Knowing God

by J.I. Packer

What is less often noticed is that it is precisely the kind of moral instruction that parents are constantly trying to

give their children—concrete,

teaching general principles from particular instances, and seeking all the time to bring the children to appreciate and share the par...

The reason why the Sermo...

quality is not far to seek: it is because it is in truth instruction for the children...

Number one is the

principle of imitating the Father.

The children must show the family likeness in their conduct.

Number two is the principle of glorifying the Father.

It is a fine thing for children to be proud of their father, and to want others too to see how wonderful he is, and to take care that they behave in public in a way that is a credit to him;

Number three is the principle of pleasing the Father.

Jesus dwells on the need to be a single-minded God-pleaser

The purpose of our Lord’s promise of reward

is not to make us think in terms of wages and a quid pro quo, but simply to remind us that our heavenly Father will

notice, and show special pleasure, when we concentrate our efforts on plea...

Second, adoption appears in the Sermon as the basis of Christian prayer.“This,

Jesus could say to his Father, “You always hear me” (Jn 11:42), and he wants his disciples

to know that, as God’s adopted children, the same is true of them.

The Father is always accessible to his children and is never too preoccupied to listen to what they have to say. This...

Two things ...

First, prayer must not be thought of in impersonal or mechanical terms, as a technique for putting pressure on someone ...

Second, prayer may be free and bold.

Not, indeed, that our Father in heaven always answers his children’s prayers in the form in which we offer them.

Sometimes we ask for the wrong thing! It is God’s prerogative to give good things, things that we have need of, and if in our unwisdom we ask for things that do not come under these headings God, like any good parent, reserves the right to say, “No,

Good parents never simply ignore what their children are saying, nor simply disregard their feelings of need, and neither does God; but often he give...

than what we actually ...

Here is a source of much light on what is sometimes miscalled “the problem of unanswered prayer.”

Third, adoption appears in the Sermon as the basis of the life of faith—

All Christians are, in fact, called to a life of faith, in the sense of following

God’s will at whatever cost and trusting him for the consequences.

If God cares for the birds, whose Father he is not, is it not plain that he will certainly care for you, whose Father he is?

“We might have a crash,” said the small girl anxiously, as the family car threaded its way through traffic. “Trust Daddy; he’s a good driver,” said Mommy. The young lady was reassured, and she relaxed at once. Do you

trust your heavenly Father like that? If not, why not? Such trust is vital;

The word adoption

appears only five times, and of these occurrences only three refer to the Christian’s present relationship to God in

C...

Yet the thought itself is the nucleus and focal point of the whole New Testament teach...

were I asked to focus the New Testament message...

my proposal would be adoption through propitiation, and I do not expect ever to meet a richer or more pregnant ...

we move on now to show that the truth of our adoption gives us the deepest insights

that the New Testament affords into five further matters: first, the greatness of God’s love; second, the glory of the Christian hope; third, the ministry of the Holy Spirit; fourth, the meaning and motives of what the Puritans called “gospel holiness”; fifth,

the problem of Christian ...

First, then, our adoption shows us the greatness of God’s love.

The New Testament gives us two yardsticks for measuring God’s love. The

first is th...

the second is the gift o...

Of all the gifts of grace, adoption is the highest.

The gift of pardon for the past is great: to know that

Bearing shame and scoffing rude, In my place condemned he stood, Sealed m...

So, too, the gift of immunity and acceptance now and for the future is great: