Overcoming Your Spiritual Blindness - John 14:8-11

1:13You know, we all have a need to connect with God. In fact, I would say mankind intrinsically knows that there is a reality behind what is seen and seeks to connect with. With such reality. Like, that's why you're here this morning, right? At least many of you. In fact, I can even go as far as to say this: that the multitude of gods that have risen through the ages are really just man's conceptions or man's imaginations of what God is like.

1:58Years ago, and this happens frequently, maybe I'm the only one who does this, I'm sure. But sometimes I want to see more of God, right? High places themselves are something that people go up to. Maybe it's a rooftop, maybe it's a top of a mountain, or something to look over and to pray. And I can remember on a number of occasions, but one in particular, I remember being on top of a roof, looking over the expanse of the heavens, and then just wanting a closer, a more tangible experience with God. And I said, Okay, God, show me your glory.

2:39God, show me, show me your power, show me. I'm kind of expecting, you know, the heavens to open up and just God to manifest Himself in some glorious, transcendent way. And so I pray, and as I got done, I opened my eyes, and guess what? I saw the expanse of heaven. I didn't see the sky rolled back. You see, what I was wanting, has anybody ever done that? No, of course, none of you. I'm the one that does crazy things like this. But what was happening in my mind, I wanted to see God on my terms.

3:26I was praying for Him to reveal Himself according to my preconceptions of what I needed to see of Him, or even my preconceptions of who He is. And so, Lord, show me your glory. Show me what I think is your glory. Of course, my problem was spiritual blindness or immaturity. My heart was sincere, but I certainly wanted to see God on my terms. And that is spiritual blindness. Because that assumes we already know what God is like and how He needs to manifest Himself to us.

4:09Seeing God on my terms is really an expression of my own spiritual blindness. But we were made to connect with God, weren't we? We were made to connect with our Creator and to reflect Him. And as we go back to the early pages of Genesis, we're We're reminded of this fact. Man was created to see God, to know God, to connect with God, so that God could be seen in us. We were intended to be the vision of God.

4:50We were intended to be the image of God for others to see. And of course, when Adam sinned, we all died to God. We all took off a different direction, but we were made to connect with Him. And the need to connect with Him didn't go away because we died. In fact, it's because we're dead. We need to connect with Him. And so it remains an intrinsic part of our very makeup. We need to connect. And the gods that have been created throughout history have been man's feeble attempt to come up with the unseen and connect to the unseen and imagine what the unseen is like. But we really cannot know God at all unless He chooses to reveal Himself to us on His terms, not on ours.

5:56Well, Philip displays this spirit. Spiritual blindness in our passage this morning. And the question we need to ask ourselves as we go through this and we look at Philip's question and how Jesus answered it. We need to ask ourselves, how do we overcome our spiritual blindness? How do we overcome our spiritual immaturity? How do we get out of this prison that we live in, wanting to see God on our terms and not letting Him reveal Himself on His terms and totally missing what He has to say because we're too preoccupied with trying to get God to make Himself declare Himself on our terms? How do we get out of that prison? Well, our text gives a three-step answer to this question. And so, this morning, as we go through and we look at Philip's question and/or say, I want you to see three steps to removing your spiritual blindness so that you will truly connect with your Heavenly Father. So, three steps to removing your spiritual blindness. First, avoid faulty premises. Avoid faulty premises.

7:25Look at verse 8. Philip said to him, Lord, Show us the Father, and it is enough for us. Basically, what Philip is saying is: give us a visible manifestation of the Father and his glory, and that will satisfy us. You remember, Jesus has just announced one's going to betray, one is going to deny, and now they're figuring out that they're in for a rough time. And Jesus, in the beginning of verse 14, says, Do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.

8:05And here's Philip saying, Okay, well, why don't you just give us another good manifestation? Let us see the Father. And Philip completely missed the point of what Jesus had just said in verse 7. He said, If you had known me, and he's answering Thomas's question, if you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know him and have seen him. Had Philip really got what Jesus had said, he wouldn't have said, Well, show us the Father. He would have said something like, What are you saying? Actually, help me understand what you are saying so that I can see the Father in you.

