John 14:7-14 (Teaching)

[0:00] Morning. Morning. Back in John 14 this morning. I felt miserably last week getting to where I'd hoped to get to.

[0:13] I'd hoped to get to verse 11 last week and we made it through verse 6. But that's okay. When we get into the next section of scripture, I'm pushing towards verse 18 today.

[0:29] I don't know if we'll get there or not. But all throughout the next section of scripture, really the rest of the chapter and the rest of this entire discourse which goes through chapter 17, really we need to read this all in the context of the very first verse of John 14 which says, Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in me.

[0:59] And that's the context that we need to keep this in because as I explained last week, in chapter 13, there towards the end of chapter 13, Christ again revealed that he must leave.

[1:14] He had to go. He had to go away. And this caused confusion and doubt and all kinds of different emotions within the disciples. So Jesus begins comforting them with words along with rebuking them sometimes soft rebuked but rebuked nonetheless.

[1:33] Just like last week we read in John 14 where Thomas is the very one that said, Wanted to know Lord, where are you going? You know, we don't know where you're going nor do we know the way.

[1:48] And Christ tells him there in John 14, 6, I am the way and I am the truth and I am the life. Any man that come to the Father or no man can come to the Father but by me.

[2:01] And so he rebuked Thomas in that a soft rebuked but he answered his question all at the same time and he does the same thing with Philip where we'll be picking up this morning.

[2:12] So all that being said, John chapter 14 beginning verse 7 says, If he had known me, he should have known my Father also and from henceforth you know him and have seen him.

[2:26] Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father and it suffices us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you and yet hast thou not known me Philip?

[2:38] He that hath seen me hath seen the Father and how sayest thou then show us the Father. So we'll back up to verse 7 again verses 5 and 6 we see Thomas telling Jesus.

[2:54] He says, Lord we know not whither thou goest and how can we know the way in Jesus again in verse 6. Answer him, I am the way and I am the truth, I am the life. This is an individual statement that Christ is making to Thomas there.

[3:09] But in verse 7 it begins with, If ye had known me. That's very significant because in verse 6 he's speaking specifically to Thomas.

[3:20] But this word ye is plural so he's speaking to all the disciples, the 11 that are left. Remember Judas Iscariot has done, skedaddle. He's done going out the door.

[3:31] He's done going out into the dark, into the night and Satan has already entered his heart. So there's 11, the remaining 11 of the disciples are here. He says, If ye had known me speaking to every one of them that was present.

[3:46] If ye had known me ye should have known my Father also and from henceforth you know him. This is significant. He says, If ye had known me you should know the Father.

[3:59] He says, From henceforth, from this time on, from what the word henceforth means, and from henceforth ye know him and have seen him.

[4:10] Now this is a rebuke from Jesus Christ but it's not just toward Thomas and it's not just toward Philip. Philip ain't even spoke up yet at this point. It's toward all of them.

[4:22] Remember though, these folks had spent over three years with Jesus and Jesus here is saying, If ye had known me you should have known my Father also.

[4:34] And from henceforth you know him and have seen him. Jesus is one, letting claim to his deity in this statement.

[4:45] In this statement where he says, And from henceforth you know him and have seen him because just before that he said, If ye had known me you should have known my Father.

[4:56] So he's laying claim to his deity in this statement. But he's also talking about a mutual indwelling. He and the Father and the Father and him much the same way that Cross addresses us, where talks about us. We are in Christ and Christ is in us.

[5:19] It's a mutual indwelling that takes place. But he says, From henceforth you know him and have seen him. Verse 8, Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father and it's sufficeth us.

[5:32] Well, Jesus had just told them, If ye had known me you should have known my Father also. And then Philip speaks up and says, Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father.

[5:45] And it's sufficeth us. And how many of us fall into this same, I don't know if I should call it a trap or not, but that's the word I'm going to use.

[5:56] How many of us fall into this logic, really? Show us the Father. Christ had handpicked these disciples. Remember that. Over three years previous to this occasion that we're reading right now.

