Let's go to our Lord in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we beseech You most earnestly for the convincing power of the Holy Spirit to clothe the preaching of Your Word to clothe the hearing of Your Word, to clothe the reception of Your Word, Lord. We pray that the Holy Spirit would cause Your people to hear and receive Your Word most effectually, that there will be a greater work of sanctification in the hearts of your saints today by the ministry of your word preached. And Father, in addition to that, we plead with you for the salvation of those in this congregation who've yet to truly close with Christ in real conversion. Heavenly Father, we pray that in your great mercy, may this be the day of their salvation. May they hear the gospel, truly hear it, unto saving faith in Jesus Christ. We trust in you. For such works, Lord, that only You can bring to pass, only You can carry out. For the praise and the glory and honor of the name of the Son of Your love, Jesus Christ our Lord. In His name we pray. Amen. I invite you to take the Word of God and let's turn to John chapter 14. John chapter 14. As we will be looking and considering this morning what I have entitled, Show Us the Father. Show Us the Father. John 14. We're gonna start reading at verse seven to verse 11. Verses seven to 11, John chapter 14. If you had known me, You would have known my Father also. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him.' Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.' Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know Me, Philip? Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you, I do not speak of my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does His works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. And so reads the infallible, the inerrant, and the all-sufficient Word of the living God. The Christian life for every individual Christian is a work in progress when it comes to our personal sanctification. In both our spiritual understanding and spiritual character, we are all in a lifelong process of spiritual growth, at least we should be. It is possible for our sanctification not to be progressing all that much. This was obviously the problem Paul, the apostle, was facing with the Corinthian church. In 1 Corinthians 3, verses 1-4, Paul confessed that though he had desired to address the Corinthian church as spiritual people, he couldn't since they were still people of the flesh as infants in Christ. While Paul wanted to feed them with solid food, he had to resort to a milk diet because they were not yet ready. However, this admission and observation on Paul's part was not showing the Corinthian church sympathy, but expressing grave disappointment. The reason for their lack in spiritual growth was due to their sinful conduct that showed itself in sins like strife and jealousy. Paul was therefore rebuking this church and calling them to repent for acting in what he said was a merely human way rather than as men and women in Christ. Another example of this kind of correction and lamentation over the lack of progressing in spiritual maturity is in Hebrews chapter 5, 11 through 14. In this passage, the writer to the Hebrews reproves these Jewish Christians for having become what he calls dull of hearing. What this term indicates about these believers is that they had become intellectually numb or thick. They had settled in a spiritual ignorance where there was no advancement in their spiritual understanding. Thus, they grew lethargic and slow to hear the Word of God. The result, as the writer to the Hebrews bemoans, is that they also needed to stay on a milk diet instead of solid food, since he said solid food is for the mature. But like Paul with the Corinthian church, this was not offering sympathy, but a rebuke. For one thing, we're told that these Christians should have been teachers by this time. There was an expectation on them to have been so skilled in the Word that they'd be able to teach others also. But instead, they were in need of someone teaching them all over again the basic principles of the oracles of God. Their lack of a growing spiritual knowledge of God's Word impeded them to advance in greater maturity to pass on by way of teaching. Instead, due to their dullness of hearing, they proved themselves as unskilled in the word of righteousness. What should we take away from this? Well, first of all, spiritual ignorance and spiritual maturity are not badges of honor in the Christian life. That's the first big takeaway. God means us to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. Every Christian must be progressing rather than regressing in their personal sanctification. Second of all, a Christian who's still in spiritual diapers after years in the Christian life is a disgrace. That is nothing but a disgrace. They should not be coddled or excused for their immaturity, but reprimanded to repent and grow up. The reality of remaining sin and the impossibility to reach sinless perfection, proceeding glory, must never be used by any Christian as justification for either carnal thinking or carnal conduct. The Word of God assures us, as believers in Christ, that we have everything we need. Now listen to this. We have everything we need to advance in greater spiritual understanding and maturity. Therefore, not to do so is sin. Well, with this in mind, we turn back to John chapter 14. where this morning we are looking at verses 7 through 11. At this time and place, Jesus is with his 11 apostles in the upper room on the night he would eventually be arrested and tried and then crucified on the following day. With these events in the purview of the immediate circumstances, these last few hours our Lord spent with his apostles were the most intimate and crucial moments he had with them over the full scope of his three-year ministry. The teaching Jesus gave on this night then was actually