Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and Life

(Introduction) Have you ever gone on a lengthy trip and didn’t know where you were going because you were following someone else that had the directions?

(Introduction/Illustration) A while back I was taking a trip from Kentucky to Chicago, Illinois with the girl I was dating at the time. Well we decided we didn’t need directions because we were following her brother. It was about 6 at night when we began traveling so it was getting dark in the summer afternoon and the drive was going to take 4 hours. we hit the road following my girlfriends’ brother, about 2 hours in a had not a clue where I was going or really where the heck I was at while I was following this guy, I was tired of driving, the car smelled like old McDonalds, the girl I was with was irritating trying to tell me how to drive. This half way of a4-hour trip was not looking too glamorous, it was not feeling as fun as I would have thought but isn’t taking a lengthy trip and following someone who has the directions how it is when we follow Jesus who said he is The Way. It might not be a glamorous Way, might not be the best smelling way, might not be fun all the time, might even be a difficult trip but that’s what’s happens when you follow the only person with the map to eternal life with the Father.

When we finally got the Chicago, it was a very nice place where we were at. We had a great time and it was well worth the difficulties of the trip and that’s exactly how it is with Jesus, he shows us the way to heaven.

(TEXT) Turn with me to . (Sermon idea) What we’re going to do is look in at three “I am” statements, Jesus said I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. How do we explain that Jesus are these three “I am” statements, Lets turn to and read verses 1-6.

“"Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 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. And you know the way where I am going." 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.”

(Explanation) Here’s what’s going on! Jesus in this part of the book of John is addressing the disciples during his final discourse after the Last Supper, because he will soon be nailed to the cross. He addresses his disciples’ worries in light of his imminent death and departure. But above all he holds out a promise and hope centered on the coming of the Holy Spirit—one who would guide, teach, encourage, empower, and mediate to the believer the comforting presence of Christ. In early Christianity the problem of Jesus’ “departure” was resolved by looking forward to his return or second coming. For some this was the only comfort. However, the discourse in chapter 14 is a carefully designed reassessment of this. It begins with a description of the traditional futurist hope (14:1–3). Jesus is preparing rooms in heaven (v. 2) and someday will return to transport his followers there (v. 3). The discourse then introduces a questioner (Thomas) who ask leading questions so that Jesus’ answer may be sharpened. In the end this futurist eschatology is refashioned into what is called realized eschatology. That is, hope and comfort are not in the future, but can be realized now. Thus, the coming of Jesus (v. 3) shifts to the coming of the Spirit (vv. 23, 28). The rooms (v. 2) of heavenly dwelling become rooms of divine indwelling. For Thomas (vv. 5–7) the chief concern is whether they will accompany Jesus. Note that it is not a moral or ethical way; it is salvific.

Thomas being a disciple, witnessed all the things Jesus did and yet still questioned how do we know the Way…So, Jesus replied, “I am the Way” What does it mean that Jesus is the Way?

(Sermon Point 1) Jesus himself being God gave up being the great I am to be a man with no reputation… The way to be found is the way of salvation leading to the Father. Two surprises come about: Jesus is both the means for salvation, and He showed how to live a Christ like life.

(Explanation) He from birth came in such a Way that is humble. He was born in a manger, in Bethlehem. Bethlehem was like the Fayetteville of Israel, it was the armpit of the country.

It was the least of the places where a King would be born but born was a King with no reputation. Old Testament prophecies, prophecies about the Messiah being born in Bethlehem. Jesus died in the humblest Way possible as well because he was not deserving of this punishable death but it needed to happen. , prophecies about the harsh punishment the Messiah would ultimately face. There are two reasons I’d like to point out for why Jesus is the Way. #1 Jesus is the only Way to the Father… Jesus came and died on the cross in order for us to be released from the chains of death and be able to go to heaven but only through our faith in Jesus Christ. (Text) Jesus said in , “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.” no one comes to the Father but through Me.” Jesus is going to blaze the trail to heaven for us to get there and He will come back and bring us with him. (Sermon Point 1b) The second reason I’d like to point out Jesus is the Way… Jesus showed us the Way to live a righteous Christian life. (Explanation) Jesus grew in order to demonstrate how to grow as a Christian. He was tempted by the devil in order to demonstrate how the nature of man will be tempted but to overcome that temptation we need to keep the commandments from God. () … He submitted Himself to demonstrate mans need to submit to the Fathers will. () … He prayed to show that prayer is an important aspect of a Christian life. () … Jesus demonstrated the importance of baptism. () … While we are here on earth Jesus came to show us the Way, Jesus by walking a sinless/perfect life displayed a righteous path for us to follow.

(Illustration) How many of you right now, know what you want to do in your life as a career?