[6:13] He had handpicked all these disciples. They had been hanging out with him. They had been eating meals with him. They had been listening to him preach. They had seen his miracles that he had performed.

[6:24] They had felt the power of God because Cross before this even happened had given them power. He gave power to 70 of them to go out and to cast out demons and to heal people.

[6:38] So they had experienced all these things and now here's Philip saying, Lord, show us the Father and it's sufficeth us. Show us more. Show us the Father.

[6:50] And Jesus, we know from Hebrews in chapter one, Jesus Christ is the express image of the Father. He's the express image of God. Everything that Christ done, everything that Christ done could be corroborated and backed up.

[7:10] And certainly the Father would do as well. And there is no separation between the Father and the Son.

[7:23] No separation between them at all. Christ being the express image of God. He is a perfect representation of God and the Father. I've told many people over the years, if Jesus Christ doesn't speak about something specifically in the New Testament, turn to the Old Testament and see what God had to say about it.

[7:43] And if God doesn't speak about something specifically in the Old Testament, turn to the New Testament and see what Christ had to say about it because you cannot separate the two.

[7:54] Jesus Christ is the God of the Old Testament. If Jesus Christ was God here on earth, he was also God in the Old Testament just as much as he was in the New Testament, just as much as he is right now.

[8:09] There is no separation between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit there. Three different persons, yes, but they completely and totally agree with one another.

[8:21] And Jesus Christ was the perfect representation of God here on earth. So when Philip says, Lord show us the Father and it's a fascist us, it hadn't surpassed him up to that point.

[8:37] And Christ had been showing them the Father. Christ had been showing them the things that the Father did, things that the Father would do. Christ had been showing them all of these things.

[8:51] The same God, and I've said this several times over the years since I've been teaching and preaching, the same God that was on Mount Sinai. People separate that God from the God of the New Testament.

[9:05] It is the same God. He is the same God, the same God that gave the law, is the same God that gives us grace and gives us mercy.

[9:16] There is no difference between the Gods and it is not two different Gods or two separated Gods. It's not that the God of the Old Testament died to make way for the God of the New Testament.

[9:28] The God of the Old Testament came and suffered in blood and died on a cross that we could have grace and that we could have mercy and that we could have forgiveness. The same God that gave the law on Sinai came and died on a cross at Calvary.

[9:43] He is the same God and He is the same God that is coming back one day. He's coming back one day as judges. The Book of Revelation says He does judge and make war.

[9:56] He is all the same God. There is no separation there. So when Philip says, she was the Father and it suffices us, it hadn't sufficed him up to that point. It hadn't pacified him up to that point.

[10:08] It hadn't satisfied him up to that point. Although that's all Philip had seen for three years at this point was the express image of God doing things that God would do.

[10:20] It was God himself doing these things. Verse 9, Jesus saith unto him, Now again, we've gone from Jesus addressing everyone there in verse 7 with the word ye, we see it twice.

[10:35] Now he's just addressing Philip. Verse 9, Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you and yet hast thou not known me Philip?

[10:46] He that hath seen me hath seen the Father and how saith thou then shoe us the Father? So again, just as he done with Thomas a couple of verses before this, he is doing the same with Philip.

[10:59] This is a soft rebuke coming from Jesus Christ, but he's answering his question all at the same time. I thank God for the soft rebukes that I get in my life. We should all thank God for the soft rebukes.

[11:12] We should all thank God that anytime we mess up, anytime that we sin or we misinterpret something that scripture means or whatever the case is, that God just doesn't strike us down right then and there, but he gives us soft rebuke.

[11:29] He gives us very soft rebuke, but it's rebuke nonetheless. But in that rebuke, he is guiding us along the correct way. He's guiding us along the way that he wants us to be on.

[11:43] In doing that, he is showing to us and revealing his will to us in our own lives. And I praise God for these rebukes that I get in my life, but Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you?

