God In The Flesh: Our Connection
The Godhead • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
Greetings…
Theme: The Godhead
Hope: To draw closer to God the Father, Son, and Spirit through a closer look at their relationship with each other and their roles individually.
Last week, we discussed “God In The Flesh: Our Example” and studied how…
Jesus was our perfect example of how to obey God’s word.
Jesus was our prefect example of how to serve others.
Jesus was our perfect example of how to endure suffering.
Today, we are going to turn our attention to “God In The Flesh: Our Connection.”
Jesus emphatically declared in John 14:6…
John 14:6 (ESV)
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
In this Jesus boldly declares “he is our connection to the Father” but how is that the case?
While here on earth demonstrated how he was the way, the truth, and the life connection to the Father.
With that in mind let’s examine our first point.
Jesus is our connection to the Father because Jesus is…
The Way To The Father
The Way To The Father
There Is No Other Name.
There Is No Other Name.
Jesus is “the way” to the Father but what does that mean?
What makes Jesus “the way” to the Father?
Jesus is the one and only way to the Father because “there is no other name” that saves.
Acts 4:12 (ESV)
12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
That means, Jesus is the one that has been given “all authority” over our salvation.
Matthew 28:18–20 (ESV)
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Jesus has all authority over our salvation because it is his blood that washes away our sins which allows us access to the Father.
5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus has all authority over our salvation because he is the one that “adds the saved to his church” which demonstrates our reconciliation to the Father.
47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
Ephesians 2:13–16 (ESV)
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
Romans 5:9 (ESV)
9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
Summary
Summary
Jesus the Christ is “the way” to the Father.
He has all authority over our salvation because it is through him that we are reconciled and justified before the Father.
Jesus connects us to the Father through the salvation that is found in his name.
Jesus is our connection to the Father because Jesus is…
The Truth Of The Father
The Truth Of The Father
You Have Seen The Father.
You Have Seen The Father.
As we discussed last week, it was not Jesus’ sole purpose in coming to this earth to be a sacrifice for our sins and become our King and Savior.
That certainly was a major part of it but he also came to give us an example to follow as the literal word.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:14 (ESV)
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only begotten Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
It is no wonder then that Jesus declared to Philip…
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
So, because Philip had seen Jesus he had seen the Father, but what does that mean?
Well, Jesus actually explains what he means right before this passage.
John 14:7 (ESV)
7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also…”
To know Jesus means to know the Father which means, Jesus is “the truth of the Father.”
Jesus is the “fleshly representative of the Father” because he is the “exact imprint of the Father’s nature.”
3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
What exactly are we to know about Jesus that gives us the truth about the Father.
Philippians 3:8–11 (ESV)
8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
To know Jesus means to recognize the power of his resurrection which gives the Father power to save us and raise us from the dead to him.
Romans 1:16 (ESV)
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
John 3:16 (ESV)
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
To know Jesus means to share in his sufferings so that we may be comforted and rejoice in our resurrection form the dead our Father’s habitation.
5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
1 Corinthians 15:24 (ESV)
24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father…
Summary
Summary
How do we know if Jesus has connected us to the Father?
When we know Jesus.
1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.
4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
Jesus is our connection to the Father because Jesus is…
The Life For The Father
The Life For The Father
Blameless Before The Father.
Blameless Before The Father.
Before the fulness of time came (Galatians 4:4) and God the Son “became flesh” (John 1:14) there was no “way to the Father.”
When Adam & Eve sinned they ushered in a new era, an era wherein “all would end up under sin.”
Romans 3:9 (ESV)
9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin
I’m not saying they ushered in the false notion of “original sin.”
The bible is clear the sins of the Father are not accounted to his children.
Ezekiel 18:20 (ESV)
20 The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
What I am saying is that once sin entered humanity we have simply have not stopped sinning since.
Romans 3:23 (ESV)
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
Before Jesus became our Lord and Savior “no human” could come before God justified and therefore blameless and yet the only way to dwell with God the Father is through blamelessness.
Why, because the Father cannot be in the eternal presence of wickedness.
4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you.
Jesus creates “life” in us who were dead to sin by making us blameless before the Father which allows us to be in the Father’s eternal presence.
As we stated earlier, Jesus first does this through the washing of our sins away by way of his blood.
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Jesus then brings life to us by making us a “new creation.”
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
This washing of our sins and resurrecting us to by way of the gospel into a new creation (Romans 6:3-6) then justifies us or makes us blameless before the Father.
Ephesians 1:3–4 (ESV)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him…
Colossians 1:21–22 (ESV)
21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him
Jude 24–25 (ESV)
24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
Summary
Summary
If we are not found justified and therefore blameless before God the Father we cannot draw near him and we certainly cannot be in his eternal presence after this life.
But even Christians sin, so how can we be found blameless right now?
1 John 1:7–10 (ESV)
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Jesus is our connection to the Father by being “the way” and “the truth” and “the life.”
Men can claim all sorts of avenues to the Father and his eternal abode but if that avenue isn’t through Jesus as “the way, truth, and life” it is not that avenue that will get one to heaven.
Matthew 7:21 (ESV)
21 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Invitation
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.
8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
