The Exclusive Way |
November 4, 2019
|
Good morning! If you would please take your bibles and open with me to the book of John. John 14. Last time we were together we looked at verses 1-11. Normally, we would begin today with verse 12 and continue on through the next section. However, there was a portion of that passage last time that we skipped over.
Some of you may have even thought, “Well hey, Mr. Verse by Verse Guy, you done missed a verse.” And it is a very important verse too! I agree. Verse 6 is one of those verses that is so important that it is likely highlighted in your Bibles, underlined, and has all kinds of stars and arrows by it.
As a matter of fact, it is so important that I wanted to dedicate one full sermon to it. I do not think I could have done justice to this verse by touching on it for just a few moments in a sermon covering more verses in the wider context.
So this morning, let’s give our attention to what the Holy Spirit has inscribed for us here in verse 6.
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”
Let's pray...
Introduction
One of the defining characteristics of Christianity is found in this verse right here. It is the fact that salvation can only be gained through Jesus Christ.
This claim is not just mentioned here, but it is found in other books of the New Testament. In the book of Acts, Peter preaches a sermon wherein he says, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is only one name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12).
Paul reiterates the same when he says that “there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ” (1 Tim. 2:5).
And in the ancient world, this was something that was definitive about Christianity. Most of the ancient world was polytheistic and very open to welcoming any and every god into its pantheons. You could have your particular favorite god, but as long as you acknowledged the veracity of the other gods, you all was fine. But Christians threw a wrench into the whole system. The Christians said, “There are no other gods. Jesus alone is Savior and Lord.” And this is what got them into a lot of trouble with the culture of their day.
As a matter of fact, one of the high crimes that Christians were charged with during the great persecutions of the early church was atheism. They were fed to the lions and publicly disdained because they denied the multiplicity of gods and only acknowledged one God and one way of salvation.
It is interesting that that we find ourselves today in a similar situation today. We are living in a time where the claim that no one comes to the Father except by Christ is seen to be quite outrageous.
And that is where I want to begin today. As we come to this text, I want to begin with a few general comments about this statement that Jesus makes here in verse 6. We will make some more specific comments about what exactly is in the text in a little bit, but I want to simply step back and think about the concept here in a broad manner.
I. General Comments
And the first thing that I want us to consider is that this statement that Jesus makes is considered by so many to be utterly repulsive. It is offensive because they deem it to be so exclusive.
A. This statement is considered Exclusive and therefore Offensive
Just like in the early church, people today do not like Christianity (or what we may call evangelical Christianity or orthodox Christianity) because it says that there is only one way to gain entrance into eternal life.
We live in what we call a pluralistic culture. This means that most people today will say that it doesn’t matter which religion you choose, because (as they say) all religions are basically the same. One of the more prominent beliefs is that there are many ways to God.
Now, this wasn’t always the case. Up to the time of the Enlightenment, the Western world held to the exclusivity of Christ for salvation. But there came a point in the 1700’s where we began talking about toleration. You know that there was some heated fury between the Catholics and the Protestants for some time. After several wars and decades of tension, the world began to say, “Let’s not fight any more.” We should demonstrate a degree of toleration for each of the different branches of Christianity.
So you could be a protestant and someone else could be a catholic. And you could be a Baptists and you could be a part of the Church of England. You may not agree with one another. You may be excluded from public office for being a protestant, a Baptist or a presbyterian, but you could practice your beliefs. There was this degree of toleration in that we were not going to kill you for your having these different beliefs.
After a while this was then widened to include other religions, like Jews and Muslims. That was a bit of a leap because they don’t follow the Christian God at all. But, in the main, the western world said, we’ll let you practice your beliefs too.
But then a change came along. Somewhere in the 19th century people began to say that, “Well, you know, as you look at all these religions what you find is that they have a lot of similarities.” People were started downplaying the differences and looking at the overlap that they had.
Then, along came the 20th century, and with it we were introduced to a lot of the Eastern religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. These religions have hundreds and thousands of gods and are naturally pluralistic. These were introduced into the Western world and have really transformed Western thought. We’ve absorbed their ideas. And now, instead of saying we can tolerate one another and our differences, we say it’s all basically the same.
A lot of this has to do with the fact that we’ve lost our belief in absolute truth too. Instead of believing that the Bible is the Word of God and is authoritative for understanding what is real and true, we have come to say that truth is relative and subject to our own limited perspective.
