Showing the Father

I would like you to turn in your Bibles this morning to John chapter 14.

John 14 · chapter mention

!

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 in me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me,

or else believe on account of the works themselves.

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.

Whatever you ask in my name,

this will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

If you ask me anything in my name,

I will do it.

Let's pray.

This morning, Father,

Father, I ask this in Jesus' name,

that he,

who enjoys the praise of angels,

and will be our great satisfaction in eternity,

will be the one that is rightly seen this morning

through the enabling of the Spirit of God

in the lives of those who are believers,

and that seeing him,

the hearts and lives of those who know Christ that are here today

would be formed and shaped to be more like him,

to be effective witnesses and testifiers

to the glory and supremacy of Christ,

and that those that are here today that do not know the Lord Jesus

would be drawn by your Spirit

to see the darkness and the bankruptcy of their soul

and be brought by grace to see that there is no hope apart from Jesus.

Give me your strength

that I might lift up Jesus

and that he might be seen worthy, glorious, sufficient, all satisfying.

Protect us from our own indifference

to the glory and supremacy of Christ.

Remove things that would be an impediment

to our focus this morning,

and we ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

I have to say that this is a sermon

that probably requires more prayer than last week's.

I was preaching on stewardship last week,

in case anybody forgot,

and I let you know that it's probably my last one here

because Pastor Shearer will be preaching full bore on stewardship next year.

I don't know exactly what he's going to do,

but it's like someone walked by me Sunday morning

after the sermon and said,

hey, we heard your first one,

and we heard your last one.

A pretty interesting statement.

I appreciate those who have stayed with me

and borne the outcome over the years.

But I have to tell you that this passage

is one that it's full beyond imagination.

And the frailty of the human mind,

as you gather so much,

is that I know there's a limit

to how much you will endure

in the next hour and a half.

And so you're thinking,

really?

I was teasing in case you didn't know.

But there's so much here, honestly,

that deserves our attention this morning

that I would plead with you

that you will persist in being in prayer

that the Spirit of God

would make the Lord Jesus Christ clear

and glorious in your thinking.

And that is a work that we need

the enabling of the Holy Spirit to attend to.

Now, having said that,

I want you to understand the context

of John chapter 14, verse 8.

John 14:8

You remember that what has taken place

beginning back actually in John chapter 13 on

John 13 · chapter mention

is that Jesus has been ministering

to His disciples.

We had the upper room

where He performed the Last Supper

and invited His disciples to do this

on a regular basis in the future.

He spoke to Judas and His betrayal

and of Judas and His betrayal.

He then ministers,

and what we're dealing with this morning

is a portion of the ministry of Christ

to His disciples.

Jesus knows that He's going to die on the cross

in hours.

He knows that He is going to be betrayed

by one of His disciples.

He knows that He is going to suffer

separation from the Father,

which is something that in all of eternity past

had never taken place,

and it would be supremely significant

in the life of Christ.

And yet the thing that I find so stunning

is that in the face of what He knew was coming,

His affection and His interest

is in His disciples.

And what we find in John chapter 14,

John 14 · chapter mention

remember back there in verse 1,

it says,

let not your heart be troubled.

How many of you can identify with being troubled?

I mean, all you have to do

is wake up in the morning

and realize that we live in a fallen,

broken world.

And the biggest problems that we have

really don't come to us through the media,

but we look at them in the mirror

on a day-to-day basis, do we not?

Was it Pogo that said,

we have met the enemy

and He is us?

I remember hearing Paul David Tripp

say that the fact of the matter is

is that the biggest problem I have is me.

And so here we are

looking at the world that we live in,

recognizing the challenges in our life,

and the words that Jesus spoke

to His disciples

are supremely significant to us

when we really get our hands around

just how challenging the day is.

The first part,

Jesus reminded the disciples,

He says, listen,

I want you to know how the story ends.

And it's good to remind ourselves

periodically of the fact

that what's going on today

is not the end of the story.

We look forward to the day

that we are going to see

the Lord Jesus Christ,

and as it says in the Scriptures

at numerous different occasions,

we'll be satisfied with that.

