Jan. 19, 2020 - The Father and The Son
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About 3.7 million students are expected to graduate from high school during the 2019–20 school year, including 3.3 million students from public schools and 0.3 million from private schools
50.8 million students in public schools
5.8 million students in private schools
As about 56.6 million students are attending elementary, middle, and high schools across the United State this school year.
That’s a LOT of students…
Lots of kids…
WHICH MEANS – lots of NAMES going out into the world…
How many of you have been a part of this conversation before?
“Now – you know that when you walk out these doors, you represent your family name…so make good decisions”
You ever have a parent look at you and say – “your actions reflect on me”
It’s this type of situation here that we’re going to see play out today in our text…
A couple weeks ago we looked at the Centrality of the Cross
TODAY – we’ll see the EXCLUSIVITY of Jesus Christ – in relation to the Father
And so let’s get to it…
44 And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me.
45 And whoever sees me sees him who sent me.
46 I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.
47 If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.
48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.
49 For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak.
50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”
Now as you know, there are many religions in the world…
Many different opinions about who Jesus is…and who He is in relation to God the Father.
Some have used these first couple of verses in our text today to claim that Jesus IS the Father, that the Father IS Jesus.
Let’s look at it..
44 And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me.
45 And whoever sees me sees him who sent me.
So – what I want to do first is debunk the idea that Jesus IS the Father…
in that they are NOT DISTINCT from each other…
AND THEN – once we do that…get into what Jesus is trying to teach us here…
On the surface – if we were to just do a SURFACE level reading of this here – we may come away thinking that Jesus is the Father…
Jesus says – If you believe in Me, you believe in Him who sent me…If you see Me, you see the Father…
If that’s ALL we had…yeah, that would make sense…
But that’s not all we have…
Let’s go to Matthew 10:40 to see what Jesus says there…
40 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.
What did Jesus mean here?
What does He mean when He says – Whoever receives you (Christian) receives ME (Jesus)…
Is Jesus teaching here that You are Jesus?
No – but He says – Whoever RECEIVES you (Christian) receives ME.
He’s teaching us HERE that whoever RECEIVES you, IN RELATION to your Christianity…your MESSAGE…
RECEIVES JESUS – BECAUSE – Jesus IS our message!
If they RECEIVE your Christian MESSAGE – then they are RECEIVING Jesus! (Mormons at your door - if you RECEIVE that mormon and his teaching, you are RECEIVING Joseph Smith)
AND – ANYONE who Receives Jesus – receives who?
He who SENT Jesus – the Father!!
In this passage – Jesus is not teaching that He and the Father are not distinct…
The Bible is crystal clear that Jesus and the Father are most certainly distinct...
John 1:1 - tells us - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was WITH GOD and the Word WAS GOD...
QUITE LITERALLY the verse says - God was WITH God...
AND SO...
The principle He’s teaching HERE in Matt 10:40 is the same principle He’s teaching in our passage today…
44 And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me.
45 And whoever sees me sees him who sent me.
What Christ is teaching here is that His message/purpose is aligned with the Father’s message/purpose.
AND that if you believe in Jesus – you are affirming the FATHER’S WILL…
You are submitting to the Father
See Jesus was constantly PUTTING HIMSELF in context during His earthly ministry…
What do I mean?
Think of the theology of the 1st century Jew...
They were expecting a Messiah to come...
One who would:
Establish an earthly kingdom
Rule in power…and
Free Isreal from oppression
And so when Christ came and began to - attack SIN and pride, and preach Holiness
The Jewish people weren’t sure what to make of it...
In Christ’s teachings - the Jewish people couldn’t COMPREHEND that...
the land promised was heaven
the restored temple was the body of Christ
and that the messiah was the liberator over the devil not Rome.
So the Jewish people MISUNDERSTOOD what the coming Messiah would DO...
11 As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.
Jesus was always preaching the “Kingdom”…the Kingdom of God is at hand...
They would have taken Him to mean - an EARTHLY kingdom...
But Jesus meant - the REIGN of God...
And so THE REIGN of God - was in fact in the people’s midst....but also YET TO COME!
Jesus prayed...
“Thy KINGDOM come...”
And so think thru the TIME....
They have an understanding of GOD...
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
They have this understanding of God - and then Jesus (the WORD) - who in the beginning was WITH GOD…and WAS GOD...
In the beginning - God was WITH God...
The WORD comes in the flesh...
Claiming to BE the MESSIAH!
SO what does Jesus do...
SLIDE: The Father and The Son: Aligned In Purpose
The Father and The Son
The Father and The Son
Jesus was constantly REMINDING the Jewish people that He was SENT by God…
John 3:17, 34
John 4:34
John 5:23, 24, 30, 36-38; ALL Jesus saying - The Father whom SENT ME
John 6:29, 38-39, 44, 57
All Jesus declaring - the Father has SENT Me!!
