Incarnation 43 - Gospel of John - John 14:1-11

[00:00:20] We've been going through John, of course, and we're here in John 14. Like we saw last week, Jesus moves into now His private ministry where He's really getting intimate with the people He loves most. He knows best who best know Him, His disciples, into His private ministry.

[00:00:38] And the next four chapters are known as the Upper Room Discourse. The Upper Room Discourse. It's a longer discourse by Jesus where He's sharing with His disciples.

[00:00:48] He's teaching the closest people to Him on this earth before He dies the next day.

[00:00:57] And there's three other places in Scripture where He has a longer discourse. One of them was the Sermon on the Mount right away in His ministry.

[00:01:04] Matthew 5-7, He gives a longer discourse. And then there's the Olivet Discourse.

[00:01:09] He talks to the disciples again and the Pharisees previous to that about His coming again.

[00:01:17] And also the Parables Discourse where we get a lot of those, the Kingdom of God is like this and it's like that, the Parables in Matthew 13.

[00:01:24] And this is the fourth area where He really, the Holy Spirit has led the authors to give us a bigger chunk of Jesus' teaching.

[00:01:32] So we can learn so much over the next four chapters from the lips of Jesus.

[00:01:37] So we might slow down a little bit because there's so much here.

[00:01:40] When the God of the universe is speaking with us, there's so much there.

[00:01:45] So this discourse actually began last week in the end of chapter 13.

[00:01:49] And that's why we have to understand the original authors of Scripture did not have chapters and verses.

[00:01:54] We put that in hundreds of years later as a tool for us to be able to more easily look up verses and reference things.

[00:02:02] So the actual beginning of the Olivet Discourse was last week.

[00:02:05] And it began where Judas betrays Jesus, one of his friends.

[00:02:11] The disciples lived with Jesus for about three and a half years.

[00:02:16] And one of Jesus' best friends betrayed Him.

[00:02:19] Have you ever gone through that?

[00:02:23] And so that's where it begins.

[00:02:24] Now Judas has gone to betray Jesus and Jesus is left with the faithful eleven.

[00:02:31] And He shares with them the night before He's killed.

[00:02:37] So if you have your Bibles, please turn to John 14, verse 1, as we read the first 11 verses.

[00:02:43] Jesus is speaking here.

[00:02:45] He says to His disciples, after Judas leaves to betray Him, verse 1,

[00:02:51] Let not your hearts be troubled.

[00:02:54] Believe in God, believe also in Me.

[00:02:57] In My Father's house are many rooms.

[00:03:00] If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

[00:03:04] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself,

[00:03:10] that where I am, you may be also.

[00:03:13] And you know the way to where I'm going.

[00:03:16] Thomas said to Him, Lord, we do not know where you're going.

[00:03:19] How can we know the way?

[00:03:22] Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life.

[00:03:28] No one comes to the Father except through Me.

[00:03:32] If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.

[00:03:36] From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.

[00:03:40] Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father and it is enough for us.

[00:03:44] Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long and you still do not know Me, Philip?

[00:03:50] Whoever has said, has seen Me, has seen the Father.

[00:03:54] How can you say, show us the Father?

[00:03:56] Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me?

[00:04:00] The words that I say to you, I do not speak on My own authority,

[00:04:04] but the Father who dwells in Me does His works.

[00:04:07] Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.

[00:04:12] Or else believe on account of the works themselves.

[00:04:16] This is the Word of God. Let's pray.

[00:04:20] Dear Lord Jesus, we're hearing your words this morning spoken.

[00:04:25] And we all want them to have the same effect they had that night on our hearts.

[00:04:29] So please, Lord, let them take root.

[00:04:33] Let them change our lives even today, thousands of years later, after you first spoke them.

[00:04:40] Help us to learn more about who you are.

[00:04:43] And help us to learn how to become closer to you.

[00:04:47] And to understand what you've done for us.

[00:04:50] We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

[00:04:55] Well, in this night, the night before He's killed, Jesus is at a dinner with His friends.

[00:05:00] That sounds nice.

[00:05:01] He's at a dinner with friends.

[00:05:03] But this isn't just any dinner with friends.

[00:05:06] This is His last dinner with friends.

[00:05:10] Because this is the last supper.

[00:05:15] Before someone on death row is killed, they give them a last meal.

[00:05:19] A final meal.

[00:05:20] And they give them whatever they want.

[00:05:24] And they know they're going to die.

[00:05:27] And they know that's their last meal.

[00:05:29] And Jesus knew.

[00:05:31] I don't know if the disciples knew.

[00:05:34] Leading up to this point, we hear how the disciples didn't understand this.

[00:05:38] Didn't understand that.

[00:05:40] Jesus was washing their feet.

[00:05:42] They didn't really understand what was happening.

[00:05:43] And He knew that.

[00:05:45] Jesus was telling them, I'm going to have to go away.

[00:05:47] I'm going to have to die.

[00:05:48] And they didn't understand that.

[00:05:49] I don't know if they really understood this meal while they were there eating.

[00:05:54] What it meant.

[00:05:55] And that we'd be remembering that meal even today.

[00:05:58] But Jesus did.

[00:06:01] And because of some of the things Jesus was saying, they were becoming anxious.

[00:06:05] He was saying, I have to go away.

[00:06:07] I have to die.

[00:06:08] They were becoming nervous.

[00:06:10] And now Judas just leaves to betray Him.

[00:06:13] They're becoming anxious and nervous and unsettled and upset.

[00:06:17] And so what does Jesus do?

[00:06:19] Well, He comforts them.

[00:06:22] He sets them at ease in the first verse for today.

[00:06:25] He says, let not your hearts be troubled.

[00:06:29] I know you're worried.

[00:06:30] I know you don't understand what's happening.

[00:06:33] But don't worry.

[00:06:35] I'm telling you, don't worry.

[00:06:38] Let not your hearts be troubled.

[00:06:39] He says, believe in God.

[00:06:42] And believe in me.

[00:06:44] These were Jewish men, these disciples, young men, that grew up in the Jewish culture.

[00:06:49] And they believed in God.

[00:06:51] They went to the temple and synagogue and they did the sacrifices.

[00:06:55] And they were Jewish men.

[00:06:56] He says, you believe in God.

[00:06:58] Believe also in me.

[00:07:02] He knows that His disciples are unclear about everything.

[00:07:05] And you know what?

[00:07:06] He doesn't give them the full map, the whole story.

[00:07:10] But we demand that sometimes from God.

[00:07:12] I want to know everything.

[00:07:13] Give me the whole plan, the whole story, before I even take the first step.

[00:07:17] That's not how our Lord works.

[00:07:19] Because then faith is gone.

[00:07:21] Well, if I give you the whole plan, like I always say,

[00:07:24] If Abraham knew the whole plan, the first Hebrew,

[00:07:27] that you'd have to go up on Mount Moriah and I'm going to ask you to sacrifice your son and all that,

[00:07:31] Abraham would have said, no thanks.

[00:07:33] I'm not going to do that.

[00:07:35] But that's not what God did.

[00:07:36] What did He say to Abraham?

[00:07:37] I want, I'm going to call you out to a place that I'll show you.

