A Final Plea

Four Guarantees

If you believe in Me then you believe in the Father also. (v. 44)

If you see Me then you see the Father also (v. 45)

If you believe in Me then you will not abide in the darkness (v. 46)

If you reject Me then you will be judged at the proper time. (v. 47, 48)

(What do we learn from these guarantees?)

The Connection Between the Father and the Son

What we know in summary from this passage about the connection between the Father and the Son.

If you believe the Son then you believe the Father. (v. 44)

If you have seen the Son then you have seen the Father. (v. 45)

John 14:9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

The Son was sent by the Father. (v. 49)

The Son speaks for the Father. (v. 50)

What do other passages teach us about the connection between the Father and the Son?

If you know the Son then you know the Father. - John 8: 19 So they were saying to Him, “Where is Your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would know My Father also.”

The Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father. - John 10:38 but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.”

If you receive the Son then you receive the Father.

John 13:20 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.”

Matthew 10:40 “He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.

The Son is the only way to the Father. John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

The Son and the Father have the same nature and essence. Heb. 1:3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

Is there an apt illustration that can help us understand this connection?

When a parent sends one child to give a command to another child.

An ambassador that represents the interests of a president to another nation.

Both of these fall short of explaining the connection between the Father and Son.

Why? Because neither the child nor the ambassador can claim complete oneness with the one they represent.

How then can we explain this connection?

We can’t. Scholars, teachers, theologians and pastors have been trying for centuries to explain it and they can’t.

We can’t explain this connection because we cannot explain the Trinity.

How can three persons be one God? - I don’t know.

I do know that the truth of the matter is this; the Son and the Father are one in essence and separate in persons.

I am not saying that they are distinct personalities. God does not have a multiple personality disorder.

The three persons of the Trinity are completely distinct persons as you and I are distinct persons.

The Results of Rejecting Christ

Darkness

It is actually quite logical. Jesus is the Light so if you reject Him where will you be?

This is certainly parallel to the concept we spoke of last week of spiritual blindness.

In summary those who are in the dark or are spiritually blind are incapable of understanding spiritual truth on their own.

They are incapable because they have rejected the Light.

They are incapable because they do not have the Holy Spirit to illuminate truth to them.

Why are those who reject Christ in the dark? Because they are blind.

Judgment

Jesus has already made clear that He did not come into this world in His first incarnation for the purpose of judgment. John 3:17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

If He didn’t come to judge the world what did He come to do? He has said it twice now. He came to save.

Though He didn’t come to judge, judgment is the natural result of rejecting Him.

One mark of maturity is the ability to delay gratification now for a better result later.

This can easily be seen in children. They would rather choose a good option that is in front of them over a better option that they have to wait for.

This same immaturity can be clearly seen in the world. Because God does not immediately punish me for my sin He either doesn’t care or doesn’t exist.

Scripture teaches otherwise. God is patient and unlike most of us He is playing the long game.

When does Jesus say their judgment will take place?

“in the last day” - Jesus is pointing us far into the future to an event that John describes in the 20th chapter of Revelation most commonly called the Great White Throne judgment.

At the Great White Throne their deeds will be judged but it ultimately what they choose to do with the message of Jesus that condemns them.

The word “reject” literally means “to count as nothing”. In other words those who are judged at the last day are those who counted Christ’s message as meaningless or worthless.