Address—C. Hendricks
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Maybe we'll start tonight with the.
A few facts.
I was considering some time ago.
Two expressions in the scriptures.
One expression is my father.
As used by the Lord Jesus.
The only one who used that expression.
In the scriptures.
In the New Testament addressing God.
My father, he said.
He brought us.
By virtue of his redemptive work into the place of nearness where we can address God as our Father.
But the expression.
My father.
Is unique to Him, the eternal Son.
Only he uses it.
The other expression.
Is my God.
And the Lord, the Lord used that.
In the Gospels, very seldom. In fact, the only time that he did use that expression is when he was on the cross.
When he cried out and we find it in Matthew 27.
Luke 15 I mean mark fifteen. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
I'm not going to go over all these occurrences in Matthew.
But I'll just bring before us that in in Matthew, the Lord speaks to his Father as my God once.
And that's on the cross just quoted it. He says it twice, but it's 11 occasion.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
And it's important to remark that it would have been unsuitable to, say, my father it was during the three hours of darkness.
When he was forsaken of God. When he was bearing the judgment of God against sin.
So he uses the expression My God.
My God, why hast thou forsaken me? That brings before us especially His humanity?
Because in that same Psalm 22 where that expression is found, he says, Thou art my God, even from my mother's belly.
So there came a point in time.
When his father to him became his God, and that's when he became a man.
But he was always.
His father.
From all eternity.
The eternal Son.
So when he says my father, which he did all through the Gospels.
He is using an expression which is unique.
And peculiar to him alone.
As I traced through the New Testament, I didn't find any of the apostles, including the Apostle Paul.
That ever used the expression my father.
Our father, yes.
We're taught that in the plural, but my Father seems to be reserved for him, the eternal Son of God.
He only used it.
When it comes to the expression, my God.
Only one apostle used that expression, and that was the Apostle Paul.
Let's just look at the instances when he used that expression Romans 1.
In verse 8.
1St I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all.
That your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.
1St Corinthians 1.
And verse 4.
I thank my God.
Always on your behalf.
For the grace of God which is given you.
By Jesus Christ.
2nd Corinthians, chapter 1.
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2nd Corinthians chapter 12. Excuse me?
And verse.
21.
And lest when I come again.
My God will humble me among you.
And that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.
And then again in Philippians.
Chapter 1 and verse 3.
I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.
Again in chapter 4 and verse 19, but my God.
Shall supply all your need.
According to his riches in glory.
By Christ Jesus.
And then I think it's found in.
Philemon, verse 4.
I thank my God making mention of Thee always in my prayers.
And I found that extremely interesting.
That the apostle Paul.
Spoke of him as his God.
But he never used the expression None of the apostles.
Did.
My father.
That was unique and and.
Reserved if I can put it that way.
For the son.
The eternal Son, I think it it brings out that it's an expression that was his to that was his alone.
From all eternity past, he was his own father.
Now I've used that expression his own father, and it's a very expression that is used in John 5 and and let's look at that.
Because it brings out especially the point that I am making.
In John 5 and verse 17, Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
Now all he had said.
Was a very simple statement, but it was a man on earth Speaking of God.
And as they thought, daring to use such an intimate expression, my Father, when Speaking of God.
And they considered that blasphemy. Notice what it says, verse 18. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his father. Mr. Darby has it. God was his own father, making himself equal with God. They understood the implication.
Behind that expression, when he said my Father, he was making himself equal with God. To them it was blasphemy.
Well, rather than being blasphemy, it was the expression of the eternal relationship that the Eternal Son had with the Eternal Father. It never had a beginning, but when he says My God, my God.
He expresses.
That it was God in all that He is as God in His nature dealing with sin.
And so he uses that expression on the cross.
Before the cross, I should say, before the three hours of darkness, it was Father.
And after again it was Father.
Forgive them, Father, Forgive them, for they know not what they do.
And after the.
Cry of abandonment to his God. It was Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.
Well.
Let's just mention that.
In in Mark's Gospel, Well, let's start with Matthew and I'll just give you these numbers. We can't, we can't possibly look at all of them, all of the instances. But in Matthew, Matthew 2746, the Lord uses my God.
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My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And then 17 times in Matthew he addresses him as my Father. My Father. Most instructive to go through them.
In Mark's Gospel.
Surprisingly, I don't know whether I should say it that way or not, but it's a fact.
He uses my God once again at the cross.
And that's found in Mark 1534. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me in Mark's gospel where he is presented as the perfect servant?
He doesn't use the expression my father wants.
Only my God when he was abandoned on the cross.
In Luke's Gospel.
He uses.
