Get this right Easter AM service

Get this right.

John 14:5;6

March 31, 2024

Today we have a lot to celebrate! But, why is it that we Christians, (making an assumption since you are in the dark and cold) celebrate something that happened 2000 years ago? Ever wonder what the answer is to that question? It is because of the WHY of Easter that makes it timeless.

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What is there in life that is unquestionably true? Oh man, I already started with a lightning topic, haven’t I? But before I get struck allow me to make it even worse. I once heard of a Bible-believing pastor who got together with many faith leaders at a conference. There were the Muslims, Hindus and several others. During the meeting, one of the faith leaders said, “I envision that we are all standing at the base of a great mountain trying to get to the top sincerely following our own paths to get to god.”

Now, this comment was meant to unify all the leaders under a common goal. But the Bible-believing Pastor responded by saying, the paths to the top don’t matter, it only matters Who's coming down to us. Meaning, there is only one way to the top of the mountain and it’s not anything we create. Rather it is who is coming to us. Allow me to explain why I chose these two verses.

Context: Jesus just had the last supper with His disciples, and washed the feet of the men He loved, including the one who would betray Him. Jesus had just predicted that Peter would deny Him three times and then reassured Him and the other disciples that He was going to prepare a place for them. Then, in verse five we get a question that every human from creation to today has asked or will ask.

In response to this question, we find the reason for Easter. This one question is what makes the reason for the betrayal, the reason for the cross, the reason for the death and burial of the Son of God. Here it is: “How can we know the way.”

At the end of today, we must know the “way” and not compromise in any way on it! The exclusivity of Christ’s claims answers the question of every man, woman, and child, how do I know the way to salvation?

Our passage builds off of itself. As Jesus speaks, “The Way,” builds to “The Truth” and then builds to “The Life”.

1. He is the WAY:

The word “way” means “road, path or directional path. The “way” is usually used to describe a means of getting from one location to another. But, in this passage and in what Jesus is saying, He is both the direction and the means of getting there. He IS the way.

To fully understand this, we have to back up to the “I AM” statement. I do not have time to teach the full weight of those two little words but please hear me when I say this, He is using the same title that GOD the Father uses in Exodus 3. He is identifying Himself as part of the triune God. He is claiming deity.

These two little words are not little in power! They prove that what He is about to say is like saying, LISTEN TO ME! I’AM giving you the words of GOD. Not the words of man! Words from the throne room of heaven and listen to their meaning! By saying “I AM” there is no clearer way of saying that what He was about to say is Divine. He is THE WAY.

How can a person be a direction and the way? Allow Jesus to prove my point. One of His disciples wanted to SEE God, instead, Jesus shows Him exactly where to look.

John 14:8

8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?[1]

Jesus, patiently, responds with clarification on the WAY. You want to see the Father, it’s through ME. To be very clear, if you know the Son as the Way, you know the Father. To reject the Son is to reject the Father. You can not have one without the other no matter how sincere you think you are. To only accept the Father means you are sincerely wrong.

If He is the way, then He is the TRUTH.

2. He is the Truth.

No other passage in God’s Word presents Jesus as “the Truth” better than John 14:6. For that matter 92% of John’s record is NOT in the other Gospels. Matthew records Him as King, Mark as a servant, Luke as the perfect man, John as God in the flesh. He is unequivocally claiming and demonstrating the ownership of truth. Before our culture manages to rewrite the dictionary on this word, allow me to tell you what truth is:

True: Alethia: Agreeing with facts or reality. but not merely truth as spoken; truth of idea, reality[2]

This truth requires conformity! Reality requires those, even the ones who sincerely disagree, to conform to reality at some point. The Bible says in Philippians 2:10-11 that every knee will bow, every tongue shall confess that this truth (Jessus), IS truth and LORD.

Truth, although offensive, is only offensive to those who reject it. Truth will always be gracious to those who recognize it yet a rock to those who reject it.

Matthew 10:22 says; “And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Ji Packer writes:

“If you are a believer, and so an adopted child, this prospect satisfies you completely; if it does not strike you as satisfying, it would seem that as yet you are neither.”

Packer is saying, if you are an adopted child of God, you are satisfied in this truth. If not…then you must look at your relationship with God because it would indicate a major problem.

There is no other name under heaven more divisive, more agitating to the world the Jesus Christ. An intellectually honest person must ask why. It is because He is TRUTH in body. Just as He is the “WAY” in the flesh, so too He is “TRUTH” in the flesh. And these both bring us to the result why and why we are in the dark and cold this AM.

