If You have Seen Me

I want to share with you something I learned during this last camp I had a chance to visit and be part of. And you never know when you listen to a prayer what things can come to your mind and bring some understanding. And that's precisely what happened at camp. I remember bowing my head while someone expressed a prayer to God. And yet there was something in that prayer that got me thinking about a point that was made during that prayer. And I started exploring it. And I started putting it in my head and just examining it. Now, wouldn't you know it? Some new understanding came through that prayer that I heard at camp. That's why we should never take prayers for granted. Before we end up saying Amen to it, many times there are spiritual points that we can learn from. Never take it like it just closed your mind and turn it off when you hear prayer. Keep your mind turned on. There might be some little nugget of truth that will be revealed at that time. As it says in 1 Corinthians 2, verses 9 through 10, But as it is written, I has not seen nor ear heard nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him. But God has revealed them to us through his Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. We have in us that Holy Spirit that gives us a missing dimension that the world doesn't have. Now, we are nothing, we're nobodies, but with God's Spirit in us, then something is happening. We are tuned in to God's wavelength and the Bible is tuned in to God's wavelength as well. It reminds me of what Christ said in Matthew 13, 52. I'd like to read it from the amplified Bible. He said to them, Therefore every teacher and interpreter of the sacred writings who has been instructed about and trained for the kingdom of heaven and has become a disciple is like a householder who brings forth out of his storehouse treasure that is new and treasure that is old, the fresh as well as the familiar. And so when we grasp a little bit of insight into the Bible, a little more understanding, it's all for the glory and honor of God.

So from that prayer, I realized there was something new to understand about God the Father's relationship with his Son. And I hope in this message that we can better grasp about God the Father and Jesus Christ and their relationship. How does that apply to us? We're going to see in a tremendous way how important this is. The better we understand how God the Father is and how Jesus Christ also is, the better we can go before them, ask about our needs, about others' needs, and also to draw closer to them. Again, another scripture which comes to mind is Jeremiah 9 verses 23 and 24.

It says, Thus says the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches. These are three other great things that people boast about. But God says, that's not where it's that important. He says, but let him who glories, or if you want to boast about something, glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight, says the Lord. Understanding God helps us to understand ourselves and others better as well.

And so, as I listened again to this prayer, I wasn't expecting anything special, but something caught my attention about it. And I thought about a scripture along the line of what was being talked about. It was John 14 verses 8 through 10. And I wonder how many have puzzled over this scripture, just as I have. When Jesus Christ spoke to Philip, he said, if you have seen me, you have seen the Father.

In what way could they see the Father? If they had only seen Christ. Here Philip was saying, just show us the Father. And boy, we'll be satisfied. Yes, we'll know. You're the Messiah. Just show us. Give us an image of God the Father. And Christ said, if you have seen me, you have seen God the Father. That was pretty cryptic, wasn't it? It's animatic, puzzling, the answer he gave. Certainly, it didn't mean, well, if you've seen me, God the Father is the same way. He's not a physical person, as Jesus was in that moment. So it's not talking about physically seeing God the Father. God in heaven is spirit. It doesn't mean they are the same person, either. It's not like, well, you see me, I am, my Father is me, and I'm the Father. No, that doesn't mean that, either. God the Father was in one place. God the Son was here on earth.

So they are not the same person. So how can you see the Father when you see Jesus Christ? I've asked myself that. I didn't really have that good of an answer.

And that's the subject of this sermon. Is that something that interests you?

It reveals more about the true nature of God the Father, of God the Son. By the way, when you look up John 14, 8-10, the commentaries on this verse, they don't really give you a good explanation. It's almost an apologetic or apology that they provide. For instance, the Believer's Bible commentary says, the words, I am in the Father and the Father in me, describe the closeness of the union between the Father and the Son. They are separate persons, yet they are one as to attributes and will. We should not be discouraged if we cannot understand this. No mortal mind will ever understand the Godhead. We must give God credit for knowing things that we can never know. Perhaps they're saying this because they have the wrong concept of God.

