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Romans 12,
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I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
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Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is good and acceptable and perfect.
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For by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
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For as in one body we are one, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually memorable.
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Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. If prophecy, in proportion to our faith, if service in our serving, the one who teaches in his teaching, the one who exhorts in his exhortation, the one who contributes in generosity, let love be genuine, abhor what is evil, hold fast to what is good.
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Love one another with brotherly affection, outdo one another in showing honor.
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Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
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Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse them.
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Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another.
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Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.
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Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.
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If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
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Beloved, never avenge yourselves. Vengeance is mine.
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To the contrary, if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
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Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Heavenly Father, as we hear this passage, we recognize that this cannot be done without a great change of heart, without a work of grace in our lives.
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And so, Lord, we pray that as Christians that we would live these things out, that our love would be genuine, that we would abhor, help us to be zealous, help us to serve you.
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Lord, we thank you for this passage. We thank you for its truth, and we pray, Lord, that we would rely upon the
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Spirit in order to live these things out. Convict us, Lord, and show us where we fall short, and help us to follow as he perfectly fulfilled each one of these things.
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Lord, be with us now as we open up your word and as we continue our study of John. We pray,
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Lord, that we would be sensitive to the Spirit. We pray that at the end of this day, we would be closer to you than we've ever been.
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And the same goes for tomorrow and the next day and the next day. So Lord, be with us now as we continue our worship.
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Thank you. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, let's return to our passage of John 14.
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In these verses, our Lord Jesus was speaking to his 11 remaining disciples who were with him.
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And Jesus spoke, of course, about his soon departure from them. It was the last night he would be with them.
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He would soon be arrested, tried, crucified. But he also spoke of his certain future.
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And so on the very last occasion that Jesus would have with his apostles before his cross,
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Jesus informed them of what was in store for him and for them. But in speaking with them,
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Jesus' desire was not merely to inform them, but he would comfort them and assure them, as one wrote, to his usual for -living servants.
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Ralph Robinson, you maybe never heard of him. I have a very valuable tool at home in my life.
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And it's according to subject. And I looked in this
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Puritan index and came across this guy, Ralph, and particularly his book written,
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Christ All in All. And I thought, boy,
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I'd sure like to have it in my computer.
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And sure enough, there it was.
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And I was able to benefit from it.
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Now actually, in these first 11 verses at all, and so here is a list in John 14.
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First, Jesus stated that his departure would be for their benefit, he said, and my father's for their benefit.
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Second, Jesus stated he would return for them so that they would be together again. And that he then said, and if I receive you to myself.
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Third, Jesus said to them, where I go and the way you know.
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Four, the love that Jesus had for them would be as great after he assured them that he would grant them.
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Jesus said, whatever you know, he should be out of sight, wrote
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Robinson, yet he would not be. He would hear them. Fifth, Jesus would send the helper, the
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Holy Spirit. And of course, we're going to read more about that.
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But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the father would send, Jesus assured them of peace in their conscience, which would sweeten every bitter condition.
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So in John 14, 27, these words of Jesus are recorded. Peace I leave with you, be afraid.
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These passages of Jesus talking to his disciples on the last night before his crucifixion, it's just filled with these gems, all packed into these single statements and verses.
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I'm afraid it's going to take us a while to get through them, which is probably not a problem.
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But I'm a little intimidated just by the prospect of the wealth and the depth of these matters that are before us in these next few chapters.
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Well, let us again read the first 11 verses of John 14 that we began to consider last week.
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Jesus said, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.
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And as we pointed out, although the New King James Version has that first statement as an indicative statement, you believe in God, we should understand it as two commands.
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Believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions or abiding places.
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If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you,
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I will come again and receive you to myself. That where I am, there you may be also. And where I go, you know, and the way you know.
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Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going. And how can we know the way?
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Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.
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If you had known me, you would have known my father also. And from now on, you know him and have seen him.
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Philip said to him, Lord, show us the father, and it is sufficient for us. Jesus said to him, have
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I been with you so long, and yet you have not known me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the father.
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So how can you say, show us the father? Do you not believe that I am in the father and the father in me?
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The words that I speak to you, I do not speak on my own authority, but the father who dwells in me does the works.
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Believe me that I am in the father and the father in me, or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves.
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Now the outline that we introduced last week that we're employing to address this passage has three divisions.
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We addressed the first one last week. There is first the promise of a place where Jesus was going.
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Secondly, Jesus is the only way to God the father, verses 5 and 6.
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And thirdly, Jesus as the revelation of God the father in verses 7 through 11.
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Again, we addressed the first division last week. Today we'll address the second. However, let me first say a few words about verse 4, which we didn't really consider last week.
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After the Lord Jesus had announced to his disciples he would soon be leaving them, but that he would return for them,
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Jesus stated this with respect to his departure in verse 4. And where I go you know, and the way you know.
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So the disciples of Jesus were not completely ignorant of the place to where Jesus was going and how they could follow after him to that place.
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Jesus affirmed to them, you know where I'm going and how to get there. The English Standard Version I think has a more easily understood translation.
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And you know the way to where I'm going is simply what he stated. So throughout our
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Lord's ministry in which his disciples observed and heard him in addition to the private conversations that Jesus had with his disciples, he made known to them the way to follow that would lead them into their heavenly destination.
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As one wrote, Jesus is asserting that they know how to follow him. He's been showing them the way in the whole body of his teaching.
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If they follow that way, they will come where he is. You know the way. Now our
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Lord's words in verse 4 seem rather puzzling when we consider the verses that follow.
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It would seem that after Jesus said that they know, Thomas indicated they didn't know the way.
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Consider verse 5 which reads, Thomas said to him, Lord we do not know where you're going and how we can know the way.
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It seems to be a problem when you think about it. Donald Carson made this point regarding our
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Lord's assertion in verse 4, the response of Thomas in verse 5. Although Jesus tells his disciples you know the way to the place where I'm going, the next verse demonstrates that at some level they know nothing of the sort.
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John's point is not that Jesus has made some terrible error in assessing his disciples, but that precisely because they know him, they do know the way.
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They did know, they just didn't know they'd know is the point. To the place he just prescribed, once again it's by reading on and then coming back and re -reading the text that we find
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Jesus' anticipation of his clear impending statement that he himself is the way.
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So really he's bridging the matter with his disciples to assert what we have in verse 6.
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So do you understand what Carson was saying there? He was saying basically that when Jesus declared in verse 4, where I go you know and the way you know, it's as though Jesus were saying something like this, although you may not realize it, but you already know where I am, you may not be aware you know.
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He was stimulating their interest and a desire to know and to understand and to listen carefully.
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Then he gives this declaration that he is the only way to God the Father. So it was after our
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Lord's initial words that Thomas spoke up honestly and forthrightly stating his and the others. Thomas spoke but he said we don't know these things.
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Spoke about their ignorance. For although the Lord had already imparted to them this information through his teaching and example, they had not understood fully the implications and the relevance of his words.
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So we read in verse 5, Thomas said to him, Lord we do not know where you're going, how we can know the way.
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Now several of the 12 apostles are portrayed by the gospel writers with certain characteristics.
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And of course we're all familiar with Peter, known as the rather forward and impetuous disciple of the 12.
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John himself was the most beloved disciple of the Lord. And of course
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Judas was a thief. What about Thomas? Donald Carson wrote of Thomas.
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Thomas appears in the fourth gospel as a loyal, even a courageous disciple, but one who is liberally endowed with misapprehensions and doubts.
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Doubting Thomas. His question sounds as if he interpreted Jesus's words in the most crassly natural way.
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He wants an unambiguous destination for without such a destination, how could one meaningfully speak about the route there?
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Dodd goes beyond the evidence when he argues that the sequence runs like this. Jesus, you know the way, you do not need to know where it leads.
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Thomas, if we do not know the destination, how can we know the way? In fact, Jesus has spelled out the destination, verses 2 and 3, and advised them that they also know the way.
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Thomas replies, in effect, that he and the other disciples have not really come to grips with what he has said about the destination.
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And how could Jesus's further insistence that they know the way bear coherent meaning? And so Carson was basically saying that Dodd's got it wrong there in his interpretation.
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It's clear that Thomas spoke up on behalf of the other disciples, however, we do not know. Peter had expressed similar ignorance back in chapter 13.
