The Way, the Truth, and the Life

Listen Online:

Watch Online:

Transcript:

Now, there’s a bridge that stands here in Oklahoma between the towns of Lexington and Purcell. Some of you may have been on this bridge. It’s called the James Nance Bridge, and it carries U.

S. Highway 77 across the Canadian River. And it’s one of the longest bridges.

I don’t think it’s the longest bridge in Oklahoma, but it’s one of the longest. It’s two-thirds of a mile long. And if you’ve ever been stuck in traffic on it, you realize how long it feels. When the big trucks are going the opposite direction, you can feel the whole bridge move, thinking, will I ever get across this?

But you’re able, because of that bridge, to cross the river right there in just three minutes, and by car. I don’t know about by foot. But since that bridge opened in the 1930s, countless people have gone across that bridge, including myself, and have made that trip almost without giving it a second thought.

You know, you just sit across the bridge. One minute you’re in Lexington. One minute you’re in Purcell with no thought in between.

But we didn’t realize how important that bridge was until it was shut down by the state with an emergency order. I think they shut it down for a little while in 2014, and then they shut it down for a long while in 2017. My dad’s nodding his head because during one of those periods of time, he worked at a bank based in Purcell, and they sent him over to open an emergency branch of the bank in Lexington in the corner of a carpet shop, if I remember correctly.

They had this little bank branch inside a carpet store in Lexington because so many of their customers couldn’t get across the river. They shut this bridge down because it needed emergency repairs. It eventually needed to be replaced.

And it really hurt the economy. It really hurt both towns while that bridge was out of commission because there was really only one convenient way across the river. Now, you could easily go up to Norman and take 43 minutes to do a three-minute trip.

or you could go south to Byers and it was an hour plus. You could still get across the river, but there was really only one convenient way to get across the river. And so I think they had parades and everything in 2019.

Was it 2019 they reopened the bridge? You probably don’t remember, but after a couple of years, they reopened the bridge to great fanfare and celebration because their one way was restored, their one convenient way. Now, Jesus told a story about another journey where there’s only one way.

But unlike the James Nance Bridge, this really is one way. It’s not just one convenient way, it’s one way period. And unlike the James Nance Bridge, this one way never fails.

And this is what Jesus was talking about in John chapter 14. If you haven’t turned there yet, go ahead and turn with me to John chapter 14. and if you would stand with me as we read together from God’s Word, what Jesus said about this one way.

Starting in verse 1, He said, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions.

If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go, you know, and the way you know.

Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going and how can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

And you may be seated. Now we’re continuing, we’re getting near the end of this list I’ve made of some of the I Am statements that Jesus made in John. And this is the one I always think of.

I am the way, the truth, and the life. And to make sure we fully understand, because I’ll get to this in a moment, some people will say, well, you take this verse out of context and try to make it sound exclusive. or you misinterpret the verse and try to make it sound like an exclusive claim.

If we look at it in context and understand it, he is making an exclusive claim. He is claiming to be the way, the truth, and the life. So to make sure we understand what he’s saying, we need to understand what’s going on in the situation.

And Jesus’ disciples, we see here, they needed to be comforted after he had announced his departure. Now, starting back in chapter 13, he had begun trying to get them to understand that he was going away, that he was going to be leaving them fairly soon. This is what he had spent three years preparing them for, was his eventual departure from them, so that they would be able to carry on in his absence and continue carrying forward the message of the kingdom.

And so he’s already sort of hinted at it throughout his ministry if they were paying attention. They missed it so many times though. Now as we get into chapter 13 and chapter 14, he’s getting a little more open about it where they can’t help but understand that he’s talking about going away, and he explains to them he’s going to be betrayed, and he’s going to be betrayed by somebody in that room.

And as it’s beginning to dawn on them, as they’re beginning to understand finally, wait a minute, he’s leaving. He’s going somewhere. He’s not sticking around.

As this realization is beginning to occur to them, they’re sort of in panic mode. We know what panic mode looks like. We’ve all been there, right?

You saw the staff running around this morning trying to figure out where we were going to borrow people from to fill spots from people not here because of COVID or whatever else. We were in panic mode. Some of you will be in panic mode later this week because you planned on this number of people coming for Thanksgiving and then you find out somebody extra is coming, maybe.