8:48But instead, he says, Why don't you show us the Father? You see, what Philip longed for in that moment was a greater revelation of God. He says, What I've seen about God, what all these Years walking with you isn't sufficient. I need to see a real manifestation of God. Show us the Father. Show us His power. Show us. But what Philip longed for really did nothing more than reveal his spiritual blindness. He wanted a spectacular revelation to confirm his faith. He wanted to see God on his terms.

9:33I think we can identify with him, can't we? We're much like him. We often want more tangible proof that God is real and that God is really mindful of us. And so our prayers, what we look for, the experiences, what we read into him, we want a God whom we can see, comprehend, and know that he cares for us. And so we start looking for some kind of physical manifestations of this, and we start wanting him to prove himself on our terms.

10:07You see, Philip's demand was based upon at least three faulty premises that I can see here, and three faulty premises that we all need to avoid. If you're going to overcome your spiritual blindness, you need to avoid these faulty premises. First faulty premises is that God can be revealed by a simple show. Show us. Can Jesus really just simply show us the Father? That we can understand the Father just by some simple show. One of the things that's really unpredictable in my house is milk. If you have six kids, you might know what I'm talking about. Milk.

11:06And it's a real bummer when you pour your bowl of cereal, cut up all the fruit, put in all the, you know, do all the stuff, and then you open up the refrigerator and there's no milk in there. So I've learned that if I'm going to go to all that trouble, I need to first confirm that there's milk in the house. And so sometimes I'll just say, Nancy, dear, is there milk in the house? And she may say, yes.

11:35But you know, sometimes that's not enough for me. I want to prove that there's milk in the house. So what do I do? I go into the refrigerator, I open up the door, and I look, ah, milk is there on the shelf there. Now I can know for sure there's milk in the house. And sometimes we approach God that he can be proved on the same grounds, that somehow we can just open up. Door. Oh, there he is, there on the shelf. Well, God is spirit. He transcends the material world. He transcends the rational, intellectual, comprehensive thinking of man. In fact, he is the reason man thinks rationally. So you can't just go prove God by like, okay, Jesus just opened the door, let us see God. Okay, that's enough. Now close the door.

12:33And such a premise reveals the blindness, or it reveals a blindness of an attempt to make God fit into our preconceived notions. You're not going to be able just to understand God, like, oh, there he is, like milk on a shelf. Second faulty premise you see in Philip's answer or demand. Look back at verse 8. Show us the Father, and it is enough for us. It is sufficient. And I believe what Philip is doing is he is wanting some kind of revelation that would have been like that of the Old Testament. And so Philip is putting more stock or thinking that the Old Testament revelation. Of God are more sufficient than what he was witnessing in the person of Christ.

13:39So, the second faulty premise is that the glorious manifestations in the Old Testament are more convincing or even superior to that which Philip had witnessed in Jesus. He probably won something like Ezekiel. You remember by the river Chibar, he saw the glory of God, and he describes it in Ezekiel 1. There's an expanse, there is a throne, and then there's this expanse, and there's this individual, a man, sitting on this throne, and he describes his appearance and the radiance all around him.

14:16And then when he saw it, he fell on his face. Or remember, Isaiah, he saw the Lord in Isaiah 6, lofty, sitting on a throne, exalted, the train of his robe filling the temple. Seraphim were flying around. They had to cover their eyes, and they had to cover their feet and scream, Holy, holy, holy. That's what I want to see. And then Isaiah says, Woe is me, for I am ruined. I read to you a little bit earlier, Exodus 33, and Moses says, Show me your glory. He says, I'm going to have to put you in the rock, because if I show it to you, you'll die.