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Lord, where are you going? And so we see from Thomas's reaction that Jesus's statement in verse 4 was designed to elicit the thinking and foster the contemplation of his disciples about this matter.
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You know, you know where I'm going and you know how to get there, do we? No, Jesus, we really don't.
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And of course, the result was one of the golden texts of scripture, you know, John 14, verse 6, that beautifully encapsulates the heart of the gospel.
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You know, these verses are so familiar, but I come across them, they scare me. How in the world can you do justice to this verse in the time you have?
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How do you express it? And so Jesus responded in verse 6.
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Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.
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And so the Lord had set the stage for this declaration. As one once stated, the disciples lack of understanding as so often provides opportunity for Jesus to clarify the revelation.
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The saying is commonly recognizing as ranking with John 3, 16 as an outstanding expression of the gospel.
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It forms a classical summary of the Johannine doctrine of salvation that is based entirely on Jesus Christ.
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And this is one of the golden texts of scripture, isn't it? Our Lord's response directed to Thomas, but in the hearing and benefit for all his disciples was his assertion of three descriptions of himself.
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Each one of these three statements is preceded by the definite article in the Greek. And the definite article is the word the in Greek.
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Jesus first said to Thomas, I am the way. He then declared, secondly,
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I am the truth. And then third, Jesus said to Thomas, I am the life.
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Now, in Greek, when you have a series of nouns like that, objects like that, way, truth and life, you can put a definite article in person in front of the first word.
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And just by grammatical understanding, it applies to each of the three. But here it's specifically the definite article in front of each word.
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And we would I would argue that this makes each of these three words, these three statements having equal force with one another.
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However, the first statement, I am the way, may be seen as having some priority because of the repetition of the word in the passage.
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And so the way is mentioned in three of the verses in our passage. Verse four, where I go, you know the way, you know.
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And then verse five, Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you're going. How can we know the way?
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And then verse six, Jesus said, I am the way. And so there may be emphasis given to the first of the three.
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The way. But some expositors go farther by claiming that all three statements are not equal.
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But they give greater emphasis to the first statement that Jesus declared,
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I am the way. They then regard and treat the following two statements as subordinate.
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I am the truth and the life and supportive of the first statement. I am the way.
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This was John Calvin's understanding, by the way. And by the way, he took this when Jesus said, I am the way.
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That's how we initially enter the faith. And the truth, that is the way we live as Christians.
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And the life, that speaks about our future entrance into eternal life. That's how Calvin addressed it, and several others do too.
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Another well -known London preacher of the 19th century, he was a contemporary Spurgeon, Alexander McLaren.
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He took this view as well. Here are his words. Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
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No man comes unto the Father but by me. Now it's quite plain, I think. And I don't see how you can say it's quite plain.
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It may be, but certainly not quite plain. I think from the whole strain of the context and purpose of these words, that the main idea in them is the first.
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I am the way. And that is made more certain because of the last words of the verse, which summing up the force of the preceding assertions, dwell only upon the metaphor of the way.
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No man comes unto the Father but by me. So that these three great words, the way, the truth, and the life, we are to regard the second and third as explanatory of the first.
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They are not coordinate, he says. And what I argued earlier is they are coordinate.
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They each have a definite article. But the first is the more general, and the other two show how the first comes to be true.
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I am the way because I am the truth and the life. And so there are some that make that assertion.
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So what did our Lord mean when he said he was the way? Well, of course, when we speak about a way, we're referring to a course or a pathway that leads to a desired destination, the highway of holiness that Isaiah spoke about.
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In verse 2, Jesus declared these words to his disciples. In my Father's house are many mansions or abiding places, living places.
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If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And so the destination to which
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Jesus is the way is his Father's house. I am the way to the
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Father's house. And, of course, it's the Father's house because this is where the Father dwells with his people.
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As one wrote, whether this way leads is to be gathered from what goes before his
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Father's house were to the place prepared for God's elect, the state of bliss and happiness, to his heaven itself.
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That's the destination, and Jesus is the way to it. But it's not simply to the place where God the
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Father dwells, but it's the Father himself, of course. Again, Jesus declared in verse 6 that no one can come unto the
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Father except through him. Jesus is the way unto the Father.
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It's not just a way unto heaven. It's a way unto the Father, isn't it? We don't just want to go to heaven.