The expression my father four times and I'd like to look at them and my God.
No, not once.
Not once.
But before we look at the those in Luke, I want to call your attention to John's gospel.
And I'm sure.
In.
If you're following what I'm saying.
You will immediately say we're going to hear him say my father many times, and so he does.
In John's Gospel, my father occurs 35 times.
As the expression of the intimacy of the Eternal Son with his Father.
And my God.
Only occurs once, but it's not uttered by the Lord Jesus.
It's uttered by Thomas.
When he says to the Lord Jesus.
My Lord and my God.
So there's another.
There's only two.
Persons in the New Testament that address him as my God.
And that is Thomas.
And the Lord Jesus himself.
And.
We'll see that as we pursue some of these.
Now turn back with me to Lukes Gospel and chapter 2. And in this instance in Luke alone we have the first time that the blessed Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaks to his God as my Father.
Or of him as such in Luke chapter 2.
And he's only a boy of 12 years old here.
And verse 48 we know the account and when they saw him, that is Mary and Joseph.
They were amazed.
They saw him in the midst of the doctors hearing them and asking them questions.
It says they were amazed.
And his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us?
Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.
Now, she said of Joseph. I don't know how else she could have expressed it. My father and I, he was hurt. He was. Joseph was his legal father, not his biological father. He had no human father in that sense.
I've said this before.
As to his deity.
He had no mother. The Catholics talk about Mary as the mother of God. No, as to his deity, he had no mother, only a father.
That is from.
Eternity past.
When he was in the Godhead.
God the Father was His. His own Father always, never, never began. That relationship was eternal, and He was the eternal Son, and the Spirit was the eternal Spirit, and not only was, but is and shall be forever and ever.
Those expressions most precious.
But here he is a boy of 12, and he says, When my father and I have sought thee sorrowing, he answers her. He said unto them, How is it that ye sought me, wished ye not that I must be about?
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My father's business. That's the first time a boy of 12, mind you, Speaking of.
Not Joseph here, but God, but Speaking of him in that intimacy which only he had, and knew in its fullness, as the one who lay in the Father's bosom from all eternity past, he could say, Wish thee not that I must be about my Father's business.
And the last thing he says is, it is finished. Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.
He finished the father's business.
Imperfection.
Well, that's the first time it occurs, and it has to do with.
His carrying out.
In perfection what the Father had given him to do.
First recorded expression of the Sun.
The eternal Son wish thee not. Don't you know I must be about my Father's business? They understood not.
That saying which he spake unto them, they did not enter in and comprehend the fullness of that.
It was a relationship which was his.
From all eternity.
God turned to the 10th chapter where you have in Luke the second occurrence.
Of his using that expression, and this time he is.
In his public ministry.
And in Luke 10 verse 21 in that hour.
Jesus rejoiced in spirit.
And said, I thank thee, O Father.
Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. Now here's the expression. All things are delivered to me of my Father.
And no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father.
And who the father is but the Son, and he to whom the son will reveal him. It's been pointed out many times that that.
Explanatory. Explanatory.
Clause at the end.
No man knows who the father is but the Son, and he to whom the son will reveal him, that's only stated.
Connection with knowing the Father. The Son reveals to us the Father, but there is no such.
Statement after the first expression, no one no knows who the son is but the father. Nothing more said.
Only the Father can really know who the Son is, because the Son is both God and man in one person.
And there is that about him. That truth is beyond human understanding.
God and Man in one person.
And so he says, all things are delivered to me of my father.
All things delivered to him of his father, how precious. All given to him. He's the first expression as a boy of 12 wished he not that I must be about my father's business. And now he says all things are delivered to me.
Of my father no man knoweth who the Father, the Son is, but the Father. Then in the 22nd chapter.
We have another beautiful expression, 22nd of Luke.
And verse 29.
In verse 28 he says.
To his disciples ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations.
And I appoint unto you a Kingdom.
As my Father hath appointed unto me.
It doesn't say that. He doesn't say My Father has appointed the Kingdom to them. He says, My Father has appointed to me, and so I appoint unto you a Kingdom. So there he tells them about a coming Kingdom that he had appointed to them, even as his Father had appointed unto him.
That ye may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom, and sit on Thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel.
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As you ponder these expressions.
You see the unique intimacy that was his alone with his father as he uses that expression. My father.
We read the expression Father, and we read Righteous Father and Holy Father and other other expressions Heavenly Father, but my Father, I'm just emphasizing that particular expression. Only He used it, and then the last.