15:02You see, the Old Testament revelations were not more personal than the revelation in Christ. There was actually little potential for really intimacy with God in these revelations. Oh, yeah, it showed His glory, His majesty, His holiness, and it leaves the beholder flat on their face, crying, Woe is me. Really unable to relate. There's no chance of, hey, let's go for a long walk. Hey, let's sit around a fire and let's talk. There is no grounds for that kind of interaction, which Philip had enjoyed for several years.

15:52So, his first problem with this premise is that the Old Testament revelations are not more personal and really not even more glorious, as John describes. But a second problem with this premise is that such a vision would satisfy him. If you show me this, I will be satisfied. And Jesus has already been teaching and said with exclamation point. You remember in John chapter 7 at the Feast of Booths, Jesus stands up and he says, If anyone is thirsty, let him. Come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, the scripture has been testifying to me, and he who believes in me from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. In other words, if you are thirsty, you come to me and drink. I am the one who gives satisfaction to your soul, and I give satisfaction in such a degree that you will become a conduit, a source of great satisfaction to others. You will be abundantly satisfied. You will be abundantly filled. And Jesus is saying, I am that one that gives that. You come to me.

17:11You see, Philip missed that. And then he even contradicts Jesus. Jesus had said, If you had known me, you would have known my father. And from now on, you would know him. Philip said, Show us the father, and it's enough. You see, oftentimes the very thing that God wants us to know or wants us to do or find satisfaction is is standing right before our eyes. Jesus isn't trying to hide himself. God isn't trying to hide himself from us, but he is trying to declare himself on his terms, not on ours.

17:53And if you doggedly hold to your own presumptions, presuppositions of what What or how God is to manifest himself to you, you will remain ignorant of who he is. Well, look at verse 9. Look at Jesus' response: Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, Show us the Father? Which brings up a third faulty premise that needs to be avoided.

18:34Philip believed that the Father could be understood apart from Jesus. That somehow we can understand God apart from Jesus. No, that's the whole purpose of Jesus. That's why he came. And that's what he's saying to Philip. Philip, I've been with you so long, and you don't seem to understand. You cannot understand the Father except by me. What do you think I've been doing these past few years? Do you think God is so small that I could just open up a refrigerator and show you there? There's the Father right there.

19:10No, Philip. You can't understand the Father except by me. He's basically saying, I am the connection to the Father. Having seen me, you have seen the Father. It's like, who do you think I am, Philip? You know, there's no such thing as a dumb question. And I would probably say that it's probably true, maybe. But there are certainly a lot of faithless questions. And that's what's revealed here. And Philip, have you not believed my teaching up to this point?

19:59It's like Jesus is saying, Philip, you're looking at the manifestation of the Father. This is what I have been doing, and this is what I continue to do. Seeing and comprehending and connecting with God, your Father, happens only through me. Listen, friends, you will never connect to God if you assume he can be understood apart from Christ. That was his whole message. So we need to pay more careful attention to what Jesus has to say, right? So three steps to avoiding your spiritual blindness. Number one, avoid faulty premises. Number two, listen to what Jesus has to say about himself. Listen to what Jesus has to say about himself. Let him speak for himself. Let him say who he is. Let us. not give ear to those who want to tell us who Jesus is apart from what Jesus has declared for himself. It's incredible how many religions pay what they call respect to Jesus but totally deny what he says about himself.

21:21Listen to what Jesus has to say about him. So let's look back here. Do you not believe, verse 10, that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I say to you, I do not speak on my own initiative, but the Father abiding in me does his work. So what he's saying is, when I speak, you are hearing the Father. When I act, you are watching the Father. That's what Jesus is saying. The words I say, I do not speak of my own. Father abiding in me does his work. It's the abiding presence of the Father that is speaking and that is acting. And Jesus had already claimed this. He had already claimed multiple times that his words are the Father's words. John 8, 28, John 12, 49.

22:15He also said he does nothing independent of the Father, independently of the Father. John 5, 19 says the Son can do nothing of himself. John 10, 30, I and the Father. Are one. You see, what Jesus is saying is, there is no independent action here, Philip. I do nothing except that which the Father gives me to do. In fact, why does he do this? Why was it so critical that he only did exactly what his father commanded him to do? Why is that so important?

