Sermon – “The Visible Image of God”

Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward.” 37 Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake.” 38 Jesus answered him, “Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times. 14 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.” 5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. 7 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” 8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. 12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

So my message today at a table titled the visible image of God Scripture comes from John Chapter thirteen verse thirty six through Chapter fourteen verse fourteen. I gave in then find the screen or hear the word of the Lord. Simon Peter said to him Lord where are you going. Jesus answered him where I am going you cannot follow me now. So there’s the insinuation you can follow me now but you shall follow me afterward. Peter said to him Lord why can I not follow you now. I will lay down my life for your sake. Jesus Jesus answered him will you lay down your life for my sake. Most assuredly I say to you the rooster shall not crow too you have denied me three times. Chapter fourteen Let not your heart be troubled you believe in God believe also in me. I love how he always comforts. He knows that this is distressed him he’s actually given him words of peace words of comfort let not your heart be troubled you believe in God He says I know you do believe also in me. He says In my Father’s house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to Myself that where I am there you may be also and where I go you know in the way you know. Thomas said to him Lord we do not know where you are going and how can we know the way. Jesus. Said to him I am the way a man I am the way Jesus is the way you know Paul is often described as the road that leads to destruction is wide the gate is wide and the way is wide middle that leads to righteousness is narrow the gate is narrow and a way is narrow but I’m telling you he says I am the way it Jesus is the way there is plenty of room on that way for all who will believe in Jesus. He is the only way to the father I am the Way the Truth and the Life no one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known Me you would have known My Father also and from now on you know him and have seen him. Philip said to him Lord show us the Father and it is sufficient for us. Jesus said to him. Have I been with you so long and that you have not known Me Philip. He who has seen Me has seen the Father so how can you say Show us the Father. Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me. The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own authority but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me or else believe Me for the sakes of the works themselves Most assuredly I say to you he who believes in Me the works that I do he will do also and greater works than these he will do because I go to my father and whatever you ask in my name that I will do that the father may be glorified in the Son If you ask anything in my name I will do it. A man may got out his blessing so the hearing in the reading of His Holy Word. Did you catch the last part of that. I didn’t know Tom was going to be here today and M.R. go and share that testimony whatever you ask in my name that I will do that the fall. There may be glorified in the verse before that greater works than these you will do. Jesus healed man he did such mighty miraculous work sick on the seas greater works than these each shall do ye shall do it when you ask it in his name and you ask it in Bali with a believing heart Amen. My message might go a different direction today. No Jesus had revealed to his disciples that he was going to believe in them. You’re not going to be leaving where he was going he said you cannot follow me now you will be able to follow me now. He just shook their world. They had been following Jesus I mean the call of most disciples He just said Come follow me. They drop everything and follow Jesus they left their families they left their fishing business or whatever business they had and they follow Jesus and now he’s telling them I’m leavin and you’re not going to be able to follow. He just shook their world they spent three years with Jesus and I say and I’m leaving I’m leaving you. So they’re shaken. Of course naturally Peter the outspoken one says I will lay down my life for you lord. Well the truth is Peter didn’t even know his own heart Diddy. He didn’t know isn’t hard but Jesus knew it he knew that he would deny him three times. Often times I wonder if we know our own hearts are with strong as we would like to be. Often times do we sometimes plan to be so courageous for the Lord and go out and do this and that for him only to fail. As Peter did. So don’t judge Peter too harshly but we know how bold and courageous Peter was when the Holy Spirit came down this saying of Jesus that in my Father’s house are many mansions. You know this could cause some confusion to some people one wonder you know does that mean that everything. Person is going to have their own mansion their own glorious mansion when they get into heaven but the King James version uses the word house and Mansion because as in my Father’s house are many mansions. The Greek word translated house means an abode literally a family that’s what it means a family abode the word translate missions means or mansion not missions mansion means rooms so it means the act of staying or residing with. So if you put these together there will be many people in the family of God abiding all together is what he’s saying here there will be many people in God a body all together. You know I know that some of us may have heard this joke and I know that Brian’s the one it told me this joke that this guy had passed away died and of course he goes to the pearly gates and St Peter meets him at the gates and says Come on let me give you a tour. So he’s taking it down of course the streets of gold and so name all these little quaint mansions little mansions in comes this huge mansion it’s three times the size of all the other mansions and it’s all decorated up with steelers paraphernalia to have see over flag