Show Us the Father!
Intro:
1. Our society is rapidly coming into the New Age.
a. This is a marriage of secular science & Eastern philosophy & religion.
b. It will become so popular that a belief in a personal God will be branded as old fashioned.
2. The cults have already permeated our culture & are preparing the way for this.
a. Most of the cults claim to be Christian &, for now, present a personal God.
b. But to them, Lord Jesus is someone other than He claimed to be.
c. To them, He may be a prophet, a good man or a wonderful philosopher.
3. In the light of all this it is important to understand what the Bible claims. Jesus is Lord, Creator of all things & the Only True God!
John 14:5-11
I. What is This Passage Telling Us?
A. v7 - If you know Jesus - you will know the Father.
1. The disciples had been with the Lord almost 3 years. In response to, Show us the Father, Jesus replies, Don’t you know Me, Philip?
2. v9 - If you’ve seen Jesus, you’ve seen the Father.
3. v10 - In (ἐν) = within or inside. The Father was within Jesus & Jesus was within the Father.
B. v10 - The words that the Lord spoke were the words of God.
C. v11 - The deeds that the Lord performed were the works of God.
1. All the miracles Jesus performed gave evidence of God.
2. God is the only one who could do these things!
II. What are the Evidences in the Bible for the Deity of Jesus?
A. Quotations from the OT found in the NT support the Lord’s deity.
1. John the Baptist claims his identity.
a. Matt 3:3 - This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”
b. But the original passage in Is 40:3 reads like this - A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.
2. In Isaiah 6 Isaiah sees a vision of God in the Temple with His angels.
a. Isaiah admits in Is 6:5 - Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” So the angel touches a live coal to his lips & cleanses him.
b. Then God says in Is 6:8 - “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” Isaiah replies, “Here am I. Send me!”
c. God, then, gives Isaiah a commission in Is 6:10 which is quoted word for word in Jn 12:40 - “He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn — and I would heal them.”
d. Now, in the very next verse, Jn 12:41 says, Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.
3. In Matt 1:18-23 an angel comes to Joseph to explain the Lord’s birth.
a. The angel quotes Is 7:14 - “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”.
b. Matthew restates that the Lord will be born from a virgin & then in v23 he translates the word “Emmanuel”, which means, “God with us”.
B. Direct statements & references from God’s word.
1. ILL: Jesus Heals the Paralytic (Mk 2:1-12).
a. v5 - Jesus: “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
b. v7 - The Pharisees: “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
c. v8-9 - The Lord’s response: “Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’?
d. Then He adds in v10-11 - But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins....” He said to the paralytic, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”
2. Jn 1:1 - the Word was God. Then v14 - The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
3. Phil 2:6 in talking about the Lord said, Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped . . .
4. I Tim 3:16 in speaking about the Lord, says, He appeared in a body.
a. However, some earlier manuscripts have a slightly different meaning.
b. The KJV and also Young’s translation, God was manifest in the flesh.
5. The most convincing passage for me is Col 2:9 - For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.
C. The Lord’s enemies correctly understood what He claimed about Himself. Jn 10:33 - “We are not stoning you for any of these,” replied the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”
D. What other NT people said about the Lord’s deity.
1. Titus - in Tit 2:13 - while we wait for the blessed hope — the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,
2. Luke - in Act 20:28 - Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.
3. Thomas - in Jn 20:28 - “My Lord and my God!”
4. Paul - in Rom 9:5 - Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.
III. What Does This All Mean?
A. God identifies with ordinary people.
1. He had brothers & sisters.
2. He experienced being a baby - a child - & even a teenager.
3. His parents were average lower middle class.
a. They were not in poverty, but they didn’t have a lot of money either.
b. They had to offer 2 turtle doves instead of an ox at Jesus’ dedication.
4. Lord Jesus worked hard as a carpenter & brought home an average pay check.
B. God knows what it’s like to be tempted. (Matt 4)
C. God experienced what we experience: pain, disappointment, frustration, bodily needs.
D. God used His human experience to impress upon us His love - the cross.
Knowing these things should enhance your witness! You can say, “God loves you so much He was willing to empty Himself of all His majesty so He could experience your life & identify with you. Now He is inviting you to experience His life & identify with Him in heaven forever!
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