[12:00] Speaking to Philip, now how long the time we're talking about here? Three years. Three years Christ has been with Philip. Have I been so long time with you and yet hast thou not known me?

[12:13] Remember what he said in verse one? What I said we need to keep this all in context. Let not your hearts be troubled. Do you believe in God? Believe also in me.

[12:24] To believe in God is to believe in Jesus Christ. To believe in the true God is to believe in Jesus Christ. And to believe in Jesus Christ is to believe in the true God.

[12:35] And remember, he's speaking to a bunch of Jewish people here that are familiar with God and the things of God and the actions of God in the Old Testament.

[12:48] And that's all they had. We're reading the New Testament. It hadn't even been written yet. We're reading that, but they would have been familiar with all these actions that God would have taken in the Old Testament.

[13:00] And y'all probably heard me say before, that's one reason I really feel sorry for the Jews, not just the disciples, but all of the Jews. Because that's what they knew was the law-giving God.

[13:15] And a God of wrath and a God of punishment. But folks, there is just as much grace and there is just as much love in the Old Testament as there is in the New Testament.

[13:29] I mean, the New Testament confirms that it wasn't Abraham's works, it wasn't his keeping of the law that saved him. It was his faith. He believed what God said, and his belief, his faith in what God said is what was counted to him for righteousness.

[13:47] So it's always been a faith, and it's always been a grace that we can have a relationship with Almighty God. And we have that relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

[13:59] But Christ asks the question, have I been so long with you, and yet has thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.

[14:11] Now folks, I've never seen Jesus Christ physically. I've never seen him, and you haven't either. None of us have seen the physical presence of Jesus Christ ever.

[14:23] The folks I've seen, the evidence of Jesus Christ in my own life. Since I've been saved and looking back even before I got saved, looking back and taking things into consideration, I see evidence of Jesus Christ.

[14:41] Then I don't see him physically. One of these days I will, and I praise God for that. But I see the evidence of him. But here was Philip, and Jesus makes this very personally.

[14:55] He inserts his name here. He says, have I been with you so long, Philip? He says, he that hath seen me hath seen the Father, and hath how sayest thou then, show us the Father.

[15:08] If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Once again, cross me, the express image, the perfect representation of the Father here on earth. And Christ is telling him, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father.

[15:20] I'm showing you the Father, and I've showed you the Father these three years that you've been following me around to these different towns, these different cities, and these different regions that we've been going to.

[15:32] You have seen the Father. First hand, believeest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me.

[15:45] He doeth the works. So he's asking a question here, directed, still directed at Philip. Believeest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me?

[15:56] Again, go back to verse one. You believe in God, believe also in me. Believeest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

[16:14] This is an amazing statement that Jesus makes here. He says the words that I speak, I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

[16:26] He's comparing, or not really comparing, he's saying basically that the works of God are in the words that he is speaking, and vice versa, are in the words that Christ is speaking.

[16:41] These are the works of God. But he confirms in the form of a question, he says, believeest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me? He asks a question, but he's confirming his answer in the form of a question.

[16:58] He says, do you not believe this? Because you really should, that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself. In other words, everything that I've spoken these three years to you, from the time that I called you, from the time that I said, follow me up until this very point, and thereafter, those are the words of the Father.

[17:24] And folks, that is extended on to us currently as Christians. The call that God put on my life, and the call that God put on your life.

[17:37] He calling you out of darkness and into his life, the Holy Spirit doing this in our lives, that was the will of God. It was the will of God to call you out of that darkness.

[17:50] It was the will of God to deliver you out of sin. It was the will of God to do these things. And he does these things by use of the Holy Spirit, by use of his Holy Word, and by use of the blood of his precious Son, which was shed for us.

[18:05] But it all falls back, and it all goes back to the will of God. Is God's will that these things be done? And Christ says, these words I'm speaking to you.

[18:19] I'm doing these things because this is the Father's will. That's what he's saying in the statement when he says, the words that I speak to you, I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me.

