Jesus Speaks With Authority (2)

John 14:5–7 (ESV)

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.”

Introduction:

When a man is approaching his eightieth trip around the sun, he becomes keenly aware of what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:16:

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.”

I feel that these days.

There was a time when I would jump at any opportunity for an adventure—especially if it meant preaching the gospel in places most people would avoid. I have stood in some very dark corners of this world and proclaimed the name of Jesus Christ. I once preached near the edge of the famous fetish market in Lomé, Togo—a place filled with every kind of spiritual darkness imaginable. And yet even there, people came to faith in Christ, and a church was planted.

But that version of me is slowly passing away.

I was at the doctor’s office not long ago, and he said, “Hop up on the table.” I told him, “Doctor, I don’t hop anymore.” These days, an adventure looks more like taking Juggie—my English bulldog—for a walk around the block.

And yet, my inner man…well, he is still about thirty-five years old and ready to go at a moment’s notice. The problem is, my body thinks my inner man needs his head examined.

In our text this morning, Jesus is nearing the end of His earthly ministry. Thomas is confused—deeply confused. He does not understand where Jesus is going, and if he does not understand the destination, then how could he possibly understand the way?

And Jesus answers him with one of the most profound statements ever made:

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”

I Am The Way

Now, there are those who would tell you that when Jesus said, “I am the way,” He was simply pointing to His life as an example. They would say He meant, “Follow my teachings. Live as I lived. Walk in love, and you will find your way.”

That sounds appealing. It sounds reasonable.

But it is not what Jesus said.

He did not say, “I will show you the way.” He said, “I am the way.”

That is an entirely different claim.

Years ago, I heard a story from a clinical psychologist that he claims is true. It is about a man in a mental institution during the Cold War. His constant refrain was, “The communists are after me.” The doctors tried to reason with him. They tried to correct him. But nothing worked.

Finally, one day, agents of the FBI arrived to take custody of the man.

The staff asked, “Why are you interested in him?”

The agent replied, “Because the communists are after him.”

You see, it is not a delusion if it is true.

Jesus is not offering speculation. He is not giving us one option among many. He is making a claim about reality itself.

And everything about His life backs it up.

The crowds noticed immediately that He was different. He did not teach like the scribes. He spoke with authority. People were astonished by Him. Even those sent to arrest Him came back empty-handed, saying, “No one ever spoke like this man.”

He forgave sins. He commanded unclean spirits—and they obeyed. He claimed unity with the Father. He accepted worship. He declared that no one comes to the Father except through Him.

That is not the language of a mere teacher.

That is authority.

When I was a boy, we had “show and tell” in school. Show and tell was an exercise where you would bring something interesting from home to “show” and “tell” the class about it. They brought dolls and little dolly clothes, model train engines so perfect they would eat your heart out...one boy even brought an army medal that had been awarded his father during the war. In the back of the class was one small and miserable little boy from a very poor family. He was miserable because he didn’t know that to bring from home for tell and show. He could see himself standing up saying, “This is a can of chewing tobacco that my mom accidentally ran through the washing machine.” The day before his turn was to come, on of the girls in the class brought in Miss Sniffles, her cat in a box with several kittens that were born just a few days before. Our teacher—Mrs. Duggan our young first year teacher—and, all the other kids oooohhhed and aaahhhed over Miss Sniffles and her kittens. They were the hit of entire show and tell series. That day the poor kid went home with an idea. He knew exactly what would be a hit at show and tell the next day. On that day he brought in a tin can to class. It was one of those large coffee tins that were common in those days. He opened it up, reached inside, and with all the drama of a tv magician announced, “This is Virginia, my pet snake!” Mrs. Duggan stepped back suddenly and began to fan herself...”And THESE”—it was obvious that Virginia was enough by her self—he reached into the tin and pulled out a handful of wriggling nightcrawlers. With great pride, he announced, “These are my snake’s babies!”

Our teacher fainted on the spot.

