"If You've Seen Me, You've Seen the Father"
Notes
Transcript
"If You've Seen Me, You've Seen the Father"
"If You've Seen Me, You've Seen the Father"
Church, I don't know about you, but this week has been heavy. It's been one of those weeks that reminds us just how broken this world really is. It has reminded me that we live in a world that is operating far outside of the way God originally designed it. This isn't Eden anymore. This isn't the creation that God looked upon in Genesis 1 and declared to be "very good". Sin has shattered what God created to be perfect, and every day we continue to feel the effects of that fall.
This week I experienced two heartbreaking reminders of that reality. My best friend Nathan lost his little brother, Andrew. I've known Andrew for a very long time, and this week we tragically lost a wonderful young man.
It's hard to even put into words the devastation that's been left behind. As his funeral approaches, my heart aches not only for Andrew, but for the people who loved him most.
His mom is preparing to bury her son.
His brothers are facing the unimaginable loss of someone they've shared a lifetime of memories with.
His girlfriend is grieving a future that will never unfold the way they had hoped.
His nieces, his aunts, his uncles, his cousins, and countless friends are all carrying a weight that no family should ever have to bear.
Then just days later my friend John passed away after a battle with cancer. I've known John for around 15 years, and he was simply one of those people who made life better by being in it.
He was loyal, genuinely funny, and had a calm spirit that seemed to put everyone around him at ease. Whether you were spending an afternoon with him on the disc golf course or just talking about life, John was the kind of man people enjoyed being around.
He wasn't loud or attention-seeking, but his steady presence left a lasting impact. He was one of the patriarchs of the Wasatch Disc Golf Club, helping build not just a community of players, but friendships that have lasted for years. His passing leaves a hole that can't be filled, and he'll be deeply missed by everyone who had the privilege of calling him a friend.
Two completely different stories. Two completely different circumstances. One life overtaken by despair, the other by disease. Yet both of them point us to the very same truth: we are living in a world that is deeply broken by sin.
Moments like these remind us that death doesn't just take one life, it sends waves of grief through an entire family and community. It leaves empty chairs at dinner tables, unanswered phone calls, birthdays that will never be celebrated the same way again, and hearts that wonder how they'll ever move forward. This is not the world God created in the beginning. This is the painful reality of a creation that has been fractured by sin, and it reminds us just how desperately we need the hope that only Christ can give.
None of this is how God intended His creation to be. Death wasn't part of His original design. Cancer wasn't part of His original design. Depression, hopelessness, funerals, hospital rooms, and the tears that accompany them were never part of the world God created. Those things entered because sin entered.
As Paul reminds us in Romans 5:12
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
Every funeral we attend, every diagnosis we hear, every broken relationship, every tragedy we witness is ultimately downstream from Genesis 3. The brokenness surrounding us is constantly reminding us that something is terribly wrong with this world.
But church, here's the hope that shines through even in the darkest moments. While humanity was running from God, God wasn't running from humanity. From the very beginning, after sin entered the world, God didn't abandon His creation. Instead, He made a promise.
In Genesis 3:15 He promised that One was coming who would crush the serpent's head. From that moment forward, every sacrifice, every prophet, every covenant, every promise, and every page of Scripture has been pointing us toward one person, Jesus Christ.
That's exactly where John's Gospel brings us this morning. In the midst of comforting His disciples on the night before the cross, Philip asks one of the most revealing questions in all of Scripture. And Jesus' answer doesn't just comfort His disciples; it answers the greatest question every person must eventually face: Who is Jesus?
Let’s read today’s passages, pray and jump deeper into today’s message.
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.
Point 1 — Who Is Jesus?
Point 1 — Who Is Jesus?
Philip responds to Jesus by saying, John 14:8
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
At first glance, that almost sounds like a reasonable request. We might even think, "If I could just see God with my own eyes, that would settle everything." But Jesus' response reveals that Philip wasn't lacking information, he was failing to recognize who had been standing right in front of him for the last three years.
Jesus gently but firmly asks, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?" Can you imagine the weight of those words? Philip had walked with Jesus, listened to His teaching, watched Him calm storms, heal the sick, cast out demons, feed thousands, and even raise the dead. Yet he still didn't fully understand who Jesus truly was.
