Home Page   Contact Us    Service Times   Sermons   Are You Going To Heaven?

NOTICE:   THESE SERMONS ARE FREE TO BE USED BUT ARE NOT TO BE SOLD!

THE GOOD NAME OF OUR SAVIOUR

Introduction

We’ve been looking at the good name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that is given here in Isaiah 9:6. Thus far we have seen that his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, and The Mighty God.

Today, we want to look at the next name–He is “The Everlasting Father.”

Most of us had friends while we were growing up. My very best friend in elementary school was a fellow by the name of Gary Clyde Young. After the seventh grade, though we were separated when they began busing us to separate junior high schools in order to integrate the schools.

When we got to high school, we finally were back in school together but things just weren’t the same. We both had went different directions with our lives and had developed other friendships. The last I heard of him I was told he was in Arizona.

During my teen years, my very best friend was a fellow by the name of Marion Allen Hughes. But he went through the Southern Baptist Schools and seminary and I didn’t. The last contact that I had with him was probably more than 20 years ago. The last I heard he was pastoring a Southern Baptist Church–Log Cabin Baptist Church–in the Macon, GA area.

The truth is, many times even some of our closest friends through the years, drift away or die on us.

But I want to look at a true friend Who will never drift away from us or die on us. His Name is Jesus, and He is our Everlasting Father!

What does it mean to say that Jesus is our Everlasting Father? How is it that Jesus can be an Everlasting Father to us?

I.            WE CAN HAVE A PERMANENT RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM.

The Word “Everlasting” – means perpetual, eternal, forever, without end.

Jesus Christ is God. And being God that means that He is eternal– without beginning or end.

Psalms 90:2–“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.”

We need to understand that the moment we place our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation, an eternal relationship is created!

Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, came to earth to establish eternal, permanent relationships with those who have been born again!

Though other friends may lose interest in us and move on with their lives, the great thing about Jesus, our Messiah, our Everlasting Father, is that He never loses interest and he never moves on! He never loses interest in us!

               He’s always there! He is the same yesterday, today and forever!

And because He’s our Everlasting Father that means His relationship with us is permanent.

               What kind of relationship does this Everlasting Father have with us?

Scripture tells us of thiis permanent relationship He has with us.

               A.         He Loves Us With An Everlasting Love!

                            Jesus will never stop loving us.

He can never love us any more or less than He already does right now.

Isaiah 54:8–“In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.”

Jeremiah 31:3–“The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.”

               B.         He Saves Us With An Everlasting Salvation!

God came to earth to establish and develop a permanent relationship with us. That relationship could only be established once we had been delivered from sin.

                            When Jesus saves us, He saves us forever!

John 3:16–“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

John 3:36–“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”

John 5:24–“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”

John 6:40–“And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.”

If you have placed your trust completely in the Lord Jesus Christ and have given your life to Jesus Christ, you can be assured that His love and His salvation will never end!

Our everlasting Father, has a permanent relationship with us that includes His everlasting love and everlasting life!

               WE CAN HAVE A PERMANENT RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM!

II.           WE CAN HAVE A PATERNAL RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM!

               Isaiah says this child to be born would be called “Everlasting Father”.

               Why does Isaiah refer to the Messiah as a Father?

               This sounds confusing to call Jesus Christ, “Father”.

               Up to this point, only God was referred to as Father.

Psalms 89:26–“He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.”

Isaiah 63:16–“Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: thou, O LORD, art our father, our redeemer; thy name is from everlasting.”

               And yet, Jesus Himself claims to be like the Father to us.

               John 10:30–“I and my Father are one.”

John 14:8-9–“Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?”

               Jesus Christ is like a Father to us. He does things that a Father would do.

What does a Father do? Better yet, what does our Everlasting Father do for us? Let me give you four things:.

               A.         Our Everlasting Father Gives Us Life!

                            Illus. In a human sense, we were “created” by our parents.

                            In a larger sense, we were created by our Heavenly Father.

Genesis 2:7–“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

John 1:3–“All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

Colossians 1:16–“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:”

Jesus gave us not only physical life, but more importantly, as we’ve already seen, He gave us spiritual life!

                            Our Everlasting Father, Jesus Christ, Gives Us Everlasting Life!

               B.         Our Everlasting Father Gives Us Advice!

We’ve already seen in a previous message how that Jesus is our Counselor!

Luke 21:15–“For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.”

Ephesians 1:17–“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:”

How many times over the years have we asked our fathers for advice or wisdom? After all, they’ve already been where we’re at.

Mark Twain said, "When I was a boy of 14 my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to 21, I was astonished at how much the old man learned in 7 years."

Why do we go to our fathers? Because we trust them. Because we know that they have our best interests in mind.

More importantly, we can always go to our Everlasting Father, Jesus Christ, Who loves giving us advice and wisdom and counsel because He has our best interests in mind.