Now he was just trying to get some positive attention

Jesus is not simply trying to get attention. He is not confused. He is not exaggerating.

When He says, “I am the way,” He means exactly what He says.

And the Apostle Peter confirms it:

“There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

That is not a suggestion.

That is an absolute.

I remember coming back to the United States after years of ministry in Africa. I sat down with a pastor—a man leading a large and successful church—and he told me he was no longer comfortable saying that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation.

I sat there thinking, “Then what exactly does he think I have been doing for the past sixteen years?”

This is not a minor point. This is the message.

The message comes framed as an imperative.

Why? Because the wages of not being saved are so drastic, they beggar the imagination. The wages are death! Paul tells us in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death…” Not simply physical death...but a death that is separation from God! Paul goes on to assure us, “... but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

I Am The Truth

Jesus continues: “I am the truth.”

Now we live in a time where that statement alone will raise eyebrows.

Because the very idea of objective truth has been under attack.

Objective truth is truth that exists whether you believe it or not. Two plus two equals four whether you like it or not. The earth orbits the sun whether you agree with it or not. Step off the curb in the path of an oncoming car, and it is either YOU or the CAR! Because whether you like it or not the laws of physics are still true.

I remember years ago helping a friend move a washing machine out of a tight room. I casually remarked, “I feel like it will fit through the door just fine.” My friend just laughed…”Feelings don’t have anything to do with it! We’re going to measure the doorway.” My friend was a professor at the local state university.

Subjective truth, on the other hand, is personal. It is how you feel, how you see things, how you interpret your experience.

At its core, subjective truth is a truth that's dependent on an individual's experiences, beliefs, emotions, or cultural context. It's not "out there" in the world waiting to be discovered; it's shaped by how you see things. In philosophy, this ties into ideas from thinkers like Friedrich Nietzsche or Jean-Paul Sartre, who argued that truth isn't always absolute—it's constructed by human minds.

Ah, the loss of objective truth—is a profoundly unsettling yet fascinating question. It's like pondering what happens if the universe's instruction manual suddenly turns into a choose-your-own-adventure book where every path leads to chaos.

The Bible—you know that instruction manual we rarely read—tells about a time like that. Here in the Old Testament book of Judges: “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” Kings at that time in the near East we the guarantors of stability and peace and justice in a community. They were to be the stabilizers in society.

That is almost exactly like what is happening today! There is no “instruction manual” i.e. The Bible. And society has largely turned into a choose-your-own path...and, choose-your-own truth.

Here is an example of what I am saying. A man confidently told me “Jesus Christ – an actual being who is simply a truth messenger – had his name hijacked by the Reptilians. They used him as a character in their perverted, brainwashing bestseller entitled “The Bible.”

With no objective truth...the world becomes a place where civil Debates turn into wars of narratives, not evidence. Trust in institutions (governments, media, science) plummets, leading to things like vaccine hesitancy, the idea of gender fluidity and countless numbers of genders, and the lawlessness we see on our streets.

It is not uncommon for younger teens here in Tulsa to shoot up cars or apartment blocks and demonstrate absolutely no remorse for their actions. It is also not uncommon for older people in the community to be interviewed by TV news crews...where they will wring their hands and ask, “How did we get to this point? Where human life has no meaning?”

The how is easy! When you remove objective truth from the culture’s worldview...you are left with the competing individual world views each of which is equally true. I think you can begin to see the problem here...but...we lost some other important things along the way...like honor...and virtue...and beauty. Yes...beauty had an objective standard.

And somewhere along the way, our culture began to elevate subjective truth above objective truth—until now, in many cases, “my truth” has replaced “the truth.”

You may be sincere in your belief...your truth...but sincerity is not the measure of truth!

The Bible describes a time like this in the book of Judges: “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

When truth becomes whatever each person says it is, you do not get freedom—you get confusion.

Jesus cuts through all of that.

He does not say, “I will teach you the truth.” He says, “I am the truth.”

Truth is not just a concept to be debated. It is a person to be known.

