Jesus Is God Whoever Has Seen Jesus Has Seen The Father — Tim Conway

This was a difficult portion of Scripture for me. In John 14. 6 -14 is what I'm going to read right now. And I'm going to focus. Verses 12 -14, I think I'm very much looking forward to preaching. That won't be today.

And I very specifically want to look at 6 -11. And I recognize this, that Jesus in verse 1, we'll just start reading in 14. 1. Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many rooms.

If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself. That where I am, you may be also. And you know the way to where I'm going.

Thomas said to Him, Lord, we do not know where You are going. How can we know the way? You see the issue, don't let your hearts be troubled. These guys are troubled, we dealt with that last week. Troubled hearts.

This is Jesus' remedy for troubled hearts. That's why I didn't want to just skip over verses 6 -11 here. Because this is part of what's for the troubled heart too. It's not just what we looked at last week.

Jesus as the Only Way to the Father

Verse 6, Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him.

Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it's enough for us. It suffices. Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long, and you still do not know Me, Philip? Whoever has seen Me has seen 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? The words that I say to you, I do not speak on My own authority, but the Father who dwells in Me does His works.

You like that shift right there? Words. The words that I say to you, I do not speak on My own authority, but the Father who dwells in Me does His works. Nice shift from words to works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in Me will also do the works that I do. And greater works than these will he do, because I'm going to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. Yes, I'm very much looking forward to preaching 12, 13, and 14. But that's not where we're at today. It's basically 6 through 11 that I want us to look at.

Now, here's the thing. There's obviously some gaps in their understanding. The disciples' understanding of Christ is not where it ought to be, and Jesus is correcting it. There's gaps in their understanding.

Philip says, Lord, show us the Father, and it's enough for us. Now, one thing I would notice about that, these guys are shaken. They're troubled. That's why he's saying, don't be troubled. They're tempted to fall away.

We saw that in 16 .1. I say these things to you so that you don't fall away. And you know what's interesting to me? After three years of walking with Jesus, three years of discipleship, you kind of get a glimpse of what Jesus instilled in their hearts.

Because if I see something in Philip, I see this. After three years with Jesus, you know what? When he's faced with trouble, he says, Lord, if You'll show us the Father, that'll be sufficient. In this moment of uncertainty, this moment of fear, Philip's desire is for the Father.

Lord, show us. Show us. That'll satisfy our troubled hearts. That'll be enough. Well, what's Jesus' emphasis? His emphasis couldn't be clearer. Look at John 14 .7. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.

Look here at John 14 .9. You see the words? Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father. Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father. The first part of 14 .10.

Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? 14 .11. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. Wow. I mean, Philip's got a lesson here in the classroom of Christ.

I mean, imagine you're sitting there. Imagine you're sitting with those guys. You see Philip over there. And they're having this dialogue back and forth. They're looking into the eyes of a man. And you know what?

There was nothing about his external visage that caused the Jewish leaders to say, oh yeah, that's the guy. You know what? The truth was there was really nothing about him. He was just an average-looking Jewish guy.

Nothing special to the outward. They're looking in the eyes of him. He says, see me? Philip, you guys, see me? Look close. You know what you're going to see? And it doesn't take looking close. You can look from afar.

You can look intermediate. You can look very close. What are you going to see? You know what he's saying? He says, the Father. Who He is. How He's defined. How you measure Him. How you size Him up. You know what?

You can find out all that by looking at me. I declare who He is. How about that, Philip? Does that sufficeth? Is that sufficient? Is that adequate? What this tells us to a certain degree is this. The disciples didn't know Jesus as they ought to have known.

That's my point. There's some gaps in their understanding still. You see that. Philip didn't get that. The other guys didn't get that. Certainly, they had arrived at certain truths. They understood that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

You have the words of eternal life. I mean, they had certain things down. You remember there in the beginning, we found the Messiah. We found the one who Moses spoke about. They had certain things straight, but they still had some gaps in their understanding.

And you know what I wondered is do we still have gaps? That's the question that I want to put on the table. For instance, do you know one of the things that's said in the context here? I am the way, the truth, and the life.

The way, the truth, the life. No one comes unto the Father except through me. So, you know what? I guess the thing is I'm the way. The way where? Well, nobody comes to the Father. You see, we typically don't have any problems.

I'm the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father. Well, He's the way where? Well, He's the way to the Father. But you know what? Sometimes I don't think maybe necessarily we pick up on the truth and the life maybe just as we ought to.

Do you recognize that both of those words connect us to the Father? Do you know one of the things you find out here? You find out that the Father is mentioned a whole lot of times, like 15 times from verse 6 to verse 14.

If you look at the Father and the pronouns with regards to Him, He's mentioned a bunch of times. Do you know what? The life, the truth, that also connects. Just check this out. This is all John talking.

Christ Reveals the Father’s Truth and Eternal Life

You know what John said way back in John 3? He said that Jesus bears witness to what He has seen and heard. Now pay careful attention. Yet no one receives His testimony. Whoever receives His, Christ's, testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true.

Now you want to get that. When it says that Christ is the truth, that has just as much to do with the Father as the way has to do with the Father. You know what? If you accept what Christ says, you set your testimony, you set your seal to the fact that God is true.

When you hear Jesus and what He says and witnesses to, and you receive it. For He whom God has sent utters the words of God. And that's what He's saying right here. He says, I utter those words. Those words are not random.

He spoke every single word exactly. It was part of the body of truth that the Father sent His Son into the world to deliver to us. Listen to this. I have much to say about you and much to judge. But He who sent me is true.

This is John 8 .26. And I declare to the world what I have heard from Him. Truth. John 8 .40. Now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. And you know what? Christ being the life, that also points to the Father.

Think about what is eternal life. Right in this portion of Scripture, before we get done with it, we're going to hit this in John 17 .3. What is eternal life, folks? That we might know the one true, the only, that one true and only God, and who?

Jesus Christ, whom He has sent. But I want you to think about this. Know. Listen. Think. Eternal life is that they know you, the only true God. And look, we know this. And this often gets said, but we don't want to underestimate this.

You look at the meaning of the word, it means marital intimacy. Yes, it means to come to an understanding about, but we full well know how Scripture uses the term. Every woman who has known man by lying with him.

That's from Numbers. What we need to recognize is this. Eternal life. Life. Life more abundant. Think about what it is. Listen. You know what? I have come across time and again, you know one of the things, as a young believer that I experienced, one night I went out praying, and as I was coming back to the house, I was out under the moon and the clouds, out there in the fields, and I was praying.

I was just a brand new believer. Only saved, I don't know how long, but as I was coming back, there was a sense of the presence of Christ with me to the point where it was more real, like something was happening that was unusual.

And when I got back to my room, His presence was so great that I thought one of two things was going to happen. I was either going to be taken and escorted to glory, or God was going to appear in that room.

It was so great. And let me tell you this. I never really found anybody else that could connect until we had Paul Washer come. We were there at Hackberry, just broken down old German house on the east side of San Antonio.

And Paul came and he preached four messages for us. And I got talking to him about this, and he looked at me and he said, it about drove you crazy. And I looked at him and I thought, wow, I'm talking to somebody that's experienced this.

And you know what happened? As I read Joy Unspeakable by Lloyd-Jones, he began to recount one after another. And in other reading that I've come across, I began to come across these encounters that God's people have had time and again.

What I felt that night, I felt like, Lord, You have to make it stop. Because I can't contain this. I read about Howell Harris going up in a bell tower. And God met with him there. You can read about that.

He was one of these Welshmen involved in the First Great Awakening. He had to cry out, God, make it stop. A .B. Simpson, he was in New York City. Same thing. I began to see this over and over. Men having this encounter.

Listen to me. We are in for heaven. Where God comes so close, and He is going to fill you with a fullness and a satisfaction and a joy and a glory that you are barely going to be able to contain. And this is life.

Listen, when He created... Look, marriage is a pure thing. But you think about this. The Bible itself says the marriage bed is undefiled. Let me tell you something. He created that and it's only a shadow.

It's not the real thing, folks. We live in the shadow land. The greatest thing that happens behind that closed door is only, it is just a shadow. When Christ lays His arms around you, and what this is, this is a knowing, this is a knowledge, this is an intimacy that starts out with this only true God.

But listen, man is alienated from this life of God. It's the life of God where all that is worth anything is to be found. This is what eternal life is. This is what heaven is. This is what glory is. But listen, no man has ever seen God.

Right? The only God who is at the Father's side. Or the only Son Himself God. Or the only begotten Son. Different translations are different in John 1 .18. But listen, Christ who is at the Father's side.

He makes Him, and there's our word, known. You say, well, He reveals facts about us. No, no, no, no. Yes, that's true. But you have to recognize in bringing in the facts about God, it's meant to swallow us in glory and pleasure.

God wants that. All you have to do is read the Song of Solomon to get a real feel. Listen, in John 17 where it says eternal life is to know Him, Jesus as He's praying says this, I made known to them your name.

And I will continue to make it known. What? Facts? Scholarly facts? No, no, no. You know how the verse goes on? That the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them. You see what's happening?

Swallowed in love. That's life. He is the life. This is the issue here. Listen, Philip, if you had known me, you would have known my Father also. This is the testimony. God gave us eternal life. And where's that eternal life?

This life is in His Son. Listen to this. Do you know this? You don't have a gap in your understanding here, I hope. Listen to this. You've read this. And I think a lot of times we just read over things like this.

Jesus says, John 6 .57, As the living Father sent me, I live... Get this. I live because of the Father. You ever read that? Be careful when you talk about Christ's self-existence. His existence and His life is tied intrinsically to the Father.

I live because of the Father. So whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the life. As the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted... Isn't that interesting? Not just it's intrinsic.

God granted it. That the Son has life in Himself. Listen, what we need to grasp is this. Apart from the life Christ gives us, we will never share in or know the life of God. What is this life? This life is that saving relationship.

That saving intimacy. Life. Real. Full. Glorious. Breathtaking. Satisfying. Exploding with joy. God's ultimate gracious gift to us is found right here. And His ultimate purpose with regard to man is what?

That we find our way to Him and Christ is the way. It's that we come under this body of truth that He wanted us to know. God reveals Himself and He sends His Son. And He is that truth. And what is it?

His purpose is that we have life that is consisting of more and more and more of God. And where is that? Jesus gives us eternal life. Not just by giving us more facts. Not just by giving us this knowledge about God.

But by giving the very life of God Himself. And Christ shall all be made alive. That's what we read. Apart from the life that Jesus gives us, we cannot, it's impossible to share in the life of God. Christ is that life.

The Spirit, Scripture, and the Fullness of Christ

Now, if I feel like there's gaps in my understanding, where do I go? Do I go to the Spirit? I talked about the Spirit when we were taking the Lord's Supper. If you would know God, you know what? You don't primarily know God by knowing the Holy Spirit.

Why do I say that? And I'm speaking with reverency. I'm speaking biblically. Because right here in this section, you know what Jesus says? He says, this Comforter is coming. And what's He going to do?

Is He going to go around and tell us all about Himself? Actually, what He says in John 14 .26, He will teach you all things and bring to remembrance all that I have said to you. In John 16 .13, He will glorify Me.

He will take what is Mine and declare it to you. You don't even know God by seeking the Father without Christ. Why? Because the Father is invisible. No one has ever seen Him. You see, it's the Son Himself, God, who is in the Father's bosom or at His side, who declares Him.

If there are gaps in our understanding, we have to think. We have to think. We have to think. What does Scripture say? It says, in Christ. What? In whom is hidden all the treasures and wisdom and knowledge.

That's where it's at. In Him dwells the fullness of this Godhead bodily. It's in Him. We have to recognize. Philip, Philip, Philip, don't you recognize what is happening with My coming? And you know, it can be hard to see if you're standing next, sitting next to a man who just looks like, from the external appearance, he just looks like a Jew.

Now, they've walked with Him and they've heard His words and they know He teaches like nobody. They've seen His miracles. But you know what? He came to His own. His own didn't receive Him. Why? There was no halo around His head.

And yet, in Him is where this fullness... Listen to this. John says this in his first epistle. We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding. What sort of understanding? So that we may know Him who is true.

And we're in Him who is true in His Son. His Son. So it's talking about the Father. You see, He gave us understanding. Do you recognize this? There has never been anybody like Christ. No one's ever been able to say what He says.

Philip, if you've seen Me, you've seen the Father. He stands entirely alone in the glory of His absolute uniqueness. And there's Paul. He talks about the knowledge of the glory of God. Where is it found?

2 Corinthians 4. Where is the knowledge of the glory of God to be seen? In the face of Jesus Christ. That's what Scripture tells us. Now you have to remember the context. He's trying to prepare them to suffer.

He doesn't want them to fall away. He's trying to comfort troubled hearts. That's what's happening here. So I just... Listen, He's unique. He's the way. He's the truth. He's the life. Philip, I'm the one.

I'm the one who declares the Father. And what does all this do? You know what all this does? It cuts right through all the distortions that men dream up concerning Jesus. You know what? It simply doesn't work for you to have your version and me to have my version.

You don't define Him. I don't define Him. He's not one thing to me and another thing to you. That doesn't work. Philip, you have not defined Me accurately yet if you're asking Me to show you the Father.

And what we want to do is we want to get to where we're accurately defining. We don't want cracks in our Christology. There in front of Philip sat a man. A man who's saying, Guys, look into my face. See me.

Think about what I taught you. Think about the things that I've done. He says there in 1411, Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. Just notice that wording. I'm in the Father. He goes from saying, If you've seen Me, you've seen the Father.

