Studies in the Gospel of John 03 - I Am the Way — Alden Gannett

The Upper Room Discourse and Faith in Troubled Times

We turn tonight to John chapter 14. John 14. We saw together in this section of the Upper Room Discourse the washing of the disciples' feet, and from that portion saw something I trust of our spiritual responsibilities one to another as believers in Christ.

Then Judas had to be dismissed. The traitor must go before our Lord, who would speak to his own of the intimacies of the coming day. Last night together we saw a threefold introductory announcement—the announcement of his glorification, the announcement of his departure, and then the announcement of his new commandment.

This morning Peter asked a question, verse 36, Lord, where goest thou? And the Lord tells Peter that death, now, denial, later. And we saw something of that experience of Peter in denying his Lord. But then found that the answer to his question, Lord, where goest thou?

It was given more fully in chapter 14, Let not your heart be troubled. You keep on believing in God, keep on believing in me. Faith is the first answer. When the bottom seems to drop out of everything with Judas being dismissed and Peter going to deny his Lord, and the Lord leaving and going back to the Father as if the world had caved in, keep on trusting, keep on believing in God, keep on believing in me.

Then I know for my Father's house are many mansions. I'm going to prepare a place for you. I'm not leaving without a purpose. I'm going on your behalf to prepare a place, a resting place for you. And if I go, I will what?

Come again and receive you unto myself. Now comes a question from Thomas, verse 5 of John 14. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not where thou goest, and how can we know the way? You see, the Lord has just said, I'm going to the Father's house.

And Thomas says, we don't know where you're going. He didn't really understand. That encourages me when I teach the truth of God, and somehow my students don't get it the first time either. Our Lord had the same problem.

Thomas says, Lord, we know not where thou goest, and how can we know the way? We don't know where the goal is, and therefore we don't know how to get there. And then the Lord gives that very simple, yet most profound answer.

Jesus Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life

Jesus said unto him, I am the way. You don't know the way? I am the way. You don't know the way to the Father's house? I am the way. Isn't that simple? Isn't that simple? I am the way. I am the truth.

Therefore the way is dependable. You can trust this way, for I'm the truth. I'm the reality. The way is utterly dependable. I am the life. This is a dynamic way. This is not the way of just joining something.

This is not the way of some ritual, as the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the scribes of that generation. You remember the Lord had to indict them and said, except your righteousnesses shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of God.

No, that's a static way. That's a ritualistic way, a formalistic way. Oh, mine's a dynamic way. I am the very life itself. You remember 1 John 5? This is the record, the witness that God hath given to us eternal life.

And this life is where? In His Son. Therefore, he that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. I am the way. You want to get to the Father's house? I am the way. You want to be there in those resting places throughout the eternal ages?

I am the way, and we sing it the way of the cross. He leaves home. But to as many as received Him, the way, the truth, the life, to them gave He power, authority to become the children of God, even to them who believe on His name, which were born.

Dynamic way, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, you see, nor of the will of man, but which were born of God. Has to be a birth. You have to receive life to get to the Father's house.

You see? I am the way. I am the way. Way down in Surucucu, northwestern Brazil, where we were thirty days ago or so, there was a modern humanistic anthropologist out there. I did not meet him, but he was there living a little mud hut as the Indians were.

And he kept insisting, You missionaries quit telling these pagan Indians the gospel. You quit trying to change them. You quit trying to impose your religion upon them. Their religion is good enough. Their spirit worship is good enough.

You see, what he doesn't know is John 14, 6, where Jesus said, I am the way. No man, no Indian in Brazil, no pagan in North America, no pagan in the South Sea Islands, nobody cometh unto the Father but by me.

There it is. No wonder Peter said in Acts 4, 12, Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. No wonder Paul wrote to Timothy, There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, which is one.

I am the way. I am the way. Are you saying, preacher, that everybody who doesn't believe in Jesus Christ as his Savior is going to hell? That is precisely what this text says. You mean all these Jews who believe in God but don't believe in Christ as Savior, you mean they're going to hell?

That's exactly what this text says. You mean all these sincere people who joined this church and that, but who never made Jesus Christ personal in their life, you mean they're going to hell? That's exactly what this text says.

The Muslims, those who follow Confucius and Buddha, those who follow Mary Baker Patterson Glover Eddy, and name anybody else you want in any other religion you want, those who deny the Deity of Jesus Christ and salvation through his shed blood on the cross and his bodily resurrection from the dead, you mean anybody who denies this is going to hell?

That's exactly what Jesus Christ is saying. Say that's awfully narrow. That's just as narrow as the Word of God. This is my authority. It isn't a question of what I think. It isn't a question of a cosmopolitan picture.

