I Am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life John 14:1-7 Intro In our day, many have a vague notion of who Jesus is. Seems like a good guy - decent sort. Has some wise and helpful things to say Used to be John 3:16 - now Matthew 7:1 - biblically ignorant Typically employed when making valuations of morality - more specifically sexuality - break out the old judge not or you will be judged - boom, argument over - your Jesus says not to discriminate Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. (Matthew 7:6) D.A. Carson - someone has to figure out who the dogs and the pigs are When one actually listens to what Jesus says about himself - he becomes immensely offensive to our post-modern, pluralistic ears There are many offensive things about Christianity, at least for some people, but the chief offense of Christianity is its founder and his extraordinary claims. It is true that the claims of Jesus of Nazareth often are not spoken of or taken at face value; when that happens it is possible to present Jesus as the lovely, indulgent rabbi. Who was everyone s friend. But sooner or later his claims about himself become known, and the offense emerges. (James Montgomery Boice, John, p. 1075) Sixth of Seven I Am statements - the most explicitly exclusive of all his statements Jesus himself is the exclusive way to God and the one makes us able to come to God Stare this self-identifying statement of Christ square in the face - in doing so - let us look into the face of the Jesus himself I. The Claim A. Context - verse 1 - let not your heart be troubled - calming assurance of his care for his disciples - eve of crucifixion - has informed them that he will be leaving them through his death and informs even Peter, the Rock, that he will deny him. Troubled - words of assurance - circumstances and sin 1
1. Grace for those who will betray - he transfers from themselves and their circumstances their attention to him 2. How to prevent troubled heart? believe in God, believe also in me - as God B. Verses 2-3 Further - believe in the Jesus who is going to prepare an eternal, heavenly home for them - many rooms - lots of space for redeemed sinners 1. If it were not so, would I have told you? - Jesus doesn t lie - he s straight up with us a) If He s going to prepare a place for his disciples - it is only logical that he s coming back for us and on top of that logic is the rock-solid assurance of his promise - I will two times (1) He s coming to take all of his disciples to himself - that where I am you may be also (a) Do you know that Christ longs for us to be with him - amazing! Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. (John 17:24) C. Verse 4-5 - Thomas - how do we get to the heart calming glorious reality - what is the way? Verse 4 - you know the way - verse 5 - we don t know - Jesus mistaken? They should have known - they know the way because they know Jesus - brings us to his claim - want to know the way to God s heaven? D. I Am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life - break it down 1. I Am - Exodus 3 2. The Way a) He s not a way - he s the way into God (1) All other religions have holy men and prophets that come saying that they can point the way to God - only Jesus comes saying I AM the way to God (2) The way out of sin and wrath and the way to the Father (a) Holy God - cannot accept us in our sin (b) Eve of crucifixion 2
i) Few short hours - he goes to the cross - bore our sin and the wrath of God against our sin - he was raised - all who trust him we do not have our sins counted against us and we do have the righteousness of Christ credited to our account - heaven s door is flung open wide and we have access - we have the way I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. (John 10:9) 3. The Truth a) Not that he has truth to share or tell us about (he does) - he IS the truth (1) Truth about who God is - verse 7 if you ve seen me you ve seen the Father (a) Holiness (b) Mercy - he came to save sinners - the cross - wrath exhausted (c) Heart is kind, name is love i) No room for liking Jesus but not the God of the OT - he is the exact imprint of the nature of God - he is the God of the Old and New (2) Truth about who we are (a) Helpless apart from divine intervention - sinful and wayward in light of the perfections and beauties of Christ. (3) He is the Truth. He defines what is true through his very existence - all other truth claims must be weighed against him who is the Truth And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. (1 John 5:20) 4. The Life [25] Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, [26] and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? (John 11:25-26) a) In him is life - life for the spiritually dead - in him alone 3
E. He raises the dead, animates our spiritual being, directs us in the way to God - himself, and takes us there 1. First to last and every point in between it is Christ F. He reiterates - no one comes to the Father except through me - massively exclusive - Greek no-one means no-one 1. No wiggle room at all - you cannot come to God except through Christ I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity 2. Everyone who believes in Jesus verse 1 - does definitely come to the Father - brings us to what this means for us II. What Does That Mean For Us? (postmodernism and exclusivism) A. It follows then that apart from Christ we are alienated from God - so it is in and of ourselves They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. (Ephesians 4:18) 1. We can t do anything about it - all our best attempts to know God and find acceptance, forgiveness are futile. We have an inclination to get to God but on our own terms a) Morality - be a good person - SJW - latest cause - twitter warriors - new cultural fundamentalism justified (1) Problem - we have done wrong - need forgiveness - we can t just forgive ourselves b) Religion 4
(1) Spirituality - I connect with the divine according to my preferences (a) 30% of people under 30 SBNR (2) Going to church 2. None of this can bring us to God - even our very finest efforts Illustration: Tower of Babel - tower to heaven [4] Then they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth. [5] And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. (Genesis 11:4-5) B. Christ comes to us in our alienation and ignorance - with the most exclusive of claims - no-one comes to God except through him - one way to God 1. Always offensive - maybe more so in our age of pluralism and tolerance - changed from I tolerate you to you must agree with me. People sometimes suggest that we are narrow-minded as Christians when we say that Christ is the only way to God, and we have to confess that this is precisely what we are at this point. We are as narrow as the Lord Jesus Christ. (James Montgomery Boice, John, p. 1081) C. For those who see him in his glory and take him at his word and embrace him as the way - we aren t triggered - we rejoice 1. THERE DOESN T NEED TO BE A WAY - Praise be to God there is a way III. How Do We Respond? A. If Jesus is telling the truth - I believe he is - we must run to him and find the way to God - we come to him by faith alone - that s it Faith is the eye that looks to him, the hand that receives his free gift, the mouth that drinks the living water. (John Stott, BST: Romans, p. 117) a) UNBELIEVERS BELIEVE Come, ye weary, heavy laden, Lost and ruined by the fall; If you tarry till you re better, You will never come at all: 5
Not the righteous, not the righteous, Sinners Jesus came to call (Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Wretched) B. Christian we have reason to shout and sing for joy - Christ has taken us out of our sin and alienation and brought us into his everlasting care - we ve got something to shout about - heaven is our home, Jesus is our brother, God is our Father, the Spirit is our comforter - sins forgiven - everlasting life SHOUT C. For all who have trusted in Christ we have access to the Father - AWESOME -don t live below your privileges [19] Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, [20] by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, [21] and since we have a great priest over the house of God, [22] let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. [23] Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. (Hebrews 10:19-23) 1. Spiritual disciplines - personal and corporate - means to draw near through Christ - this is why we pray in Jesus name D. In Christ we find the grace to calm our troubled hearts 1. Circumstances and sin - verses 1-3 - believe in him [3] When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. [4] In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? (Psalm 56:3-4) 2. Life, way into the Father s heart - rest in him a) Set your hope fully on the grace to be revealed at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ - verses 1-3 - he s preparing a place - he s coming to take us to himself E. Provokes urgency in our mission to proclaim Christ to everyone [14] How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? [15] And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news! (Romans 10:14-15) 1. They must hear - no other name under heaven by which we must be saved 6
Close He animates our being - tells us the truth we need - leads us in the way to the Father - from beginning to end it is Christ. This most exclusive claim of Jesus is our great hope. We have him purely on the grounds of faith. He is our way, our truth, our life. What a Lord and Savior. We need no other, we want no other. Glory to his holy name. Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Living Hope Church. Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: By Benjamin Kreps Website: http://livinghopechurchpa.com 7