John 14:6 and the Heart of the Faith

John 14:6 as a Liberalism Detector

John chapter 14, now that we've all managed to make it through the road closures. Always got to remember that sometime around the third week of January. Got to find another way to get here. John chapter 14.

I'm sorry? Rock and Roll Marathon is going on right now. I'm not sure if it's still going to be closed when we leave or not. Anyone have any idea? I didn't know what the time frame was. I will go back up to 51 then.

Won't even risk it. No reason to. All right, well, we have been studying through the Gospels. I guess we might as well stop calling it a synoptic study and just say the Gospels. We are in John chapter 14 as we sort of take 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, get them out of the way and go back to the synoptic study someday, eventually.

Lord willing, maybe a grandchild of mine will finish it off. Who knows? It's a possibility. The way things are, the speed we're going, it's a very good possibility, actually. But anyway, we've come, of course, to a text that most of us have memorized.

Even if you don't have the number of the verse memorized or something, most of us have memorized John 14. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by or through me.

It is interesting that most of the time that is memorized without recognizing the context of Thomas saying, Lord, we do not know where you're going. How do we know the way? And hence, when Jesus says, I am the way, that is a direct response to a statement that one of the disciples has made.

But, it would seem that that was exactly what the Lord was seeking to elicit from the disciples themselves. And so, he makes a statement and he says he is three things. He is the hadass, the way, he is the alathia, the truth, and he is the zowei, the life.

This is the only statement like this, really. I mean, you can find portions of this statement elsewhere in Jesus' teaching. But certainly, in a concentrated way, this is rather unique. And it is, the definite article is used before each of these words.

So, Jesus does not say, I am a way, a truth, and a kind of life. And this is what is so incredibly offensive about this text for so many people. In fact, I would identify John 14, 6 as sort of a liberalism detector, if you'd like to describe it in that way.

If you want to find out whether a preacher, church, denomination has not only been infected by, but has pretty much capitulated to liberalism, this is a great text to see how they handle it, a great text to see how they view it.

I know, for example, someone like John Shelby Spong, who I had the great pleasure of debating a number of years ago, just obviously finds this to be a horrific text, because it is so exclusivistic. And my Muslim friends, they have an interesting way of interpreting it, not due to liberalism, of course.

But they say that this is something that every prophet would be able to say during his prophetic ministry. Because if he's a true prophet, then he's bringing God's message. I obviously strongly disagree with that.

None of the prophets ever Isaiah never said, I am the way. He may have said that the words he's speaking come from God and therefore point to the way and the truth and the life, but he never would have identified himself as the way, the truth, and the life.

And so the first thing that's so offensive about this to people is the personal nature of it. In other words, it's one thing to say, I, as the philosopher, am pointing you to a truthful way to life. I have a philosophy.

I have a way of life. If you follow this, then it will lead you into truth and life and so on and so forth. That's one thing, but that's a philosophy. That's a set of beliefs. That's something out there.

You're not making yourself that. Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And to make that personal is well, first of all, it's absolutely blasphemous if Jesus is simply a sinful man who took on a role that was not his or just a mere man at all.

It would be blasphemous for anyone to make this kind of statement because these are the words of God. Certainly God is the one who gives life. God is the one who determines the way. God is the truthful God.

These are all descriptions of God. So for Jesus to say, I am the way, the truth, and the life, can only be another evidence, as we saw in the first verse, of the fact that we must understand who is speaking here.

But it's also very personal. It's not just a set of doctrines. Certainly there are a set of doctrines and truths that describe to us who Jesus is. But those doctrines are not Jesus. You violate the truth of who Jesus is, you don't have the true Jesus anymore.

That's true. But fundamentally, Jesus' assertion is that the relationship that we are called to have with God in Christianity is not a relationship to a set of doctrines. It's a relationship to a person.

It's personal. And that just exalts Jesus to a point that the liberal just cannot possibly accept that. Because if these words are true, then fundamentally, how do you have to view everything else? Every other religious system, every other philosophy, has to be judged in light of Jesus' own claim.

If Jesus is the way, and another religion proclaims another way, then inevitably, that other way has to be proclaimed to be a false way. And that's what people do not like. That's always been what's offensive.