Notice what Jesus doesn't say. He doesn't say, "I'll introduce you to the Father." He doesn't say, "I'll take you to Him someday." Instead, He makes one of the most astounding claims ever spoken: "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father."
Jesus isn't claiming to merely represent God as a prophet would. He isn't saying He's simply God's greatest messenger or that He's one spiritual path among many. He's declaring that if you've truly seen Him, you've seen God. Everything the Father is in His perfect holiness, mercy, justice, grace, truth, and love is perfectly revealed in the Son.
The rest of the New Testament confirms exactly what Jesus is saying here.
Hebrews 1:3 tells us that Jesus
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,
Paul writes in Colossians 1:15
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
and then he goes even further in Colossians 2:9 by declaring,
9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
Think about the weight of those words. Paul doesn't say that part of God dwells in Christ. He doesn't say Jesus possesses some divine qualities or reflects a portion of God's character. He says the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily in Him. In other words, everything that makes God, God, is found in Jesus Christ.
John has actually been preparing us for this truth since the very opening of his Gospel. He begins by writing, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1).
Then, only a few verses later, he makes the staggering announcement: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14).
The invisible God became visible. The eternal Creator stepped into His own creation. The One who spoke galaxies into existence wrapped Himself in human flesh and walked among the people He created.
That means every time we watch Jesus in the Gospels, we're not simply watching a remarkable man, we're seeing the very character of God put on display.
When Jesus heals the sick, we're seeing God's compassion.
When He forgives sinners, we're witnessing God's mercy.
When He confronts hypocrisy and sin, we're seeing God's holiness and righteousness.
When He stands at Lazarus' tomb and weeps, we're seeing the very heart of God moved by the pain that sin has brought into His creation.
And when Jesus stretches out His hands on the cross to bear the wrath our sins deserve, we see the greatest display of God's love the world has ever known.
Church, if you've ever wondered what God is like, you don't have to speculate. You don't have to imagine Him according to your own preferences. Look at Jesus. He is the perfect, complete, and final revelation of the Father.
So that brings us to our next important question.
Point 2 — Does It Matter Who Jesus Is?
Point 2 — Does It Matter Who Jesus Is?
One of the most common things you'll hear people say today is, "As long as someone believes in God, isn't that enough?" Our culture is very comfortable with a generic idea of God, or a higher power, something spiritual, some vague force out there. As long as someone claims to believe in something bigger than themselves, many assume that's all that really matters.
But Jesus simply won't allow us to stay that vague. Notice that Philip already believed in God. Every one of the disciples did. Every faithful Jew believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Belief in God's existence wasn't the issue. The issue was whether Philip truly understood who Jesus was. And church, that's still the issue today.
The Bible makes it abundantly clear that believing there is a God is not enough to save anyone.
James writes, James 2:19
19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!
Think about that for a moment. Demons have perfect theology concerning God's existence. They know He is real. They know His power. They know His authority. Yet they remain in rebellion against Him. Mere belief that God exists has never been the same thing as saving faith.
That's why Jesus continually pointed people back to Himself.
In John 8:24 He gave one of the most sobering warnings in all of Scripture when He said,
24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”
Then, just a few verses before our passage today, Jesus made one of the most exclusive, and most hope-filled statements ever spoken:
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
The apostles carried that same message after Jesus' resurrection. Peter boldly proclaimed in Acts 4:12
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.”
Why is Jesus the only way? Because no one else is who Jesus is.
Only Jesus is fully God and fully man.
Only Jesus could stand as the perfect mediator between a holy God and sinful humanity.
5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
Only Jesus lived the perfectly righteous life that we have all failed to live.
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Only Jesus could willingly bear the wrath of God against our sin as our substitute on the cross.
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Only Jesus conquered sin and death by rising from the grave on the third day.
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,
The identity of Jesus isn't some secondary doctrine that Christians can simply agree to disagree about. It is the very foundation of the gospel itself. If we get Jesus wrong, we don't just miss a point of theology, we miss salvation, because the only Savior God has provided is His eternal Son, Jesus Christ.
That's why I want to lovingly encourage you not to let your understanding of Jesus begin and end on Sunday mornings. We have about an hour together each week, and while I'm grateful for that time, there is no way we can fully unpack the depth and glory of who Christ is in one sermon.
