God Is My Loving Heavenly Father — Sandeep Poonen

God as Father in the New Covenant

I have been speaking about the new covenant, the new agreement. And what we have been hearing today, I think, will speak to complete what we have been hearing all day. One of the big parts of the new agreement is that God is our father, as we heard even when we were singing.

God is our father is something that God is my father, as described in the story of the prodigal son, transformed my life. Years after I was a Christian, years after I was baptized, years after I was even filled with the Holy Spirit, baptized in the Holy Spirit, years after God even gave me a gift of tongues to speak, years after that.

I don't think much about my Christian life before that, about that whole period of time, because it was so defeated. There was still a lot of defeat in my inner life. I looked really good. I spoke in public places.

A lot of people appreciated what I said, but I was defeated in my private life. Not all the time. And it bothered me. And the way the Lord brought me to a different kind of life is by filling me with the Holy Spirit.

In a fresh way, He showed me that God is my father. And we've not gotten tired of speaking about it. And it is part of the new agreement that we must recognize. And there, let me tell you dear brothers and sisters, there is a marked difference between Christians who know God as their father, not know that God, not the fact, but Christians who live their life with God as their father, and those who don't.

It is crystal clear in my life, and it becomes easy to see the fruit of people's lives. These are people who are walking as if God is their father. In the picture of the prodigal son, the story of the prodigal son where God welcomed me home.

I'm talking about somebody who was born again. I'm talking about somebody who was preaching. I'm talking about somebody who was speaking in tongues. I'm talking about somebody who had a ministry, but was defeated.

And I was ready to give up on, not that I don't know if it was a Christian life, but definitely knowing what the value of ministry was, what the value of church was. I was so disillusioned with church.

And I thought the problem was the church. I didn't realize that the problem was I didn't know God as a father. And I had to realize that God was a loving father. And my defeat was the stench. My defeat in my private life was the stink.

I'm not talking about defeat all the time. I'm talking about once in a while defeat. Still, I knew I cannot be a servant of the Most High God. I cannot be standing and speaking on God's behalf if there was not a clear sense of victory over sin.

Looking to the Father Instead of Self

And I had to know God as a father. And what God had asked me to do was to take my eyes off of myself and to take my eyes on Him. And that's what I loved about the picture of the Pardos I'm coming home was it doesn't show me my face.

You don't get to see whose face it is. You get to see the Father's face. There's a difference. There's a marked difference in everybody's Christian's life when you see that they have stopped looking at themselves.

Stopped. That they are looking at the Father's face alone. It becomes very obvious in our lives. The fruit starts to flow out. The things of this world drop away. Literally drop away. The significance of what this world has to offer, all the attractions, they literally drop away.

I talked about it in the past as going onto a rocket ship and just leaving this earth system. Gravity doesn't bother the rocket anymore once it gets out of this earth system. And the pull of this world, that's what gravity is.

It has to drop away. The approval of this man has to just drop away. And this life is possible. Not because I read it in scripture, because I read it in scripture and I'm experiencing it in greater and greater measure.

We have the secret to it is really to be gripped with God as our Father. And there are two things, there's a lot we can talk about it, I just want to give a little bit of a summary. There are two things that I must recognize when I have God as a Father.

Full Acceptance and Access to the Father

Day one. I want to use the picture of the prodigal son. Day one, when you know God as a Father, you have full acceptance and full access. That's what the prodigal son got when he came here. He had full acceptance and full access to the Father.

Come into my house, get my best robe, get the fatted lamb. Let's celebrate, take the money, let's throw a feast. Full acceptance, full access. Day one. Day one, dear brothers and sisters. Day one of knowing God as a Father, you must recognize, and we've talked about this.

As we've talked about grace. As we've talked about being justified. This is all available to us. Day one. Full access, full acceptance. Are you living, dear brothers and sisters, as if you've been fully accepted in the beloved?

That you have full access to the Father at all times? Because of the blood of Jesus? Why then are we discouraged? Why then do we get into bad moods? It will never happen. If we have full access and full acceptance to the creator of the universe, who's our loving Heavenly Father.

Who lived this kind of life? Jesus did. He was never in a bad mood. So it's life. What did he have? He had the Father. He was criticized. He was tempted to be thrown off a cliff. Many things happened to him.

It says he could not entrust himself to any man. Because he knew what was in the heart of man. That's how lonely Jesus had him. But he said, I'm not alone. The Father is with me. The love of the Father was so all-encompassing for Jesus.

