Knowing The Father By Revelation — Zac Poonen

Knowing God as Our Heavenly Father

So, since many celebrate Father's Day, I thought I would speak something about that, about our Heavenly Father. Every day of our life, we must live in fellowship and in the knowledge of our Heavenly Father.

The Holy Spirit as Another Helper

And I think of what Jesus said in John 15, in relation to the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now, there's a lot of, you know, confusion concerning the fullness of the Holy Spirit and being baptized in the Holy Spirit, the different denominations.

Some say you must all speak in tongues and various different things. But I feel the most important, we don't devalue any of that, is that you've come to know God personally as your Father. And I'll tell you why I say that.

In John 15, the first time Jesus was telling his disciples about the gift of the Holy Spirit, how he was going to ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. He said in John 14, sorry, John 14 and verse 16.

This is just a few hours before he went to the cross, it was the last message. I will ask the Father and he'll give you another helper. Another means, who's the first one? Jesus himself. And you know, the disciples felt so comforted and relieved whenever Jesus was with them.

If there was a storm in the lake, or Jesus in the boat, no problem. There was no worry or anxiety. Thousands of people without food, no problem, Jesus is here. Sick people desperately in need, Jesus is here.

Imagine if Jesus was physically with them, they were completely free from anxiety, fear, how to solve this problem, he was a helper. And now he's saying, I'll pray for another helper. Another helper means someone exactly like Jesus.

In other words, the gift of the Holy Spirit, when the Holy Spirit comes, it's going to be exactly as if Jesus was there with you in any situation, any problem. Is it like that with you? If it's not, I'm not trying to condemn anybody, I would urge you, pray that you'll be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Being Filled with the Holy Spirit

You have to thirst for it. Jesus said, if any man thirsts, let him come to me, out of his innermost being rivers of living water will flow. We have the Holy Spirit when we are born again. You cannot be born again without the Holy Spirit.

If any man is not the Spirit of Christ, he doesn't belong to him. But there's a lot of difference between having the Holy Spirit and being filled with the Holy Spirit. Just like a house with 10 rooms can have light in one room, and you say, is there light in the house?

Yes. Is it filled with light? No. Most of the house is dark, but there is light. And many believers glory in the fact, yeah, yeah, I have the Holy Spirit. But brother, 90 of your house is dark. It's not the way God wants it to be.

And that's why there's anxiety. That's why you allow sin to continue in your life without dealing with it. The answer to every problem in the Christian life is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And he reveals God as the Father.

The Holy Spirit Removes the Fear of Orphanhood

Now listen to this. This helper, the Spirit of truth, will be with you forever. And see verse 18, I will not leave you as orphans. You see the connection there. Without the Holy Spirit, we're like orphans.

Orphans are anxious. They're worried. They don't know what's going to happen. They don't know what calamity will come and they don't know how to handle it. They're alone. There's no father. And I'll tell you my own experience.

The vast majority of Christians I've met live in their daily life like orphans. Even though they say Heavenly Father, it's as if there is no Heavenly Father when they face a problem in their life. It was like that with me for at least 16 years after I was born again.

I had even quit my job to serve the Lord, but I was like an orphan until the day came when God filled me with the Holy Spirit. And the most important thing that happened after that was God really became my father.

I mean, He was my father all along, but it was more real to me. And what is the evidence of that? See Matthew 6, verse 31 and 32. Matthew 6, verse 31 and 32. Do not worry saying, what will we eat? What will we drink?

What do we wear for clothing? It's referring to all our earthly needs. Where shall I get rent to pay this month's rent? Where can I find a convenient house? My family is growing. I need a little bigger place.

Where can I find it? Do I have to be a beggar dependent on others? If you have a heavenly father, you won't be dependent on anybody. That's one of the things that the Lord spoke to me when I left the Navy 56 years ago.

Trusting the Father for Every Need

And the Lord said, you never need to ask anybody in the world for anything. You never have to send a prayer letter. You never have to receive a salary. I'm your father. You trust me. And today, at the end of nearly 57 years, I can testify.

My father has taken care of me. I've never sent a prayer letter in my life. Never received a salary. Never gone around looking for money. My heavenly father has taken, just like Jesus, he took care of Jesus.

He took care of Paul. Well, most of you may not believe it because you say that's impossible. If you had a rich, earthly father, would he take care of you? You really believe that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, that all the silver and the gold is his, that he can provide your need.

He doesn't drop it from heaven, but he'll provide your need without your ever, ever waiting, expecting somebody would give you something or meet your need. It's not just financial. When you're sick, what would you do if your father was the best doctor in town, the best surgeon in town?

Would you worry about a sickness in your home? Okay, Matthew 6, verse 31. Do not worry. What will we eat? What will we drink? Because the non-Christians eagerly seek all these things and they are worried.

Are you in that category? The non-Christians are worried about all these things, but you, you've got a heavenly father who knows that you need all these things. Have you got a need in your life? I don't know what it is, physical, financial, sickness.

I faced all of that in my life, opposition from enemies, people who harassed me because I preached the gospel, all types of needs, people who threatened me to send me to jail and all types of things. I had a heavenly father.