Jesus understood what they KNEW about God - and so Christ comes and ALIGNS himself with the Father!
With God!
When we think about the WILL of the Father - we read this in scripture...
40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
Ok - pretty explicit what the WILL of the FATHER is...
This says that the WILL of the FATHER - is that FAITH ALONE in CHRIST ALONE - brings eternal life
Ok, well if that’s the FATHER’S will…then how does that play into the Father and Jesus being ALIGNED in purpose?
Let’s look at the FATHER’s PURPOSE...
27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,
28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
Well - what ended up happening to Jesus?
CRUCIFIED!
See - if the FATHER’S will was that BY FAITH ALONE in JESUS ALONE…salvation comes!...
THEN - that means
SLIDE:
The blood that needed to be shed, in order for forgiveness to come, had to be the blood of a righteous man
Why - because Hebrews 9 tells us that Forgiveness only comes through the SHEDDING of BLOOD
And so - this BECOMES - THE MISSION/PURPOSE of the WORD - Jesus - God the Son
Was He on board?
Was He ALIGNED with the Father’s will?
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
And so Jesus - in our text today - ALIGNS Himself with the Father (God) - teaching them - YES -
44 And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me.
45 And whoever sees me sees him who sent me.
Jesus is saying - We are ONE in Purpose...
But Jesus continues...
46 I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.
47 If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.
48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.
49 For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak.
50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”
We see here that Jesus was also...
SLIDE: The Father and The Son: Aligned in Message
The Father and The Son
The Father and The Son
As we saw, the purpose of Jesus was to come, live the perfect life…AND die on the cross...
which aligned with the purpose of the Father....
Not only this - but the MESSAGE of Christ was also the MESSAGE of the Father!
Now this might sound like an OBVIOUS thing and a TRIVIAL point to make...
…But AS WE’RE trying to highlight today - it wasn’t TRIVIAL to the 1st century Jew...
At THAT TIME - they were trying to FIGURE OUT if Jesus WAS WHO HE CLAIMED TO BE!!
Message: Repent and Believe (repentance, faith in Jesus)
Repentance: What was the Father’s message?
4 You have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although the Lord persistently sent to you all his servants the prophets,
5 saying, ‘Turn now, every one of you, from his evil way and evil deeds, and dwell upon the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers from of old and forever.
30 “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin.
7 let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
There’s many more verses - but what we see here is the Father’s message (God’s message) to Israel...
a Message of Repentance
Now - Did Jesus speak of repentance?
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God,
15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
So clearly when it comes to REPENTANCE - the message of the Father and the message of Jesus ALIGN!
How about the 2nd aspect of the message?
Is FAITH IN JESUS part of the Father’s message?
Faith in the Son:
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
Here we have a foreshadowing of the coming Christ!
5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats,
Pointing to JESUS
10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
The message here that Jesus will draw the Gentiles to Himself...
How about Jesus?
Clearly Jesus had the same message of FAITH IN HIM...
We know from scripture that Jesus made WAR on sin...
11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
Jesus here living out the ENMITY between sin and holiness
In the OT we see that the sacrificial lamb was to be WITHOUT BLEMISH...
19 The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.
20 Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret.
21 Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I said.”
22 When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?”
23 Jesus answered him, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?”
Jesus here is saying - “What have I done wrong?”
The high priest had nothing...
Jesus is pointing to his - RIGHTEOUSNESS...
His LACK of a BLEMISH!!
Same message!
How about Jesus teaching that He would draw even the Gentiles to Himself…?
19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”
The Jews and the Gentiles - going after - Jesus!
32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
ALL men - Jew and Gentile will filter through the cross of Jesus Christ!
The same message!
And our text today closes by just REITERATING this very fact...
49 For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak.
50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”
SUMMARY
The Father and The Son
Aligned in Purpose
Aligned in Message
As we walk out of here today…we come again to this same challenge...
God has blessed you with another opportunity today to examine yourself...
Is my purpose (on a moment-by-moment, day-by-day basis), aligned with Jesus Christ?
Do I wake up and literally think - OK - I was GIVEN this day to....
Because we ALL answer that question every single day...
“I was GIVEN this day for the purpose of.... [ ]
And IF we answer this question - “my purpose in life is to GLORIFY Christ in word and deed...”
Then the next question becomes...
Is my message in life, aligned with Jesus’ message?
Do I wake up and think - OK, I need to more FULLY align with what Jesus thought...
I want to KNOW Him - more!
I want to KNOW Him more so that His MESSAGE more fully - becomes MY message!
Can we JOIN Christ in what He says in v50?
“What I SAY, THEREFORE, I say as Christ has told me!”?
Let’s pray