Maybe not. I don’t know. It’s 2020.

Who knows? Maybe you’ll be in panic mode because you made dinner for a dozen people and nobody shows up. I don’t know.

but we’ve all been there. This is a curveball for them. They have not understood this up to this point.

They finally realized Jesus is leaving and they’re panicking. What are we going to do? How do we go on?

What happens to us now? And so Jesus is trying to reassure them. He’s trying to clarify for his disciples that he’s going to be leaving, but it’s going to be okay.

They wanted to go with him because I don’t think they understood still what he meant by leaving. They didn’t understand that he was going to the cross yet. They didn’t understand that he was going to be with his father yet.

They didn’t understand that yet. They just knew he was leaving and they wanted to go with him. And Jesus was telling them it’s not time.

It’s not time for that. Now, eventually there would be a time that they’d be with him, but it wasn’t then. And so they were filled with all sorts of questions and all sorts of objections about what the future looked like because it looked so uncertain.

And I can relate to this because of my children, one of them in particular. I said to my mother-in-law last night, I said, good night, it’s like living with the Riddler. Just the constant barrage of questions.

I thought I was bad. Some of you may feel like you’re being interviewed in a conversation with me because I ask questions. I’m nowhere near as bad as my oldest child.

All right? So he took that gene from me and ran with it. All right?

They were just full of questions and objections because everything looks uncertain and they wanted to know. And so they’re asking him all these questions and he’s trying to reassure them. And what they really needed, they needed reassurance of their future with Jesus and the Father.

They needed to know not just where he’s going, not just what next week looks like. That’s what they were concerned about. What does next week look like and next month and next year?

What’s our next step in our plan? Jesus realized that what they needed was reassurance about their ultimate future with Him. That they needed reassurance that no matter what next week looked like, and next month, and next year, which was going to continue to be uncertain, not to Jesus, but to them.

That no matter what happened in the coming days with His departure and after His departure, that everything was going to be okay because there was an ultimate future where they were going to be with Him and with the Father. They needed that reassurance. And so He reassured them of these things.

In verse 1, he says, let not your heart be troubled. And we’re going to walk through this piece by piece for just a moment. Let not your heart be troubled.

That means everything is in God’s control. What is there to worry about? What is there to stress about when everything is under God’s control?

Now, I understand that’s very easy for me to say, and I understand it’s very difficult for me to live, but it’s still true. What is there to worry about when it’s in God’s ultimate control? So he says, let not your heart be troubled.

You believe in God, believe also in me. Now we kind of gloss over this because Jesus said it. We don’t think about the implications of it.

But if I told you, you have faith in God, have faith in me too. Would you look at me a little sideways? Well, what does he think of himself?

Right? Anybody think that would be quite a presumptuous thing for me to say? Okay, some of you are with me this morning.

It’s not a trick question. If somebody said to me, hey, you can trust God, you can trust me, I’m thinking that’s the guy I don’t want to trust. Ele est‡ tentando de me dar uma coisa. Mas Jesus, para Jesus dizer que, Ele est‡ fazendo exatamente a claim.

ƒ que voc acredita, voc pode me dar uma coisa. Para Jesus dizer que, Ele est‡ dizendo que Ele foi apenas as trustworthy as o Senhor. Voc acredita em Deus, acredita tambŽm em Deus.

Ele est‡ dizendo que a Deus tem que Deus, Deus me dar uma coisa. Que s— que Deus n‹o vai deixar voc, que o Senhor n‹o vai deixar voc, eu n‹o vai deixar voc. Eu n‹o vou deixar voc.

S— que o Senador n‹o vai deixar o Senhor, eu n‹o vai deixar. you. And then he explains why they should trust him.

He says in verse 2, in my father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. Now there’s some debate over when the Bible talks about these mansions.

Is he talking physical mansions? Is he talking the glorified body? Because Paul talks about this and refers to this earthly body as a tent and a dwelling, and we have a dwelling in heaven not made by hands.