The classic example is the parable of the blind men and the elephant. This was a parable developed in the Eastern world and the Eastern religions. But it was introduced to the Western world and we’ve embraced the concept.
The parable goes like this: There were three blind men were walking along one day and they came upon an elephant. Now each of the blind men grasped a different part of the beast. One grasped the leg and concluded that it was a tree. Another blind man grasped the trunk of the elephant. He concluded that it was a snake like creature. The third fellow grabbed an ear and said, “It is nothing more than a fan with which to cool yourself on a hot day.”
Now all of them had different takes on what it was because of their different perspectives. They were merely groping and left to do their best to understand the grand creature before them. And they interpreted it in light of their own perspective; in light of their own understanding.
That’s where much of the western world is today when it comes to their perspectives on religion. They say that religions are all just doing their best to understand the grand thing we all call God. It’s just that each has a slightly different perspective.
And when we come forward as Christians and say, “Jesus Christ is the only possible means of salvation and Christianity is the only true religion,” that sounds utterly obnoxious. It comes across as arrogant and people will say that we are bigots and haters and say that we’re not being open-minded. They will say that we are not being tolerant and should be more accepting of other’s beliefs and views.
So you understand where things stand today. You understand that people are not going to take to this very easily today. If you believe what is said here, then you’re going to be looked upon as a kook by a lot of the world.
But despite the world finding these to be overly exclusive and utterly offensive, I want you to understand that this is actually a statement that is actually inclusive and wonderful glorious. Rather than turning someone off, it should really be something that makes you inclined towards Christianity.
A. This statement is actually quite Inclusive and therefore constructive
Why do I say this? It is because this verse tells us that there is in fact a way by which we can come to the Father! And that really shouldn’t be! It may rule out all the other religions and philosophies, but it does not rule out the fact that we can enjoy communion with God.
What I mean is that we are sinners, and we shouldn’t have any kind of access to God. Scripture tells us that the Lord is terribly offended by sin. Since he is holy and finds sin to be absolutely repugnant. And those who sin must be punished. When we understand those two dynamics (the fact that God is holy and just and that we have offended his law by virtue of our wrongdoing), we understand that a way to the father is an amazing thing.
That’s why I say that this is a very inclusive verse. It is telling us that anybody can have access, even though we do not deserve it.
How do we come to have this access? It is by faith in Christ, who takes the punishment for sin upon himself. He acts as our substitute by going to the cross and bearing the curse of sin. He died in order to take the punishment that we deserve. And through his resurrection, he shows the victory over sin and death. So that whoever comes to him, may have eternal life.
The only way that we can have communion with the Father is if that penalty is paid and God’s wrath is removed. And that’s what Christ effects for us.
So far from being something exclusive, this is very inclusive. We can say with no reserve that whoever wishes to have eternal life and find salvation can have it. God has opened the door to heaven and provided a way to be reconciled to the Father. And no one will be denied who comes through this way.
And I encourage you to come to Christ and gain this access to the Father. God will not accept any other religion or path because no other path deals with sin and God’s holiness adequately. But I want to show you more specifically how Christ is all that we need.
II. Specific Content
In this verse Jesus says that he is the way, the truth, and the life. In sum, he restores what we lost in the fall. He is the embodiment of all that is necessary for us to have access to the Father.
Let’s first understand that …
A. Jesus is the way
A way, you understand, is a road. We today may talk about a pathway or a roadway. And when Jesus says that he is the way, he’s saying that he is the path and the road that leads to communion with God the Father.
You’ll remember that back at the beginning of time, God created Adam and Eve. And there in the Garden of Eden they enjoyed perfect communion with God. There was unbroken fellowship and they lived in complete harmony together.
But Adam sinned against God. God had told him not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of Good and evil. But Adam went and did it anyway. As a result, the Lord cast them out. They were made to leave the presence of God and they were driven from the Garden of Eden.
All in all, we can say that they lost the way to God. So when Jesus says that he is the way (or the road) he’s saying that he is the one who restores that communion with the Father. He is the one avenue by which we can have that fellowship restored.
And, as I mentioned moments ago, he is that way (that path) because he has gained the victory over sin and death through the shedding of his blood.
But Jesus also calls himself the truth.
B. Jesus is the truth
That is to say, Jesus is the remedy not just for our loss of communion, but for our lack of understanding.