In our Nature of God in Christ doctrinal paper, in page three, the answer is right there. It says, we use the word being when referring to the Father and the Son in the sense of two self-conscious individuals, each possessing free will, though unified in spirit and purpose, as John 10.30 says. So the problem is when this commentary says that they are one as to attributes and will. It means they only have one will. So how can that be that doesn't Christ decide something without God the Father having to decide the same thing at that moment? That doesn't make sense. No, there are two wills. There's not one will. When Christ said that God had given him the authority to decide whether to go through with this sacrifice or not, he says he placed it in my hands. God the Father did not obligate me. So if they have only one will, that doesn't make sense. My wife and I are one in the flesh in the sense of one marriage. The Bible talks about the two will become one flesh, but doesn't mean that we only have one will, because I know she has her own will, right, as I have. So it'd be great to have one will, but it doesn't work out that way. We have to learn to adapt and adjust. And so I could tell you a couple of stories about, like the gentleman who says, well, my wife and I, we never had an argument for 30 years in our marriage. The other person says, how is that so? He said, well, when we got married, my wife and I, we decided I would make all the big decisions. She would make all the small decisions. And during these 30 years, my wife keeps saying, these are all small decisions. I haven't been able to make one decision yet. So be careful with these lawyerly terms, right? What's big and what's small. But God the Father and Jesus Christ, they have different wills, but they are in harmony, and they have a unity of spirit and attitudes. So the better we can understand the relationship between God the Father and the Son, the closer we can draw to them. And we can understand this because we don't believe in the Trinity and just believe what the Bible says about them. So how do we understand this scripture back in John 14 in verses 8 through 10? One of the keys to properly interpreting any scripture is to look what was written before and after. It's called read the context. Read what is being said. Don't pull a scripture out and give it your own interpretation. See what it's about. What is being understood here. And so that is one of the key points. Let's go to John 14 in verse 5. We're going to go a little bit before what I mentioned here in verse 8. So let's see what Christ was talking about in John 14 in verse 5 through 12.

Now remember here in John 14, already the Passover had taken place and Christ is giving his last sermon to them before he goes to the mountain, the Garden of Gethsemane, and prays. And so he says in verse 5, 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, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. So again, he's focusing that it is through him that the true way, the right way of life comes. He goes on to say, if you had known me, you would have known my Father also. And from now on you know Him and have seen Him. And so he 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 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? 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 that I am in the Father and the Father in me, or else believe me for the sake 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.

So what does He mean that He says, well, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. It means this.

It means that God the Father has the same focus, the same attitude, and would produce the same works as Jesus Christ. In other words, if God the Father, instead of God the Word, would have come down here to the earth, if they would have switched roles, He would have done similar works than what Jesus Christ did. Both have the same attitude of love, of outgoing sacrificial concern for others. Both would have shown the same compassion, similar actions, and willingness to die to save mankind from their sins and give them salvation. So basically, He's saying, look, I'm so closely tied to the Father that if you see me, my Father would act the same way. We both have the same attitude and spirit and guidance. Perhaps the closest we can have as an analogy is between a man and a woman. Now, that's not a perfect union, but it's very close. I know through the years, as a traveling minister in Latin America, here in the U.S., I have to leave my wife to be in charge when I'm not there in the home. And many times she takes phone calls when she can contact me. She will. But she knows how I think about many of the things. And I trust her, and I know she's going to carry it out as I would expect her to. So there's this unity. And, of course, with God the Father and Jesus Christ, it's a perfect unity. They work together. So if God the Father would have come, He would have had the same compassion. He would have healed people. They wouldn't have exactly lived the same life because, of course, they have their own will. That Jesus Christ might have gone to town on this day, and if it would have been God the Father, maybe He would have stayed at home. But their attitudes, their actions, are similar. They have that same spirit of love, of concern, of compassion. And so this is what Christ was saying. You don't need to go up in heaven and see God the Father and interrogate Him. If you've seen what I did here on earth, it's the same as if God the Father would have come as well.

