======================================================================== THE HOLY SPIRIT REVEALS GOD AS OUR FATHER by Zac Poonen ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon delves into the second aspect of the New Covenant, emphasizing the intimate relationship with God as a Father who cares for all, regardless of status or maturity. It contrasts the Old Covenant's distinctions between rich and poor, highlighting the equality in the New Covenant. The importance of knowing God personally as a loving Father is emphasized, encouraging believers to approach Him with childlike trust and confidence. The sermon also explores the significance of receiving the Holy Spirit through persistence and a burden for sharing God's truth with others. Topics: "Intimacy with God", "Equality in the New Covenant" Scripture References: Hebrews 8:11, Romans 8:15, Philippians 4:6, Luke 11:5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon delves into the second aspect of the New Covenant, emphasizing the intimate relationship with God as a Father who cares for all, regardless of status or maturity. It contrasts the Old Covenant's distinctions between rich and poor, highlighting the equality in the New Covenant. The importance of knowing God personally as a loving Father is emphasized, encouraging believers to approach Him with childlike trust and confidence. The sermon also explores the significance of receiving the Holy Spirit through persistence and a burden for sharing God's truth with others. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Okay, the second thing in the New Covenant is, verse 11, there are three things mentioned here. The second thing is, you will not have to teach everybody saying, know the Father, Hebrews 8, 11, but all will know me as the Father, not from the greatest to the least. This is the difference. In the world, they say from the greatest to the least. In the Bible, it says, from the least to the greatest. In other words, those who are at the lowest level. You know that word in James chapter 2, which says, God has chosen the poor people of the world, rich in faith. And James says, you people give honor to the rich. You give special seats to the rich in your church, and you let the poor fellow stand at the back. That's not New Covenant. You haven't understood anything. That's all Old Covenant. A person who gives favor to rich people, famous people in the church has not understood the New Covenant. In the New Covenant, there is no difference between rich and poor. Absolutely not. So, all will know me from the least, starting from the least to the greatest. See, many people feel, oh, God will listen to some mature saint when he prays, but he won't listen to me. I'm just newly converted. So, I want to encourage you, if you're a young believer, maybe very young, even young in age. Supposing a father has got a number of children sitting around his dining table, and there's a three-year-old saying, Daddy, I want to talk to you, and there's a 15-year-old saying, Dad, I want to talk to you. Who do you think he's going to listen to first? I'll tell you as a father. I'll tell the 15-year-old, you can wait. Let me hear the three-year-old. That is how God is. He's a father. Are you a newly converted person? He'll listen to you first. So, don't ever let the devil condemn you, saying, oh, you're not mature enough. That's a lot of garbage. Does a father ever tell a three-year-old, you're not mature enough to talk to me? We must compare our Heavenly Father to our earthly fathers, because Jesus said that. The way you earthly fathers treat your children, how much more your Heavenly Father. So, if you want to know more about your Heavenly Father, think how a good earthly father cares for his children, for the young ones, for the helpless ones. That's how your Heavenly Father is. You know, it changed my life when I understood this. So many years of my life, I was insecure because I did not know the Father like this. This is the second blessing of the New Covenant, that you can know the Father. All shall know me. And nobody has to teach his brother, saying, know the Lord. No. See, I can't teach you here to know the Lord. I can teach you the Bible. I can teach you the doctrines of the Bible, what the New Covenant stands for. But to know the Father personally, to know him as Daddy, only the Holy Spirit can do that. And that's the great blessing of the New Covenant. Turn to Romans in Chapter 8. I pray that as we study these things, they'll become real in your life. Romans 8. It says here, verse 15. You have not received a spirit of slavery. The spirit of slavery is in the Old Covenant. You have to work and work and work, and then God is pleased. If you don't work properly, you're not pleasing to God as a master, not a father. And you know how a slave had to slog and slog and slog, and the master would be happy with him. But he says, you have not received a spirit of slavery. You have received a spirit of adoption as sons. A son doesn't have to slog away morning till night to be accepted by his father. The son who cries out, Abba, Father, the spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. So when the Holy Spirit comes in, he makes us cry out, Daddy. By the way, that word Abba in Romans 8.15 is just the Hebrew word for Daddy or Dad, whatever you call your earthly father. What did you call your earthly father? Use the same word when you talk to your heavenly father. That's what I do every morning. I say, Dad, that's how I begin my day. I hope you begin