands going to chush, we leave.

Just pipe down.

What does Jesus do?

He calls him up, stands in front of him, and says, What would you like me to do for you?

I want to see.

And he's healed.

That's what the father's like.

When you start shouting, God have mercy, the father stops in front of you and says, How can I help?

That doesn't make sense.

The God of the universe, the God who created everything, the awesome God stops in front of me and asks me what I want.

Yes.

That's how much he loves you.

That's how much he cares for you.

Some mates have a friend, he's paralyzed, and they lower him down through a roof, again disturbing Jesus.

He's in full flow.

Debris everywhere.

And he's lying there.

And Jesus says, My child, your sins are forgiven.

First and foremost, he restores relationship before he heals.

That's the father.

He says to you, child, son, daughter, your sins are forgiven.

I've removed the barrier between me and you.

You can know me.

Mark five.

Then the frightened woman, trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell to her knees in front of him and told him what she had done.

Why did she tremble?

Why was she scared?

Because her view of God was a God of punishment and judgment.

She had been bleeding for so long.

She thought that was because of her situation, her wrongs.

So she's terrified.

Jesus says, Daughter, your faith has made you well.

Go in peace.

This is the Father.

Do you understand?

Everything you see in Jesus is the Father.

The exact representation.

So however you're feeling this morning, whatever your view of the Father is, I want you to look at Jesus again and understand He is so full of grace, so full of compassion, so wanting you to know Him in a personal way.

I could go on and read so many passages about Jesus.

Even at the end of John, it says, these are just some of the things that are written.

If everything was written about Jesus, it would fill the whole world.

And I've just told you three or four.

Because Jesus wants you to know the Father.

He wants you to understand who the Father is.

And next week I'm going to look at our position.

So I'm looking at God at the moment as the Father.

Next week I want to look at our position as children.

Because I think many of us battle with what's called the orphan spirit.

I'm going to unpack that because I believe that God wants to deal with issues in our lives which act as a barrier between us and God.

But I'm going to finish with one more passage.

And this again blows my mind.

Jesus is hanging on the cross, being abused, being shouted at.

And in verse 40, it says, But the other criminal protested, Don't you fear God?

Even when you've been sentenced to die?

We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn't done anything wrong.

And then he said to Jesus, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

And Jesus replied, I assure you today you will be with me in paradise.

Understand that.

Today you'll be with me in paradise.

Didn't get baptized, didn't read his Bible, didn't pray, didn't do any of that, but Jesus welcomes him.

And because Jesus welcomes him, that's the heart of the Father.

So you may be here today and you don't know Jesus.

You may have done some terrible things in your life, like all of us.

But Jesus says, if you put your faith in me today, you'll know what it's like to have eternal life.

It's that simple.

Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord.

Believe that he rose again from the dead, and you will be saved.

And I'd love to pray with you at the end if you're here this morning and you don't know Jesus.

So some of you here this morning may struggle to relate to God as father, as I said, due to previous experiences, either with your parents or it may be another authority figure that has deeply affected your view of him as father.

And I want you to know that there is help available.

I remember a few years ago, I was in a meeting or at a conference about deliverance and looking at the whole thing about things in our lives that need to be dealt with.

And Sonia turned to me and said, I think you need some prayer.

I went, Oh, okay.

I'm open.

Because Sonia saw something in me which I think needed to be removed.

So I met up with a guy called Simon Holly, who leads a church up in Bedford.

I didn't have a clue why I needed prayer, but I thought I'd explore it because I want to be free.

And so Simon sat with me and he just started asking me questions.

And I answered him.

And then he said this really interesting thing.

He said, Um, how was your relationship with your parents?

And I said, Oh, it's it was pretty good, but you know, wasn't perfect, and and he said, Oh, so imagine you're in your house back in the day, and what was your dad normally doing?

I said, It was normally either reading the paper or watching sport on TV, and it was very hard to interrupt him or get involved really because he was kind of fixed on that.

And he said, Okay, imagine one of your kids is sitting on the carpet, and what would you want your dad to be doing with your child?

I said, I'd want him to be on the carpet playing and interacting and saying that he loved them.

He said, What would Neil as a five-year-old want from your dad?

And that was it, I lost it.

Because that was me.

I said, I just wanted him to tell me that he loved me and to play with me and just uh interact with me.