So that gives us a much deeper understanding of their relationship. Now, let's go to a greater context. Not only in this chapter 14, let's go back in this book of John and see how all of these puzzle pieces fall in place. Let's go to John chapter 1.

John chapter 1 verse 1. John is explaining about the nature of God more than in any other place in the Bible. John deals with God as a spirit being and how the Word came down. So it says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. So here's a startling revelation. The Jews didn't believe this at all. They just thought there was one being, but there isn't. He says that here are two beings, and they both share the same Godhead. They share the same relationship of unity among themselves. Notice in verse 4, in him, talking about Christ, was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. The world didn't understand it. It goes on in verse 14 to say, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Verse 18, no one has seen God, talking about the Father, at any time, the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared him. The term in the bosom of the Father was a term used in those days because when you were very close to another person, when you ate, it wasn't sitting in a chair next to the person. It was actually using more of a cushion, and you're lying sideways next to the other person. And so they were very close, and He says this is the way, just this intimate relationship. They love each other. They've always been in harmony, because they share the same attitude of love. As 1 John 4, 8 and 16 says, God is love. They both share the same attitude.

Let's compare this, and notice this whole section, there's nothing about a trinity. Only God the Father and the Word are present in the beginning. It didn't say God the Father and the Son, and that the Holy Spirit was also a person and was there with them. No? And also, what happens to this intimate relationship where it says in verse 18 that the Son is the one who has this close relationship with the Father? If the Holy Spirit was a person, that would be an insult. You wouldn't leave them out. You would include them. Just from chapter 1 of John, you can dismiss and disregard the doctrine of the Trinity. Continuing on in John chapter 3 in verse 16 tells us about the nature of God the Father, which is the same one, similar to Jesus Christ. It says, verse 16, for God, talking about the Father, so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. So we talk about Christ's love for us and what he did, but God the Father was the one that had to give him up. And many have commented it's harder to give up what you love the most than that person actually giving up the life, because after all, that person is choosing that. But somebody that loves you more is going to say, please don't do it. No, but God the Father gave up his Son. So it shows the immensity of God's love for us. It's not just Jesus Christ.

Let's continue. Also, I was going to mention 1 John chapter 1, 1 John chapter 1, which was also written by John. And guess what? He's still talking about the nature of God. Again, it shows no Trinitarian ideas here as well. In 1 John chapter 1, in verse 1, it says, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, talking about Christ, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled. Now he's talking there about the resurrected Jesus Christ. They actually were able to touch his wounds, put their hands in his wounds. They touched them after his resurrection, concerning the word of life. Again, using the term the word for Jesus Christ. The life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us. That which we have seen and heard, we declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. Where's the Holy Spirit if we're supposed to have fellowship with him? So again, this is a refutation of the Trinity doctrine. And he says, and these things we write to you that your joy may be full. This is the message which we have heard from him, talking about Christ, and declare to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. So here we see the unity. There is no darkness in either of them. They can't think wicked thoughts. They can't do evil. They can't sin. And so when Christ said, if you have seen me, Philip, you've seen the Father. There's no darkness in either of us. It is all light. It is all goodness.

And so if they had interchanged places at the very beginning, each playing the other's role, they would have had the same results. See, it's not, oh yeah, I'm gonna do the things, but I'm not sure the Father would do them. No, he says, if you've seen what I'm doing, the works I'm doing, it's the same as if the Father was doing. Isn't that fantastic that you can have just a kind of a replica? That they both work together? That if you've seen one, the same type of attitude, spirit, works, one from the other. If Philip would have grasped that at the time, he would have said, now I understand. Now I understand how God the Father truly is, because you are God in the flesh, and God would have been similar to you. And so that is the greatness. Now God the Father has a different personality, but they both have the same attitude of love, harmony, and willing to sacrifice themselves, not just Jesus Christ. In Philippians chapter 2, in verse 5, we see that Christ didn't have to carry out this role. He didn't have to choose to be the one subordinate to God the Father. Notice what it says in Philippians chapter 2 verse 5, Paul saying, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Talk about the attitude. Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God? The term there has to do with considering being equal to God as something to be retained. He could have retained it, but he didn't. He gave it up willingly, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name. So we see this loving and caring and this willingness to put others before themselves. Let's go to John chapter 5 to continue to see this revelation in the book of John. John chapter 5 verse 19. Jesus reveals more and more about this nature that he has and that God the Father has. Then Jesus answered and said to them, Most assuredly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father do for whatever he does, the Son also does in like manner. Same attitude, same works, because they both have a harmony in them, that unity of spirit.

