I and My Father Are One

1. I and My Father Are One “I and My Father are One.” {John 10:30}

2. Ecumenical Thinking • Three major religions • Jewish • Christian • Muslim • We all worship the same God—we just follow different paths. • Different faiths; different doctrines; yet, we will come out in the same place.

3. Jesus Only • There is only ONE God. • Manifestedin three ways— Father, Son, and Holy Spirit • The Bible speaks of ONE God—inthreedistinctPersons. • Physical sense—Father/Son • Yet, two different people!

4. Cannot Separate Father/Son • If one doesn’t believe in the Son, God’s wrath is upon him. • “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” {John 3:36}

5. Cannot Separate Father/Son • Those who do not believe in the Son will die in their sins. • “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”{John 8:24}

6. Cannot Separate Father/Son • We must believe in the Son; He is our only access to the Father. • “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” {John 14:6}

7. Cannot Separate Father/Son • Only one name ever given for salvation—that given by the Father to the Son. • “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”{Acts 4:12}

8. What About John 14:28? • Some think that they have found a hole in the equal argument: • “You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.' If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I.” {John 14:28}

9. Can We Understand… • The President and I are one. • Is this a correct statement? • “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings.” {Acts 17:26}

10. Can We Understand… • The president and I are equal. • Is this statement correct? • “And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear.” {1 Peter 1:17}

11. Can We Understand… • Husband and wife are one. • Is this statement correct? • “So then, they are no longer two butone flesh.Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”{Matthew 19:6}

12. Can We Understand… • Husband and wife are equal. • Is this statement correct? • “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neithermale nor female;for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” {Galatians 3:28}

13. Can We Understand… • The husband is head of the wife. • Is this statement correct? • “For the husband ishead of the wife,as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body.” {Ephesians 5:23}

14. Can We Understand… • Paul and Apollos were one. • Is this statement correct? • “Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.”{1 Corinthians 3:8}

15. Can We Understand… • Paul and Apollos were equal. • Is this statement correct? • “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you areall onein Christ Jesus.” {Galatians 3:28}

16. Can We Understand… • Paul was greater than Apollos. • Is this statement correct? • “For I consider that I am not at all inferior to the most eminentapostles.”{2 Corinthians 11:5}

17. Line of Authority… • Even in the spiritual sense, there is a line of authority. • Is this statement correct? • “But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.” {1 Corinthians 11:3}

18. Father and Son Equal in: • Action • “But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father has been working until now, and I have been working. Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. Then Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, theSon can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.” {John 5:17-19}

19. Father and Son Equal in: • Power • “For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.” {John 5:21}

20. Father and Son Equal in: • Judgment • “For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son... and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.” {John 5:22,27}

21. Father and Son Equal in: • Honor • “That all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He whodoes not honor the Sondoes not honor the Fatherwho sent Him.” {John 5:23}

22. Father and Son Equal in: • Reconciliation • “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life... For as theFather has life in Himself,so He has granted theSon to have life in Himself.”{John 5:24,26}

23. Father and Son Equal in: • Business and will • “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but thewill of Him who sent Me.This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.” {John 6:38,39}

24. Father and Son Equal in: • Word • “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him--the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken on My own authority; but theFather who sent Me gave Me a command,what I should say and what I should speak.” {John 12:48,49}

25. Father and Son Equal in: • Fellowship • “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he whoreceives Me receives Him who sent Me.”{John 13:20} • “That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly ourfellowship is with the Father and with His SonJesus Christ.” {1 John 1:3}

26. Father and Son Equal in: • Rejection • “He who hates Me hates My Fatheralso.”{John 15:23} • “Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either;he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.” {1 John 2:23}

27. Father and Son Equal in: • Knowledge • “Then they said to Him, ‘Where is Your Father?’ Jesus answered, ‘Youknow neither Me nor My Father.If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.’” {John 8:19} • “If you had known Me, you would have known My Fatheralso; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”{John 14:7}

28. Father and Son Equal in: • Eternal Life • “And this is eternal life, that theymay know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christwhom You have sent.” {John 17:3} • “And this is the testimony: thatGod has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” {1 John 5:11,12}

29. We Know… • Keep the Commandments • “Now by this we know that weknow Him, if wekeep His commandments.He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is aliar,and the truth is not in him. But whoeverkeeps His word, truly the love of God is perfectedin him. By this we know that we are in Him.”{1 John 2:3-5}

30. Concluding Thoughts • What is yourattitudetoward this relationship? • Are you asunshineChristian? • When all is well, you’re with Him. • He can’t really count on you. • If someone offends or hurts you, you do not continue to walk with the Lord?