23:04Because Jesus wanted to give us a perfect picture of his father. So he does not act independently. If he starts acting independently of the father, guess what? Well, we know a lot about Jesus, but what about the father? Do you see how, in order to be a perfect picture of the father, he had to do exactly what the father wanted him to do? His words had to be the father's words. His works had to be the father's works.

23:34There was no disconnection. In fact, Satan's temptation throughout Jesus' life was to get Jesus to act independently of the Father. Turn this stones into bread. And what happens? Oh, well, Jesus is acting on his own, so we really don't have a perfect reflection of the Father. We don't have a perfect manifestation of the Father. That's what's at stake. And so, Jesus, his whole life, I do nothing independent of the Father so that you can have a perfect revelation of your heavenly Father.

24:16So, ultimately, what's happening is the Father is making himself known through Jesus. It's not just Jesus making the Father known, but the Father is making himself known through Jesus. You see, the cross was the desire of the Father. The cross is your Father's heart on display. That's what the cross tells, and that's what Jesus is wanting to make sure that his disciples get. What you're about to see as I go to the cross, and what you see me endure is your father's heart displayed.

25:18So, we need to pay more careful attention to what Jesus has to say about himself. Third step to overcoming your spiritual Blindness. Believe in the perfect unity between Jesus and the Father. Believe in the perfect unity that is existing between the Father and Jesus. Look at verse 11. Believe me that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me. Otherwise, believe because of the works themselves. There's three things, three elements here. First of all, there's a command to believe, there's a content to believe, and there are two reasons to believe. Two reasons to believe. So a command, a content, and two reasons. We'll just look at that quickly.

26:11Believe me. That's the command. That's the command. Philip, what does he do? He commands Jesus to show him the Father. That's what he does in verse 8. And what does Jesus do in return? He speaks to all of them and says, believe so that you can see. You see what's happening here? Philip is saying, Show us the Father. Let us see so we can believe. And Jesus turns it around. Believe so you can see. Believe me so you can see the Father. That's your problem. In fact, we have a saying, right? Believe and you will see. Believe. I'll believe it when I see it, right? Believe and you shall see. I mean, We have a, I'm sorry, I got it all backwards. Scratch, delete, delete, delete. We have a saying, right? I'll believe it when I see it. Does that sound a little better? That's our saying, right? I'll believe it when I see it.

27:16Show me, and I will believe. But Jesus reverses that, right? Believe and you will see. Believe. Believe what? What is that object of faith? Jesus Himself. Believe me. You see, it's going to be through faith that you're going to penetrate into the mysteries of God. Your reason is not going to penetrate into those mysteries. You're not going to understand God by your reason alone. It's going to be by faith. Believe me, Philip, and you will see your heavenly Father.

28:00Believe and you shall see. Second, look at the content that he was to believe. Believe me, that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me. He's saying, Believe me, here I am. When you see me, you see the Father. There is an unbroken unity. And by the way, he. He's not just saying, when you see me, you see me like an ambassador of God. He's not saying that. Yes, he is that, but he is far more. He's not just saying, when you see me, you see an ambassador. I speak for him. I represent him, so that what I say is basically what he has communicated. No, it's more than that. He is saying that he and his father are one in essence. That he's saying, when you see me, you are seeing the manifestation of your heavenly Father before your eyes. He's not just simply saying, look, we're on the same team.

29:17He's not talking about oneness of purpose or oneness of morality or oneness of ethics or oneness of virtue. He is talking about oneness of substance, of essence, of essential being. That's what he's talking about. You see, to see Jesus is to see his father. Yes, there's mystery there. They are distinct, yet one and the same. There's equality and oneness, and yet there is subordination and distinction. One in essence is the term we like to use. He is of the same substance as the Father.

