The Perfect Father - Part 2 of 2

This is LeSary Bradley, Jr., and I just wanted to convey a special message today to those of you listening on podcasts. I have to admit, when my staff first started talking to me about putting the broadcasts on podcasts, I didn't know what they were talking about.

I still don't understand it, but I'm thankful for it. Thankful that we can get the message out by another channel. And I just wanted to say how much I appreciate the fact that so many of you are listening to it. I was recently on a preaching trip to Jackson, Mississippi, and so many people came to me and said, I listen every day.

In fact, a number of them said that's the first thing I do in the morning, is listen to one of the programs on podcasts. So I just wanted to say I appreciate the fact that you're listening. I pray the message will be a blessing to you, and we'd love to hear from you.

Our mailing address is Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. Thank you for listening, and may the Lord richly bless you. The Baptist Bible Hour now comes to you under the direction of Elder LeSary Bradley, Jr. O for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise, Thou forest of my God and King, Thou triumphs of His grace.

This is LeSary Bradley, Jr., inviting you to stay tuned for another message of God's sovereign grace. Make all our fathers living still, In spite of dungeon, fire, and sore. O, how our hearts divide with joy, When e'er we hear that glorious word, Faith of our Father's holy faith, We will be true to Thee till death.

Our fathers, chained in prison's dark, Were still in heart and conscience free. How sweet would be their children's fate, If they, like them, could die for Thee. Faith of our Father's holy faith, We will be true to Thee till death. Faith of our Father's, we will love, Both friend and foe, in all our strife, And preach Thee to us love knows how, By kindly words and virtuous line.

Faith of our Father's holy faith, We will be true to Thee till death. We continue today with the message, The Perfect Father, and on this Father's Day, we pray that the things we talk about will be an encouragement. Certainly, this is an appropriate time for children to express their appreciation to their fathers, and for all of us to pray that in these challenging times, fathers who are attempting to bring their children up in the nurturing and admonition of the Lord, will find the strength and the wisdom and the courage that they need to stand firm for the truth of God's word, and seek to apply them on a daily basis in their relationship with their children. I hope that you will write and let us know that you've listened. Our address is Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217.

And you can make a donation by going to our website at BaptistBibleHour.org. No matter how dark the night, Or bitter the winds that blow, One touch of the Master's gentle hand, And I am ready to go. I'll go anywhere with Him, Through tempest or sinking sand, As long as I feel the tender touch, The touch of His gentle hand. One touch of His gentle hand, Means more than the world to me. One touch of His gentle hand, Will make every shadow stray. I'll not be afraid to go, And bravely take my stand, With courage and zeal, As long as I feel the touch of His gentle hand. Wherever I chance to be, Wherever my feet may roll, I'll trust in the Lord's unchanging hand, To lead me all the way home. And ever my prayer shall be, To safely uphold my stand, That I can just feel His touch so real, The touch of His gentle hand. One touch of His gentle hand, Means more than the world to me. One touch of His gentle hand, Will make every shadow stray.

I'll not be afraid to go, And bravely take my stand, With courage and zeal, As long as I feel the touch of His gentle hand. We're bringing you the second part of a message entitled, The Perfect Father. We first have looked at those who can call God Father.

Some cannot. He is the Creator of all, but He is not the Father of all. Those who are the sons of God are those who have been born of His Holy Spirit.

They are those that have been adopted into His family. They are those who are believers in Jesus Christ. And then we've thought about the privilege of calling God Father. What a blessing that we as unworthy sinners are redeemed, Called by His mercy and grace, and can call Him Father.

And then the blessing of it. And in conjunction with this being Father's Day, Since we're talking about God, the perfect Father, Who listens to His children, who gives good things, Who provides, Who comforts, and yet chastens when necessary, It is the example for earthly fathers, That they might also be the kind of Father to their children, That God would have them to be to the glory of His name. Having considered who can call God Father, And the privilege of calling Him Father. Let's think about the blessings of it. The blessings of calling God Father.

And you'll be able to see some practical lessons in this as we go along. That since our Father in Heaven is perfect, according to our text in Matthew 5.48, And it says, Therefore be ye perfect as your Father is perfect, Every Father here should learn some practical lessons from the things that we see about God, The perfect Father. First of all, He is a Father who listens. Sometimes in counseling situations, I've had young people complain, My Father never listens to me. He's either too busy to even stop and try to start a conversation.

