“Exclusivity in a Pluralistic Age: Affirming Christ Alone” (John 14:4–6)

Series: “John: Life in Christ’s Name”Text: John 14:4–6

By: Shaun Marksbury Date: April 14, 2024

Venue: Living Water Baptist ChurchOccasion: AM Service

Introduction

As many of you know, we just had a funeral for someone who was a part of our church family. It was encouraging to see that, even though it was Pastor Jorge’s grandmother, he preached the message for her. And, of course, he did a wonderful job, including many illustrations from her life and the shared experiences of his family, showing how she paralleled Proverbs 31. His love for her was clear in his passionate presentation.

He also did something in his funeral sermon some might find controversial. Rather than just keeping his words about heaven and God general, he spoke about the need for salvation. He even addressed the fact that there is no hope in praying to Mary and the saints, as the Roman Catholic Church teaches. Instead, a person must believe in Christ alone to be saved. I applaud that, because funerals are the one time when people are thinking about death and their eternal destinies, so the time is opportune for them to hear about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Yet, many find such presentations distasteful, even many Christians. Some tend to think they’re being gracious by allowing people to think they can get to God on their own — many times, because they believing there are multiple ways to God. We live in a society with many ideas about faith, and this pluralistic mindset has entered the church. As someone succinctly noted, according to Ligonier’s State of Theology survey, most American evangelicals believe:

The Bible is not literally true (77%)

Jesus was created by God (82%)

Everyone is born innocent (72%)

God accepts all religions (68%)

The Holy Spirit is a force (70%)

God learns (61%).

This means that the American evangelical church has lost much of anything distinctive. If over two-thirds of evangelicalism thinks the Bible is inclusive in regards to differing faiths and traditions, one wonders what kind of message is proclaimed from pulpits these days! Obviously, the problem starts with a lack of belief in the Bible, but that is a subject for another day; assuming the inspiration and infallibility of Scripture, is the Bible inclusive and pluralistic?

To answer that, we’ll be considering what Jesus taught, because we don’t want to misrepresent Him. This morning, we’ll see that Jesus did teach that there is only one way, calling us to believe in His exclusivity. Because of that, we’ll first recognize Jesus as the only path of salvation (v. 4), and we’ll second recognize Jesus as the only path to the Father (vv. 5–6). Let’s consider the first of these.

First, Recognize Jesus as the Only Path of Salvation (v. 4)

“And you know the way where I am going.”

This follows Jesus’s words of comfort about heaven and His return. In vv. 1–3, Jesus encouraged them to believe in Him like they believe in God, for He goes to prepare a place for them. He said, “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.” These are tremendously encouraging words for all believers, no matter what they are going through.

However, these words are promises only to those who believe in Jesus Christ with the same faith that they would give to God. Remember that He’s alone with His disciples as He says this. The crowds aren’t there to hear this. The Pharisees, Sadducees, and chief priests are all absent. Jesus is only speaking to His followers now, which already indicates that the way isn’t pluralistic but singular.

So, He’s speaking of going away, and this isn’t the first time. Several times through the gospel accounts He has indicated this. He had supernatural insight into this, and He says in v. 28, “You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.” There are benefits to His going away, starting with His work on the cross.

This is where we lose some people. For instance, false accounts about Jesus began appearing in the second and third centuries about the life and teachings of Jesus called the Gnostic Gospels. Among other things, these spurious works peddled the story that Jesus was not crucified. Because many Gnostics thought Jesus was just an emanation from God, a being who only appeared to be here like a projection from the spirit world and who never took on human flesh, they thought He could not die on the cross. Thus, when the time of crucifixion came, they thought He either just pretended or He had someone take His place on the cross.

Interestingly, Mohammed encountered a version of this Gnostic thinking. As such, the Quran states that Jesus was here bodily, but in Surah An-Nisa (4:157), it says the people were boasting, “ ‘We killed the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, the messenger of Allah.’ But they neither killed nor crucified him — it was only made to appear so. Even those who argue for this crucifixion are in doubt. They have no knowledge whatsoever — only making assumptions. They certainly did not kill him.” So, Muslims believe today that Jesus was not crucified, but that He ascended into heaven bodily. You may see this on popular social media sites like TikTok, with videos even suggesting that there’s a conspiracy to make the world falsely believe that Jesus was crucified.