To know Him is to know the truth about God, about ourselves, and about reality itself.

Some people hear that and say, “That sounds narrow.”

But if Jesus is who He claims to be—if He is the Creator, if He is God in the flesh—then His authority to define truth is not arrogance.

When Jesus declares “I am the truth,” he identifies himself as the starting point of all truth.1 This claim operates on multiple levels simultaneously.

First, it’s a claim about divine revelation. Jesus is the way to God because he is the truth concerning God—the total and complete revelation of the Father.1 Rather than truth being an abstract concept or a set of propositions, Jesus presents himself as the embodiment of truth—truth personally.1 Truth is a moral abstraction that can only exist in relation to a person who stands as its representation and end, and that person is Christ.2

Second, it reframes how humans access reality. When Jesus says “I am the truth,” he declares himself to be the one on whom people can rely and the measure of true reality.3 Truth is not found first in one’s mind, experiences, or logic; it is external to us, and truth comes from God pursuing us rather than being found by a seeking human.3 This inverts typical approaches to knowledge—rather than individuals discovering truth through their own reasoning, they encounter truth through relationship with Christ.

Third, it connects to liberation and understanding. Because he is the Truth, he is also the Life which is in God, and eternal life consists of knowing the only true God and the One he sent, Jesus Christ.1 The three expressions in his declaration—way, truth, and life—are not subordinate to one another but stand beside each other and illuminate and mutually reinforce each other.1 They form an integrated claim about Jesus’s role as the foundation for understanding reality, ethics, and how to live.

So people tend to look at Jesus and say, "That's pretty arrogant and small-minded of him to suggest he's the only possible way."

Not arrogant and small-minded at all. Why can Jesus say things like "no one can come to heaven except through me"? Because he owns heaven. Paul tells us in Colossians 1:16 that Jesus is the creator of heaven. It belongs to HIM!

If you stop by to visit my home, who gets to decide whether you are invited in? I do! It's my place. And if you have chosen to disregard and disdain me, is it unreasonable to think that I wouldn't want you to live in my home? Of course not!

The real arrogance is for mankind to think "I will spend my life in pursuits other than the pursuit of Truth, and at the end of it all, I'll just assume that there's an eternal dwelling ready for me."

It is simply reality.

I Am The Life

And then Jesus says, “I am the life.”

Now that is a word we all think we understand—life.

We measure life in years. We measure it in health, in activity, in experiences.

But Jesus is not talking about mere existence.

He is talking about life as God intended it—life that is eternal, life that is full, life that is rooted in relationship with Him.

Let me take you back for a moment.

In my own family, there is a story that goes all the way back to the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918. It swept through communities with devastating speed. In one branch of my father’s family, two small children were lying in their final moments.

And as they were slipping away, they said something remarkable to their parents.

They said, “Do you hear that music? It is so beautiful.”

Now think about that.

They were at the very edge of death—and yet what they described was not terror, not darkness, but beauty.

So I have to ask the question: were they passing from life into death…or from death into life?

Jesus answers that question.

“I am the life.”

Life is not something we manufacture. It is not something we hold onto by our own strength.

Life is found in Him.

To be separated from Him is, ultimately, death—no matter how alive a person may appear on the outside.

To know Him is to possess life—eternal life—beginning now and continuing forever.

Conclusion

Worship Team returns to platform at this point

Jesus said:

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”

Not a way. Not a truth. Not a source of life.

The way. The truth. The life.

C.S. Lewis once put it this way: if Jesus Christ claimed to be God, then there are only three possibilities.

Either He was a liar—knowingly deceiving people. Or He was a lunatic—sincerely believing what was not true. Or He is Lord—exactly who He claimed to be.

But one thing is certain:

He did not leave us the option of calling Him merely a good teacher.

So the question is not whether we admire His words.

The question is this:

What will we do with Jesus Christ?

Because if He is the way, then we must follow Him. If He is the truth, then we must believe Him. And if He is the life, then we must receive Him.

There is no other way to the Father.

And deep down…we know it.