And then he says, I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. He's not saying I am the Father and the Father is Me. That's not what he's saying. You know what he's saying? The fabric of who I am is found in my Father.

The fabric of who He is is found in Me. There is such a harmony between us. Two persons in harmony. They're Father and Son. Two different persons. The Father sent the Son. The Son's returning to the Father.

The Father's in the Son. The Son's in the Father. These are two distinct persons. That's very clear. Two divine persons. Yet, there's a very singularity of disposition. They're bent. They're purpose. They're character.

You have two persons in exact harmony. It's like if you have two instruments. They're separate instruments, but they're playing in tune. One tune. Notice in context. Watch the harmony. Just listen to me.

You don't have to look at all these. I just gleaned all this right out of John 14. But listen to the harmony here. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper to be with you forever. Just notice the harmony there.

I have a desire that you have the Helper. I'm going to ask my Father. He's going to give it to you. We're in total harmony here with the giving of the Spirit. Or how about this? He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love Him.

If you're loved by the Father, you're loved by the Son. If you're loved by the Son, you're loved by the Father. Their love is in harmony. Or John 14 .23. He says, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word.

My Father will love him. We... we... You like that plural pronoun there? We will come to Him. Both Father and Son. And make our home with Him. We both set up home together in the same place. John 14 .24.

Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. The word that you hear is not mine. So he's saying my words are not mine. They're the Father's. You hear the Son speak. It's the Father speaking. The Father and the Son never speak at odds with each other.

It's total tandem. It's like watching your shadow on the wall. You raise your arm, it raises its arm. Christ is no shadow. He's the full reality. So, you know what happens? Philip, do you know me? You're asking to see the Father.

Do you know me? And you know what? He's bringing him along. Because the thing is, Philip isn't denying this truth. He was just ignorant to it. And now he's getting taught. And see, that's where we're all at.

You know what the Christian life is? You know one of the main things that happens in our growth is progression in this area of just more and more and more and more. We're coming to fuller understanding of Christ.

Listen to this. Ephesians 4 .11 Christ gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, and teachers. Why? To equip the saints for the work of ministry. But how about this? For the building up of the body of Christ.

See what's happening? What's happening is this is going on until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. Did you get that? A knowledge. That's what we're seeking to attain.

We're all moving towards the knowledge of the Son of God. To mature manhood. To the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. So that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves carried about by every wind of doctrine.

You see, the doctrines you don't want to be carried about by every wind is to be off and have misunderstandings about Christ. Why? Because Christ is the very defining element of who this God is that saved us.

One Biblical Christ Against Many False Versions

You see, you know what happens? We start our lives lost. And you know what happens to the lost mind? Do you remember what Paul said to the Corinthians? He said, you know what, there was a day where I once regarded Christ according to the flesh.

Have you ever read that? Anybody ever read that? Well, think about that. Christ according to the flesh. What does that mean? Well, you know what it means. It's man's best attempt to figure out Christ and define Christ without the Spirit of God.

Right? Don't you all agree? That's exactly what it is. Precisely. And so, what? Well, the fact is, Paul said, if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus, than the one we proclaimed, you know what? There are people proclaiming other Jesuses all over.

Not that there is another, but you know what he's saying. The fact is, in Ephesians 4, he says there's one Lord. Yeah, but we've got a lot of people running around and they're saying all sorts of things.

One Lord challenges what this world throws at us, all their supposed Jesuses. Think about it. Come on, we go out on the streets. We've been talking to people. What do they say? You know what I heard? I can remember working.

The guy that oversaw the shop, he said, Jesus is the Son of God, not God. You ever heard that one? What are some of the other ones you hear? How about this? Our Muslim friends, what do they say? He's a prophet, not God.

He's a prophet. He didn't die on the cross for our sins. Well, that's a supposed Jesus. That's another Jesus. You know, people are saying, Christ is important, but you know what? Mary is either equally important or usually they mean more important when they say that.

The fact is, some say He's a great man. Yeah, but that's all. Some say He's created. You've come across those people before. The Jehovah's Witnesses are very much... Some say He's brother to Lucifer. You heard that one?

The Jews. I mean, we want to go evangelize the Jews. What do they do with Him? He's an imposter. Certainly not their Messiah. You know what some people do? They just perpetually see Jesus as a baby in a manger or dead on a crucifix on the wall.

That's not the biblical Christ. They see nothing else than just a swear word for cursing. Some imagine that this Christ... and you know, we're going to get this in the prison. They just imagine a Christ, no matter how wickedly they live, He's just there smiling on them all the time.

