WWUTT 943 If You've Seen Me, You've Seen the Father?

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There is one God, and our one God is three persons, Father, Son, and Spirit.

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None of those persons are greater than another. So if we have the Son, we have the

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Father and Spirit also, when we understand the text. You're listening to When We Understand the

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Text, committed to sound teaching of the Word of God. For questions and comments, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

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And don't forget our website, www .wtt .com. Here's our host, Pastor Gabe.

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Thank you, Becky. Let's come back again to our study of John chapter 14. And as with yesterday,

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I'll begin reading in verse 6 through verse 14. The Apostle John wrote that Jesus said,

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I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

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If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him, and have seen him.

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Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. Jesus said to him,

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Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the

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Father. How can you say, Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the

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Father, and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the

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Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the

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Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. Truly truly

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I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do.

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And greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this

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I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name,

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I will do it. Now what Jesus says there in verses 12 through 14, that's a lot to unpack, so I may wait until Monday to get to those passages.

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It could take us a little bit to get through that. Those are some very abused verses that end up in that particular section, and some have already been asking me, so what is it that Jesus really meant there when he said, greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the

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Father. Well, we'll talk about that on Monday. In the meantime, let's finish focusing what we have been on this week, and that is mainly that statement that Jesus has made there in verse 6.

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Very very popular statement, very crucial statement in understanding the exclusive claim of Christ in Christianity.

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I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life.

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No one comes to the Father but through me. Jesus did not say, I am one of the ways.

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I'm one of the truths. I'm one of the lives. I'm just one of the options that you can pick, but there are many other options that you can pick out there, and all roads eventually lead to me.

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That's not what it is that Jesus said. Jesus said, I am the way, and you could read that as,

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I am the only way, the only truth, the only life. And lest anybody think that I'm reading something into the text that isn't there, this is the way

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John started his gospel. Back in John 1, verse 14, the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only

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Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. A few verses later in verse 18, no one has ever seen

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God, the only God who is at the Father's side. He and he alone and he only has made him known.

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John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

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And even in this discourse here between Jesus and his disciples toward the end, when he prays for them in the high priestly prayer,

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John 17, Jesus says, this is eternal life, that they know you, praying to the

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Father, that they know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

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And it was yesterday I quoted to you from 1 Timothy 2, 5, where the apostle

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Paul says there is one mediator between God and man, and that is the man,

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Christ Jesus. We have no other access to the Father, except through Christ only.

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Jesus was not a syncretist. He was not interested in you having a bunch of other religions.

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As long as you believe in Jesus, as long as that one is in there, then you've got yourself covered. No, as a matter of fact,

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Jesus is the same God as the one in Exodus 20, who said you will have no other gods before me.

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You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

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You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I, the Lord, your

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God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

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Jesus is the same God who was there on Mount Sinai saying to the children of Israel, I am a jealous

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God, and you will have no other gods before me. We are to worship God and God alone, and our access to the

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Father is through Christ alone. There is no other way. In Acts chapter 19, we read the story of the sons of Sceva.

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This was when the apostle Paul was in Ephesus, and there were seven sons of a

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Jewish priest who were doing miracles because they were trying to capitalize on the fame that Paul was earning himself for the miracles that he was doing, the exorcisms, casting out demons, healing the sick.

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He was so full of the Holy Spirit while he was there in Ephesus that even while he was working in the sun, he was a tent maker by trade, and he would wipe his face with a handkerchief.

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The sweat in that handkerchief had the power to heal because of its blessing of the

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Holy Spirit, not because there was something inherently powerful about the sweat of the apostle Paul. It wasn't like he was an

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X -Men mutant or something. So these handkerchiefs that he would wipe his face with would be taken to the sick, and they would touch them, and they would heal them.

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And because Paul was so renowned there in Ephesus, which was a very, very wealthy port city, the sons of Sceva thought that they could make a buck on Paul's fame by pretending themselves to be able to cast out demons.

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And so that's what they did. People came to them. They started building a name for themselves until they encountered a person who actually was demonically possessed.

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This person with the evil spirit comes up to them and says, Jesus, I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?

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And the man in whom was the evil spirit leapt on them, mastered them all and overpowered them so that they fled out of the house naked and bleeding.

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And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, that these men were pretending to cast out evil spirits.

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But then once they encountered an actual evil spirit, they got beat up. They got owned.

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There was nothing, no power in themselves to actually do anything about this guy. This one man beat up seven of them and even left them running out of the place, naked and bleeding.

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And fear fell upon all and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled.

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And it says in Acts 19, 18, many of those who were now believers came confessing and divulging their practices.

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And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all.

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And they counted the value of them and found that it came to 50 ,000 drachmas. That's 50 ,000 days wages.

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That's a lot of money being burned up in the square. All of these these scrolls that they had of these magic incantations, which they realized were absolutely worthless, worthless.

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Their syncretism did not have the ability to protect them from evil spirits.

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It took exclusive belief in Christ to know that they had peace with God.

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So they burned all these scrolls in the public square and the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

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That's Acts 19, 20. So that gives you an idea of what God thinks of syncretism and believing in a lot of different things.

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You can even believe in your pagan magic arts as long as you believe in Jesus. God will have none of that.

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He is a jealous God. He will not share you with anyone for to say that you need to believe in these other things is to say that belief in Christ is not enough, that he doesn't satisfy, that he doesn't have the power to fulfill and the gospel isn't enough for you.

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So you need to believe in these other things in order to truly be satisfied. And if that's the route that you want to go, then you are saying that you are ashamed of Christ and Jesus will be ashamed of you before the father in judgment.

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That's what it'll come down to. So he is not about to share your heart with all of these other beliefs, ideas, philosophies, even worldliness and material possessions.

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Jesus is going to have none of it. Nothing can take the place of God. You can't even you can't even give

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God 99 % of your heart, but 1 % of your heart is occupied by this other thing because that 1 % of you is saying that Jesus is not totally enough.

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I still have to have this other thing. And though you might think it's just 1%, that 1 % has your whole focus because God was not enough.

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On Sunday, I've been preaching through Galatians with my congregation, and this was a scathing letter from the

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Apostle Paul to the churches in Galatia who had turned from the sound gospel that had been delivered to them at first and were choosing to believe in a different gospel.

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That's the way Paul starts his letter. Galatians 1 6. I'm astonished that you're so quickly turning from him whom we once preached to you and have chosen to believe in a different gospel.

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Now it's not that the Galatians no longer believed in Jesus. And so they were turning to like pagan gods.

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That's not what was happening in Galatia. In fact, they still believed in Christ, but they believe that they had to do some kind of work in order to be saved.

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So it was no longer salvation by faith in Jesus. But there was some amount of works that they needed to do.

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In particular, it was the the Jewish rabble, the Judaizers that came in and convinced them that they needed to keep certain

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Jewish laws because Jesus himself was a Jew. So it's fine if you want to worship Jesus, but you also have to do these

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Jewish things in order to truly be saved. One of those things in particular we know from the from the letter is circumcision.

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They had to be circumcised in order to be saved. And Paul called that a different gospel. They still believed in Jesus.

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They still believe he died on a cross and rose again from the dead. But they believed that that was not enough.

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So they had to do this other thing in order to be saved. And so what you have in the theme of Galatians is

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God plus blank equals false gospel. Whatever fills in that blank makes the gospel into something false.

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And your focus is on the blank. It's not on God. It's not on Christ. Your focus isn't there anymore, because what you've determined is what

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God did for you, what Christ accomplished wasn't complete. So there had to be this other thing that you need to do in order to truly attain salvation.

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So salvation is actually in the other thing. It's not in Christ. Jesus wasn't able to accomplish it.

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So you have to accomplish it by doing this other work. And therefore you believe in a different gospel.

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So once again, whatever fills in the blank has the focus. It's no longer

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Jesus is the only way. Jesus is the truth. Jesus is the life.

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No one comes to the father but through Jesus, a person who believes they have to do something in order to attain salvation has corrupted

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Christ's own exclusive claim to being the only way to God. And instead they now believe this thing that fills in the blank, that's actually the way to God.

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Jesus said that all of the law and the prophets can be summed up in these two commands. Love the

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Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And the second command is like it love your neighbor as yourself.

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Because if you love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, then you will show it in the way that you love those who are made in the image of God, taking the gospel to those who are lost and growing in sanctification with those who are found.

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And in doing this, we fulfill all the law and the prophets. Paul said so in Romans chapter 13, love is the fulfilling of the law.

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So when you love God and you love others, you are fulfilling the law. You are showing your faith in the gospel.

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But once you corrupt the gospel and it becomes something else, it will change your behavior even. And that happened in Galatia, that the

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Galatians even began infighting with one another, biting and devouring one another as Paul had said to them.

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And so when you see your attitude start changing, maybe you're the belief in the doctrine, the doctrine that you believe in, maybe that has changed.

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Maybe in your own mind and in your own heart, you're starting to corrupt the gospel. Maybe you're starting to convince yourself

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Jesus is not the only way. Maybe I have to do this. Maybe I have to have this thing.

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Maybe I'm just not satisfied enough in Christ and I have to go over here in order to get that satisfaction that I feel is lacking.

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Then you are filling up your flesh with things that give you that peace and relief that you're not finding in Christ.

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And so attempting to do things your way, driven by feelings and emotions, well, you're going to react to people according to your feelings and emotions, not according to the truth, not driven by the

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Holy Spirit or the love of God. And so this is going to cause division between you and other people.

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This is the way bad doctrine will manifest itself in those people who believe it. And so we must understand that Christ is the only way none of us can get to heaven any other way except through him.

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And he will share his glory with no one and has no reason to apologize for that.

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By the way, he is God. He is holy. He alone is worthy of our worship.

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So we are to give our worship to no other false God or thing or desire philosophy, nothing.