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We want to go be in the presence of our Father. It's desirable to be there because that's where he is.
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He is the way to the Father. I've already considered a few words of Ralph Robinson, and I've gleaned and summarized some of his statements that I didn't necessarily quote specifically to him, but I certainly want to give credit to him.
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But he wrote, Jesus Christ is not only a way, but he is the way. Jesus Christ is not only the best way, but he is the sole way to heaven.
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Jesus Christ is, in the same sense, called the door. He is uniquely the only way to dwell in the presence of the
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Father. Now, the question may be asked in what respects Christ is called the way to heaven, the dwelling place of God the
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Father, and this can be answered in several ways. Christ is called the way to heaven in that he acquired us for and unto heaven.
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He's the way to heaven. He acquired us. He purchased us, his people, in order to bring us to God the
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Father in heaven. We read in Revelation 5 of the redeemed in heaven, sing of their redemption by Jesus Christ.
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They sang a new song saying, worthy are you, speaking of Jesus Christ, the risen, crucified lamb.
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Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its heels, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe, language, people, and nation.
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He ransomed us. He purchased us for heaven. But Christ may also be called the way to heaven in the presence of God by way of manifestation and demonstration.
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Jesus Christ showed us the way to heaven. The suffering of his death, his crucifixion, through his glorious resurrection, he showed us the way in which he secured our way to heaven.
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Christ may also be called the way to heaven in that he prepares us. He didn't just go to prepare room for us or make a way for us to arrive there, but he prepares us ourselves for that entrance one day, doesn't he?
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Before we came to Christ, we weren't prepared. And then through faith in him, we were prepared, but he's still preparing us for that day, isn't he?
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Jesus Christ makes his people suitable for heaven. He secures for them pardon for their sins initially, of course.
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He enables their adoption into the family of God. He's made provision for the final judgment that we will not be condemned in sin because we'll stand before him, the judge, in his righteousness, having been pardoned for all our sins.
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And Christ is the way to our Father in heaven by his example to us, by his word that instructs us and directs us, and by his spirit that helps us, comforts us, and empowers us in our journey on the
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Mount Zion. We follow him as we look to him and stay close to him. He is the way. So this word way, you know, has many different facets.
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Jesus Christ is a way to heaven in the presence of God our Father through his own person who represents us and stands in our stead.
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All that God has bestowed upon us has been in Christ Jesus. Our election is in Christ, Ephesians 1 .4.
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Our heavenly calling, that is, when God called us into this grace, was in Christ.
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Our justification, our sanctification, our redemption were in Christ. And our certain and future perseverance is in Christ Jesus.
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We're called upon to persevere and yet we need to recognize our perseverance, our continuance in faith is in Christ.
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Not in yourself, it's in Christ. And I think this was Robinson again. None shall be saved but such as continue unto the end.
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Our perseverance is not the cause of our salvation, no more than our grace.
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We are saved by the grace of God, not by and for our own grace. Yet is both grace and perseverance necessary unto salvation.
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Now as our grace is from Jesus Christ, so is our perseverance in grace. It is by continual influences from him, from Christ, that grace, which is in its own nature a persisting creature, doth continue.
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Why are you persevering today? It's because Christ is the way. Because our union with the divine cannot be dissolved, therefore cannot grace totally perish.
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Jesus Christ doth continually communicate influences of grace by his spirit and therefore doth grace abide forever.
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Jesus Christ is our way unto the Father. His way is a certain way, a new way, a safe way, a comfortable way, a plain way, a holy way, a very costly way to him.
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Christ is the way unto the Father, having been chosen by the Father to come into this world, save us from our sin and to bring us to heaven by him.
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So what should be the response of us who believe our
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Lord's words that he is the way unto God, the Father in heaven? What should one do perhaps who is not fully closed with Christ?
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You've heard these things, you're interested in these things, and you believe these things in a measure, but you're not quite there.
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What are you to do? First, labor to see your need of Christ. Dwell on that.
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Second, labor to be convinced of Christ's suitableness to your soul. In other words, come to recognize without him you're lost, without hope, without God and the world.
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Thirdly, be convinced of Christ's willingness to bestow himself upon you. I can't help but think of one individual right now.
