Welcome back to our 7th week in our Discovering who Jesus says He is series, studying the I am statements made by Jesus in the Gospel of John. Last week we talked about how Jesus is the resurrection and the life. We looked at how we have the victory through Jesus, because Jesus as the resurrection shows us the he has defeated sin death and the grave.
This week we look at one of the most popular and widely used verse in the Bible. This verse is nearly has well known as John 3:16. This short phrase sums up the doctrine of Salvation through Jesus and helps us to understand the character of who Jesus is.
Turn with me to John 13:31.
As you turn let me give you some background to this passage. At the time of this passage Jesus’ death is coming soon and Jesus is trying to prepare his disciples. They just had Passover with Jesus, he just washed their feet and they just had the very first communion of all time. Jesus just identified who would betray them and now they are walking after dinner on their way to Gethsemane.
Read John 13:31-14:11
Jesus is trying to explain a few important thoughts here:
1. He is about to leave the disciples: he has to die so that they could know the Father.
2. Where he is going, they could not follow…
3. He had to prepare the way for them…and that was why he was going. He had to die, he had to be the perfect sacrificial lamb
4. One day they would follow him…the way…to the place that he had prepared for them…and so will all who follow the way.
Jesus is talking about leaving them as He dies on the cross.
I want to show you something. Most of you have probably heard this illustration but it shows us so well how Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the life. And if you’ve never heard it before then this is an easy way to share the gospel with your friends.
Tell the Cross-Bridge Story.
They are starting to hear that Jesus is going to leave them. They also hear that one day they can follow him, because they know the way, but Thomas is lost…He basically says Lord, give us the directions, we don’t know the way to your Father’s house.
During Super Bowl XXXVII, FedEx ran a commercial that spoofed the movie Castaway, in which Tom Hanks played a FedEx worker, whose company plane went down, stranding him on a desert island for years.
Looking like Tom Hanks in the movie, the FedEx employee in the commercial goes up to the door of a suburban home, package in hand. When the owner comes to the door, he explains that he survived 5 years on a deserted island, and during that whole time, he kept this package in order to deliver it to her.
She gives a simple, “Thank you.” However, he is curious about what is in the package that he has been protecting for years. He says, “If I may ask, what was in that package after all?”
She opens it and shows him the contents, saying, “Oh, nothing really. It is just a satellite telephone, a global positioning device, a compass, a water purifier, and some seeds.”
Jesus is saying to Thomas, you already have everything…I’m the whole package here to save you, all you have to do is follow me. Jesus is explaining to them that HE is the way. The way to the Father…the gateway for the sheep…if we Know Jesus, we can follow him. In Jewish literature, God’s true path of righteousness could be called “the way. Jesus is the one who makes us righteous, he is the one that sanctifies us.
Jesus says I am the way, and then the next two words here qualifies to us how he is the way.
1. Jesus is the way because he is the truth. That is the revelation of God and because of the life of God that resides in Him.
Turn with me to Ephesians 1:7 Read 7-14
Through Jesus we receive the assurance of full forgiveness for everything we have ever done or will ever do. Because of Jesus’ blood, shed for you on the cross…He made the way for us to join him in Heaven, in his Father’s place. He left to prepare the place, and we can follow the way, because of what he did for us on the cross
He is the way because he is the truth. We must trust and believe in Jesus John 14:1, You Believe in God, Believe also in me. Have you ever noticed how often people believe in God, but not Jesus? One of the saddest things in the world is this. Stephen Hawking, In His book A Brief History of Time, writes that if physicists could find a “theory of everything” — that is, a cohesive explanation for how the universe works — they would glimpse “the mind of God.” Stephen Hawking, a self-professed Atheist, world renowned physicist Believed in a type of God. He is quoted to have said, "I believe the universe is governed by the laws of science," conceding that "the laws may have been decreed by God, but God does not intervene to break the laws." He believed in God, and a personal relationship with numbers, but He did not believe in Jesus. For a man so brilliant, he misses one of the most fundamental Truths of life. That through Jesus we can not only glimpse the mind of God, but that we can have a relationship with Him.