Last one. And this says, as my Father I appoint unto you a Kingdom, as my Father has appointed unto me, and the last one now that looks on to the coming Kingdom, to his millennial reign, all things are delivered unto me of my Father. He's appointed unto me a Kingdom, and I appoint unto you a Kingdom. And then in the 24th chapter.
And verse 49.
He now tells of that which eclipses the Kingdom.
For.
Something that we are in the enjoyment of right now.
He says in verse 48, And ye are witnesses of these things, and behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you. He's talking about the Holy Spirit, the promise of my Father upon you.
But tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power.
From on high.
So he says, Wish ye not that I must be about my Father's Kingdom, boy of 12. Then he says, All things are delivered unto me of my Father. And then he says, I appoint unto you a Kingdom, as my Father has appointed unto me. And here he says, I send the promise of my Father upon you.
And that would bring us into the the blessings of the Christian dispensation.
Now let's turn to the Book of Revelation.
And in the Book of Revelation.
We have both of those expressions used.
I find it very instructive.
The Book of Revelation.
My father.
Is used three times.
My God is used four times, and that makes the perfect #7 three times does he speak to.
His God as my Father. Four times does he speak to his Father as my God.
The first one is in chapter 2.
And it's the address to Thyatira.
Very instructive.
In fact, these 7 expressions occur in the last four churches.
Thyatira.
Sardis and Laodicea.
The Lord uses the expression my Father, and we'll look at them. And in Philadelphia, four times in one verse he uses the expression my God.
When I first discovered that.
I thought it was backwards from the way it should be, but not so.
I had to be instructed to understand, and I don't say that I fully understand the force of it all, but I'll give you what I do understand.
In the second chapter.
Addressing Thyatira.
Thyatira was that phase of the history of the Church.
Which if we read verse 20, for instance, notwithstanding, I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants, to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to idols in Revelation 17, this woman Jezebel that's mentioned here.
There is is seen in another figure as a ***** a harlot riding a beast.
And it's the same.
System, uh.
That's in view there a vast religious system that is unfaithful and untrue to.
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Her bridegroom.
Paul labored that he might present the church as a chaste virgin to Christ. That's what the church is, according to God's thoughts. A chaste virgin separated from the world pure, and she keeps herself holy and altogether for him. But Tessa Bell was, of all the women in the Old Testament, the most wicked.
She ruled, she controlled Ahab, who was the most wicked king.
And did many evil things. And we know that even in the world that the name Jezebel carries with it a terrible stigma of of evil, the very personification of evil in a woman, Jezebel. And this Thyatira period, it depicts that period in the history of the church after Constantine, when the church became very political and had great power.
And aspired after.
Dominion over the world and to rule the world. And you see in chapter 17 that woman is riding the beach. She has acquired the place that she has sought after. She wants a place of power. Just the very opposite to the true character of the true church, which is a chaste virgin.
Separated, kept holy and altogether for her bridegroom. Well, it's in this address that he says.
Verse 24 he addresses there the remnant, There was a remnant at Thyatira, those that had kept themselves pure. And he says unto you, I say.
Unto the rest in Thyatira the remnant there as many as have not this doctrine the doctrine that.
Jezebel taught.
She taught to to seduce My servants, to commit fornication, to eat things sacrificed to idols, as many as have not this doctrine and which have not known the depths of Satan as they speak, they were being charged with being heretics and being in the depths of Satan. That's what the leaders there in this system, this Thyatira system.
Were charging. That's the way they were charging the remnant.
And they they considered them heretics. That was a time when many godly, faithful Christians were put to death, burned at the stake by the religious system because they would not bow the knee to the idolatry and the evil that was going on under the name of Christ.
That awful system.
He says unto the rest, and fire tire the remnant there as many as, if not this doctrine, who have not fallen for the evil that is being held by the majority there at Thyatira, and they in which have not known the depths of Satan as they speak the very thing they were charging them with, they were not true. It was not true of them.
They were not under Satan's power. They were true and pure and holy ones.
And he says, I will put upon you none other burden.
But that which he have already hold fast till I come.
This system that wanted to rule the world.
This faithful remnant, they were willing to wait the Lord's time. They knew that wasn't their calling as Christians to rule the world apart from Christ when he was rejected. And so they were going on faithfully, though they were being maligned and slandered and blasphemed by the system that they were in.
And then he says in verse 26, He that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations. The very thing that this woman there was aspiring after the system was aspiring after, is the very thing that He promises now to the faithful few that would not.
Follow her in her wickedness.
And he shall rule them with a rod of iron.
As the vessels of a Potter shall they be broken to shivers, even as I received of my father.