Honestly, at this point, I don’t care if the mansion’s a physical mansion or if it’s the glorified body. The point is we have a place with the Father. I don’t care what it looks like.

I remember that song we used to sing at the first church I pastored. It talked about, I’ve got a mansion just over the hilltop. I think it’s the same song.

I said I remember the song. Maybe I don’t remember as well as I thought I did. But there’s a song about not caring whether it’s a shack or not, as long as you get to be with the Father.

That may be a different song now that I think about it. But I’m kind of to that point. I don’t care what it looks like.

I don’t care if it’s a tent in the woods as long as I’m with the Father. As a matter of fact, that sounds really good some days. A tent way out in the woods, in my Father’s house, with my Father in His presence.

There are many mansions. There’s a place for you. If it were not so, I would have told you.

When He says, if it were not so, I would have told you, He’s saying, I wouldn’t have misled you. I wouldn’t have brought you this far just to bait and switch, just to change the game on you now. Just to say, I’m out of here, see you, you’re on your own.

He wasn’t going to do that. There was a place. He said, I know there’s a place because I go to prepare a place for you.

No, you can’t come with me yet. I’m going to prepare the place for you to come. And so when Jesus left, he wasn’t abandoning them.

He was leaving to prepare for their reunion. Jesus had to go so that they would have a place to come when it was their time. And he says in verse 3, And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

Now, here he’s telling them that they could be certain that if he was going to go to all of this effort, all of this trouble, that he was going to come back for them so they could all be together again with him and the Father. If I go to prepare the place for you, I will come again. I’m not going to leave here and go prepare a place for you and go through all that effort, all that trouble, all the things it was going to cost Jesus, including his life, to make a way for them.

He wasn’t going to go through all of that and then just not come back for them. He wasn’t going to do everything that needed to be done and just leave us on our own. And I think that’s important for us to know today.

We get so wrapped up in everything that’s going on and we feel like the world’s so out of control, we need to be reminded that Jesus hasn’t done everything that’s necessary for us to be saved and done everything that’s necessary for us to have a relationship with God and everything that’s necessary for us to have eternal life with him in heaven just to turn around and abandon us here in the midst of chaos. He didn’t do all that. He didn’t waste all of his efforts.

And so he said in verse 4, and where I go you know and the way you know. Now they act like they don’t know, but I think deep down if they’d thought about it and thought about all the things that he’d taught them up to that point, they really did know. They just maybe didn’t realize that that’s what he was talking about.

There was no need for them to despair. He had told them where he was going, and he told them how to get there. He had, at this point, told them basically everything they needed to know.

If not, he would have told them. And so what he’s saying to them through all this is that he’s leaving, but not only is this not the end, it was for all of them a new beginning. They weren’t supposed to think of his leaving as the end.

They were supposed to think of it as the beginning of the next step. But this last statement by Jesus about knowing the destination, you know where I’m going and you know how to get there. This last statement about knowing the destination and knowing the way to get there is what got Thomas confused, bothered, to the point that he had to raise another question.

And so in verse 5, he said, Lord, we do not know where you’re going, and how can we know the way? So Jesus said, you know where I’m going, and you know how to get there. Thomas says, wait a minute, we don’t even know where you’re going, so how are we supposed to know how to get there?

Do you ever sit on a journey and you don’t know where you’re going? Don’t know how to get there? That’s how I do trips all the time.

Carla says, do you know how to get where we’re going? I don’t even know where we’re going. We’re just going.

I think Thomas thought he was road tripping with me instead of on a spiritual journey with Jesus. He said, we don’t even know where you’re going. So how can we know how to get there?

How can we know the way? How can we possibly know the way? And the answer is that Jesus is the way.

Jesus is the only way to peace and eternal life with the Father. And so Jesus, in answering his question, in Thomas’s question from verse 5, he didn’t directly address the issue of the destination with Thomas. That means he didn’t spell it out for him again in red and white and say, I’m talking about heaven, Einstein.

Have you been paying attention for the last three years. He didn’t tell him that. I would have, but he didn’t.

See, they were still thinking about some earthly destination. Oh, he’s going to Damascus or something. They’re still thinking about some earthly destination, but it’s clear from verse 6 that heaven is what he’s talking about because he talks about coming to the Father.

