Week of Meetings 03 Son Finds Fathers Family — John W. Bramhall

Well, what a joy it will be when, throughout all eternity, we shall be praising the Lord. And what a blessing it will be when the earth will be filled with the praises of Jehovah. Shall we turn again to the Gospel of John tonight?

The Father's Family Revealed in John's Gospel

I'd like to read three scripture portions from this Gospel of John, first of all in chapter eleven, then in chapter one, and last in chapter twenty. John eleven, commencing to read at verse forty-seven,.

Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? For this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him, and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.

And one of them named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.

And this spake he not of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation, and not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.

Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death. John chapter one, please, reading verse twelve and thirteen. We might read verse eleven, and the context will be clearly connected.

Chapter one of John, verse eleven, twelve, and thirteen. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power, the right, the privilege, or the authority to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.

Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John chapter twenty, please, the seventeenth verse of chapter twenty, and the words of the Lord Jesus as he spoke them to Mary, Mary Magdalene in the garden.

Jesus said unto her, Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my father, but go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my father and your father, and to my God and your God. May the Lord bless the reading and the hearing of his precious words.

May we repeat the wonderful theme that we are seeking to carry out through these evening messages, concerning God the Father and his family, with the deep joy of soul as well as heart, to realize in the message of the preceding evening, the wonderful truth that the revelation of the Father came by the coming of the Son into this world.

For we thank God that he came, sent by the Father to reveal the heart of the Father, and to bring the revelation of the Father's heart and the Father's character to mankind. I think it's a great privilege, and I say this humbly but I do say it gratefully, to be living at such a time of human history when we, by the grace of God, can be brought to know God as Father.

There is no question of doubt that many of the Old Testament saints had fellowship with God that was intimate and glorious, but I believe when we come this side of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ into this world, and particularly his death upon the cross, what joy it is to realize that everyone today can be brought into a place and a relationship of intimacy with the Father such as our Lord Jesus Christ came to reveal.

None of the Old Testament saints, as we shall see tonight, God willing, could ever address him as such, for it was not until the Son came that the Father's heart and the Father's character could be revealed.

Many revelations of God had been given, but the fullness of the revelation of God the Father could not be given, and did not appear until the Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, came to declare him.

We saw last night that by his words and by his works he had completely revealed the Father. Every word that he spoke was indeed motivated and originated from the Father. Every work indeed that he performed also originated from the Father's will, and when he expired upon the cross and said in the words that John has recorded in John 19 and verse 30, it is finished.

There was much accomplished when those words were uttered in the expiry, but we know for surety that when he said those words, the Father's will concerning his Son and the revelation that he brought to the earth was completed.

Nothing can be added, nothing can be done to take away from it, nor even to add to it. The words of the wise man in Ecclesiastes 3 and verse 14 are so fitting, when he wrote, I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever.

Nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it, and God doeth it that men may fear before him. It is a work, thank God, of eternal and divine perfection. It is a work that is without any human or angelic intervention, and it has been a work that is entirely for human appreciation on the behalf of mankind.

And, O blessed be God, the Father's heart has been declared, revealed, exhibited, and displayed by the coming of the Son into this world. We noted last night, in relation to the believer as we close, that what Jesus said in John 14, verse 6, in the context, you have come to the Father, you know the Father, and you have seen the Father.

Christ's Death and the Gathering of the Father's Family

Tonight, we'd like to look in detail on how the Father obtained his family. For you and I who were redeemed have been brought into that family by grace divine. How did and how does the Father obtain the family?

If you will note with me in John 11, from whence we read, a most peculiar but a blessed context concerning the purpose of the death of Christ. For it is following the great miracle of the raising of Lazarus that the Pharisees and the rulers, the Sanhedrin, recognized that they were in a great perplexity, for the miracle that he had performed, one of the greatest, indicated that the people, perhaps, would forcefully make him a king, which they had once attempted.

And the Pharisees realized, together with the ruling priests, that unless they did something with the Lord Jesus, their nation may be sacrificed. Their race may be exterminated by the Roman power. And they gathered together in council to thus know what to do with this one.