My job is to faithfully teach the Word and point you to Him, but your responsibility is to open your Bible throughout the week and search the Scriptures for yourself.
Don't settle for a secondhand knowledge of Jesus.
Dig into God's Word.
Read the Gospels.
Compare Scripture with Scripture.
Ask questions.
Wrestle with the text.
The more you see Christ as He has revealed Himself, the more you'll love Him, trust Him, worship Him, and find your faith anchored in truth rather than opinion. There is no greater pursuit in this life than knowing the One who gave His life to save yours.
That brings us to our next important point we must understand.
Point 3 — There Is an Infinite Difference Between the Creator and the Created
Point 3 — There Is an Infinite Difference Between the Creator and the Created
Throughout history, people have tried to redefine Jesus into someone they're more comfortable with. Some say He was simply a great moral teacher. Others claim He was merely the first created being.
Still others describe Him as an enlightened man or a prophet whose wisdom should be admired. But church, Scripture simply doesn't leave room for any of those conclusions.
The Bible draws a clear and unmistakable line between the Creator and everything He has created, and Jesus is always found on the Creator's side of that line, never the created side.
The Lord declares in Isaiah 43:10
10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.
Then, in Isaiah 44:24, He says
24 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: “I am the Lord, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself,
God alone is the Creator of everything that exists.
That's why John's words about Jesus in the opening chapter of his Gospel are so important. He writes, John 1:3
3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Don't read past that too quickly. John isn't leaving exceptions or loopholes. Everything that has ever been made was made through Christ. That means if something belongs in the category of "created," Christ made it. Therefore, Christ Himself cannot belong to the category of created things. If He created everything that was created, that means He Himself is uncreated and eternal.
The apostle Paul reinforces this same truth in Colossians 1:16-17, writing,
16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Jesus isn't simply present at creation as an observer. He is the divine Creator through whom creation itself came into existence, and even now He continues to uphold the universe by His power.
Jesus Himself made this unmistakably clear during His earthly ministry. In John 8:58 He declared,
58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
Notice He didn't say, "Before Abraham was, I was." That would simply mean He existed before Abraham. Instead, He deliberately used the words, "I AM." Those words would have immediately taken every Jewish listener back to Exodus 3:14, where God revealed His covenant name to Moses from the burning bush:
14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”
Jesus wasn't borrowing God's title or speaking poetically. He was identifying Himself with the eternal, self-existent God of Israel. That's why the religious leaders immediately picked up stones to kill Him, they understood exactly what He was claiming.
Church, the disciples weren't simply following another rabbi, another prophet, or another religious leader. They were walking beside the eternal Son of God, the uncreated Creator who stepped into His own creation to rescue the very people who had rebelled against Him. That's who Jesus is, and that's why He alone is worthy of our worship, our trust, and our complete devotion.
Point 4 — Is God Without Jesus Enough?
Point 4 — Is God Without Jesus Enough?
This brings us to one of the most loving, and at the same time one of the most difficult truths Christians are called to proclaim. You'll often hear people say, "Well, I believe in God." Our response shouldn't be argumentative or arrogant, but it should lovingly ask an important question: Which God?
The reason that question matters is because God has chosen to make Himself known through His Son. Jesus literally says in our passage, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father."
The apostle John later writes in, 1 John 2:23
23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.
Jesus Himself had already made this unmistakably clear just a few verses earlier when He declared, "No one comes to the Father except through me".
Those are not my words, and they aren't the words of a particular denomination or religion, they are the words of Jesus Christ Himself. According to Scripture, you cannot reject Christ and still claim to truly know the Father, because the Father has chosen to reveal Himself fully and finally through His Son.
As we read these verses, we're also given a beautiful glimpse into the mystery and majesty of the Trinity. The Father sent the Son into the world. The Son joyfully obeyed the Father in accomplishing our redemption. The Holy Spirit glorifies the Son by pointing people to Him.
13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
These aren't three different gods working independently of one another. The Bible is crystal clear that there is only one true God. Deuteronomy 6:4 declares,
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Yet within that one divine nature eternally exists three distinct persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father is not the Son. The Son is not the Spirit. The Spirit is not the Father. Yet each person is fully and equally God. Not three gods, but one God, existing eternally in perfect love, perfect unity, and perfect harmony.
