Scripture referenced 9 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
-
John 14:1 opening verse of the main passage, 'Let not your heart be troubled'
1 “Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Keep this verse
John 14:2
in my Father's house are many rooms, he goes to prepare a place
2 In my Father’s house are many homes. If it weren’t so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
John 14:3
I will come again and receive you to myself
3 If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
John 14:4
where I go you know, and the way you know
4 Where I go, you know, and you know the way.”
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
John 14:5
Thomas's interjection, we do not know where you are going
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
John 14:6
I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
John 14:31
Jesus says let us get up from here and go, transition toward the garden
31 But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father commanded me, even so I do. Arise, let us go from here.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
John 8:58
before Abraham was, I am, cited as Jesus's inherent claim to deity
58 Jesus said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I AM.”
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Titus 2:13
our glorious hope, the blessed appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ
13 looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ;
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Pastor James preached from John 14:1-6 as part of an ongoing study through the Gospel of John. He focused on the words Jesus spoke to His closest disciples the night He was betrayed, and what it means that Jesus called Himself the way, the truth, and the life.
What was said
The setting matters, Pastor James said. Jesus delivered these words privately, after Judas had been dismissed, to the believing disciples who would later be martyred for their faith. This was not a public confrontation with unbelievers. It was a farewell address to people who already trusted Him, and that context shapes what the passage is actually doing.
Jesus opened by commanding His disciples not to let their hearts be troubled, even though He had just told Peter he would deny Him three times. The reassurance He gave them was not vague comfort but something specific: He was going to the Father's house to prepare a place for them, and He would come back to receive them Himself. Pastor James noted that the verb for "come again" is a middle voice in Greek, meaning Jesus Himself, personally and bodily, will return. He spent a moment pushing back on the idea, associated with theologian Rudolf Bultmann, that the resurrection only needs to be true in a spiritual sense.
It was Thomas who interrupted to say, plainly, that the disciples did not know where Jesus was going or how to get there. Pastor James treated Thomas charitably, calling him realistic rather than doubting. That honest objection is what drew out the statement in verse 6.
When Jesus said "I am the way," Pastor James pointed to the Greek construction. Saying "ego eimi," placing the explicit subject alongside the verb, is the equivalent of emphasis in Spanish when you say "yo quiero" instead of just "quiero." Jesus was not making a casual claim. And this was the sixth time in John's Gospel He had used that construction, each one pointing back to God's self-identification to Moses: "I am."
The definite article "the" in "the way" is not incidental. Pastor James contrasted it with "a way," and said pluralism, the idea that multiple contradictory things can all be true, simply does not hold up, any more than it holds up in mathematics. Christians were originally called followers of the way, and that name reflected something precise. Anything outside the way is, by definition, a misstep.
The same logic applies to the truth and the life. If something is not true, it is a lie, no matter how inspiring it sounds. If something is not the life, it ends in death, both physical and eternal. Pastor James said Jesus spoke about hell more than almost anything else, and eternal separation from God is not a popular doctrine, but it is what Scripture teaches.
He closed by pointing out that Jesus said "the Father," not "my Father" or "our Father," which is a claim that there is no other God, spoken in the middle of a Roman world full of competing deities. And Jesus added "except through me" even though the grammar did not require it, one more deliberate emphasis. The message was for the disciples first, Pastor James said, but it raises the urgency for anyone who believes it to take it seriously for the sake of people around them who are headed a different direction.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- The pastor pointed out that Jesus originally spoke John 14:1-6 to his closest believing disciples, not as a public evangelistic call. How does knowing that context change the way you read 'Let not your heart be troubled'?
- Jesus told Peter he would deny Him three times, and then immediately said 'Let not your heart be troubled.' What does it say about Jesus that He offered that comfort even to someone He knew was about to fail Him?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 6,098 words
0:00
Speaker 1We're gonna sing hymn number six twenty one, tell me the old old story. Do any of y'all know that tune? Do you any of y'all know this song?
1:18
Speaker 2Yes. Yes. Really? I love to tell a story of that.
1:21
Speaker 1Yeah. I love to tell a story of what I planned on that being. We're gonna learn this song in the next two verses. So would you please continue, Jennifer? Thank you very much.
2:40
One more trial. Verse three. Amen. That has great words. I have never heard that tune before ever.