Or if it starts, it doesn't last long because He's got too much on His mind. A good Father listens. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 18, For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. What a privilege that is, to have access to the Father. You might decide, for whatever reason, I'd like to meet with the President of the United States. And I dare say, if you called the White House this week and said, I'd like to make an appointment, you probably couldn't get one. It wouldn't be just a matter you couldn't get one this week, you couldn't ever get one. If you didn't know somebody, if you didn't have somebody to intercede for you, and say here's a reason to talk to this individual, you couldn't get there.

But think of it, you have access to the God of Heaven. You don't have to make an appointment. You don't have to be concerned that He's preoccupied and He's too busy. Or if He's listening to you, He's listening to so many other people, He won't be able to keep it all straight, won't know what you said. He is ready to hear you. He encourages us to call.

It's not as though God views this as an imposition on His time, that if we call Him, He could better be occupied with other things. He encourages us to call on Him. Jesus indicated this in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 6, reading in the seventh verse, But when you pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

Be not ye therefore liked unto them, for your Father, see how often the term is used, your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him. After this manner, therefore pray ye, our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. And so we are encouraged to call upon Him. Hebrews 4 16 says, Come boldly to the throne of grace, that ye may find mercy and grace to help in time of need. Come boldly.

You don't have to draw back, yes. You have your failings, your faults, your sins that need to be confessed, but you're not coming in your own name, you come boldly because you're coming in Jesus' name. He is the Father that listens. He's a Father that cares. Whatever your burden, whatever the load that you're carrying that's pressing you down, those times when you get to the place that you may feel like nobody else cares, nobody else, but He cares.

What a difference. Secondly, He is a Father who gives good things. James chapter 1 verse 17, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from, who? The Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

If it's a good gift, if it's a perfect gift, where did it come from? It comes down from above. It comes down from the Father of lights. And it's interesting to see that James incorporates that expression, that he is the Father of lights, because it is just another emphasis on the fact that God is holy. In the book of 1 John chapter 1 verse 5, This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. God made the light, created the sun, the moon, the stars. He's the source of light, natural light, spiritual light. He is light, there is no dark side to God, no darkness in Him at all. And so every good and every perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights, comes down from our Heavenly Father.

And you still have to think about that. Those moments when you become fretful and troubled and disturbed, just stop and think about the multitude of good things the Lord continually showers upon you in your life from day to day. Back in the Sermon on the Mount once again in the seventh chapter of the book of Matthew, reading in the seventh verse, Ask and it shall be given you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. But every one of you that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you whom, if his son asks bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks a fish, will he give him a serpent?

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father, which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him? It says in one place we have not because we ask not. How many times have you failed to ask? Either out of sheer neglect because you were busy and you didn't take time to prayerfully go to the throne of grace and ask, because you felt unworthy and thought surely the Lord is not going to hear from me. Or you look back to some previous effort in prayer and felt like you didn't get the answer that you desired and so you haven't asked.

He said ask. He encourages us to ask. He is a Father that gives good things. And closely connected with that we would also say he is a Father who provides. Scripture tells us that the man that doesn't provide for his own is worse than an infidel. So a good father, a godly father is going to provide for his family and certainly God provides for his. Still in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 6 verse 31. Therefore take no thought saying what shall ye eat or what shall we drink or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye need all of these things. Your Father knows what you need.

You can get perplexed sometimes when things are not going well, some kind of financial reversal, loss of a job, some kind of disruption that makes you fear what the next day is going to bring forth, have some concern and anxiety about the future. Jesus said there's no need for that. If you put all your focus on that which is material you're just like the pagans.

That's the way they live. But your heavenly Father knoweth the things that you have need of and he will provide them. He is a father that provides.

He is a father who comforts. Some fathers have difficulty with this. They can be stern. They can be forceful. They can be demanding. They can discipline.

But they have a lot of trouble being compassionate and comforting. I thought at our outing over at the Wagner's when we were all in a circle around the fire singing hymns and the message being delivered, I looked over at Brother Schaefer and he was holding his little boy Malachi and I thought that's a beautiful sight. You can tell the way that little boy is snuggled up to his daddy. He feels protected. He feels secure. He feels comforted. And there's one time later in the events that his daddy was playing ball and hit the ball and so he had to run to first base and Malachi didn't like that at all.