And so not only do we find

this encouragement

as to how the story ends,

but another thing

that Jesus brings to His disciples

is this very, very precious truth

that in the midst of our adversity

and our difficulties,

the most important thing for us to do

is to look on Jesus

and lock our eyes in on Him.

Not too long ago,

I was in a room talking with an individual

who is in the last days of his life.

And the individual was going through

some of the normal struggles

that come with that,

and as the individual was sharing with me

some of the challenges

that are being faced,

I encouraged the individual,

hey, say, listen,

fix your eyes on Jesus

because He is the one absolute certainty

that you can count on

that will be an encouragement

and a remedy for the challenges

that you are facing.

It reminds me a little bit,

last week Timothy Shearer

came marching into church,

and how many of you know

that he cut his finger?

Does anybody know that?

A couple of you know.

He took a whack at it

with a hatchet

and very thankfully

did not do anything more

than endure nine stitches

from Dr. Malumba.

And he'll show you this

after the service.

I'm positive.

I'll let you know.

And when I saw that,

I thought,

oh, poor Timothy.

And it really brought back

reminders of my youth.

My dad was a surgeon,

and so I had to show Timothy

all the cuts in my hand,

and I didn't pull up my pants legs,

but I've got them there too.

And it was kind of a fairly regular thing

that my dad would stitch me up.

Now, I always had to wait

because there were other

major surgeries going on,

and just kind of putting

the pieces together for Tim

was no big deal.

And I was like,

I'd wait for Dad,

and he'd come out and say,

oh, yeah, okay,

and then off we'd go.

I remember the first couple times

that my dad stitched me up,

it was a very traumatic experience.

Once you get experience,

you know, it's no big deal.

I mean, like seventh, eighth, ninth,

it's like, here we go again,

no problem.

But the first couple times

were pretty traumatic.

And my dad,

as he was injecting me with Novocaine,

how many of you know

that the doctors lie

when they say this is just

like a little mosquito bite?

Right?

Do you say that, Dr. Malumba?

I just check it.

Okay?

The first couple times,

here's what my dad said to me.

He said, Tim, look at my face.

Look at my face.

And looking in my father's face

made all the difference in the world

in handling the pain.

That's what we're dealing with here

when Jesus is talking to his disciples,

and they're struggling with the uncertainty

of what is coming.

they know

that the one they have loved

and followed for three years

is on the cusp.

He's told them,

I'm going to be crucified.

I'm going to be betrayed.

I'm going to die.

I'm going to rise.

And all of that's kind of

just blurred out

in a terrifying reality

of Jesus leaving.

And so Philip,

in the midst of that,

you know what he says?

Look at the passage.

He says,

Hey, listen.

Lord,

show us the Father

and it's enough for us.

Now we like to think

that Philip's request

is really pretty spiritual.

And it is on some aspects,

but I want you to follow with me

as Jesus gives his answer.

And what we're going to find

in this passage

is that Jesus is our full satisfaction.

Jesus really is the only one

who can completely satisfy

the longing of your soul

and deal with the heartache

and challenges

and adversity that you face.

Everything else is not sufficient.

And so as you look at this moment

and we hear Philip say,

Show us the Father.

I want you to understand

that Philip's request,

for one,

was actually understandable.

It really was.

And it was understandable

for several good reasons.

For one,

Philip was kind of asking

a question

that other individuals

have asked in the Scriptures.

You remember

when Moses had been given

the responsibility

of taking the nation of Israel,

that little ragged band

of grumpy people

on a long trip.

How many of you parents

have been a little frustrated

with the fact

that you've pulled out

of the driveway

and somebody in the back

of the car says,

Are we there yet?

And after you have invited

everybody to go

winky tinky,

you're down the road

about 10, 15 miles

and somebody says,

I have to go.

Just so you know,

I explained to my children

if they had to go,

we would pull over

on the side of the road

immediately.

My boys thought

that was okay.

My girls didn't.