3:57
So, we're gonna sing hymn number. It's nice to have the choir behind me but at least it wasn't just me leading you astray. Seven fifty three is Jesus Coming Again. And they actually read music. I can either read the timing or the notes so that's why I didn't do this this time.
4:15
Jesus is Coming Again, hymn number seven fifty three. Amen.
7:18
Speaker 2Boy, you guys might all be seated. I don't know about you. Have you ever sat and pondered that right there? What it's gonna be like when he comes back? Boy, oh, boy, I look forward to that.
7:28
He is coming to be we will be loosed upward and be caught up with him in the air when he comes back for the bride. And there's a little glimpse of that in today's message that you will get a little morsel to chew on and enjoy that because that is our hope. He's coming back. He hasn't left us here abandoned. It's actually, according to Titus, our glorious hope, the blessed appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
7:51
So praise God. Good songs. Announcements. You have your bulletins. I'm gonna refer you to those.
7:55
There are a few scrolling through the slides behind me. I wanna remind everyone Monday nights, if you have friends who can't come Sunday, invite them to Monday nights, maybe ride along with them once or twice, and maybe it doesn't work for you, but excellent night of meals, music, and message. It's a good time of fellowship. Same time that that's going on, Awana, we have here. Again, if you have kids or if you know somebody that does, it's a great outreach.
8:21
You've got great volunteers, and they pour their lives and the word into these young kids. Today, after the 11:00 service, I think they actually met in between services. So I'm not sure what's going on here. But why don't you call the Galvest if you're going to the New Mexico Navajo Mission and get caught up on that. And let's just pray.
8:42
Let's pray and continue that thought of worship. Lord, we are so grateful that you did not leave us as orphans. You sent your Holy Spirit to abide within us. And he is our comforter. He is the paraclete that comes alongside of us.
8:58
He is you that lives in us. And thank you, Lord, that you gave us a promise that you will you're going to the father, but you are going to return. And, Lord, that you are preparing places for us to abide with you, to live with you. And Lord, that gets me excited. There will be an end to this world.
9:18
But we are grateful that you are the God who loves us, the God who made peace between God and man, that you gave your blood to purchase our redemption, to make us holy, to make us righteous. And it's in your righteousness that we now stand and can stand before the father. Thank you. That's why we're here. That's why we come.
9:37
We come to remind ourselves, to sing of your praises, to remind ourselves of your love, your grace, your mercy, and your compassion. Lord, we pray that as we lift our voices this morning, that we would be encouraged, our hearts would be lifted, and our eyes would be fixed on the author and the finisher of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, that's our hope. That's our goal. And we pray that you would help us through your spirit to accomplish that this morning.
10:03
We pray these things in your holy name. Amen. Take a moment to stand and just greet somebody. If you see a face that you don't know, introduce yourself. Make them welcome.
12:26
Speaker 1Alright. She's bringing us back together with the music, and I think this is one that most of you are gonna know. Hymn number three forty two, we're gonna sing Rock of Ages when it comes back around on the piano. Amen. If I can get the operatory team to come down front And I'll pray.
14:29
You all can be seated. Lord God, thank you for what a beautiful morning it is, Lord. It's just overwhelming to be in this beautiful valley and to see these creative images that you created Lord. We worship you though. We look at this around us and we can see why it would draw people.
14:48
But God, we worship you. We're not worshiping the mountains. We're worshiping the one that made the mountains. God, we love you. We want to be faithful servants to you.
15:01
We thank you for all that you've given us, for the blessings, of breath and life, cognizance. Lord, we also thank you for what you have given to us materially and financially. Thank you for our homes, for shelter. Thank you for jobs, for provision, Lord. We're thankful.
15:25
Lord, we come to the time where we bring tithes and offerings. And we give back just a portion of that which you've given to us. It's all yours anyway, Lord. All these hills, all these cattle on all these hills, it's all yours. But God, we want to acknowledge you with our tithes and offerings this morning.
15:41
We ask that you would take the little that we give and bless it and multiply it to do your kingdom's work here on earth. May it be here as it is in heaven. In Jesus name. Amen. Let's stand together and sing one more one more hymn.
17:29
Now I belong to Jesus. Hymn number five zero one before we get to our message today. Amen. You may be seated. Have, Tanya says never say you have a short sermon.
