The Way, The Truth, and The Life

John 14:6

By Rev. Jay Shaw

Prayer:

Father, You are the Mighty Warrior. Jesus You are the Glorious One. We thank You that we can come together and worship You. I thank You that we can come and hear Your Word. I pray that I would decrease and You would increase and that the words in this study would not be that of my own but Yours. Teach us through Your Scripture. Father we love You and thank You for Jesus and we pray these things in Jesus' Name, Amen.

I am usually over at The Barn with the Youth Group. I have been the Youth Pastor for nine years and for the first eight years we were in the main building worshipping. Then when The Barn was finished we moved our small groups over there. I have been so encouraged this year because we have around 250 students involved in small groups so The Barn definitely facilitates that well but the really neat thing is we have around fifty leaders that come and lead these junior high and high school students. Those leaders are all members of the church and include singles, young couples, college students and parents. It is really great to see students gathered together and studying God's Word. There is not a spot in The Barn where you don't see students studying the Bible. That's exciting and it continues to energize and refresh me as I go through ministry.

This year in the Youth Group we have come up with a theme that will carry us throughout the year and the theme is "I Am." We are doing studies on the great I Am, the Name of God. We are talking through Jesus' claim to be the I Am. We have talked about the seven "I Am" statements. In this study I want to focus on one of those "I Am" statements and that is 'I am the Way, the Truth and the Life' and no one comes to the Father except through Me. We will be looking at John 14:6 in this study.

There are seven "I Am" statements in the Gospel of John and we're going to focus on this one in this study. There is I am the Bread of Life, I am the Light of the world, I am the Good Shepherd, I am the Sheep Gate, I am the Resurrection and the Life, I am the True Vine and then the one we'll look at in this study, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through Me. I love this statement and the fact that I get to share this with junior high and high school kids. I get to tell them every day that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life because that's my job. We get to see them grasp that and hold onto that.

John 14:6 is an interesting verse because it absolutely deals with eternity where Jesus is the Way to the Father and each of these claims Jesus makes has great impact on our everyday Christian life. Jesus is the Way to the Father but He is also the Way of the Father. Jesus is the Truth that leads to eternal life and He is also the Truth that shapes and guides our life. Jesus is Eternal Life but He is also the fullness of Life. Jesus packs all of that into this one verse but we're going to start reading a little before this verse and I'll give you a little context to get us here.

Jesus is in the Upper Room with the twelve. He has just washed their feet and has called Judas Iscariot out as the one who is going to betray Him. So you can imagine the emotions going on right now as they are with Jesus on His last days before His death. The King of Kings has just washed their feet and now He'll make a statement that will bring some discomfort until He explains what He means about it. John 13:33–14:6 says

[33] Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, 'Where I am going you cannot come.' [34] A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. [35] By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." [36] Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus answered him, "Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward." [37] Peter said to him, "Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you." [38] Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times. [14:1] "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. [2] In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? [3] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. [4] And you know the way to where I am going." [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."

We see in John 13:33 Jesus telling the disciples that He is leaving so imagine the fear that comes along with that news. This is their King whom they have committed the last three years of their lives to following Him, speaking to others about Him and proclaiming Him to others. There is a little bit of confusion and fear when they hear this news. Peter, like he always does, says "I'll follow You wherever you go." Little did he know that he wouldn't be following Jesus because Jesus was going to heaven to be with the Father and Peter had work to do. Jesus says to Peter, "You can't follow Me. You'll be there one day but right now you cannot follow Me." So we see all this discomfort.

Then in John 14:1 He comforts them by saying "Let not your hearts be troubled." He begins to tell them what He is actually going to do. He is going to heaven to prepare a place for them. That is so personal to them and us as believers when Jesus says He is going to personally prepare a place for us. The King of King and Lord of Lords will personally go to the Father to prepare a place for us.

Thomas is pretty consistent with his remarks for he is confused and doubting. Jesus has just told him where He is going but he is still wondering where that is and he says "How do we know the way?" Then we get this great statement from Jesus saying "I am the way, and the truth and the life." We're going to look at these three statements in this study and we'll also see how Satan attacks each of those claims.