But I want you

to understand,

here is Moses

leading the nation of Israel

into the promised land

and this group of people

were wearing him out.

And Moses says,

Well, listen,

show me your glory.

I need to see you.

I need to see you.

And if you were to turn,

and I'm not going to ask

that you do it this morning,

but if you were to turn over

to Exodus chapter 33,

Exodus 33:18

verse 18,

you'll find that

God showed himself

to Moses

and it was

an encouragement to him.

For another thing,

you'll remember

that Job speaks.

He said,

I shall be satisfied

when I awake

with thy,

what?

Thy likeness.

And we know

that the desire

of the heart of man

is to see that

which is supremely satisfying

and supremely beautiful

and that is

God the Father.

And so,

as we look at this,

we find Philip

asking a logical thing,

but I want you to know

another thing is

that Philip's request

was actually

a great testimony of faith.

Here he was,

faced with adversity

and difficulty,

and he was saying,

listen, I understand

what we're going

to go through.

I mean, at least I hear

you saying the words

and all I need,

just let me see God.

We've all been there

at some point in our life

where the incredible

challenges of the moment,

the heartache,

the loss

that we've been enduring,

a grief with a child

or a marriage

or whatever,

where we just cry out

and say,

Lord, I need to see you.

But at the same time,

I want you to understand

that Philip's question

showed that he really

didn't appreciate

the facts that he had

at hand.

I want you to hold on

to that just for a second.

Philip didn't appreciate

the facts that he had

at hand.

Everybody look up

so I know you understand

what I'm going to say next.

Very seldom do I,

in counseling,

ever tell people

something brand new.

at least in our fellowship

and most of the time,

I'm bringing back

into view

and into their thinking

things that they have heard

and seen

and understood before

and forgotten.

So here is Philip saying,

show us the Father

and the fact of the matter is

is that he'd been there

when Peter had confessed.

Remember,

Peter,

who do men say that I am?

Who do you say that I am?

Thou art the Christ,

the Son of the living God.

Philip had been in the boat

when they had been terrified

in the storm.

And then Jesus awakened

and he quieted it

with a word.

And do you know

what the scripture says,

both in Mark and Luke?

It says,

they were afraid before,

but now with the recognition

of the supremacy

of the one in the boat,

they were terrified.

Philip had seen Jesus

cast out demons.

He'd seen Jesus

heal all sorts of sicknesses.

He'd seen Jesus

raise the dead.

He had been there

to hear Jesus preach and teach.

And he had made connection

again and again

with the fact of

Christ's supremacy

and authority

and grasp of the Old Testament

and the fact that

he was the Messiah.

And yet on the moment,

under the adversity

of the hour,

Philip laid that aside

and he became

very anxious

and troubled.

And the fact of the matter

is,

is that when you really

come down to it,

we've all been

in the same place

that Philip was.

Isn't that right?

We've taken our eyes

off of Christ

just like Peter did

when he went down

and we've forgotten

the blessing

and the supremacy

and the sweetness

of the person

that has come to know us

as we've known

as our Savior

and we forget that.

And so,

here when we stop

and think about it,

I want you to recognize

we've been like Philip.

We really have.

I speak to most of you

this morning

that know the Lord Jesus Christ

as your Savior

and you are here

this morning

recognizing

the certainty

of your salvation.

you were taken

out of the kingdom

of darkness

and put into

his sweet kingdom

of light.

You've been blessed

as it says

in Ephesians,

you've been blessed

with every spiritual blessing

in the heavenlies.

You know

how the story

will end.

And yet,

there you are

faced with some

of the major trials

of your life

whether it's

a sickness

or a wayward child

or a marriage

that's struggling

or the loss

of a job

and at the moment

you find yourself

terrified

and you say

the one thing

I need

is just a better

view of God.

And I want you

to grasp

the sweet truth

of what Jesus says

and hold on to it.

He says there

in the passage

whoever,

verse 9,

whoever has seen me

has seen the Father.

How can you say

show us the Father?

whoever has seen me

has seen the Father.

What we understand

that to mean

is that Jesus

is all in all.

