Like Father, Like Son

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Introduction

Have you met anyone else in my family? If so you would probably see that we share traits. We’re similar in many ways!
There’s been occasions where I've met someone, and after 5 minutes of talking they ask “oh, are you related to Alexander? You’re just like him! You sound like him” or “you look similar” or “the way you gesture reminds me of him.”
The thing is though, the reason that Alexander, or Sarah, or any of my siblings have a resemblance to me, is because we come from the same parents. We got our traits either by genetics, or by learning them from our Mum & Dad!
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We are a product of our parents, not only shaped by them as they raised us, but intrinsically I’m made up of my Mum & Dad. They are the source of my physical being.
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I’m sure you’ve hear the phrase, “like Father, like Son” or “like mother, like daughter.” We use it when we see a child embodying some trait of parents. In those moments it’s abundantly clear who their parent is, you can look at the child and see the parent.
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Sometimes I catch my Dad doing something and then I realize, I do that exact same thing! That’s just like what I do. I have received the trait and reflected it.
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You know what? Parents are reflected in their offspring, and that is a reflection of heavenly realty. God the Son, reflects God the Father. Like Father, Like Son.
Jesus Christ, Son of God is like our own experience, with parents and offspring: an embodiment of The God the Father.
Jesus’ traits, his characteristics, his being is from God the Father. He is inseparable from the Father and like him in so many ways!
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Now when it comes to you, I can’t meet you and then say, “I’ve met you, now I’ve met your Father.” I can get a pretty good idea of what your dad might be like, but you are different. You are separated and diluted from your dad. You’re not made of the same substance as your dad, you’re two divided beings who are made of different stuff, who probably share different opinions on things. You have had different upbringings and life experiences. So even through you’re from your dad, you two are distinctly separate. You could even be vastly different from each other.
Unlike God the Son & God the Father! Even though these are two persons, they are not separated. They share the same substance. They’re made of the same stuff. They’re one God, who in along with the Spirit are expressed and exist in three persons. Jesus the Son has his source in the Father but they’ve never been divided into two individuals. In fact, they’re so intrinsically connected that Jesus said:

Whoever has seen me has seen the Father

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That’s a powerful claim. That’s epic. That’s big.
I can’t say “look at me and you see my Dad.” I can say “Look at me and you can get and idea of my Dad”. You can look at my Dad and see how I reflect his nature and traits, but the idea that you could look at the Son to see the Father is huge!
In Hebrews is says of God the Father and God the Son
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3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature

Jesus the Son is the exact imprint of God the Father. He is thoroughly God. Exactly like God. Exactly like God because he is in fact God, and shares the substance of the Father!
Like Father, Like Son.
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Family Photo, resemblance, mannerisms,
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Now, before I get carried away ranting and raving about the depths of the nature of God, I better stop and tell you what’s happening here this morning...
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Trinity Recap