20:15
I won't say it. I do have a short sermon actually. She said don't warn them that and then not do it. That's worse than anything. Saying you have a short sermon and not delivering is horrible because it's excruciating to sit there.
20:27
I actually do have a short sermon and then I have a shorter sermon that I'm gonna tack on at the end. It's not me. It's not me. There's a short sermon by SM Lockridge who's a preacher, African American pastor that preached for seventy years and he says, what? He'll say it again much better than I do.
20:45
So I'm gonna leave you with that. But we're up to John 14 in our study of John, the gospel of John. We're up to the period of conference as it were. Now, two weeks ago, when I was preaching, I preached on the period of crisis and it got us up to Mary's anointing Jesus' feet and Jesus saying, the hour has come for the son of man for me to be glorified and we have gotten past that point, the triumphal entry, Hosanna, save us now. Hosanna, blessed be you comes to the name of the Lord, the king of Israel.
21:19
That was all during the period of crisis and then the Greeks seeking Jesus. They were looking because they were God fearing Greeks and they were looking to see God's fulfillment up in the Messiah. So, that's where we were a couple weeks ago. The period of conference kind of transitions right after those Greeks come seeking Jesus. Jesus does a monologue about his impending death in the end of chapter 12.
21:46
And as he's saying that the son of man is going to be glorified, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men to me. As he's saying all these things, he is kind of transitioning us into this period of conference. It's no longer going to be a public ministry. This is a private ministry for those who are dedicated followers of Jesus. Now, Eric Basie preached last week and he was talking about the foot washing of Jesus.
22:13
I want you to realize that when Jesus washed the disciples' feet, he knew that Judas would betray him. But he did that anyway. He loved his disciples. He loved them and he was showing himself to be a servant. He knew that he would betray him, but he did it anyway.
22:31
This week, John 14, is spoken to the disciples who were the beloved believers, the ones who were his closest followers. There was not a betrayer. All of these guys in in the later years would be martyred for Christ's sake. All of them. Nobody recanted, nobody went apostate, nobody turned away from him.
22:52
Tradition tells us that all of them were martyred for him. So the period of conference, this week's message is for dedicated Christian believers. If you know John 14 and it triggers anything in your mind, it's probably John fourteen:six because behind John three sixteen, you know, most famous Bible verse, John fourteen:six is not far behind. This is a picture of a church, looks like a barn, but it's a church in Rio Bravo, Mexico where we used to live. Thomas crying.
23:21
When we would cross the border, this is the first thing you come to in our town and it's a big huge building and that huge roof. I actually took this picture off of Google Earth is Jesus Es El Camino. We used to bring in a lot of teams. And as we bring teams in, the very first thing that they see when they're coming into Rio Bravo was this barn that's building this thing. And they would see it and especially the teams from Alabama that seemed to always come up.
23:47
They say, Jesus is an El Camino. Jesus is not an El Camino. Jesus is El Camino. El Camino. I'll concentrate on it more in English later, but this is Jesus is the way.
24:06
Jesus is the path. Jesus is the road. Jesus is the way. The truth and the life follows that. But that just took me home there for a second.
24:23
John 14. This is instruction for his beloved disciples. And he's given them something in verse fourteen:six especially. For avoiding missteps, lies, and death, Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. So that's where I'm going spend most of the time today.
24:44
But I want to start reading in John fourteen:one. I'm only going to go up through verse six. We don't have an extended passage today like usual. But John fourteen:one-six, and I will interject a little bit in the in the context. Now, he has just finished saying oh, let me go to the next slide.
25:03
As far as the conference goes, the transitions from that crisis I was telling you about Jesus when he goes into before the Greeks, he goes into his own kind of a soliloquy about his impending death. And that transitions into this place and then Judas was present. If you look in the other Gospels, you'll see that when Jesus sent Peter John out to go find a place, go find another room, you know, it was kind of a covert thing. He did that so that Judas would not know where that meeting was gonna be. He arranged a social salon.
25:37
They call it Salon Social Marcelo. That's what they would call it in Mexico. He arranged an upper room where they could meet in private, but he didn't let Judas know where it was. He wanted to wash their feet. He intended to show them how to serve.
25:52
And he intended to do it even with Judah's present. That's why he dismissed Judah's to go do his bidding. He said, what you must do, do quickly. Judah didn't know where Jesus would be. He didn't know where the disciples would be.