I think about

the passage

over in Colossians

where it says

in him

the fullness

of the Godhead

dwells.

Do you know

what it's saying?

It's saying

that Jesus Christ

is the one

who is entirely

sufficient

for satisfying

the deepest longing

of our heart.

I think about

the way in which

Revelation chapter,

I think it is 5,

plays out.

Revelation chapter 5.

Revelation 5 · chapter mention

Let's take a minute

just to go there

so I am speaking

accurately.

Revelation chapter 5.

Revelation 5 · chapter mention

It begins

with John

seeing the evidence

of a scroll

there in verse 1

written within

and on the back

sealed with seven seals

and a strong angel

proclaiming with a loud voice

who is worthy

to open the scroll

and break its seals.

And no one

in heaven

or on earth

or under the earth

was able to open

the scroll

or to look at it

and I began to weep

loudly

because no one

was found worthy

and who was worthy

to open the scroll?

Who was it?

The Lion of Judah.

The Lamb that was slain.

The one who is

our Redeemer

or our Savior.

That is the one

who is worthy

to open the scroll.

And what plays out

in the remainder

of chapter 5

is this unbelievable

recitation

of glory

to the Lord Jesus Christ

who is the Lamb

slain for our sins.

And so here we find

Jesus speaking

to His disciples

in the face

of the incredible adversity

that far surpasses

the moments

that we are facing

and in that thing

He says,

listen,

listen,

I'm the one

and I'm the one

who can satisfy

the heartache

and the need

that you have.

And so I've got

to tell you this,

we would do well

to think more

about Him now.

Now,

having said that,

what I want you

to recognize

that follows there

in John chapter 14

John 14 · chapter mention

beginning there

in verse 10

and carrying on down

through the end

of the passage

that we're going

to study

is Jesus gives us

three explicit

indicators

of why He is

the God

and Father,

why He is

one with the Father

and why our view

of Him

is sufficient

to satisfy

the needs

of our heart.

that's what He does.

You look there

in the passage,

do you not believe,

verse 10,

that I am in the Father

and the Father

is in me?

Can you not make

this connection

of Jesus

being the complete

and satisfying

evidence

of the Father?

He is the Father.

I've got to tell you,

when we get to heaven,

I'm one

and there are those

who maybe see it differently.

I do not believe

that I'm ever going

to see God the Father.

I'm going to see Jesus

and that will satisfy me.

I will be fully satisfied

with seeing Him.

And here is

Jesus speaking

to Philip

who, you know,

in the midst of this mess,

just let me see God.

Jesus says,

hey listen,

let's get this straight.

I always spoke

the Father's words.

That's what He says

there in verse 10.

Look at it.

He says,

I do not speak

on my own authority.

What Jesus

was reminding Philip

was,

was that His union

and communion

with the Father

was such that

everything He said

was directly

according

to the Father's desire.

One of the things

that happens

as you get older

in marriage,

when marriage

is kind of

growing together,

how many of you know

as you get towards

the later year,

you can fill in

the sentences?

Now,

that doesn't mean

that speech

becomes unnecessary.

You know,

I like to hear

Judith talk,

but I do know

what she's going

to say

in many instances.

Very,

very frail

illustration.

Here is Jesus

saying,

let me tell you

something,

what I say

the Father says.

Over in John

John 7 · chapter mention

chapter 7,

16,

you're in John,

just look back

for a second

to the passage

in John chapter 7

John 7:16

verse 16.

Here's what Jesus

said.

He said,

Jesus answered them,

my teaching

is not mine,

but his

who sent me.

There was a question

about,

what are you teaching?

He said,

well,

I'm teaching

what the Father

once taught.

You look over

at another passage

in John chapter 12

John 12 · chapter mention

and go ahead

and go to that one,

John chapter 12

John 12:49

verse 49.

Jesus says this,

for I have not

spoken of my own

authority,

but the Father

who sent me,

he has himself

given me a commandment.

what to say

and what to speak.