preparing them, the apostles, for what lay ahead after His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension back to the Father. Now, as we enter John 14, 7-11, we're coming upon an exchange Jesus is having with one of His apostles, namely Philip. But this exchange with Philip is part of a larger flow of words Jesus started to communicate to his very bewildered apostles over the news of their Lord's departure. In verses 1 to 3, Jesus comforts his apostles to believe him as he's promised them that he's leaving them is to return to the father's house to prepare a place for them there to which he will Come back to get them so that where he is they will be also Jesus then added to this promise the assurance that His apostles know the way where He is going. But one of His apostles, Thomas, questioned this assurance by confessing that they did not know where Jesus was going, so how then could they know the way? In response to this voice perplexity, Jesus gave His greatest recorded claim that there is no other way to the Father but by Him. Jesus stated emphatically, I am the way. and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. There is no other way to the Father's house and thereby to the Father himself but through the Father's Son, Jesus Christ the Lord. But Jesus, after making this extraordinary claim, doesn't leave either Thomas or the rest of the apostles hanging. Turning to verse 7 of our text, our Lord goes on to say, If you had known me, You would have known my father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him. Now what is Jesus saying here? He is not saying that his apostles didn't know him. They did know Him and they believed Him for who He revealed Himself to be over the three years they spent with Him. However, the fact that they found Jesus' references to the Father, the Father's house, and both His and their way there difficult to understand, okay, like Thomas, was because their views of Jesus Himself were so defective and deficient. New Testament scholar Leon Moores put it this way when he said, they had known Jesus well enough to leave their homes and friends and livelihood to follow him wherever he went, but they did not know him in his full significance. They did not know him in his full significance. And that full significance is connected to the mysterious eternal union between the Father and the Son as the one God. In other words, the apostles' poor understanding of the Father showed their inadequate grasp of Jesus himself. This is why Jesus says, if you had known me, you would have known my Father also. The meaning of these words can be understood like this. If you had rightly and properly known me as God's eternal Son in the fullness of my nature, you would have then known more of that Father to whom I am inseparably united. No one can rightly know me without knowing the Father because I and the Father are one. What is this saying? The true knowledge of the Father cannot be obtained but by the true knowledge of the Son. And if the Son will be really known, the Father is known also. This is what the apostles had not yet fully taken in. But this situation was about to change for them all due to the events that would soon transpire. Thus Jesus goes on to say here, from now on, you do know Him and have seen Him. through Jesus' death, resurrection, ascension into heaven, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, by the means of these redemptive events, the apostles would gain a deep and profound knowledge of God the Father. In anticipation of these certain events, Jesus said, seen the Father because of the certainty of what was coming. Our Lord spoke in the present tense, unveiling to His apostles that they shall know the Father so clearly that it may be said they have, in fact, seen Him. But this clarity in knowing the Father can only come in knowing the Son, which at this time the apostles were proving not to be very clear about. And saying this brings us now to our fuller exposition of the text, which we'll start at verse 8 and finish at verse 11. Out of this passage, we will consider two things. First, a misapplied faith, and second, a redirected faith. A misapplied faith and a redirected faith. To begin with, let's notice first a misapplied faith. Reading verse 8, Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father and it is enough for us. What Jesus had just said to Thomas in verse 7, Philip now betrays that he did not get it. He absolutely did not get it. In fact, all Philip can focus on is seeing the Father but not how exactly that vision is to come about. All he heard Jesus say was, you will see the Father. That's all Philip heard. So in direct response to this, Philip commands Jesus, that's right, he commands him, to show them the Father right then and there. The verb translated show, that's an aorist imperative. That's an aorist imperative. So Philip is demanding. He's not requesting. No. He's not asking. He's demanding. Demanding the immediate fulfillment of this desire. And Philip adds to this the words, and it is enough, enough for us. Show us the Father and it is enough for us. What does that mean? It means it is sufficient. This is all we need to see so that all our difficulties with understanding what you're talking about will be wiped away. So, Lord, just show us the Father. Now. Right now. How do we understand what Philip is wanting? What seems to be in Philip's mind with this imperative is reverted to those experiences of Old Testament saints who had been granted an immediate revelation of God's being. Philip was looking for what's called a theophany. which is an appearance of God that is perceptible to human sight. So this reminds us of the request Moses made to God in Exodus 33 verse 18 when Moses said, Show me your glory. But the most that Moses was allowed to see was just a glimpse, only a glimpse of the trailing edge of God's glory. We can only imagine though