There certainly are a lot of ideas about Jesus in our culture, but what does the Bible say? Consider first that Jesus predicted His crucifixion. He said in Mark 9:31, “The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later.” He predicted death, yet, not just any death (like by stoning). He repeatedly predicted in John that He’d be “lifted up” (John 3:14; 8:28; 12:32), which people eventually understood to be a reference to His death (12:33–34). He also predicts, not death by hanging executed by His fellow Jews, but execution by the Gentiles (e.g., Luke 18:32). In Matthew 20:18–19, Jesus, referring to Himself as the Son of Man, predicted He would be condemned by “the chief priests and scribes” and handed over to the Gentiles “to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up.” He also predicts this in Matthew 26:2, telling them when He’ll be crucified. Jesus said it in a number of ways: He would die by the hands of the Gentiles through crucifixion.

Moreover, all the Gospels describe the crucifixion of Jesus Christ (Matt. 27:35–54; Mark 15:25–39; Luke 23:23–49; John 19:16–37), offering four lines of independent testimony. An angel later reports to the women at the tomb that Jesus had indeed been crucified (Matt 28:5; Mark 16:6; 24:7). The resurrected Lord Jesus Himself, when to Emmaus, confirms He suffered these things on the road, explaining there how it fulfilled Scripture (Luke 24:25–27). Peter later preached that Jesus was crucified (Acts 2:23, 36; 4:10). After Paul had converted, he preached the same (1 Cor. 2:2–8; 15:3–7), even making the crucifixion of Christ a vital component of his Christian identity (Gal. 2:20; 6:14). Anyone teaching Jesus was not crucified disagrees with the Lord Jesus Himself, angelic testimony, and the consensus of the Lord’s apostles.

Jesus would go by way of crucifixion. He just told them He would be betrayed (John 13:21). He told them He is about out of time with them, and they will not see Him any longer (v. 33). He expects them to see the connection between His predictions and what He is telling them now about going away.

It’s a lot for them to take in at that time, though they obviously understood it later. The crucifixion was so important because this would be the God-ordained means of taking care of sin. God is completely just, but He does not desire that everyone is cast into hell as penalty for their sin. As such, He provides atonement; He pours out his wrath and demand for death upon an innocent sacrifice. And, as John the Baptist prophetically proclaimed, Jesus is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).

Jesus is the only path to salvation because He’s the only one God provided. There is no one else who would atone for sin. If that’s not clear yet, it will be with our next point:

Second, Recognize Jesus as the Only Path to the Father (vv. 5–6)

Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

Again, the disciples didn’t quite understand that Jesus was going to die for their sins. They’re so focused on the promise of the coming Kingdom that they failed to see the need for Jesus to die first to obtain their salvation. Thus, Thomas asks his question.

It’s not from disrespect. Thomas had previously said that they should follow Jesus to Jerusalem to die together with Him (John 11:16). Here, he calls Him “Lord” (he’ll later add to that, calling Jesus, “My Lord and My God” in John 20:28, but he hasn’t yet seen the resurrected Lord). So, he respects Jesus, though he doesn’t quite believe that Jesus’s death is necessary, asking the rhetorical question how they could know where Jesus is going.

In response, Jesus gives another of His emphatic “I am” statements, which He’s given throughout this Gospel. In John 8:12, He says, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” In John 10:7 and 9, He says, “I am the door of the sheep … I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” In John 10:14, He says, “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me.” In John 11:25–26, He says, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” He’s given exclusive claims until this point, so it shouldn’t surprise us what is coming next.

He says He is the way. This statement excludes the possibility that anyone comes to God except through Him. As Ephesians 2:18 says, “through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.” As 1 Timothy 2:5 says, “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” — not Moses, not Mary, not Mohammed, not Joseph Smith, not any of the million-plus gods of Hinduism, and certainly not yourself and the power of your positive thinking. Jesus is the only way.