and logos in the big number seven there and the guy asked St Peter he said why did Big Ben that’s his number. Why did he get such a big mansion in gutters. Saint Peter said although he says that’s not man’s man she said that’s God’s. That’s where God lives. The stewards job demand but the truth is Jesus Christ is preparing a place for us and have his own place for his own people or those who have faith in him. You know it’s not important about mansions and if there will be mansions. The important thing is that would be blessed to spend eternity with him. That’s what heaven is. To spend eternity with Him with God with Jesus. The important thing is not what kind of place will what we will have to dwell in or even if we will need a place to dwell in but that we will be with him. Revelation seven nine tells us that there will be a great multitude in heaven that no one could number all standing before the throne. So here again you get the imagery of a multitude of people together not living separately in their own little mansion but the living together before God you know as I was preparing this and thinking and pondering this you know I believe that heaven will be so perfect. I think the atmosphere will be so perfect the temperature will be perfect you won’t have to worry about ten below zero temperatures and freezing to death. So you won’t need a dwelling to keep you warm because I think the atmosphere will be perfect I just believe this I believe that there will be no storms to fear I don’t think you have to fear a tornado coming along sucking up your house and scattering it for miles and miles I don’t think you have to worry about a hurricane come along and destroying your house and sucking it out to sea. I don’t think you have to worry about being attacked by wild animals at night so you won’t need your dwelling place for that because I think you’ll be able to walk up to a big ol grizzly bear and pat him on the head take monist lay down take a nap. You wear the rest on the grizzly bear and take a nap. I believe you’ll be able to walk over to a nice tree in against it and rest for hours and hours if you need to rest. There will be no night there so you won’t need to go in place to be protected from that which goes in the night because. There will be no night because God is it’s light so I don’t think you’ll need a mansion. I think because you’ll be in the presence of God I think the atmosphere will be so perfect and so beautiful you won’t even need a house because you’ll be with the Lord and then I don’t think we need to rest because I don’t think we’re guitar because they’ll be no more sorrows and then more tears in heaven. So I know they’ll be no pain there will be no suffering first seven said Jesus said If you had known Me you would have known My Father also from now on you know him and have seen him. There are two points in this one verse. First you would have known him. The word no is used one hundred forty one times in John’s gospel alone but it doesn’t always carry the same meaning. There are four different levels of none or no according to John or in John’s gospel. The lowest level is simply knowing a fact. You just know a fact you know I woke up this morning. You look outside the sun’s up it’s a fact the sun’s up look over this direction you see that shining through the window. There’s a fact out there you know the sun’s up right kids will see the sun shining. That’s a fact that the sun is shining. The next level is to understand the truth behind the fact. However you you can you can no fact you can know the truth behind a fact and still be lost in your sins so you can look out there at that fact that the sun is shining and you can know that there’s a God who created the heavens and the earth in the stars and the sun and the moon but yet that doesn’t mean that you believe in him. You know it’s the truth there it is. You believe that God is real but you still can be lost in your sins. So that brings us to the third level introduce. As a relationship to know means to believe in a person or a God and become related to him and her him or her. That’s how it’s used in John seventeen to know him to know God personally. Do you know him in the scripture many times the word to know is used to describe the intimate relationship between a husband and wife that they may know one another. The fourth use of the word no means a deeper relationship with a person a deeper communion it was this level that Paul was referring to when he wrote that I may know him. So I ask how do you know him. Do you know him on that intimate person or deeper relationship level or you just know him as a fact that there is a god. How do you know him today. I can answer that for you. I hope and pray that you know him deeply personally in here that you know who he is what he does what he has done for you. Next Jesus said TO THEM FROM NOW ON YOU have known him and have seen him. I think this kind of puzzled the disciples especially Philip. He says show us the Father and that will be sufficient for us. So it puzzled them. They been with Jesus for three years they’ve touched him. They’ve rested and lay their head on his bosom and walked with him for three years. But they didn’t fully understand that to see Jesus was to see God. I don’t think they fully understood that God in their minds are still the invisible God. PERCINET they won seventeen says Now to the king eternal immortal invisible to God who alone is wise. Honor and Glory forever and ever amen. Kids if you look out the window don’t look out right now on the say and if you look out the window and you see the grass up there going back and forth like this what do you know that is Wendy. Can you see the wind. You cannot can you. You cannot see the wind you can look out and you can see the flag stand straight out like this. Again what do you know the flag standing straight out. It’s not hanging down. What do you know you know the wind is blowing. You see the trees bent over you know the wind is blowing. You can’t see the invisible God the Father and Holy Spirit but you can see the effects of the invisible God can you not. You can see the effects of the wind but you can see the wind you can see the effects of God but you can’t see God the invisible God. On