I want to start out by looking at the first two words, "I Am." In Greek there are two words that are used for "I Am." One of them is Ego. Typically if someone were to say "I Am" they would say "Ego the way, the truth and the life." The other word used for "I Am" in the Greek is Eimi. So someone could also say "Eimi the way, the truth and the life." Jesus puts those two together and this is rarely done. You don't usually see those two paired up often.

If you go back to Exodus where God appears to Moses in the burning bush and Moses asks "Who do I tell the people who sent me?" God says "Tell them that the I Am, I Am sent you." In Greek that would be "Tell them Ego Eimi sent you." In John 8:58 it says [58] Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am (Ego Eimi)." So when Jesus makes the statement "Ego Eimi" He is claiming deity and He is literally saying "I Am, I Am the way, the truth and the life. I Am, I Am the bread of life. I Am, I Am the light of the world. I Am, I Am the good shepherd. I Am, I Am the gate. I Am, I Am the resurrection and the life. That is why the religious leaders hated Him for this claiming the sacred name of God.

He was not only claiming He was God but He was claiming He was the way to God. So let's look at the first claim, I am the way. Jesus is the only way to the Father. Satan's ways lead to separation from the Father. So Jesus is the only way to the Father but Satan's way or ways lead to separation from the Father.

Then we have this Christian practical living statement there that Jesus is the way to God and He is the way of God. What does He mean by that? It's pretty simple. He doesn't say I am a way but He says He is the way. Jesus didn't merely come to point us to the way or show us the way but He did those things to show us He is the way. He points us to Himself. He shows us Himself and says "I am the way." He is the only possible way. There is no other possible way for a sinful man to stand before a holy God. Through Adam's disobedience sin was passed to us and through Adam's condemnation we're condemned. Romans 5:17–19 says

[17] For if, because of one man's (Adam) trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. [18] Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. [19] For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's (Jesus) obedience the many will be made righteous.

So whether we like it or not, sin was passed down to us and we have a sinful nature from the very beginning. Through one man's sin we are sinful. The good news is that because sin was passed through one man righteousness can be passed through one Man but there is only one Man that can make that way for us to get to God. That Man is God and would live a perfect life. He is the only Man that would be willing and able to take on our sin to satisfy God's wrath. The only way He could take on our sin is if He is sinless which He was.

II Corinthians 5:21 says [21] For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus became sin on the cross for us. He made the way to live a perfect life and to stand before the Judge to say He would take on the sin of His people. He doesn't stop there because even if Jesus were to take on our sin and leave us there we still wouldn't be able to go to heaven because God requires righteousness. The beautiful part about that is that last part which says that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. There is no other religion or act or good work or philosophy or idea that can make us right before God. There is no other person or way that can allow us to stand before a holy God, except Jesus Christ. He is the only way.

Let's talk about Satan's attacks. Satan loves to attack us. One way he attacks us is by telling us that Jesus is not the way at all. We see this in the world. The world says Jesus is not the way to the Father or to eternal life. Many times Satan is more subtle when he says "Jesus might be a way but there are other ways and other religions that can get you to God the Father." Anything that Satan can tell the world to get them off the path and on to his path that leads to destruction he will do.

One my favorite things we do in the Senior High ministry is investigative Bible studies. They are Bible studies set up to allow students to investigate the truth of God and the truths of the Bible. We challenge our high school students to pray that they have a heart for their lost friends. Then we challenge them to start a Bible study. They can pick who they want in the

Bible study, where they meet, what time they meet and we've had many of these start up. Some meet at houses and have dinner together and some meet at breakfast. I had the pleasure of leading one at Oak Mountain High School where one student was very passionate about his lost friends and they were having all these discussions around the lunchroom table about the truths of Christianity and the truths of the Bible.

This student came up to me and wanted to start one of these investigative Bible studies because he said he had a lot of friends that had a lot of questions. I told him to pick the time and place and I would be there to do it. We met in the Band Room at Oak Mountain High School and at the first meeting I said "What kind of questions do you have? Write them down and this will be a safe place you can come and talk about your questions. They had all the normal questions like 'how do you know the Bible is real' and then of course, 'how do you know that Jesus is the only way.' So the second week is when we talked about that and we used this verse from John 14:6.