I mean, you go back to the days of Israel, and what was so offensive about what they were saying about the people around them was that it wasn't just that our God is greater than your God. They were saying our God's the only God.

And your God doesn't even exist. And that's always been offensive. And in the days of the Roman Empire, what did Rome want people to do? You could worship any God you wanted to. You could be involved in any religious cult you wanted to, as long as that religious cult did not say, we have the truth in an exclusive fashion.

So that you could also offer that pinch of incense on the altar to Caesar. That was what was so offensive about Judaism, and then the sect of Judaism from the Roman perspective that grew out of the land of Israel called Christianity.

The world doesn't care if you're religious, as long as you're not this kind of religious. And that's why this is truly one of the most offensive texts in the Bible to the world. That is why liberals find ways around it.

Generally, if you want to know the general way around it today, in most theological seminaries, it's real simple. Jesus never said this. John is ahistorical. Of course, the problem with that is, many of them will try to say that the Synoptic Gospels are in some shape historical.

And Jesus said something quite similar to this in Matthew chapter 11, the Gospel of John in the book of Matthew, where he describes himself as the sole means by which anyone can come to know the Father.

So, it's a little bit difficult to come up with that, but the idea is, well, what's found in John, this is merely the theological reflections of the Apostle John. Well, actually, many of them would not even say the Apostle John.

These are the theological reflections of the sixth to seventh decade after the days of Jesus. And therefore, we really don't have to worry about what John 14 says. That's the primary way that is utilized today.

But to consider the actual words of Jesus is to come to the conclusion that this Jesus is far more than what human religion will allow for. These are not ecumenical words. These are not comfortable words.

These just don't fly in our society today, let's be honest. I mean, I know that there are classes taught regularly in seminaries and Bible colleges now where there are certain words you're not supposed to say in the church anymore, because if you want to grow your church, then you don't want to offend people.

You don't want to say things that are going to offend people. So, you don't talk about sin and wrath and repentance and things like that. This verse would fall right into that, because it absolutely forces a person to make a decision.

You can't be neutral about someone who says something like this. You can't edit this guy either, and that's what people want to do. They want to edit Jesus down to what's comfortable for them, what makes them feel good.

The world wants just enough Jesus to sound Christian. The world wants just enough Jesus. I guess I should say the United States, and even that's changing, obviously. But still, in the U .S., they want just enough Jesus to sound Christian, but not enough Jesus to have to repent, not enough Jesus to have to change.

And this verse just stands in the way. Now, I think sometimes we... I've heard Christians, especially on call-in radio programs and stuff like that, use this verse as a baseball bat. And I think we need to be careful about that.

I mean, if you're going to bring in the big gun, you better be prepared to do the big defense of the big gun. You know, just quoting it and then hanging up the phone isn't going to accomplish anything.

The world now has lots of objections to this, and we have to have thought through what it is that we are saying when we say we believe this. Because I think there's a lot of Christians that really struggle to really think through all the ramifications of what Jesus' words here, and in many other places, this just happens to be the concentrated text.

It's not that the elements of this are not all over the place. They are. You cannot read the New Testament in a pluralistic sense. You cannot read the New Testament as if the writers of the New Testament were saying, this is just one way.

They were saying God has acted decisively in Jesus Christ. This is the only way that you can approach unto Him. He is the one who has made the perfect way open to having peace with Him. And He has not left it up to mankind to cobble together alternatives that are more comfortable to them.

Just hasn't done it. And so we'll throw this text out, and then I hear it happen all the time. Somebody will quote this, and then the radio host or some of the other guests in the program or whatever will just throw out basic fundamental questions like, so you're saying all Jews go to hell?

And the Christian, it's like, I never thought about that. Well, then why are you quoting John 14? Thanks for crying out loud. I mean, you know, if you're going to throw it out there, give some evidence you've thought through what it actually means.

And of course, if someone throws that out there, and they always do. I mean, I call that the Larry King response, you know. I mean, it's not like I ever watched Larry King, and he's retired now anyways, as I understand.