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We’ve chosen to spend a few weeks dwelling on the deep things of God by having a bit of a look at what the Bible says about who God is. We’ve had a bit of an overview, and then last week Steve helped us understand God the Father, this week we’re looking at God the Son, and then we’ll finish off with God the Holy Spirit next week. This way we’ll cover each of the persons of the Trinity.
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Trinity is a word that we use to describe God, like Creator, or Almighty. It is something that is intrinsic to who God is. But similar to words like “omnipotent” or “omnipresent”, Trinity is a word we’ve made up to explain a biblical concept.
The crux of that concept is this:
We worship one God in Trinity, a Trinity in Unity; We don’t mix the three persons, nor do we divide the stuff of God into three pieces.
There is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit.
But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is all one, their glory equal, their majesty all eternal.
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The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated.
The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible.
The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal.
And yet they are not three eternals but one eternal.
Also there are not three uncreated, nor three incomprehensible, but one uncreated and one incomprehensible.
The Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty. And yet they are not three almighties, but one almighty.
The Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty. And yet they are not three almighties, but one almighty. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God; And yet they are not three Gods, but one God. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord; And yet they are not three Lords but one Lord. For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by himself to be God and Lord; So are we forbidden by the catholic religion to say; There are three Gods or three Lords. The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone; not made nor created, but begotten. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding. So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits. And in this Trinity none is afore or after another; none is greater or less than another. But the whole three persons are coeternal, and coequal. So that in all things, as aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped. He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity
So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God; And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.
So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord; And yet they are not three Lords but one Lord.
The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone; not made nor created, but begotten. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.
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In this Trinity none is before or after another; none is greater or less than another. But the whole three persons are all eternal, and all equal.
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Now I know, i know this might be a bit heavy on the brain for a Sunday morning, but I really want to share with you something of our amazing God! If you think other humans, other people, are complex imagine how much more complex God is who is so far beyond us! This morning we get the privilege to dwell on the nature of God, to soak it in. Some stuff might just fly straight over your head, and that's ok, you can pick it up some other time. It’s like Pokemon, you gotta catch them all, but you don’t need to catch them all today.
It’s a deep topic.
A complex topic.
It’s mystery.
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J. I. Packer Says of the Trinity:
“The historic formulation of the Trinity seeks to circumscribe and safeguard this mystery (not explain it; that is beyond us), and it confronts us with perhaps the most difficult thought that the human mind has ever been asked to handle. It is not easy; but it is true.”
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The historic formulation of the Trinity (derived from the Latin word trinitas, meaning “threeness”) seeks to circumscribe and safeguard this mystery (not explain it; that is beyond us), and it confronts us with perhaps the most difficult thought that the human mind has ever been asked to handle. It is not easy; but it is true.

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This morning I’m not going to be able to explain in detail who God the Son is. It’s so massive and rich a topic! But I want to hit some key points within this mystery.
Not three gods
For the reminder of our time here I’m going to tell you 10 things about God the Son. 10 things you need to know. 10 Things that matter for your salvation that comes through the Son of God.
If you’re taking notes, make sure you leave space for 10 points. If you get distracted and miss a point, that's ok, you can jump back on board with the next one. Prepare yourself, we’re going to hit them pretty quick, and Lets dive in!
Not three gods
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Not the expressions of God
Not parts of God
Three equal persons who eternally exist as one God without conflict, without needs, without

1. Comes from the Father

Jesus is the Son of God who comes from the Father! He’s the only son of God. If you’re reading from some translations it will say that Jesus is the “only begotten” Son of God.
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“Begotten” is a word we don’t use much anymore but it means something like “cause” or “fathered”. Jesus is the unique son, the one-and-only son fathered by God the Father. Caused by God the father. Generated by God the Father.
There are other people in the Bible who get called Son of God, like the first human Adam get’s called Son of God because he didn’t have an earthly father. There are some angelic spiritual beings who get called Sons of God. Israel as a nation is described as God’s son. Even Christians can be called Sons of God.
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But Jesus stands alone in a special class. There’s only one of him. There’s only one who is the unique Son from the Father. All the rest are sons by status, but Jesus is Son who shares the substance of the Father. The stuff Jesus is made of is the same stuff that the Father is made of. Only one son is part of the Trinity. Only Jesus is the firstborn Son of Everything.
A son can only be a Son if he has a Father, and a Father can only be a father if he has offspring. If God has no Son, he is not father, and conversely, if there’s no Father, there’s no Son. They exist perfectly in relationship to one another. The name “Son of God” is not like a last name that he inherited, or a title that you get when you get a new job, no, Son of God is intrinsic to who Jesus is.
Now when we think of fathers and sons we think of a time when there was just a father and then he procreated and then he had a child. There was a time when the child didn’t exist. Not with Jesus. He may be generated by the Father, but he’s not created by the Father. He comes from the Father, but is not separated from him. Jesus is eternally begotten from the father. He didn’t BECOME the Son, he’s always been Son.
They have always existed in this state of Father and Son (& Spirit).
Jesus gives some hints about his eternal existance with the Father:

Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

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Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

28 I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”

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Other Sons of God
Adam, Angels, Israel, Us!* (Talk more about us later)
“Only Son”
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Begotten, not made
Eternally generated from the Father
Before Abraham was, I AM.
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2. Loved by the Father

The Father and Son, like good earthly Father & Son relationships, is loving. There’s no animosity. They’re in perfect harmony. They take pleasure in one another. The Father wants to bless His son. They’re on the same team!
The Father and Son, like good earthly Father & Son relationships, is loving. There’s no animosity. They’re in perfect harmony. They take pleasure in one another. The Father wants to bless His son. They’re on the same team!
When Jesus was baptized, the Father spoke from heaven to say:

This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.