26:04
He was having a meeting later on the evening, but he didn't know where it would be. The conference with the believing disciples begins after Judas is dismissed. It starts off by Peter asking a question and Jesus Jesus saying that he would deny him three times. So this is immediately after Jesus's forewarning of Peter that he will deny him three times. And it's a very loving, loving thing.
26:32
When I was a teenager in high school, we had what we were called The Way rallies in the neighboring town, the nearest place you could buy groceries, nearest place that had a red light in the little town I grew up in. They had The Way rallies and it was like a youth alliance or youth association and people got together and they used this verse very evangelistically. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. And it's okay to use it that way. But the context says when he spoke this, he spoke it to believers.
27:02
Why does that matter? Hopefully, you'll know before we leave. Hopefully, you'll figure that out. It's a continuous farewell address. These three chapters from twelve thirty six all the way up to where it starts as high priestly prayer in chapter 17 is a continuous farewell address helping the disciples understand what life will be like when he's not with them physically.
27:24
They've been with him for three years and he's going away. He's going to a place that they can't come right now. So this is what this continuous farewell address for his beloved disciples to know what is to come. It's only interrupted by the disciples questions. Peter interjects, Thomas interjects, Philip interjects, and there's a whole study we could do on which one are you?
27:41
You know, Peter, Philip, Thomas. I think we all can relate to them. So the context: Who, when, where and why. I'll get to what later. But the who.
27:51
These are believing disciples. When it is the night that he was betrayed. When he dismissed Jews, he told them to go do what he did quickly. He knew he had limited time. So John recorded most probably of what Jesus had to say that evening.
28:03
He definitely recorded everything we needed to know. Where was it? It was in the upper room. But in John, I think it's 1431, Jesus says, let us get up from here and go. And the next time we see him here in the Garden Of Gethsemane.
28:17
So it's between the upper room and the garden. Most people postulate because of what he was talking about and where in the content of the discourse that he went through the temple and was hanging out on the way there and was walking through the temple, which would have been open at night. The why? I think I've shared with you all before a couple of different times, kind of philosophy of preaching from a study of the Gospels. All of the Gospels, anytime that Jesus was with his disciples, he had four main areas that he was concentrating on.
28:47
One of them was evangelism at the beginning. Come, follow me. Another was establishing. That includes baptizing and teaching them the content of what he was trying to teach. The other is equipping them to do ministry on their own and the other is extending them, Go into all the world, baptizing, that sort of thing.
29:03
So this is an equipping session for what life is going be like without him. So the what though, what is the actual content of this discourse. Three chapters of it. I'm only gonna go six verses. It was motivated though by loving concern.
29:18
It was not that he was trying to draw a dividing line with an unbeliever and say, you must listen to me. He never forced himself like that on anyone. He told them repeatedly, lovingly how things work. He told them that he was sent by the father and his father only to do his bidding but he never tried to force feed anybody anything. He was motivated by love and concern for them, those disciples, and you'll see this in the first five verses especially, and us, and all others.
29:48
I think that his urgency was really about others. It's not just his disciples but those to whom he would minister. And if you keep on reading, if you read some in chapter 12, he was saying, Greater things than I have done will you do. This is the front side of the cross. He had been healing people here and there.
30:05
He had been introducing them to the kingdom of God here and there. But he knew that what was lacking in in what he was about to do was getting the word out. And so he was speaking to them on that level. So John fourteen six says, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes unto the father except through me.
30:27
But let's read those first five preceding verses. Chapter 14 verse one says, Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. I have a new King James version of Bible. If you're looking at the Greek on that, the let not your heart be troubled, there's no doubt about it, it is a command.
30:47
Be not troubled. Don't allow your heart to be troubled. It's a command not to be troubled. He's saying no matter what it is that you're struggling with, whatever, don't be troubled. Don't let this get to you.
31:00
Don't let it bother you. Don't let it mount up on you. Let not your heart be troubled. Now, looking at the verse immediately previous, He's just telling Peter that He's going to fail. So even when we fail Christ, Christ still is saying, I know you're gonna fail me.
31:15
Don't let your heart be troubled. Let not your heart be troubled and that's a command. There's no doubt. The next portion though says, You believe in God, believe also in me. And that's a really good translation.