[18:31] He doeth the works. Verse 11, Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, or else believe me, for the very works sake.

[18:44] This is a somber and sobering verse. He says, believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, that's nothing new. He basically just said that in the previous verse.

[18:56] Or else believe me for the very works sake. This is what's so somber about this. Jesus Christ had to stoop, had to descend with Philip.

[19:12] With Philip, a man that had been following him, a man that was his disciple, a man that I have no doubt in my heart that had an affection for Jesus Christ, had a love for Jesus Christ, and he had to stoop down and use the same words with Philip that he used with his enemies in John chapter 10.

[19:34] He used these exact same words, well almost exact same words, same meaning definitely. In John chapter 10, verse 38, these are the same people that came to Jesus and said, how long are you going to make us doubt?

[19:49] Show us that you're the Christ if you're really him. And Jesus spoke these words. If you won't believe what I'm telling you, at least believe me because of the works that I'm doing.

[20:00] But he had to tell one of his own disciples the same thing he told his enemies. And that's somber to me. That's sad to me.

[20:12] But folks, do we not get in that same boat sometimes? Do we not act in the same manner? Although we know things, although we've seen things, although we've experienced the things of God, does God not have to rebuke us sometimes in the same manner?

[20:32] In the same manner as Christ is doing with Philip here. But he says, else believe me for the very works sake. What works sake?

[20:43] Every work that Christ had been doing up to this point, performing miracles that were specified in the Old Testament that Messiah himself would perform.

[20:56] Opening the blind eyes, unstopping deaf ears, making the lane to walk, all these things that Christ did, we know were prophesied that Messiah would do from the, or they were prophesied in the Old Testament, but believe me that I'm in the Father and the Father in me.

[21:16] Once again, we can go all the way back to verse one. You believe in God, believe also in me. Believe me that I'm in the Father and the Father is in me. He says, or else believe me for the very works sake.

[21:29] And folks, if we have a hard time believing what the Bible says, there's some really extraordinary, unbelievable, if you like to call it that stuff in the Bible, there really is.

[21:46] But folks, that's what makes it so great. That's what makes it so wonderful, is that it is extraordinary. And to the world, it is unbelievable.

[21:58] That's why people continue to walk around lost, because they don't believe the words of the Bible. I believe everything in this Bible, even those things that naturally should not have taken place, folks.

[22:14] The Red Sea should have never parted. I mean, the plague should have never happened in Egypt. The lions should have eaten Daniel up.

[22:26] Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego should have been burnt to a crisp in the fiery furnace. All these things that we read naturally speaking, they should have never happened. But that's what makes them so wonderful, because I serve a supernatural God that can make these things happen at his own will, for his own pleasure, and for his own glory.

[22:49] So, when I have a hard time believing the words of the Bible, sometimes that gets me, it does. I mean, I wrestle with stuff.

[23:00] If any of y'all spend any time reading Scripture, you will find verses and you'll find passages that you'll wrestle with sometimes. Maybe not in unbelief, but you'll wrestle as far as the meaning goes.

[23:13] You'll have three or four meanings floating around in your head and unsure which one of those to go with. But if for nothing else, believing for the works.

[23:24] Believing for the works sake. Believing because he redeemed you. Believe this Bible because you are no longer on your way to hell, but you are on your way to an eternity to spend with Jesus Christ.

[23:38] Believe for the works sake. I mean, there's nothing wrong with it. And I'm not saying, set your Bible to the side and say, well, I know that God saved me. That's good enough, folks.

[23:49] You will find instruction. You'll find help. You'll find comfort. You'll find all kinds of things within the pages of this book. There is no Christian alive that should set their Bible to the side and never read it.

[24:01] If anything, it should be quite the opposite. We should read it every day. We should gather from this Word and glean from this Word every day what God has in store for us and what God has done for us.

[24:18] But else, believe me, for the very works sake, verse 12, verily I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father.