30:12And what Christ is doing here is he's wanting to impress these truths upon his disciples for their good. He's not trying to elevate himself or give himself personal glory. He wants them to know the love that he displays for them is in reality the love that their heavenly Father has for them. And that's what's being played out. You see, it's one thing to know that Jesus loves you. It's another thing to understand, my heavenly Father loves me.

30:50And what Jesus is saying, you need to know it's not just that I love you. My heavenly Father loves you. And what I am doing is here manifesting that love. Because ultimately, it is the Father you need to know who loves you, and he sent his Son so that you would know him. You see, both Jewish and Islamic monotheism reject the possibility that God's divine being can manifest himself in more than one person. You see, those who insist that God cannot manifest himself in human flesh limit God. Who are you to say that God cannot manifest himself in more than one person? It seems like that's limiting God. In fact, when you study it, God in human flesh is not blasphemous to Jesus at all, but necessary to explain God and to save man. There is no way we can really understand God unless He puts on human flesh and relates to us as such. So there's command to believe, there's content to believe, and then there are two reasons to believe in this unity. First of all, it's based on Jesus' word. Believe me, I am in the Father. I'm telling you, believe me. Otherwise, believe because of the works themselves. Simply take Jesus at his word. That should be sufficient for you, Philip. But if it's not, if you're having trouble believing simply because of my word, then look at the works that I'm doing. They testify to the unity that exists between me and my father. Remember, John the Baptist came and was asking, should we look for another? And how does Jesus answer? Go tell John in Matthew 11. Go and report to John and tell him what you hear. The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. In other words, he used his works to say to John the Baptist, Yes, I am the expected one. Believe on the basis these works testify to a unity between me and the Father. Well, today we're not witnessing or directly witnessing the works of Jesus as the disciples were, are we?

33:34However, we're still to believe what they reveal. Likewise, we're not hearing the words of Jesus directly. We must believe the testimony of those who recorded Jesus' words and his works in Scripture. Too plain? Too simple? No, if you will study and meditate on these, they will accomplish, they will reveal to you your heavenly Father. So, three steps to overcoming your spiritual blindness: avoid faulty premises, listen to what Jesus has to say about himself, believe in the perfect unity between Jesus and his Father.

34:25You know, like the disciples, we have to have faith. Faith, right? They were called to have faith, and so do we. It was a command to his disciples that was inescapable. They had to believe in what they were seeing. They had to believe in the revelation that was given to them. And that's the same for us today. We're not lacking revelation. We're lacking in believing the revelation that has been given. But think for a second about the disciple situation. Consider what they were called upon to believe.

35:08Jesus had just commanded them to believe that He is the very manifestation of their heavenly Father Himself. That's a pretty lofty. What a high claim. What were they looking at from an outside perspective? What did they see when they saw Jesus making this claim? What were they looking at? Well, they were looking at a peasant from Galilee. He probably even talked like a Galilean. He probably had an accent that distinguished him. They were about to see him thoroughly rejected by the religious establishment, thoroughly rejected. Rejected by the political establishment, by the experts, and by the masses. And he's saying, You need to believe that I am the exact representation, the exact expression of your heavenly Father.

36:19They were about to witness his crucifixion. And it was in this context that Jesus said, Look upon me and you will see your heavenly Father. Now, why? Why would this be so difficult for them? Why do you think this would be difficult? Why does Jesus have to put such a demand on them? Why wouldn't that just come automatically? Well, I believe it was that Jesus was too human, too common. Listen, you've got to remember these disciples had witnessed Jesus in the most humble circumstances.

37:03Help me with this net. Can somebody get this fire going? Can you bring that wood over here? They walked with him. They saw him sweat. They saw his humanness really close up. And to see God in the most mundane day-to-day events challenge them as a Challenges us today, right? Too common. God among the common. That's unthinkable. That goes against our conception of who God is. You see, it's easy to imagine a God with great power, isn't it? It's easy to imagine a God who rewards his faithful and punishes his enemies. It's easy to imagine a God who has great power. He can do things beyond which we're able to do. In fact, when you look at the pantheon of deities that have been created through the history, you'll see a remarkable similarity. They're just superhuman. They can just do things on a much grander level than humanity. But they act very similarly. They even have some of the same pitfalls.

