"He Who Has Seen Me" Sermon: John 14:8-17

“He Who Has Seen Me”
[John 14:8-17]
June 12, 2011 Second Reformed Church

Today is Pentecost Sunday. And we remember what is recorded in the book of Acts about this day: “When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:1-4, ESV).

Fifty days after the Resurrection – as Jesus had promised – God the Holy Spirit indwelt all those who believed in Jesus Alone for salvation. And ever since then, all believers receive the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit.

We are directed to a different text this morning, which I just read for us. Jesus had just explained to the disciples that they should not be troubled, but believe that there are many rooms in God’s house, and all those who believe in Him will be received into that house in the Kingdom. He explained that He was going to prepare that place for them and they could not go. Yet, Jesus told them that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

And then, in this morning’s text, we see Philip ask Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” How could Philip ask to see God the Father? He knew that anyone who looks upon God must die, so what was he thinking. And more than that, Jesus shows how discouraged He was with Philip, “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?’” Jesus told Philip that he didn’t need to ask to see the Father because Jesus and the Father are the same One God. To know Jesus is to know God. To see the Son is to see the Divine Father.

Understand, Jesus was not saying that He and the Father are the same Person. This is part of the mystery of the Trinity – which we will look at next week, if the Lord is willing. Jesus, the Son of God, and God the Father are distinct Persons, though They are the same One God. As we confess in The Athanasian Creed, “For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost is all one, the glory equal, the majesty coeternal.” So, in seeing the Divinity of the Son, Philip had seen the Divinity of the Father, since the Father and the Son are the same One God.

Jesus continues: “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.”

Jesus tells Philip to consider what he has seen of Jesus and what Jesus has done. The only conclusion one can draw is that the works Jesus did were the works of the Father – of God, and the authority which Jesus has is the authority of the Father. No one could do the things Jesus did unless He is God. So, Jesus tells Philip to consider, not merely Jesus’ Words, but the witness of the works that He did. How could these be explained, but that Jesus and the Father are the same One God?

What we see here is that Jesus is not just a manifestation of God; Jesus is God in the flesh. So God the Father sent God the Son, Who incarnated as Jesus, Who is our Substitute and Savior.

He continued, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”

What works did Jesus do? Jesus did the Will of the Father; Jesus did what God the Father told Him to do. So, Jesus is saying that those who believe in Him will also do the Will of the Father. What is the Will of God the Father for you and me? Everything that is written in His Word. We ought to begin with that. That will keep us busy for a lifetime.

But what does Jesus mean that those who believe in Him will do “greater works”? What greater works could you or I do? Jesus kept the Law of God perfectly. He performed miracles, including raising the dead. He voluntarily took on our punishment for sin that we would be right with God. That is what Jesus did, what could we do that would be greater than what Jesus did? Is there any good work in all of Creation that we could do that Jesus – Who is 100% Holy God and 100% Holy Man – did not do?

There is only one thing: we can proclaim the Gospel – fulfilled in history. We can proclaim to the world that God came to earth in the Person of Jesus, that He lived a perfect life under God’s Law, took our place before the Wrath of God for our sin, suffered, was crucified, died, was buried, physically rose from the dead, ascended back to the Throne of the Son at the Right Hand of the Father, where He reigns Sovereign over all. Jesus could not say all of that, because He had not yet taken our place before God’s Wrath on the cross. We can do one thing greater than Jesus – we can proclaim the Risen and Exalted Jesus.

Then Jesus said, “Whatever you ask in my name, this the Father will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”

Is Jesus saying that we can have anything we want if we just say, “in Jesus’ Name”? Of course not. Jesus is saying if we ask anything of Him – because He is the Sovereign Creator and Ruler of all – so He has the authority to answer and provide – in His Name – that is, according to His Will – then He will do it. Jesus is able to provide us with anything, but He will give us according to our prayers if we ask for what He Wills.

Now, why does Jesus tell them this after He tells them that they will do greater works than He? Jesus was telling them that there is an intimate connection between prayer and good works. Specifically that we are guided and strengthen through prayer to be able to do the good works that God has planned for us. Our prayers ought to more and more become in line with what God wants – including the greater work of proclaiming Jesus and His Gospel. If we pray that we will be able to proclaim Him – and to do all those things He calls us to do – He will enable us to do so. We are able to do the good works that God calls us to do when we pray that we will be able to do them, and God enables us to do them.