[00:07:40] I'll show you later.

[00:07:41] I'm calling, right now I'm calling you out.

[00:07:44] Have faith in me.

[00:07:45] Abraham's a story of faith.

[00:07:47] If God gives us the whole story, where's the room for faith?

[00:07:51] Do you believe Him or not?

[00:07:52] Do you trust Him or not?

[00:07:52] And how can He show you His faithfulness if He just says,

[00:07:55] here's the exact plan, there you go.

[00:07:57] Well, where's the room for God now?

[00:07:59] He's doing that with the disciples here.

[00:08:01] He's saying, I know you don't get it.

[00:08:02] I know you're worried.

[00:08:03] Trust me.

[00:08:06] Believe in me.

[00:08:09] The word believe in that's used here in the Greek is pistouon.

[00:08:14] And it's from the Greek root pistis, which means faith.

[00:08:18] And it means to exercise faith in.

[00:08:19] When He says, believe in me, He's saying exercise faith in me.

[00:08:23] What does that also mean?

[00:08:24] That can also mean something like trust me.

[00:08:26] Or I want you to rely on me.

[00:08:29] Get used to that.

[00:08:30] Relying on God every day.

[00:08:32] So He says, don't worry.

[00:08:34] My brothers that He loves, trust me, trust God.

[00:08:38] Believe in me.

[00:08:39] Rely on me.

[00:08:40] Even though you don't know I have all the answers, believe in me.

[00:08:43] If you're taking notes, your first note today says,

[00:08:45] above all else, Jesus tells us to believe in Him.

[00:08:52] Most of us don't have all of our theology correct in this room.

[00:08:56] Is that safe to say?

[00:08:57] None of us do.

[00:08:58] None of us are perfectly 100% on all the theology that exists.

[00:09:04] There's dark spots.

[00:09:05] There's blurry areas.

[00:09:07] There's things we don't understand, we can't comprehend.

[00:09:10] Jesus says, don't worry about all that stuff.

[00:09:12] Believe in me.

[00:09:14] All that will work itself out.

[00:09:16] The Spirit will lead you into all truth.

[00:09:18] But above all, believe in me.

[00:09:20] Have faith in me.

[00:09:22] Aren't you happy that's what He requires of us?

[00:09:25] Faith?

[00:09:25] Belief?

[00:09:26] Instead of, learn all these things and then you can enter into my kingdom.

[00:09:34] I'm thankful for that.

[00:09:36] He says, above all else, believe in me.

[00:09:39] Don't worry about working out all your problems first and then you go to church.

[00:09:43] People sometimes would say, my dad told me this story.

[00:09:47] He said, people would say, I can't go to church.

[00:09:49] My life's a mess.

[00:09:51] I got to clean up my life and then I can go.

[00:09:52] And my dad would say, that's upside down.

[00:09:54] Come as you are and He'll wash you clean.

[00:09:58] You can't fix yourself and then go to Jesus.

[00:10:01] I mean, there's always something to fix in our lives.

[00:10:04] He's the one that washes you.

[00:10:05] So, go first and then He'll make you clean.

[00:10:08] He'll wash you with the Word and with the Spirit.

[00:10:13] And a better thing I think would be to do is to believe in Him, not before or after you work all those things up.

[00:10:19] Believe in Him through all that junk.

[00:10:23] While you're going through it, believe in Him.

[00:10:24] You're going to have a testimony afterwards.

[00:10:27] Think about the stuff you've come through in life.

[00:10:30] And you have a better testimony now because of it.

[00:10:34] Believe in me.

[00:10:35] Through it all.

[00:10:37] He goes on, verse 2.

[00:10:39] He's talking to His disciples about hope.

[00:10:43] He says in verse 2,

[00:10:45] In my Father's house are many rooms.

[00:10:47] If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

[00:10:54] Here in verse 2, it's like Jesus is saying,

[00:10:56] Don't you believe me?

[00:10:58] Would I lie to you?

[00:11:00] If it weren't that way, why would I have told you it was that way?

[00:11:04] Guys, have I ever lied to you?

[00:11:05] No.

[00:11:06] Well, I'm telling you something, a truth.

[00:11:08] You've believed me to this point.

[00:11:10] Why would you stop now?

[00:11:11] He tells us that too.

[00:11:13] He's brought us this far, but somehow, someway in that fallen mind of ours,

[00:11:17] we say, yeah, but Lord, you're not big enough for this one.

[00:11:21] You need my help with this one.

[00:11:25] We tell ourselves those things.

[00:11:27] And then He laughs.

[00:11:29] And He says, okay, are you ready now to climb on my back

[00:11:33] instead of the Lord climbing on ours?

[00:11:36] We shouldn't bring the Lord along for the ride.

[00:11:38] We should jump on His shoulders and He'll take us through.

[00:11:43] But in this verse, He's essentially asking them,

[00:11:47] Don't you believe me?

[00:11:49] You know, the apostles write in such a nice way and everything is so proper.

[00:11:54] I think that Jesus was a guy speaking very casually with His friends.

[00:11:59] And He might say, come on guys.

[00:12:02] Why are you doubting now?

[00:12:04] I brought you this far and there's more to come.

[00:12:06] Believe in me.

[00:12:07] I'm not going to let you down.

[00:12:10] That's my paraphrase.

[00:12:11] But it's that message that's being conveyed.

[00:12:13] He's not just prim and proper all the time.

[00:12:15] He's getting in there with these people saying, why would you doubt now?

[00:12:19] This is the time to believe.

[00:12:21] The hardest times are the time to believe.

[00:12:22] Most.

[00:12:26] He always tells the truth.

[00:12:28] And they knew that.

[00:12:30] But He saw that doubt in their eyes and that worry and that anxiety

[00:12:34] and He comforts them over and over.

[00:12:38] And by the way, what happened to all the mansions?

[00:12:42] Remember that?

[00:12:44] Remember growing up and you hear, in my Father's house are many mansions?

[00:12:47] Have you heard that?

[00:12:49] Where'd the mansions go?

[00:12:50] It's not in the ESV.

[00:12:52] Well, that's, you probably heard that from the King James Version

[00:12:55] and that was written in the 1600s.

[00:12:57] And that word doesn't really mean palatial home or anything actually.

[00:13:02] It really means a dwelling place.

[00:13:05] It's a room.

[00:13:07] And so, the modern translations will have something like room

[00:13:12] or dwelling place.

[00:13:13] It just means dwelling place.

[00:13:15] And so, but I still think it's going to be like a mansion.

[00:13:18] Wouldn't you think?

[00:13:19] God's kingdom is going to be amazing.

[00:13:22] More than even a mansion.

[00:13:24] But I just thought, when I read that, I thought, you know, I grew up thinking.

[00:13:26] And then there's that hymn.

[00:13:28] I've got a mansion just over the hilltop in that bright land where we'll never grow old.

[00:13:35] Remember that?

[00:13:35] Does anyone remember that hymn?

[00:13:36] Okay.

[00:13:38] I think that's one of my dad's favorites too.

[00:13:39] Boy, my dad's coming up today.

[00:13:41] Hi, Dad.