He thought his daddy was going off to leave him. He let everybody know that he needed comfort and nobody could provide it but his daddy. How wonderful to know that when a little child needs comfort. We think of the mother providing comfort but even the father is often needed in that respect. And certainly God, our Father, is one who comforts us. 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 3. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. He describes himself as being the God of comfort. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Father of all mercies. Furthermore, this perfect Father, our Heavenly Father, is one who chastens. Now, there are those in our day who fall short in this category.

They have the idea that it's abusive to apply the rod of correction. But God loves his children enough to chasten them because he cares for them. Let's read Hebrews chapter 12 beginning in the fifth verse. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son despiseth not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. Don't have to become disheartened, discouraged, be ready to faint.

Why? For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as sons. For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then your bastards are not sons. You're not really sons, in other words. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us. The assumption is made that fathers will correct their children. We have had fathers that corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits and live? For they verily for a few days chasteneth us after their own pleasure. That is, according to what they sought to be best, according to their choice and will. But he for our profit, this is the purpose of it.

Sometimes fathers have been indeed abusive, and they've been harsh, and they've inflicted pain far beyond what was reasonable. But God never does that, because he chastens us for the ultimate end. It's for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness.

Romans chapter 8 tells us that whom he did predestinate, he predestinated to be conformed to the image of his son. Now understand, that's not going to be consummated completely until in heaven. But he begins now, and he chastens us now, because he's going to wean us from the world. He's going to burn out the love for sin. He's going to bring us to a place of greater holiness, and that's what this is about. No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. That afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

He is a God who chastens. What a blessing we have to have a perfect father, and to know that someday we will go to live with him. I sometimes try to envision that, and no matter how much I read the scriptural declarations that talk about heaven, and try to picture it in my mind, I soon find that my ability is extremely limited. To think about anything that lasts forever is mind-boggling, because everything we know has a termination point. And to think about something that goes on, and on, and on, and on, and on. You can sing, when we've been there 10,000 years, or somebody says, Oh, let's sing when we've been there 10 million years. Well, put in whatever word you want, and you still come up with the same conclusion. After that, you have no less days to sing God's praise than when you first begun.

That's extremely difficult to fathom. And think, what must it be like to live in a land of absolute perfection, no sin, no sorrow, in complete fellowship with your Heavenly Father? What a blessing to be able to call him Father. We are to then imitate our Heavenly Father. And so earthly fathers should learn from the things that we have read about our Heavenly Father. Our text said, Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. And Luke chapter 6 in the 36th verse says, Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

So as the Father in heaven is without sin, your desire should be to overcome sin. As your Father in heaven is merciful, your desire should be to be a merciful Father. A Father then should be one who listens. A Godly Father is one who gives good things. He is one who provides. He is one who comforts. He is one who chastens.

One who encourages, we would add. Ephesians 6, 4 says, And ye fathers provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. In other words, fathers should never cause their children to lose heart. Don't provoke them.

It's not just the idea of provoking them to be angry at the moment. It means do not treat them in such a way that they become moody or sullen and that they lose heart because of your overbearing discipline. Be the kind of Father who gives hope, not discouragement. Can you call God your Father today? How blessed you are if you can say, Our Father which art in heaven. If you can say, My Abba Father, my Father that I love, my Father who has saved me by His grace, my Father to whom I am able to pray. Can you call God your Father?

If not, there is but one way that can be remedied. Jesus said in John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh to the Father but by me. The only way that fallen, ruined sinners can come to the Father is through Jesus Christ.

There are no demands made. There is no requirement for one to improve himself and make himself acceptable before God. But he can come just as he is. You can come just as you are with your great need and your fallen nature. Coming by the only way there is to come to the Father and that's through Jesus Christ.

And coming to him by faith can then be able to call him Father, our Father which art in heaven. If you would like to get this message on The Perfect Father on CD, request that when writing us. Until next week at the same time, may the Lord richly bless you all. I come. The Baptist Bible Hour has come to you under the direction of Elder LeSaire Bradley Jr. Address all mail to The Baptist Bible Hour Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. That's The Baptist Bible Hour Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. Just as I am, thou wilt receive, Wilt welcome, part, unclenched, relieve, Because thy promise I believe, O Lamb of God, I come. I come.