Verse 20, For the Father loves the Son and shows him all things that he himself does, and he will show him greater works than these that you may marvel. All the miracles that Christ carried out is part of God's will. He was following God's will. In verse 36 of this same chapter, he says, For I have a greater witness than John's, for the works which the Father has given me to finish, the very works that I do, bear witness of me that the Father has sent me. Perfect harmony between the two. In chapter 8 verse 19.

Then they said to him, Where is your Father? Jesus answered, You know neither me nor my Father. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. You would have seen the attitude. You would have seen the words. You would have seen the actions.

These words Jesus spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple, and no one laid hands on him, for his hour had not come.

In verse 28, he goes on to say, Then Jesus said to them, When you lift up the Son of man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself, but as my Father taught me, I speak these things, and he who sent me is with me. The Father has not left me alone, for I always do those things that please him. Again, the attitude. They both know what the other expects of each one, and they carry it out. They fulfill each point. Let's go to chapter 10, verse 33. Again, in the sense that nothing new here. We understand the love between God the Father and the Son, but do we understand now how much more God the Father is involved and that Jesus Christ is not doing things on his own, but reflecting the attitude of God the Father? Chapter 10, verse 33. The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we do not stone you, but for blasphemy, and because you, being a man, make yourself God. Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law? I said, You are gods. If he called them gods to whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken, do you say of him whom the Father sanctified, which means set apart, and sent into the world? You are blaspheming because I say I am the Son of God. If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me. But if I do, though you do not believe me, believe the works that you may know and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him. So we're all in perfect harmony. We work together. God the Father would do the same thing.

Let's go to chapter 12, verse 44. Chapter 12, verse 44. Then Jesus cried out and said, He who believes in me believes not in me, but in him who sent me, and he who sees me sees him who sent me. Second time he uses this term. Well, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father.

Now certainly, again, it's not physically. It's not talking about that they are the same person, but he says this is the way God the Father would act if he was on the earth. I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in me should not abide in darkness. Let's go on here to verse 49. It says, For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me gave me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. There is such harmony that he's saying the Father is the one that's working in me, and he's transmitting these thoughts to me, how to carry things out, and I am perfectly following his will.

And I know that his command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told me, so I speak. In chapter 15, in verse 22 through 24, Christ says, If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Remember, he already had resurrected Lazarus from the dead. This was in the vicinity of the area. Don't you think if somebody came and took a cadaver that was stuck in one of these refrigerators in the Irvine hospital and been there for four days, and all of a sudden comes out alive?

You don't think the papers would say something about that? You don't think the doctors would say something about that? Well, of course, they all knew this. So Christ is saying, you know what kind of works I've been carrying out. He is challenging them because of their unbelief. In verse 22, he says, If I had not come and spoken, they would not have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates me hates my father also.

He hates the attitude I have, the way I do things. So again, it's not just one person here. We're talking about two divine persons working together. He says, if you hate the way I am, you're going to hate the father. He does the same thing. He thinks the same way. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin, but now they have seen and also hated both me and my father.

But this happened that the word might be fulfilled, which is written in their law. They hated me without a cause. They just had a whole different spiritual mentality, hostility. They were all wrapped up in their own selfishness. They wanted to keep their positions. And here was Christ raising a man after four days. He also healed this blind man from birth. He'd been blind. So how many other things did they need before they recognize God was working through him, and yet they rejected it? In chapter 16 in verse 15, Christ said all things that the Father has are mine.