[00:13:43] Anyway.

[00:13:45] It's going to be better than you can ever imagine.

[00:13:49] And I think he uses this idea because in the Jewish culture, when a man would find a wife

[00:13:54] and they would marry, he would normally go and add on to his father's house.

[00:13:58] And then his father's house would grow.

[00:14:01] And then the next brother would find a wife and they would tack on another room to the dad's house.

[00:14:06] And then the father's house would grow.

[00:14:09] And that's how he relates to God's family.

[00:14:13] He says, in my father's house are many rooms.

[00:14:19] And I'm going to go to prepare one for you.

[00:14:23] He's saying there's room for you.

[00:14:24] Where I'm going, there's room for you too.

[00:14:27] Don't think I'm going to leave you behind.

[00:14:28] And I'm going by myself and I'm leaving you in the dust.

[00:14:31] It's not what he's doing.

[00:14:33] That's what happens when we're adopted into the family of God.

[00:14:36] We become his heir.

[00:14:38] What's a son?

[00:14:39] A son is an heir.

[00:14:40] One that inherits all of his father's stuff.

[00:14:46] And that's what God does with his kingdom.

[00:14:48] We come through faith and it grows.

[00:14:51] And it grows.

[00:14:52] It grows.

[00:14:54] He's making a dwelling place for us.

[00:14:55] He's going to prepare a place for us.

[00:14:57] He says, if I'm not doing that, why would I tell you I'm doing that?

[00:14:59] I am doing that.

[00:15:04] Your next note here says,

[00:15:05] Jesus never lies.

[00:15:07] And he promised us a heavenly dwelling place forever.

[00:15:13] So do you believe it?

[00:15:15] He's never lied before.

[00:15:17] Do you have hope today?

[00:15:19] Ultimate hope.

[00:15:20] And I don't mean just hope that you're looking forward to Tuesday or Saturday

[00:15:25] or in a month or six months.

[00:15:26] I mean forever hope.

[00:15:28] What's going to happen when you die?

[00:15:31] I don't know how this happened, but I spoke at my high school graduation.

[00:15:36] Okay.

[00:15:36] There were a few people that spoke and I was one of them.

[00:15:40] And I remember a line that I said, and then I remember when it happened.

[00:15:45] I said, one of us in this crowd today in our class will be the first one to die.

[00:15:52] Oh, we don't know who it is.

[00:15:56] And then I made my point later about seize the day or whatever it was.

[00:16:02] But someone in this room will be the first to go home.

[00:16:06] We don't know who it is.

[00:16:07] And we don't know when.

[00:16:08] It could be, God forbid, I don't know any one of us.

[00:16:13] But it's going to be someone unless he returns before then.

[00:16:18] What's going to happen that day?

[00:16:20] Unless you have faith in Christ, you're going to wonder what's going to happen that day.

[00:16:25] But if you have faith in Christ, you know what's happening.

[00:16:27] You're going home to this place that he's prepared for you.

[00:16:31] He promised it.

[00:16:34] And that's why we have faith.

[00:16:35] We call it our blessed hope.

[00:16:37] We're hoping in him.

[00:16:39] And he will come through for us.

[00:16:41] Our friends let us down.

[00:16:42] Our family lets us down.

[00:16:44] But he never will.

[00:16:47] What a better place to put your hope.

[00:16:51] He's giving his disciples hope.

[00:16:53] Because they're lost right now.

[00:16:55] And he goes on in verse 3 and he says,

[00:16:58] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself.

[00:17:03] That where I am, you may be also.

[00:17:06] So he's laying this out.

[00:17:08] And he's reiterating, I'm going away.

[00:17:11] And you can't come right now.

[00:17:13] Last week we heard that.

[00:17:14] You can't come now.

[00:17:14] You can come later.

[00:17:16] I'm leaving.

[00:17:17] They know he's told them he's going to die.

[00:17:20] But I'm going to do something.

[00:17:22] I'm going to prepare a place for you.

[00:17:24] And then I'm going to come back and I'm going to take you with me.

[00:17:29] Who's going with him?

[00:17:29] Those who have faith in him.

[00:17:31] His people.

[00:17:32] He's going to bring them all.

[00:17:35] He's making a promise again.

[00:17:37] I'm coming again to take you with me.

[00:17:41] He's giving them hope.

[00:17:43] Isn't hope nice?

[00:17:47] Some people don't have hope or they lose hope.

[00:17:50] If you don't have hope, what do you have?

[00:17:53] How do you get up every day?

[00:17:54] What do you look forward to?

[00:17:58] Usually you say, well, things are going to get better.

[00:17:59] And you tell yourself these things and that's hope.

[00:18:03] I just got to keep working.

[00:18:05] I got to keep hoping for that next thing or that accomplishment.

[00:18:08] And that keeps you going.

[00:18:09] But if you lose it all, all the hope's gone.

[00:18:12] Why even get up?

[00:18:14] Some people are there today in this town.

[00:18:18] They're hopeless in this building maybe.

[00:18:24] But Christ is our hope.

[00:18:27] He gives us hope.

[00:18:28] He sees his people's angst.

[00:18:32] He says, look above.

[00:18:34] Pick your head up a little bit.

[00:18:35] Look what's coming.

[00:18:36] Even if all that stuff happens, sometimes you think, at least I do.

[00:18:41] I think sometimes, well, what's the worst case scenario?

[00:18:43] What's the best case scenario?

[00:18:45] Okay, so now I know what the extremes are.

[00:18:47] I can handle.

[00:18:48] I'm prepared to handle either one.

[00:18:49] Anything in here, well, we'll deal with that.

[00:18:52] But if I know what's the worst can happen and then it does happen, he says, yeah, yeah,

[00:18:57] but look above that.

[00:18:58] The disciples might have been thinking after a while, after he was killed,

[00:19:01] they were thinking probably in those three days, they're going to come after us now.

[00:19:05] We're going to die.

[00:19:06] They killed him.

[00:19:08] Am I next?

[00:19:09] And you know what?

[00:19:10] They were next.

[00:19:11] They were killed for him.

[00:19:14] But today they're alive with him as victors.

[00:19:19] So we don't have our eyes high enough sometimes.

[00:19:21] Well, all my hope is in who gets elected in two weeks, and then it doesn't happen the way you want.

[00:19:26] No, no.

[00:19:27] Jesus says lift your head up a little bit.

[00:19:29] I'm on the throne.

[00:19:31] Look higher than that.

[00:19:33] Yeah, but what if I lose my physical life and I die?

[00:19:36] Yeah, but look above that.

[00:19:37] You have eternal life.

[00:19:38] We don't have high enough aspirations, I think, as human beings.

[00:19:41] When he's our hope, we have to know that.

[00:19:45] Hey, this life is a vapor, the word says.

[00:19:49] It's a breath.

[00:19:50] David said it's only the width of my hand.

[00:19:53] And David, I forget exactly which psalm, but he said in Psalms, thank you for letting me know how short my life is, basically.

[00:20:00] So I can not focus so much on that, but focus more on you.

[00:20:05] Because eternity is a lot longer than 70, 80, 90, 100 years, isn't it?

[00:20:09] Longer time than that.

[00:20:12] He's given his disciples hope because they're just focused on tonight.

[00:20:15] It's a bad night.

[00:20:16] Judas is going to betray you.

[00:20:17] They're going to come after you.

[00:20:18] They're going to come after us.

[00:20:19] Jesus says, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:20:21] Yeah, that's right.

[00:20:22] But look above.

[00:20:24] Pick your head up.

[00:20:26] And I love this.

[00:20:27] These next two verses, verse 4.

[00:20:31] I kind of put myself here and thought, this is kind of how I would respond when Jesus says this.

[00:20:35] Jesus says, and you know the way to where I'm going.

[00:20:40] And Thomas said to him, like something I would say, Lord, we don't know where you're going.

[00:20:45] No, we don't.

[00:20:46] He says, how can we know the way?

[00:20:49] Jesus said, and you know the way to where I'm going.

[00:20:53] Thomas says, no, we don't.

[00:20:54] We don't know where you're going.

[00:20:55] How do I know the way?

[00:21:01] The funny thing is, now looking back, of course, and Jesus knew this.

[00:21:05] They did know the way.

[00:21:07] They knew the way.

[00:21:08] But they didn't know that they knew the way.

[00:21:12] Like us, we're ignorant.

[00:21:17] Your next note says, if you know Jesus, you already know the way because he is the way.

[00:21:27] He told the disciples, you know the way to where I'm going.

[00:21:34] And I love, this is a famous passage, John 14, 6, the next verse, Jesus says to Thomas.

[00:21:40] After he says, I don't know the way.

[00:21:43] How am I supposed to know how to get there?

[00:21:44] Jesus says in verse 6, I am the way.

[00:21:48] You know me, right?

[00:21:49] I'm the way.

[00:21:52] And the truth.

[00:21:53] And the life.

[00:21:54] And no one comes to the Father but through me.

[00:21:59] Jesus says, you know me, don't you, Thomas?

[00:22:02] We've been together for three and a half years.

[00:22:03] You know me.

[00:22:05] Don't you?

[00:22:07] Yeah, I know you, Jesus.

[00:22:09] He would say, if you know me, you know the way.

[00:22:12] Because I'm the way.

[00:22:14] He's teaching Thomas and the disciples.

[00:22:16] He says, do you get it?

[00:22:18] You know the way.

[00:22:20] You know the way.

[00:22:20] Because I'm the way.

[00:22:21] And you know me.

[00:22:24] It's an example, I have an example about, about this.

[00:22:28] It's like these disciples are getting directions to the promised land.

[00:22:32] Directions to heaven.

[00:22:33] You know, that's like a good title for a book.

[00:22:35] Directions to heaven.

[00:22:36] I think people might buy that book.

[00:22:37] Directions to heaven.

[00:22:38] Doesn't matter what you put in there.

[00:22:39] They'd probably buy it.

[00:22:40] Oh, I want direction to heaven.

[00:22:43] If you're in a town you don't really, you're not familiar with, big city, and you don't have a cell phone.

[00:22:47] Okay, that's how we normally get GPS.

[00:22:49] And we look and just type it in.

[00:22:50] You follow the blue line and you get there.

[00:22:52] Let's say you don't have a cell phone.

[00:22:53] Like back in the old days, right?

[00:22:56] And you ask for directions and the guy says, I heard someone use this example before.

[00:23:00] I'm going to try it.

[00:23:02] He said, how do you get down to so-and-so?

[00:23:04] And the guy that lives in town knows the place.

[00:23:06] He says, go down here four blocks, take a left.

[00:23:08] There's going to be a bus stop.

[00:23:10] You got to take a quick, sharp left again and then turn around and take it right.

[00:23:14] There's three black buildings.

[00:23:16] Take the third floor and the third one and it's the second door on the right.

[00:23:20] Okay, great.

[00:23:21] Now, he gave you the exact way.

[00:23:23] But you didn't write it down and you get halfway, you forget, and it's just confusing.

[00:23:27] He told me the way.

[00:23:28] I don't know.

[00:23:29] I got lost halfway through.

[00:23:32] A better way to do that would just know that guy knows how to get there.

[00:23:37] And if I say, can you just take me there?

[00:23:39] He'll say, sure.

[00:23:40] I got a few minutes.

[00:23:41] I'll just take you there.

[00:23:41] Follow me.

[00:23:42] Isn't that a much easier way to do it?

[00:23:45] I don't know the way, but I know that guy and he knows how to get there.

[00:23:49] That's what Jesus is saying.

[00:23:51] He's saying, I know you don't have a map to heaven, but you know me and I know how to get there.

[00:23:57] Put your faith in me.

[00:23:58] You'll never figure out how to get there on your own.

[00:24:00] Good luck.

[00:24:02] Trying to do too many good works to try to get there or doing whatever you think, being a good person and all that.

[00:24:09] Good luck.

[00:24:11] Because that's not the way.

[00:24:13] The way is follow Jesus there.

[00:24:16] Thomas says, we don't know the way.

[00:24:18] We don't know where you're going.

[00:24:18] How am I supposed to get there, Jesus?

[00:24:19] He says, yes, you do.

[00:24:21] You know me.

[00:24:21] Follow me.

[00:24:24] When he puts it like that, that's something we can understand.

[00:24:28] And that's what he's saying to his disciples.

[00:24:30] You know the way.

[00:24:31] You just don't know that you know the way.

[00:24:33] It's me, Jesus.

[00:24:36] And he says, no one comes to the Father.

[00:24:38] No one gets there unless they come through me.

[00:24:44] That sounds like kind of a, what do they call it?

[00:24:47] An exclusive mindset, narrow mindset, right?

[00:24:50] Well, what do you mean?

[00:24:50] Like there's only one way to heaven, Jesus?

[00:24:52] Christianity, that's the only way?

[00:24:57] Sounds pretty narrow-minded.

[00:24:58] It sounds like that goes against our culture because our culture is very inclusive.

[00:25:02] That word is out there a lot.

[00:25:04] Inclusivity.

[00:25:05] The truth is, which is your next note here,

[00:25:07] the way to God is both exclusive and inclusive.

[00:25:14] What do I mean by that?

[00:25:15] How can it be both?

[00:25:16] Well, it's exclusive because Jesus tells us he's the only way.

[00:25:21] Excluding all others.

[00:25:22] He's the only way.

[00:25:26] But, the way to God is also inclusive because the word tells us there'll be people in the kingdom from every tribe, tongue, and nation.

[00:25:33] Includes everyone.

[00:25:34] Everyone who will believe.

[00:25:36] You don't have to be Jewish.

[00:25:38] That was a big hurdle back in the first century.

[00:25:41] Well, this is for us, the Jews.

[00:25:43] Jesus says, no, no, no.

[00:25:44] This is for the world.

[00:25:45] Everyone.

[00:25:46] Including everyone.

[00:25:48] If you have faith.

[00:25:53] Remember back in Matthew 7, during the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says this in verse 13 of Matthew 7.

[00:25:58] He says,

[00:25:59] Enter by the narrow gate.

[00:26:02] For the gate is wide, and the way is easy, that leads to destruction.

[00:26:07] And those who enter it are many.

[00:26:11] For the gate is narrow, and the way is hard, that leads to life.

[00:26:16] And those who find it are few.

[00:26:22] They're few.

[00:26:26] In the gospels, the disciples at one point come to Jesus and say,

[00:26:32] Jesus, no one is believing.

[00:26:35] Are there only few that'll be saved?

[00:26:37] Few.

[00:26:39] They're putting their blood and sweat and tears into this message because they know it's the truth.

[00:26:43] And people are rejecting them and rejecting Christ.

[00:26:47] And they say, are only few going to make it?

[00:26:52] It seems like that sometimes.

[00:26:54] Some places are not fertile ground for faith.

[00:26:57] But God knows who his people are, and he's going to get them all.

[00:27:00] And they come to him through the gospel message.

[00:27:04] That's God's power unto salvation.

[00:27:05] It's not by just being a good person, though that is the fruit of the Spirit.

[00:27:11] But good works are not what saves people.

[00:27:13] And being nice isn't what saves people.

[00:27:16] It's faith in Christ alone.

[00:27:20] In the Sermon on the Mount here, Jesus talks about that it's a narrow way home.

[00:27:26] It's not a wide way.

[00:27:28] There's not many ways.

[00:27:30] There's one way, and it's narrow.

[00:27:33] He says the gate is wide.

[00:27:34] A lot of people go through that gate.

[00:27:38] And it's also easy, this way to destruction.

[00:27:40] It's an easy way.

[00:27:41] A lot of people are comfortable on that road.

[00:27:45] Comfortable.

[00:27:46] They never have to worry about offending anyone's feelings.

[00:27:51] They never have to worry about offending people with what they believe

[00:27:55] because they probably don't have very strong convictions of what they believe

[00:27:58] because they may not even know exactly what they believe.

[00:28:02] They never really have to stand for the truth.

[00:28:05] They probably don't even know the truth.

[00:28:06] They just want to get along.

[00:28:08] What do they say?

[00:28:09] Go along to get along.

[00:28:11] But that's not the gospel.

[00:28:14] You'll be comfortable along that wide road to destruction.

[00:28:22] Not only does that sound like our worldly culture,

[00:28:25] hey guys, let's just all get along.

[00:28:28] But it also sounds not only like our worldly culture, but it also sounds a lot like our

[00:28:35] popular Christian culture.

[00:28:40] I talked to someone this week who has an issue in their family with one of their kids.

[00:28:50] And they don't go to this church, but one of this person's nieces is having issues with gender decisions.

[00:29:02] And I think she's 12.

[00:29:05] And the mom said, we're Christians.

[00:29:09] We're Christians.

[00:29:10] We go to church.

[00:29:13] And it's a single mom.

[00:29:16] And the daughter is kind of into this and it's ruining her relationship with her mom.

[00:29:27] And I think she needs some attention from mom.

[00:29:31] And for me, I say, go to your church, your church family, your pastor.

[00:29:37] Well, the church is an affirming church that says it's okay for that.

[00:29:43] That's a good thing and everything.

[00:29:44] And so now we don't even have a similar foundation to work from.

[00:29:50] Because if I say, well, you should be the mom and let's talk about this and show her why we think differently.

[00:30:01] There's not agreement there.

[00:30:02] So we can't even begin.

[00:30:09] The Christian culture that goes to a church that will affirm sin, is it a Christian church?

[00:30:19] Or are they just trying to walk a wide path and a comfortable path to try to make everyone happy as much as they can and then call themselves Christian?

[00:30:30] We need to take stands on the word of God.

[00:30:35] I'm not right.

[00:30:36] The word is right.

[00:30:38] I need to be to check myself against the word.

[00:30:41] And if it comes at the expense of an unhappy daughter or son or wife, I'm just following what the word says.

[00:30:50] I have to answer for that.

[00:30:53] And he knows it's for our best anyway.

[00:30:57] Why would I say, yeah, but God, you don't get it.

[00:31:00] Now we're in the 21st century and all that stuff doesn't matter.

[00:31:04] He's wise enough to know what century his word should be applicable to all centuries.

[00:31:12] We have to be careful to just not do what we're doing to make everyone happy.

[00:31:16] What does that even mean?

[00:31:18] Moods come and go and we can't rely on our feelings.

[00:31:20] They're going to be here and there and everywhere.

[00:31:22] We have to rely on truth.

[00:31:24] That's why he says, believe in me.

[00:31:25] I'm the way and the truth and the life.

[00:31:28] Trust me.

[00:31:29] It's for your own good.

[00:31:30] Like we try to tell our kids.

[00:31:32] And I use always the same examples.

[00:31:33] You go in to the dentist and the dentist pokes your mouth.

[00:31:36] And then the kid says, daddy's hurting me.

[00:31:39] Why don't you stop?

[00:31:39] He says, because it's for your own good.

[00:31:41] And you don't get it right now.

[00:31:43] Just trust me.

[00:31:44] And the Lord says, I know you don't get it right now.

[00:31:47] Just trust me.

[00:31:48] It's for your own good.

[00:31:49] It's because I love you.

[00:31:53] Jesus said, if you know me, you know the way.

[00:32:00] And if you don't know me, guess what?

[00:32:03] You don't know the way.

[00:32:07] If you don't know the truth, you don't know the way.

[00:32:10] And then you won't have life.

[00:32:12] See how those three are connected.

[00:32:16] To receive eternal life, you need to know the way there, don't you?

[00:32:19] How do you know the way?

[00:32:20] Well, you need to know what the true way is through the truth.

[00:32:24] And that's Jesus.

[00:32:25] If you know Jesus, you have it all.

[00:32:27] The way, the truth, and the life.

[00:32:32] If it were not so, would he have told you that?

[00:32:36] Would he ever lie to you?

[00:32:39] Why would he do that?

[00:32:40] He could have just not said anything.

[00:32:42] Rather than say something that he knows is false.

[00:32:45] Or say something he knows he can't follow through with.

[00:32:52] Verse 7, he goes on with his disciples.

[00:32:54] He says,

[00:32:55] If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.

[00:32:59] From now on, you do know him and have seen him.

[00:33:03] Well, Thomas had his opportunity.

[00:33:05] Now Philip jumps in.

[00:33:06] He says, Lord, show us the Father, and it's enough for us.

[00:33:10] Just show us the Father.

[00:33:11] And then we're good.

[00:33:15] Jesus says in verse 9,

[00:33:17] Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?

[00:33:21] Don't you know me after all these years, Philip?

[00:33:27] He says, Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.

[00:33:33] Philip, you know me, right?

[00:33:34] Okay, well, if you see me, you've seen the Father, he says.

[00:33:37] Philip says, just show us the Father, and then we'll really get it.

[00:33:40] Jesus says, you've seen the Father because you've seen me.

[00:33:44] How can you say, show us the Father, he's talking to Philip?

[00:33:47] Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me?

[00:33:51] 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.

[00:33:57] Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

[00:34:06] If you know Jesus, you know the Father.

[00:34:10] If you've seen Jesus, he's saying, you've seen the Father.

[00:34:15] You've perceived the Father.

