Tonight, I invite you to turn with me to Exodus 19 as we read the first six verses there and also to Isaiah 43 as we consider the first seven verses in a particular way alongside of Lord's Day 9. That's a lot. I'll give you a moment. Exodus 19, Isaiah 43. And if you would turn in the back of the Psalter, hymnal, please, to page 16. And there we find Lord's Day 9. This morning we considered the family of God. And tonight it's fitting as well that we consider the father of that family. God Himself. In the Catechism, we are beginning, as you know, remember, to begin to consider what we confess when we use the words of the Apostles' Creed. And so before we read Exodus 19 and Isaiah 43, let's give expression to what we believe, confessing together the answer to this question. The question 26 asks us, What do you believe when you say, I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, that the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of nothing created heaven and earth and everything in them, who still upholds and rules them by His eternal counsel and providence, is my God and Father because of Christ His Son. I trust Him so much that I do not doubt He will provide whatever I need for body and soul and He will turn to my good whatever adversity He sends me in this sad world. He is able to do this because He is Almighty God. He desires to do this because He is a faithful Father. Turning first to Exodus chapter 19, the first six verses, as we now give our attention to God's holy word. Exodus 19, verse 1. In the third month after the Israelites left Egypt, on the very day they came to the desert of Sinai. After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain. Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel. You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession, although the whole earth is mine. You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites. And turning over to Isaiah chapter 43, the first seven verses. But now this is what the Lord says, He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have summoned you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned. The flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead. Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you and people in exchange for your life. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, give them up, and to the south, do not hold them back. Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made. May God add His blessing to the reading and to the preaching of His Holy Word. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, indeed we confess that we believe in God, the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. And if you stop to think about it, that is indeed an amazing confession because with it we claim to have a particular relationship with God that not just anyone can claim. Yes, all of mankind can and will one day acknowledge that He is God, that He is Almighty, that He is Sovereign, that He is the Creator. But only certain people, you see, can claim Him as Father with all the beauty that that includes. And that is, as we said this morning, those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet it's only after we believe by the grace of God that we then understand what it means that He is our Father. Now, if we were to list the responsibilities that come to mind when we think of a father, we might say, well, it's a father's task to provide. It's a father's task to discipline, to guide, to protect, to love, to comfort, among many other things. And sadly, as earthly fathers, we must also confess that we often fail. Sometimes we fail miserably in these things. And some of us have even had earthly fathers who have failed miserably. Yet, beloved, that is not to cause us to take our eyes off of our heavenly father as it has caused some to do. Some have said, well, if my earthly father is any indication of what God is supposed to be like, then I don't want anything to do with him. But you see, it is not God who is to imitate earthly fathers, but it is we as earthly fathers who are to imitate our Heavenly Father. And what a beautiful picture He gives to us in Isaiah chapter 43, and as well in Exodus chapter 19, not to mention the whole of Scripture. In Isaiah 43, 1-7, although it does not explicitly call God Father there, He speaks of His sons and daughters, but it does not explicitly call God our Father there, yet it gives us a glimpse of the intimate relationship that God has with His children. It talks about belonging, and why we belong to Him, and what it means that we belong to Him. And as those who confess to belong body and soul in life and in death to our faithful Savior Jesus Christ, we humbly, yet we confidently confess that we are children of the Heavenly Father. We are children of the Heavenly Father who, first of all, made us for Himself. And we're talking now, first of all, about God's work of creation. And we can say that our Heavenly Father made us for Himself because He was already Father. We know that being a Father presupposes children. You cannot be a Father, obviously, without children. But the Catechism rightly and beautifully reminds us that God did not become a Father through us or because of us. It's not because of man that God is a Father. God always has been Father. He is, as the catechism says, the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Jesus prayed in John 17, verse 5, And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world began. And not only does the catechism set forth the truth that God is the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He is Father from eternity, but it also reminds us up front that we are to know Him as the Almighty Creator. Before the writers of the Catechism allow us to think about God as our Father, it would have us to rightly understand the very nature and the truth of this One that we are privileged to call Father. That He is God. That He is eternal. That He is Almighty and all-powerful. As David says in 1 Chronicles 29, In your hand is power and might. In your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. He is all-powerful, almighty God. He is the sovereign one. He is transcendent over all things and all people. He is the one to whom all will one day give an account. He is the one who, as Isaiah says in another place, directs the king's heart. Wherever God wishes. He is the one whose plan is from eternity and whose plan will be carried out perfectly and completely. He is God, this one we are privileged to call Father, but He is also Creator. The Catechism says, Who out of nothing created heaven and earth and everything in them, who still upholds and rules them by His eternal counsel and providence. He is the origin and the beginning of all things. In the beginning, the Bible begins. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Nothing and no one exists except by the sovereign will and the sovereign work of this One that we call Father. As the psalmist says in Psalm 33, By the word of the Lord were the heavens made their starry host by the breath of His mouth. For He spoke and it came to be. He commanded and it stood firm. And in Isaiah 44, verse 24, we read, this is what the Lord says, Your Redeemer who formed you in the womb, I am the Lord who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by Myself. All throughout Scripture, we are reminded that God is the Creator. Even Peter and Paul, both in the New Testament, acknowledge Him as the Creator of the heavens and the earth. In Isaiah 43, verse 1, it points to God as the Creator. But now this is what the Lord says, He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel. And although there it's not talking specifically about God's work of creation in the beginning, it is alluding to His work of creating in the beginning out of nothing. God created Israel. He did so. He did not take an existing nation of the world and make that nation His own, but He created Israel beginning with one man, namely Abraham. And the thing that we are to understand, beloved, is that there's one that we call Father, that we are privileged to call our Father. He is none other than God. He is Almighty. He is Creator. He is the One who, as the Catechism says, maintains responsibility over all that He has made, which is to be a comfort for you and me, because He is also our Creator. He is the Creator of me too. I owe my very existence to Him. As He said in Isaiah 44, verse 24, Who formed you in the womb? And as David says in Psalm 139, For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother's womb. And beloved, we need to remember that He didn't have to make us. He didn't have to create us. He was under no obligation to give us life. But He did. And He did for a specific purpose. Verse 7 of Isaiah 43 says, Whom I created for My glory. God created the heavens and the earth and all of mankind for His glory. Psalm 19 verse 1 says, The heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim the work of His hands. And Paul points to that glory in Romans 1 verse 20 when he says, For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made. His glory is visible. And the Westminster Shorter Catechism, number one, asks, What is the chief end of man? And that beautiful, succinct answer, to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Beloved, He made us for Himself. He created us for Himself to be served and loved by us. That He would be recognized as a faithful and a loving Father. God is the Father of all things in the creative sense. He is Almighty God, the Creator. All of creation was made for God's glory, yet not all see and recognize Him as Father. But as believers, God is not only our Father in the creative sense, but God is our Father in the redemptive sense. I have redeemed you, He says. And therefore, we are to be filled with awe that this one and only Almighty God, to whom belongs all power and authority, He is our Father in that intimate, loving, care and concern sense. In that redemptive sense. remaking, recreating us for Himself, and we are also then to glorify Him for His redeeming work as one who in the second place brought us to Himself. And that may seem strange that we have to speak of our Heavenly Father, the one who made us for Himself, as also being the one who brought us to Himself. The Catechism says this eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who created heaven and earth, is my God and Father because of Christ His Son. You see, He brought us to Himself because we followed a false father. In sin, mankind rebelled against God. Mankind strayed away from Him. Mankind became slaves of a master that did not make mankind. That does not love mankind. You see, Satan is also a father, as Jesus said. He is the father of lies. He is the father of deceit. He did not bring forth children, but his goal is to destroy God's children. He only brings corruption and evil. And of course, we know that was Israel's trouble, wasn't it? Isaiah prophesied, as we know, that Israel would be sent into captivity. these very ones whom God promised in Exodus 19 promised these great things if they would obey Him they would be sent into captivity Isaiah says because they had turned away from God they had forsaken God God had created them to be a showcase to the nations that the nations might be able to look at Israel and see God's mercy and love and faithfulness They were to point the nations to the one and only true God, the only one who was strong enough to save, but Israel failed. But you see, this eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is not like the Father of lives. Even before Israel was sent into captivity, they were given this glorious, this powerful word, I have redeemed you. As if it was already a done deal. As the psalmist says in Psalm 103, we were reminded of it in this beautiful song. He is compassionate and gracious. He is slow to anger, abundant in loving kindness. He has pity on His children. He brought us to Himself. And not because we were