You know,

there's a time

for Robert Frost

and William Shakespeare

and Martin Luther King

or whatever else,

but at the end

of the day,

the truth of the matter

is this,

is that what God

has to say

is sufficient

and supreme

and satisfying

and it's the best

thing to rely upon.

But I've got to

make this point clear.

Jesus wasn't just

talking about God,

he was God's word

and God himself

speaking in human form

to us

in John chapter 6

John 6:68

verse 68

when Jesus asked

the disciples

after the lengthy sermon

where most everybody left,

he said,

are you guys going

and what did Peter say?

Where are we going?

You have the words of life.

And then again,

in John chapter 7

John 7:46

verse 46

in the same context

that we are,

one of the things

that takes place

is people come back

and they say this,

no one ever spoke

like this man.

Now what was it

about Christ speaking

that made his words

so powerful?

What was it?

It was that he was

in fact God incarnate.

And that was it.

And here is

Philip

struggling

with the adversity

of his moment

and Jesus says,

listen,

get this straight.

You want to see God?

You've got me.

And everything

I have said

has been God's word.

Second thing

that we find there

in the passage

in John chapter 14

John 14 · chapter mention

is that Jesus

always did

the Father's work.

Jesus always

did the Father's work.

You look there,

you're working through

the latter part

of verse 10.

He says,

I do not speak

on my own authority

but the Father

who dwells in me

does his works.

Now,

I've got to admit,

it's a little bit

of a stretch

for us to kind of

step from word

to work, right?

But that's what happened.

First point is,

Jesus always spoke

the Father's words.

Secondly,

Jesus always did

the Father's works.

I love the logic

that you find there

in verse 11

that kind of supports

and fills it out.

It says,

believe me

that I am in the Father

and the Father

is in me

or else believe

on account

of the works themselves.

Look at what is happening

as evidence

of my deity.

I think back

to when Moses

came back

from the burning bush

and his concern

was,

well,

how am I going

to be able

to demonstrate

to the people

of Israel,

the Jews,

and to Pharaoh

that I am your messenger?

And God said,

hey, listen,

I'm going to give you

a couple demonstrative,

I'm going to give you

some miracles

that are going to prove.

And remember

the starting point,

a couple of them,

the Pharaoh's magicians

were able to pull off.

But they reached the point

where the magician said,

this is the,

can anybody fill it out

for me?

This is the finger,

that's beyond us.

There's no hocus pocus here.

We can't pull this one off.

This is for real.

And Jesus over and over again

did miracles

that were undeniable evidence

of God being at work

in that situation.

I go back

to the illustration

where Jesus was in the storm

and the disciples

were kind of freaking out

because there's a mess

and they thought

they were going to drown,

you know,

and Jesus is sleeping

in the boat.

They wake him up

and just a word,

bang,

it all shuts down

immediately.

Now they had been

afraid of the storm

but they were terrified

at the presence

of Christ.

And so here we are,

Jesus is reminding

Philip,

hey,

weigh the evidence.

I've done works

that no one

but God could do.

The things I've done

are undeniable proof

that I am God.

Incidentally,

while we do not prove

our deity

by the works

that we do,

we do show

that we're His children

when we behave

like He

calls us to behave.

Isn't that right?

Huh?

So do your works

and prove

you are His

or you have good reason

to ask yourself,

am I really

one of His children?

I think that's important

for us to recognize

when Jesus

works in the life

of a believer,

there is every reason

to see the evidence

of transformation

and change.

Jesus always did

the Father's work.

would be nice

for us to focus

on that

and do it ourselves.

Let's come

to the third point.

Jesus always glorified

the Father.

Now,

allow me to make

a transition here

from verse 11

to verse 12

for you.

In verse 11,

Jesus made the point

that His works

proved His deity.

He then explained,

and I'm going to look

at this with you

just for a moment,

verse 12.

He says,

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.

Now,

how many of you

have heard that verse

along with verse 14,

if you ask Me

anything in My name,

I will do it,

used as verses

to kind of

pitch the idea

that if we ask

anything we want,

we ought to get it?

Right?