Therefore I said that he will take of mine and declare it to you. So everything that the Father has is His. They share everything together. In chapter... yeah, in verse 26 of this chapter 16, He says, In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you.

For the Father Himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came forth from God. So it's not like Jesus Christ loves people more. We've got to go to Him because God the Father is so great and He's more distant. No, God the Father is the same way. We shouldn't shy away from God the Father. We shouldn't just focus and just fixate our minds on Jesus Christ. That's a wrong biblical concept.

And then finally, chapter 17, in his prayer at Gethsemane, He says in verse 20, I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they all may be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. We have to show an example that the world can actually see Christ and God the Father working.

We have the attitude. We have the same fear of God, the same respect for His commandments. We do things according to His will, not our will. Of course, the world is in darkness, so we can't expect too much recognition, but that person, who is earnestly seeking to follow God, to have God's Spirit in them, will listen, will see, will recognize what is being done.

In Colossians chapter 2, going to other scriptures, which talk about that same spirit, Colossians chapter 2 and verse 9, Paul says, for in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. So it says that in Christ is all that divinity that is also in God the Father. There's no diminishment there. There's not this secondary being that is less important than God the Father. They're both at the same level. One was willing to subordinate himself voluntarily to carry out this great plan.

In Hebrews chapter 1, let's go there, Hebrews chapter 1, let's read verse 3, talking about, again, Jesus Christ, which describes Him. It says, who being the brightness of His glory, talking about God the Father, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. Again, going back to our nature of God and Christ doctrinal paper, it mentions in page 15. In Hebrews 1.3, the Son is described as, quote, being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person.

A Bible scholar, H. B. McDonald, writes, the word translated, quote, express image, is the word in Greek character, from which we derive our English word character. Thus, the Son of God has the very character of God's essential being. Jesus is God thrown on the screen of human life. Paul explains that Jesus is the reflected brightness of the glory of God, which means that He is the exact image of His essence. In other words, Jesus is God in all His substance, nature, and character. Thus, the use of plurality in the Old Testament infers what the New Testament makes clear, that there are two in the Godhead. And so, again, we can understand that relationship. And the greatest illustration is between a man and a woman, that they join and become one flesh. Now, this is at a much lower level, but a united, loving marriage is the greatest reflection of a relationship between God the Father and Jesus Christ, of course, in a spiritual plane. In Revelation 21, Revelation 21 is where we see the end result of all of their sacrifice, carrying out this plan of salvation to have us become like them.

Revelation 21, verse 3, it says, And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them, and be their God, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, no more pain, no more suffering. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Then he who sat on the throne, talking about God the Father, said, Behold, I make all things new, because we're no longer going to be in a physical body. Now God has a higher plane, higher goal, once all of these glorified children of God appear. He's got so much planned ahead. I used in one of the Christian living classes at camp the similarity or the analogy between what prayer means to us and what that green lantern, which was one of these comic book heroes, that he had this green ring that had been given to him by aliens, and to be exercised for the good of mankind, he was specially selected. But the thing is, he had to go and he had to charge that ring with all this power every 24 hours, because that lantern that was given to him, he had to charge every time. He could do great things. He could fly, he could create so many things with this power, but that's nothing in comparison to what God is going to provide for us one day. All of these comic book heroes, Superman, Batman, the green lantern, and many others, they're going to pale into insignificance in comparison to the glorified sons of God. We're going to be able to travel at the speed of thought. We're immortal. We're never going to have a gray hair again. We're never going to have to worry about our weight or our height. Or our bank accounts or our health. That's all in the past. God is going to do everything new, but he tells us to be faithful. He wants us to be like Jesus Christ and himself, forgiving, loving, self-sacrificing, putting other welfare, others' welfare before our own. So this is what Christ mentions in 1 John chapter 3 as we begin to conclude. 1 John chapter 3 and verse 1. Again, John loves to talk about the nature of God the Father and Jesus Christ. And in fact, he revealed so much that Christ did to John, who was the closest disciple he had.