When Jesus was baptised, the father spoke from heaven to say:
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God speaking from Heaven! You can’t get much clearer than that!
The Apostle John also reminds us,

35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.

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The Son is in a loving relationship with the Father. We never hear of the Son doing anything that is unloving toward the father, or vice versa. They don’t need reconciliation, because they’ve always been in unity.
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3. Sent by the Father

Next we see that the Son was sent by the Father.
There’s that famous line from the Blues Brothers movie “We’re on a Mission from God!” In the film it was a mission to get the band back together so that they could save an orphanage. A noble mission, but one that is somewhat trivial compared to the mission Jesus was given!
Jesus, Son of God was sent by the Father. He was sent to complete a grand mission of saving the entire Church! Jesus set out to complete God’s plan to rescue his people.
Jesus wasn’t on a rogue mission. He’s not there trying to twist the arm of some grumpy OT god who’s not pleased about the whole thing. No. the Son and the Father work in co-operation. Jesus was sent by the Father, to do the Father’s will.
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Jesus came to preach the good news. Jesus came to fulfill the prophecies about him. Jesus came to call sinners to repentance. Jesus came to dies on a cross. Jesus came to give life!

I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.”

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It’s summed up nicely in the book of John:
John 6:38–40 ESV
For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
So Jesus came to preach the Good News,
Jesus came to save. He came to give life. The Son of God is on a mission, not one of his own imaginings, but one from the Father to save a group of people to eternal resurrected life.
Jesus came to save. He came to Give life. The Son of God is on a mission, not one of his own imaginings, but one that was
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4. Works like the Father

I only say what the father want me to say

3. Works like the Father

Not only was the Son loved by the Father, sent from the Father on a Mission from the Father, he works like the Father too! When you look at all the stuff the Son does, it is either accomplishing the Father’s plans, or doing something that only God can do.
Like Father, Like Son.
Jesus is in the family business.
Like the Father he’s creator, he’s saving, he’s judging, he’s forgiving sin, he’s raising from the dead, he’s bringing Glory to God. Jesus work is the Father’s work.
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This wouldn’t have been any surprise to people up until a few generations ago. They didn’t used to have guidance officers and career paths, you just went into the family business. It was assumed that if you were from the Smith family, you would be a smith. If your family was the Potters, you’d be a potter. Thatcher, carpenter, baker, hunter and so on. A son followed in his fathers footsteps. And this is exactly what happened to Jesus when he became a man, he took the trade of his earthly father, Joseph the carpenter.
Now days though, we need to especially note that the fact that God the Son does the same work as the Father. This is a natural thing, but one we might not catch.
This is the work that Jesus is devoted to. He is driven to complete the work set out for him by the Father.

My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

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Or, the way that Jesus is life giver, just as the Father is life giver:

For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will

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Judges
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Saves/Gives Life

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5. Sounds like the Father

God the Son sounds like God the Father! He’s sounds like the father because he only says the Father’s words.
Jesus doesn’t make pronouncements off his own bat. His is a distinct person of the trinity, but they are in complete unity so that all that they do and say is in accordance with the Father’s will.
Jesus said:
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the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.