[00:34:16] You now understand who he is.

[00:34:20] And it's really interesting.

[00:34:22] Jesus is telling the disciples here, the night before he dies, the same message that he told the Pharisees.

[00:34:27] Now, his disciples love him.

[00:34:29] The Pharisees wanted to kill him.

[00:34:31] He gave them the same message.

[00:34:34] He's saying, I'm going away to a place that you can't come, to the Pharisees, because you're of your father the devil.

[00:34:39] You can't understand it.

[00:34:40] You can't go there.

[00:34:42] You're of your father the devil.

[00:34:43] He's telling his disciples, I'm going away.

[00:34:46] You can't come now, but I'm going to come get you later.

[00:34:49] You can come, because it's through faith.

[00:34:52] And he told the Pharisees, if you don't believe that I am the Son of God, which is making myself equal with God, which is why they wanted to stone him.

[00:35:01] He says, if you don't believe me, at least believe the works I'm doing, because you do believe that only God could do those works through a person.

[00:35:08] And he's telling the disciples the same thing here.

[00:35:11] He's presenting himself as the Son of God to the Pharisees who didn't believe.

[00:35:15] And he's presenting himself as the Son of God to the disciples who would believe.

[00:35:20] The gospel goes out, just like rain falls on the just and the unjust.

[00:35:25] The gospel goes out.

[00:35:26] Some will believe and some won't, but it still goes out.

[00:35:28] It's the same message to both.

[00:35:30] He should give the same gospel to a king or a president that you would a peasant or a homeless person on the street.

[00:35:35] And it has the same power of salvation to either of those people.

[00:35:38] Because those people are of the same stature at the foot of the cross.

[00:35:42] Fallen human being.

[00:35:44] Deserving of death and hell.

[00:35:47] That's why we need grace.

[00:35:51] The disciples said, show us the Father.

[00:35:53] Jesus says, you've essentially seen him because you've seen me.

[00:35:58] Your next note here says, if you know the heart of the Son, then you know the heart of the Father.

[00:36:08] It's not like the Father and the Son are duking it out and kind of convincing each other of what to do.

[00:36:14] They're in perfect communion.

[00:36:16] He says, I'm in him.

[00:36:17] He's in me.

[00:36:19] You've seen me.

[00:36:20] You've seen the Father.

[00:36:22] And you know that works in the negative as well.

[00:36:24] If you say, well, if I don't know Jesus, then I don't know the Father.

[00:36:30] We're told in the New Testament, if you don't have the Son, you don't have the Father.

[00:36:33] Because the Jewish people were focused on God.

[00:36:38] And then Jesus comes along and says, I'm the Savior.

[00:36:41] I'm the Son of God.

[00:36:41] And the Jews rejected him, of course.

[00:36:44] And the writers of the epistles later says, if you don't have the Son, you don't have the Father either.

[00:36:49] You can't just have the Father and not the Son.

[00:36:51] Jesus is the way to the Father.

[00:36:55] If you haven't seen Jesus, you haven't seen the Father.

[00:36:59] You can't say, well, I understand completely how God the Father is, but I don't have a clue who Jesus is.

[00:37:05] Jesus says, no one comes to the Father but by me.

[00:37:07] You can't know the Father unless you know me.

[00:37:10] I brought it up in the Tuesday night Bible study last week.

[00:37:13] But if you wanted to explain to the aunt that's walking around here in this room somewhere,

[00:37:19] what we're doing here in this room today, how would you do it?

[00:37:22] Would you just write him a note and then hand it to him?

[00:37:25] He wouldn't have a clue what's happening.

[00:37:28] What's the best way to communicate what we're doing in this room to an aunt?

[00:37:33] I have no idea, right?

[00:37:34] Well, what if you became an aunt?

[00:37:37] And you started speaking their language and showing them what we're doing.

[00:37:40] They wouldn't ever fully understand because I don't know how big an aunt's brain is.

[00:37:44] Not very big, kind of like our brains.

[00:37:46] But he would have more understanding, wouldn't he?

[00:37:50] Oh, there's something bigger?

[00:37:53] We can't comprehend God here.

[00:37:56] But Christ came and he became one of us to show us.

[00:38:01] Now we can understand a little more, can't we?

[00:38:06] Jesus says, you can't know God unless you know me.

[00:38:09] I'm showing you.

[00:38:10] I'm here to show you who he is.

[00:38:15] You can't say, I don't know Jesus, but I know the Father.

[00:38:18] But I know God.

[00:38:21] Jesus, he just said that no one comes to God unless it's through him.

[00:38:24] And Jesus is saying to Philip, and that's why he calls himself the door, by the way.

[00:38:28] I'm the door, I'm the gate, I'm the way, me, Jesus.

[00:38:33] Jesus is saying to Philip, if you want to know who the Father is, I've already shown you.

[00:38:42] So now you know.

[00:38:44] I've shown you who he is through what I've done, what I am doing, who I am, what I'm like.

[00:38:50] I'm merciful and gracious and just and loving.

[00:38:54] That's what the Father's like.

[00:38:56] What do they say? The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

[00:39:02] What did Jesus mean by that?

[00:39:03] If you see me, you've seen the Father.

[00:39:06] Think back to John 5, when Jesus said,

[00:39:11] Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing.

[00:39:16] For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.

[00:39:19] Jesus does what he sees the Father doing.

[00:39:23] He's saying, Philip, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father.

[00:39:27] If you've seen me working and doing my works,

[00:39:31] you've really seen the Father working and doing the works, because I do what he does.

[00:39:39] I want to show you some more scripture about this topic.

[00:39:44] In John 4, we read,

[00:39:46] God is spirit. Can you see a spirit?

[00:39:49] No.

[00:39:51] God is called the invisible God in Scripture many times.

[00:39:55] He doesn't have a body like we have a body, God the Father.

[00:39:58] John 1, same author.

[00:40:00] No one has ever seen God.

[00:40:02] The only God who is at the Father's side has made him known.

[00:40:10] Hmm.

[00:40:12] Do you feel like ants reading this?

[00:40:14] How do we make sense of this, God?

[00:40:17] Jesus shows us.

[00:40:19] Back to Exodus 33.

[00:40:20] The Lord said to Moses,

[00:40:21] You cannot see my face, for a man shall not see me and live.

[00:40:28] 1 John 4.

[00:40:29] No one has ever seen God.

[00:40:35] So, Philip says,

[00:40:37] Just show us the Father and it's good enough for us.

[00:40:39] Jesus says, You've seen him, because you've seen me.

[00:40:43] That's as close as you're going to get, Philip.

[00:40:46] You've seen him.

[00:40:46] You've essentially seen God.

[00:40:48] Why? God is...

[00:40:50] Jesus says God is in human flesh.

[00:40:56] Let's go on.

[00:40:56] Hebrews chapter 1.

[00:40:58] This is talking about Jesus now.

[00:41:00] Can't see God.

[00:41:01] God's a spirit.

[00:41:02] No one's ever seen God.

[00:41:02] Now we move into who Christ is.

[00:41:04] Hebrews 1.

[00:41:05] Christ.

[00:41:06] He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.