None of them knew just what to do, until Caiaphas, the highest priest of that year, very boldly, and very insolently, and perhaps insultingly, said to the rest, You know nothing at all. And then followed, with a diabolical plot, a political expediency, to say, Neither do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.

And this man, who was the high priest of God's earthly people, suggested for political expediency the plotting of the death of the Son of God, in order to prevent the nation from being exterminated. But the very act that he caused to be performed brought about the very judgment that God intended to bring upon His people for the rejection of His beloved Son.

But note the words of Caiaphas. As you read down, if you will please, in verse fifty-one, as John writes, and John adds in verse fifty-one and fifty-two, that the words of the high priest were words of prophetic intent.

This said he not of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation. Now that was the obvious purpose in the mind and in the heart of the high priest and the conspirators of that day.

That Jesus should die. And die for that nation, rather than have the nation destroyed. But will you note John's words in the introduction of that fifty-first verse? This said he not of himself. The words that he had uttered, behind them was the purpose of God.

Behind them was the will of God. And John goes on to explain in verse fifty-two, and not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.

Let me read those words carefully to you again. Not that he should die only for that nation, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. Now may I correlate the thoughts that we had in our preceding message with this verse and the subject before it tonight.

How a study of the preceding night was in relation to the revelation of the Father. How that the Son of God came and made a complete revelation of the Father, His person, His character, His heart. And to reveal the Father, and He did so completely and fully.

Tonight from this scripture, in verse fifty-two, we learn that there was another purpose. For the death of the Lord Jesus was not only the confirmation of the Father's revelation of Himself in Christ, and by Christ, and through Christ, but the purpose of the death of His Son was also that the Father may obtain His family, or the joy of realizing that it was only through the death of Christ, the Beloved Son, the Father could obtain the family, the children could be brought to the Father.

As thus in this scene, the children must be sought, they must be found, they must be gathered, and thus brought to the Father through His Beloved Son. Look with me in John ten, please. Let me read verse sixteen in John ten, and see some words our Saviour uttered in the preceding chapter, the sixteenth verse of John chapter ten.

In verse fifteen, the Lord Jesus has said, As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, as there shall be one fold, better translated, there shall be one flock and one shepherd.

The Lord Jesus knew, not only for the sheep that He had, but for the sheep that He must yet gather, He would lay down His life. That the flock might be one, whether from the Jewish population of the world, or from the Gentile nation, He must gather together in one, the children of God, which were scattered abroad.

And there is a significant fact, that by the death of God's Beloved Son, the family scattered throughout the nation, scattered throughout the Christian centuries, have to be gathered together, through the virtue and value of the death of Christ.

He must seek them, He must find them, He must bring them, till the Father had His children. One cannot help but think of those words, quoted in Hebrews two, from the old prophecy of Isaiah, where we read, Behold, I am the children, which thou hast given me.

And to recognize, and living at the sight, this twofold fact, He came not only to reveal the Father's heart, but He came to gather the Father's children, and bring them, in that one family, to the Father's bosom, and to the Father's home, in eternal glory.

Hallelujah for such a one, and for such a Savior, who came to accomplish the Father's will. But how does the Father obtain the family, in detail? It can only be through that Beloved Son. But go with me to John chapter one, please, from whence we read.

Receiving Christ and Becoming Children of God

John chapter one, let me read in verse eleven, and verse twelve, what we have before us, first of all. In John one eleven and verse twelve, we have undoubtedly, the division of the human race, as John presents it in this gospel.

And the division of the people in that day, when He lived. In verse eleven, John said He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. And here we have a classification of rejecters. Those who undoubtedly were God's earthly people, primarily.

He came unto His own people, and His own received Him not. The revelation of the Father, the revelation of the Father's heart, the revelation of the Father's salvation, in and through Christ, they refused.

They rejected. When they refused Him, when they rejected Him, they rejected His Father. But then, there were those who received Him. And to as many as received Him, to them gave He the power, the right, the privilege, to become the sons or the children of God, even to them that believe on His name.