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He needs number three. Four, stand in the way where Christ comes.
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In other words, be in the place of sound biblical preaching. Fifth, cry unto him to take you unto himself.
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Six, get all that have an interest in Christ to join and cry now with you and for you.
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Ask the Christian brothers and sisters, pray for me that I might close with Christ.
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And seven, when Christ takes you by the hand, do not draw back from him. Good practical words.
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And what should be the response of those who believe, who do believe our Lord's own words? He's the way unto God and father in heaven.
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Well, purpose by the grace of God to continue in the way with him. The way may be hard and difficult for us and that it may be a narrow way as Jesus himself declared.
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Rejoice in the way also of our journey and our promise in certain destination.
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We should be like the Ethiopian eunuch after he heard the gospel to Philip and was baptized.
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Confessing his faith in Christ, he said he went on his way rejoicing. And that ought to characterize every one of us who are in the way, who know
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Christ is the way. Look unto Jesus Christ while he is in the way. Encourage others to join you in the way.
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And while in the way, consider the way of Christ with respect to your own unworthiness, your own propensity to stumbling, even as you face and overcome all opposition to you.
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In this way, Jesus Christ declared I am the way. And secondly, of course, he declared
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I am the truth. Jesus Christ is the truth. Anything and everything about Jesus Christ is true because he is the truth.
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I am the truth. As in another commentary
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I have, how much useless disputing, how many weary doubts are saved to those who can put a real faith in Jesus.
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Everything practical and possible is known by knowing him. Truth is a very large word, but all that it suggests is amply comprehended in Jesus.
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In Jesus only do we find the real, the abiding, and that which can never be shaken. How simplified our inquires become the moment we can rest in the all -sufficiency of Jesus.
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Where is Jesus? Not what is true becomes the main question then.
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Where is Jesus? All that lies outside of his intent and his support is seen to be but as a passing dream.
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All investigation of the problems of the universe is in vain apart from him. All phenomenal reality, that is everything physical, scientific, all human sciences only find their use as they subordinate to the truth that is in Jesus Christ.
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Because all things were created for his glory, weren't they? How might we better understand this declaration of our
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Lord, I am the truth? Well, first we may consider Jesus Christ to be the truth and that he is the realization of all the figures and shadows that are dimly portrayed of him in the
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Old Testament. Christ is the reality of what the Old Testament foretold and foreshadowed.
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Now, some have sought to draw away Christians by looking to Old Testament types and shadows rather than to Jesus Christ to whom those things pointed.
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Paul warned the Christians at Colossae of this spiritual danger. He wrote, let no one judge you in food or in drink regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbath, you know, religious things and duties which are a shadow of things to come but the substance is of Christ.
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They were focusing on the shadows, not that which the shadows pointed to.
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Jesus Christ is the truth to which all these Old Testament figures and practices pointed. And so Jesus Christ is set forth as the true manna.
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Jesus declared in John 6, 32, truly, truly I say to you it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven but my
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Father gives you the true bread from heaven. Jesus is the true veil through which we may enter into the presence of God, the veil in the temple torn from top to bottom at the death of Jesus.
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Hebrews 10, therefore brethren having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh.
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He's the true veil. There's people today focusing on rebuilding a temple in Jerusalem.
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What's the point? Jesus Christ is the true veil to which that Old Testament veil pointed.
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It's a shadow, not the reality. He is the true high priest of which the
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Old Testament high priest prefigured as the following verse declares. Having a high priest over the house of God, let's draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
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All of the Old Testament types and shadows were true but they all pointed to Jesus Christ who is the truth, the reality to which those things pointed.
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Second, Jesus is the truth as opposed to all error and falsehood. Paul wrote to Christians, see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy, empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental principles of the world, secular philosophy, and not according to Christ.
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Turn away from Christ who is the truth is to turn into error. Any other avenue other than Christ is error.
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Paul expressed it this way to the churches of Galatia. I marvel you are turning away so soon from him, from Christ, who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.
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But even if we, Paul said, if I came and began to teach you another gospel than that which
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I taught you, let me be cursed. If we or even an angel from heaven, think of Mormons, Joseph Smith claiming to get it from the angel
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Moroni, Book of Mormon. If we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than we have preached to you, let him be accursed.