In Scripture, the unbeliever is described in many different ways. Many of his descriptions have to do with ignorance and a lack of spiritual comprehension. For instance, the book of Proverbs talks about the fool. The book of Ephesians says that without Christ we are darkened in our understanding. And then it says that when we come to Christ, we have our eyes enlightened (which is a way of talking about gaining that true, spiritual understanding).
But it all began with Adam. Adam was created with a mind and he was given the revelation of the truth. God instructed him in the truth by telling him to take dominion and to not eat of the fruit of that one tree. But along came Satan. And Satan gave Adam another truth. God had said, “In the day you eat of that tree, you will surely die.” But Satan contradicted that and said, “Surely you will not die.”
We can interpret that as “Obviously God doesn’t know what he’s talking about!” And Adam believed the lie that Satan fed him. He put the truth of God aside and he embraced his own understanding. From that point on, all men have been like those blind men grasping the elephant. They have been living in complete ignorance and embracing falsehoods and error.
And one of the greatest errors we have embraced is that there is no truth. That’s the cry of the postmodern world. There is no truth, and what is true for you may not be true for me.
And some people are so confused about things that they will say with Pontius Pilate, “what is truth?” And the answer is right here. Jesus is the truth. He is the embodiment of truth. He is the one who created this reality. He is that which is needed to understand reality.
Jesus calls himself the Word of God because he is not just God incarnate, but he reveals the truth about God. That’s what he says in the context of these verses. If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father. It’s not that you just looked at him and see some resemblance. But the word “see” there is the word that means perceive, as in see with understanding. If you’ve seen Christ, you understand who the father really is.
So Jesus is the way and the truth. And lastly we see that he calls himself the life.
C. Jesus is the life
Again, we go back to the garden. Adam, by virtue of his sin, brought death to mankind. God was very clear that to break that command would bring fatal consequences. All men now die and have an appointment with the grave because sin has entered the world.
But Jesus Christ is the life. He provides life and is the life giver. All who come to him have the curse of death lifted. They enjoy the gift of eternal life. This comes to us because of his resurrection and victory over the grave. Death was not able to contain him because he is the life. And all who put their faith in him participate in the life that he gives.
So you see, Jesus does not use words flippantly. What he says here is significant. He calls himself the way, the truth, and the life because he wants us to see that he is what we most need. Salvation may be ours because Jesus provides all that sin stole from us.
Some of you may have even thought, “Well hey, Mr. Verse by Verse Guy, you done missed a verse.” And it is a very important verse too! I agree. Verse 6 is one of those verses that is so important that it is likely highlighted in your Bibles, underlined, and has all kinds of stars and arrows by it.
As a matter of fact, it is so important that I wanted to dedicate one full sermon to it. I do not think I could have done justice to this verse by touching on it for just a few moments in a sermon covering more verses in the wider context.
So this morning, let’s give our attention to what the Holy Spirit has inscribed for us here in verse 6.
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”
Let's pray...
Introduction
One of the defining characteristics of Christianity is found in this verse right here. It is the fact that salvation can only be gained through Jesus Christ.
This claim is not just mentioned here, but it is found in other books of the New Testament. In the book of Acts, Peter preaches a sermon wherein he says, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is only one name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12).
Paul reiterates the same when he says that “there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ” (1 Tim. 2:5).
And in the ancient world, this was something that was definitive about Christianity. Most of the ancient world was polytheistic and very open to welcoming any and every god into its pantheons. You could have your particular favorite god, but as long as you acknowledged the veracity of the other gods, you all was fine. But Christians threw a wrench into the whole system. The Christians said, “There are no other gods. Jesus alone is Savior and Lord.” And this is what got them into a lot of trouble with the culture of their day.
As a matter of fact, one of the high crimes that Christians were charged with during the great persecutions of the early church was atheism. They were fed to the lions and publicly disdained because they denied the multiplicity of gods and only acknowledged one God and one way of salvation.
It is interesting that that we find ourselves today in a similar situation today. We are living in a time where the claim that no one comes to the Father except by Christ is seen to be quite outrageous.
And that is where I want to begin today. As we come to this text, I want to begin with a few general comments about this statement that Jesus makes here in verse 6. We will make some more specific comments about what exactly is in the text in a little bit, but I want to simply step back and think about the concept here in a broad manner.
I. General Comments
And the first thing that I want us to consider is that this statement that Jesus makes is considered by so many to be utterly repulsive. It is offensive because they deem it to be so exclusive.