The Father’s in heaven. If the journey is all about coming to the Father, then heaven is the destination. They should have understood that heaven is where he was going.

And as for the way to reach the destination, now Jesus was a little clearer to Thomas in his explanation of that. Thomas asked to know the way. What is the way?

How can we know the way? And Jesus said, I am the way. There’s no road for you to figure out here.

I am the way. Right here, standing in front of you, I’m the way. You see some other way that’s not this way?

It’s not the way. And that’s true for us today. If your intended destination is peace with God, a relationship with Him, an eternal life with Him in heaven, then Jesus is the road you have to take.

That’s not my opinion. That’s not just the official position of this church. That’s what Jesus Himself said.

Because it doesn’t matter what Jared says or what Central says if it’s in conflict with what Jesus said. And Jesus said, I am the way. You want to know how to get to the Father?

You want to know the way to heaven? I am the way, He said. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

That means He alone is the way to salvation because He alone could atone for our sins. He went to the cross to pay for our sins in full. Nobody else could do that.

If I went to suffer for sins on the cross, they’d be my own. If you went to suffer for sins on the cross, they’d be yours. Jesus didn’t have any.

He was God in human flesh, perfectly sinless. And so when He went to the cross, when He was nailed to that cross, and He shed His blood and He died to pay for sins, they were for ours and not for His. The Bible says the Father made Him who knew no sin to become sin for us.

Our sins were nailed to the cross with Jesus. So He’s the way because He’s the only one who could atone for our sins. He alone is truth personified because He’s the Word of God made flesh.

He is the truth. He knows the truth. He speaks the truth because the truth is His truth.

He is God the Son. There’s not a bit of God’s truth that He doesn’t have. And He alone gives us life because He has life Himself.

He’s the source of it all. Think of physical life here on earth. And just from a science standpoint, I know we could get into theology and say, well, God is the source of it all.

From a science standpoint, it’s the sun. Because we get our energy from the food we eat. And those of us, if you eat meat, then your food gets its energy from the food it eats.

And on down the food chain, down until you get to the algae and whatnot that I don’t want to eat. But it gets its food from the sun. All that energy comes from the sun.

The sun doesn’t have to get its energy from any other physical source outside of itself. It’s the source of all the energy here on earth. In a spiritual sense, God, including God the Son, Jesus Christ, is the only source of life that has life in itself.

Spiritually, if we’re alive, it’s because of Jesus Christ. If we have spiritual life, it’s because of what He’s done for us. You’re not going to find it in me. You’re not going to find it in this church.

You’re not going to find it in any TV preacher, in any activity you do. If you have spiritual life, it’s because Jesus Christ gave it to you. And if you want it, you’ve got to get it from Him.

He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And as I said earlier, some people will tell us that those statements are misinterpreted. Well, you shouldn’t punch the the so much.

He was talking about all the things He was, But you’re overemphasizing that definite article there. The. I am the way, the truth, and the life.

He’s talking about all the things He is. He’s not making an exclusive statement. They say, you’re doing it wrong when you emphasize I am the way and the truth and the life.

That He wasn’t saying He was the only one. Au contraire. Look at the very next statement.

He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through Me. that’s about as exclusive a statement as you can make.

If you think there’s some ambiguity in those statements, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And maybe I shouldn’t be emphasizing the word the so hard there. If you think there’s some ambiguity in it, look at the next statement.

He clears it up pretty nicely for us. And if no one comes to the Father except through Him, then He is the way, the truth, and the life. The, the, the, the one and only.

When he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the Father except through me, he meant exactly what he said. He was claiming there is no other way. He was claiming there is no other truth and there is no other life.

He was claiming that for them and for us, if we want to find our way to that destination, the peace with the Father, eternal life with Him, forgiveness to all those things that He offers, that there is one way and Jesus is it. What he was claiming was to be our only hope. And so what this passage calls us to then is to come to the Father through Jesus.

If we’re going to come to the Father, we come to the Father through him. We don’t look for another road because there’s not one. It’s not just like that bridge I mentioned, that Jesus is the only convenient way.