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As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.
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And that is to turn people away from him. When we come to Christ for salvation, we are coming to him in truth, and should cause us to walk in truth as it is in Jesus Christ.
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And again the apostle Paul wrote to Christians that were new in the Lord. This I say therefore, testify in the
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Lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
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But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus.
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Any defection from Jesus is going into error. Any departure from Jesus is going into error.
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That you put off concerning your former conduct, the old man, that is the life before becoming a Christian, which grows corrupt according to deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness.
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Third, Jesus Christ is the truth to all those who trust him, and that they find him to be true, that is truthful and faithful.
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As truth is opposed to fallacy and deceit, Jesus Christ is true to all who trust him.
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As the scriptures declare, for all the promises of God in him are yes, and in him amen to the glory of God through us.
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Jesus Christ will never fail us. Jesus Christ will never betray us.
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Jesus Christ will never disappoint us, because Jesus Christ is the truth. As one wrote, there are numerous assurances that he is the truth itself, that is the adequate and sufficient expression of divine thought.
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He is the absolute truth about God's nature, the perfect exponent of God's example, of God's idea of humanity, the light of the world, the expression of the reality touching the relations between moral beings and God.
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He is the way because he is the whole truth about God and man concerning the way to the
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Father. And then fourth, of course, Jesus Christ is the teacher of the truth, for he is the truth.
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It is his teaching that instructs us and directs us in the way unto the Father. All of his words are true words.
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He leads no one astray, but leads all who hear him, believe on him, follow him into paths of righteousness, for his truth is righteousness, and we believe his words.
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Bruce sent me a video of a football quarterback who has apostatized from the faith.
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He's no longer a Christian, he claims. And why?
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Well, he just cannot believe that a good God would consign most of the human race to eternal fire.
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He's falling back on his own thinking, his own reasoning, his own value. Well, that happens to also be shaped by his morality.
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But Jesus made these things very clear, didn't he? I'm going to believe Jesus' words rather than Roger's words.
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Jesus is true. Everything he says is true. There's no falsehood in him. And we take that as truth.
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He is the truth. He's God's revelation of himself to the world.
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To see Jesus Christ is to see the Father, for Jesus Christ is the clearest and fullest revelation of the
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Father to us. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.
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Some attempted to trip up Jesus one day, is it lawful to pay taxes for Caesar or not?
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And they knew whichever way he answered they thought he could be condemned. Either by Romans for not advocating to pay taxes or by the people because they would react to that.
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Well, show me a coin whose image is on the coin. Caesars. Render unto Caesar the things that are
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Caesar, to God the things that are God's. And so you take a coin and you stamp it.
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And who's the image? Christ. It's the very image of God. It's what's being declared.
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That's who Jesus Christ is. When you look at Jesus Christ you see that's what God is like.
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He's the very image, exact imprint of his nature. To look into the face of Jesus is to look into the face of God.
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For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of the cross, his cross.
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And so as one expressed, Leon Morse, we learn divine truth in the ministry of the life of God's son.
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The truth is to God's character we read in the deeds of Emmanuel, so gentle yet so grand and Godlike.
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The truth is to God's purposes of love we learn from Christ's sacrifice, from Christ's cross.
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The truth concerning our salvation we know when we witness Christ's victory over sin and death. It's the complete picture which portrays the complete original.
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He who would acquaint himself with the whole truth of God, as far as God related to man, must take into his mind the perfect and glorious representative offered in the gospel.
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There's no other way in which the truth can be grasped and held by the finite created nature.
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Know him who is the truth, and then and then only do you know the truth itself.
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Jesus is the truth. And then the third claim, Jesus declared
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I am the life. The only life worthy of the name is that which
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Jesus brings, for he is life itself. Jesus is the source of life.
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Jesus is the meaning of life. Jesus is the origin of life. Jesus is the purpose of life.
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Jesus is the blessing of life. Having Jesus is the possession of life. Jesus is the power of life.
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Jesus is the certainty of life. Jesus is the beauty of life. Jesus is the proof of life.
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Jesus is the assurance of life. Jesus is God's gift of life. Jesus is
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God's giver of life. Jesus is the author and sustainer of life. I am the life, is what
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Jesus declared. Christ is our life. He's the source of our life, the focus of our life.
