The Father Heart of God

A few years ago, if you had been walking up at Yermina on the Central Coast along the beach, you may have bumped into this guy.

His name is James Harrison.

And when you saw him, you probably wouldn't have thought of him as anything particularly extraordinary.

That is unless you got to know him.

If you had taken the time to get to know James Harrison, you would discover that he was known as the man with the golden arm.

Why the man with the golden arm?

Well, James Harrison donated blood every three weeks on average for over 60 years.

He in fact, to be specific, donated blood 1,173 times from the age of 18 to 81.

You might think, well, why would that be?

When he was a teenager, he had a very bad accident and he needed a huge blood transfusion.

And that sort of motivated him to give blood.

But then more so, he still as a teenager discovered that he had a very rare antibody in his blood called the anti-D antibody.

And it was part of his plasma, which allowed him to give more blood more frequently than normal.

And that anti-D, antigen, was able to be used to form a blood product that would save ultimately hundreds of thousands of infant lives.

And in fact, because of however it worked with the blood, his own antibodies were used to save the lives of his children and his grandchildren.

We will come back to the reason why I share that.

In John 17 verse 3, we have that wonderful passage where Jesus says, this is eternal life, that you might know God.

The most important thing in all the world is relationship.

To know people, even far more so to know the living God.

To know what he is like.

Jesus says, this is actually eternal life.

You wouldn't have a clue what James Harrison had done if you didn't get to know him.

And the same is true for God.

We need to know God, what he is like.

And that's really why we've been studying the last month, this ancient book of Hosea.

We're trying to glean from the narrative we read, what God is like.

Who is God?

What is he like?

How has he revealed himself to us?

And well, what we find today is God is not just like, he is a heavenly father.

He is the best father.

He's a heavenly father.

And we'll see he's a holy father.

And also he is a healing father.

God is heavenly father.

Hosea 11.1 says, When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

But the more they were called, the more they went away.

They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images.

It was I who took Ephraim to walk, taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms.

But they did not realize it was I who healed them.

I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love.

To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek and I bent down to feed them.

Clearly, here in Hosea 11, God is describing himself as a father, a father.

Now, we know this is the truth about God because when God walked among us, when the Incarnate Son of God taught about what God was like, he said, this is how you should pray.

This then is how you should pray, our Father in heaven.

So we know God is a father to those who put faith in his love.

So from the text very quickly, from verse one, we read, when Israel was a child, I loved him and out of Egypt I called my son.

We know God rescued his people.

They were his children.

He was like a dad to them, rescuing them from Egypt.

Verse two, but the more they were called to be children, the more they went away.

They sacrificed to the Baals.

God loved them as a father, but like a rebellious teenager, they pushed him away.

Verse three, I taught them to walk like I did to Ephraim, but they did not realize.

It was I who healed them.

God's heart towards his disobedient children has never changed.

He's just constantly faithful.

And he says, you know, the problem with my people is they don't realize this false attribution we talked about.

They don't realize when I am doing good for them.

But again, he's saying, I am a father to them.

Do you know what God is like?

Are you confident you know what God is like?

He is a father.

He is your father.

He wants to be a father to you.

I led them with cords of human kindness, tires of love, and then this beautiful one, to them I was like one who lifts a child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them.

Cords of human kindness is the language of covenant commitment.

He's like, I have been fully committed to you.

I told you I would be, and I have.

And the way I want you to think about me is I'm like a father.

Isn't it the beautiful text?

Who picks up a child and holds him next to his cheek.

That's the heart of God, the father heart of God.

Do you know God as father like that?

Islam does not teach that God is father.

He is a master.

Humans are servants.

Hinduism, God is not a father because there are so many gods.

It's not even something that would work.

The idea of God as father.

In Buddhism, there is no personal God, let alone a father concept.

Christianity is unique.

Hallelujah.

That there is a God in heaven who created everything, who is and wants to be his children's father, his people, the humans he has created.

I wonder if you remember this wonderful story about Rick Hoyt.

Does anyone remember the name?

I've mentioned this sort of periodically, probably every five or six years, because it's a relatively old story.

Rick was born in 1962 with cerebral palsy.

There was a problem with the birth, and he had a restriction of oxygen to the brain, and so he was born quite handicapped, and Dick and Judy Hoyt, his parents, were told by the doctors that Rick would never walk, talk or live a meaningful life.

But Dick and Judy refused to not allow their child to have meaning in his life.

And this is a long time ago, but there came a time as he grew where there was a special computer that allowed him to speak.

And what he said was something that changed the family's lives forever.

He said, when I run, sounds like Eric Liddell, when I run, I feel his pleasure.

It's not very good, but I tried.

He said, when I run, I feel alive.

And what he was meaning was, when I'm in a trolley, like someone's running with me, I feel alive.