How do you know that Jesus is the only Way? One is that He says He is. Then one guy said "My youth pastor explained it like this. Imagine a basketball court and God is the goal and each religion is kind of different spots on the floor. Christianity may shoot from the right side of the floor. Muslims may shoot from the left side of the floor. Mormons may shoot from the top. Buddhists may shoot from the free throw line. Scientologists may shoot from here but the point is, is that everybody is shooting toward the same goal and eventually everyone will get to the same place." I had the pleasure of saying that's not true. Jesus doesn't give us room to say that. He says "I am the way." All those other ways are Satan's ploy to get you off track, to get you away from the only way that will lead to eternal life.

An example going around is that God is like an ocean and the different beliefs are like rivers that flow into it. Some are wider than others. Some are deeper than others. Some are dirty and some are clean. Some have twists and turns and some don't, but eventually they all lead to the same place. Again, Jesus gives us no room to believe that. He is the River of Life. He is the only River of Life that leads to eternal life.

Satan attacks us as believers in this area. Satan loves to make us feel like we're narrow- minded or closed-minded when we're bold about what we believe. His reason for making us feel this way is not to make us more bold about what we believe but it causes us to shrink back. We don't want to offend people and I would say maybe we are narrow-minded. If 2 plus 2 equals 4 then does that mean that I'm narrow-minded? No, that's the truth and we have the truth. Satan wants us to shrink back. He also wants us to believe that by sharing the Gospel and telling someone who believes in another religion that we're very uncaring and uncompassionate. I've been there and thought "I don't want this person to think I don't care what they believe."

We should be careful, listen and be gentle and loving as we share the faith. The most uncaring thing we can do is not tell someone they are on the road to destruction, is not tell someone the truth. The Gospel will offend people but we are to leave that to Christ. We are to share the truth in love knowing that we are sharing the very way that will lead someone to eternal life. To say or believe that there is another way is heretical.

My wife and I have two children, one is 4 and one is 1 and a half. When she was going through labor with our second child I got a call from her and it was pretty intense the way she sounded on the phone. I knew right then that I needed to get home as quickly as I could. When I get home she is in obvious pain and I am sweating just watching her in all this pain. We knew immediately she was in labor and we get in the car and head down highway 280. This is my opportunity to turn 280 into the Audubon and I won't get in trouble for this because my wife is in labor. So that's exactly what I did. I ran lights, took the emergency lane, passed people and my wife was just yelling louder and louder. It was incredible to me but it wasn't a fun moment for her.

I remember when Pastor Reeder said "Don't ever tell someone that you feel their pain." I kept thinking in my mind "don't tell her you feel her pain" and so I kept my mouth shut but just encouraged her. We got to the hospital she had the baby pretty quickly thereafter. I remember with both children the pain she was in and I thought "if there was another way to have a baby we would have done it." I would say let's pop it out at six weeks old when it's already sleeping through the night but there's really no other way.

If there was another way for us to stand before a holy God, do you think God would have sent His only Son to die on the cross for our sins? Would Jesus have gone through the physical pain He went through? Pregnancy pales in comparison to the pain Jesus went through but then the physical pain pales in comparison to the spiritual suffering He went through when He took on our sins. He who knew no sin took our sin on the cross and the Father had to turn His face away from Jesus. So to say that there is another way is heretical and we should be bold about our faith. We should be bold to say that Jesus is the way. He is the only possible, viable and logical way.

The next two claims really flow from this first claim. Jesus is the truth and Satan is the father of lies. Jesus is the truth that leads to eternal life and He is the truth that guides and shapes our lives. He is the true way to God and the true way of God. John 1:14 says

[14] And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 5:33 says [33] You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. John 8:31–32 says [31] So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, [32] and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

Then let's look in John 18 where Jesus is having a conversation with Pilate before His death. John 18:37 says [37] Then Pilate said to him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice."

Jesus is the truth. He gives us the truth to eternal life. He gives us the truth that shapes and molds are life. If we're believers we are of the truth. Satan is the father of lies. John 8:44 says [44] You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Satan tries and he is very good at it. He tries to discredit every law, word or act that God has done or said and he has done that from the very beginning.