31:26
You believe y'all actually, Southern Jerusalem. Y'all believe in me. Y'all believe in God, y'all also believe in me. Now in Greek, the peculiarities of the language, the imperative and indicative. I'm a grammar guy for those of you who are new.
31:42
So imperative and indicative are in this case an ambiguous form. It can be either imperative and indicative. All of the English translations in modern times take it as being imperative. Believe in me. But it can be and I think it's worth seeing that since he's speaking to Christians, he says, You believe in God.
32:06
Y'all believe in God. Y'all believe in me. Immediately following a, Let not your heart be troubled and immediately preceding, I'm the way, the truth and the life. He's saying, Y'all can do this. You've got me on your side.
32:22
Y'all believe in God. Y'all believe in me. It could be a commandment. We'll leave room for it. But this is the reassurance that he gives and this is kind of steeped in first century Judaism and the times.
32:36
Second verse says, in my father's house are many what does your version say? Mansions, rooms. Mansions snuck in. It snuck in through the Latin Vulgate. The mancio of the Latin was taken to the mansion by William Tyndale in the fourteen hundreds.
32:56
It snuck into the King James. It snuck into the New King James. But it really is rooms. It is a place for you to stay, a dwelling place. So not necessarily, you know, a mansion over the hilltop necessarily but it is connected to the father's house.
33:10
In my father's house there are many rooms, many dwelling places, many cells. As a bridegroom, what would be typical is if once he found the lady and they were betrothed to be, he would go back to his father's house and he began building on to the house as and he's also a carpenter so this may have some carpenter imagery there too. But he is going to go back to his father's house and going to build on a place for his bride. So when he's speaking to the disciples, they would have culturally picked up on this, I believe. In my father's house are many rooms or many mansions.
33:45
If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself. That's a middle voice verb right there. I am going myself.
34:02
I am coming back myself and I will receive you to myself. It is physical, is bodily, it is Jesus actually will return. Rudolf Bultmann is a earliest early this century, he's one of the most influential theologians and writers. And he said, it doesn't really matter whether Jesus really was resurrected from the dead. The thing that really matters is that he rises every day in your heart.
34:27
That's heartwash. It's hogwash. It does matter that he rises in your heart but it matters that he rose from the dead. That makes a difference. He secured salvation by his sacrificial death and perfect life.
34:43
And we'll get to that. I'm getting a little ahead of myself. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am, there you may be also. Now these are guys who've been traveling with him for two and a half, three years and he's saying, rest assured, you believe in God. You believe in me.
35:05
I'm gonna
35:06
Speaker 2go but I'll come back.
35:08
Speaker 1Don't worry. You will be with me. And where I go, you know. And the way, you know. I told you there were interjections by the disciples.
35:22
Thomas, who we give a bad rap, we call him doubting Thomas, but doubting is not it'd be better to call him realistic Thomas. Thomas is pretty realistic. He wants skin on it. He wants to know exactly. No, you know, no, wait a second.
35:36
You said, we know the way? Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going and how can we know the way. We don't even know where you're going, much less how to get there. Thomas wants a Google Maps version. He wants an Atlas.
35:51
He wants an actual map of how you're gonna get. If you're going, I'm going with you. I wanna know how to get there. Tell me where it is. We'll figure it out.
35:59
And this is the context into which Jesus said, Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through me. So I am. For us in English, I am. Big deal. More Spanish today than usual, Marcelo.
36:21
What does that say? Want Taco But what does Yo Quiero Taco Bell, what does that say? Want. Marcello? I see it.
36:41
That's right. You notice that this one doesn't have exclamation points and this one does. I'm convinced this dog would never have been famous had he said this. He didn't say that. He said, go get a fuck away.
36:57
It's more forceful for you to put the I in there. It's not necessary in Spanish. Not necessary in English. I mean, in Greek either. To say I am in English, if you just said am, it makes no sense.
37:07
You have to have a subject. In Greek, if you say, e mi, it means I am. Just like in Spanish, if you say, quiero, it means I want. If you say, yo quiero, it is forceful. It has an exclamation point.
37:21
It says, Yo quiero taco bell. It's more important. It makes a difference. And that dog became famous because he said it right. Jesus, Jesus, when he said, I am.
37:37
We have skipped these. Steve Lamb has said this morning, I can't believe you skipped all the I am statements in John. It's like what the whole book you read around. I skipped it because I think he's building up to this. I am.