Then Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

How does that follow from prayer? Well, Jesus says He will do anything we ask in His Name, and we just said that Jesus will do whatever we ask in His Name that is what He Wills. Now, we see there is a connection between prayer and love: if we are praying for what Jesus wants to be done, we do so in love of Him. And we said that what Jesus wants us to do is obey the Father as He obeyed His Father – which is keeping the commandments.

One way that we show our love for Christ is obedience to His Commands, as we find them in the Bible. Following Christ in this way is the “spring of true faith” (Pink). The true goal of prayer is to show our love to Christ by being and living as He has called us.

Jesus continued, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells in you and will be in you.”

Here, now, we see Christ’s love for His people: Jesus knows that we will not be able to pray rightly or receive all we need to do God’s Will unless God the Holy Spirit is living in us. So, when Jesus returned to the Father on the day of Ascension, He asked the Father, and They sent the Holy Spirit to indwell all those who would believe. That is what happened that first Pentecost.

Notice, God the Holy Spirit is sent only to believers, not to the world. Non-believers do not have the Holy Spirit living in them; He only inhabits believers. And God the Holy Spirit is not just a feeling, He is not the Spirit of Jesus (as though He were not distinct from Jesus), He is not our spirit made right, but He is a Person of the Godhead, just as Jesus, the Son, is, and just as God the Father is. We find in Holy Scripture, Three Persons – equal, yet distinct, Who are the One God.

Jesus calls the Holy Spirit “another Helper” – Comforter – Advocate – Someone Who can stand by us as our legal representative and counsel – in the case of the Holy Spirit, before the Father. Paul explains, “Likewise, the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26, ESV). So, just as Jesus stands between us and God the Father as our Substitute in taking on God’s Wrath and meriting a holy life. So, the Holy Spirit stands between us and God the Father to help us to pray as we ought. When we are at a loss for words and don’t know how to pray and what to pray for in a situation, God the Holy Spirit intercedes on behalf of believers to pray according to Jesus’ Name and the Will of the Father, that our prayers might be answered.

Shortly after our text, Jesus explains more about why God the Holy Spirit is given to believers: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26, ESV). So, God the Holy Spirit does not only help us to pray, it is by Him that we understand what God has told us in His Word, and He helps us to remember what we have read in His Word and what we have been taught about it.

God knows in our fallible and sinful minds, we will not know how to pray rightly or what to pray for, or how to understand all that God said in His Word, or to remember it, or to apply it. So, in love, God has given us Himself, dwelling in us, to enable us to do what God has called us to do.

If you are a Christian, God lives in you to help you and instruct you and provide for you and to make you what He would have you be and do.

The Good News of Pentecost is that we are not left alone. The disciples were not left alone – after Jesus ascended, He sent the Holy Spirit to indwell them. And He does the same for every believer throughout history.

So, let us review:

Jesus testified that He is the same One God as God the Father, the God of Israel.

Jesus said to not merely look at His Words, but His Works, and recognize that only God could do the things He did.

Jesus told the disciples – and all we who believe – that if we believe that Jesus is God, then we will do a greater work than He did before the crucifixion: we will proclaim the Gospel of Jesus – risen and exalted to the Throne of the Son.

And if we believe that Jesus is God, we will do all we can to follow Jesus in obedience to all He has revealed and commanded us, because we love Him.

And if we desire to obey Him, we will pray for things, and as we pray in Jesus’ Name, according to His Will, those requests will be granted.

Yet, since we do not know what to pray and we need help to understand and remember God’s Word, God will send God the Holy Spirit to indwell everyone who will believe – just like on that first Pentecost, because He loves us. And He will teach and remind us and intercede for us.

We are not alone, brothers and sisters. Since Jesus ascended back to the Throne of the Son at the Right Hand of the Father, He asked that Father that They might send God the Holy Spirit to live in everyone who will believe. And if you believe, He lives in you.

So, let us be in prayer, asking God that God the Holy Spirit Who lives in us will help us to pray rightly and wisely. Let us ask God to help us to understand His Word, to remember it, and to proclaim salvation in Jesus Alone to the whole Creation.

And let us remember the love of God, Who sent His Son to be our Substitute before Him, and then send the Holy Spirit to live in us, that we might live in the love of God as His witnesses to the world.

Let us pray:
Almighty God and Father, we thank You that You chose to glorify Yourself through loving us and sending Your Son to be our Savior. We thank You that You have sent the Holy Spirit after Him that we might never be alone, but always have Immanuel – God with us. We thank You for the promise that You will teach us and intercede for us, and make us to be Your people in every way. Lord, help us to love. And cause us to follow after You in love. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.