He's dead? When? I didn't hear that. You sure? Were you doing some imprecatory prayers right before bedtime, brother? You know, I'm sort of wondering about this. I mean, I think I would have heard that.

Oh, okay. We've got somebody with their smartphone doing some fact-checking here. We don't want to kill the guy before his time. I mean, you know. I have to call D-Bomb. Okay, yeah. I hadn't heard that, but that's true.

That is a regular occurrence, unfortunately. But the only reason that I am aware of the fact that Larry King always asks that is that I would see those clips. You know, there you go. It's a case of mistaken identity.

So the reports of his demise are premature, is what we would say. His demise was greatly exaggerated. I say greatly exaggerated, yes. We mourn for the playwright that I've never heard of before. But Larry still has some time to repent, I think.

But anyway, let's talk about chasing a rabbit there. But isn't it amazing how we were able to get that information? You must have a 3G unit there. Excuse me. Okay, all right. Well, I have been corrected.

I only have a Wi-Fi fourth gen here, so I couldn't do that. So anyway, what were we talking about? Moses and the Bullrushes and what again? Oh, yes. Larry King, whenever John MacArthur, for some reason, I don't know how many times John MacArthur was on the Larry King show.

I mean, it was just like, obviously, Larry liked John MacArthur. And I think it was because MacArthur, John, would just never back down. He would never, of course, he had Joel Osteen on, who knows how many times, too.

But I think for very different reasons, very, very different reasons. And whereas most of the people that would go on that program would just collapse into a pile of goo upon the very first challenge to any type of Christian exclusivity, MacArthur just never did.

He would always respond, and he knew that that was coming. And so if someone says, you're telling me all Jews are going to hell. And the easy response to that is, it doesn't matter what religion you are.

We are all under the wrath of God, every single one of us. And God has graciously provided one way of salvation. And he didn't have to do that. He could have justly and righteously left us on our own and wiped us all out.

I don't care what church you grew up in unless you've bowed the knee to Jesus Christ. You're under the wrath of God. And Jesus said that. Don't you like what Jesus said? And it's not difficult to do. But it's amazing how many people are, I don't want to judge anybody.

That's not making you a judge of anybody. Just say what Jesus said. Unless you believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God, the wrath of God abides upon you. I mean, isn't that what comes right after the verse of the guy in the football stadium who's doing this all the time?

You know, I mean, that's John 3 .16. Read verses 17 and 18. It's pretty straightforward. And, you know, you put the shoe back on the other foot, in essence. But, again, the reason that people just recoil is twofold.

Because when you think about it, when you really think about John 14 .6, John 14 .6b, so the second clause, did it really have to be stated? I mean, think about it. If John 14 .6a is true, I am the way, the truth, and the life, isn't 14 .6b just the natural conclusion to understanding what 14a is saying?

If Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, it just simply makes sense. It would follow naturally that no one comes to the Father but through Him. If a is true, b is the necessary conclusion, the necessary result of what a is saying.

But, thankfully, Jesus went ahead and made the application for us, since we need that kind of clarity. There is no way to promote religious pluralism and believe that John 14 .6 is a part of the canon of Scripture that determines the belief of Christians.

And that is why the world demands that you deny what Jesus said here. They'll provide you with ways out. They'll point you to liberal theologians, as I said, who will just allow you to dismiss this as relevant.

But the point is, our world today demands that we deny Christ. We deny His words, and we deny His teaching. That is the essence of the sickness of secularism. Secularism cannot be neutral toward this kind of claim.

Because if what Jesus says here is true, then He is Lord over all of human experience, and therefore the very idea of the world determining its own ethics, its own morals, in distinction from and in isolation from what Jesus has to say, impossible.

It can't be done. It's wandering in darkness. If He is the way, and you reject the way, then you're gone off the way, and you won't find your way. I mean, it's pretty straightforward. If He's the truth, and you reject Him as the truth, then the only thing left that you can have is the lie.

And that's why the Apostle Paul could so blatantly say that if you don't love the truth, God will cause you to love a lie. And He's just and righteous to do that. And let's face it, folks, the people at school and the people at work find that offensive.