37:49
When he says I am, he's adding the I. It's already implied just by saying, ego, ego, ego, where we get our word ego, I I am. He's screaming it out, and he has screamed it now. This is the sixth time, and he'll scream it next chapter. You know what's coming next Sunday.
38:08
I'm the true vine. I am the bread of life. He's our sustenance. I am the light of the world. Without him, there is nothing but darkness.
38:16
I am the door, which is very similar to what he's gonna say in the way today. I am the good shepherd. I am at the raising of Lazarus. He said to Mary and Martha and Lazarus or Mary and Martha. I am the resurrection and the life.
38:31
And then he repeats himself on that life part today. And I am. I am is what God told Moses to tell Pharaoh who sent him. Tell him I am sent you. I am.
38:43
He's outside of time. I am is a present tense verb that cannot be classified as past or future. He just is. I am the being says, come get my people and you let them go, Pharaoh. I am that I am, almighty God.
38:59
And so every time that Jesus says, Ego, amen, he's pointing back. If he hadn't been pointing back, he'd just say, amen. One more time. I am. And then this one, all of those others are considered the seven I am statements from John, but this one he said and this is the most forceful of mollets never in that list.
39:23
All of the others said I am and then it gave what he was a predicate nominative that pointed back to what it was that he was. An appositive as it were. Jesus said to them, most assuredly I say to you that before Abraham was, I am. This is an inherent claim to deity. There's no doubt about it.
39:44
I don't believe anybody that says Jesus never claimed deity. This is it. Right there. It's in John eight fifty eight. Before Abraham was, I am.
39:53
So I am what? I am. He screams in a very loving and comforting way to those he's just said he'll he'll come back for them. He's built a place for them. The way.
40:06
A definite article and an indefinite article are two completely different things. He does not say that I am a way. In our society today, we have so many voices telling us that multiculturalism is the way, and that's great. Multicultural is wonderful. We can we can go with that.
40:25
And pluralism though, multicultural, that's fine as long as it's about culture. But pluralism says that more than one thing can be true even if they're in opposition and that's just not true. Can't be math is what it is, right? Two plus two is always gonna be four no matter what. I know we have a mathematician in here somewhere.
40:42
It's always gonna be the way that it is. If you add up angles of a triangle, they're always gonna end up being the same thing every time. It is what it is and to say that it's not is just hogwash. Again, keep coming back to hogwash today. I think that what that's what Jesus is doing.
40:57
And all these guys lives, they have been religious. You know, we see him finding Nathaniel, Philip, Peter. We see the different episodes of their Jewish religion that creep in and Peter says, you know, I've never put anything in my mouth that was unclean to Jesus at one point. Their religiosity, he doesn't want them to go back to that. He's assuring them that I am the way.
41:22
He doesn't want them to go back to what they had done. What did they do after the cross? What did Peter go do? He went fishing. I don't know about y'all but I'm going fishing.
41:31
That's what I know. That's what I go back to. Jesus was saying this in hopes that they wouldn't return to a previous religion. In first century Judaism, it would be much much easier rather than having a dead guy that you used to follow still be your guy. It'd be easier just to go back to your family and say, take it back in, please.
41:49
And just go back to doing things as always. But Jesus has said, no. I am the way. It's not gonna look like it. It's always darkest before the dawn.
41:57
I am the way. Originally, Christians were not called Christians. They were called followers of the way. And I know that there's a cult in the seventies that came up and they called themselves the way, but, you know, there's not that's not true. Jesus when he said, I am the way.
42:13
He was very specific. There is no other. I am the one way. A lot of our pluralistic and multicultural now, times now, a lot of pluralistic and cultural multicultural society that we live in, a lot of focus is each truth is just as valid as any other truth. And that just can't be true.
42:32
Like I said, it's about math. It can't be. It's an exclusive statement to say the way as as opposed to a way. So anything outside of the way is by very definition a misstep. It is undoubtedly an error and it has grave consequences.
42:50
And ultimately, it will not hit you where you wanna go or where you wanna be. Jesus spoke of the wide road and the narrow road. The narrow road is the way. It is him. It is He.
43:02
It is Jesus. But what's the wide road get you to? The wide road is a path to destruction. Perdition, then destruction. So Jesus says, I am claim to deity.