A. This statement is considered Exclusive and therefore Offensive
Just like in the early church, people today do not like Christianity (or what we may call evangelical Christianity or orthodox Christianity) because it says that there is only one way to gain entrance into eternal life.
We live in what we call a pluralistic culture. This means that most people today will say that it doesn’t matter which religion you choose, because (as they say) all religions are basically the same. One of the more prominent beliefs is that there are many ways to God.
Now, this wasn’t always the case. Up to the time of the Enlightenment, the Western world held to the exclusivity of Christ for salvation. But there came a point in the 1700’s where we began talking about toleration. You know that there was some heated fury between the Catholics and the Protestants for some time. After several wars and decades of tension, the world began to say, “Let’s not fight any more.” We should demonstrate a degree of toleration for each of the different branches of Christianity.
So you could be a protestant and someone else could be a catholic. And you could be a Baptists and you could be a part of the Church of England. You may not agree with one another. You may be excluded from public office for being a protestant, a Baptist or a presbyterian, but you could practice your beliefs. There was this degree of toleration in that we were not going to kill you for your having these different beliefs.
After a while this was then widened to include other religions, like Jews and Muslims. That was a bit of a leap because they don’t follow the Christian God at all. But, in the main, the western world said, we’ll let you practice your beliefs too.
But then a change came along. Somewhere in the 19th century people began to say that, “Well, you know, as you look at all these religions what you find is that they have a lot of similarities.” People were started downplaying the differences and looking at the overlap that they had.
Then, along came the 20th century, and with it we were introduced to a lot of the Eastern religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. These religions have hundreds and thousands of gods and are naturally pluralistic. These were introduced into the Western world and have really transformed Western thought. We’ve absorbed their ideas. And now, instead of saying we can tolerate one another and our differences, we say it’s all basically the same.
A lot of this has to do with the fact that we’ve lost our belief in absolute truth too. Instead of believing that the Bible is the Word of God and is authoritative for understanding what is real and true, we have come to say that truth is relative and subject to our own limited perspective.
The classic example is the parable of the blind men and the elephant. This was a parable developed in the Eastern world and the Eastern religions. But it was introduced to the Western world and we’ve embraced the concept.
The parable goes like this: There were three blind men were walking along one day and they came upon an elephant. Now each of the blind men grasped a different part of the beast. One grasped the leg and concluded that it was a tree. Another blind man grasped the trunk of the elephant. He concluded that it was a snake like creature. The third fellow grabbed an ear and said, “It is nothing more than a fan with which to cool yourself on a hot day.”
Now all of them had different takes on what it was because of their different perspectives. They were merely groping and left to do their best to understand the grand creature before them. And they interpreted it in light of their own perspective; in light of their own understanding.
That’s where much of the western world is today when it comes to their perspectives on religion. They say that religions are all just doing their best to understand the grand thing we all call God. It’s just that each has a slightly different perspective.
And when we come forward as Christians and say, “Jesus Christ is the only possible means of salvation and Christianity is the only true religion,” that sounds utterly obnoxious. It comes across as arrogant and people will say that we are bigots and haters and say that we’re not being open-minded. They will say that we are not being tolerant and should be more accepting of other’s beliefs and views.
So you understand where things stand today. You understand that people are not going to take to this very easily today. If you believe what is said here, then you’re going to be looked upon as a kook by a lot of the world.
But despite the world finding these to be overly exclusive and utterly offensive, I want you to understand that this is actually a statement that is actually inclusive and wonderful glorious. Rather than turning someone off, it should really be something that makes you inclined towards Christianity.
A. This statement is actually quite Inclusive and therefore constructive
Why do I say this? It is because this verse tells us that there is in fact a way by which we can come to the Father! And that really shouldn’t be! It may rule out all the other religions and philosophies, but it does not rule out the fact that we can enjoy communion with God.
What I mean is that we are sinners, and we shouldn’t have any kind of access to God. Scripture tells us that the Lord is terribly offended by sin. Since he is holy and finds sin to be absolutely repugnant. And those who sin must be punished. When we understand those two dynamics (the fact that God is holy and just and that we have offended his law by virtue of our wrongdoing), we understand that a way to the father is an amazing thing.
That’s why I say that this is a very inclusive verse. It is telling us that anybody can have access, even though we do not deserve it.