It isn't a question of everybody's religion and all roads lead to Rome and all religions lead to heaven. The question is I'm dealing with the living God of heaven and earth and he wrote a book and in that book he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No man cometh unto the Father but by me. That's it. Let's say it for everybody. Praise God. The same book says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that, what's the next word?

Whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. That means friend that Jesus Christ loved you and that means that Jesus Christ died for you and that means he shed his blood on the cross for you and that it means that right now you will believe on Jesus Christ.

You will not perish but you will have everlasting life. He said, Lord, we know not where thou goest. Oh, I'm going to the Father's house. I'm going to the presence of the Father. We don't know the way.

I am that way. This leads to a further question. This time from Philip. The first question was from Peter, chapter 13, verse 36. Lord, where goest thou? The second question from Thomas. Lord, we know not where thou goest and how shall we know the way?

Philip's Question: How Do We See God?

Question number three, verse eight. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father and it sufficeth us. Jesus has been talking about the Father, going to the Father's house, the way to the Father, and Philip says, Lord, show us the Father.

Jesus, verse nine, says unto him, Have I been such a long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? I've only been with you for three and a half years. You've missed the point, Philip. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father, and how sayest thou then, show us the Father?

I remember one time, many years ago in the Dallas Bible College, I used to teach English. They were hard up for an English professor. This was not my field. It was the language I spoke, but I couldn't say much more for the subject.

So I had to keep one lesson ahead of my students. I came to a most difficult chapter, gerunds, infinitives, and participles. Doesn't that sound exciting? So I crammed for the finals that class hour, and I got up there, and to the best of my knowledge and ability, I tried to explain precisely and carefully and distinguish gerunds from infinitives, and gerunds and infinitives from participles.

At the close of the class, again a redhead, in the back seat put her hand up, and she said, Brother Gannett, I know less about this subject now than when you started. Well, again I'm encouraged. Our Lord had the same problem.

Philip had been with him three and a half years. They'd walked together. They'd ministered together. Our Lord had been with them and sent them forth to minister, and yet he says, Lord, show us the Father.

And Jesus says, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. Now, Philip is asked a very important question. How do we see God? You know the question your grandson asked you, or perhaps your son years ago?

Daddy, how do I see God? What's God like? Remember that question? And the Lord answers this. This is the very question our generation is asking. Show us God. Put him in a test tube, and I'll believe him.

The Russian astronaut gets out there and says he's out there in space and didn't see him anywhere. Therefore, he doesn't exist. Boy, that's invincible logic, isn't it? Here is that very question, and people today want to know the reality of God.

Now, he's addressing disciples, so our Lord's primary concern here is his own. And every so often we believers get discouraged. Every so often we wonder if things are going to work out all right. In a weak moment, sometimes we doubt, don't we?

Don't trust God as we ought and are not triumphant as we ought to be? And all we need is a new sense of the presence of God, a new sense of the reality of God in our life. And how do we get this? This is the very question Philip is raising.

Lord, show us the Father. And our Lord gives a threefold answer. First, he that has seen me has seen the Father. I see the Father first in beholding the person of Christ, the person of Christ. The Lord intended as he walked the plains of Jordan, as he was there in the city of Jerusalem, as he was up in Galilee in ministry, he expected his disciples to see the Father by beholding the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

When he went into the temple and made a scourge and drove out the money changers, he expected them to see the righteousness of God the Father. When he dealt with a woman of Samaria who'd had five husbands, who'd lived such a wicked and notoriously wicked life, and the grace of God reached her, he expected them to see the grace of God, of God the Father.

In Jesus Christ. And when in chapter eight that crowd took a woman, taking adultery, and rushed her into the presence of the Lord, and the Lord says, He is without sin, cast the first stone, and one by one, you remember, they left, and he turned to the Lord Jesus, where are thine accusers?

Well, there aren't none. And he said, Neither do I condemn thee. Go, sin no more. Oh, what mercy! You want to see the mercy of God? Look at Jesus Christ. You want to see the sovereign God? See Jesus in chapter five, there by the pool of Bethesda, and going into one person out of a throng, one man, and asking him if he'd be made whole, and asking him to rise, take up his bed and walk.

And he goes, Why did he say that to the multitude? I don't know. Ask him when you get to glory. Why did he save you and not your sister? Or why did he save you and not your neighbor down the street? Why was I born in Christian America, and somebody else was born in the jungles of Brazil?

I don't understand that, and I can't explain it. All I can do is thank God for his sovereign grace in my life. And on we could go. You want to see love? Look at Calvary. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Do you want to see God the Father? Look at Jesus Christ, his Son. You see, the Father and I are one, John 10. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. There's a second approach to Philip's question, Lord, show us the Father.

