If Youve Seen Jesus, Youve Seen the Father

(John 14:7-11)

I. Introduction.
A. Orientation.
Last time, we saw
That just after Judas left to betray Jesus,
He revealed to His disciples
What would happen next:
He would glorify His Father
By going to the cross
To reveal His Fathers justice and mercy
And the Father would glorify Him
By raising Him up into heaven,
Seating Him at His right hand,
And giving Him absolute control over all things
That He might bring all His redeemed home.

But this meant several things had to happen

None of which seemed good at that moment:
1. Jesus was going to leave;
2. Where He was going, the disciples couldnt follow, at least for now;
3. And Peter was going to deny Jesus three times.
The disciples were understandably shaken.

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So Jesus began to comfort them:
1. He told them not to be afraid, but to trust Him and His Father:
They knew what they were doing.
2. That He was leaving to prepare a place for them in His Fathers house
Through His death, resurrection and ascension,
He was opening the way into heaven for them.
3. And He would come again to receive them when it was time
Not at His Second Coming,
But when their work was done on earth,
He would come to take them home to His Fathers house
As a husband takes his bride.

Jesus knew the disciples still didnt understand,

And so He asked
If they knew where He was going
And how to get there.
Thomas said what they likely were all thinking:
Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way? (14:5).
Jesus told them, I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the
Father but through Me (v. 6).

B. Preview.
The disciples may not have known precisely
Where Jesus was going and how to get there,
But they did know one thing:

That Jesus Father was the God of Israel.

They might not have known how it was possible,
But they knew it was true.
Jesus told the Jews earlier in the hearing of His disciples,
If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of
whom you say, He is our God (8:54).
He also told them regarding His sheep, My Father, who has given them to Me, is
greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Fathers hand. I and
the Father are one. The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him (John
10:29-31).
The disciples knew
When Jesus was speaking about His Father,
He was speaking about God.
They knew He was going to God
To prepare a place for them in His house,
And that He was the only way to God.

But they also understood that Jesus was speaking

About a relationship they now had with God
Through faith in Him
That few to that time had experienced,
And they were a bit apprehensive
As to what that meant
As we also should be
When we understand

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That we have that same relationship.

Since Jesus was bringing them to the Father,

They were now wondering what the Father was like
Perhaps how He would receive them.
Understanding that they did,
Jesus now begins to explain Him a bit more fully.

This morning, lets consider one thing:

That to see Jesus is to see the Father.

II. Sermon.
A. Weve all wondered from time to time
Just what the Father is like.
It seems like we should know Him from the OT
Where He appears to be interacting with His people
But from what well see in John, in just a few moments
Its more likely that was the Son of God.

When we get to the NT,

We get glimpses of the Father
As He speaks about His Son
Telling us how much He loves Him
And how we should listen to Him.

But what is He like?

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Weve seen the Son of God
Come to earth in our nature,
So we know a great deal about Him.
But what would the Father be like
If He came down in the same way?

Jesus tells us: He would be the same as He.

Thats essentially what He says in our passage.
Lets read it again:
Jesus says, If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from
now on you know Him, and have seen Him. Philip said to Him, Lord, show us
the Father, and it is enough for us. 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? 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 initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.
Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe
because of the works themselves (vv. 7-11).

Jesus tells us
That to know Him is to know the Father;
To see Him is to see the Father;
They are the same.
We should believe this
Because He said it
And He is the Truth
But also because of His works/miracles
Only God can do these things,

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And He would never endorse a lie.

Lets try to understand what Jesus means and what He doesnt here:

First, Jesus is not saying that He and the Father are the same person.
Weve seen this a few times already,
But I want to repeat it
So that we understand.

There are some

Perhaps well-meaning individuals
Who believe that when Jesus says things like this,
He is identifying Himself with the Father.
The UPC and Apostolic Churches
Believe that Jesus is the only person in the Godhead:
That the Father is His divine nature,
That the Son is His human nature;
And that the Spirit is the way
He now reveals Himself on earth
Since the ascension of His human nature into heaven.
They are Unitarian and not Trinitarian;
They believe in a god that is one person, rather than three persons,
And so they believe in a god other than the God of the Bible
They are trusting in a false god
One that cant save them

Anymore than the god of the Jehovahs Witnesses or Mormons.

The God of the Bible is Trinitarian

He is three persons.
From what we see in Scripture,
The Father and the Son
Clearly are not the same person:
Jesus says in John 5:20-23, For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things
that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than
these, so that you will marvel. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives
them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. For not even the
Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will
honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son
does not honor the Father who sent Him.
And just as clearly,
The Holy Spirit is not the Father or the Son.
Again, Jesus says, But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in
My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I
said to you (John 14:26).
The Father, Son and Spirit are each spoken of
As distinct persons,
Not as the same person.