How do we come to have this access? It is by faith in Christ, who takes the punishment for sin upon himself. He acts as our substitute by going to the cross and bearing the curse of sin. He died in order to take the punishment that we deserve. And through his resurrection, he shows the victory over sin and death. So that whoever comes to him, may have eternal life.
The only way that we can have communion with the Father is if that penalty is paid and God’s wrath is removed. And that’s what Christ effects for us.
So far from being something exclusive, this is very inclusive. We can say with no reserve that whoever wishes to have eternal life and find salvation can have it. God has opened the door to heaven and provided a way to be reconciled to the Father. And no one will be denied who comes through this way.
And I encourage you to come to Christ and gain this access to the Father. God will not accept any other religion or path because no other path deals with sin and God’s holiness adequately. But I want to show you more specifically how Christ is all that we need.
II. Specific Content
In this verse Jesus says that he is the way, the truth, and the life. In sum, he restores what we lost in the fall. He is the embodiment of all that is necessary for us to have access to the Father.
Let’s first understand that …
A. Jesus is the way
A way, you understand, is a road. We today may talk about a pathway or a roadway. And when Jesus says that he is the way, he’s saying that he is the path and the road that leads to communion with God the Father.
You’ll remember that back at the beginning of time, God created Adam and Eve. And there in the Garden of Eden they enjoyed perfect communion with God. There was unbroken fellowship and they lived in complete harmony together.
But Adam sinned against God. God had told him not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of Good and evil. But Adam went and did it anyway. As a result, the Lord cast them out. They were made to leave the presence of God and they were driven from the Garden of Eden.
All in all, we can say that they lost the way to God. So when Jesus says that he is the way (or the road) he’s saying that he is the one who restores that communion with the Father. He is the one avenue by which we can have that fellowship restored.
And, as I mentioned moments ago, he is that way (that path) because he has gained the victory over sin and death through the shedding of his blood.
But Jesus also calls himself the truth.
B. Jesus is the truth
That is to say, Jesus is the remedy not just for our loss of communion, but for our lack of understanding.
In Scripture, the unbeliever is described in many different ways. Many of his descriptions have to do with ignorance and a lack of spiritual comprehension. For instance, the book of Proverbs talks about the fool. The book of Ephesians says that without Christ we are darkened in our understanding. And then it says that when we come to Christ, we have our eyes enlightened (which is a way of talking about gaining that true, spiritual understanding).
But it all began with Adam. Adam was created with a mind and he was given the revelation of the truth. God instructed him in the truth by telling him to take dominion and to not eat of the fruit of that one tree. But along came Satan. And Satan gave Adam another truth. God had said, “In the day you eat of that tree, you will surely die.” But Satan contradicted that and said, “Surely you will not die.”
We can interpret that as “Obviously God doesn’t know what he’s talking about!” And Adam believed the lie that Satan fed him. He put the truth of God aside and he embraced his own understanding. From that point on, all men have been like those blind men grasping the elephant. They have been living in complete ignorance and embracing falsehoods and error.
And one of the greatest errors we have embraced is that there is no truth. That’s the cry of the postmodern world. There is no truth, and what is true for you may not be true for me.
And some people are so confused about things that they will say with Pontius Pilate, “what is truth?” And the answer is right here. Jesus is the truth. He is the embodiment of truth. He is the one who created this reality. He is that which is needed to understand reality.
Jesus calls himself the Word of God because he is not just God incarnate, but he reveals the truth about God. That’s what he says in the context of these verses. If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father. It’s not that you just looked at him and see some resemblance. But the word “see” there is the word that means perceive, as in see with understanding. If you’ve seen Christ, you understand who the father really is.
So Jesus is the way and the truth. And lastly we see that he calls himself the life.
C. Jesus is the life
Again, we go back to the garden. Adam, by virtue of his sin, brought death to mankind. God was very clear that to break that command would bring fatal consequences. All men now die and have an appointment with the grave because sin has entered the world.
But Jesus Christ is the life. He provides life and is the life giver. All who come to him have the curse of death lifted. They enjoy the gift of eternal life. This comes to us because of his resurrection and victory over the grave. Death was not able to contain him because he is the life. And all who put their faith in him participate in the life that he gives.
So you see, Jesus does not use words flippantly. What he says here is significant. He calls himself the way, the truth, and the life because he wants us to see that he is what we most need. Salvation may be ours because Jesus provides all that sin stole from us.