[24:35] And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye ask anything in my name, I will do it. And so, I will say unto you, verily, verily, I say unto you, and I've told you all before, the Gospel of John is the only place we find this Word verily used twice in succession.

[24:56] Other Gospels, it's verily, or truly. But in the Gospel of John, it's almost always verily, verily. But anyway, he says verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father.

[25:17] And this is a highly misconstrued verse in the Scripture by certain sects of people out there, certain denominations even, of Christians.

[25:33] He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also. Folks, I believe on Jesus Christ. I'm saying simple, I believe on Jesus Christ. If you're sitting here and you're saved, you believe on Jesus Christ.

[25:48] I've never opened blind eyes. Is that not a work that Christ did? I've never unstopped deaf ears. Is that not a work that He done? I've never healed a leper. Is that not a work that Christ done?

[25:59] What is Christ talking about here? The works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do. This is the part that is highly misconstrued amongst certain people.

[26:11] Greater works than these shall he do. I have heard people say, I've heard it come out of the lips of so-called preachers. I am greater than Jesus Christ.

[26:23] And folks, that is not what this verse is saying. That is not what this is saying at all. He says, the works that I do shall he do also, shall who do also?

[26:38] Well, they're at the very beginning of the verse, he that believeth on me. The works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do. He tells us why, because I go unto the Father.

[26:53] Folks, without Jesus Christ we can do nothing. He says, because I go to the Father, the works that I do, you shall do also.

[27:05] Speaking to his disciples here. But he says, you'll do those works, and greater works than these. One of the greater works, who now or even then, even John who was writing this, even Peter, even Paul, as great of a man as Paul was, who has performed any work greater than what Jesus Christ did.

[27:36] If you look up this word for greater in the original Greek that it's used, it's not talking necessarily about the greater that we would think so, but it's talking about in reach, and in impact.

[27:52] That's the meaning behind this. It's not talking about, I'm going to do something that Christ couldn't do. That's not what's being spoken of here, because we can do nothing without Christ.

[28:03] But he says, because I go unto my Father, he says, because I'm doing this one, we'll get into it. Hopefully, here in just a few minutes or a couple of minutes, through the power of the Holy Spirit that Christ is going to send in this context, but has sent since then, it's in that power that we can do the things that Christ has done.

[28:30] But what specifically is he talking about if we use the term greater, and we're talking about reach, and we're talking about impact? It'd be in spreading the gospel. Christ had a very confined region that he went to, but he preached the gospel in that region.

[28:48] The disciples, they went out, but they had a confined region. I mean, when we're talking about the expanse of the world, the planet Earth, the disciples, even those after Christ had ascended and the Holy Spirit comes and the Book of Acts, and they go out into all these regions and cities and all these other things, and they go to different continents even, but still yet, that was confined.

[29:17] That was confined. Those disciples, not even Paul, as much journeying as Paul did, and as far as his letters reached back in his day, it was still confined.

[29:30] But folks, the gospel has spread the world over right now. These disciples, Philip, we'll just say Philip right here, the 70 that Christ sent out, and the rest of the disciples, they could not preach a risen Savior at that time because Christ had not died.

[29:55] But we preach a risen Savior. We preach a Savior that suffered and died and was buried in a borrowed tomb.

[30:06] But on the third day, that Savior rose from the dead. Victorius over death held him in grave, and he is ascended unto the Father, and he rules and reigns forever.

[30:20] They could not preach that Savior at this time. In Acts they could. In Acts they could preach that, but at this time they could not. They couldn't preach that Christ had risen from the dead.

[30:34] Victorius over death, they couldn't preach that, but we can. So it's not a greater work in the sense that it's greater than anything Jesus Christ had done or could do.

[30:47] It is greater in impact and it is greater in reach because we can preach this, the world, over. Verse 13 again, and whatsoever you shall ask in my name that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

[31:02] If you shall ask anything in my name I will do it. I have spent hours with different people over the years having to explain to them.