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He's the Lord of our life. He's the love of our life. The point is this, we need Jesus Christ and him more abundantly, and then we'll enjoy the abundant life that he has come to bring to us.
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If we're rejoicing in Jesus Christ and enjoy the fullness of life that comes with him, then we're connected to the life that God the
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Father gives to his people. It's through Jesus and him alone. Jesus Christ is our life.
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We're to see Jesus Christ as the center and meaning of all that we are as Christians. And the
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Holy Scriptures use this kind of idea or language in a number of places. Our Lord told his disciples, a little longer
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I'm with you. The world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also.
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He's our life. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians, We're hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed.
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Perplexed, not despair. Persecuted, not forsaken. Struck down, not destroyed. Always carried about in our body, the died of the
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Lord Jesus. Why? Because Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
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That's what we desire. The Bible isn't just a book about rules and principles by which we can have a better life.
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The Bible is a book about Jesus Christ. Principally. Galatians 4 .19
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Paul was concerned about these churches, my little children for whom I labor in birth again, until Christ is formed in you.
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He labored for them at first until they made a profession of faith in Christ, but then they were embracing this false gospel.
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He said, I'm laboring all over again like a woman is about ready to give birth again, until he saw
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Christ formed in them. Within the life of a church, you know, as elders, as pastors, we're dealing with those people.
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You know, there's a few that have, in the past, clearly given evidence that they've come to Christ.
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They gave evidence that they have life in Christ. But we don't see it today. And we become as much concerned for them today as we did before they initially claimed to believe on Christ.
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As Paul did. I labor like a woman all over again until Christ be formed in you.
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That's what we look for. And that's what we ought to be looking for in ourselves.
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As well as one another. And as Paul expressed, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.
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The life we live is the life that we have in Jesus Christ. Edward Clank, who is a professor,
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I think, of New Testament at Baylor, I believe, in Southern California. He wrote these words,
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Jesus is the life and that he is the source through which Christian existence and participation in God are founded and given their origin.
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Jesus fulfills this by being the supplier of life and existence. The creator of all living things without whom not one thing came into existence that has been made.
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Jesus is the beginning and was with God in the beginning and is God, the second person of the
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Trinity. Jesus' life itself is the one who has life in himself, is the one who defines life even over death.
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For Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Since Jesus is the life, all the dichotomies are broken that have been created between life and death.
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This life and the life to come, the seen and the unseen. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
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Well, lastly, after our Lord made these assertions, he concluded with this statement. No one comes to the
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Father except through me. People know or will come to know
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God as their creator, their judge, apart from knowing Jesus Christ. Everybody will know him as creator one day.
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Everybody will know him as judge one day. But it's impossible to know
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God as father apart from Jesus Christ. God is not the father of everybody in this world.
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He's the father of those who believe on Jesus Christ. A Christ's life is a godless life.
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One might be very religious without Jesus Christ, but one cannot be truly godly without Jesus Christ.
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To come to God the father is the great need and should be the great goal of all humanity. And this was the purpose and goal of the
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Lord Jesus, to bring people to the father. Christ explicitly says the entire goal of this wonderful way of his is the father himself.
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From the father he came to the father he was moving, not for his own sake, but also for King Messiah, for all his subjects.
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Coming to the father. Matthew Henry wrote of this. Christ is the way, the highway spoken of.
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Christ was his own way, for by his own blood he entered into the holy place. And he is our way, for we enter by him.
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By his doctrine and example he teaches us our duty. By his merit and intercession he procures our happiness.
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And so he is the way. In him God and man meet and are brought together. We cannot get to the tree of life in the way of innocency.
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But Christ is another way to it. By Christ the way is set up and kept up between heaven and earth.
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The angels of God ascend and descend. Our prayers go to God and his blessings come to us by him.
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This is the way that leads to rest, the good old way. The disciples followed him and Christ tells them that they followed the road.
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And while they continued following him they would never be out of their way. Christ is the only way to the father.
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And of course for people today in the western world this statement, Jesus Christ is the only way to the father, is perhaps the most controversial statement we've made this morning.
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The one who claims that the faith he espouses is the only true faith in the world today invites an immediate negative and hostile reaction.