Point out an example. If you think about it, obviously Jesus is the teacher. As college students going into a certain field such as being a nurse, you have to be taught how to get to that destination of becoming an official nurse. You have teachers, you have tests, you have difficulties on the way to becoming a nurse. Just as becoming a nurse, it’s not going to be easy being a Christian following Jesus’s Way in the world we live in. Jesus said Himself that this Way will be hard, Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.””

He displayed a way to walk in righteousness as a man and every great man or woman of God has followed the model Jesus gave us such as Paul, Peter, John, Mark, a great Christian philosopher Thomas Aquinas, Billy Graham, Percila Shier. These Christians follow the model that Jesus displayed. Does anyone know what following Jesus use to be called before we were called Christians? Back in the day before the name Christian was stamped on us the followers of Jesus called what they were doing is following THE WAY. We are following Jesus because the only way to heaven, the only way to the Father is through Jesus Christ.

(Application) And there is no other way to heaven. Zero other ways. I know we will hear well there’s so many religions, everyone can’t be wrong. Or truth is relative and if truth is relative then every religion is correct in their philosophy of how to get to what they call heaven. It’s offensive to say that your religion is the only way to heaven. Every religion in the world contradicts each other.

(Explanation) Islam says that only those who are Muslim get to go to heaven and Allah wills those to believe in God or wills people to reject God and those who reject God are the infidels and orthodox Islam says to kill those who reject God. That contradicts Christianity where we believe that everyone who believes in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior gets to heaven but those who don’t believe in Him will go to hell because God is honored their choice to not follow Jesus. Zen Buddhists believe that we are reincarnated until we reincarnated into our most perfect form and those who have bad karma need to not be bothered with and they have to die and be reincarnated multiple times until they burn off that bad karma. Jews believe that there is one God and similarly to Islam, it’s a work-based religion, working their way up to heaven but the way they worship God is not the way God wants to be worshiped today which is where Jesus comes in the mix saying you cannot make it to the Father by yourself, only through me. So, the Jews contradict what Jesus taught as well.

(Application) All religions contradict each other and yes Christianity is offensive which we hear quite often because it’s the complete opposite of the world. You can’t get to heaven your way, you can’t make your way to heaven. You must believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior as the Way to the Father. God chose this way in order to save us from death. God chose to have His son come down from heaven to die as a man because God wanted to solidify his relationship with man by becoming fully man, living as a man, feel the pain as man does, die as a man in order save the world.

(Sermon Idea 2) Jesus goes on in and says He is The Truth.

What does that mean?

As I said last time if you weren’t here, we live in a generation, a culture not different from the one that questioned the validity of truth in John’s time. The generation we live in today denies that there is absolute truth or other words denies Gods natural law.

(Text) Let’s turn really quick to . “Therefore, Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, “I find no guilt in Him.”

(Explanation) Truth is defined in the Greek as, “not being hidden, the state of being evident.” Our definition of truth from an apologetics stand point is, “Truth is what equals reality.” (Dr. Norman Geisler) this is our definition because what is true is set by the standard of God, its objectively true and the truth is that Jesus came into this world to “testify to the truth.”

Typically, the kingdoms of earth are founded on power such as military might, political powers, financial abundance, social advantages. What Jesus was proclaiming seemed illogical by worldly standards. Pilate did not rise to power by championing the cause of truth, therefore Jesus’ claim seemed absurd to Pilate…

(Illustration) Pilate said, “what is truth” and then walked away… the scene drips with irony… the physical manifestation of Truth, the True peace, the True life, Pilate stands before him and he breaks under the pressure of this world and turns away… Chuck Swindon is quoted as saying. “Jesus presented Pilate with a choice – the same choice He offers us: compromise truth and advance your status in the kingdom of Tiberius or walk in the light of the truth and receive unseen rewards of God’s kingdom.”

(Explanation) Jesus came in a humble way, walked a perfect life in order to be the truth.

If Jesus had not lived a perfect life/sinless life He would not have been able to call himself the truth. Jesus a being truth testified that He is God. Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecies, that’s a huge deal if you’re going to call yourself the Truth. How many prophecies did Jesus fulfill during His life on earth? One biblical scholar has identified 71 Old Testament messianic prophecies fulfilled by Christ, some of which are illuminated by the light of Christ’s life but overall there are 300 prophecies Jesus fulfilled. (J Barton Payne, Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy) One of the best place’s prophecies in the Old Testament Jesus fulfilled is sprinkled throughout the book of Isaiah. The book of Isaiah is dated back to 100 bc but could be even as old as 300 bc and the entire twenty-four-foot scroll was discovered along with the Dead Sea Scrolls in the late 1940’s. The Old Testament tells pretty much Jesus’s entire life before he comes to earth. I’m going to give you 9 reasons why that’s true!