[00:41:12] Christ is the exact imprint of God's nature.

[00:41:16] Colossians 1.

[00:41:17] There it is.

[00:41:21] Colossians 1 again.

[00:41:22] In him, Christ, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.

[00:41:27] God on earth.

[00:41:29] Colossians 2.

[00:41:30] In him, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.

[00:41:33] God on earth.

[00:41:34] God in human flesh.

[00:41:35] What does Emmanuel mean?

[00:41:37] God with us.

[00:41:41] And in John 10, we read this, I guess a few months ago now.

[00:41:46] Jesus says, I and the Father are one.

[00:41:49] That's when he was talking to the Pharisees and they didn't believe.

[00:41:52] How do we reconcile these verses?

[00:41:55] Jesus says, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father.

[00:41:57] The word says, no one can ever see God.

[00:42:00] Jesus says, if you've seen me, you've seen God.

[00:42:06] When people say to Christians, do you believe the Bible literally?

[00:42:09] Do you literally believe it?

[00:42:11] I think, what's that movie?

[00:42:14] I don't think that word means what you think it means.

[00:42:18] I think that word literally means different things to different people.

[00:42:22] Because if it means, according to the literature, then yes, we do.

[00:42:28] Do they mean by literally, when Jesus says, I am the door,

[00:42:31] do they expect us to believe that he's a door?

[00:42:34] No.

[00:42:34] Because we understand what a metaphor is.

[00:42:36] According to the literature, it's a metaphor.

[00:42:41] We have to understand context.

[00:42:44] And this is important.

[00:42:49] How do we reconcile these verses?

[00:42:52] We reconcile these verses by knowing that context.

[00:42:55] And by better understanding the nature of God.

[00:42:59] We have to understand that better.

[00:43:01] Mere man, like I said a minute ago, we're like an ant.

[00:43:03] We can't comprehend all of who God is.

[00:43:06] Not in this life.

[00:43:07] Our brains don't have the capacity.

[00:43:10] But he's given us enough light to understand him better than our natural state.

[00:43:17] Don't you have more light today than you did 20 years ago about Christ?

[00:43:21] I think so.

[00:43:23] We don't have it perfectly, but we have more.

[00:43:26] Your next note here says,

[00:43:28] God the Father is spirit invisible to us.

[00:43:32] And God the Son took on flesh so we could better comprehend God.

[00:43:39] Now, if God's will was to remain spirit invisible to us, it would be up to him how we know him, what we know about him.

[00:43:48] But he determined to send Jesus Christ, his son, to show us who he is.

[00:43:57] Your next note says, oh, I just read that.

[00:44:01] God the Father is spirit invisible.

[00:44:03] But Jesus took on flesh to show us who he was so we could comprehend it a little bit more.

[00:44:11] And I hope we're beginning to see what Jesus means now when he tells Philip, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father.

[00:44:16] Jesus is not saying that Jesus is the Father.

[00:44:21] The Father is the Father.

[00:44:23] The Son is the Son.

[00:44:24] The Spirit is the Spirit.

[00:44:27] And this interaction with Philip touches on the doctrine of the Trinity.

[00:44:32] That God exists in three, here it is, eternally distinct, co-equal, and co-eternal persons in one God.

[00:44:43] Not three gods.

[00:44:45] One God.

[00:44:46] The Father sends the Son to earth.

[00:44:50] This is found in Scripture.

[00:44:52] And both the Father and the Son then send the Spirit at Pentecost.

[00:44:56] And there are those who believe that the Father and the Son and the Spirit are merely different modes or expressions of the same one person of God.

[00:45:07] And this belief would reject the Trinity.

[00:45:10] And it's called modalism.

[00:45:12] Or more anciently called Sibelianism.

[00:45:16] It was named after Sibelius, a third century Roman priest.

[00:45:21] And modalism, and this will not be on the test.

[00:45:25] But just for background, we know where we're coming.

[00:45:27] This is an important doctrine.

[00:45:30] Modalism is the theological doctrine that the Father, Son, and the Spirit are not three distinct persons,

[00:45:35] but rather three modes or forms of activity under which God manifests himself.

[00:45:41] Kind of like I'm wearing different hats.

[00:45:43] I'm an uncle, I'm a son, and I'm a father.

[00:45:46] I'm the same person.

[00:45:48] I just have three different modes.

[00:45:50] That's modalism.

[00:45:52] Modalism first came on a scene in about AD 200 through Sibelius, earlier people than him.

[00:45:59] Not much earlier.

[00:46:00] By AD 268, it was condemned at the Council of Antioch.

[00:46:03] And since then, many prominent church fathers have also denounced it, including Tertullian, Origen, Dionysus,

[00:46:13] including many Christian creeds and confessions since then.

[00:46:16] Modalism was also denounced at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD,

[00:46:22] and the Council of Constantinople in 381.

[00:46:27] Now, all that to say that Jesus is not saying that he is the Father.

[00:46:35] Here at Christ the Word Church, we are a Trinitarian church.

[00:46:38] We teach and preach the Trinity.

[00:46:41] The Father, Son, and the Spirit as three persons and one God.

[00:46:48] The doctrine of the Trinity, we call it the triune nature of God, it's about his nature, says this.

[00:46:55] There's one God who eternally exists as three distinct persons, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.

[00:47:02] Stated differently, God is one in essence, three in person.

[00:47:08] One essence, one Godhead, they call it.

[00:47:12] At the Great Commission, Matthew 28, Jesus gives some final instructions.

[00:47:31] Now, does that mean if you currently believe that God is made up of one person in three modes that you're going to hell?

[00:47:35] I say no.

[00:47:38] None of us, like I said earlier, have all points of theology correct.

[00:47:42] I know I don't.

[00:47:44] But if we're in Christ, he promises that the Spirit will lead us into all truth, doesn't he?

[00:47:49] We're all going to figure it out someday, and it's probably going to be in glory.

[00:47:53] So we don't want to get caught up with issues between brethren.

[00:47:59] But it's a big issue, the nature of God.

[00:48:04] We could have a complete series on just the Trinity, of course, but to put a bow on this topic,

[00:48:11] for now I want to read an annotated version of the Athanasian Creed from the fourth century.

[00:48:16] This is a well-renowned Christian creed.

[00:48:19] In fact, my daughter told me that her school, her eighth-grade class is going to memorize the Athanasian Creed.

[00:48:25] That's a long creed, and they've got to memorize that.

[00:48:28] So anyway, I'll read a portion of it here just to show this is where we stand as a church in my convictions.

[00:48:35] But I always ask that you prayerfully consider these things according to Scripture and according with the Lord,

[00:48:43] so that he will give you the conviction about what is truth.

[00:48:48] And I'm always learning myself.

[00:48:49] So here's from the Athanasian Creed.

[00:48:53] Christian confession for how many years is it?

[00:48:57] Well, from the third or fourth century, so that would be 1,700 years or so.

[00:49:01] We worship one God in Trinity and the Trinity in unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the divine being.

[00:49:09] There's not three gods. There's one God.

[00:49:12] For the Father is one person, the Son is another, and the Spirit is still another.