3. He is Life.

It seems funny to me to define such a simple word but to be honest, I do not think we really understand the gravity of this word. To be “alive” or to have “life” has several layers to it. First is the one that we all understand. It would best be described as the dash between two dates. The time that you have air in those lungs. The qualities that separate you from a dead corpse is life.

As I get older, that dash seems to get shorter. James 4:14 says:

James 4:14

14 [a]Yet you do not know [b]what your life will be like tomorrow. For you are just a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away.

But, if we stop there, we miss the most important part of the word “life”. The life I am referring to now is something that each of you knows in the dark places of your heart. It is the knowledge of the eternal. Now, we all assume, because of our sincerity, that we will live forever. Even people who do not claim Christ think they will live forever. But that is not true.

John 10:10 “…I came that they (those who believe in Him as LORD) may have life and have it abundantly.”

TO BE VERY CLEAR, that “abundantly” means LIFE IN HIM! That is true life!

He says I have come that you may have life (HIM). Keeping in the theme of this verse, He is “The Way”. He is “the Truth” and now, as a result of the last two, He is “The Life”. In Him, there is Life! Meaning, the life that you hope to have after the dash between your two dates AND here on earth is found exclusively IN Him.

4. Know the narrow way.

How can He possibly be so exclusive? How can you pastor ever say that there are not many paths that lead to God? Oh hear me please, there are many paths but they do not lead anywhere but to destruction. There is only 1 Way, 1 Truth, 1 Life and that is found IN HIM.

Allow me to explain why. Do you all see the three definitive articles listed in this passage? “I am THE way, I am THE Truth, and finally, I am THE Life”. Now look at the last definitive article. “No one comes to THE Father except through me.” These three words scream ability! No one has the ability to come unless the Father draws Him (John 6:44). The Father draws sinner to Him. That is the fourth definitive article. Meaning, there is ONLY one way!

Is Christianity exclusive? Yes! Remember, He has every right to say things like:

John 10:7: “I am the door of the sheep… vs 9 “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved.”

You can see again, there are no windows, back sliding doors, or secret hatches. No one will be able to slip in unnoticed. Matthew 22:11-14 is one of Jesus’s own parables where He talks about the wedding feast. When a guest shows up without the wedding clothes, He says. “Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes? And the man was speechless.” Then the king has the man bound, and thrown out. The wedding clothes are CHRIST! Again, exclusivity! Not any clothes will do!

The most important verse on this is Matthew 7:13

“13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. [3]”

There is only one gate leading to life, and that is HIM. It is narrow, so narrow that it will only fit one set of shoulders, yours. No one can come with you in this decision. It is all you. You can go through that gate easily if you recognize the previous words. Is He the WAY? Is He the TRUTH? Is He the LIFE? He must be to get through that gate.

How can Jesus make such extreme statements? I’ll remind you who He is. Again, as Pastor Dave read, He is the only one who did that whole walk out of the grave thing. He is the only one who conquered death! He is the only one who lived perfectly. He is the only one sent by God to hang on the cross for the sin that we justify. He is the only one who can, being perfectly God in the flesh, shoulder the weight of all of sin from eternity past to eternity future. With that resume, we MUST hear His Words!

Why was HE sent? Why the cross and most importantly, why Easter?

2 Corinthians 5:

21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. [4]

Simply, for your sake, He, GOD the Father, saw that you and I could not pay for our sin, shame, and guilt. So, in perfect timing, He sent His perfect Son, to step into humanity to willingly drink the cup of the fury of God for us. Wait, God has fury? Yes! But He gave it to someone else to take.

That cup of fury was intended for sinners, instead He, Christ took that cup from our hands and drank it. He became sin who knew no sin so that we might be right with God.

Do we get the glory for this? NO! Only He does. Allow me to bring us back to the introduction. Easter was the final act in a plan that was set up before creation. Easter was the culmination of God, coming down the mountain to sinners like you and me. While he is walking down from the mountain of heaven, He is providing you and me the Way (Christ), the Truth (Christ), the Life (Christ).

CONCLUSION:

You see, it doesn’t really matter how sincere you are, how creative you are, how you struggle and strive up that mountain. The way to the top of the mountain is not on you to create. It is on WHO comes off that mountain to us that makes it possible to know God. To be 100% blunt, it really doesn’t matter what you believe is the path, it only matters Who is coming off that mountain to you.

If you have yet to recognize Him as THE WAY, as your only source of salvation, I and the other Pastors are available to talk with. I would challenge you, to take some time and think about this. Ask Christ to forgive your sin! Turn from your sin and follow Him exclusively as THE WAY.