deserving. Again, Israel, the idea behind in verse 1, when it says, I have created you, I have formed you, the idea there is that they were created out of nothing. There was no pre-existing worth about Israel that God should say, well, I kind of like you. You know, you might be good for me. No. There was nothing worthwhile about them. In fact, their unworthiness is also seen in the fact that they would be gathered from where they would be scattered because of her sin and rebellion. Israel is a clear picture of helplessness and hopelessness. a picture of you and me. We, too, turned our backs on the God who made us. As Paul says, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no, not one. Yet while we were still sinners, God brought us to himself. Going back to Exodus 19 again, what a beautiful, beautiful picture. Verse 4, you yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. See, after bringing Israel out of Egypt and gathering her around Mount Sinai, the Lord reminds them through Moses of all that He had done for them using this beautiful illustration of a parent eagle and her young. You see, boys and girls, when that baby eagle that could not yet fly falls out of a nest, it's headed straight for destruction. It will die when it hits the rocks, the ground below. But the parent eagle, the mother eagle, swoops down and catches that baby on her wide wings and carries that baby safely back home, back to the nest. She brings it home. And that's a picture of our helplessness, beloved. We were headed straight for the pit of hell. And there's not one thing that you or I could do to stop ourselves. But what a glorious picture of what God has done for us by the work of His eternal Son, bringing us to Himself through that work of substitution. As Paul says in Romans 5, while we were still sinners. What? Christ died for us. We see that with Israel again. In verse 1, Fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have summoned you by name. You are mine. And then verses 3 and 4 give that some explanation. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead. Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you and people in exchange for your life. Beloved, God chose Israel. Again, in Exodus 19, all the world is mine, He says. But God chose Israel over all the other nations. He passed the others over. And He spared Israel at times and gave other nations to destruction. Think of Egypt, Pharaoh's army in the Red Sea, He wiped out in the Red Sea the very same waters that were as walls to allow Israel to pass through safely. Those very same walls of water took out Pharaoh's army. And at another point in history, when Sennacherib, king of Assyria, was gaining in power and when he was conquering the land, he set his sights on Jerusalem. He was headed there. And King Hezekiah prays to the Lord for deliverance and God turned Sennacherib's attention away from Israel to some other nations of the earth and God gave those nations into Sennacherib's hand in the place of Israel. Israel was redeemed out of slavery in Egypt. Israel was redeemed out of captivity because of God's love. And that is the same love of God that He has poured out upon you and me. we too have been given an exchange for us. Jesus Christ was given in exchange for you and me. And the beauty is that was God's plan from the beginning. In Ephesians 1, verses 4 and 5, we read that He, God the Father, chose us in Him, in the Lord Jesus Christ, before the creation of the world. In love He predestined us, Paul says, to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ already from eternity. Why? Because God was then the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And in His Son, whom He loves, He chose to bring us to Himself. And the result, beloved, is adoption. Our adoption is complete. It's real. No one can take it away. As we read in John 1, verse 12, But as many as received Him to them, He gave the right to become children of God to those who believe in His name. And as Paul says in Romans 8, the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And as Paul points to in Galatians 4, we have been given full rights of sons and we are heirs with Jesus Christ. And our redemption, of course, was no small ransom price. Nothing less than the precious blood of Jesus Christ. A price that no mere man could pay. His was a tremendous and unparalleled work. And it comes with tremendous unparalleled results. That He is my God. That He is my Father. I have an intimate father-child relationship with all of his care, with all of his love. With confidence that it is he who in the third place keeps us with himself. He made us for himself. He brought us to himself. And we have the confidence, beloved, that he keeps us with himself. The catechism says, I trust him so much that I do not doubt he will provide whatever I need for body and soul and He will turn to my good. Whatever adversity He sends me in this sad world, He is able to do this because He is Almighty God. He desires to do this because He is a faithful Father. Beloved, we have a Heavenly Father who keeps us with Himself, providing for all of our needs. And when we talk about our needs, we can talk about them in a couple of ways. We might think of what we would call routine needs. Routine needs for our body, our daily bread, which includes food and clothing and shelter and employment and strength and health. But as God's children, we also have routine needs for our soul, don't we? We need encouragement by the Holy Spirit. We need a conscience that accuses us. Oh, how we need that conscience that accuses us by which God keeps us in His right path. We need a repentant spirit. We need the assurance of God's forgiving grace. we need a faith that He nourishes. But we might also think of needs that we would call not so routine. For example, adversity. The adversity that He sends upon me in this sad world. Now, in a sense, adversity ought to be routine because we live in a world of sin and shame, but that's not how God