Parting Words-Part 2- Knowing Jesus

Introduction- John 14:7-14

Last week we began a series entitled “Parting Words” exploring the final conversations that Jesus had with His disciple before He was arrested and condemned to be crucified.

Last week we began with Jesus encouraging His disciples to trust Him and explaining to them what lay ahead and expressing the fact that He is “the way, the truth, and the life.”

Today we will continue as Jesus further instructs His disciples concerning His relationship with the Father and their knowledge of Him.

Deeper Knowledge (Vs. 7-11)

After proclaiming that no man can come to the father but by Him, now Jesus begins to speak to the disciples concerning His relationship to the Father.

Here Jesus clearly asserts His deity equating Himself with God the Father.

It seems that the disciples have not yet fully grasped the reality of Jesus nature and character.

Here He tells the disciples that to know Him is to know the Father also. Through this brief conversation it will become clear that Jesus and the Father are one and from this time forward the disciples would come to recognize this truth.

John 10:30 KJV 1900

I and my Father are one.

This is not the first time Jesus has shared this truth but now He will take the time to develop it further.

Philip asks the Lord Jesus to show them the father and states that this will satisfy their doubts.

This causes Jesus to then confront Philip’s apparent misconception. He asks Philip directly “Have you not known me Philip?”

This is to reemphasize the point that to know Jesus is to know God the Father.

The disicples knew Jesus but they still did not understand that Jesus and the Father are the same and that through knowing and seeing Him they were seeing and getting to know God the Father.

He questions their understanding of the fact that Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in Him.

The evidence of this truth were the words and works of Jesus.

His words spoken with supernatural wisdom and unique authority were the proof of His oneness with the Father.

John 7:45–46 KJV 1900

Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him? The officers answered, Never man spake like this man.

Matthew 7:29 KJV 1900

For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

His works, the miracles He performed and the lives He transformed were also another testament to His deity.

His desire is that His disciples would understand that He is God and that He and the Father are one so that to know Him is quite literally to know God.

Jesus is challenging the disciples to strengthen their faith in Him in order that they may be prepared to carry on the work He has called them to do.

Ultimately any failure in our spiritual lives does not require greater effort humanly speaking but a greater faith in Jesus.

The Christian life is lived by faith not by human energy!

Greater Works (Vs. 12)

Ultimately Jesus reveals here a startling truth to His disciples that they will not only carry on the work that He has begun but that they will do even greater works than He has done.

It was of vital importance that they would recognize Jesus for who He is and believe on Him for this is what would then enable them to carry on the work.

The time was drawing near for His departure to retun to the father and Jesus knew that the disciples would be the ones who would continue the work once He had gone.

The greater works He speaks of does not refer to greater in quality but rather in quantity.

The work of these disciples and of subsequent generations of disciples following after them would impact a greater quanitity of people and would reach much further geographically than that which Jesus did during His time upon earth.

Yet the works they would do were not done in their own power but by His power operating in and through them.

Many people would be healed, many lives would be transformed, and many souls would be saved through their ministry but it was all the result of their knowledge of Jesus and their relationship with Him.

If we desire to do any great work for God it will only be possible through our relationship with Jesus and our faith in Him.

John 15:5 KJV 1900

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Jesus understood that the most vital lesson the disciples needed was that they would devote themselves to knowing Him for in this they would find the enablement to serve Him and to accomplish that which He had called them to accomplish.

Power in Prayer (Vs. 13-14)

Not only would they be enabled to do great works but they would also have the opportunity to see great answers to prayer.

The disciples because of their close personal relationship with Jesus would have power in prayer.

Jesus tells them that whatever they ask for in His name that He will answer and do what they have asked.

It is important that we have a correct understanding of what Jesus is saying here for it is not that they can ask for whatsoever they desire but that they may ask for anything in His name.

This means that anything that they would ask for that is in agreement with His character and mission they could confidently expect to see answered.

Jesus is teaching them the power that is His and the access that they have to this power through Him.

Jesus work in answer to their prayers was not to build the reputation of the disciples but that God may be glorified in Him.

We have this same blessed privilege through our relationship with Jesus to ask for anything in His name and expect that He will do it.

There is nothing that you and I could ask Jesus to do that He is unable to do so long as we are sincerely asking in His name and our heart’s desire in asking is that God would be glorified by the answer.

We must be careful however that we do not ask for our own selfish purposes for such requests will certainly be denied.

James 4:3 KJV 1900

Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

Conclusion

This passage teaches us the importance of recognizing who Jesus is and why it is so important that we have a close personal relationship with Him.

When we know Him for who He is we shall be able to do great things for God and we shall be able to ask for and receive great things from God.

Through knowing Jesus we can know God and in knowing and believing in Him we have the opportunity to see God work in and through us to accomplish His will.

There is no limit to what God can and will do with our lives if we will only believe wholeheartedly on Jesus.

The only reason we do not often see God do mighty works in our lives is because we lack the faith to attempt great things for Him.

“Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.” -William Carey-The Father of Modern Missions

Carey knew Jesus and believed His word and was thus willing to step out in faith when others were unwilling.