And, unfortunately, the vast majority of people in evangelical churches find that offensive. Don't they? I mean, if we were just honest, and you were to raise that text in 2 Thessalonians 2, 1 Thessalonians 2.

It's one of the Thessalonians 2. And you were to raise that text, and you were to say, be honest with me. You gave them a pill. What was it? Was it Jim Carrey in that one movie, Liar, Liar, or something like that, where he just had to tell the truth all the time, and it just completely revolutionized his life?

There was a moral tale there, believe it or not. It's pretty amazing that Jim Carrey would be in something that had an actual moral element to it. But if you could give everybody an honest pill and force them to deal with this issue, the result would be, if you were to ask them, are you comfortable?

Do you embrace? Do you rejoice in the statement that if you do not love the truth, God will cause you to love a lie? And the answer, for the vast majority of people, would be no. Because the idea of God's justice and the idea of God vindicating His holiness and His righteousness through the punishment of evil doers is not real high on the priority list of the vast majority of Christians.

That's why Romans 9 causes people to do back flips and jump through hoops and leap off of cliffs exegetically. Because the only way to really understand why Paul is empathizing what Paul is empathizing is to recognize that one little phrase where God says, so as to make His power known.

And the vast majority of Christians, that's not a high priority. I don't care if God's power and righteousness and holiness are made known. Well, you should. Because that's what God's doing in this world.

No, I want a much more man-centered God. Much more man-centered God. In fact, I was teaching this week and I was explaining Mormonism to a class and one of the quotes that I have in there is from the LDS Scriptures.

Where in the LDS Scriptures, which say in Dr. Covenants section 93, I believe it's verse 29, man was in the beginning with God. Elsewhere, the Mormon God says that His reason for existing is to bring about the immortality of man.

That's why God exists. Now, of course, when you realize in Mormonism God's an exalted man from another planet, it all makes sense. Because the God before Him did the same thing and the God before Him did the same thing and we're all the same species anyways.

God-men and angels, we're all just at different levels of exaltation, you see. So, that kind, that's a very comfy God. Because He's just a big version of me. And I can become like Him. This isn't a comfortable version of God.

Because this God is just and holy. And that's why Richard Dawkins hates Him so much. And calls Him nasty names. Because he can only view Him as just a big human being. And if a big human being acted in this way, well, we would say that He's an egomaniac.

And that's why He calls God an egomaniac. But we're talking here about the creator of all things, the one who sustains all things, who is absolutely holy and completely other. And if we really understood what holiness was, then we'd understand that part.

And so, when that one makes a perfect way that involves His own self-sacrifice in the person of the second person of the Trinity, entering into human flesh and enduring with man and their temptations and their evil, and living for 33 years a perfect life and giving His life and then rising from the dead, and then we have the gall to sit back and say, well, you know, we appreciate the effort, but it's just not really comfortable that way.

We want to come up with our own. Then we recognize the utter foolishness of rebel pots that could be destroyed at any moment by the righteous judgment of God demanding a different way. It's utter foolishness.

And yet, to be acceptable in our culture today, we have to capitulate on this point. We have to collapse on this point. In fact, for many people today, I'll be perfect and honest with you, for many people today, the beginning of the conversation with them will be focused on this point, not necessarily this verse, but it will in essence be, are you willing to compromise the extreme claims of Christianity?

If you're not, I'm not even going to talk to you about any of the rest of it because I have no interest in where you're coming from. And the quote-unquote Christians who are willing to do that, the world will reward them.

We saw an example of this. We will see an example of this tomorrow where an evangelical pastor had been mistakenly asked to pray at the inauguration tomorrow, which by the way, is actually happening today.

Did you all know that? Did you all catch that? He's actually sworn in today. Tomorrow is just for show, which is the first time it's ever happened, which is really weird and I don't get it. But anyway, the evangelical pastor had been asked to pray and then was, well, he withdrew, but we all know he was disinvited because it was discovered that 15 to 20 years ago he had preached a sermon against homosexuality where he had basically said, all of us are sinners, we all need to come to Jesus.