it like that. I don't begin it saying, oh, almighty God. He is almighty God, but he's my dad. You must understand this because it's very important. It makes a difference in the way you pray. If you're going before the governor of the state, you're not very sure whether he'll listen to you or not. But if you go to your earthly father, you've got absolute certainty that he'll listen to you. So if you come to God and say, oh, Lord God, almighty ruler of heaven and earth, he is that. But if that's the basis on which you approach him, sure, you can pray like that, but you don't have any certainty that he'll listen to you. You're like praying to the governor of California. But if you come and say, Daddy, I've got a problem. Can you help me? It makes a world of difference. Learn to call God by the same name that you call your earthly father, Dad, Daddy. In Hebrew, Abba. Even the word father is a formal name. You don't go to your earthly father and say father. You use a more intimate name. That's why it says Abba, Father. And that's the first thing the Holy Spirit does when he comes into our heart. He cries out, Daddy. I praise God for the tremendous security that that has brought into my life. Even after I was born again, for many, many years, I was a very insecure Christian. Not too sure about so many things. I'd slip up, and I'd think God was very angry with me. But all that disappeared when the Holy Spirit revealed to me that you have a father in heaven who cares for every single need of yours. And that's the reason why you have a command that is an amazing command. Many Christians don't take it seriously. I didn't take it seriously for many years, but I take it seriously now. Let me tell you what that command is. Philippians 4 and verse 6. Philippians 4, verse 6. Be anxious for nothing. An employee in a company may be anxious for many things, but a three-, four-year-old child living in a secure home is anxious for zero. How is that? Because he's got a dad who cares for him. It is impossible to obey that command in Philippians 4, verse 6. Be anxious for zero things in the world unless you know God as daddy. And I want to ask you, my dear brothers and sisters, you come here so many times to New Covenant Christian Fellowship. Do you understand this part of the New Covenant, that you have a father in heaven, a daddy in heaven who cares for you? I'll take an example. Supposing you've got orders to vacate your house. You've got a rented house, and you couldn't pay the rent, and the landlord took you to court, and the court has ordered you to vacate the house by a certain date. We see that sometimes in India, where the police have come to a house and taken out all the stuff from the house, and it's out on the road, and we know that guy was turned out of the house because he didn't pay the rent. Now supposing you got a notice like that, supposing one in one family got a notice like that, and they're all tense. Where should we go tomorrow morning with our stuff? We don't have the money to rent a house. Supposing there's a three-year-old child there in that house, and you wake him up in the middle of the night and say, How are you sleeping? Don't you know that you're going to be turned out of this house tomorrow morning? You say, I'm not bothered. Go and tell daddy. Don't come and tell me. I've got nothing to do with it. That's what a three-year-old will say because he's not bothered. He's got a daddy to take care of all those things. Is there a notice from the court that you've got to vacate your house by tomorrow morning? Daddy takes care of it. Is there a debt to be paid? Daddy takes care of it. Is there enough food in the house? Daddy takes care of it. That's a three-year-old. The 20-year-old son will be disturbed, worried. What are we going to do tomorrow? So it's a wonderful thing to be like a little child who trusts daddy. Daddy will take care of it. That is the only person who can obey this command, which says be anxious for zero things in this world. You either take God's word seriously or, like many Christians, they say, well, nothing doesn't mean nothing. I mean, you've got to be a reasonable man. You have to be anxious of some things. Clever people speak like that. Three-year-olds don't. God has hidden. Jesus said that. I thank you, Father, that you've hidden these things from the clever and the intelligent and revealed them to babes. So one of the great blessings, the second great blessing of the new covenant, is knowing God as a Father who cares, who provides. Think of the gift of the Holy Spirit. There are many people who are confused concerning the gift of the Holy Spirit. So many different doctrines. You must speak in tongues or you must do this or you must do that or you must fast and pray for so many days and all that. But what did Jesus say? Here is Jesus' teaching on how you can receive the Holy Spirit. That's the best. Luke 11, verse 5 to 13. Supposing you go to a friend and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves. I'll give it back. That's why he says lend it to me. Because a friend of mine has come and I don't have anything to set before me. It's midnight. Verse 5. How many of you would go to your neighbor's house at midnight to get three loaves or get a little food to give to a friend who came at midnight who was hungry? If a friend comes to your house at midnight, don't ask him whether he's eaten because he may say no. You'll have problems. But this guy loved him so much, he said, Have you eaten? And he said, No. Okay, I'll get you