[31:13] This does not mean what they think that it means. Folks, the name of Jesus Christ is not a magical incantation, and it is not a formula, and it is not the proverbial blank check that some people think that it is.

[31:32] And people will say, well, it says right there in the Bible, folks, and it says it in more places than this. It says it in 1 John. We went over 1 John a long time ago. I don't remember exactly when we went through that book, but it says basically the same thing that whatsoever we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, we'll get it.

[31:52] Folks, that is not a blank check. And I believe while I was teaching 1 John, we got to that verse. I said, you know, it's like a Christian praying, God, in the name of Jesus Christ, I want you to let me win the lottery.

[32:08] Or I want to open up my mailbox in the morning and find a million dollars there, or a big fat check from Ed McMahon, or whatever the case is. And we pray it in the name of Jesus Christ. It should happen because the Bible says so. No. No.

[32:26] That is not the case. What are we doing when we pray in the name of Jesus Christ? We are going to God, not in place of Jesus Christ, but we are going to God the Father in Jesus Christ.

[32:44] Not in place of, but in Jesus Christ. And when we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, folks, let me explain it this way. You ever had to deal with a name dropper? I have. I work in government. I hear a lot of name dropping.

[33:01] Well, I know so-and-so. Well, big whoop. I really don't care. You ever had to deal with people like that? I have. Folks, we don't go to God and say, well, this is for the sake of Jesus Christ that you're going to give me a Rolls Royce.

[33:19] It's for the sake of Jesus Christ that I'm going to have a 35,000-square-foot mansion to live in. We don't go to God like that. What are we talking about in all of this?

[33:32] Christ has been saying, I'm in the Father, and the Father is in me, and go all the way back to verse 1 again. Remember, this is all part of the same conversation. All the way back to verse 1. He believed in God, believed also in me, and he's rebuked Thomas for what Thomas said. We don't know the way.

[33:49] We don't know where you're going, and he's rebuked Philip here just in what we've gone over this morning. But in all of this, when Christ is saying, I'm in the Father, and the Father is in me, and the words that I speak, they come from the Father. What is Jesus talking about? He's talking about the will of God.

[34:08] So if we're praying in the name of Jesus Christ outside of the will of God, that prayer will do us no good. But when we pray for the will of God to be done in our lives, when we pray that Christ be glorified, when we pray that the will of God be done in the name of Jesus Christ, folks, that's when things happen.

[34:34] That's when things will happen. Whatever you shall ask in my name, that will I do. That the Father may be glorified in the Son. That's why Christ will do it.

[34:49] It's that the Father might be glorified in the Son. Most of the things that I just listed, they were pretty far-fetched examples, but examples nonetheless, those things wouldn't bring glory to God.

[35:08] God give you a big house. Chances are it ain't going to bring glory to God. God give you a big bunch of money. Chances are you ain't going to use it to bring glory to God. That's why it don't get done. People will say, well, it's a lack of faith that those prayers aren't getting answered, that you're praying in the name of Jesus Christ. No, it's not a lack of faith at all.

[35:27] It's that it's outside the will of God and that it's not going to bring any glory whatsoever to God. It's like James says in James chapter 4. He says, you have not because you ask not, that you might consume it upon your own lust. That's what most of our wants are, if the truth be told.

[35:45] Is that we can consume these of our own lust. If you ask again verse 14, if he shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. He just reiterates what he says in verse 13. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.

[35:59] But folks, when we come to this altar, when we're at home and we're praying and we say, in the name of Jesus Christ, folks, we are laying claim to the power of Jesus Christ in doing that.

[36:13] We are laying claim to the name of Jesus Christ, folks. We are identifying with Jesus Christ when we go to God the Father, with these petitions. But if they are outside the will of God, we might as well not even be praying.

[36:31] But within the will of God, that's where things will happen. I didn't make it to verse 18 and that is perfectly fine. Well, right there, anybody got any questions or any comments on any of that?

[36:46] Alright, God bless you all. I appreciate you.