The Only Way, Truth, and Life
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John 14:1-6
John 14:1-6
How many of you have ever been to a corn maze? Or any maze, for that matter? You can spend hours in them and still feel lost. It’s frustrating yet exhilarating. But eventually, you panic until the guide helps you find your way out. Once you’re back on the right path, you realize you missed it by just one turn. You laugh at the silly mistake. Like the maze, multiple paths lead only to destruction, and only one true path leads to the Father. So many people will miss it by one wrong turn. They believe they are on the right path, only to face judgment and discover they believe the wrong way and truth.
Jesus clearly emphasized two key points in these verses. First, He is the only Way, Truth, and Life that leads to the Father. Second, those who believe in God and in Him should not have troubled hearts about their destination.
David clearly understood these two principles. Psalm 3
A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son. O Lord, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; many are saying of my soul, “There is no salvation for him in God.” Selah But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing be on your people! Selah
No Troubled Hearts:
No Troubled Hearts:
I remember flying home that Sunday evening when my dad was airlifted. My mind drifted to our conversation about fishing and his plans to visit me. My heart was heavy; it felt shattered with sorrow. I kept asking the Lord to let me get there and see him before he passed. On the day of his surgery, I was with my father-in-law and daughters, eating and waiting for the call that he was out of surgery. My heart grew troubled again as the hours passed, and I sensed something was wrong by hour four. At that moment, I finally broke down at the thought of not talking to him when I wanted to. When the call came that he was out and in recovery, I remember the Lord comforting me. My heart was troubled until I realized who our God is! With man, nothing is possible, but with God, all things are possible.
Jesus knew the disciples' hearts would be troubled when His death came. He understood their despair would lead them to struggle with uncertainty, so He wanted to comfort them. What trouble was Jesus referring to? The Greek word for “troubled” is “ταράσσω,” which means to cause significant mental distress, trouble, or to stir up. When Jesus was crucified, do you think the disciples felt no great mental distress? They watched Jesus heal sickness, cure blindness, and even raise the dead. But now He was dead and buried. Their entire way of thinking and living over the past three years had ended abruptly. They had left everything to follow Him, and now, in their mind, they are thinking about what. Jesus is telling them to calm down; He is Lord God.
To have faith in God, we should also have faith in Jesus Christ. He is currently preparing a place for you and me in His Father’s house. Saints, do you understand what this means? He is coming back to get us. We are not left alone in this maze.
The Greek word for "prepare" is (ετοιμάζω), meaning to make ready, prepare, or provide. Jesus is preparing our room so that it will be ready when He comes to take us. The moment we close our eyes to this world, we open them to His presence. He is the first one we see. Why? Because His word tells us, “...I will come again and receive you to Myself...”
Some of us, like Thomas, are asking how to get there.
Way, Truth, and Life:
Way, Truth, and Life:
I remember my daughters asking me, “Dad, how do you know the way to where we are going?” I told them I had looked at the map before we left and planned our route. I had memorized how to get there if it was a place we had visited multiple times. It fascinates me that kids can learn music but not the Bible. Parents often spend more time on sports with their children but less time in the Word of God or at church with them. Then, we wonder why our world is in chaos. To know where we are going, we must spend time with the One who knows the way.
Jesus’ statement clearly indicates that this is an exclusive path. There is no other way, none! He is not an inclusive God but an exclusive one. No religion, good deeds, or money will get you into heaven. Only Christ! There is no absolute truth except His Words! Life only comes through Jesus Christ when we believe in Him.
Jesus alone is the Way to God (Acts 4:12; 10:43). He alone is the truth about God (John 1:17; 18:37; Revelation 19:11). He alone possesses the Life of God (John 1:4; 5:26; 1 John 1:1; 5:20).
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.
In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—
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.
He is either credible or a liar. If he is credible, then his words are truthful. If he is credible, then there is no other way. Way (ὀδός) means path, road, or way. The Bible clearly teaches that God may only be approached through Jesus. He alone is the “door to the sheep” (John 10:7), and all others are thieves and robbers (John 10:8), and the one who enters through Him will be saved (John 10:9).
So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.
The postmodern belief that there are many paths to religious truth is a satanic lie. F. F. Bruce writes,
He [Jesus] is, in fact, the only way men and women may come to the Father; there is no other way. If this seems offensively exclusive, remember that the one who makes this claim is the incarnate Word, the revealer of the Father. If God has no avenue of communication with mankind apart from his Word … mankind has no avenue of approach to God apart from that same Word, who became flesh and dwelt among us to supply such an avenue of approach. (The Gospel of John [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983], 298)
He is the Road, a one-way road that leads to truth. Truth (άλἠθεια) is sincerity, integrity, and truth. It all comes down to whether he is credible or a liar. He either had integrity and was sincere in telling the absolute truth, or this was the biggest hoax in mankind's history.
Life (Ζωή) signifies existence, the act of living. We are like dead men and women walking around without Christ. Yet, the moment we surrender our lives to Him, we transition from death to life. John 3:16; 5:24. Remember, Christ said, “I am the Bread of Life” (John 6:35). James said that those who persevere will receive the crown of Life given to them by the Lord, James 1:12. Who holds life in His hands? Jesus Christ!
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
Application:
Application:
Coming into the Father’s presence can happen only in one way. The way out of the maze that leads nowhere is to have Christ in. your heart and your name in His book. To know the truth is to know Him and to have eternal life is to be washed by His blood.
We belong to an exclusive order, one that is only accepted through Christ. There is no other way; anyone who teaches otherwise is a liar, and his father is the father of lies.
How do we know that Christians go to heaven? Because of the price that Jesus paid (1 Thes. 5:9–10), and the promise that Jesus made (John 14:1–6), and the prayer that Jesus prayed (John 17:24)
Warren W. Wiersbe