That he knew he had full access. Full acceptance. To the most powerful being in the universe. Access to a human king gives us so much rest. How much more complete rest it should give the Christian? From day one, dear brothers, dear sisters, from day one, we should have that.

And if we don't have it, let us long for it. Day two onwards. Day one onwards. Full access. Full acceptance. Day two onwards. Lots of it. Why did the prodigal son leave home to begin with? Because God was this big hugging God and God would love to give prodigal son hugs.

The prodigal son, I'm sick of this hugging God. No. He was a loving father who said, you're going to have to become a son of mine who's going to take over the family business one day. And you're being sloppy.

I'm going to have to rebuke you. And I'm going to have to toughen you up. And you've got to go out and help your brother in the field. And that's what the prodigal son of God said. Children never despise me when I come to them with candy and chocolate and cookies.

Which child does that? But you come to them with a rod. You come to them with doing their homework. And now, all of a sudden, they don't like you, daddy, anymore. When do we not find the desire to be close to the Father?

When God comes to us and rebukes us. We're so clear. Verses that we don't claim. You want to know a promise of God as a Father we don't claim? Let's look at this. Hebrews 12, verse 6. Can we all claim this verse from now on?

This is a promise from God for every single person whom the Father loves. Hebrews 12, verse 6. One of the least claimed promises in the Bible. For those whom the Father loves, He gives lots of cars and lots of big houses.

You hear that message somewhere in some churches. But this is what the Bible says. For those whom the Father loves, He disciplines. And He scourges. What a word. Scourge. Scourges every son whom He receives.

To as many as who received Jesus, He gave them the right to be called children of God. He gives that welcoming access and acceptance to any child. Anybody who wants to have access to his family. The Father welcomes you in.

In the blood of Jesus. In the finished work of Jesus. But everyone whom He receives. Every son and daughter whom He receives. He says from day two onwards I'm going to have scourge to you. You always from day one onwards.

You always have full access. Full acceptance. And there's no scourge at the feast. No. Recognize how loved you are. His love always triumphs. His mercy always triumphs over judgment. His love, the favorable year of the Lord, far trumps the day of vengeance.

But day two onwards we must claim this Lord Jesus. Father if you love me. Scourge me. Discipline me. I'm not here to walk in the park. I'm here to become like your son Jesus. I must become more like a son of God.

Not a child. I must become like a grown daughter of God who can take over the family business. Jesus was 12 years old. He said, Father don't you know, Mom don't you know I'm supposed to be about my father's business?

I have a business that my father wants me to take over. Gotta be about that business. Don't you know? I've been with you 12 years already. Dear brothers, dear sisters, can that be true about you? Can it be true about me that you can testify to me after 12 years of you being with me?

You can say, I can tell you don't you know already? I've been with you for 12 years. Don't you know I'm supposed to be about my father's business? Don't you know I'm supposed to be about building God's kingdom?

You've been with me for 12 years. Can we say that to our family who's been with us for 12 years? Can we say this? I've been married for 10 years. Can my wife say that about me? Can I tell my wife, Laura don't you know by now I have to be about my family's business and we have to be about our father's business in heaven?

Not complete continued conversations about retirement and children's education. All those wonderful tactical small, small things to take care of. Just keep moving on. But don't you know dear wife of mine, dear husband of mine, that we have to be about our father's business?

So let him scourge me. Let him discipline me. Because that's what he says. He loves me. He's promised me. But I won't do that if I don't ever get close to God. Keep God as an arm's distance. Or just take care of me when I die.

Just take care of my children. Don't give them any fatal disease. Just take care of them. But Laura, I'm not going to draw all the way close to you. And I'm not going to draw all the way close to your family.

Because I'm scared. I'm scared of your discipline. When I'm scared of God's discipline, I have to understand. This is day two. I ask you, do you know day one that you have full access and full acceptance?

Do you know the pig farm you were in? Do you know the pig farm you were in? Day zero. Day minus one. Go back to that. Recognize the unfathomable love. Measureless love of God. When he gave you full access and full acceptance after you've squandered everything.

Go back to that. Then say, God, it's only right that you must discourage me. God, I want to welcome you as a father. I want to accept the benefits as well as the responsibilities. I want all the security that I get in you.

Show me an insecure person. Show me an insecure person. I didn't say show me an insecure Muslim or Hindu. Show me an insecure person. Tons of Christians are insecure. The reason for that is because they do not know God as a father.

They do not know God as a father. I know God as a father. He gives me full security. That's when I can understand Matthew 6 where he says, be anxious for nothing. Be insecure about the way you were made.