And then you may recognize, though there are rejecters, there are others who are receivers of this blessed One who came to reveal His Father's heart. And thank God, there are those, even today, who have received Him, and have thus been brought into the family of God through the reception of that blessed Son.

Well, beloved, I hope that every one of us can truthfully say, I belong to the company that has received Him, and not rejected Him. But go further with me, please. For there's an important truth that we must follow in verse 13, as John goes on to write, Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Now, may I point out to you very carefully, the process or the manner by which we become the children of God. The process by which we are made the children of God, and become His children. It's an important thing.

We do not believe, as some would teach, what may be called the brotherhood of man, and that we're all the children of God by natural birth. We're all the creatures of God by natural birth. But we cannot all be called the children of God unless we have been born of God.

Now, you note those words, as John tells of those who have received the Son. Which were born. Which were born, and at the end of the verse, of God. O Beloved, we belong to the Father, we're born into His family.

And what a joy to recognize. It is the power of the new birth that we have been brought into this relationship that is ours as children of God in His family. Every one of them have been born into His family.

And note carefully, it is not by any natural origin. We're not born of blood, that rules not the power of the natural man, nor of the will of the flesh, that rules not the will of the natural man, nor of the will of man, completely ruled out.

Blood and flesh and human nature, ruled out. We must be born of God. What a joy it is to realize. The Father desired that everyone who would be in His family would be there for His own satisfaction and joy, they would be born into His family.

Born of God. You know, it's amazing to realize the Father wanted a family. And it is amazing to recognize that from whence He determined He would obtain the family. And with what joy we can say with John, behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of the children of God.

That the Father's love wanted children. And before the foundation of the world, as Paul tells in Ephesians 1, the desire of the Father's heart was to have a family of children, born into His family, born of God, possessing His own life, possessing His own nature, and possessing the propensity of knowing they should indeed in all potential development be like Him, and someday they would be fully like Him in the likeness of His beloved Son.

O Beloved, please let me go back in this manner. God wanted us, God wanted the children, and determined He would bring to birth a family for Himself. I'm so glad He wanted me to realize the determined purpose of God before the foundation of the world.

He wanted the family. And He chose the beloved Son to obtain that family and from the ruined creation of Adam's race, the joy of realizing the mighty power and determined purpose of that great God and Father to obtain the family.

The New Birth Through Faith in Christ

Now would you note two things are said of how He makes us His children in these two verses, 12 and 13. Would you note? I want you to note something in verse 12 first. As many as received Him to them gave He power, authority, right or privilege to become the sons or the children of God even to them that believe on His name.

Now may I point out to you that they have received the person of the Son and they have believed on His name. That was the obvious purpose of the whole Gospel of John being written from John 20 and verse 31.

These things, many other things did Jesus we know but these things are written that ye might know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through His name. And receiving Him and believing on His name we have thus been brought into the family.

But will you note this? Verse 13 tells that everyone that's been brought into the family everyone that has received Christ everyone that has believed upon Him has been born of God. The actual new birth is a sovereign act of God.

The implantation of a new life. The implantation of God's life. Beloved let me worship for just a moment with you to realize when you and I passed from death unto life when you and I by the responsibility that God laid upon us willingly, voluntarily yielded our will to choose and to accept His Son and the work of that Son for our redemption we gave evidence that we were born of God.

Nicodemus came to the Lord Jesus in chapter 3 and you remember Nicodemus as he stood before the Lord Jesus who was told except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God except a man be born again he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus said how can a man be born again? And then the Lord Jesus told him that which is born of the flesh is flesh that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit marvel not that I say unto you ye must be born again.

And Nicodemus kept asking how and except a man be born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God he was told O beloved the mysterious work of the Spirit of God is accomplished by divine power through His own power and the agency of the Word of God the one who regenerates and gives life is the Holy Spirit.

The divine agency that He uses to bring us to birth is the seed of the Word of God born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever. And thank God for the Spirit of God and thank God for the Word of God which is divinely used by the Spirit to implant the divine seed of God's life.