And he said, and that's exactly what a father's like, though.

And he prayed for me, and I was a hot mess.

I cried for a long time because I realized that I'd projected my father onto my heavenly father, and once that was dealt with and prayed for, I felt a freedom like I've never known before.

And so none of us are beyond prayer, none of us are beyond dealing with stuff in our lives.

I know 70 and 80-year-old people who are still living to please their mums and dads, even though they've been dead for a long time, because they were told by their parents they'd never come to much, or that they were useless, or even though you got an A, why didn't you get an A?

And so they'd be living a life trying to please their parents.

But the reality is we already please the Father, He He accepts us just as we are because of what Christ has done.

That Jesus took our shame, Jesus took all the stuff, it's all been taken, but we still we still battle with it because we can't quite believe it's true.

So I would really encourage you to seek God for some prayer.

I would love to pray for you.

I I find that this is such a fundamental area, you know.

If that was Jesus's main goal was to reveal the Father and bring us into his presence, then surely that's what we must go after.

Amen.

And next week we'll go a bit deeper.

And I know it's it's hard, and I know some of you are feeling that pain at the moment, and we're going to go a bit deeper next week because I think God wants to give specific areas.

I I know that I I suffer from the orphan spirit, and I'll give you a little hint of what that looks like for me, and I've I'm growing in this.

And the revelation came at a few years ago, me and Sonia had gone for breakfast at a pub.

And um, you you could either choose a on this step menu of but you could either have a cup of tea or an orange juice, and I thought to myself, I would like a cup of tea and an orange juice, but it seems a bit extravagant, and in my mind, I'm thinking, I don't deserve to have both.

I know it's weird, but I thought I can't do it's I can't spend money on both drinks.

And sorry, kind of just what are you talking about?

If you want an orange juice as well as a cup of tea, have it.

But but in me, there's this thing because growing up, you got what you got, you know, like once something was gone, it was gone.

And the idea of having we didn't have much, so the idea, so I had to break through that that orphan spirit of saying, Ashley, I'm worth a cup of tea and an orange juice, and even though you think you could, but we're like that.

Even okay, I'll give you another example because I want you to understand the journey I've been on.

So I remember making myself a sandwich.

Now, growing up again, you know, my parents didn't have much, so they bought the ham for the week.

Once the ham was gone, the ham was gone.

You had to wait for next Friday for a shop.

So I'm sitting there with my sandwich, and I've got this salami, which I love, and um, I've put two bits of salami in the bread, which just kind of covered most of it, and I thought to myself, I want four bits of salami because I actually want to taste it.

So, do you know what?

I thought, I'm gonna put four bits of salami in my bread.

Now that was breakthrough, it's a small illustration, but maybe some of you can relate to it.

Some of you may be something different.

What I'm saying is that God is a lavish God, He's a God of abundance.

It's like He says, Listen, I've got a I've got a room for you, and there's a big fridge in the house, and you can open it at any time, and you can have what you want because you're my son, you're my daughter, you have the right, you're not a lodger in my kingdom.

Amen.

So we're gonna respond now, and this may be the start of a journey for you.

This may be a start of a journey, but I think we need to physically respond to God this morning.

That if you know that there are aspects in your life that you think actually God needs to deal with that in order for me to be free in his kingdom, then I'm gonna ask you to come forward and just come quietly before God.

I'm not gonna pray for you, no one's gonna pray for you this week, okay?

Because some of these things I think take one-to-one times sessions, and there are people in the church who will pray for you, okay, in these areas.

But this is a start.

This is you saying, I wanna I want to see breakthrough in this area because it's a huge area, it's the most important area, and for you, there may be things that I've touched on, and you're thinking, ouch, that really hurts.

Then the way you acknowledge it is standing up and coming forward.

Listen, we're family together, and there's no shame about walking forward.

It's again, it's a whole thing of if you want something, then you have to do something about it.

Okay, if if you're wanting a deeper relationship with the father, then I want you to respond by just coming forward.

There's lots of space at the front here, and just stand for me.

Say, God, whatever you've got for me, whatever you want to do in me, whatever you have for me, I want it.

Okay, because he says, My fridge is open.

My fridge is open, my home is open to you.

But I want you to walk.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

Anyone who opens his door, I will come in and eat with him.

It's wonderful.