Jesus and the Father are One

Seeing the Father

Do you not know me, Philip?

Disciples confused again

What the disciples would know

You can’t look on the face of the Father

Exodus 33:20 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”

What is he asking then?

Something akin to Moses, Isaiah, or Ezekiel

Exodus 33:18 18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”

Jesus and the Father are One

What the disciples have missed: Jesus has been showing them that He and the Father are One throughout His entire ministry

When you look upon Jesus you see the glory of the Father

When you look upon Jesus you see the mercy of the Father

When you look upon Jesus you see the Justice of the Father

When you look upon Jesus you see the Love of the Father

When you look upon Jesus you see the Father

Jesus has stated this:

John 12:44-45 44 And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. 45 And whoever sees me sees him who sent me

John 10:30 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

Is this a weird concept or is there a simple way for understanding this?

John 1:1-2 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Word: Logos - a title of Jesus understood as God’s ultimate communication about Himself.

Hebrews 1:2-3 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 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

Jesus is the exact imprint of the nature of God.

God has revealed Himself to us through His revelation of Himself.

What we can know about God is what He has revealed of Himself to us.

In nature we can see God

In morality we can see God

But, God Himself, expresses Himself in His Word

And God reveals Himself in His Son

The Works

Jesus’ works are the Fathers works

Knowing that when we see Jesus we see the Father - Jesus’ actions are the actions of the Father

What we see Christ doing is that of the Father’s will and design

consider the 7 signs John’s Gospel has presented:

Water into wine

Healing the officials son

Jesus heals the lame

Walks on Water

Feeds the Multitude

Gives sight to the blind

Raises Lazarus from the dead

All of these testify to who Christ is, but also reflect God the Father’s presence in Jesus.

It’s almost as if Jesus is saying to the disciples - if you don’t believe my words…believe the evidence

How true is this for many of us - we have experienced the miracles of God at work in our lives through various circumstances and events and quickly forget the evidence of Him in our own lives

we find ourselves asking Him to reveal Himself when we have already seen and experienced Him.

we have seen His hand at work - been the beneficiaries of His grace and mercy, and then circumstances arise and confusion sets in and we forget what we already know.

Doing the Works of Christ

Cool new power? illustrate the ease of not adhering to what Jesus is saying - drunk Steve making water into wine...

what are the greatest works manifest through Christ?

Denial of self - submission to the Father

Bringing others to right relationship with God the Father

Overcoming death

Being careful in what we don’t deny

miraculous works happen - and gifts of the holy Spirit are real

Cessasionist vs Continuationists

quick history - the view of cessation of the sign gifts within the protestant church really started around the 1700-1800’s in response to an anti-Catholic sentiment in effort to ridicule some of the false claims of miracles that came about in Catholicisms (i.e. religious icons bleeding that turned out to be cherry juice). In response to this, many protestants took the stance that the sign gifts ceased at the end of the apostolic age.

The problem - there is no solid Biblical support for such a claim - it is commonly done out of fear of abuses and false claims made by some. The Biblical arguments in support of, typically are done with taking obscure passages and assigning them meanings that contradict other passages that advance the notion of the miraculous.

What remains in this regard is we base our mindset and understanding on Scripture. Therefore, manifestations of the miracle/sign gifts will be consistent with Scripture…not things like we see with Benny Hinn and others who seek to lie to people.

This is why I adhere to an open but cautious stance - open and recognizing that God in His wisdom works miracles, that we are a part of that, and that they will be consistent in their manifestation with what He has revealed.

Asking in His name

what does it mean to ask in Jesus name?

asking for that which is consistent with Him

The obfuscating of truth by the prosperity gospel

as Al Mohler writes concerning this: Simply put, this “prosperity gospel” teaches that God wants believers to be physically healthy, materially wealthy, and personally happy. Listen to the words of Robert Tilton, one of its best-known spokesmen: “I believe that it is the will of God for all to prosper because I see it in the Word, not because it has worked mightily for someone else. I do not put my eyes on men, but on God who gives me the power to get wealth.” Teachers of the prosperity gospel encourage their followers to pray for and even demand material flourishing from God.

Christ’s statement here isn’t an invitation for the disciples to demand anything they want from Him -

If it were, they would demand Him to set up His kingdom then so they could reign with Him

It’s a call that disciples of Christ, the elect, the Body of Christ, will ask for things consistent with Jesus and His name.

how do we get these things wrong?

Biblical illiteracy

High view of self/Low view of God

Selfish/Sinful motivations

Asking consistent with the revelation of God to humanity

But what does that look like?

The three greatest works of Christ are

submission to God

bringing others to right relationship with God

Overcoming death…these then would be a great place to start

how does what i desire line up with Christ’s character and revelation

How do I then align with Christ? with so many worldly desires…how do I align myself with Christ…

Sending the Helper (opens next sermon)

Love Christ, keep His Commandments

Consider the simple complexity of this

relationship example - love your spouse your actions are consistent with that love

however, what happens when relationships break and divorce occurs

as one pastor noted: either one or both parties in a situation of divorce have become selfish

If we see this in worldly relationships won’t this also be evident in our relationship with Christ.

Another “helper”

two points and much of this will be expanded on next week

The Greek used here is “paraclete”

we have no real specific translation of it - this is why sometimes you will see the reference as: Helper, advocate, counselor, comforter…all seeking to describe what the term means

we know it is reference to the Holy Spirit as Christ tells us…He will expand on the Holy Spirit’s role

what is further interesting is the term “another”

the Greek is “allos” and means…another

eteron which means different could have been used…however, wasn’t

what then is meant with allos?

the Holy Spirit is not different from Christ, rather is another…similar to Himself.

Thus the introduction at this point of the Holy Spirit being the third member of the Triune GodHead…with a specific role in bringing Glory to God through the salvation of humanity.