So as he received, he who was maligned and cast out and rejected of the of the leaders of Israel, even as this remnant was being so treated by the leaders in Thyatira, he said, as I have received of my father, so I will give to you.
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Very precious.
And I will give him the Morning Star.
Not only would they rule the nations, the very thing that Thyatira wanted to do.
But he would give them something even more the Morning Star, the hope of the Lord's coming.
And that's the first time we have my father, and it's in Thyatira now. The next one is in Sardis, and it's in Chapter 3.
And he says in verse 4.
Now Sardis represents.
That period of time following the.
The Thyatira period, when the the national Church, the Universal Church, I should say, had gone into gross wickedness.
With the remnant there seeking to be faithful.
And whom the Lord commends. And the promise to that remnant is?
I will.
Make you to rule.
And I'll give you the Morning Star now. Sardis represents that work of the Spirit of God. That period that followed when the we call it the Reformation, I believe.
When many separated from the wickedness of Thyatira, and they sought to go on in a measure of recovered truth, which was the all sufficiency of the Bible and justification by faith apart from works.
And in verse 4 the Lord says to Sardis, He says, Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments.
That is, they were maintaining a path of separation. The trouble with the Sardis movement is that it soon degenerated into the level of the world.
And it came to a halt because they sought protection against the tyranny and persecution of Rome by going to the governments of the world, the political powers, to protect them.
That he mentions in verse 4 they didn't take part in that. They seemed to have understood that the Christian is a separated.
Heavenly person.
And they did not defile their garments. And he says to them, They shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. I remember.
Several years back now, I spoke in Denver.
On Philadelphia and Laodicea and when I got through.
A sister came up to me and she said.
Are there any that are outside of our circle that would be Philadelphians?
And I must confess I didn't have a good answer for her at that time. In the next year, in the spring, I think it was the April or May issue of the Christian Treasury.
An article by FG Patterson gave me the answer to her question.
And it was on the the seven churches.
And he makes this statement. He makes it repeatedly.
And it just flooded my soul with light.
And gave me understanding in the matter and it was the answer to her question. And Brother Patterson points out, he says the overcomers and everyone of the seven churches is morally a Philadelphian.
Let that sink in. The overcomers in every one of the seven churches is morally a Philadelphia. What is a Philadelphian? Thou has kept my word and not denied my name.
Thou hast kept the word of my patience. That's those are the moral features of Philadelphia.
And like it says to the overcomer, to the overcomer in Thyatira it says that which ye have hold fast till I come. They had not known this doctrine, they had not participated in it, and they had gone on in holy separation according to the light that they had.
They were morally Philadelphians and those in Sardis who did not.
Go with the leaders even that would seek protection from the world against the enemy.
But rather cast themselves upon the Lord, He says, They shall walk with me in white.
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Clothed in white raiment.
And then he says in verse 5, he that overcometh the same shall be clothed in white raiment. And I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life. Why does it say it that way? Because they were the very ones who were having their names blotted out of the of the national Church, the Universal Church, the Thyatira Church. They were considered heretics.
And many of them were burned at the stake because they did. They had deployed.
From the Mother Church, that Mother Church had become an unfaithful heart.
And they departed in faithfulness to the Lord. Separation from evil is God's principle of unity and holiness, and they acted in that. And so he says, to such they were morally Philadelphians.
And we're not in what we would say, the Philadelphian position that comes next. But morally they were of that character.
And there are many out there and we can be thankful for them.
Many out there that may be still in that Roman system and in the many Protestant systems, we know far more than they, and we know that those systems are wrong.
But some don't understand that and they are living according to the light that they have, and God approves them in that sense.
And then?
The last one.
Notice what it says in verse 5. Again, I want to read it. He that overcometh the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life.
I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life. Your name may be blotted out of the man's book here on earth.
And they may blot you out and say you're a heretic and and you're not a Christian and all that. That's what they were saying. And the Lord says to such I won't blot your name out of the book of life.
They may blotch your name out of their book of membership, church membership, and so on, but I will not blot your name out of the Book of Life because you are faithful to me. But I will confess.
His name before my father.
And before his angels.
I will confess his name.
Before my father isn't that precious. Before his father, he confesses the name of the faithful, one that was resisting the temptation to seek refuge under the arm of the flesh.
Very precious promise.
And then the last one is in Laodicea.
Laodicea that that final.
State of lukewarmness that is described there.
You wouldn't think that there was anything there that was approved of him, but he does say in verse 19, As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent. That is, he opened the door is held open to those even in the Laodicean state to repent and by that to separate themselves from the general lethargic state of things.
That existed at Laodicea, that lukewarm, nauseous condition.