Jesus is the only way, period. Again, and I can’t emphasize this strongly enough. That’s not my opinion.

That’s not the church’s opinion. That’s what Jesus said. You can read it right there in red and white.

And so our task then, I mean, it’s clear that he said it. Our task is to decide whether we believe him or not. And some of you, I can see just from your reactions as I’ve been talking, that you’re already there.

You’re saying, yeah, I believe this longer than you’ve been alive. Great. I realize that kind of sounded sarcastic when I said great.

I didn’t mean it to. I really am happy that you’re there. I’m there too, all right?

Some of you may be on the fence. Maybe you’re here this morning and you’re a little skeptical. you’re either here to find out or somebody made you come or you’re here because we’re having lunch. It doesn’t matter.

We’re glad you’re here. But it’s up to you to decide today whether you believe what Jesus said about himself or not. Don’t take my word for it.

Don’t take Central’s word for it. Look at what Jesus said and do you believe what he said about himself or not? Now, some people reject his claims because they think they can find some other way.

But I’m here to tell you, no one has yet found another way that guarantees peace with God. There are other religions that hope they can have peace with God based on their works. And I don’t believe I’m misinterpreting what they say.

I’ve spent enough time studying these other religions. Mormonism emphasizes works and the hope that you can do enough. Islam emphasizes good works and hopes that you can do enough that maybe you’ll find favor with Allah or maybe He’ll tip the scales in your favor.

Hinduism and Buddhism emphasize works as a way to possibly get to where they’re going, whether it’s an end to reincarnation or an end to the self. Judaism emphasizes works. Any number of religions emphasize works, and there’s the hope that maybe if we do enough, we might have a shot at peace with God.

We might have a shot at peace whatever their conception of God is, but there’s no religion that guarantees that you can ever do enough to have peace with God. It’s all just, well, I hope so. And I like what Adrian Rogers used to say, I don’t trust my best five minutes to get me peace with God.

I know me. I know my sin. I know my heart.

I don’t trust my best five minutes on this earth to get me into a right relationship with God. So all our efforts at goodness will always end up falling short. Even the book of Isaiah says all of our good works are as filthy rags compared to the holiness of God.

Some people will reject this exclusive claim of Jesus that he’s the only way because they think they can find some other way, but I’m telling you there is no other way that guarantees that we have that relationship with God. It just promises maybe, if you do enough, and you can never be sure that you get there until it’s too late. Now some people reject his claims because they think it’s narrow-minded or harsh that God would only make one way.

Like saying it’s narrow-minded or harsh that two plus two only equals four. Maybe, but it doesn’t make it less true. It can be mean and true at the same time.

Which, by the way, I don’t think it’s mean or harsh that God would only make one way, because it’s about one way more than we deserve. The question is not, it’s just like with Noah’s ark. People say, how could a loving God destroy everything on the planet?

Destroy everybody on the planet except these eight people and the animals, but they’re talking about the human world. I say, isn’t it amazing that a just God would allow eight to survive? Noah and his family didn’t deserve to survive the flood either.

Noah found grace in the eyes of God. So the question is not, isn’t it harsh? Isn’t it narrow-minded?

Isn’t it mean that God would only create one way? I say, isn’t it amazing? Isn’t it merciful?

Isn’t it loving that God would create a way at all? Jesus claimed to be the truth. And He spent His entire earthly ministry helping others understand the truth of God.

And He claimed to be the way, and He died so that we could be forgiven. He claimed to be the life, and He rose again to prove it. He made all these claims. He backed it up with the things He taught, with the way He lived, but He backed it up ultimately with His death on the cross.

and his resurrection out of the tomb three days later. Jesus paid the ultimate price so that our sins could be forgiven. And today, again, it’s up for you to decide whether you believe what Jesus said about himself or not.

And if you believe that Jesus is the way, that he’s the truth and that he’s the life, if you believe these claims that he made about himself, then today you can come to the Father through him. You can have that relationship with God. You can have forgiveness.

You can have salvation. You can have the assurance of eternal life in a place in heaven, not because of anything good you’ve done to earn or deserve it, but because Jesus Christ suffered, bled, and died to pay for your sins in full as the only way that those sins could be forgiven.