The Father Revealed Through Christ's Words

Verse 10, Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. The words, the words.

Do you want to see the Father? Listen to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Leave your finger here and turn back to chapter 6 of John, John 6, 63. It is the Spirit that giveth life, the flesh profiteth nothing.

The words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life. The words of the Lord Jesus. Matthew 5 to 7, the great Sermon on the Mount, the words of the Lord Jesus. He spoke to Nicodemus, the words of the Lord Jesus.

He spoke to the woman at the well. He gave the great discourse on the bread of life in John 6, on Christ, the light of the world in John 8. Words here in the upper room, discourse. He is speaking to his own, and he says, the words that I speak unto you, they show you the Father.

They show you the Father. Oh, put a premium upon the word of God, beloved. Magnify the word of God. It is to run and have free course and be glorified. Why? In the word, the Father is revealed in the Son.

So we preach the word. So we have Bible conferences such as this. So we gather on the Lord's day and share the word of God together. So daily we read the word. As a family we read the word. So we go to Bible college and study the word.

Seminary and study the word. Spend our time sowing the word. Why the word? The Lord shows us the Father. The word shows us the Father. Thirdly, verse 10, Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?

The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me. He doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me. Believe my words, or else believe me for the very works say.

The Father Revealed Through Christ's Works

Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us, is the question of Philip. The Lord says, You see the Father in the person of Christ. You see the Father in the words of Christ. You see the Father in the works of Christ.

Wedding at Cana? The Father, miraculous hand. Healing of the nobleman's son? The Father's miraculous healing power. Five loaves and two fishes? There's the Father at work. Raising of Lazarus? God raised him from the dead.

As Jesus went about doing good, and healing the sick, and cleansing the lepers, and giving sight to the blind, and raising the dead. This was God the Father at work in the Son. Do you want to see the Father?

Look at the miracles, the miracles, the miracles of our Lord Jesus Christ. The words and the works, then, are closely tied together, aren't they? Very intimately so. You see the Father. You see immediately the application of this in Christian witness, don't you?

People must see the Savior. People must hear His word. People must know of His works, and they read of these through the Word. But now we say, well, that was in the day when our Lord was here on earth, when He moved in and out among His own disciples.

But what about today? Philip's question is still in point. Lord, show us the Father. Beginning with verse 12, he now answers that question. How today, after Pentecost, today in this age of grace in which you and I now live, how do men see the Father?

How do we believers see the Father? How does the unsaved world know the reality of God, Jehovah? Hear him, verse 12,. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do, shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father.

You see, He's projecting us on to the future now when He goes to the Father. And whatever he shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If he shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.

If he love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father, that he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

I've read all these verses for us to see that our Lord projects us now to this age of grace upon the coming of the Holy Spirit. How now do we see the Father? 1. Through his works. He that believeth on me, the works that I do, shall he do also.

What works? Oh, some folks have turned to this text, you know, and say, we've got to go out and heal everybody. Healing is in the atonement, they tell us. And so God will heal anybody. Well, He didn't heal the Apostle Paul, 2 Corinthians 12.

Told him no, that's right. Your Bible does not say God will heal everybody. You have specific cases and points where He did not heal everybody. He does heal, thank God, and He does heal today, thank God.

But people seem to insist on the basis of verse 12 here, that we are to do today greater works than the Lord Jesus. He healed people, we're to heal people. He raised the dead. Oops, I don't meet anybody raising dead folks, do you?

Huh? We stop on that one, don't we? What do you think He has in view here when He says greater works? A real good place to go is the context, you know. That's a great place to get an answer, always. What kind of reality does He have in mind here?

We saw back in chapter 13, He talked about bathing and washing, didn't He? Spiritual activity, the salvation of souls and the cleansing of His people. We saw here in the close of chapter 13 that we're to love one another, and all men shall know.

You're my disciples. Here is our witnessing, the work of witness, of testimony. In chapter 14, verses 5 and 6, we've already seen tonight His challenge of salvation. Same kind of thing. You go on here in the following verses of chapter 14, and He talks about obedience.

He talks about our relationship to the Lord, and tomorrow night, Lord willing, we'll talk about abiding in Christ and much fruit. These kinds of works. The emphasis is not physical healing. The emphasis is not here, this kind of thing that's so emphasized in our day.

And you read the epistles of Paul, and you find the great emphasis to be the spiritual reality, the spiritual works of God in the salvation and the sanctification of His people. What does He mean, greater works, then?