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They don't mind if you and I say Jesus is one way. Well that's fine for you. Islam is my way.
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The bumper coexist. I think we all ought to coexist. I want everybody to be free.
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You know, in a free society, free world to worship as they want to.
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But if coexist means that we are to recognize that every religion has equal weight and bearing, we'll never do.
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Jesus Christ said no one comes to the father but by him. All other religions are false religion.
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There is no other God other than God the father, his son Jesus Christ, the
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Holy Spirit, the one God, the one triune God. Allah of Islam is not a true
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God. The 300 million gods of Hinduism are no gods. There's one
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God and Jesus Christ is his one son. And so to claim that our faith in Jesus Christ is the only true faith that exists is understood today to be the belief of the bigot.
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But this is clearly the message of the Holy Scripture and the message of Jesus Christ.
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He himself declared, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes unto the father but by me.
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And so unashamedly we declare that no one can come unto the father but by Jesus Christ and by him alone.
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It's not through Jesus Christ plus something or someone else. One does not come to God the father through the church.
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Through the pope. Through the virgin Mary. Through veneration of saints.
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Through praying a rosary. Burning candles. Jesus Christ is alone the way to the father.
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All who attempt to come some other or some additional way Jesus himself declared to be a thief and a robber.
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Those aren't my words, those are his words. And he is the truth. Jesus himself taught these things.
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The statement itself contains the present tense of the verb. This is important. He didn't say he who once came to me comes to the father.
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Or he that comes to me will one day come to the father. It's a present tense verb.
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He who comes to the father. It's not simply a promise that one day we will come into the presence of God the father.
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Everyone who is coming to Jesus Christ right now is coming to God the father right now.
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That's important. As we've been coming to Jesus Christ in faith this morning.
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We have been coming on to the father. We initially came to the father when we first believed on Jesus Christ.
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We're presently coming to the father through Jesus Christ. And one day we will come into the presence of God the father through Jesus Christ.
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He is the way, the truth, and the life through which only those who believe on him may come into the presence of the father.
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And be welcomed by him as his children. Often times when
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John 14 .6 is expounded, the words of Thomas Akempis is quoted. Now he was a
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Roman Catholic who lived in the century before the Protestant Reformation. But he loved the scriptures.
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In fact he hand copied the Bible four times. And he wrote a book, The Imitation of Christ, which is quite a popular devotion.
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I'm not advocating everything he states in there. But these words are true. He's quoting from the context of John 14 .6.
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Jesus said, follow thou me. I am the way, the truth, and the life. Without the way there is no going.
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Without the truth there is no knowing. Without the life there is no living. I am the way which thou must follow.
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The truth which thou must believe. The life for which thou must hope. I am the inviolable way.
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The infallible truth. The never ending life. I am the straightest way. The sovereign truth.
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Life true, life blessed, life uncreated. Amen. Thomas Akempis.
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And then of course I thought about the words of this hymn. We'll close. May each of us take to heart these words and rehearse them with unshakable conviction and commitment.
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I'd rather have Jesus in silver or gold. I'd rather be his and have riches untold.
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I'd rather have Jesus than houses or lands. I'd rather be led by his nail pierced hand.
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We'll stop there. May the Lord help us to see the centrality of Jesus Christ.
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When Jesus was glorified on the Mount of Transfiguration before Peter, James, and John, they had initially seen him communicating with Moses and Elijah, the law and the prophets.
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Peter wanted to build three tabernacles. He saw them as like co -equals. Let's bide together. Let's observe the peace of the tabernacles up here on the
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Mount. Not knowing what he was saying is what the scriptures say. And then the cloud, shekinah glory cloud appeared.
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The voice came from heaven. This is my son. Hear him. And then Moses and Elijah disappeared and they saw
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Jesus only. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
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To which the law and the prophets point, and they testify, but it's the person of Jesus Christ whom we fixate on.
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He is our hope. He is our life. He is everything to us. Amen? Let's pray.
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Father, help us to take to heart these words and confess them, Lord, and not only to you, to ourselves, but to one another as well, and to the world, our
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God. Help us declare the exclusive way of salvation in Jesus Christ.
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And may the Holy Spirit bless that gospel, our God, to the salvation of many. For we pray these things in Jesus' name.