When we open the scriptures to read what Jesus said in the gospels, we’re not reading the words of a mere man. He’s not just sprouting wise sayings, or philosophy based on his own experience, he is bringing the very words of the Father to humankind, so that we might hear his words of love toward us and learn the way to Salvation.
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Are you keeping up?
We’ve said God the Son
Comes from the Father
Is loved by the Father
Is sent by the Father
Works like the Father
Sounds like the Father
If you see Jesus you can see the Father.
Want to know what the eternal, bodiless Father looks like? Look at Jesus!
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No-one has ever seen God, if we did we would die. Our puny bodies and minds couldn’t handle it! Yet, The Father has made a way for us to behold his everlasting beauty and goodness and love - he sent his Son! Look at him to see what the Father is like!
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6. Submits to the Father

Next, we see that God the Son submits to God the Father.
Submission is a hot-button topic right now. For some reason we have confused submission and equality. We think they’re opposites. We think you can either submit or you can stand as equals. How stupid!
God the Son shows us that submission is not a roadblock to equality!
God the Son is equal with God the Father and the Spirit, but the Son chooses to submit to the Fathers will and authority. I hope you’ve already been seeing it in many of the verses we’ve looked at! Jesus don’t come into the world to do his own thing. He never wavers in his perfect obedience to God, both in living a morally and ethically perfect life, and in accomplishing everything that the Father wanted him to do. He accepts the Fathers will, not from a place of obligation, but willingly and humbly.

being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross

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Jesus willingly and humbly submit himself to the Father. He was at one time torn by the immensity of his task and prayed for another way, sweating drops of blood on the Mount of Olives, but even then he never wavered from path.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Php 2:8.
His active obedience would lead to our salvation!
God the Son shows us what humble submission looks like. The submission we’re called to, to submit to government leaders, church leaders, and family leaders is so simple in comparison
His active obedience
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7. Becomes Like Us!

6. Becomes Like Us!

I’ve alluded to the fact that Jesus, God the Son, becomes a man. Although eternal, the Son takes on the mantle of his own creation.
Even though God the Son is fully God, he takes on human flesh. In him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily ().
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When he did this, he didn’t become half man half god. Have you heard about the ancient Greek mythic Heroes like Achilles and Hercules? In their case they were born of one divine parent and one earthly parent. They became a kind of demigod. Half and half. A bit better than a man, a bit worse than a god.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .
Not with Jesus. He is 100% God. 100% man.
The Son of God takes on human nature. He doesn’t just posses a body. He isn’t a spiritual vision of a man. He is really, bodily, physically a man. One who at this very moment is hanging out at the Father’s side preparing to come back bodily, physically, actually.
Because Jesus became a man, we can have access to the Father. Jesus reveals the Father and accomplishes his plans in human form. Like Father, Like Son. But also... Like us. The Son has become a bridge between humankind and the divine nature of God. Although he is like the Father, he is also like us.
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Our picture of the father
Dogmatic Theology Christ’s Divine Nature and the Second Trinitarian Person

it was fitting that by the incarnation men should become God’s adopted sons, through him who is God’s natural Son.