Greater works in quantity, not quality. Where'd you get that? Well, by what I've just said, and then the simple fact that you and I just don't perform greater works in quality than the Son of God did.

Is that all right? Pentecost, greater works than Jesus Christ. More people saved on the day of Pentecost than all the three and a half years of the ministry of our Lord on earth. Isn't that right? And pretty soon they numbered 5 ,000 in the early church.

Greater works quantitatively than our Lord had known in all His ministry. For there in the upper room there were all of 120. And today in gospel meetings, various parts of the earth, we've had a hundred thousand people and thousands professing Christ in one meeting.

Greater Works Through Prayer in Jesus' Name

Greater works quantitatively. Now our question is, how do these greater works take place? He says in the close of verse 12, all this because I go to my Father. What's He mean by that? He explains verse 13, and whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I.

Oh, child of God, hear it. Hear it. Servant of Christ, hear it. Christian witness, hear it. Mother and father burdened about your children, hear it. Church member burdened about the spiritual welfare of your church, hear it.

Park of the palms, you want God to bless in a greater way, hear it. Greater works because I go to my Father, said Jesus, so that I will be there as the high priest and mediator so that you can now have a privilege you've never had before.

What's that? Praying in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we just simply have a hard time doing God's work God's way. You know that? We do it by committees. Now there's a place for committees. There's a place for meetings.

I've been committed to death in my day. You know, theological institutions have board meetings and faculty meetings and board committees and faculty committees and student committees, and you know, I've been in them for years.

And God uses the counselor, the counsel of God's people as they meet together, to be sure. But in the final analysis, do you know what he says here? These greater works are done as you pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And the context is, Lord, show us the Father. You want to see the Father? Get some answers to prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, and he'll thrill you from the top of your head to the sole of your feet.

And that will be a witness to the world of the reality of God. You can say to them in down-to-earth practical language, I know God's alive. Here's an answer to prayer. That's right. That's right. Now let's look at these words for a few moments together.

Verse 13. Notice the scope of prayer. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name. That's pretty broad, isn't it? That doesn't leave very much out, does it? Whatsoever. What's the condition here for prayer? Asking.

Asking in my name. Is that tacking in Jesus' name on the end of the prayer? Is that what that means? No, far more. I shall never forget reading the book on prayer by Andrew Murray, With Christ in the School of Prayer.

And if you haven't read it recently, let me encourage you to do so. I remember so well his discussing the subject of praying in the name of Christ. And he said, a threefold relationship gives us the privilege of using the name of Christ.

One is a legal union. And he says, by that I mean we are ambassadors for Christ. We represent Him down here on earth. Him who's gone back to the Father. And because we are ambassadors, we have no will of our own.

We have no rights of our own. We are here strictly representing Him who sent us. An ambassador then must be completely submissive to the one who has sent him. Therefore, if I am to properly use his name, I must then be submissive to his holy will.

A second reason I have the right to use his name is a love union. He's the bridegroom, and I am the bride. We heard this morning, we believers, the bride. Now I have the right to use his name because I'm in him.

He's my bridegroom, and I'm the bride. As I said today, we've been married twenty-five years at our house, and the greatest mistake I ever made was to write on the check Alden A. or Georgetta S. Gannett.

No, it wasn't. You see, she's the bride, and I'm the bridegroom in this case, and we're one. And so she has the right to use my name because we're one. Now, a bride-bridegroom relationship demands a love relationship, doesn't it?

Therefore, if I am to use his name, I am to love him. And as we shall see later tonight or tomorrow morning, depending on that clock back there in this preacher, a love relationship is expressed by obedience to him.

Look at verse 15, If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments. Then there's a life union, a life union. Jesus Christ is in me. I have his very life, his very life. Therefore, since I have his life, I am to manifest his character.

Now follow me. Praying in the name of Christ, then, is a most demanding condition, a legal union that demands submission to him, a love union that demands love unto him, a life union that demands his character.

Then I can pray in the name of Christ. And when that's true, I don't have to worry about his will, do I? It'll be his will. I won't have to worry about wrong motives, will I? Not when Christ lives within.

I won't have to worry about things being selfish now with the living Christ within. I can use his name. And so I come in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I heard years ago the story of a young man who'd come back from the war, and he came and knocked on this very influential businessman's door, so to speak, by means of his secretary.

His secretary put him off. This gentleman was the president of a large corporation and, of course, was too busy to see people who hadn't made appointments, and unimportant people, and on and on. And he asked the secretary if he could see the gentleman, and, well, no, he had appointments and he was too busy.

And so he sat around for a few minutes and once again inquired, oh, no, he's too busy and too many appointments. And finally, in desperation, he comes back a bit later and said, will you tell Mr. So-and-so that I was next to his son when he died in action in battle, and his son had a word for his father.

