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John 12:44-50  JESUS EQUAL WITH GOD THE FATHER

Introduction:

	In this text Jesus makes one last appeal to the masses
of Jewish people to believe in Him and be saved and John
shows Jesus to be equal with God the Father.

I.  What John describes in our text

	Most Jewish leaders had rejected Jesus as Savior from
the beginning of His ministry.  Most common people
considered Jesus to be a prophet of God and were open to the
possibility that Jesus might be the Christ.  The problem was
that they did not see Him as a Christ who could save from
sin, but maybe as a Christ who could save them from Roman
rule.
	When the common people finally offered to crown Jesus as
their king and He rejected their proposal saying that He
would be crucified, they rejected Him altogether as the
Christ.  They thought He could not be the Christ in any
sense of the word.
	Jesus then immediately stopped His public ministry and
went into seclusion to spend His remaining time with His
disciples.
	John informs us that in spite of the fact that the
majority had rejected Jesus as Savior, there were many of
the people who had truly believed in Him.  John calls
special attention to the fact that many of the Jewish
leaders themselves believed on Jesus and got saved.
	In this text John looks back to the time before Jesus
went into seclusion and enlarges upon the last appeal of
Jesus to the masses of Jewish common people to believe in
Him and get saved.  John especially points makes mention of
the words of Jesus to the people in which He claims to be
equal with God the Father.

II.  Belief in Jesus the same as belief in God the Father

	V. 44, "Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me,
believeth not on me, but on him that sent me."  Jesus had
already announced that He is the Bread of Life and the
Wather of Life and that whoever believes in Him would
receive everlasting life.  The great miracles which He had
performed should have convinced them that He is from God and
that, therefore, His offer of eternal life to all who
believe was a legitimate offer.
	Yet in spite of the miracles, the majority rejected His
offer of eternal life and rejected Him as the Christ.  But
as already noted by John, Jesus made one last appeal to them
to be saved and points out that receiving Him is equal to
receiving God the Father.  The reason that receiving Him is
equal to receiving God the Father is because He, Himself, is
equal with God the Father.
	Although He and the Father are different persons, they
are in the same Godhead and are equal.  They are equal in
power, in knowledge, in their eternal existence and in
everyu other way that is characteristic of Deity.
	Therefore, believing in Jesus is the same as believing
in God the Father.  The Father had endorsed the ministry of
Jesus.  He had endorsed His ministry by authorizing the
great miracles which He performed.  The Father had endorsed
the ministry of Jesus at His baptism by send the Holy Spirit
upon Him in a visible form.  The Father had endorsed His
ministry by speaking audibly to Him in the hearing of the
people.  One could not believe in Jesus withoug believing in
God the Father and one could not really believe God the
Father without also believing in Jesus.  Anyone who rejected
one rejected the other.

III.  Seeing Jesus the same as seeing God the Father

	V. 45, "And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me."
Sinful man cannot see Deity God in the fullness of God and
life.  Yet some men have been privileged to see a visible
manifestation of God.  That is, they have seen God, but a
part of God's glory was veiled from them in order that they
may see Him and live.
	Abraham saw such a visible manifestation of God.  He
made and offering to God and put no fire on the altar to
burn the altar.  But God passed between the pieces of the
offering and consumed the offering instantly.
	Moses saw such a visible manifestation of God.  He saw a
bush that appeared to burn and yet it did not burn up.
Moses went to see the bush and as he approached a voice came
from within the busy and told him to take off his shoes.  He
was on holy ground.  The fire in the bush was the presence
of God.  Later all of the people of Israel saw a visible
manifestation of God.  They saw a huge pillar of cloud that
went before them as they traveled in the wilderness.  It was
a pillar of cloud in the day time and a pillar of fire at
night.  After the tabernacle was built a part of the coud
entered into the tabernacle and filled the tabernacle with
the glory of God.
	Jesus is Holy God.  He is the Second Person of the Holy
Trinity come down to earth.  He entered into a few pounds of
baby flesh and that baby grew to be a man.  He was Holy God
dwelling in the flesh of a man and other men, women, boys
and girs could safely look upon Him and see Him.  Hid glory
was veiled by the human flesh in which He lived.
	Yet those who saw Him could see the evidence that He is
God.  In His miracles they could see the power of God.  He
healed the sick.  He even healed lepers.  He fed a multitude
of 5,000 women plus men and children with only five little
loaves of bread and two fishes.
	As He spoke they could hear the knowledge and wisdom of
God with which He spoke.  At an earlier feast day the Jewish
officials had given order to the temple guards to arrest
Him, but they didn't.  Instead, day by day the guards stood
and listened to Him speak, but they made no move to arrest
Him.  When they were called in by the officials and asked
why they did not arrest Him they said, "Never a man spake
like this man."  They could tell by His words that He was no
ordinary man.
	In the things that Jesus did they could see the love of
God displayed.  It was said of Him, "He went about doing
good."  Jesus loved people.  He was always doing good for
people.  Even on this occasion, He informed them that He was
about to be crucified.  He was the Good Shepherd who would
lay down His life for the sheep.
	You have seen some father and son who were so much alike
that when you had seen one, you have virtually seen the
other.  The son was an image of the father.  So it was with
Jesus and God the Fatehr.  Jesus was the very image of God
the Father.  Jesus had all the power and knowledge and
wisdom and love and every other characterstic of God that
God the Father in heaven has.  Those who had seen Jesus had
Jesus in the flesh had, inessence, seen God the FatherQ.