A heavenly father was more powerful than the most powerful person in the world. And the fact that I have faith is proved by the fact that I don't worry. Why do you worry? Verse 31. You know, in this whole section from verse 25 onwards to 34, how many times Jesus said, don't worry, verse 25, don't worry.

Again in verse 31, don't worry. Again in verse 34, don't worry. Why three times in just about a one minute message? You ask yourself, my brother, sister, do you worry about anything? Jesus said, you have a father in heaven who cares for the birds, who has numbered the hairs on your head.

So when we think of Father's Day, ask yourself how much you know your heavenly father. And if these evidences prove that you don't really know your heavenly father, please don't remain satisfied and say, I will live the rest of my life like this.

I got fed up with my own life of being discouraged and worried and anxious. I said, Lord, I don't want to live the rest of my life like this. I've lived a lot of 16 years of my Christian life like this, but I'm fed up.

I want to live a life of rest. There is a place of quiet rest near to the heart of God. A place where sin cannot molest, near to the heart of God. I wanted to live there. And so Jesus said, seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you, everything.

Your physical need, your financial need, needs for your children, your children need food, clothing, education. My children needed all of them. I did not go to any man on earth to help me. I remember my father, he was dying at the age of 81, way back in 1982.

And he called me to his bedside. He was in our home when he died. And he said, you've got four sons, and the oldest of them is only 12 years old. The youngest is three. And he says, you're sitting here with this house church, with 15, 20 people here, you won't take any money from anybody, it's going to be very difficult to educate these children when they go to college.

It's expensive. And I said, Dad, if I did not seek God's kingdom first and his righteousness, even the hundred rupees college fees, which is three or four dollars, college fees, I won't be able to pay.

But if I seek God's kingdom first, whatever their need may be, God will take care of it. Even if I'm sitting, I'm not trusting the people in my church to support me, not at all. I've got a father in heaven.

He passed away a few days later. He never saw how God honored and answered our prayer. I'm sure he prayed for us, too. And how God cared for us and me and my family as a heavenly father. And I don't know whether they can see us from heaven.

My father is there today, and if he could look down, he'd say, son, you were right when I see how God's taking care of your family. At the end of our life, and this applies to every one of us, if people could examine every area of your life, your private life, your financial accounts, your secret life at home, every area of your life, they should be able to say, there is absolutely no explanation how in the world this man lived this life, except that he must be having a father in heaven.

Will they say that about you? Or will they say, when this guy was in need, he ran here, he ran there, and he expected this from this person and that person. He did not have a father in heaven. He had good earthly friends who he knew would help him, or he went and begged from somebody.

Can you imagine Jesus ever going and begging somebody, hey, my heavenly father has let me down. Can you please help me a little bit? Can you imagine Jesus doing that? That's what I used to say. I said, Lord, I never want to behave in a way Jesus would not behave.

I don't want to go begging to somebody and say, Lord has let me down, please help me. That's what, even if you don't say the Lord has let me down, that's what I'm implying. The Lord has let me down, so I've got to trust you, you're more dependable than my father in heaven.

I tell you, that is what 95 of Christians are saying by their life and their words. So when we think of Father's Day, think of this. You have a father in heaven, and if you're not sure of that, let me show you a verse.

Revelation of the Father Through the Holy Spirit

I'll close with this. Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1, this is what Paul prayed for the Ephesian Christians. Even though he'd been there for three years, Paul had been in Ephesus for three years, he taught them everything, and he says, I'm still praying this for you.

And I would say this also to all of you here. I'm praying, Ephesians 1 .17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory will give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, your father.

I pray that you'll get revelation that God is your father. You know, without revelation, people looked at Jesus, the Pharisees, they knew the whole Bible, and they said, this is Beelzebul, this is not the son of God, this is the prince of devils.

Peter, who did not know the Bible like the Pharisees, who knew more about fishing than the books of the Old Testament, he said, no, you're the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus told him, you're blessed because my father gave you revelation.

The important word is revelation. The Pharisees had knowledge by studying the Bible. Peter got revelation. Here it says, I pray that you'll have the spirit of revelation in the knowledge of the father.

Knowing the Father and the Son Personally

And one last verse, Matthew chapter 11 and verse 27, Matthew 11, verse 27, in the middle of that verse, it says, no one knows the son except the father. If you heard about Jesus Christ, every religious, Muslims, Hindus, they all heard about Jesus Christ, and some Christians know about Jesus Christ that way.

But to know him personally, it's different. No one knows Jesus personally, intimately, as a close friend, unless the father reveals Christ to you, just like he revealed Christ to Simon Peter. And the other thing he says, no one knows the father.

Here's what I'm coming to, Father's Day. No one can know the father except the son will reveal it to him. Revelation again, not knowledge. Knowledge is a human intellectual thing. Revelation is from the Holy Spirit.

When God fills you with the Holy Spirit, that's what happened when God filled me with the Holy Spirit. I got revelation as to who my heavenly father was. I had known for years, God is my father, God is my father, but it was as if my eyes were suddenly opened to see, aha, I actually have a father.

I don't just read about him, who provides my every need, and my life was transformed from that 48 years ago. And ever since, I encourage you, brothers and sisters, seek God to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Forget about all the controversies concerning that subject. Seek him to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that you get a revelation of God as your father. It's the best thing to do on Father's Day. Amen.