Something that's happened in your life. Be insecure. Worry about nothing. You have a father in heaven. The father in heaven is the reason why God says that's why you should be anxious for nothing. I also want to spend a few minutes.

The Holy Spirit Dwelling in the Human Spirit

This is not new for those of you who have been coming to our church for a while. But I want to go through these slides as we think about how do we know that we are God's children. We know that the Old Testament had a tabernacle.

That's where God dwelt and was split up into three parts. The holy place. We can go to the next slide. We'll talk more about the new wineskins. We've talked about this as being our bodies in the church.

But here's how our bodies have to be the temple of the Holy Spirit. The old covenant, you have the outer court and the holy place and the most holy place. And where did God dwell? Where did God dwell?

Did God dwell in the whole body? Sorry, the whole temple tabernacle? No, he didn't. He dwelt in the most holy place. That's where the glory of God dwelt. Everything was commanded by God. Everything was blessed by God.

But God only dwelt in the most holy place. Similarly, we are tripartite beings. We are body, soul, and spirit. And God says that he's come to dwell in our spirit. We're all three parts. And it is out of our spirit, out of our innermost beings that flow rivers of living water.

Remember, this is the temple of God. This is where God dwells. And so, as we dwell with God, as God dwelt in the tabernacle, God wants to dwell with me. And God needs to dwell with me in my spirit. That is why the Holy Spirit doesn't have to come with feelings.

The Holy Spirit doesn't have to come as a tongue of fire. The Holy Spirit doesn't have to come with any gift of tongues. The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in my spirit, most of all. One of the great mistakes we make is expecting the Holy Spirit to come with a feeling.

I have to fight it to this day. When I ask the Lord for the Holy Spirit, the question then is, have I received him? And when I look to whether I have received him, I so often tend to look to a feeling.

Or to something that happens in the holy place or in the outer core. So something in my soul or something in my body. Because we have not understood this and because we have not grabbed hold of this, we continue to be confused.

And we continue to be misled. We continue to be insecure. We don't believe God's word. But God has filled us with the Holy Spirit. God gives us the Holy Spirit and he sends him to dwell in our spirit.

That's what the spirit is, our heart. We can go to the next slide. What separated the soul, what separated the holy place from the most holy place was a veil. That Jesus rent when he died on the cross.

That veil was rent. And that veil that separates our emotions and our mind from the spirit and our heart is our will. And it is as we rent our will that we can enter into the most holy place. It says in John chapter 4 verse 23 and 24 that God is looking for worshipers.

And those who worship God must worship him with music, with singing, with feeling good. This is how Christendom tends to think about worship. But that's not biblical. We must worship him in our spirit.

Beyond where all our emotions lie. Beyond where all intellectual Bible study lies. We have to worship God in our spirit. That's the most holy place. And the only way to worship God in our spirit is to rent the will.

One sentence autobiography of Jesus was that he did not come to do his own will. Father, please take this cup from me. Yet, not my will but yours be done. Even when Jesus didn't want to do what the father wanted him to do in his soul and in his mind.

He said, Lord, permit this cup to be taken from me. He said, yet, I will tear the will. Even on the day that Jesus died, Jesus was faithfully tearing his will. The veil that separated us from communion with the Holy Spirit.

Repentance, Faith, and Surrendered Will

This is such a foundational, dramatic, drastic work that we can do to recognize how we can live with God every day. When we ask the Holy Spirit to come, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in our spirits. But how does the Holy Spirit come to dwell in our spirit in the very first place?

We don't just say, hey look, just ask the Holy Spirit and he'll come in. No, we say you must surrender. What do I tell my children if they want to be a Christian? If they want to be born again, what do I tell an adult?

If you want to be born again, what do you need to do? You need to repent. Means you need to turn around, fully face God, and you have to surrender. Which means, surrender means tear your will. My will is no longer relevant anymore.

I'm telling my child to do that in the first place. And I said, if you tear your will, if you tear the curtain, the Holy Spirit can come in. And he can dwell with you. And if you want to talk to God, you have to keep tearing your will.

And dear little child of mine, the one area where God tells you to tear your will every day is, obey your parents and the Lord. For this is right. So dear boys, dear daughters, here's what I need to do to be born again.

I have to surrender. Say, Lord, no longer what I want to do. I want to do whatever you want to do. And dear father, what do you want me to do? And he'll tell you children, obey your parents. Until you're old enough.

And you'll learn how to obey me. Start by obeying your parents. That's how we start. By tearing the will. And this is how people are born again. It's by repentance and then by accepting what God does in faith.