IV.  The purpose of Jesus coming into the world, the same
	which God the Father had in sending Him into the world

	In verse 46 Jesus sets forth an explanation of why He
who is Deity God would come down to earth to dwell in human
flesh.  V. 46, "I am come a light into the world, that
whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness."
He had come to earth on a mission of mercy.  He had come so
that men, women, boys and girls who live in the darkness of
sin could be delivered out of that darkness into the
glorious light of God.  He came to save men from the curse
of sin.  He came to save lost sinners so that they could go
to heaven.
	Many of the people had believed in Him.  But the vast
majority of them had not believed on Him.  As Deity God He
could judge them immediately and punish them immediately for
rejecting Him.  Yet that was not His purpose in coming to
the world.  He had not come to judge; He had come to save.
V. 47, "And if any man hear my words, and believe not,I
judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to
save the world."
	When Jesus said, "I judge you not..." He did not mean
that He would never judge them.  Way back in John 5:22 Jesus
had said that God the Father has committed alljudgment to
His Son.  So He explained here that what He meant wasthat He
had not come at that time to be their judge.  He had come in
an effort to save their souls.

V.  The words of Jesus the same as the words of God the
	Father

	Yet in spite of all His effort, the majority had
rejected Him as Savior and most of them would continue to
reject Him.  Even at that, when Jesus would become their
judge, it would not be His desire to condemn them.  It would
be their own rejection of His offer of salvation which would
condemn them.  V. 48, "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth
not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I
have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day."
	Every gospel message which Jesus had delivered to them
would be their judge.  Every time they had heard Him say
that He is the Son of God, every time they had heard Him say
that He is the Bread of Life or the Water of Life or the
Light of the World or the Good Shepherd and they had
rejected His words and , those words would judge them.
Every time He had offered to give them eternal life and they
turned it down, their rejection of His offer would condemn
them.
	Jesus, indeed will be their Judge in the end and it will
be Jesus who will sentence them to the Lake of Fire and
Brimstone, but it will not be Jesus who condemns them.  It
will be their own rejection of Him as Savior that will
condemn them.
	V. 49, "For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father
which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say,
and what I should speak."  Every word that Jesus had spoken
in His entire life had been spoken in absolute obedience to
a command from God the Heavenly Father.
	But the point that Jesus is making here is that every
word which He had spoken to them was true.  Every gospel
message which Jesus ever spoke to the people of Israel  was
absolutely true.  It was a message which came directly from
God the Father.  Every time Jesus proclaimed Himself to be
the Savior of men His words were absolutely true.  Every
time He had spoke of Himself as the Bread of Life or as the
Water of Life or as the Light of the World or as the Good
Shepherd, Jesus had spoken to them word by word exactly the
truth which He had received from God the Father..  Every
time He had offered to give them eternal life if they would
only trust in Him was the absolute truth.  Jesus had spoken
to them exactly what God the Father had told Him to speak.

VI.  Some of the things that Jesus said

	Whatever God the Father tells anyone is absolute truth.
V. 50, "And I know that his commandment is life everlasting:
whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto
me, so I speak."  Listen again to some of those words which
Jesus had spoken which came from god the Father:

John 3:14-15:  "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:  That
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
eternal life."

John 3:16:  "For God so loved the world, that he gave his
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have everlasting life."

John 6:47:  "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that
believeth on me hath everlasting life."

John 5:24:  "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hearth
my word and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting
life and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed
from death unto life."

	These and all other words which Jesus spoke were
absolute truth.  They were from God the Father.  To reject
these words was to reject the words of God the Father.  To
reject Jesus Christ as Savior was to reject the words of God
the Father.
	But let me point this out to you.  This was the last
time that He would come before them and present an offer of
salvation to them.  This was His last appeal to those people
who stood before Him that day.

VII.  Hearing the words of Jesus today

	We do not have the same opportunity today to hear Jesus
speak as did the people of Israel in that day.  However, we
do have the words of Jesus.  We have the written of Jesus.
They are just as true today as they ever were.  They are
still the words which God the Father gave Him to speak.
	They still offer salvation to lost sinners.  They call
upon all men everywhere to repent of their sin and trust in
Jesus Christ and be saved.  They still offer eternal life to
those who trust in Jesus.  The might and power of Almighty
God are still behind His words.  The reception and rejection
of His words are still the basis of judgment for men.
	If you will believe the truthfulness of His words and
accept the promises which He has made concerning salvation,
He will save your soul.  If you reject His offer of
salvation, then this rejection will be the basis of your
judgment.  If you reject Jesus Christ as your Savior then
you stand condemned.  Jesus will be your Judge.  It is not
His desire that you be condemned and sentenced to the Lake
of Fire and Brimstone, but if you reject His offer of
salvation, then, in effect, you have condemned yourself to
the Lake of Fire and Brimstone and Jesus will sentence you,
but you will be the one who condemned yourself by your
rejection of salvation.
	I want you to know that this is but one of many
invitations which you have had from the Lord.  Everytime you
have heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, Jesus was offering
you another opportunity to be saved and to go to heaven.
Today you hear another such offer from the Lord through the
preaching of His word.
	This may be the last time you will ever have this offer
made to you.  If not then it will not be very long until you
will hear your very last offer of salvation and you will
have your last opportunity to be saved.
	I am going to ask that you not take a chance by waiting
until some other time.  I am calling upon you to come today
and get saved.

Conclusion:

	What unsaved person will come forth today and place your
faith in Jesus Christ for salvation?
	What saved person will come forth and present himself to
the Lord to serve Him?