Accepted by the Father

And you probably think somewhere in this congregation, you're the only person like that, and I'm talking to you specifically. Let me tell you, there are thousands and thousands just like you.

Now, God has shown me the basic remedy for rejection. And I stumbled into it kind of gradually, but I proved it in one dramatic incident. I was in a camp meeting and busy and on my way to speak, and a lady going the opposite direction literally ran into me.

So when we'd recovered, she said, "Brother Prince, I was praying that if God wanted me to speak to you, we'd meet." Well, I said, "We've met." And I said, "I'm committed to preach. I can give you about two minutes."

She began to tell me her problems, and I realized that her root problem was rejection. So after about one minute, I said, "Listen, I can't afford to listen any longer, but I know what your problem is, and I've got the remedy. I want you to say these words after me."

She had confidence in me. See, if a person does not have confidence in you, you cannot help them, no matter how hard you try. She had enough confidence in me to launch out and say it without knowing what she was going to say. And I led her in a statement which was something like this: "God, I thank you that you gave Jesus to die in my place. That Jesus is my savior. I am your child. I'm not rejected. I'm accepted in Christ. God is my father. Heaven is my home. I'm a member of God's family. God loves me. He doesn't just tolerate me, he actually loves me."

I said, "Goodbye," and went.

About a month later, I got a letter from the lady, and she described the incident and how we'd met and what had happened so that I'd be sure to remember who it was. She said, "Just those few words that I said then have changed my life. I'm a different person."

See, the remedy for everything in our lives is found at the cross. And let me share something precious with you. You think you're the only one that was rejected. Nobody else has ever known the heartbreak and the loneliness and the frustration and the sorrow that you've gone through.

I want to tell you somebody else does know it, and his name is Jesus. And God showed me that on the cross, what killed Jesus was rejection. Up to that hour, he'd known sweet, unbroken fellowship with his father. But when he was made sin with our sin, and he cried out to God,

“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

he was rejected. No answer came back.

Can you picture a little child holding daddy by the hand saying, "Daddy, Daddy, help me," and there's no answer? The father turns away, shrugs his shoulder, dismisses the child. That's what happened to Jesus on the cross. And I believe it was rejection that broke his heart. Every evil consequence of sin, Jesus suffered on the cross. That's why he can redeem, deliver, and save.

Jesus bore your rejection. Why? That you might have his acceptance with the Father. With a big gap which can only be filled by a father's love. You know, the problem with the modern generation, the dropouts, the people that are wandering to and fro across the face of this nation, you know what they're looking for above all else? They're looking for a father, because their natural fathers have failed them.

I don't hesitate to say that. And God help me, I'm a father, and I know that I'm judged by the words that I speak. Fathers of the past decades in America have given their children education, clothing, cars, sports, college, everything but fatherhood. And many of those young people have said, "What's the use of it all? I don't need it." And they started on a quest that's led them into drugs and witchcraft and immorality. What are they looking for? A daddy.

Well, I have news for you. There is one. You know what has impressed me about the 17th chapter of John's gospel? I read again and again, Jesus says to the Father, "I've made known unto them thy name." And I thought, "Lord, what is your name?" He didn't give them any name. And then one day I realized his name is Father. That's the name that he revealed. He revealed the Father.

Isn't that good news? I don't care how big you are and how intellectual you are and how wealthy you are, you need a daddy. And maybe you've been running around for years, bottling up inside that loneliness and that misery and that frustration, too big, too proud, too educated to say, "I want a daddy."

“We have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but we have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Daddy.”

I know you. Take my hand. I'm lonely. I'm afraid. I can't face life. But God, if you'll take my hand and call me your child, I'm not afraid any longer.

Hallelujah. Glory to God. Thank you, Jesus.