[00:49:18] But the deity, the godness of the Father, Son, and Spirit is one, equal in glory, co-eternal in majesty.

[00:49:24] One's not better than the other or more God than the other.

[00:49:29] The essence of what the Father is, the Son is, and so is the Holy Spirit.

[00:49:36] Neither the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are created.

[00:49:40] Eternal is the Father, Son, and Spirit.

[00:49:43] Almighty is the Father, Son, and Spirit.

[00:49:46] Thus the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God.

[00:49:50] And yet there are not three gods, but one God.

[00:49:54] Remember I told you you'd feel like an ant?

[00:49:56] Can you comprehend this?

[00:49:59] Can you comprehend God?

[00:50:01] Would anyone say, oh, I understand God completely.

[00:50:03] I understand His nature. It's easy.

[00:50:07] I hope not.

[00:50:09] Continuing,

[00:50:10] Thus the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, the Holy Spirit is Lord.

[00:50:13] Yet there are not three lords, but one Lord.

[00:50:17] The Father was neither made nor created nor begotten.

[00:50:21] The Son was neither made nor created, but was alone begotten of the Father.

[00:50:25] The Spirit was neither made nor created, but is proceeding from the Father and the Son.

[00:50:30] You see how these creeds just lay it out.

[00:50:33] What about this? What about this?

[00:50:34] They try to hit every angle of what we believe.

[00:50:37] That's what creeds and confessions are good.

[00:50:39] It really breaks it down in a summary.

[00:50:41] Now, they're not scripture.

[00:50:43] But it helps for guardrails.

[00:50:46] To know what we believe.

[00:51:05] It's in a nutshell the doctrine of the Trinity.

[00:51:08] And I wanted to go a little deeper in that because it's so foundational.

[00:51:12] The nature of God is foundational.

[00:51:15] Is it not?

[00:51:19] When Jesus speaks as He is doing in this final dinner with friends,

[00:51:26] His words are so full of life and hope and He knows He's going to die the next day.

[00:51:34] When He speaks to His disciples, when He really has a chance to sit down finally after supper and just hang out with them for a while,

[00:51:41] He's given them a lot of knowledge and wisdom and hope and theology.

[00:51:46] Of course, it's coming from the lips of God on earth.

[00:51:50] So we pause and we want to soak it in.

[00:51:53] Understand who are you?

[00:51:55] God of the universe.

[00:51:56] You're here in front of me in human flesh, they would say.

[00:51:59] Don't you want to know your God?

[00:52:02] His depths are immeasurable.

[00:52:06] His glory is majestic.

[00:52:09] His holiness is limitless.

[00:52:12] He's highly exalted above all things.

[00:52:16] And we know who He is by faith.

[00:52:20] And then we know the way now by faith.

[00:52:25] Because He is the way.

[00:52:28] And because we know Jesus, He says,

[00:52:32] You know God. You know the Father.

[00:52:37] All by the leading of the Spirit.

[00:52:40] We could never know all there is to know about God, of course.

[00:52:44] Even though some of us, we included, sometimes act like it.

[00:52:48] We could never know all there is to know about God.

[00:52:51] Even when we make it to glory,

[00:52:54] we're still going to be learning about God.

[00:52:55] And investigating His depths, who He is,

[00:53:00] will always be growing in our knowledge of God.

[00:53:03] And He deserves all honor and glory and praise.

[00:53:07] So it's good just to pause once in a while

[00:53:09] and understand who is talking to us.

[00:53:11] If you're one of the disciples, if you're Philip, if you're Thomas,

[00:53:15] and you're hearing the words from God on earth,

[00:53:20] He deserves all the exaltation.

[00:53:24] And it should occur to us that that's the only way.

[00:53:26] We're only saved by His grace.

[00:53:27] There's nothing else we could ever add.

[00:53:30] He deserves all the glory for our salvation.

[00:53:35] And we know that to be true only because of the Word of God, it tells us.

[00:53:39] What is the Word of God?

[00:53:40] Much of it is reflected from the life of Christ.

[00:53:44] His Word is truth.

[00:53:46] And Jesus is the way that leads us to eternal life.

[00:53:51] We preach God.

[00:53:53] We preach God's Word.

[00:53:55] And we preach it to exalt Christ.

[00:53:59] We preach God and His Word to know Jesus more,

[00:54:07] not just to know more about Jesus.

[00:54:11] Because we don't...

[00:54:12] All the facts in the world aren't going to get you to heaven.

[00:54:15] It's if you know who He is or not.

[00:54:19] We preach God's Word here at Christ the Word to exalt Christ.

[00:54:22] And I hope He's been exalted today.

[00:54:24] And we preach it definitely to know more about Jesus,

[00:54:28] but really to know Him more, to know Him better.

[00:54:37] So do you feel like you know Him a little bit better today?

[00:54:40] I hope so.

[00:54:41] I hope so.

[00:54:45] Please stand with me as we close in prayer.

[00:54:50] Sometimes people will say,

[00:54:54] make sure you have a lot of application in your sermons.

[00:54:58] To which I say,

[00:55:00] we go through every single verse.

[00:55:02] If you can't find a place to apply God's Word to your life,

[00:55:07] I don't know how much I can help you with that.

[00:55:10] Because if I start inserting my own ideas about what you should do

[00:55:13] during the week, then it's just my advice.

[00:55:17] One great piece of application that we can get from this passage

[00:55:20] is to know how much God loves us.

[00:55:22] And that He takes the burden off of you.

[00:55:26] So stop working so hard to save yourself.

[00:55:29] Stop working so hard to help Jesus out.

[00:55:33] He says, just know me.

[00:55:34] Just have faith in me.

[00:55:35] Take a load off.

[00:55:37] How about that for application?

[00:55:39] Take your hands off the wheel this week.

[00:55:41] Let's pray.

[00:55:42] Dear Heavenly Father,

[00:55:44] it's just so great to pause and look in your face,

[00:55:48] hear your words,

[00:55:49] speaking to your disciples in an intimate way

[00:55:52] during this Last Supper.

[00:55:54] And we're hearing the words that John wrote down

[00:55:55] and we can just hear them in our own ears.

[00:55:58] You love these people because of your people

[00:56:01] and we're your people through faith.

[00:56:03] And you love us just like you love the disciples.

[00:56:06] I can feel that today in my heart.

[00:56:08] These people can too.

[00:56:09] Help us to learn to trust you.

[00:56:11] I know we don't trust you 100% because we're human.

[00:56:14] We somehow still have and hold on to this trust in ourselves

[00:56:17] that we all need to shed and teach us how to do that, Lord.

[00:56:21] But as we go forward, we all have needs,

[00:56:23] some physical, some financial, some relational,

[00:56:27] and whatever it might be.

[00:56:28] You know all of them.

[00:56:29] Lord, please work on all those in our lives

[00:56:31] and help us to understand how you can be glorified

[00:56:33] even through all that mess.

[00:56:34] Show us how to trust you through the mess

[00:56:37] and not so much in ourselves.

[00:56:39] We love you, Lord.

[00:56:40] Until next time we meet.

[00:56:42] In Jesus' name we pray.

[00:56:43] Amen.