Verse 1 says, Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God. Therefore, the world does not know us because it did not know him. They can't register. They can't fathom what are the truths that we should follow. They've been deceived. They've been hijacked by the world. Verse 2. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when he is revealed, talking about Christ, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. We shall see him with spiritual eyes. We can't see the invisible world now, but one day that's going to be our world. We're going to be able to see spiritual things. We're going to be able to see Jesus Christ in all of his spiritual glory. He's not going to have to materialize himself to be able to reflect physical light and use ultraviolet light and all of this that are physical things. No, we're going to see him as he is because we are going to have spiritual vision at that time. And so, let's look at the action steps. Let's see what we can conclude from all of this study, because after all, if it's theory and not practice, it's just going to be in your mind for a little while, and then it's going to go away. So let's look at four action steps that we can take. Number one, when we address God the Father, we can remember he is just as loving, caring, and self-sacrificing as Jesus Christ. And we shouldn't overemphasize Jesus and leave God the Father out of the picture, as so many evangelicals and other churches do. Christ said, if you have seen me, you have seen the Father. Number two, we should feel secure in our judgment. God the Father is as merciful and compassionate as Jesus Christ. They don't make mistakes. There is no darkness in either of them. So this idea, well, I need to be closer to Jesus Christ because, oh God, the Father scares me. Oh, he's distant. Oh, no, I, this is the same mentality that as a Catholic, I grew up. No, don't get too close to God. Go to the Virgin Mary. Yes, through her, you can entreat things. You need to have these mediators. No, you don't. Jesus Christ is our only mediator, but it's not because God the Father is somehow standoffish and distant. No, no, because Jesus Christ wants to be there, to be our advocate, to help us. But he says God the Father loves us just the same.

We should also, number three, be secure in God's love.

The question, how much more do both of them have to do for us in order to trust them? They've given their all to win our trust.

And the fourth and last point, suffering, no matter how painful it can be for the time being, is going to be temporary. No matter what we're going through, how much did Christ have to go through? All the pain and suffering to show that he was willing to do that for each one of us. I remember probably 10 years ago, they had that movie out, The Passion of the Christ by Mel Gibson. And I went to see it once, and I was so impacted by it that I took my family, my wife and my four daughters. And they cried in the most of the movie. They were kind of upset at me because it was such a strong movie. But I said, I want you to see this at least once. Because if you ever doubt what Jesus Christ did for you, this is just an idea. But at least so that it stays with you how much he went through for each one of us. I'm not interested in seeing it again because it was so painful and traumatic. But it is valuable to understand. They don't go around saying, well, I understand you're going through cancer, you're going through heart problems, or you're going through pain or diabetic difficulties. I understand. Oh yeah, but I've never gone through that. No, they went through the pain. And not only that, as God the Father, he sees all his children suffering. Don't you think he feels pain and suffering just like a father or mother would with their children? Of course! And he's going to put an end to it. But there are learning lessons to go through as well. If all of this was just one nice, happy, party time in life, we would never develop that spiritual character, that willingness to endure patiently, just like Job did, and to be faithful. At the same time, let's be wise. Take care of our bodies. Check things out. Don't delay them. Don't expect God to just immediately remove every pain and sorrow and difficulty you're going through, because God is developing our minds, our attitudes, and we should be careful. Just like when I have a cavity, I don't say, well, I hope God just takes care of this cavity for me. No, I'm going to go and get it done. There are certain things only God can do, but he expects us to do our part as well. And so let's finish up in Romans 8, 18.

So let's not be negligent about our health, our concern. God's not going to pay the rent at the end of the month. He expects us to do our part. In Romans 8, verse 18, it says, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. So Paul went through so much suffering, got beaten. Three times he was shipwrecked. He suffered more than most human beings, and yet he said all of that. If you put it in the scales, he says what God is going to give us is so much greater than this. It's not worthy to be compared. Verse 28. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.

So pain and suffering are part of the enemies that will one day be abolished. So we have to put up with them in the meantime. So hopefully now we can understand better what Christ meant when he talked to Philip, and he said, if you have seen me, you have seen the Father. Hopefully now we can understand better what Christ meant.