Salvation Is Only In Christ
Notes
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1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Setting the Stage
Setting the Stage
Last Sunday, we looked at the contrast between Peter’s evaluation of himself…
And, Jesus’ evaluation of Peter.
We looked at the trouble that the eleven would have been feeling in their hearts.
We looked at the promise of Christ to insure their being with Him forevermore.
We looked at the preparation for such an existence…
And, how the work must be done exclusively by Christ.
And, now I want us to continue in this passage and in these opening words of Chapter 14, I want us to see…
The Loveliness of Christ
The Loveliness of Christ
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled.
In light of what we’ve previously been told about Christ.
Here we see the perfection of compassion and selflessness for His own.
In this very setting around the table, we were told…
21 After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
Although Christ is greatly troubled in His spirit.
—> Greatly distressed in His heart.
Knowing He was hours from becoming accursed of God on our behalf…
He does not want His sheep to be troubled at heart.
In a scene in which all the trouble on His heart was based upon the curse that His own necessitated…
With the knowledge that the eleven, and the rest of His sheep are the cause of His great trouble…
He was more concerned with their well-being.
And, is this great truth not at the core of the gospel.
Is this great truth not the foundation of our joy…
21 For our sake he [the Father] made him [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
6 who, though he [Christ] was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Becoming accursed of God was the trouble of His heart.
But, the glorifying of His Father and the redemption of His own…
—> Was the joy that was set before Him.
He takes our greatest trouble, so we don’t have to be troubled.
What love we see displayed by Christ for His sheep.
And, so now Christ gives us…
The Path for Us to Overcome Fear
The Path for Us to Overcome Fear
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
So, Jesus is telling the disciples to remove the fear from their hearts.
How does one lose fear?
By trusting in God.
Jesus states…
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
So, it’s not just the removal of something negative.
It’s the replacing it with something positive.
Replace your fear with rest.
Rest in God. Rest in Me.
Let you’re faith in God be established by faith in Christ.
God incarnate.
In a situation in which all things felt like they were out of control.
Jesus tells them to rest in the sovereign God who is in complete and utter control of all things.
The same One who stopped the winds and the waves with a Word.
Listen to this familiar passage with a similar message…
10 “And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full,
So, the people are being told about the place that has been prepared for them.
A place they did not build.
A place they have not contributed to, not an iota, to the plentifulness of the land.
With great dwelling places.
And, then in…
8 It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”
Jesus tells them to not fear.
And, then He calls for them to see Him as the focal point of faith in God.
And, then He tells them it is He that is going before them.
He is fighting the battle for them.
Preparing the way and the place for them.
The place they are going to enter.
The place that they will dwell forevermore with Christ.
This place has been completely prepared and filled with all good things by the Lord…
For the enjoyment of His people.
This is the greater than Canaan.
This is the greater Promise Land.
This is the place that Abraham looked beyond to the greater dwelling place with God.
This is the place that Jesus is going to prepare for His own.
And, when Jesus says going to prepare…
He doesn’t mean He’s going to create it.
He means He’s making it possible for us to join Him.
The path that leads Him back to His Father involves the Cross.
Because of the Cross…
He’s guaranteeing His own…a place for them to dwell with Him forevermore.
And, then Jesus affirms their knowledge of the way to where Jesus is going.
He states…
4 And you know the way to where I am going.”
Now, I want to go ahead and read what Thomas says in response…
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
Do they know the way?
Thomas is asking what the eleven are thinking?
Has Jesus overestimated their understanding?
Do They Know the Way?
Do They Know the Way?
Let’s let Jesus answer that question…
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
This famous saying of Christ.
He means this truth to show a few things:
#1 – If you know Me, you know the way because knowing Me is the Way.
#1 – If you know Me, you know the way because knowing Me is the Way.
This is an example of needing our feet washed.
They’re already clean.
They’re already united to Christ.
They’re already justified.
But, they need their thinking realigned and refocused on Christ.
Jesus wants them to continue connecting the dots.
They know the Way because the Way is Christ.
Their problem is they keep looking outside of Christ for what they ultimately need.
Do we not do the same as Christian?
—> It’s all the world knows.
But, as Christians, our problems arise when we look outside of Christ for what we truly need.
Christ is enough.
Yet, we keep looking around for physical things to satisfy us like only Christ can.
The eleven are looking for some physical path to take them to Christ.
When all the while it is Christ that is the entry point and path to being with Christ.
To the unbeliever, this is a critical truth that proclaims and warns that there is…
#2 – No Other Paths to God
#2 – No Other Paths to God
When Jesus says…
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
There is a definite article with each noun that describes Him
meaning = the exclusive way, the exclusive truth, the exclusive life
The One and Only.
I am the way
He means that He is the exclusive path to God.
In Judaism, the Way was taught as the Law.
Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law.
He is the Law kept on behalf of His people.
In Christ is the exclusive source of righteousness.
Truth and Life clarify the meaning of the Way.
The Law of God and even God Himself was identified as the Truth
Jesus says…
I am the truth
He means that the root of all true knowledge & wisdom begins with knowing Him.
And, if One is to know eternal life, one must know God.
One must be found righteous before God.
Jesus says…
I am the life
He means that He is the root and source of all true life.
Eternal life cannot be found outside of Him
So, Jesus is proclaiming that faith in Him, exclusively in Him, is the only correct path to righteousness, wisdom, and eternal life.
There is no other path to God.
There is not other source of righteousness.
There is not other path to reconciliation with God.
NOT…
Buddhism
Hinduism
Islam
Jehovah’s Witnesses
Mormonism
All of them are on a false path to God.
All of them miss the person and work of Christ.
All of them are man-centered, self-righteous & false ways to get to heaven.
And, every single one of them lead to death and condemnation.
The Path to be with Me, Christ states…is through Me/in Me.
—> The exclusive path to God is Me.
And, if we are in Christ, we are safe in the Ark.
Jesus is the Ark.
In Christ, we are safe and declared blameless from the wrath of God.
In Christ, we are allowed back into the reconciled presence of God.
We are in the Ark, who is Christ.
And, we are sealed in the Ark, forevermore.
And, because we know the Son…
From now on, You know the Father
From now on, You know the Father
7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
This first sentence is difficult to understand without the second.
Before Christ revealed Himself to the eleven.
They did not know Him.
And, if they did not know Him, they did not know the Father.
Like Jacob in…
16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”
The world is willfully ignorant of God.
The world is willfully blind to the presence of God.
The world willfully suppresses the knowledge of God.
The disciples know Christ because Christ revealed Himself to them.
The same as with anyone who puts their faith upon Christ.
As we are told in…
27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
So, when Jesus states…
…From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
It clarifies what Jesus is saying when He states…
7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.
So, Jesus is saying…
Now that you know Me you do know the Father.
Assuredly, you do know Him and have seen Him.
The way to the Father is through Christ.
The truth to know the Father is in Christ.
The life that the Father has promised is in Jesus.
Let’s think about this...
Let’s think about this...
And, this truth will continue in this passage…
But, this is the core truth…
Jesus is so completely the Father’s exact representation…
To reject the Father’s image is to reject the Father Himself.
As the apostle Paul describes Jesus in…
3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
