The Father’s Heart

We have been looking at the Father’s heart for us and in this episode, we will be looking at the principle that the Father’s heart for us is only known by seeing who Christ is and what He has done for us.

John 14:8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

The original word used for seen in Greek is horáō, which properly means, to perceive (with inward spiritual perception).

Jesus is the revelation of the Father's heart for us. To see Jesus is to see the Father, but to truly see Jesus we need to perceive who He really is and what the Father did in giving Him up for us. Through faith in the cross, we are to have no more consciousness of sin.

1 John 4:10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

The Father’s heart is known in seeing who Christ is and what He has done for us.

Hebrews 1:3 … when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high

Hebrews 10:1-2 For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. 2For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins.

These two scriptures use the same word for purged and purified. In chapter 1 it is the noun, a cleansing, in chapter 10 it is the verb, to cleanse. Jesus has cleansed us so we are purified and should have no more consciousness of sin.

3 things we can do to have no more consciousness of sin.

1.       Discern what the cross has done.

1 Corinthians 11:29 says we are to discern the body and blood of our Lord and Saviour. Discern what Jesus did in the cross and resurrection.

Hebrews 10:4 says it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins, but Christ’s blood has!

2.       Keep your heart right before the Lord.

If you come to the Father and you feel there is something in the way of your fellowship then repent of that sin.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

3.       Hear and hear and hear the true gospel Word about Christ

Romans 10:17 says faith comes by hearing and hearing the word about Christ.

To have a persistent awareness of our righteousness in Him we need to keep hearing and hearing this gospel truth: He has purified us of all our sins.

Hebrews 10:16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” 17 then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” 18 Now where there is remission [forgiveness] of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.

We don’t need to make atonement for our sin, we don’t need to offer anything to appease God or make it up to Him.

Ps 32:1 New Living Translation

Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!

Is 43:25 New King James Version

“I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.”

The Hebrew word for “blots out” is machah which means: abolish, wipe out, erase, cancel, obliterate. That is what God has done with our sins!

Col 2:14 New King James Version

Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

It is only through believing in His good vision of you that you can be all that He sees you to be. Like Gideon in the wine press, what does the Father see in you that you do not see, and what do you see in you that the Father does not?

Questions

·         What stood out most to you?

·         What does your heart really believe God sees when He looks at you?

·         What does the Father see in you that you do not see and what do you see in you that He does not see?