One, Jesus is from the seed of a woman () () … Two, Jesus will be born from the seed “not seeds” of Abraham (, ) () … Three, The Messiah will come from the tribe of Judah () … Four, The Messiah will come from the line of David ()… Five, The Messiah will be born as a child, but also be God ()… Six, The Messiah will be born in Bethlehem ()… Seven, The Messiah will be proceeded by a messenger, and suddenly come to the temple ()… Eight, The Messiah will die “be cut off” 483 years after the decree to rebuild Jerusalem (that works out to A.D. 33). The city and the temple will then be destroyed (A.D. 70). () … Nine, The Messiah will be raised from the dead (). These are just 9 prophecies, Jesus fulfilled… Do you know how incomprehensible it is to fulfill even one of prophecy?

(Illustration) It’s so hard that by comparison the odds of one prophecy coming true are virtually incomprehensible! Consider this illustration- Suppose we filled the entire State of Texas with 100 trillion silver dollars. That would make the entire state about two feet deep in coins. Then we mark only one coin. Next, we stir-up the state full of coins so they are thoroughly mixed and random. The marked coin could be anywhere in the state in the two-foot-deep coins. But were it done… we blindfold a man and let him travel the entire state to choose one random coin. What would be the odds of him finding the marked coin in one try? He would have the same chance the prophets had for even one prophecy being fulfilled. Which is virtually no chance.

(Explanation) That illustration is used quite a bit but it’s a valid illustration to show you how great Jesus is because He is God, we are only humans. Jesus Christ sets the true standard of righteousness which we can model. He is the only model of righteousness from birth to death which is why in the Christian faith say we need to live a more Christ like life. Since Jesus is the true standard of righteousness. When we believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we inherent that righteousness… therefore, when God sees believers, He sees the righteousness of Christ. You know what else is great about Jesus saying he is the truth. He didn’t want to keep this truth to himself.

(TEXT) Jesus says, “if I alone testify about Myself, My testimony would not be true. There is another who testify of Me, and I know that the testimony which He gives about Me is true. You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth.” The truth of Jesus being perfect and living a truth filled life would only be true if there were witnesses to testify about Jesus being the truth.

(Illustration) Example: who’s heard the old saying if a tree falls in the woods with nobody is around, does it make a sound. Well those who are around when a tree falls in the woods would say that a tree falling in the woods has a sound. There were witnesses to testify that a tree falling in the woods has a sound. If Jesus had not had anyone to testify about Him, we would have a saying like this: If Jesus turned water into wine and nobody was around, did it really happen?

(Explanation) Jesus said himself, I can’t testify about myself. Jesus needed others to testify about Him because in order for people to believe and trust Jesus is the Truth there must be testimonies. By His example His disciples were becoming sanctified in truth – the followers of Jesus Christ inherited the righteousness of Jesus Christ once He died on the cross and was raised three days later.

(Application) What does this mean for us? It means that when we believe that Jesus came, the Son of God as the true Savior for our lives, we need to believe in the Son of God so that we can be saved. So that we can have Life with the Father because the only Way to heaven is through the Son Jesus Christ.

(Sermon Idea 3) Last thing Jesus said in the I am statement was that He is “the Life.”

How is Jesus the Life? Jesus is the Life because Jesus died on the cross in order for us to have life and escape the chains of death, to escape the way of the Law which Jesus fulfilled but not abolished, He died so that we can have spiritual eternal life with our Father in heaven.

Jesus died for us to have Life. Jesus didn’t just give us the opportunity to have life in heaven, He gave us the ability to live a life worth living because He died and suffered on the cross for our sins. He suffered in order for us to prosper under grace. He died so that we can inherit the righteous standard that we cannot reach by ourselves.

(Application) Just like we need oxygen to live on earth, we need Jesus in order to have eternal life, in order to on this earth live a life worth living. Without Christ we have no life worth living because we do not seek a destination that is full of love.

(Bottom Line) The bottom line is that Jesus is the only Way to having Life with the Father because He came to testify about the Truth.

(Application/Conclusion) What I’d like to close with is if we are following the Way, how often do you testify about the truth?

(Application/Conclusion) I’d challenge everyone this week to testify about Jesus Christ if you feel lead the Holy Spirit to do so because there are many people in our community that are lost. If God so loved the world that he gave His only, his only begotten Son to come into this world to suffer unbearable pain to save us. The least we can do is testify about Jesus Christ to some unsuspecting person at Walmart, or give money to the poor and talk to them a little bit about Jesus because no matter what your calling is to do in this life the overall calling for all of us is to be soldiers that run into the darkness to bring the lost to the Light that is Jesus Christ.

Let’s pray.