And so Dick the Father wasn't an athlete at all, but he just so wanted his son to feel alive that he started to train.

And he became an athlete, and he was doing 5K runs and even marathons and triathlons.

The interesting thing was he did it with his son Rick.

And they did it, they actually did over 1,000 races together, including 6 Ironman triathlons.

These are not the mini ones.

These are full triathlons and mini 5K races.

I'm sorry, I'm getting confused here.

But the triathlon is a 3.8-kilometre swim, a 180-kilometre bike ride and a 42-kilometre run.

And so Dick swam with Rick, tied to his waist in a little flotation device, the 3.8 kilometres.

Then he cycled with Rick in a specially designed cycle with a seat on the front, and then he ran 42 kilometres with him in front on a wheelchair.

Who wants to vote for Dick Hoyt as Father of the Year?

Like, this is a fantastic father.

I mean, you can't help but tear up when you read this.

It's like, wow.

And he said, I will do anything that my son might live a full and meaningful life.

I want him to feel alive.

So there's nothing I wouldn't do for him.

I don't know what your experience of dad has been.

Maybe some of us are dads, I'm sure, in the room.

There are many dads, but we've all had a dad.

But our experience of dad is very different.

No matter if you had the most amazing dad, I would put it to you, he is nothing on the living God.

There is nothing like the quality and perfection of our heavenly Father.

He is our Father.

Do you know him as a Father?

A loving Father, a perfect Father, a good, good Father.

He is compassionate, and as the Lord's Prayer says, he is holy.

If we want to know what this Father's like, it would be good to think about what did Jesus say.

And Jesus said, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Holy is your name.

God is revealed as a holy Father.

The text in chapter 11 says, from verse 5, will they not return to Egypt, and will not Assyria rule over them, because they refuse to repent?

A sword will flash in their cities, it will devour their false prophets, and put an end to their plans.

My people are determined to turn from me, even though they call me God most high, I will by no means exalt them.

Constantly, God is revealing himself in Hosea as a faithful, loving father, as a faithful, loving husband.

And it's all revealed in this marriage between Hosea and Goma.

And yet, the judgment of God is there time and time again.

There's this juxtaposition, isn't there?

There's this contrast between the incredible mercy and sort of gushing love of the husband and yet, he explains that their sin will be judged.

And so, the verses I just read say they will, will they not return to Egypt, verse five?

Will not Assyria rule over them?

Because they refuse to repent.

To repent is to shift your allegiance, to turn from following that Lord and follow a different Lord.

And they refuse to do it.

So, they will return to Egypt, which means that they go back to slavery, but now through subjugation by Assyria.

Verse six says, A sword will flash in their cities.

It will devour their false prophets.

The sword symbolises Assyrian conquest.

It's coming.

There's a judgment coming.

False prophets are religious figures who give false hope.

It's all bad because their sin is going to lead them to judgment.

Verse seven, My people are determined to turn from me, even though they call me God Most High.

I will by no means exalt them.

So Father God is allowing his children to reap what they sow.

He is holy and he is just.

And he has created a universe with moral consequence.

Those of us who have tried to be the best parents, we could be, have realised that's quite hard.

It's quite hard.

And you may have come across over the years a model like this on the screen, where you try to, in a four-quadrant model, think about what type of parent I might be.

And so a helpful way is to look at this vertical axis, which is expectations as a parent.

And then the horizontal axis is responsiveness.

So you have expectations of a child and responsiveness to that child and how a parent reacts can be quite helpful as a diagnostic tool.

So if you go to the bottom left, you have a low expectation parent and a low responsiveness parent, and you might call that very uninvolved.

That's an uninvolved parent, and some of us grew up like that.

You know, many of us think that's what God's like.

If God's a father in heaven, isn't that true?

They used to call them Epicureans or Stoic philosophers, where they believe there's a God, but he's a long way away, he's somewhere up there and he doesn't really care how I live.

He does, he's barely there and he doesn't care.

So if you head across to the right, you have a higher responsiveness, but still with low expectation, and you might call that a permissive parenting style.

What about God as a parent like that?

I would say, well, that's liberal Christianity.

God is responsive, but he doesn't expect much.

Just do really whatever you want.

I don't believe that's the father that is presented to us in the Bible, the father that God is.

The top left, many of us grew up with parents like this, high expectations, but low responsiveness.

That's the authoritarian parenting style.

And isn't that a classic picture of what so many people think God is like?

God the Father is a boss.

He doesn't care that he wants stuff from us.

He's constantly asking.

Does anyone know that, growing up with that God?

A few nods.

The best understanding of parenting and certainly what God is like is high expectation and high involvement.

And that's the authoritative parenting style.

Yeah, there is a high expectation.

He's holy and just as a parent.

He knows what's best for his kids.

And he's also close.

His presence is with his kids, his children.

Is that the God you know?

Is that the God you know?