that Philip probably had this experience of Moses in his mind. He might have remembered also when Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, along with 70 of the elders of Israel, were permitted to see when, in Exodus 24 and verse 10, they saw the God of Israel in a vision tailored to their sight. Or he might have remembered the parents of Samson, the prophets Elijah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, all of whom God permitted to behold a revelation of His glory in a way That was frankly extraordinary. The point is, Philip's demand was for an immediate display of God himself. Philip's demand was for an immediate display of God himself. And yet this demand was showing how misdirected his faith really was. I want you to think about this. had spent three full years with the Son of God incarnate, seeing the glory of God like no other saint had witnessed before. But here he is in the upper room, saying rather audaciously, You know, Lord, what we've seen for the last three years, well, it just isn't enough. It hasn't been sufficient to really show us who the Father is. So our faith will be truly satisfied if you just go ahead and unveil the glory of the Father now. If we just have this experience then, this will be enough for our faith. So show us the Father. Where was Philip's faith? He certainly believed and trusted in Jesus as the Christ of the living God, the Son of the Father, yes. But in his spiritual ignorance and immaturity, he was also directing his faith for something more than what he had in Jesus. Does this sound familiar? This is what we see so overtly in Charismaticism and Pentecostalism. Always looking for that one great spiritual experience that is going to cure all their woes. Faith in Jesus and all that He's provided in the work of His saving grace. It isn't enough. It's not enough. And the revelation of God's written Word isn't enough. Because surely, as Pentecostals and Charismatics reason, surely God has more to say than what He's given us by His written Word. So then for Charismatics and Pentecostals, like Philip, they just keep saying, Lord, show us the Father, and it'll be enough for us. Just show us the Father. Just give us this one experience, despite everything else you've given. But this betrays a misdirected faith. which comes from a deep spiritual ignorance and immaturity for something more than what God has given in Christ. Well, how does Jesus respond to Philip's demand? Answering this question takes us now to the next major point, a redirected faith. Reading verses nine through 11, Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long and you still do not know Me, Philip? Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me, that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. I believe that it's safe to say Jesus is upset with Philip. He is. He's upset. What our Lord says here to his apostle, have I been with you so long and you still do not know me, Philip? Jesus is expressing exasperation with this Apostle which is issuing forth a sharp rebuke from the Son of God. Listen, He is not coddling or excusing or even sympathizing with the ignorance and immaturity of this Apostle because by this time, okay, understand, by this time in Philip's spiritual journey with Jesus, he should have known better then to make such an arrogant demand like this. And why? Why? It is because of what Jesus states as a matter of fact concerning who He is in the fullness of His divine nature. He says to Philip, whoever has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, show us the Father? What Jesus is stating so emphatically here is whoever has thoroughly seen Him with the eye of faith and realized He is the eternal Son of God has seen as much of the Father as mortal man can apprehend. Giving us a greater sense of these words, A.W. Pink wrote the following, the force of these words are as follows, have you never apprehended who I am? The corporeal representation of God, such as Philip desired, was unnecessary. Unnecessary because a far more glorious revelation of deity was right there before him. The Word made flesh was tabernacling among men, and His glory was the glory of the only begotten of the Father. He was the visible image of the invisible God. He was the brightness of His glory and the expressed image of His person. In Jesus dwelled all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. So it is no wonder that Jesus would express to Philip, How can you say, show us the Father? To see Jesus is to see the Father. Now listen carefully. Not because their persons in the Godhead are absorbed together where their personhood is dissolved and indistinct. No. No, no, no, no. Absolutely not. Don't think that. The Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Father. Let's be clear on that. However, however, the Father and the Son are of the same one divine nature in essence as the one eternal God. We confess this every Sunday morning in the Nicene Creed. And this truth is so clearly what Jesus is meaning. It's what he's meaning by these amazing words, whoever has seen me has seen the Father. Philip, you're looking in the wrong direction. But this is not all Jesus says about this matter. He goes on in verses 10 and 11 to declare, do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak of my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does the works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. Jesus doesn't let Philip off the hook. Our Lord continues to rebuke His Apostle. Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The fact that Jesus phrases this as a question clearly indicates that the oneness of nature between the Father and the Son as the one true God was a truth. Listen, this was a truth which Jesus taught His Apostles many times before. So where was Philip? Asleep? Not paying attention? Was he not praying to understand this monumental truth? The Lord was revealing about himself as God incarnate and thereby one with the Father? Jesus, listen to this, Jesus was not giving Philip a way out. A way to be excused for not apprehending this truth. That's because this truth has everything to do with who Jesus really is as the eternal Son of the eternal Father who are both the one God. So, while Philip had no way of comprehending this truth concerning the one undivided essence between the Father and the Son as God, yet he had the grace He had the grace to apprehend it by faith, which is why Jesus is rebuking him for his inexcusable ignorance. And this should be a lesson for every Christian when it comes to the biblical doctrine of the Trinity. There is no truth about God revealed in scripture that is higher and more important to our understanding than the Trinitarian nature of God. Yet we must admit that this doctrine is full of deep mystery. We have no eyes to see it fully, no line to fathom it, and no mind to take it all in. However, however, It is the revelation of God's Word concerning the truth of God's nature, in essence, that we are therefore meant to know and believe. So as Christians, listen carefully to this, as Christians, we do not have the right to dismiss it just because we can't fully understand it. Well, no, duh, you're never going to fully understand it. But that doesn't give you the right, brother and sister, to just dismiss it out of hand. That kind of willful ignorance, listen to me, that kind of willful ignorance, not only is it inexcusable, that is an absolute insult to the Lord our God. That is an insult to God. We should want to seek and understand all we can about the triune God, though, We will have to be content to believe what we cannot fully explain and to admire and revere what we cannot fully interpret. That's the catch. Now returning to our text in verse 10. Jesus continues to elaborate on this truth of His oneness with the Father as God. Our Lord says, 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. What our Lord is claiming here, as He does back in John chapter 5, is that there is nothing He either said or did that was independent of the Father. since He is the Son of the Father, then everything Jesus spoke and everything that He worked was a true revelation of who the Father is. This is why in John 1, verse 14, the Apostle John, writing this Gospel account, years later, testifies that when they saw Jesus, the Word made flesh, What did they see? What does John say? He says, they saw His glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father. They saw the works of the Father who dwells in His Son. No prophet, no priest, no king under the old covenant. could ever make that claim. Ever. God was with them and He called them and sent them to do His will, but they were not. They were not the only generated son of the Father. They were not co-equal to the Father as the one true and living God. No. Who and what the apostles beheld in Jesus of Nazareth was God's eternal Son made flesh. And this is why Jesus could say to His apostles, with Philip in particular, 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. So then by this rebuke, Jesus was redirecting all of Philip's faith back on him, back on the Lord Jesus, as the only one in whom and by whom God the Father can truly be seen. Philip was foolishly looking for the Father in a revelation independent of his divine Son. You see, that's why it was so offensive right there. That's why this was so offensive and inexcusable to the Son of God. Philip was foolishly looking for the Father in a revelation independent of his divine Son. And this, despite what Jesus had been saying in these immediate moments, that He alone will take them to the Father's house because there is no other way to the Father but by Him, the only begotten Son of God. So this sharp correction from the lips of our Lord was absolutely necessary. But to clinch the rebuke, Jesus says to all His apostles in verse 11, look at it. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. or else believe on account of the works themselves. Notice here that Jesus does not say, believe in me. He doesn't say that. He does not say that. He does not say believe in me. He says, believe me. Believe me. Take my word. as true when I say and claim that I'm in the Father and the Father is in me. Clearly what this is teaching us about saving faith, and this is so critical, what this is teaching us about saving faith is that it includes a full recognition of what Jesus has actually said as the truth. But what we're also taught here is that saving faith will not allow us to think of Jesus Christ as only a mortal man. Saving faith will not allow us to do that. He is infinitely more than that, more than a mortal man, because of the mutual indwelling He shares with the Father as the one God. In other words, the deity of Jesus Christ and His co-equality and co-eternality as the Son of the Father cannot be denied and yet still claim to have saving faith. Let me say that again. That is so important. The deity of Jesus Christ and His co-equality and co-eternality as the Son of the Father cannot be denied, rejected, and yet you still claim you have saving faith. Oh no, you don't. You have a false faith. All you are is a Jehovah's Witness. All you are is a Mormon. You're not a Christian. Now thankfully, very, very thankful to say this, this is not what Philip was doing. This was not Philip's guilt, what I just said. But nevertheless, nevertheless, Philip's faith was heading in a wrong direction so that Jesus had to immediately make a course correction for his apostle. Our Lord did not let this lie. He did not let this lie, no. And yet, even if one's faith is not all that clear about the unity between the Father and the Son, and notice how I'm wording that, one's faith may not be all that clear about it, they're not denying it, they're not rejecting it, but they're just not all