How many of you

have ever heard that?

Yeah,

you can go home

this afternoon

and listen to

televangelists

who will tell you

that all you have

to do is ask God

for whatever you want

and send in a check

for $200,

and you're getting it.

There's a song

that I am not inclined

to sing,

but it's a good one.

It has this little line

in it saying,

but tell me this,

would Jesus ever wear

a Rolex on His TV show?

These verses

have been woefully misused

and people are real suckers

for them.

Does anybody ever hear

about anybody

walking on water,

by the way?

And when you hear

about all these miraculous,

you know,

faith healing,

blah, blah, blah,

why don't they go

to Children's?

I mean, honestly,

do you know that Jesus

showed up at places

like Children's

and He did slam dunks

on everybody

that came through?

I mean,

the whole crowd.

Do you follow that?

Nobody ever walked away

saying,

yeah, but.

When Jesus was turned loose,

it was really bad

for the medical community

if they were counting

on making their checks

that way.

You know,

it's like,

oh,

sorry, honey,

no surgeries today.

What happened?

Jesus came to town.

I mean,

do you follow that?

And we live in a world

where I just,

stop, Tim,

you're going off track.

Okay.

Okay.

Listen.

Here's what Jesus says.

He says,

you know,

you're going to do

greater works than this.

I'm not going to walk

on water.

I'm never going

to heal anybody.

I may suggest

an aspirin or two,

but that's the limit

of my ability.

You know,

but you know

what I have?

What is the greatest work

that Christ came to do?

Does anybody know?

What's the greatest work

that he came to do?

Tell me.

He came to save people.

I get to be part of that.

Isn't that right?

I am pumped

this morning

because I've got

an opportunity

tomorrow morning

to share the gospel

with a person

I've been working on

for about a year.

I'm out taking care

of the dog

and the guy walks

across the neighborhood

and says,

hey,

about a month ago

he was in a poor mood

and I said,

well,

why don't we do coffee?

And here he is.

I've tried to reach out

to him.

No opening,

no opening.

He walks across the lawn

and he says,

hey,

we need to get together.

I said,

yes.

I get to talk

to that guy

about the only one

who can change his life.

Huh?

Does it get any better

than that?

I watched my dad

stitch people up.

I watched my dad

help people

with medical problems

and the truth of the matter

is they all died.

Do you understand that?

They all died.

But people

who come to faith

in Christ

when the story's told,

they are not

the same person.

Old things

are passed away.

Behold,

what?

All things

have become new.

And Jesus says to us,

guess what?

You are going to be involved

in some bigger things

than I've ever done.

Why?

Because the cross

is going to be behind him

in just a couple hours

and we get to tell people,

let me tell you,

Jesus died for your sins.

It's good,

isn't it?

You're going to do

great works.

You're going to do

great works.

As you look

at this passage,

Jesus says,

hey, listen,

I always glorified

the Father.

Where do we find that?

Look at verse 13.

Whatever you ask

in my name,

this will I do

that the Father

may be glorified

in the Son.

Do you know

what I have a problem with?

Same thing

you have a problem with.

I sometimes forget

that Tim is not

the center of the universe.

How about you?

I need to be reminded,

Jesus is.

I love that passage.

In fact,

go ahead and look at it

because it's just

a real zinger for me.

It's one of those

that I have memorized

and sticks in my mind

and I use

on a fairly regular basis

in pastoral ministry.

Philippians chapter 2,

Philippians 2:20

verse 20 and 21.

Paul is talking

about Timothy,

not this one,

but the one back then

and here's what he says.

I have no man

who is like him

for all,

who will genuinely

be concerned

for your welfare.

Bear with me.

I have no man

who is like-minded

who will naturally

care for your estate,

King James,

for all seek their own

and not the things

of Jesus Christ.

We're about ourselves

and here's Jesus saying,

let me tell you something.

I am all about my Father.

It's fair to say

that Jesus came

to save sinners

but even more significant

than that,

Jesus came to glorify

the Father.

That's the thing

that stands out

above all else.