created things. Sin and adversity is an enemy come into life. But there is adversity as Isaiah 43.2 says, When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned. The flames will not set you ablaze. Beloved, we know. I trust each one of us knows by experience, even as a child, if you've skinned your knee. We all know that there's no guarantee that we will never suffer in this life. there's no guarantee that we will never struggle with difficulties and hardships or that we will never be persecuted. There's no guarantee that we will never lose a job or get sick or struggle financially or fail an exam or mourn death. There will be difficulties of the worst kind for you and me that seem unsurvivable. And we know that because of the fire and the water that the Lord talks about. When, not if, but when. And fire and water, we know, are two of the most destructive elements of nature. We understand that. We've all seen those news reports of the flooding from tsunamis and hurricanes that literally pick up houses and buildings and shatter them and carry them away. And especially those of us here in San Diego County, we remember the fires of just a few months ago. We know what fire does. It leaves nothing but black ashes in its path. There will be difficulties of the worst kind, beloved, that seem unsurvivable. But as children of the Most High God, of the Heavenly Father, we are guaranteed that God will get us through. That He will uphold us. He will give us strength. He will restore us. He will turn it to our good. Or maybe not in the way that we think. As Paul says in Romans 8, verse 32, He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also along with Him graciously give us all things? But those all things is not just material things. It's not just restoring us to the way we were before. If we were sick or if we lost things in a flood or a fire. Or whatever the case might be. But all things include discipline. It includes His admonition, His encouragement, His peace and comfort. It includes from the hand of God all that we need to draw us closer to Himself. It includes all that we need to prepare you and me for the glory of heaven. He keeps us with Himself. providing for all of our needs because He is God the Father. The Catechism says it so beautifully. He is able and He desires to. He is willing. He is able to as Almighty God. We have a Father, beloved, that no one can stop. Nothing restricts Him. Nothing stops Him. He is powerful to do all His holy will, all that He pleases, and His will includes saving a people for Himself. It includes loving them with a love that endures forever. It includes preserving us so that He might bring us to Himself in eternal glory. He is able, but even more He desires to. He is willing as a faithful Father. He is not a God who is far off, but He is near at hand, and He is not a Father who fails like I do. He does not fail ever. He knows every detail of our lives. He desires the very best for us. He knows what's best for us. Sadly, as His children, we don't always agree with Him. Just like as children, we don't always agree with our earthly fathers, do we? But in the end, beloved, we will see that He always had our best in mind and he was always working toward that best end for you and me. You see, apart from this Heavenly Father, there is only one other Father, and that is the Father of lies who is self-serving and who desires nothing for you and me but our destruction. But for all who look to the Lord Jesus Christ, They are given, they have His eternal Father as their eternal Father. And they are brought safely into His family, secure forever. And He is the one, beloved, we are called to trust so much, with no doubt about His love for us, a love that has already been displayed in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son. Remember, we did not choose Him. We did not even want Him to be our Father, but He knew what's best for you and me. And His perfect care included giving His Son in our place. It included bringing us into His family, calling us His children. Imagine that. It's as if He says, look, there are my children. And we know that the call of a child is to honor and love and respect and obey and spend time with his or her parents and with believers too. We are to honor and obey our Heavenly Father for the great things that He has done for all of His many benefits to us. And it is to be our desire to spend time with Him in His Word and in prayer. Because our Heavenly Father, beloved, is the one and only Almighty God Himself and we are His heirs. And He has an inheritance waiting for us, an inheritance of eternal life and glory guaranteed because He is both able and willing to do what's best for His children. And what is it that's best? We're going to sing of it in a moment. That soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to His foes. That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I'll never, no, never, no, never forsake. That's what's best for you and me. That God keep our souls safe forever in the palm of His hand. Is there any greater love of a father for his children than that? Amen. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, with joy and gladness in our hearts, we call you our Father for Jesus' sake. And we praise your holy name for all that that means for us. We thank you, O Lord, that indeed you are not a God who is far off, but you are a Father who is near at hand, who loves and protects and cares for your people perfectly, giving us all that we need for body and for soul. And we thank you for your loving kindness and your tender mercy shown to us in your Son, Jesus Christ, and for the guarantee that we have that you will never leave us or forsake us, that you will see us safely all the way till you bring us into your heavenly home, our home, forever and ever. Father, may we rejoice day by day that we are your children and may it be our desire that many would come to know you as their Father too. We pray these things in Jesus' name alone. Amen.