May I please emphasize. This life which God gives is divine. This life which God gives is eternal. This life which God gives is everlasting. It is indestructible it is indissoluble it is impregnable it can never be destroyed.

And O beloved to recognize this divine life becomes yours and mine when thus by faith we acknowledge the Son of God and His revelation of the Father's love and the work of that wondrous cross that has revealed it fully.

What a joy to realize what it means. For without it the soul could never be brought into the family. And the soul that is brought to have faith in Christ thus is brought into the family of God. Nicodemus wondered how it could be done.

But may I point out to you how the Lord Jesus went to the heart of the matter with Nicodemus. Remember when Nicodemus kept saying how can these things be. How can these things be. The Lord Jesus said to Nicodemus as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

That is how Nicodemus you must be born again. The Son of Man must be lifted up. And the revelation of that love that led the Son to give Himself for the redemption of Nicodemus was indicated by the reference to the Old Testament incident.

Lifted up was He to die. It is finished was His cry. And whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life. I cannot understand how the Spirit moves. I cannot describe how the Spirit gives life but I do know this.

I know my responsibility and yours is to believe upon that One whom the Father has sent the Lord Jesus goes on with Nicodemus to say for God so loved the world that whosoever believeth in Him and gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Divine Grace, Redemption, and Everlasting Life

Nicodemus that is how and beloved. How precious to realize you and I who are in the family were brought by divine grace and divine power to acknowledge that blessed One the Son of God who came to reveal the Father's heart to do the Father's will to accomplish the provision of an eternal redemption.

And you and I place our faith and rested in Him alone. And all that He has done and become the children of God it is with divine authority. And note the twelfth verse of our chapter. Again it is with divine authority that you and I can say as many as receive Him.

May I emphasize the great truth of what it means to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not merely the mental agreement to what we hear about Him and know of Him but it is the actual reflection of His person to as many as receive Him.

To them gave He power to become the sons or the children of God even to them that believe in His name. Now go to John 20 from whence we read at the end of the book and the words of the Lord Jesus. And may I point out the words of the Lord Jesus that must have thrilled His soul as He spoke them to Mary in this twentieth chapter in verse seventeen please when to Mary the Lord Jesus said touch me not for I am not yet ascended to my father but go to my brethren and say unto them I ascend unto my father and your father to my God and your God.

May I point out this is the first occasion the only first occasion that the Lord was able to say and did say to His disciples my father is now your father following His death His burial His resurrection the completion of the Father's will and the revelation of the Father's heart for the blessing and protection of mankind to His own.

He can now say my father is your father. And on the authority of His own blessed words we can be called and we are called the Father's children. And before the Father in relationship and conscious enjoyment the believer is being placed by the Lord Jesus the enjoyment that was the Son's precious privilege, the place of relationship which was the Son.

He was the Son of God. He was the Son of God the only begotten Son of God by grace divine and power divine. He has placed Himself in the relationship of sons too to bring us into the family of God that you and I might by the spirit of His Son be able to call Him Father.

What a joy. What a privilege to be able to call that blessed God eternal through God the Son and His Word our Father brought to pass by the death of that beloved one on the cross and our acceptance of His person and word and authorized to be children of God even to them that believe on His name.

Prayer for the Father's Children

Shall we pray. Father we thank Thee that through Thy Son His Word and the sovereign Spirit of God Thou hast obtained many children and Thou art still obtaining for Thyself many children. Father. You must have loved so many of us and we thank Thee for that love that's been expressed to the whole world but which now is particularly the special love of the children the love of the Father we can enjoy.

May this intimacy be enjoyed by each of us who know Thee as our own. And if anyone without the Savior may be without all that they may realize the joy that can be theirs if they'll come to Christ and through Him be brought to the Father in the relationship of children with their sins forgiven and a new life of God for we ask it in our Savior's name Amen.

Shall we sing in closing one verse of number 263 and I'll ask my brother to come and leave the song. Number 263 just sing the first verse.