Hebrews 12 is a slightly longer passage than we would normally cut to, but it's so important.

Hebrews 12, 5, where the writer of the Hebrews says, My son, don't make light of the Lord's discipline, the father.

Do not lose heart when he rebukes you because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his child, as his son.

Endure hardship as discipline.

God is treating you as children.

He's authoritative.

For what children are not disciplined by their father?

If you are not disciplined, and everyone undergoes discipline, then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all.

Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them for it.

How much more should we submit to the father of spirits and live?

They disciplined us for a little while, as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in His holiness.

We have a holy father.

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.

Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness.

Isn't that a nice touch for Hosea, the whole theme of sowing and reaping?

It produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

I think that's coming straight from Hosea.

That idea of a father who disciplines.

Proverbs 3 verse 11 says, My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline and do not resent His rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those He loves as a father, the son He delights in.

God is disciplining His people, the people of Israel.

He's allowing them to reap what they have sown.

Even though He loves them so much, at His core is integrity.

So Jesus taught us to pray, Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name.

By faith in Christ, God can be our Father, but He's holy.

And then He says, Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

He's our heavenly Father, a holy Father, and He's a healing Father.

He brings His kingdom manifest among us, and that is a restorative power.

Clothing us in righteousness, bringing us back to a relationship with the God who made us.

If Hosea has shown us anything, and he has, and it has as a book, it's that God wants to heal relationships, amen?

Isn't that what it's teaching us?

Go back to Goma, start a process of healing.

And so the text that we need to come across as the last portion of our text today is verse 8.

How can I give you up, Ephraim?

How can I hand you over, Israel?

How can I treat you like Adomar?

How can I make you like Zeboim?

These are cities that were destroyed with Sodom.

How can I judge you like that?

How can I wipe you out?

And then he says, verse 8, My heart is changed within me.

All my compassion is aroused.

I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I devastate Ephraim again.

My heart is changed.

It's so humble, isn't it?

The language of God saying, I'm torn between my passion for justice and my holy wrath, and my love and my mercy.

My compassion is stirred.

It's like what you might call a dad's dilemma, isn't it?

I love you so much, but I can't just let you get away with all this sin.

For I am God and not a man, the holy one among you.

I'm not vindictive and impulsive, but I can't not be holy and just.

And yet I am a God who cannot fail to be merciful.

I will not come against their cities.

They will follow the Lord.

He will roar like a lion.

When he roars, his children will come trembling from the west.

Roar like a lion.

It's a symbol of majesty and authority.

Prophetically speaking of Israel, ultimately in the sixth century coming back out of Persia, back from the exile.

And the last verse for today is, they will come from Egypt, trembling like sparrows from Assyria, fluttering like doves.

I will settle them in their homes, declares the Lord.

So he's saying, finally, I'm going to bring you back.

I will heal you.

And that's that picture from Isaiah 40 that we saw last week.

I'm going to bring you back from exile.

But how?

How does he solve the dad's dilemma?

Well, I'm sorry for those of you who are just full to the brim with four quadrant models.

One more.

I think this is the best of them all.

This is the best of them all.

This is a model that is about reconciliation.

It's been used in various parts of the world, and been very powerful in bringing people to a place of healing, in relationship.

You need truth.

If I need to be reconciled with you, I need to hear what I did to you.

And that's hard, isn't it?

To share in such a way that we both have our truth expressed and we heard.

And when you're filled with truth, and what's the next word that goes with my truth?

Injustice.

You did this to me.

Our fellowship is broken and I need justice.

And that's good.

It's good to be like, well, what would justice look like in reconciliation?

But someone who just wants their truth told and just wants justice probably won't find reconciliation, will they?

Because it's not what God did.

See, we were, the truth is, we're all sinners.

And the justice of God, the Father would say, you need to go to hell separated from me forever.

You can't be with a holy God.

But where does Jesus Christ, his life, death and resurrection, sit on that little graph?

It's sort of right in the middle, isn't it?

Like, he holds it all together, wonderfully.

Jesus is the truth.

The Father is the way, the truth and the life.

And when he died on the cross, it was the justice of God being poured out.

But who was there?

It was God in Christ reconciling the world to himself.

It was the mercy of God on the cross.

And even at the end of that time on the cross, he said, Father, forgive them.

They don't know what they're doing.

It's the most incredible picture of what happened on the cross.

And I would put it to you, if you are in a situation where you are struggling with reconciliation, work on the vertical axis, work on the horizontal axis.

Because if you're someone who just gives mercy and forgiveness immediately, you're probably a people pleaser.

You probably need to actually, no, speak out truth.

Speak out and ask for justice.

We find ourselves at different places on those quadrants, but Christ fulfills it completely.

And we need to allow the Spirit to guide us through those processes to find reconciliation ourselves.

I think if you apply that to the Book of Hosea, Hosea is to speak truth to Goma, isn't he?

