Beloved radio friends, we greet you again in the worthy name of our wonderful Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, considering it a very great privilege as well as a responsibility to come to you with the word of God before us and our meditation upon God the Father and the members of his family. I wonder, my radio friend, whether you know that you were in God's family, and that as a member of his family you can address him in that most intimate way, calling him Father. Now this was not possible in the Old Testament, as we have noted in the preceding message, that God did reveal himself in the Old Testament in many varied ways, using different names, And every name that God used, as you may read in the Old Testament, declared something concerning himself, as well as the revelation of his character, together with his work. We noted to Abraham, he appeared as the Almighty God. We noted it to Moses. He appeared as the eternal, great I am, the king of eternity, the one who is self-existent. Who had no beginning and has no ending? And who of us, with our finite creature minds, can never comprehend an infinite eternal being? You and I, radio friend, we have a beginning. But God never had a beginning. You and I have a beginning, but remember, we have no ending. But God is a person, an almighty being. who itself existed always was and is and ever shall be. We also noted God revealed himself to Israel, saying that he was Jehovah. I am Jehovah. This was a special name of redemptive value to the people of Israel, for it was as Jehovah he delivered them out of the land of Egypt from the bondage and tyranny of Pharaoh. and all the Egyptians. But whatever name God used in the Old Testament, it was a particular revelation of his person and also of his character. But our special study is in relation to his name as Father. Now we must and we do concede there are but a few references in the Old Testament where God's name is recorded as Father. But it only indicates in the Old Testament the source of existence rather than relationship. For me I state, and please take this truth in, Old Testament saints never did enjoy a relationship with God whereby they were authorized and permitted to call Him Father. in a relationship that is found in the New Testament. The impossibility that they could never have such a relationship is proved by the following facts. Now I want you to listen very carefully as I read the words that were spoken by Christ the Son of God when he was upon the earth, and we read them and quote them from Matthew's Gospel In the New Testament, chapter eleven and verse twenty-seven. Now these words were spoken by the Son of God himself. And I wish to prove to you that until Christ came to the earth, no one could have the Father in that intimate relationship revealed to them. Here are the words of the Lord Jesus, saying in Matthew, verse twenty-seven, All things have been delivered to me by my Father. And no one knows the Son, but the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father, but the Son, and he to whom the Son may be pleased to reveal him. I wish to read the latter words of this verse again. Please note it very carefully. After Jesus says that no man knoweth the Son but the Father, he has these words, nor does anyone know the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son may be pleased to reveal him. Now these last words very carefully explain to us the fact that the Son of God is the only person who is able to reveal God as Father to any man. For he of necessity we confess was the eternal Son of God, the one who alone is capable of revealing an eternal Father. Oh, may I repeat this, I wish to repeat it, that we may understand very clearly, definitely and emphatically, no one can ever know the Father unless the Son of God is pleased to reveal the Father to him or to her. For when you think of the Father, and do you remember we spoke of him in his eternality, that he's an eternal being? And to the Son himself, he was an eternal Father. And who but an eternal Son would be capable of revealing an eternal Father? This we acknowledge with humble but heartfelt worship and adoration. So may we say, first of all, Christ, God's eternal Son alone is the revealer of the Father. Now here is a second evidence that the Son must reveal the Father to one, and that the Father was not revealed heretofore in human history before the Son came to the earth. And the second evidence is this. It is the intimacy of that Son with his Father, and the intimacy of the Son with his Father precludes any possibility of another source of revelation. Now we quote the words that are found in John's Gospel, chapter one in verse eighteen. When John the Apostle by divine inspiration wrote to say, No one has seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared him. Now this reveals to us the intimate place, the state of intimacy that the Son had with the Father. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom. May I put it in another expression, paraphrased by saying it, the Son who is in the heart of the Father. For the Son's place, as well as his condition, was one of intimacy with the Father, and it is revealed by the words that state he is in the bosom of the Father. Oh, may I declare, very carefully, I hope you may take it in fully, that the Son has never left, never did, never will leave. that place of eternal intimacy with his Father, though you and I may not be able to comprehend it with our human reasoning. But it is a blessed holy mystery that the Son of God was ever and is ever and will be ever intimate with the Father existing as it were in his eternal bosom. And this He declares to you and to me. Now let's recapitulate. We are trying to give the evidence from the Word of God that before the Son of God came to the earth, God as the Father could not be fully revealed. And we have noted in Matthew eleven and verse twenty seven that the Son himself declared no one Can anyone know the Father but the Son? And He to whom the Son may be pleased to reveal Him. Now let me give an application personally to your heart, my friend. You will never know God as your Father unless you are brought to Him, unless you come to know Him through the Son. It is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who alone is able to reveal the Father to you as well as to me. The conclusive reason for this we have also suggested, and again repeat it, it is only the Son in the bosom of the Father who is able to reveal the Father to us and declare him, because he was always in that intimacy and conditioned of intimacy with the Father in eternity, perhaps, as well as through time and in eternity to come. My beloved, I want you to realize the Son was with the Father before he ever came to the earth. And if he was with the Father before he ever came to the earth, then truly we may confess when he did come to the earth, there was no other person who could and did reveal the Father to mankind as the beloved Son. All the joy of realizing it, and again let me repeat it, the privilege that you and I can and made no God, but speak to Him in a relationship of intimacy and nearness. We're able to call Him Father. Now let me repeat the question once again. My radio friend, can you truthfully, with confidence in your heart and assurance in your soul based upon the Word of God, can you call God your Father? There is no question of doubt. In repetition, there are many that repeat the so-called Lord's Prayer, or even sing it. Our Father who art in heaven. But my radio listener, is there the reality of this relationship in your soul with him? Only Christ can bring you into it. May he do so, if never he has before. Father, we pray, may the Holy Spirit sanctify the truth we have sought to cover to thy glory and the blessing of all. Amen.