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I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life

I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life
March 11, 2018

Scripture: John 14:4-6

I. Jesus is exclusively the way to God.

A. This discussion of the way is important in John 14. The setting for Jesus’ words in both John 13 and John 14 is the night of the Passover – the night before Jesus would die on the cross. Jesus says to His disciples in John 13:33: “Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’” If you want to go to God, if you want to go to heaven, who do you have to go through? Jesus. Who is the only way to God (John 14:6)? Jesus.

B. What is the starting point for all of us if we want to find the way to God? Point A is a very humbling beginning point. It is the point where we agree with what Paul wrote in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We start the way to God by confessing that I am a sinner. I am a rebel against God and His ways. And I need to be reconciled to Him. Jesus and Jesus alone offers the way to God. He can reconcile me to God if I trust that Jesus died on the cross for my sin.

II. Jesus is exclusively the truth of God.

A. John 1:14: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Jesus is full of truth. We can understand John’s meaning better if we read John 1:18: “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” The main truth that Jesus reveals to us is truth about God. Jesus embodies the supreme revelation of God. He has made God known through His life on earth. He has narrated for us who God is.

B. If Jesus is THE truth, what does that mean for you and me in the church? We must be students of Jesus. If we want to know the truth, we have to know Jesus. And we must know the Word that Jesus taught. Let’s read together out loud what Jesus said to His disciples in John 8:31-32: So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” Jesus’ word is true. And His truth can set you free.

III. Jesus is exclusively the life of God.

A. When Jesus says He is the life, He is clarifying something that John wrote in John 1:4: “In him” – Jesus – “was life, and the life was the light of men.” Just like the sun brings life to the world, Jesus is the light that brings life to the world and all of creation. Jesus has the power of life in Himself. If you want life, you must go through Jesus. Spiritually, we are dead apart from Jesus. We need faith in Jesus alone if we want to be raised from the dead and given spiritual life. Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Our sin has earned death and hell. That is what we deserve for our sin. But we don’t have to go to hell. We can instead have eternal life. And is that eternal life something I have to work for through my good deeds? No. It is a free gift. God gives it to people in His church exclusively through one person. And who is that one person? Christ Jesus our Lord.

Application:
Are you following the way of Jesus?

Sources:
The Gospel of John
Commentaries on John by D.A. Carson and Richard Phillips