In Genesis 3 Satan says to Eve "Did God really say you shouldn't eat of this fruit?" So he puts doubt in her head that God's commandments aren't true. Did God really say that? Every time we sin we're believing a lie. We're not believing the truth when we sin. Satan says "Did God really say this won't satisfy you in that moment? Believe me, it will. You don't have to jump full into it but just take a little nibble at it and it will satisfy you. You'll see what I'm talking about." Satan deceives us in this way. I met with a student a couple of weeks ago who failed that test where Satan enticed him and he realized like we all do eventually that he had been duped. Satan threw this lure out there that looked shiny and all and I bit at it and it was a lie. Satan is so good at that.

Satan does that with so many things in our culture. Homosexuality is one where he twists the truth of God. He loves to attack the marriage as believers. He wants us to think our marriage is about us, where we can do what we want, when we want but God says "No, your marriage is about Me." Just as Jesus served us humbly we're to serve our spouse. Jesus loved us sacrificially and we're to love our spouse sacrificially. When we do that in our marriages they become a sermon to the world but Jesus wants our marriage to become a sermon for Him. So Satan is always attacking our marriages with that. Satan tries to make me think that my wife isn't servable or loveable and I always have to remember what the Gospel says. That's not how we're to act. The byproduct of doing it God's way is true happiness and being truly blessed.

The final claim that Jesus made is that He is the Life. He is eternal life and fullness of life. Satan is eternal death and destruction and lies. Only in Jesus is found eternal life and only in Jesus do we find fullness of life. Matthew 10:39 says [39] Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. We live when we're in Christ. Philippians 1:21 says [21] For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Even when we die we live in Christ because we have eternity. Satan will tell you that the things of him in this world will give you life. Satan takes the way of God and the truth of God and says "My way and my truth will actually give you life." Jesus is saying "My way and My truth brings you life." Jesus says in John 10:10, [10] The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I see this all the time with our students where they are constantly taking bites out of this world thinking it will satisfy them and bring them happiness.

We had a speaker recently who gave a great example that really challenged me and I want to share it with you. He brought out a big bowl of fake fruit and it looked good with apples, bananas and pears. He sat down at the table and said "This is what we do as Christians. We sit down to the fake fruit of the world. It looks good and we take a bite yet the bite tastes horrible. As Christians even when we bite into sin, it usually tastes horrible but a lot of times we keep eating it thinking the next bite will be better and eventually if you continue to eat it, it will kill you." Then he went over to this bowl of real fruit that was just as beautiful and just as enticing and he takes a bite of this apple. You could just hear the bite echo through the room and the crispness of this apple. Then he said "This is true fruit. This truly brings life. When I bite into this apple not only does it taste good but it's nourishing my soul." Jesus is life and if we eat of Him not only does it taste good but it nourishes our soul. The more we eat of the real fruit the more we remember that the bad fruit is bad. The less we will crave the bad fruit and the more we'll crave the good stuff. Then he said "What are we eating from? What are we seeking to give us life? Are we seeking the things of the world that lead to destruction and actually don't even taste that good and leave us with guilt and despair? Or do we put our eyes on the real fruit, Jesus the real fruit of life, the One and only One that can nourish us?"

In closing, here is the best quote I've found to sum this up. It is from Thomas Kimpus and he says "Follow thou Me. I am the way, the truth and the life. Without the Way there is no going, without the truth there is no knowing and without the Life there is no living. I am the Way which thou must follow, the truth which thou must believe, and the life for which thou must hope. I am the inviolable way, the infallible truth and the never ending life. I am the straightest Way, the sovereign Truth – life true, life blessed, life uncreated. If thou remain in My way thou shall know truth and the truth shall make me free and thou shall lay hold of eternal life."

So for the non-believer the only way to God is through Jesus Christ and for us as believers to live in confidence is that He is the way, the truth and the life. To share that with a lost world is the best thing they can hear. It is the most caring thing that we can tell them and we are to boast in the Gospel with confidence. We are to remember that Satan is attacking us in those areas and that only Jesus brings us fullness of life. Let's pray.

Prayer:

Father, thank You for this time together in Your Word. Lord, thank You that Your Word doesn't return void and that it is living and active. When Your Word is read and taught it does something in our heart and soul and it challenges us. Your Word is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction and for training in righteousness and so I pray you bless the preaching of this Your Word. I pray these things in Christ's Name, Amen.