that clear about it. So even if one's faith is like that, Jesus adds or else believe on account of the works themselves. Now, what is that saying? Okay, let me tell you what this is not saying. This is not an either-or belief. That is not what the Lord is saying. In other words, Jesus is not saying this. If you can't believe who Jesus is as God's eternal Son, if you can't believe that, then at least believe him because of his miraculous works. That is not what Jesus is saying here. This is not the appeal. This is not the appeal Jesus is making. Otherwise, now think about this, if that was the appeal that he was making, he would be undermining his rebuke of Philip, and he'd also be undermining all his claims of deity, if that's what he really meant. No, that's not what he meant. the appeal of our Lord is to believe Him, to believe Him on the basis of His miracles as signs that point to His deity even if like Philip you're still fuzzy on the divine union between the Father and the Son. So this is not a denial of the union of the Father and the Son but an acknowledgement that on this truth you're still making your way in a fog. However, you still believe Jesus and everything that's been revealed about Him in His Word, and thereby trust Him as the one and only way to the Father, because He alone is the Father's Son. In short, you take Jesus Christ completely at His Word. You do not deny it. You do not reject it, even though you may not really get all of it. You may not fully understand it. Well, join the rest of us. There's mystery here. We are talking about God, who's infinite, and we're not. But the obvious question, the obvious question in light of all of this is simply, do you believe Jesus? Do you believe Jesus? Do you really take Jesus Christ at His word? At His word. You may not understand it all, but do you nevertheless believe it all? You may not understand it all, but do you believe it all? Because this is what Jesus Christ has said and taught. He says there's no other way to the Father but through Him. And this is due to the fact that He and the Father are one and therefore equal in nature as the one true God. This is what He says in all His works, the miracles He performed during His earthly ministry. And most importantly, His own resurrection from the dead are all signs that point to the truth of who Jesus Christ is as God's eternal Son. This is what Jesus has revealed concerning Himself. So, do you believe Him? Do you really take Him at His Word? Please understand this. You cannot be a Christian if you don't. You cannot be a Christian if you deny anything Jesus has claimed or taught. You cannot be. Saving faith, saving faith is believing Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, and in Him alone. is eternal salvation. Is this where your faith lands today? Is this where your faith lands? That's the question you need to answer for yourself. Amen. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we do confess, Lord, with Your Word. Great is the mystery. Great is the mystery of who the eternal God really is. Revealed as one eternal, living, and true God, three distinct persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We thank you, Heavenly Father, how that this morning from your word we have seen in this exchange between your eternal Son and his Apostle Philip, that that mysterious eternal union between you and the Lord Jesus, Heavenly Father, is It is a union that we cannot, for any reason, ever compromise, despite Lord how we'll never understand it fully. But if we truly believe everything our Lord Jesus has taught us, everything he has said and claimed, then we have to believe, Lord, every word, every word that Jesus has claimed of this union as true, no matter how much, how much we don't and will not understand. And we pray, Lord, that you'll give us the grace as your people to rest content with that. Lord, let us not commit the folly of Philip and somehow be looking for something more, for something else other than what you've revealed by your written word and everything you've given us in Christ, for that is enough, that is sufficient. But perhaps, Lord, we have at times in our own ignorance and immaturity have, like Philip, looked for something else, something more, an experience of some kind. And if any of us here today, Lord, are at that place, and Father, I pray that you will turn our hearts quickly back to you in the fullness of all you've given us in Christ by the truth of what we read and behold in your written word. And be content and accept with joy that this by your own design and purpose is all we need on this side of glory. But Father, we do pray that as we think and as we contemplate, as we muse, as we are now, especially in this congregation so much on the holy revelation of the Holy Trinity, Lord, we ask that you will give us as much spiritual illumination, understanding, that we can possibly have to apprehend by faith what is so plainly revealed in your word concerning the true nature and being of the one God. We pray too, Lord, that you will protect us, that you will keep us from error that is so very easy to make. So many slippery slopes all around us, But we thank you, Father, for the guardrails that you have put up, even by your church over the ages, to keep us solidly standing on what your word says and not looking for anything outside of that. We cast these cares on you, Father, and we do pray, always pray, This word of truth that has been proclaimed today, this word of the gospel that has been preached, will not fall on deaf ears and hard hearts with those yet converted to Christ today. But Lord, we pray that that fallow ground will be broken up by the power of the Spirit through the work of regeneration, causing them to be born again and thereby closing assuredly with Christ in saving faith. These things we ask and plead with you in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.