And ultimately, Israel.

They need to know how they've broken the Covenant vows they made with God.

The justice, well, there is justice that needs to be administered.

Hosea talks about it constantly.

The Assyrians will come as agents of God's justice and they will administer it.

But we always see through Hosea time and again, he pursues Goma through Hosea with mercy.

God is mercy, merciful, mercy triumphs over judgment, we're told in the New Testament.

And he says, I will forgive you in that day and on that day.

It's speaking of a future time.

And so I've got there the 2nd Corinthians passage, which really wraps up what reconciliation is all about.

If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come, the old has gone, the new is here.

All this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

And this is the amazing text, that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them.

God the Father was there on the cross in Christ, God and man making a way to heal the nations by faith in Christ.

So we have this heavenly Father who is a holy Father and a healing Father.

And he's able to reconcile sinner to himself, rebel to himself, lost become found.

In Christ, we see it all, don't we?

Again, hallelujah.

Christ makes a way for us to be reconciled to the Father.

The last verse, the last few lines, the last sentence says, I will settle them in their homes, declares the Lord.

It's a really apt picture, home.

We know, if you have a home that's safe, it feels so good, doesn't it, to come home?

How did it feel when you guys came home?

Just like, oh, home, oh, we're home.

Some of us, in our relationship with God, don't feel at home at all.

We feel lost.

We feel like the rebel.

We feel shamed and guilty like Adam and Eve in the garden.

We're wearing prickly fig leaves that hurt us.

The shame and guilt is making us hide from the one who wants to bring us home.

But the Father says, I will settle them in their homes, declare the Lord.

There will be judgment.

I'm going to bring you back.

And we know the judgment for us has been paid in Christ fully for our sin.

So can I encourage you with the language of that teaching quadrant of healing last week, if it's time to come home, come home to a safe place where you will have time for God to heal you with people who love you, and you will be able to learn the truth about the trauma you've lived through.

What sin has done to you.

Is it time to come home for you?

Because you can relate to Goma.

As we read this story, you have kept choosing the wrong path.

Of course, we're all sinners.

But for you, this story might have been just like, Lord, I don't feel like Hosea.

I feel like Goma.

I'm just constantly choosing the wrong path.

And I keep breaking promises I make to you and myself.

Is it time to come home?

Because the Spirit of God is speaking to you now, right now.

He loves you, and He is the Spirit of Jesus, and He speaks to our heart and our mind.

And He has a message that He wants to say to everyone.

Honestly, I know the message He wants to say to you.

Jesus paid for your sin.

God wants to set you free from your sin.

He wants to set slaves free.

Remember Goma was in slavery?

He's paid the price.

He wants you to be free.

Come home, come back to the Father today.

That's the message.

Amen?

That's the message of the Gospel.

And if you are someone who's new, or maybe you're online and you're like, oh, all these people here, they're so different.

None of them are like me.

No, they are.

They are all like you.

We're all sinners in need of the grace of God.

And anyone who thinks they are not, they are mistaken.

They are deceived.

No one is earning their way back home.

It's because Jesus made a way by dying on the cross in our place.

God is Father.

He wants to be your heavenly Father.

But you know, we're not, as human beings, we're not just automatically children.

We can be children by faith in Christ.

And the passage that tells us that so clearly is John 1 verse 12, where John writes, Yet to all who did receive him, that is Jesus, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

It is a right by faith in Christ to become a child of God, to all who received him, that is to receive what he has done as a Saviour, to receive and acknowledge, I need your blood that you shed for me to save me, and I need you to be my Lord, not just my Saviour, I need you to guide me how to live, I need you to come into my life by your Spirit and teach me to walk according to your statutes.

In a moment, I'd like to ask you today and online if you'd like to receive what Jesus has done by faith.

That is to become a child of the living God and to receive forgiveness and what the Bible promises to the regenerate, the new creation, eternal life.

Eternal life is what God the Father offers.

I began talking about James Christopher Harrison, and I mentioned that at first glance, you'd never know that this sun-weathered, you minor resident, 80-year-old man had a golden arm.

You'd never know that he had donated blood 1,000 times plus to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of infants.

You wouldn't know that unless you took the time to get to know him.

Now, you can live your life, your whole life, and not get to know the fact that God's son, Jesus, didn't just offer a little bit of blood, right?

God's son, Jesus, offered all his blood.

He said, here's my blood as a sacrifice to win, not even thousands, but the whole world is eligible now I have made a way, I have paid the ransom price in my blood.

Do you know that?

Well, you do now.

You do now, you've heard it.

And you're actually responsible to God because you've heard it.

You've heard the good news of what the Father has done through Jesus for you.

You can know him.

The God who made us is our heavenly Father, a holy Father and a healing Father.

And Jesus has done everything required of the Father to save his people.

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