We see this glorious truth woven throughout the entire story of redemption. At Jesus' baptism, all three persons of the Trinity are present at the same time.
The Son stands in the waters of the Jordan, the Spirit descends upon Him like a dove, and the Father's voice speaks from heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased".
We see the same harmony at creation. The Father speaks the universe into existence, the Spirit hovers over the face of the waters, and John tells us that all things were created through the Son.
Then, in our salvation, we again see the perfect unity of the Godhead.
The Father planned our redemption before the foundation of the world.
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. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
The Son accomplished that redemption through His death and resurrection.
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
The Holy Spirit applies that redemption by sealing every believer until the day of redemption.
13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Church, the doctrine of the Trinity isn't a puzzle that God has given us to solve or an academic concept reserved for theologians. It is the glorious way God has revealed Himself to us. It shows us a God who has eternally existed in perfect fellowship and who, through Jesus Christ, has graciously invited sinners like us into that fellowship. That truth should move us beyond merely trying to understand God… it should move us to worship Him!
Closing — The Gospel
Closing — The Gospel
I think we can all attest that this broken world never stops reminding us that we desperately need rescue, right? Cancer reminds us. Funerals remind us. Broken families remind us. The emptiness we feel after losing someone we love reminds us.
Even our own hearts, stained by sin, remind us that something is terribly wrong.
The answer was never that humanity simply needed a better teacher, another philosopher, or more information. We didn't need someone to merely improve our behavior, we needed someone to raise dead sinners to life.
We needed forgiveness.
We needed reconciliation with the holy God we had rebelled against.
That's why Jesus came!
He didn't simply come to tell us about God; He came to bring us back to God. As Paul declares in 2 Corinthians 5:21
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Think about the weight of that truth. The very One Philip was looking at in John 14—the One who could boldly say, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father"—would, within hours, stretch out His hands on a Roman cross.
The Creator would willingly die for His creation.
The Holy One would bear the guilt of the unholy.
The Author of life would enter into death itself so that death would no longer have the final word over those who trust in Him.
This week, Andrew's death has broken the hearts of all the people that love him. My friend John's death has broken hearts of those who love him. Every funeral we attend reminds us that this world is not the way God intended it to be.
We grieve because death is an enemy, not a friend. We mourn because we know, deep down, that we were made for something more than hospital rooms, gravesides, and goodbye’s.
But church, for those who belong to Christ, death never gets the final word.
The empty tomb gets the final word.
The resurrection gets the final word.
The promises of God get the final word.
Because Jesus is exactly who He claimed to be, fully God and fully man, He conquered the grave that none of us could conquer ourselves. And because He lives, everyone who places their faith in Him will live also. That's why our hope isn't rooted in wishful thinking or religious optimism. Our hope is anchored in a risen Savior who walked out of His own tomb and promised that all who trust in Him will one day do the same.
And one day, this same Jesus who perfectly revealed the Father will return just as He promised. The curse that entered through Adam will finally be undone. There will be no more cancer. No more depression. No more suicide. No more funerals. No more tears running down the faces of grieving families. No more death, because death itself will have been swallowed up in victory.
What sin shattered, Christ will completely restore.
What was lost in the garden will be fully redeemed by the King.
So this passage leaves every one of us with a question that is far greater than, "Who is Jesus?" The real question is, "Who do you believe Jesus is?" Because your answer doesn't simply shape your theology, it determines your eternity.
If Jesus is merely a teacher, He cannot save you. If He is merely a prophet, He cannot save you. If He is merely a created being, He cannot save you.
But if He is who He declared Himself to be, the eternal Son of God, fully God and fully man, crucified for sinners and risen in victory, then He is worthy of your trust, your worship, and your life.
So when posed with the question “Who do you believe Jesus is?” our answer should always be the same as Peter's: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" Matthew 16:16.
16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Church as we go out armed with these biblical truths may every heartbreaking reminder we encounter in this fallen world not drive us deeper into despair, but instead drive us to the feet of the only Savior who has conquered sin, defeated death, and promises to make all things new.
Amen? Amen!