something. I don't have anything in the house. The fridge is empty. But I'll go to my neighbor and I'll knock and get some food for you. And he says he knocks there. And from inside, he's a good neighbor. He says, Please don't bother me. The children are sleeping. I can't get up and give you anything. Verse 7. He's his friend. But this chap won't go away. He says, I don't care if your children wake up. You've got to give me something. What do you learn from that? You've got to meditate on these parables. This chap has such a burden to feed his friend. That's the first thing I want to say if you want the power of the Holy Spirit. Because ultimately it's coming to the Holy Spirit. I'll show you that. Do you have a burden to give spiritual food to somebody you know and you don't have it to give? That's how I sought for the power of the Holy Spirit. I say, Lord, I want to preach God's word, but I don't have the power to preach it. I can study it and I can prepare my notes and present an eloquent sermon. But one with the anointing and the power of the Holy Spirit. And I said, Lord, give me that. And I'll tell you where I first started praying for it. I first prayed for it way back nearly 60 years ago when I used to stand in the streets. I used to take off my naval uniform and put on civilian clothes and stand in the streets. And I said, Lord, I want a boldness to preach here. And I would not preach anywhere near where I was living where people knew me. I'd go far away, 10 miles away where nobody knew me. There I could preach. And when I said to the Lord, I used to come back home and say, Lord, I will never believe that I'm filled with the Holy Spirit till I stand right outside this naval base where everybody knows me and where I'm not disturbed that people make fun of me. I'll stand on the street and preach Jesus Christ. And I'll know that you'll fill me with the Holy Spirit when I can do that. It took some time. My burden was to reach people with the gospel. And I prayed and prayed. And one day the Lord set me free. And I could stand outside and preach. And there were people who were working under me who would stand there and laugh at me. My senior officers would stand there and laugh at me. Yeah, let them do that. I was free from the fear of men. There's a tremendous fear of men in so many believers when it comes to sharing the gospel with others. I remember in my office I thought I would lose my job because I was going to be a witness for Christ. There are many reasons. I saw Hindus who would put the mark of their God on their forehead and would hang up Hindu idols, pictures of idols. They were not ashamed of their God. Christians were the ones who were ashamed. And I'll tell you why. Because we are not filled with the Holy Spirit. You don't have a burden to give the gospel to others. This guy had a burden. I must give some food to this man who's come to my house. And he knocked and knocked and knocked. He said, I don't care. If all your children wake up, you've got to give it to me. And it says here, I tell you, he will get up, verse 8, and give him as much as he needs. Lord, what are you referring to? Verse 13, if you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit? Ah, that's the theme of this parable. The theme of the parable is how can you receive the Holy Spirit? Number one, have a burden for somebody else who doesn't, is not converted. Or who does not know something about the new covenant which you know. Some truth of God which you know. Some relative of yours does not know. Some friend of yours does not know. And you have a burden. And you don't have the boldness to tell him. Or you don't have the words to give him. You don't know how to convey it. What are you going to do? Oh, forget it. My soul is saved, I don't care where he goes. Such people will never be filled with the Holy Spirit. But to have this burden, I have to give him something. He's hungry, he's starving, he's dying. Then you go and knock and knock and knock and you don't get an answer. No, I'm not going to give up. I'm not going to give up. The message in this parable about seeking for the part of the Holy Spirit is persistence. I will not give up until you fill me with the Holy Spirit. How much more your Heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. I'll tell you, my brothers and sisters, my life was completely transformed when God filled me with the Holy Spirit. And I'm not a Pentecostal. I've never been in a Pentecostal church in my life. I'm not against them. There are wonderful brothers and sisters there. But I wanted it the God- appointed way. And I sought God directly in my room. I sought God alone. The Lord is in your room. You can talk to him right there. I remember when I preached this once in India, there was a young person who heard it and went home and locked himself up in his room and said, Lord, I'm not going to leave this until you fill me with the Holy Spirit. And God filled him. Jesus said, if any man thirst, let him come to me. If you just come casually and say, Lord, yeah, I'd like a drink of water. No, it's not that. Thirst is a man who's been in the desert for seven, ten days without water, desperate. The Holy Spirit will come and you'll know God is your Father. So that's the second thing about the New Covenant. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/SpPG7UFtTis.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/zac-poonen/the-holy-spirit-reveals-god-as-our-father/ ========================================================================