                            My earthly father is no longer around. He died on 12/28/97.

                            I miss him. I miss his advice.

But, Jesus, my Everlasting Father, is always around and always available!

               C.         Our Everlasting Father Loves Us!

John 15:9–“As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.”

               I loved it when my kids were little and wanted to snuggle with me.

               In my arms, they knew they were loved!

               That’s the way I look at Jesus as a Father.

I know He loves me, even more than any earthly father could ever love me!

I know He’ll always be there to put His nail-scarred hands around me and remind me of how much I am loved.

                            Our Everlasting Father Gives Us Life. . .Advice. . .Love

               D.         Our Everlasting Father Gives Us Protection!

                            When our kids were afraid, where’s the first place they run?

                            To their dads!

When my kids were in my arms, not only did they know they were loved, but they also knew they were safe and secure, no matter what is happening around them.

                            They knew their father would protect them.

                            Jesus does the same thing!

2 Thessalonians 3:3–“But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.”

Hebrews 13:5-6–“Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. 6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. ”

                            Jesus never lets His guard down and He never lets us down.

He is always there for us to run to, to keep us safe, to protect us from evil. He will never allow us to slip away from Him!

John 10:27-28–“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”

Jesus is our Everlasting Father. The relationship that we have with Him, if we are born of Him, is both a permanent and paternal relationship.

III.         WE CAN HAVE A POWERFUL RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM.

               Jesus came to earth to be our Messiah, our Everlasting Father.

               He’s not only Everlasting, He’s also a true Father to us.

Some of us have lost our earthly fathers. Some here may have had or still have a strained relationship with your father.

You can’t run to them when life gets tough. But we can still run to our Everlasting Father.

Not only will He never leave us or forsake us, but He also loves us and protects us and gives us life.

He is our Father, Who will ALWAYS be there for advice, for protection, for love! That’s powerful! We can have that kind of relationship with God!

Our loved ones aren’t around forever, are they? No matter how much your parents love you, no matter how much your husband or wife cares for you, if you live long enough there will come a day when they will leave.

They will abandon you - if not by choice, then by their death. Their lives will someday come to an end, and there’s nothing we can do about it.

But Jesus is different… All of the good things He is to us now, He will always be to us. He will always be our Provider and Protector and our Saviour!

He will always be our refuge, and our strength. His love for us will never cease, either in this world or the next!

               In him, we will have eternal joy and hope and glory and pleasure!

               In Christ, we are eternally blessed and secure!

Jesus will always keep His promises to us, even when other people can’t or won’t! He will always be our God! He will be our Everlasting Father!

Wouldn’t it be great if we could still go to our dads when the going gets tough, when we need to know we’re still loved, when we need some advice or encouragement?

Guess what? We still can, because we have an Everlasting Father, Who loves us forever!

Psalms 103:17–“But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children;”

               How can we have or improve our relationship with our Father?

               Illus. Many of you have seen the video, “Finding Nemo”.

               •It’s a powerful story of the love and determination of a caring father.

               •It’s the story of being lost, and then found.

•It’s a story that can help us understand our Heavenly Father and His love for us.

In the movie, Nemo’s father Marlin loved him very much. He watched over Nemo and protected him from every evil. Nemo and his dad were best friends.

               •But one day Nemo disobeyed his father and swam beyond the reef.

               He was suddenly scooped up by a diver and taken away.

•His disobedience caused him to be separated from his father and there was nothing he could do to get back on his own. He ended up in a fish tank in a dentist’s office.

               •His situation seemed hopeless.

His father loved him so much that it didn’t matter how big the ocean was. He was determined to save Nemo, and set out on an incredible adventure to seek and save his son. Eventually, word of His incredible journey reached little Nemo.

•Nemo was so thrilled to learn of his father’s love and search for him, that he took an amazing step of faith. He jumped out of the fish tank, down a drain that led to the ocean.

It was an incredible ending when Nemo was saved at last and home with his loving father. (SOURCE: "Finding Nemo." Directed by Lee Unkrich, Andrew Stanton. Disney Home Video, 2003. http://www.pixar.com/featurefilms/nemo/tale.html)

               That’s the story of our Heavenly Father and us.

•When we disobeyed Him, we became separated from Him, lost and helpless.

               •But His love drove Him to the cross so He could rescue us permanently.

•But here’s the catch – our reunion with Him is dependent on our willingness to return.

He’s not everyone’s Father – only those who run to Him and cry out to Him in repentance and faith!

               What an awesome Saviour we have!

               He is Wonderful, He is Counselor! He is the Mighty God!

               He is the Everlasting Father!

As our Everlasting Father, we can run to Him. Would you run to Him today?

Home Page   Contact Us    Service Times   Sermons   Are You Going To Heaven?

NOTICE:   THESE SERMONS ARE FREE TO BE USED BUT ARE NOT TO BE SOLD!