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8. Takes our Place

The fact that the Son is like us means that he can act like one of us. He is one of us.
Famously, in the United States you can only be President if you are born a United States citizen. And fair enough, they don’t want people to be able to come in a weasel their way into power to abuse them or corrupt them. They need leaders who are from their midst, who represent them and share the same values as them.
Famously, in the United States you can only be President if you are born a United States citizen. And fair enough, they don’t want people to be able to come in a weasel their way into power. They need leaders who are from their midst, who represent them and share the same values as them.
For us as a race of mankind, we need our own leader, our own representative, our own mediator who represents us, who is like us, who shares our sufferings, who has been tempted like us, who has walked a mile in our shoes.
Jesus is that man. The Son of God became one of us so that he could save us.
He became a man so that he could redeem us. He became a man so that he could fulfill all righteousness. He became a man so that he could be the middle man between us and God.
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Not only is Jesus like our Lawyer, who pleads our case. Jesus actually takes our place. He takes our sins. He takes our guilt. He takes our shame.
We’re a messed up race. We’re rotten to the core. We have all sinned! You have sinned against God! I have sinned!
Not just accidentally, even when you know what is right and wrong, you have often chosen deliberatly to rebel against God!
We deserve eternal wrath! We deserve hellfire and damnation.
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But,
God the Father wanted to save a people for himself, and he sent the Son to accomplish that mission by becoming one of us and taking our place.
“And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, [the Son] has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death” ()
Paul
The Son has Reconciled us to God, by taking our place.
The punishment that he received has brought us peace!
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God the Son saves people for God the Father by taking their place, by being their redeemer and by mediating between us and God.
He lived the life we could never live because of our sinfulness and paid the debt that we can’t pay because of our sinfulness.
And he gives himself freely to you, in love so that you can have this salvation.
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He takes our place, but only if you want him to.
If you want to try and live life your way, then that’s fine. You can try facing God on your own terms and see how that goes for you. But all the biblical eveidence suggests that doing life our own way rather that God’s way doesn’t go well for people.
Jesus give himself to live and die in our place. His gift of himself is only for people who take him up on the offer. It’s not automatically yours.
If you want it, you have to get on God’s team. You have to side with God the Father though God the Son. That’s all it takes: rejecting everything that is against God and receiving the loving grace of God in the free gift of eternal life.
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We call this repentance and faith. Turning away, being sorry, being contrite and rejecting rebellion towards God, and instead reaching out to trust and follow him.
That’s fair right?
If someone is offering you a massive gift, it’s fair that they expect that you respect their wishes. To be on their team. How much more if it is the God of the Universe who offers you eternal life?
Imagine you wanted to play rugby. You need to be on a team. Image the Aussie coach comes to you and says we’d love you to play for us, not because you’re going to win for us, but because we want you to be on our team. You can have the privilege of being on our side, all you have to do is stay on our team, and support our team. Thats it.
When i go to work, I obey my boss. He gives me employment, and the least I can do is I seek the good of the company.
You can have all the befits of being an international rugby player, the pay and the perks. All you have to do is be on our team. That’s a fair request right?
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Jesus will give you eternal life, all you have to do is get on his team. Be loyal to him. Repent and Believe that Jesus Son of God will save you!
He came in our place, to save us. He came to bring us to the loving Father by accomplishing the Mission of the Father.
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9. Sends the Spirit

But Jesus din’t just save us and disappear. He has bodily dies in our place, risen from the dead and gone into heaven to the Father, but he continues his work here on earth.
Jesus sent the Spirit to continue the Work of the Son.
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever…” ()
Jesus
Now Steve will talk more about the work of the Spirit next week, but for now we must note that Jesus work continues. The Spirit comes to Help, to apply the work of Jesus.
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The Father sent the son. The son came and wrought Salvation, and now the Son asked the Father to send the Spirit to continue the work of the Son which is the mission of the Father. See how it’s all connected?
The son’s not here bodily, but he’s here in Spirit. “I’m with you always” Jesus said.
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10. Rules all things

Lastly, the 10th thing you need to know about God the Son is that he’s the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
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The son is not only the one who creates and saves, but he will rule, and even now does rule over all things.
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He’s King, and God is in the process of putting all things in subjection to the SOn. The Son Judges, and the Son will reign over everything.
If you have some time, read through Revelation and see how the Jesus, who is called the Lamb, becomes ruler of the cosmos.
That means for us that we are subjects of the King. The Son of God is our ruler. He’s our Boss. He’s our Lord.
He’s the one who we obey, but he’s also the one who is seeking the best for his Kingdom. No wise king tries to mess up his own kingdom, instead he seeks to build it and establish it. Make it last. Make it eternal.
Jesus is King of and Eternal Kingdom, ruling at the Father’s authority for the glory of God.
The way we live our life is not to please ourselves, or our manager, or our spouse or the government, we live to please God by submitting to Jesus, the Son of God our king.
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Conclusion.

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We’ve covered a lot of ground this morning. But we’ve been exploring who our saviour is and why he can save us. We’ve especially seen that The Son is our access to father and we can see that father by seeing the son. The Son is the only way to our good and loving Father.
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We’ve said God the Son...
Comes from the Father
2. Is loved by the Father
We’ve covered a lot of ground this morning.
3. Is sent by the Father
Works like the Father
4. Works like the Father
Sounds like the Father
6. Submits to the Father
7. Becomes like us
8. Takes our place.
9. Sends the spirit
10. Rules over all things.
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We can become Sons of God, not “THE” Son, but adopted children nevertheless, who mimic the attributes of the son!
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Like Father, Like son.
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