38:27You see, we can easily understand a God who is in shock and awe mode, right? But a God who dresses humbly, a God who doesn't just wipe out his enemies, a God who actually dies for his enemies, is not an invention of man. And that's why he has to be revealed on his terms. Not on ours. You see, seeing God in simple folk is just absurd. And yet, true knowledge of the Father comes only by a true knowledge of the Son.

39:18There is a glory in the sacred that is walked among the common. It's a glory that transcends. But you have to see it. In fact, John, and he finally got it. This is what he says in John 1:14. And the word became flesh, and he dwelt among us, and we saw his glory. Glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. We saw it. We saw the Father's glory. He tabernacled among us. We walked with him.

40:04And there is beauty in the ordinary activities of God in our lives. Well, this truth should really shape our lives. The impact of this understanding of God on everyday life can just not be overstressed. Listen to what God does. Did by becoming human flesh. He dignified humanity and human life to just stratospheric levels. Think about what he did. He chose to become like us. He took upon our humanity of all the animals and creatures he had created, he chose to come like one of us.

41:06He didn't say, you know, I'm going to show up as a moose. That'll be cool. You know, I'm going to come out like a moose, right? No, no. He dignified the human body. And that's exactly why he said, don't you dare make an image of anything in creation because it will not reflect me. Humanity is the image. What a dignity there is on human life. And think about this. He came into the world through the birth canal.

41:45The father of glory, manifesting himself and his son, comes into the world. What a dignity he places on childbirth. Common. He grew up in a common home. He did common chores. He worked a common trade. Do you see how he dignifies all of these? The Lord of the universe came to participate. He enjoyed simple fellowship. He laughed, he cried, he mourned. And it was through simple participation with humanity that he elevates humanity to stratospheric levels. And then, by giving his life in ransom for ours, he dignified the worth of fallen man. He dignified our worth, not in our own right.

43:01Romans 5:8 says, But God demonstrates his own love towards us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. You see, there's something simply wonderful beyond our ability to grasp about being human. We are simply to believe in God and believe in Jesus. Think about the casual, common relationships that we have, the common Things that we go through day by day. That's it. God is there. But if you're all about the power of God and little about the person of God, you're spiritually immature at best.

43:49Human life is so special that God Himself wanted to participate in it. He wanted to partake. So let us treasure the simple things of life. Let us see His glory in the common things. You know, Philip didn't need some spectacular show of God because a far more glorious revelation was standing right before him. In fact, he had just washed his feet. As Hebrews 1 says, He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature and upholds all things by the word of His power. Colossians 2:9 says, For in him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form.

44:38You see, we often underestimate the sufficiency of the vision of Christ that's given to us in Scripture. And even now, as we look upon the Christ of Scripture through the words of Scripture, we see dimly yet such is more adequate to survive, to satisfy. Every need of soul. Sometimes just meditating on the Christ of Scripture, the words and the things that he says, it may not be spectacular by worldly standards, but it's truly glorious. It is the transforming power. It is the way we see the Christ of Scriptures through the Word of Scripture. And by daily reflecting upon Him and by mulling over His words and deeds, you will enter into a sweet, sweet relationship with your Heavenly Father.

45:33And that is the way you see the Father. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we so often want to see you on our terms. Forgive us. And even after walking with you for many, many years and knowing better, Father, we can still want tangible proof. But you've called us to simply believe. And as we believe, Father, we begin to see your providences all around us. Father, your goodness in the kind words of a friend and the humble servants of those you've called to and placed in the body of your you call the church, we call the church. And Father, we just thank you for your presence among us. Help us, Father, to just rest in the knowledge of these things and see you and relate to you. Thank you for your sufficient, sufficient revelation of yourself. In Jesus' name, amen. Why don't you continue to pray for just a moment?

47:26It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You're dismissed.