And this morning

as you think

about the supremacy

and the significance

and the sweetness

of Jesus,

understand this,

that the truth

behind his coming

and the goal

of redemption

is really not just

the matter

of saving lost

and ruined sinners.

It is the glory

of God

and the supremacy

of God

that is in focus.

Turn with me

just for a second

before we close

to what we find

in John chapter 17

John 17:1

verse 1

and verse 4.

I got to tell you,

I'll just tell you

ahead of time,

we're going to march

our way through John

and get done with it

but in a different life

I'd probably preach

on John 17

for about a year.

It is dynamite.

I know.

Keep moving.

Keep moving.

John 17.

When Jesus

had spoken these words,

he lifted up

his eyes to heaven

and said,

Father,

the hour has come.

Glorify your Son

that the Son

may glorify you.

Verse 4.

I glorified you

on earth

having accomplished

the work

that you gave me

to do.

This morning,

every one of us,

every one of us

that is here

that knows Jesus

as our personal Savior

will find our greatest

satisfaction

in the day

that we see him

face to face.

Do you understand that?

It will never

get any better

than that.

And one of the things

that it says,

in 1 John 3,

it says,

he that has this hope

in him

purifies himself.

Hey,

getting excited

about the thought

of seeing Jesus

someday

does something

pretty significant

with the messy life

you have.

You don't have to go

to the self-help aisle

to deal with

the trash in your life.

Try Jesus

and get your eyes

fixed on him.

And here is Jesus

saying to Philip

who's kind of

twerked out

about the mess

that's coming.

He says,

please show me

the Father.

Jesus says,

hey,

look at me.

Look at me.

Look at me.

Hebrews chapter 12,

Hebrews 12:1

verse 1

and 2.

Seeing,

therefore,

that we are

encompassed by

such a great

cloud of witnesses,

let us

run the race

with patience.

Doing what?

Looking unto Jesus

who is the author

and finisher

of our faith.

Listen to me.

There are some of you

that haven't figured out

that the messy,

unhappy life

you're living

is really because

you're so focused

on yourself.

And you'd like

to blame other people

for not joining you

and focusing on

yourself.

In fact,

you're a little irritated

with other people

for not being

more focused

on you.

Can I tell you

there is no remedy

for being self-focused

apart from the grace

of God

that helps us

understand

that there is

only one worthy

of all the glory

and that's Jesus.

And so it is

appropriate for us

today

who know Christ,

who've maybe

lost our first love

to cry out

and say,

Lord,

you need to deal

with me.

I am sick

of being

a self-focused,

unhappy,

grumpy person.

By the way,

you can ask your wife

as you're driving home,

how am I doing

at being unhappy,

grumpy,

and since Jesus

is the remedy,

do you think

I need to work

at that?

That's really gutsy.

Or you can say it

to your mom

or your dad,

you know,

but I need

to get things right.

There's some of you

here that don't

know Christ.

I don't know

your heart,

but I gotta tell you,

you will either

see him

as the satisfaction

of all eternity

or you will see him

as the judge

who will condemn you

to an eternity

in hell

for refusing

his offer

of salvation

through his faith,

grace and faith.

And I would plead

with you this morning,

make it right

before it's too late.

Let's close

in prayer.

Our Father God,

this morning,

we understand

that the purpose

of preaching

is not to entertain us

but to bring us

to the point

of saying yes

or no to God.

You who are

supremely worthy

of all adoration

and praise,

you that will occupy

the glory of heaven

for all of eternity

and will satisfy

our lives

beyond our wildest

expectation

and imagination

call to us

this morning

and encourage us

to set our affections

upon things

that are above,

to set our eyes

on Jesus

that the adversity

of life

is not overwhelming,

that the challenge

of becoming

someone other

than who we are

by our nature

may take place

through the ministry

of the Spirit of God

as we see in Christ

are changed

from glory

into glory.

Now is the time

to put the matter

on the table

and make decisions

that honor Christ

and we ask

the Spirit's help

for the glory

of our Savior

in whose name

we pray.

Amen.