I AM - I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life
July 1, 2018
John 14:1-6 (p. 752)
Introduction:
I had a long distance truck driver named Roy who called me from out of the blue one day…He’d been passing through Louisville and he’d heard one of my Ministry Minutes on WJIE, the Christian radio station…I’d told this story about being on the wrong path while hiking the Appalachian Trail and when I discovered I was headed the wrong way I had to change paths…I ended the story with our info and phone number…and Roy decided to call.
Roy started our conversation with these word: “I’ve just started to live a life of repentance.” He talked about his past and then got to why he called…He said, “I’ve been dating this woman and she doesn’t want to make some of the life choices I do…she still wants to party and hang out at the bar and I don’t know what to do.”
I won’t go into all the things we talked about but after listening to him I said, “Roy, the Holy Spirit is God’s agent of change…He’s the one who convicted us of our past and He’s the one who points us in the direction God wants us to go…repentance is our response to those things happening in our lives…Repentance is the choice to acknowledge and confess our sin, but it’s also a decision to change paths…and take the one that leads us to God.
And I said, “Roy if God is pulling you away from your past…If He is asking you to choose a new path…not everyone will understand it. Not everyone will take it with you.
When God calls you to change - He might not be calling your girlfriend at the same time or with the same intensity. It’d be great if He did, but that often doesn’t happen. And Roy, you’ll have to choose which way is most important…because many times you can’t have both.
He said, “Man!!! That’s hard stuff!” And I said, “Yep.”
I ended the conversation by telling Roy I’d be praying for him and to remember that “God isn’t just calling you from your sin, He’s calling you to Himself!”
That in Acts 2:38 people felt that same conviction and calling as Peter preached about Jesus…Their hearts were cut…They knew they needed to do something with this calling and Peter said, “Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
God is all about getting us to heaven. His eternal purpose is to get us home with Him…and
I. JESUS IS THE WAY
When Jesus has one of His last conversations with His followers in John 14…He tells them “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God…believe also in me.”
He tells them about His Father’s house…Home. There’s plenty of room for everyone…and Jesus says, “I’m going there…I’m making a way for you to get there…I’ll come back for you…I promise…We’ll be together…You know the way to get there.”
And Thomas says, “Lord we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
And Jesus says, “I AM the way.”
Not one of the ways, or the quickest way, Jesus says, “I’m going to the Father’s house…and if you want to get there…I’m the only way home.
Jesus is sharing the most essential truth about a relationship with God…you don’t read His words in the Bible to fulfill a duty…You read them to fall deeper in love with Jesus so you can obey Him…You don’t pray so you can get the things you need. You pray because you want to share your heart with your best friend…You don’t go to church so you get brownie points towards heaven…You spend time with your family…His family so you can tell Him how much you love Him, learn to serve others like Him, and encourage those who are hurting…Church.
You can’t just use any key to get into the front door of your home…It requires the right key…and if you want to get to know God the Father…Jesus is the only key that lets that happen…“As Jesus clearly states…“No one comes to the Father, except through me.” As we looked at a few weeks ago, Jesus said, “I AM the Door!” The only way…I AM the key that lets you into Dad’s house.
The problem is that this isn’t a very popular truth for the masses.
Ramakrishna became the Beatles spiritual guide in the early 70’s. He taught with this philosophy: “One can ascend to the top of the house by means of a ladder, or a bamboo, or a staircase, or a rope. So diverse are the ways to approach God.”
Sounds nice, doesn’t offend anyone…All roads lead home…It’s so much easier to swallow than…“I AM the way home…no one gets there except through me.”
Satan is a liar…and I’ll tell you what I told my friend Roy the truck driver…Truth is often easy to recognize because it’s hard to follow…The broad road is usually packed…look for the small road with not many people on it…You’ll recognize truth there.
Blaise Pascal said, “Opinion is the Queen of the world…the problem is Jesus is King of Heaven and Earth.”
II. JESUS IS TRUTH
John Lennon…one of those former Beatles influenced by Ramakrishna wrote these words in 1971:
Imagine there’s no heaven.
It’s easy if you try.
No hell below us.
Above us only sky.
Imagine all the people
living for today…
Imagine there’s no countries.
It isn’t hard to do.
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too.
Imagine all the people
living life in peace.
Imagine no possessions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world.
You may say I’m a dreamer,
but I’m not the only one.
I hope some day you’ll join us.
And the world will live as one.
It’s an amazing song…it’s beautiful melody and it’s Utopian hope…no absolutes…no heaven…no hell…no religion…everyone united…we’ll just all live as “one.” No real truth, just truth as you dream it to be or feel it should be.
Here’s the problem…what if I feel like hitting you in the back of the head with a shovel. You feel that’s wrong (understandable) but I feel like doing it…If there’s no absolute standard, then my way is just as valid as yours…But you say, “Listen you can’t hurt others”…And I say, “Oh really…why?” “Because hurting others is wrong!” Oh really, then that’s an absolute standard!”
[I was building a frame to hang a barn door the other day and while doing so I used a square and a level…It’s important to “measure twice and cut once” things need to line up. If I go by feel or “guestimation” of what I believe is 45 degrees I promise you things will get out of whack in a hurry.]
If you want to build a life that will last forever, Jesus is the only square and level that will keep it aligned with truth.
The Apostle Peter understood this truth about Jesus when he wrote these words:
1 PETER 2:4-9 (p. 851)
When we come to Christ…He is the perfect “cornerstone.” Our lives are laid on His…Our lives are “put in line” perfectly guided by His truth. Rejected by many…but precious to those who believe and will never be put to shame. Jesus becomes the square and level of truth…His Word…not our feelings, not opinions, not culture standards…Jesus and His Word!
But let me end with a final thought about this I AM statement from Jesus…When we discover that Jesus is the Way of salvation and that He is the Truth that sets us free, then we can live a brand new life.
III. JESUS IS THE LIFE
It’s impossible to die to our old life of sin and then be resurrected with the same attitude, the same mind, and the same heart.
2 CORINTHIANS 5:14-17 (p. 805)
Let me ask you…what compels you? What drives you to get up and punch the clock and put in for OT? Why do we do what we do…and for who do we do it?
I ask this because if we believe like Paul “that one died for all…therefore all “We” died…and He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for Him and was raised again.” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)
It’s that love that compels us…motivates us…drives us…The old is gone…The new has come.
Repentance has turned us to God in sorrow over our sin…Our baptism into Christ is a desire to die, be buried in Christ and rise to live a new life through the gift of His Holy Spirit.
Our sins are forgiven…washed away in the blood of His sacrifice…and we are born again through His indwelling Spirit…The Spirit of Jesus now lives in us…It is His Spirit which compels us…drives us…leads us.
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
Jesus doesn’t become part of our lives…He’s not the passenger in the car…He becomes our life…He drives the car!!!
You can tell the truth of whether this has really happened or not by the direction the life is headed…what compels or drives the person after their confession and baptism…Repentance that isn’t life changing…isn’t repentance.
But repentance followed by the death of self and a resurrection in Christ is amazing…Full…Abundant…Awesome…and clearly evident.
Whether you are greedy like Zacchaeus, or violent and angry like Saul of Tarsus, or beaten down by life and used up like the Samaritan woman at the well, or a High school rebel like Rick Burdette…
If you want to become a new creation…Jesus is the life.