Accepts them, receives them. Some see the pictures. I hate pictures of Christ. Why? Because there's always some pathetic, effeminate, pale, anemic, dove-eyed thing. You know what I'm talking about. Some pushover.

You know what? I've had more than one Muslim take me right in the context here to John 17 .3. Now we've already talked about it, but just listen to it again. This is eternal life, that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.

Now, let me tell you this. Why would they go there? Well, they would go there because they say, see, there's one true God. And then you have Jesus Christ over here. And Jesus Christ is the one speaking.

And Jesus Christ is not saying that He's God. Case closed. Really? Case closed? You know what they fail to understand? That the one speaking... Oh, you know what they don't hear there? This is eternal life.

And what they don't recognize is there's a conjunction between the only true God and Jesus Christ. If I say eternal life involves knowing You and You, you see what He did? He put Himself in the same category with the only true God.

And if you say, well, no, it's only knowing Tia, but not Josh. No, no, no. Wait, if eternal life is knowing them both, you can't just take one out. What Jesus did there... Now look, let me tell you this.

Jesus did not walk around proclaiming Himself God all the time. In fact, He was very ready to admit God was His God. That doesn't mean that He ever denied He was God. In fact, the way He talked, they picked up stones to stone Him with because they recognized fully He was making Himself equal with God.

He would say things like, before Abraham was, I am. But the thing is, you need to recognize this. Jesus and the Holy Spirit who inspired the Scriptures, their greatest task was not always to defend the doctrine of the Trinity.

You just need to recognize that. Often, Scripture means to emphasize other realities. But you just can't get away from the fact that Jesus puts Himself in the exact same category as the only true God.

And so, let's embrace that. And you know what? I find that our Muslim friends don't talk a whole lot about John 14 .9 that we've been thinking about where He looks at Philip and He says, Philip, if you've seen Me, you've seen the Father.

You won't get the Muslims typically to go there. There's a number of places in John they don't like to go. In fact, they don't really like to go to where before Abraham was, I am. Or how about this, Philip?

Do you remember when I said, I am the Father, our One? Philip, do you remember that? Do you remember how the Jews responded when I said that? The Jews picked up stones to stone me. Remember that, Philip?

They told me, it's not for good work we're stoning you, but what? You being a man, you're making yourself equal with God. You make yourself God. Philip, do you remember another day when the Jews persecuted me because I was calling God my own Father, making myself equal with God?

Do you remember all those times? Listen, what we need to recognize is this, do you realize denying Christ is not just running around saying Jesus didn't exist. Do you recognize there were people that looked at Jesus walking down the street and they denied Him?

Just realizing Jesus was a real human being or a real historic figure, that's not it. We deny Christ when we simply deny that which is true about Him. We deny what He said about Himself when we simply define Him other than He is.

That's denying Him other than our Bibles say He is. I mean, doesn't Scripture talk like this? Who is the liar? But He who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Well, you see what the error was in that day.

Today, yeah, we've got people denying that He's the Messiah. But we've got people denying His deity. We've got people denying all sorts of things about Him. Who is that person who denies something about Christ?

What are they called? Antichrist. You see, a lot of times people want to talk about the antichrist. Oh, you know, this guy's going to get all the ten European nations together and he's going to have 666 stamped on his forehead and he's going to do all these different things and the temple's going to be rebuilt and they want to talk about all these different things.

You know what really marks the antichrist? Any antichrist? You just attack the Person of Christ. Seek to redefine Him. That's the issue there. The moment you deny anything about the Son, you know what Scripture says?

No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. The moment you deny anything about the Son, you've just denied the Father. You see, Scripture says He is the radiance of the glory of God.

The exact imprint of God's nature. That's what Scripture teaches us. If someone says, well, we have the same God, but they have an altogether different idea about Jesus, the reality is I've had people say that to me.

I've had Catholics say that to me. We've got the same God. No, we do not have the same God. The true God's identity is essentially tied to Jesus Christ's identity. The Son declares the Father. Philip.

Philip wasn't denying. He just didn't know. And now he's being taught. And when taught, he embraces it. But listen, when we say Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, the life, you know what we're doing?

We're being exclusive. He is the. When we say He declares the Father, He is the radiance, there's none other. It's this Christ. This biblical Christ. That's the One. Him and Him alone. You know what? The fact is that we have no tolerance for something else.

There is an intolerance in the Christian religion. Whoever has the Son has life. What Son? Well, the Son is defined in Scripture. Whoever does not have the Son does not have life. And you know what? This has always been what offends people.

We were just talking to Dennis about a situation that happened and he was telling us about somebody that was offended. The fact is there's an intolerance in Christianity and it offends people. In fact, let me tell you something.