Introduction: Do you have a wonderful family member who died
before your children were born? Have you wished that your
children could have known the blessing of spending time with
that beloved person? Showing your children a picture
doesn’t begin to be sufficient. With the advent of easily
made videos, that helps to bring some understanding. What
about you? If it is your parent, are you enough like your
parent that your children can know important things through
you? Jesus faced a similar problem with teaching us about
His Heavenly Father. Let’s jump into our study of John to
see how Jesus helps us know His Father and the Holy Spirit.

I. What You Reveal About God

A. Read Genesis 1:26-28. This tells us that we reflect
the “image” and “likeness” of God. What do you
think that means?

1. Note the plural. “Let us,” make “after our
likeness.” Who is God talking to? (This is
additional evidence of the Trinity – Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. God says that He is
making humans to reflect His plural self.)

a. Think more deeply. Does that mean the
parts of the plural also reflect each
other? Specifically, is this evidence that
Jesus and the Spirit give us information
about God the Father?

b. Assume a tree, a rock, and a walrus are
next to each other. The walrus says to the
tree and rock, “Let’s make something in
our image, that will reflect our
likeness.” Would that work?

2. Are humans different than the animals? (We do
not look or think like them. Genesis 1:26
gives humans “dominion” over the animals. That
is part of the way we reflect God.)

B. Read Romans 8:16. Do humans have a spirit like the
Holy Spirit? (This text says, “Yes.”)

1. How do you understand this to operate? Do our
spirits communicate with each other?

2. When you read the Bible texts in these
lessons, does it make a light go off in your
head? Do you suddenly understand something
that was previously unclear? (That is the Holy
Spirit speaking to your spirit.)

3. When God decided to make us in His image, is
our spirit proof of His creation account? (We
intrinsically know that we are more than a bag
of meat.)

C. Read John 3:34-35. What else does the Holy Spirit’s
interaction with our spirit cause in our life? (We
share the words of God. The Holy Spirit gives us
those words.)

1. Or am I wrong? Is this text only referring to
what God the Father gave to Jesus?

II. What Jesus Reveals About the Father

A. Read John 10:30-33. What is Jesus’ point in saying
that He and the Father are one?

1. Have His Jewish listeners misunderstood Jesus?
(They understood, they do not believe.)

B. Read John 10:34-36. Is Jesus arguing that all
humans can become “Gods?” (To answer this read
Psalms 82:6-8. Jesus is saying that humans can
become “gods” and the children of God.)

1. Has Jesus just denied His Deity? Is He
watering down what it means for Him to
declare, “I and the Father are One?” (Jesus
seems to be attacking the logic of the Jews
who decided to kill Him. I don’t think Jesus
is saying that humans can be God. Instead, He
seems to reflect what Genesis 1 says about
humans.)

C. Read John 10:37-38. How does Jesus reveal His
Father? (Jesus’ actions reveal the Father.)

1. What should we conclude about Jesus’ reference
to Psalms 82:6 and our lives? (When we do what
God would have us do we reveal the Father’s
nature.)

D. Read John 7:15-17. What do the teachings of Jesus
reveal about His Father? (He is teaching what His
Father had Him teach.)

1. Notice John 7:17. Should we automatically
believe that Jesus is teaching what His Father
revealed to Him? (Jesus says that we can test
that.)

2. Wait a minute. How are we able to “test” what
our Lord says? (This takes us back to our
spirit being in contact with the Holy Spirit.
Jesus says that if we desire to do God’s will,
then the Holy Spirit will give us the
knowledge of what is right teaching.)

E. Read John 8:38. Is Jesus giving us a larger picture
of good and evil? We understand God by seeing what
Jesus did and we understand Satan by what his
followers do? (The answer is, “Yes.” Recall the
most horrific crime. That helps you understand
Satan. Compare that to what Jesus suffered on our
behalf.)

III. What the Holy Spirit Reveals to Us

A. Read John 14:24-26. Let’s discuss what Jesus says
about “words.” From where do the words of Jesus
come? (The are His Father’s words.)

1. What is the problem with you and me listening
to the words of others? (We might not
understand. We are likely to forget.)

2. How does the Holy Spirit fix our word problem?
(The Holy Spirit not only helps us to remember
Jesus’ words, but He helps us to understand by
teaching us.)

B. Read John 16:7. We just learned that the Holy
Spirit helped the disciples to recall the words of
Jesus. In light of that, how was it helpful for
Jesus to leave? (The Holy Spirit is a force
multiplier. The Spirit can be everywhere at one
time. Jesus was only in one place at a time when He
walked the earth.)

C. Read John 16:8. How important is it that the Holy
Spirit brings conviction? Does that let you off the
hook when you present the gospel to others? (I
don’t think we were ever “on the hook” when it
comes to conviction as opposed to sharing. But this
is something I have trouble keeping straight. I
wrongly think that I need to convict because my job
as a lawyer is to convince others.)

D. Read John 16:9. Does it seem odd to you that sin is
defined as not believing in Jesus? (My studies over
the years have convinced me that when John the
Baptist and Jesus called people to repentance, they
were not talking about specific sins. They were
talking about changing your mind, changing your
approach to salvation.)

E. Read John 16:10. What does conviction about
righteousness have to do with Jesus returning to
heaven? (Jesus rose from the grave and returned to
heaven because He defeated sin. He paid the penalty
for our sins. His righteousness becomes our
righteousness.)

F. Read John 16:11. Isn’t it our judgment that we want
to avoid? Why do we care about Satan’s judgment?
(The point Jesus makes is that He won and Satan
lost. We need to choose Jesus, the winner, to avoid
judgment.)

IV. Closing Words

A. Read John 17:1-3. What is central to eternal life?
(Knowing God. You know Him by knowing Jesus.)

B. Read John 17:8-9. Is Jesus especially looking out
for you? (Jesus says that He is praying for His
followers, and not for the world in general.)

C. Read John 17:20-23. Who is Jesus praying for now?
(Those who will choose Him in the future. Jesus
wants all to know God and to become one with God.)

D. Friend, will you help others to know God by
pointing to Jesus? Will you do your best to reveal
God to others?

V. Next week: The Hour of Glory: The Cross and
Resurrection!

Copr. 2024, Bruce N. Cameron, J.D. Scripture quotations are
from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard
Version ), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing
ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All
rights reserved. Suggested answers are found within
parentheses. If you normally receive this lesson by e-mail,
but it is lost one week, you can find it by clicking on this
link: http://www.GoBible.org. Pray for the guidance of the
Holy Spirit as you study.