THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
The Divine Dispensing
Message Four—The Dispensing of the Father
Scripture Reading: John 7:29; 5:24; 13:20; 14:24; Rom. 8:3; 1 John 4:9-11; 3:24; 4:13
I. No other book in the Bible uses this term, the Father, so many times as the Gospel of John; in chapter one, verse 1 God is revealed: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God;” after chapter one it begins to reveal God the Father—John 1:1; 5:24; 16:27. (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 11)
II. Chapter one of John says, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave authority to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: Who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God;” these children of God were born of God; it indicates that the father has dispensed his life into the child—vv. 12-13. (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 11)
III. The Father is the source, and He is the initiator; he is even the initiation, the origination; the entire universe was initiated in this initiation, who is a divine Person—John 7:29; 16:27b; Rom. 11:36: (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 11)
A. This source, this initiator, sent the Son; the Son was sent by the Father with a particular commission to do three main categories of things—John 5:24, 30, 36-38; 13:20; 14:24: (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 11)
1. First of all, the Father sent the Son to take away sin, to condemn sin—John 1:29; Rom. 8:3: (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 11)
a. And in order to do this, according to 2 Corinthians 5:21, the Son, who knew no sin, even became sin; actually, He became only the likeness of the flesh of sin; he did not have the sinful nature. (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 11)
b. The Son was sent in the likeness of the flesh of sin to condemn sin; sin has been condemned—Rom. 8:3. (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 11)
c. The Son of God was sent by the Father to accomplish such a commission, that is, to solve the problem of sin, to take away sin, to condemn sin through His death on the cross—cf. Matt. 27:45-46. (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 11)
2. He has condemned sin in our nature; He has become the propitiation to deal with all our sins, offenses, and trespasses—1 John 2:2; 4:10: (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 11)
a. Not only do we have sin in our nature, but we also have a lot of sins in our conduct; so God sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins—1 John 4:10. (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 11)
b. Every sin, every offense, and every trespass makes a problem between us and God; so between us and God there is a lot of turmoil; but the dear Son of God died on the cross for our sins and became the propitiation to calm down every turmoil—Col. 1:20; John 3:16. (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 11)
c. So He has condemned sin and calmed down the turmoil caused by our sins; now we have peace with God—Col. 1:20. (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 11)
3. The Son of God was also sent by the Father to impart life into us—1 John 4:9. (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 11)
4. The Son has been sent by the Father with such a threefold commission: to take away our sin, to propitiate concerning our sins, and then to impart the divine life into all His believers that they may be born of God—John 1:29; 1 John 4:9-10. (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 11)
B. The Father sent the Son, and He came with the Son—John 17:8; cf. 1:14, footnote 6: (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 11)
1. In John 16:32 the Lord said, “Behold, an hour is coming and has come, when you shall be scattered each to his own, and shall leave Me alone; and I am not alone, because the Father is with Me;” here the Lord told us clearly that He was not alone, but the Father who sent Him was with Him. (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 11)
2. The Lord had previously spoken the same kind of word in 8:29: “And He Who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.” (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 11)
C. The Father not only comes with the Son, but after the Son comes to live and work on the earth, the Father lives with Him and works with Him; when He lives, the Father lives; when He works, the Father works—14:10-11. (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 11)
D. Before the Lord Jesus went to the cross to die, He spoke to His disciples in this way: “All that the Father has is Mine; therefore I said that He receives of Mine and shall disclose it to you;” this verse indicates that whatever the Father has is the Son’s—John 16:15: (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 11)
1. The Son does not come in His own name; He comes in the Father’s name—5:43. (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 11)
2. The Son does not seek His own will, but seeks the Father’s will—v. 30. (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 11)
3. He does not speak His own word; He speaks the Father’s word—John 14:24. (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 11)
4. He does the Father’s work, not His own work—John 4:34. (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 11)
5. The Father was with the Son, and the Father gave everything to the Son; thus, the Father was embodied in the Son—Col. 2:9. (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 11)
E. After the Father gave all that He had to the Son and was thus embodied in the Son, He gave the Son to us; we have been given not only the Son, but the Son with the Father—John 3:16. (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 11)
F. The consummation of the dispensing of the Father is that the Father abides in us with the Son by the Spirit—John 14:23; 1 John 3:24; 4:13: (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 11)
1. The Father can never abide in us just by Himself; He abides in us with the Son and by the Spirit; when One comes, we have all Three; this is the Father in the Son by the Spirit—John 14:23. (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 11)
2. We all need a vision to see this! God’s economy is to reveal Himself as the Father with the Son by the Spirit as a living Person—1 John 3:24. (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 11)
IV. “All the points covered in this message—the source, the sending, the coming with the Son, the living and working in the Son, the giving of all that the Father has to the Son, the giving the Son to us, and the dwelling in us with the Son by the Spirit—are for the dispensing of the Father Himself into our being. Hallelujah! We have such a dispensing within us. The Father abides in us with the Son by the Spirit.” (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 11)