It's repentance and faith. Surrender and faith. Full surrender and faith. And that is the way we are born again. That's when the Holy Spirit comes to be birthed in us. And that's how we continue to live with the Holy Spirit.

That's how the Holy Spirit, we continue to commune with the Holy Spirit. You have to tear your will. It doesn't matter what my feelings say. It doesn't matter what my feelings say. We have to make that so crystal clear in our lives.

Living by Faith Rather Than Feelings

Lord Jesus, I want to live a life from now on where I live not by my feelings. I'm absolutely convinced the longer I live this Christian life, that the kingdom of darkness is ruled by feelings. And by the soul.

Emotions and the mind. And the kingdom of light is manifested by people who do not live by what they feel or what they think, but what God's word says. We do not live by sight, but whatever our senses say.

We live by faith in God's word. Not faith in whatever we feel, but with faith in God's word. We're children of Abraham. We can go to the next slide. And this is a card picture of how we build our houses on the rock.

You build your house on sand. We can turn to the, well it's written right there. Matthew chapter 7 verse 24 through 27 is the foolish person. What did the foolish person not do? The foolish person also heard God's word, but the one thing the foolish person didn't do is the foolish person did not obey.

He heard the word of God, but he did not obey. So this foolish man and the Christian man are actually two people who are sitting in the church. Not the foolish person out there who is gambling and wasting all their money on lustful pursuits.

The foolish man and the wise man is in the church. And it comes down to whether I'm blasting my will. That's the wall. That's the veil that remained separating us in the old covenant from God. And in the new covenant that will continues to separate most Christians from communion with God because they're not blasting their will.

And they've been told a lie of one saved always saved. And all kinds of other foolishnesses. And they have a house that's built on sand. Because they're not blasting their will. Every day to have communion with the Holy Spirit.

We are in Revelation 3 .21. Behold, I stand on the door and knock. He's on the other side of that will. Knocking. It's not just, let's just open the door. It's a blasting of the will. You know how it is.

You know how sometimes your will. It's not easy to shut your mouth when your spouse irritates you. We need a blasting of the will where it needs to remain inside. As your blood is boiling. You know how, what a blast of the will it needs to be.

We need to blast our will to say, Lord, not my will, but what your will be done. And as we live this Christian life, if we're not going to blast our self-will, this Christian life will not make sense.

We are dead on the rival. We are there at the starting point and we will not be able to run. Because this is how we live the Christian life. You wonder why a house looks really good one day and then completely devastated the other.

Because a house is being built on our minds and our emotions. Intellectual thoughts, Bible studies, all kinds of wonderful things, but not a surrendered will. I'm not impressed by people who know a lot about the Bible.

That's why we don't make a big deal about knowing a lot about the Bible as an end to itself. We're not impressed by people who sing a great tune. It's just talent. Show me people who surrender their will every day.

Obedience Over Ministry and Recognition

That is why the church has it upside down in so many cases where they exalt the singers and the speakers. And we exalt the obedient. And that is why we believe that you can be a mother of five children and be great in the kingdom of God with no ministry.

No ability to stand up and speak. That's just a particular ministry people did. Paul had to go and travel around Asia. Mary, the mother of Jesus, sat at home. Mary Magdalene didn't travel anywhere. Who was greater in the kingdom of God?

Could quite possibly be Mary Magdalene. So dear sister, dear children, that's your full-time job. You can be great in the kingdom of God if you blast your will every day. When the TV calls you to numb yourself.

When the internet calls you to numb yourself. When your spouse irritates you. And wants you to come up with tongues that act like serpents. Biting, poisonous words. Will you blast your self-will? When your children irritate you.

Will you blast your self-will? Dear woman who has no potential of ministry in the church to travel across and do this. You can be great in the sight of God if you will blast your self-will. And God will say, many who are first will be last.

Many of those who stood up and spoke here. Many of the great teachers. Many of the great leaders in Christendom. They will be last if they are even in the kingdom of God. And these insignificant, sometimes unknown, little women in Africa.

Little women with 11 children. Susanna Wesley. Raised children. These people here and there. Jesus will say, come up. Come and sit on my throne. Come and sit with me. He who overcomes. She who overcomes.

They who overcome will get to sit on the throne of God. It's such a relieving and redeeming and all-inviting gospel. That's why we're not interested in ministry. We're not interested in leadership. We're interested in obedience.

We want to raise Christians who are radically obedient. To everything that the Lord has commanded. The next slide talks about how the house built on a rock blasts through the wind. Is that the last line?

Adoption as Children of God

That's it. How do I connect this to knowing that God is a father? Romans 8, verse 15 and 16. Romans 8, verse 15 and 16. You can go back two slides. One more. For you have not received the spirit of slavery, leading to fear again.

Why? Why no fear? Why no anxiety? Why no insecurity? Because you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, daddy. A little child is not insecure about the mortgage payments. About the bill that they got that they cannot meet.

The family cannot meet. We've not received the spirit of slavery. We received the spirit of adoption because God's our dad. We received that spirit. And here's where the spirit is testifying that we are children of God.

We are sons and daughters of God. We're children of God. The spirit himself bears witness with our spirit. He's there. And the Holy Spirit sits within our spirit and says, you're a child of God. But we can't hear it because we've not blasted our self-will.

We've not torn the veil and said, God, I will do whatever you want me to do. I will accept any cross in my life. Anything that comes my way. For what you did for me on Calvary, I will do anything for you.

I don't need to be anybody. I don't need to sing a song. I don't need to write a book. I don't need to preach a sermon. I don't need to do anything. I am happy to be a piece of dust because that's what I am.

But I want to commune with you, Lord. I want to be one with you. I want to know you. I want to know your righteousness. I want to know your justice. I want to know your loving kindness. I want to know you.

And the Spirit says, blast your self-will. Take up your cross every day. You can't be my disciple. I stand at the door and knock. Repent. Be zealous and repent. Revelation 3 .19. Blast your self-will.

Then I can dine with you. I can know you. Some of us need to really ask the Lord to show us this truth in a fresh way. For the first time, maybe. But all of us need to see the great significance of this.

Even for another time. To know how immense the call of God when he says he wants to dine with me. That he wants me to sit on his throne. But it's not for everybody. It's for those who overcome. And the pathway is extremely simple.

Faithfulness in Secret and Daily Mercy

Dear brothers, dear sisters. Jesus was faithful for 30 years. In secret. We don't know anything about it. One or two incidents. But at the end of 30 days, Jesus said, I am well pleased with you. Do you want the Lord to say to you tonight, I am well pleased with you?

We do. We all do. That's why we're sitting here. Blast your self-will. On the authority of God's word, I say, take my word for it. I am absolutely convinced of this. That the Lord, you'll hear the Lord saying clearer and clearer to you.

It's not some superficial, you want it true. This is the truth of God's word. The Holy Spirit himself, I cannot tell you that. The godliest man or woman on this earth can't tell you that. Only the Holy Spirit can tell you that.

You're a child of God. But I'm not talking about whether you're going to go to heaven or not. I'm talking about whether God can tell you today, I am well pleased with you. This is my beloved son, Johnny, Mary, Deborah.

All these different people, I'm well pleased with you today. Because you never did your own will. But Lord, you don't know my wife. You don't know how she comes at me. You held your tongue. You didn't get angry.

You forgave 70 times. Oh, but you don't know how my husband is. All he's interested in is watching TV and surfing the internet. I watched how you spoke words of graciousness. How you were kind. And then we can hear the Lord speaking to us.

There's days in the books. Well done, good and faithful servant. Well done, good and faithful son. Good and faithful daughter. And God gives us another day. He says, do the same thing. Beginning of the day, he says, I'll give you mercy.

Mercy, loving kindness is anew every morning. I'll give you loving kindness. Start of the day with just loving kindness. Even if yesterday was not as good. Start of the day full of mercy. Just live today.

Today is the day of salvation. Live today, blasting yourself. But the Lord tells you to go this way and the world tells you to go this way. Go with the Lord. Where your selfish desires say, get back at this person.

Overcome evil with evil. God says, overcome evil with good. When God says, when the world says, return an eye for an eye, God says, return. Let me end with 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 21 and 22. 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 21 through 25.

Following Christ's Example in Suffering

For you have been called for this purpose, that because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example to follow in his footsteps. It cannot be clearer. That is why Jesus suffered for you and he left you footprints.

And he says, follow in my footsteps. What footsteps are those? The footsteps on the lake of Galilee? The footsteps in the city of Nazareth? Not at all. The footsteps of Jesus, in verse 22, who committed no sin.

Nor was any deceit found on his lips. And when he was reviled and criticized, he did not revile in return. And while suffering, he uttered no threats, but entrusted himself to him who judges righteously.

And he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, that we might die to sin. We might blast our selfish will, that is the cause of all sin. But instead that we would live to righteousness. Because his wounds have healed us.

For you were continually straying like sheep. But now you have returned to the shepherds' bodies of their sheep.