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We should be completely filled up with Christ. And he is everything, the way, the truth and the life.

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No one comes to the father, Jesus says, except through me. In verse seven, if you had known me, you would have known my father also.

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From now on, you do know him and have seen him. And this is

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Jesus by his authority, being the one who chose his disciples, that they would go and bear fruit.

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That's something coming up in John chapter 15. You did not choose me, but I chose you that you would go and bear fruit.

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And so Jesus, being the one who has chosen them, he has the authority to open their eyes and their mind to see and understand the father.

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As I mentioned yesterday, Paul said in Colossians chapter one, that in Christ, the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.

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Jesus, God in human flesh, reveals to us the father. So he says this to the disciples.

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If you know me, you know the father. Philip said to him, Lord, show us the father and it is enough for us.

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Jesus replied, have I been with you so long and you still do not know me, Philip, whoever has seen me has seen the father.

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When I first became a pastor at the church that I am pastoring still,

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I started as an associate pastor there. And one time the senior pastor came to me and said, hey, there's a

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Sunday I'm going to be gone. Would you like to preach? And I said to him, well, my dad's actually going to be in the area. I think it'd be great to let my dad preach.

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And the pastor replied, well, you know, we hired you. We know your doctrine. You've been tested and approved, but we really don't know your dad.

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So maybe not this time. And I replied to the pastor very respectfully. I said, well, you've seen me and you know me.

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And the pastor said yes. And I said, well, if you've seen me, you've seen the father. He was pretty tickled by that joke.

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And my dad did end up preaching. He preached at my church before I did anyway.

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So Jesus saying to his disciples, if you have seen me, you have seen the father.

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We know the father through everything that Christ has said and done. He is the image of the invisible

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God. So Jesus even replies to Philip, how can you say, show us the father?

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I think there's a couple of insinuations in this question. First of all, are you not satisfied with me?

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Like you're not content with the son that you have to demand that you see the father? Well, that's a problem.

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Because then you're saying the father has some greatness to him that the son lacks.

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And so the son is not completely God, but the father is. So Philip should not be saying such a thing.

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He should understand God is there with them. It is Jesus Christ, the son. So there's no reason for Philip to have to ask, can

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I see the father? Because God is there in their midst, God in human flesh.

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And so that's certainly the first underlying insinuation in that question that Jesus asks of Philip.

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But I think a second insinuation there is, hey, if the father appears before you right now, you're all going to get fried.

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So you can't handle seeing the father. So the father has given the son and you must love the son by loving the son.

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You love the father. How can you say, show us the father? Do you not believe that I am in the father and the father is in me?

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Jesus is every bit as much God as the father is. The words that I say to you,

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Jesus said, I do not speak on my own authority, but the father who dwells in me does his works.

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Believe me that I am in the father and the father is in me. Or else believe on the count of the works themselves.

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If you can't believe my words, just look at the works that I have done. No ordinary man can do these works.

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It is only the one whom God is in can do these works. By the way, this was the same proof that Jesus gave to John the

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Baptist. When John the Baptist was in prison, he sent his own disciples to Jesus asking him, are you the

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Messiah who was promised or should we expect another? And Jesus said to John the Baptist disciples, go back and tell him what it is that you have seen.

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The lame walk, the blind can see, the sick are healed, the dumb can speak.

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Go and tell him what it is that you've seen. And so Jesus is saying the same thing here to his disciples.

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How do you know that God is here with you in your midst, that the father is even here in the son? Look at the works that have been done.

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Was this not the fulfilling of what the prophets had said of old, when God the father in tandem with the son and through the

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Holy Spirit had spoken to the prophets, the very word of God who wrote these things down, and now you have seen the words of the prophets fulfilled right here in the son.

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So believe in the son. You believe in the son, you believe in the father. Everything we could ever want to know about God, we see in Jesus Christ.

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Let us pray. Our heavenly father, what a privilege it is to call upon you as father.

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And we know that we've been adopted as sons and daughters to you by faith in Christ, your son and faith in him alone.

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And I pray that there is a contentment in our hearts, knowing that all things have been supplied for us in Christ and we lack nothing.

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We need nothing else. There's nothing more of you that we need to see now here in these moments, for it has all been given to us in Christ, who came, who died, who rose again, who ascended and is seated at the right hand of God, interceding for us even as we continue to traverse this world.

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His word was given to us through prophets and apostles written down for us in the scriptures. So everything that we could want to know about the mind of God we have here in the pages of the

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Bible. What a wonderful privilege and benefit this is. So I pray that we find contentment in this until the day when our faith shall be sight.

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And according to John, 1 John 3, 2, we will see you as you are because we will be made to be like you.

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We look forward to that day. Sustain us to the end. And keep us steadfast and secure in your love and your grace.

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In Jesus' name, Amen. You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes.

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Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study. Then on Thursday, we look at an

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Old Testament book. On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers. Tomorrow, we'll pick up on an