If Jesus isnt saying that the Father and Son are the same person,
What is He saying?
Hes saying they are the same Being,
And as the same Being,
They share the same nature

All three of the divine Persons

So that to see One
Is to see the other Two.

Since they are the same Being,

They share the same natural attributes
They are infinite, eternal, and unchangeable
And the same moral attributes
They have the same perfect love
Of everything good and just,
And the same perfect hatred
Of everything evil and unjust.

If the Father had become a man,

The difference we would see
Would be expressed in His relationships,
Not in His character:
We would see a difference
In the way He expressed Himself
Toward the Son, the Spirit and us.
But with regard to His character,
He would be the same
He would respond in the same way
And make the same choices Jesus made

In each of the situations He was faced with.

To see Jesus is to see the Father,

To know Jesus is to know the Father.
Jesus didnt have to show them the Father,
They had already seen Him.
Remember what John said earlier about Him,
No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of
the Father, He has explained Him (John 1:18).
No one has ever seen the Father
Not even in the OT
The Son has come to reveal Him.

What this means is that we know more about the Father than we thought.
He isnt really a mystery to us anymore than the Son:
Because He has revealed Himself to us in His Son.
If you know what Jesus is like,
You also know what His Father is like:
He loves the same things
And does the same things as His Son
Because they have exactly the same likes and dislikes
Thats why they can eternally live together
In perfect love and harmony.
He also loves you

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In the same way Jesus does,
If you are trusting Him this morning.

B. Lets consider one practical application from this:

Jesus came down not only to reveal the Father,
But to make us like the Father
He came to transform us into their image
So that we might have the same kind of relationship
They share with each other.
Jesus will later pray in John 17:20-21, I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but
for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one;
even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that
the world may believe that You sent Me.

The only way we can have this relationship

With the Father and the Son
Is if we share the same moral nature.

We didnt have this when we came into the world.

What David wrote about himself
Was equally true of all of us,
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me (Ps.
51:5).
We came into this world in the flesh and the slaves of sin.
In this condition, we were His enemies.
David writes in Psalm 5:4-5, For You are not a God who takes pleasure in
wickedness; no evil dwells with You. The boastful shall not stand before Your
eyes; You hate all who do iniquity.

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But Jesus changed all of this.

He gave His life on the cross
To take away our sins
And reconcile us to God.
And He gave us His Spirit
So that He might work this same nature in us
The same heart,
The same moral character
That He has.
Thats what Peter means
When he writes in 2 Peter 1:4,
For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that
by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the
corruption that is in the world by lust.

Jesus puts it another way

In His prayer in John 17
He says the love the Father has for Jesus lives in us,
And He lives in us.
He says in verse 26, And I have made Your name known to them, and will make it
known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in
them.

This transformation into His image

Isnt something He reserves for heaven

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Though in heaven it will be perfect
But its something we experience now.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:17-18, Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding
as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image
from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

In a certain sense
Though in a very imperfect one
Just as Jesus said
That those who have seen Him
Have seen the Father,
Its also true that those who see us
Have seen the Father and Jesus
Because we are like them.
Thats why the disciples
Were first called Christians at Antioch:
Because they were like Christ.
We dont become eternal,
Or infinite or changeless like God,
But we do become like Him morally:
We love what He loves
And hate what He hates.
We say what He would say.
Do what He would do.

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Act as He would act in our situation.
We approve what He approves,
And disapprove what He disapproves.
We do this naturally
Its not a decision on our part,
Its part of our new nature.

On the other hand,

We do still have a decision to make
Because the sin nature is still in us:
Our choice will be whether to yield
To our new nature,
Or to our old nature.
Our strongest desire, though,
Will be to follow the new nature.

And when we cant seem to tell the difference

Between good and evil
And there will be those times,
Particularly when were young,
But also when were older
When the distinction is too close
To be able to see clearly,
We will study Jesus life,

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And His Word,
And do our best
With the Spirits help
To figure out what He wants.
And well discover
That more often than not,
It will be directly the opposite
Of what the people of this world are doing.

The fact that were becoming more like Jesus

More like the Father
Is how we know that we have been born again
Its how we know were going to heaven.
Its also how the Lord advances His kingdom
When our lives stand out from those around us.
If there was no difference before and after the new birth,
There would be no way of knowing
Whether or not the Lord has had mercy on us.
If there was no difference,
Then the kingdom wouldnt advance.
But there is a difference,
So we can know,
And the kingdom can advance.

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If you dont see this change in yourself,
Then let me encourage you again
To turn to Jesus,
Trust in Him,
And follow Him.
Hes the only One
Who can give you His Spirit
And make you like Himself. Amen.

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