That had no zeal for the things of God at all. Lukewarmness.
And then he says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. He's not even inside that church. He's outside knocking.
If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and will Sup with him and he with me. Notice it's it's all individual. There in Philadelphia you have the collective thing.
You have those that are holding the collective truth faithfully, but here that's all gone. But there are still individuals that are faithful. And then he says to him that overcometh.
Will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with my father, with my father in his throne?
Well, it says I've sat down with my Father in his throne, that only he can occupy that place. Only the eternal Son can sit with his Father in his throne. But then he says, I'll grant that you, the faithful ones in Laodicea, will sit with me in my throne.
Even as I have sat down with my father in his throne, well, those are the three instances where he says my father here and then he says 4 times, my God. And that's found in Philadelphia and let's look at it.
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Verse 20. Verse 11 of chapter 3.
Behold, I come quickly.
Hold that fast.
Which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
Him that overcometh, will I make a pillar in the temple of my God?
That's the first time.
And he shall go no more out.
And I will write upon him the name of my God. That's the second time.
And the name of the city of my God, the 3rd 10.
Which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God the 4th time, and I will write upon him my new name.
What wonders to read?
Him that overcometh in Philadelphia. What is there to overcome in Philadelphia? He doesn't find any fault with Philadelphia. He commends it.
The overcoming is to not hold fast.
That is, the tendency is not to hold fast. That was the danger of the Philadelphia.
And the overcomer is one who does hold fast.
The recovered truth.
I don't know anything sadder.
In this present day.
Than to think of those.
Any of us that were among our company.
Or any other tendency that might be in any of our hearts.
To let go.
Not to hold fast the precious truth that has been recovered to us in the last 170 years.
Him that overcometh, the one that holds fast, hold fast that thou hast, that no man take thy crown to let go the the precious recovered truth will be to lose your crown.
He says him that overcometh. Will I make a pillar?
The temple of my God the Church is spoken of in First Timothy 3:15 as the pillar and ground of the truth. The pillar is that which upholds the truth. The ground or the foundation is that which is the basis, and the assembly is both.
That the she's not the truth. Christ is, and the Spirit is, and the Word is, but she's to uphold and maintain it. And so he says to this overcomer in Philadelphia, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God.
He, when he was here, the perfect man.
He was in a scene where all was contrary to God, and the truth that had been committed to Israel was being given up, not maintained in health, and he faithfully went through it all as that dependent, obedient man to his God.
And he speaks here in words that would comfort and encourage the overcomer in Philadelphia.
Him that overcomer cometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out. That implies that when He was here below, he has had to go out and separate from iniquity. Let everyone that name at the name of Lord depart from iniquity. He's had to do that. He has had to separate from it.
And now, he says, he'll go no more out.
He shall go no more out, and I will write upon him the name of my God.
The name of the God who of his God whom he so faithfully served when he was here, He said. I'll write his name on the overcomer.
And the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, that is, that speaks of the assembly.
And here he says that to the overcomer in Philadelphia, who especially it's that assembly of the seven that represents the full recovery of revealed truth given to us through the Apostle Paul.
The Assembly I write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem with cometh, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, The source of it coming down out of heaven from my God. Well these 4 mentions, and I will write upon him my new name.
So there you have the seven times in Revelation where you have my Father and my God. And you'll notice when he uses my Father, it's an expression which is only his.
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To enjoy.
And the others are blessed in accordance with that, but separate from it. But here when he says, my God, it seems as though there is a there is is a nearness.
That we are brought into because.
He is, we can say, my God.
Paul said. My God.
Thomas said My Lord and my God.
But no mere man.
Ever, Said my father. I find that extremely instructive.
We are brought so near that we can say our father.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Notice the order for us. It's always put God first.
And Father second, that's how we come to know him. He's first our God, and then we come to know him as our Father. But in John 20, when the Lord Jesus instructs Mary Magdalene, he says, Go to my brethren and tell them, I ascend unto my Father.
And your father?
To my God and your God.
When he speaks of him, he says Father first, my Father 1St, and then he says my God.
And he brings us into that.
But it's it's like when they entered the land, the ark was 2000 cubits ahead of the rest.
Though he has brought us so near, as near as a creature can be.
There's still that distance because he, and he alone is the eternal Son who knows God as his own Father in a way.
That is his unique.
Place and relationship As the eternal Son of God, we have been brought as near as a creature can be higher than the angels, and the wonder of it floods the soul with worship, adoration and praise.
As we think of the nearness that he's brought us into.
But there's still the difference between what is his and his alone and what his.
Made us.
To come to enjoy.
May we ever.
Adore him for who he is.