Jesus Himself says this. In fact, so vital is the language of “the way” here that ancient Christians identified themselves by it. In Acts 9:2, Saul seeks “any belonging to the Way.” When some of the Jews of the synagogue of Ephesus grew hard-hearted and disobedient, they began “speaking evil of the Way” (Acts 19:9). That spilled out into the city, and v. 23 says, “About that time there occurred no small disturbance concerning the Way.” Later, as Paul gives his testimony, he says that he “persecuted this Way to the death.” In 24:14, Paul says he serves the God of their fathers “according to the Way,” which “they call a sect” (it’s not a sect of Judaism, a way, but rather, the Way!). The name Christian also began in the early church, originally as a derogatory term (Acts 11:26), but the definitive term “Way” affirms in Christ as the sole fulfillment of God’s purposes for salvation and life. Jesus is the way, and we’re followers of the Way.

Jesus also says He is the truth. What is truth, though, as Pilate would ask? This is a divine term, for as John 3:33 says, “God is true.” So is Jesus.

Truth is also a description of the Word of God. Jesus Christ is the “Word” (John 1:1–3, 14), the means God used to speak (Heb. 1:1–2). He’ll return one day, striking dead the unrighteous with the words of His mouth, for He is called “The Word of God” (Rev. 19:13, 15). His truth transforms our worship and fills the inner man; as Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you.” His truth comes to believers who receive His word and “the Spirit of Truth” (v. 13). He is the truth.

Just like today, those who lived back then wouldn’t have known the truth outside of Christ. As one resource notes, “Since there were divergent Jewish traditions, it was difficult for the Jewish person of the first century to know which tradition was Yahweh’s will.” Many people today not only recognize the number of divergent traditions in our culture, but also think that multiple kinds of truth can exist side-by-side. Thankfully, Jesus came full of grace and truth (John 1:14), and He didn’t say, “Live your truth;” He said He is the truth.

Jesus also said He is the life. This, too, is a divine claim. As Psalm 36:9 says, “For with You is the fountain of life.” Now, that is a description of God the Son!

What does “life” mean? Every person lives, but they do so without any sense of relationship or purpose in God. So, this means more than simply living, the existence of biological activity. Jesus alone offers life, for “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men” (John 1:4). Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (11:25–26). We can have eternal life, but only in Jesus Christ.

Eternal life is not just life in heaven. This is life that changes how we live now. In Romans 6:11, the Lord says, “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” We don’t have to live like we used to; we have put these things off, so we can, as Colossians 3:1–3 says, “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” The new life can change how we live today, if we walk by faith.

If all of what Jesus has said hasn’t been sufficiently clear, Jesus then said that “no one comes to the Father but through Me.” Only in Jesus, we can know the only way to God, we can know the unchanging truth of God, and we can have eternal life with God. He is the sum and total of the revelation of and means to God, and we as Christians cannot reject that teaching.

Conclusion

People who claim to be Christian today want to be nice. Perhaps they just don’t want to make waves. Maybe they believe Jesus just includes other people because they think He’s really nice. Maybe they think God universally accepts all. One thing is certain — living in a pluralistic society has made many professed believers soft when it comes to the hard claims of Christ.

Don’t mishear me: We still speak the truth in love. However, the truth isn’t up for negotiation, and it’s unloving to hide the exclusive claims of Christ. As the Reformation Study Bible notes here, “To imagine and proclaim other ways is to mislead people and forget the necessity of His coming and redemption (Acts 4:12; Rom. 10:14, 15; 1 John 5:12).” There is no other religious leader that can save you. There are no rituals or words or incantations or even prayers which can save you. Jesus says there is no other way, except through Him.

He is the eternal Word, the Son of God who would become flesh to be the Lamb of God. He speaks in Isaiah 45:21–22, saying, “Declare and set forth your case; indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this from of old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the Lord? And there is no other God besides Me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none except Me. Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.” That same Lord speaks now in John 14:6, and He says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” Will you believe Him, or do you think you have the better way, truth, and life?