43:17
The way, exclusive claim to deity. And the truth. Sometimes you see it way the truth and the life. That's English. They're accommodating for our English way of saying things, but the Greek says, and the truth.
43:33
You all know the Oxford comma. You know what that is? An Oxford comma is that little comma that comes before an and the end of a series. Like red comma white comma and blue or red white blue. Red comma white and blue is a different thing.
43:47
I'm a stickler for this. Red comma white and blue is different than red comma white comma and blue. John is putting that comma in there and he's saying no. I am the way and I'm the truth and I'm the life. There is no other way.
44:03
So anything outside of the truth is a lie. If it's not true, it is a lie. No matter how attractive, no matter how inspiring. When I said that about the cult a little while ago, it was a lie. Anything outside of the truth is just a lie.
44:20
And unfortunately, it includes all other religions, all other philosophies. It's bold and it is inherently exclusive. Now, when I say this, I don't say it with a, we're the ones that are right. Almighty Christian church wonderful, we're great. No.
44:40
We are sinners. We've been saved by grace. And when Jesus is speaking to his friends and he says, no, I am the way and I am the truth and I am the life. He is reassuring them and us that this is the only way. No matter what your society says, no matter what multiculturalistic.
44:55
It's great to live along in peace and that's why we have pluralism and multiculturalism. But where does it get you? It gets you to a place where you can get along in peace. That's good. When people say, Oh, all roads lead to the same place.
45:10
I would agree with that if we just change one thing. All roads lead all roads except one lead to the same place. All roads ultimately do not end in heaven. All roads end in hell except one. This is the one.
45:25
So and the life. Now Jesus lived a perfect life. He was tempted in all the ways that we're tempted. He was tried in all the ways that we're tried. Yet he was without sin.
45:33
He lived a perfect life and because he lived a perfect life, he was the only one that was able to stand before God righteous. And when he did stand before God righteous and gave to us, God provided him to do that. And he gave his righteousness. God looks on his righteousness and for those of us who believe, those of us who have chosen to put our faith and trust in him, he can transfer that righteousness to us. So it is the life and that's what he's talking about.
46:03
Anything outside of the life will just end in death. That's both physical and spiritual. And it says it all over the New Testament. It says it in the Old Testament too. And that is eternal separation from God.
46:14
That is not a popular doctrine these days. It's not popular but it's what Jesus spoke about more than almost anything else. There is such a thing as hell and it is eternal separation from the God that you choose to ignore. So it's just this verse is all we're going through. No one comes before the father except through me.
46:39
That's what's left of the verse. The verb there that comes before or comes to the father. That is an old middle voice verb and it means literally to bring yourself up under your own power, to arrive somewhere because you have chosen to do so, to come before. No one brings himself before God, the father. It's impossible to do that except one life and except through me.
47:06
I wanna mention one more thing about this. Those exclusive, the way, the truth, the life. He's saying it's exclusive. And then the father. When he points out the father, he doesn't say our and he doesn't say my, though he is the son of God.
47:19
He could have said either of those. But he says the. He is saying that there is no other God. He's saying this during the Pax Romana when the Roman gods were plenty. He's saying there is no other God.
47:32
There is the Father. He had gotten in trouble earlier for saying out in public, my father. The Pharisees out of bed. Oh my goodness. He says my father.
47:43
He makes himself equal with God. Jews would have been fine with our father. But when he says the father, that's a definite. And then the except through me. It he does not have to put that me at the end but he does anyway.
47:57
So it's again, it's an exclamation point. That's the end of my message, but it's not the end of S. M. Lockridge's message. I looked at this and thought this is an encouraging message for Christians.
48:11
It's not just an evangelistic message for those who don't know it. Although it can be that, that I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. He's reassuring them and he's reassuring us that he is the only way. I think it increases our level of urgency for witnessing.
48:30
It increases our level of urgency for all of those people who are dogmatically going after something that is just a misstep, a lie or death. Alright. Amen. That's I would like for the choir to come up. We're gonna sing a benediction and put an exclamation point I hope on the end of that.
54:47
That amen at the end, y'all know what amen means. So be it. That is the way that it is and we're gonna have a sevenfold amen as a blessing here. Amen. You are dismissed.
57:04
May God bless you and keep you.
Share this message
Every word on these came out of the message. Download one and post it anywhere.