In a matter of moments, that door opened and he was ushered into the presence of this boy's father because of the use of a name. Oh, what a privilege to be a child of God. And he says, if you'll represent me properly, if you'll love me as you ought, if you'll manifest my character as you ought, I'll let you use my name in prayer.

And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, hold your seats now. That will I do. Let me repeat it for emphasis, verse 14. If he shall ask anything in my name, say it right out loud, I will do it. What's the purpose of praying in his name?

That the Father may be glorified in the Son. The purpose is not to honor Alden Gannett. The purpose is not to get me more for my sake. The purpose is not to make a name for anybody but the Lord of glory.

The purpose is that the Father shall be glorified in the Son. That's it. The encouragement for all this, I'll pray to Father, he'll should give you another comforter. Here is the one called alongside the help in all of this prayer ministry.

The longer I'm in the Lord's work, the more impossible I see a spiritual work is apart from spiritual means. The more I face the responsibility of the spiritual maturity of our own children in our own home, I see how utterly impossible this is apart from spiritual means.

The more I see the responsibility of pastoring missionaries, my new responsibility, how can I have a ministry to them on eleven mission fields of the world? Our text gives me the answer, first and foremost, asking in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Prayer as the Power for Christian Ministry

How do we see blessing in the ministry of the Word? How do we see God work in Parker the Palm? How do we see the burdens lifted and the problems solved? How do we see the impossible things cared for, greater works?

Our Lord says you ask in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's God's way of doing God's work. We have time to eat, and we have time to sleep, and we have time to rest, and we have time to study, we have time to work, we have time to chat, we have time to fellowship.

We seem to have time for everything but the one thing that gets the job done. Isn't that strange? You know what I found as a pastor in a church? The most popular meeting was Sunday morning worship service.

Most people there of any time during the week. Then I discovered that next in line, in church where we served at least, was the Sunday school, and people would be there for Sunday school. Next down the line was the Sunday evening service, fewer people then.

And the next down the line, yes, you guessed it, the prayer meeting. You know what was at the bottom of the totem pole? Visitation. How do you explain that? The power for ministry came in prayer. And when you went out on the firing line to witness, the two places most strategic were the least attended by the people of God.

Is that the way it's been where you've come from? For it's been here all the time that whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do. Have you come up against some impossible situations we have at our house?

We did at the Bible College. You'll have some here at Park of the Palms. How do you solve impossible situations? Our text tells us. That's right. All of me other things too. But he'll show you those in answer to prayer.

He may have you roll up your sleeves and go to work too. He'll show you that in answer to prayer. But the place to start is here. As someone has said, you can do no more than pray until you have prayed.

In school business, the big month of the year for giving is December. Somehow that's the way it is. People deal with the end of their year giving. And I'm sure they talk with their tax consultants and their advisors.

And at the end of the year, they know what they can give to the Lord's work above what they've done regularly through the year. And this is quite normal. And in school business, the summer is lean. Folks have gone away and folks are on vacation.

Somehow they don't send in regularly and so on. So December had to be a big month if we were to have a black year. Interestingly enough, in the nine years we were at Southeastern Bible College, we had a black year.

Eight of the nine years. And the one year we didn't was the year we wouldn't raise the salaries when we had to walk by faith. The last December I was there, a year ago, we needed $24 ,000. Not to the penny now, but in round numbers, in December.

Take care of things. That's a lot of money. Just a whole lot of money. You don't have a constituency, you know, in the sense of a denomination or people you can go and knock on the door and say, listen here, you folks, this is your school, fork over.

No, we didn't do it that way. We got on our knees and asked God about it. Well, on the 31st of December, that's getting pretty close to deadline, isn't it? We had $9 ,000 out of the 24 ,000. I called a prayer meeting at two o 'clock that afternoon.

We got on our knees and asked God to move. When I got off my knees and went to the desk, there I found an envelope that was there all the time. Didn't know it before I went to prayer. And there was stock for $3 ,000.

That raised it to $12 ,000. The telephone rang shortly after that. And one man said, I just assigned $6 ,000 worth of stock to Southeastern Bible College. We've doubled now in about an hour, from $9 ,000 to $18 ,000.

The next day of mail, three checks came through, dated December 31st, each for $1 ,000. That brought it up to $21 ,000. And in the process, enough more, $50, $100 bills, and $5 and $10 came through that we came up with $23 ,900 and some dollars.

And as far as I know, that's exactly what we needed. How about that? There you are. This thing works. Yeah. And people understand it when it's finances, you know. We can count those pennies and dollars, can't we?