one of those windy days if you step out your door even though you can’t see the wind you can feel the wind in your face can’t you. You can feel the effects of that wind on your face while in the same way I believe you can feel the effects of God You can feel the effects of the Holy Spirit on your life just as Margo about feeling the muscles move in her arms. You can feel the Holy Spirit. You can see the effects of the Holy Spirit and the effects of God in the change the lives of those who have accepted Jesus Christ and repent of their sins. You can see it in a change in your life you are not what you are who you once was but your son and daughter of the Living God. Jesus said Have I been with you so long and yet lit yet you have not known Me Philip. He who has seen Me has seen the Father so how can you say Show us the Father. That passage at verse really hit home with me. Jesus is the visible tangible image of the invisible God you receive that people he is the visible tangible image of the invisible God I know that we’ve all seen pictures of Jesus it’s not important what the picture looks like but it’s what he did that’s important that is important is that’s the most important thing that we get and it’s all about a lot of what Tom shared this morning. What Jesus did. He is the image of God. He is a complete revelation of what God is like he is a compassionate God he cares for you he wants you here he want you strong he wants you to believe in Him He wants you to love Him in return. He wants you to know him. If you know Jesus you know the father. If you know Jesus you know God If you have seen Jesus you have seen the Father. Amen. The search for God to know what he is like to know what he looks like to know what he acts like it ends with Jesus Amen it ends with Jesus. Just look to Jesus he is the express image of God. My sister shared with us one day my younger sister a story about my little nephew my nephew when he was little I should say let me get that word right. My nephew Brime when he was just a little tyke She said Every day he would get up and say. What’s that word today. What color shirt he got on or he would run to the window look out if you can see there if he hadn’t already left the farm she said sometimes you get the binoculars out and look down see where is there. See banner tracker Yep he’s wearing a red shirt today. He’d go get his red shirt. Put it all on. If that had a green shirt on he had to wear again green shirt that he had a green shirt and blue jeans on. Little Brian had to have a green shirt and blue jeans on every day she said he wanted to be dressed exactly like that. He wanted to imitate his father a man he wanted to imitate that he won the dress like Dad looked like they had walked like then he wanted to be like his dad I think he’s outgrown it now since the twenty’s. They still walk alike but I don’t think they always dress alike but he wanted to imitate his father he wanted to be like dad. If Asians chapter five says therefore be imitators of God as do your children if you want to be like your dad let’s be imitators of God as do your children just as my little nephew that dear child one of the imitate his daddy. God wants us to be imitators of him and walk in love in this awesome. The very first thing that we can do to imitate the father is this walk in love. We do that we’ve got it all covered only walk in love as Christ also has loved us in giving Himself for us not for a minute sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma but fornication and all uncleanness or covetous. Let it not even. Being named among you as a stadium for the Saints neither filthiness nor fall is talking nor coarse jesting which is not fitting but rather giving of thanks for this you know that no fornicator or unclean person or covetous man who is an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God let no one deceive you with empty words for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them for you were once darkness but now you are the light of the are the light of the world. Walk as children of the light walk in love walk as children of the light. My friends we can look out the windows of our eyes and look into the Word of God and learn how we ought to walk. We can see what Daddy’s werent you getting what I’m putting down you can see what that is where and all you gotta do is open this up and we can know what color shirt that he has on today that we can imitate him in the color that sure does love compassion. We can walk in His strength and his power. We can imitate him you know just thinking about Jesus and thinking about things a little. Switching gears a little bit you know whenever Mary will look into the eyes of baby Jesus she saw God she was looking the god never thought that she was looking to God when she put baby Jesus appear on her shoulders and patted his little back to burp when she was burping God knew that would get a chuckle. But was she held him in his or her own arms she was holding God in her own arms. I guess so amazing because to see Jesus to see God you’ve seen Jesus you’ve seen God. Joseph when he took Jesus when he became a. Whatever age a teenager whatever took a lot of work in the carpentry shop with things you know they’re out there building that piece of furniture. Gods they’re helping build that chair that table whatever it was working on. Think about that. Gods with him in that carpentry shop working in at the end of the day when you’re done or tired or sweaty and dusty Joseph put his arm around Jesus say son we’ve done enough for the day let’s talk more tartness caress. He put his arm around God I got so awesome. Jesus is a tangible image visible image of God. I guess it’s so amazing and so amazing. Let’s imitate him. Let’s be imitators of Him Jesus was the exact representation of God Every person he touched and healed he was representing God every word that he spoke he was representing God you are his representatives here on Earth. Let there be no course jesting come out of your mouth. Oh ma I step on my own time and feed. We need to imitate him every day. So Lord help me help me to walk as you walk. Help me to speak as you would speak. Do as you would do you think as you would think we are to imitate him amen amen.