THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD - C.H.SPURGEON

http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0213.htm ^ | 2/24/06 | ALPHA-8-25-02

[alpha-8-25-02]

A Sermon (No. 213) Delivered on Sabbath Morning, September 12, 1858, by the REV. C. H. Spurgeon at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens

"Our Father which art in heaven."—Matthew 6:9.

THINK there is room for very great doubt, whether our Saviour intended the prayer, of which our text forms a part, to be used in the manner in which it is commonly employed among professing Christians. It is the custom of many persons to repeat it as their morning prayer, and they think that when they have repeated these sacred words they have done enough. I believe that this prayer was never intended for universal use. Jesus Christ taught it not to all men, but to his disciples, and it is a prayer adapted only to those who are the possessors of grace, and are truly converted. In the lips of an ungodly man it is entirely out of place. Doth not one say, "Ye are of your father the devil, for his works ye do?" Why, then, should ye mock God by saying, "Our Father which art in heaven." For how can he be your Father? Have ye two Fathers? And if he be a Father, where is his honor? Where is his love? You neither honor nor love him, and yet you presumptuously and blasphemously approach him, and say, "Our Father," when your heart is attached still to sin, and your life is opposed to his law, and you therefore prove yourself to be an heir of wrath, and not a child of grace! -SNIP-

[alpha-8-25-02]

GOOD MORNING SAINTS,

As some of you know,i am the church cook as well as teacher.

The northen flock knows it will be fed one way or the other. :)

A chef assembles bits of God's creation to form something desirable to the appetite.

A preacher feeds the soul with the exposition of God's word.

I pray you all read our brother's sermon,it will feed you!

SOLI DEO GLORIA!

[anonymoussierra]

thank you

[AlbionGirl]

Bump for full read a little later.

[AlbionGirl]

"I very much question also, whether this prayer was intended to be used by Christ's own disciples as a constant form of prayer. It seems to me that Christ gave it as a model, whereby we are to fashion all our prayers, and I think we may use it to edification, and with great sincerity and earnestness, at certain times and seasons."

I agree with this. When Christ instructs His Disciples to pray the Our Father he does it as a remedy against vain repetitions, as the Pharisees were wont to do. It was a model.

He was trying to get us to know that, through Him, we could approach the Father. We could approach him as the human beings that we are, in the language that we use, and that this was the way to petition the Father, to repent to the Father, to run to the Father when one felt that they were the walking wounded.

What I admire most about John Calvin is that he fought for the preminence of the Sovereignty of God, and he tried to relay that to Christ's followers through the application of the principle(s) of Fatherly love.

The Love of a Father is quite often misunderstood by his children. Once a child matures he can understand that love more clearly. But, our relationship with God the Father is that of a child who reaches that maturity of understanding, perhaps, only when he or she passes from this earth, to Heaven or Hell.

[Kitty Mittens]

This Spirit-Enabled Sermon has So Many Meaty Parts, my Soul was Filled with Savory Manna! I Think this is my Favorite Section, Although it had to Compete with the Entirety of the Sermon!

Oh! when the wind of trouble is blowing and waves of adversity are rising, and the ship is reeling to the rock how sweet then to say "My Father," and to believe that his strong hand is on the helm!—when the bones are aching, and when the loins are filled with pain, and when the cup is brimming with wormwood and gall, to say "My Father," and seeing that Father's hand holding the cup to the lip, to drink it steadily to the very dregs because we can say, "My Father, not my will, but thine be done."

Inexressably Precious were those Words to me!

For whom the Lord Loveth he Chasteneth, and Scourgeth every son whom he Receiveth. (He.12:6 KJV)

Being Punished isn't Enjoyable while it is Happening; it Hurts! But Afterwards we can See the Result, a Quiet Growth in Grace and Character. (Heb.12:13, Living Bible)