God does intervene and care for His children—He is still moving and there are things that God does that still cannot be explained by science.
1 Thessalonians 1:10-13 10 You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe; 11 as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and [c]charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, 12 that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.
13 For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.
In Louis Carrol’s book Alice in Wonderland, Alice comes to a fork in the road and doesn’t know which way to turn. She sees the grinning Cheshire Cat and asks which direction she should take. The cat replies, “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.”
Our desire to should be to get to the Father, to know the Father, to know Christ, and we have a blazing neon sign blinking This Way, This Way, all we have to do is follow the path that Jesus has laid out for us! We don’t have to be like Thomas saying to Jesus, We don’t know the way…Because Jesus IS the Way and we can know him on a personal level. We can know the Truth. We live in a society of Poly-truth-ism. So afraid of offending the next person that they believe that there are many truths. They say that whatever you do, if you believe it, it makes it true, as long as you are a good person, you will make it Heaven…
I’ve heard it said, “All religions ultimately lead to God.” But, think about this question logically. Imagine that I asked for directions to New York City and three people answered. The first one say, “Just stay on the road that you are on and you will eventually get there.” The second guide answers, “You are headed in the wrong direction, you need to turn around.” The third person replies, “Just let your feelings (your traditions, your conscience, or a guru) guide you to the right road.”
If three guides tell me to take three different roads to New York City, only one of them can be right. At least two of the guides must be wrong. The idea that all religions lead to God violates a basic test of logic.
Do Rope Illusion
Mohamed, Confucius, Buddha, Darwin (believed in Jesus), Good works (Karma, Krishna)
On the surface, different faith traditions share some similarities, but even a casual reading of the sacred books of different religions will make it clear that they are not communicating the same thing nor are they offering an equally legitimate way to God.
The truth is that some religions are wrong, even if they sincerely think they are right. If someone is wrong, they are still wrong, even if they genuinely think they are right. If you try to dial my number on your phone and one of the numbers is wrong, you will not be able to reach me, even if you sincerely think that you have dialed the right number. According to Christianity, Jesus is the only way to get to heaven. There is no other road that can take you there.
Jesus is the only way, no one else. Heaven is the Father’s House, Jesus is the way to the Father, there is no other way. Jesus is the only one that Died for us so that we could have life…
John 13:36b
The word here for Follow is a???????. The word here was used for soldiers, servants and pupils for following their master. We as Christians were not left here to do nothing, but to Follow the Way of life. In Acts, the early church was called followers of the way…we, as followers of the way, are meant to come after Jesus, to do follow his example.
Max Lucado, in his book, “Six Hours One Friday,” tells the story of a missionary in Brazil who discovered a tribe of Indians in a remote part of the jungle. They lived near a large river. The tribe was in need of medical attention. A contagious disease was ravaging the population. People were dying daily.
A hospital was not too terribly far away — across the river, but the Indians would not cross it because they believed the river was inhabited by evil spirits. And to enter its water would mean certain death.
The missionary explained how he had crossed the river & was unharmed. But they were not impressed. He then took them to the bank & placed his hand in the water. They still wouldn’t go in. He walked into the water up to his waist & splashed water on his face. It didn’t matter. They were still afraid to enter the river.
Finally, he dove into the river, swam beneath the surface until he emerged on the other side. He raised a triumphant fist into the air. He had entered the water & escaped. It was then that the Indians broke into a cheer & followed him across.
Jesus led us through his death to the Father, the way to salvation.
Hebrews 9:8 the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing.
11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things [c]to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. 12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption
Before, anyone wishing to come into the presence of God would with any sin in their life. He was only by following Christ—the way—can we escape death and come into God’s presence. When we follow the way, we follow into what the presence of God that he desires for us to have.
Close with More of You
Thank you for joining us this morning keep going after the way…after Jesus who leads us into the presence of the Father.
. Next week we finish our series with I am the true Vine.