Well, what a terrible thing to say. And basically it was said, if he has not evolved, well, he has no place in the public exercise of our society any longer. And so, who did you get to replace him? Why, somebody who has collapsed on this.

Someone who, it's just, it's hyperbole, it's a theological reflection, it's only applicable to a certain group, and that's what's acceptable. And they will be rewarded. And the idea is, look, we will reward these folks and these folks are acceptable and we'll even attend these folks' church, you know, once in a blue moon, we'll do our little religious thing, but you, if you will not compromise on this, to the side, shh, quiet, cannot have any say.

That's what we're facing. And so really, I guess, when I think about this verse, I ask the question, is it out of harmony with everything else the New Testament teaches? Or is this a summary statement that we, is this a hill that we have to be willing to die on?

Well, one thing's for sure. Our brothers and sisters in other lands die on this hill. They die on this hill. There are many people, I've mentioned it in prayer many times, there are many people in prison cells this day around the world who hold the key to the prison cell in their hands.

They know that all they would have to do is say, And they know how to say it, even if they don't speak Arabic, they've heard it enough times. And the door swings open, they're free, free to go. But they know that to say, there is only one God worthy of worship, and Muhammad is the prophet of that God, is to deny that Jesus is the Son of God, that He is the way, the truth, the life, and that no man comes to the Father but through Him.

Because Islam negates all of that and denies all of that and says that's not true. And so even though they hold the key in their own hands, they do not turn the lock. So they recognize it is a hill to die on.

Do we recognize that? Because sometimes, sometimes the more blatant the attack, the easier it is to resist. The more subtle the attack, the more probable that we will collapse at that point of attack.

And we need to recognize that the world's way of thinking that we are facing today goes directly at this point, but it does so in not necessarily the overt way of saying, you must deny the specific words found in John 14, 6 to be acceptable to advance, etc., etc.

It may not say it in that way, but it is in much more subtle ways. And I just think of the cultural icons in the media and the mechanism that they utilize to communicate this attack is especially effective against our young people.

Because especially when you're younger, I've noticed the older I get, the less I really am concerned about what people think. You know, that's why we wear bow ties. You know, it's just like, you know, whatever.

But young people have a real strong desire to be accepted and to be liked and to fit in. And our society says to them, don't you dare. Don't you even dare to think this way. In fact, if we're honest, that's what they're saying.

What they're really, anymore, it's not, you know, for a while it was, you can believe that if you want, just don't say it. Now it's not that at all. It's, you cannot, not only can you not say it, that's a given now.

You can't even think this. Don't even think this. It is that kind of approach that especially our young people need to think this through and realize, you know what, if I deny John 14, 6, there is no reason for me to believe that my sins have been forgiven in and through Jesus Christ.

Because as Paul said, if there is some other way, if there's some other way to obtain a righteous status before God, then what does he say? Christ died needlessly. If there's some other way, then you make the cross empty.

It's a mockery to say that God would actually enter into human flesh and die in the person of Jesus Christ if that's not the only way to get to him. If there's many other ways, why in the world do something as outrageous as that?

And so really, you need to realize, if Jesus is just a way, then he wasn't the way. If he is just a truth, and there is no the truth, then there are many truths which contradict one another, which means there's no truth at all.

And if you can have life outside of Christ, and what is the way to have life in Christ? To deny yourself. To take up your cross. To join the death march. To die to the things of this world. Well, hey, if there's a way to do that without dying to this world, why not?

And if someone can come to the Father in a way other than Jesus, in another fashion, without reference to him, without bowing the knee to him, without repentance toward him and faith toward God, without accepting his atoning sacrifice on our behalf, then what was his atoning sacrifice all about?

If the Buddhist, by just being the good Buddhist, enters into the presence of God without any reference to Jesus Christ, then you don't have to have a perfect righteousness to stand before this God. So everything this book says about God's holiness and righteousness and the sacrificial system and the judgment of God, just throw it out.

It doesn't make any sense. The idea of trying to meld these things together, which is what we're seeing on university campuses and college campuses and all the rest of it, is the resultant mutated form.

Mutation, 99 .9 of the time, kills the host. We have lots of science fiction about mutation creating superheroes and stuff like that. Yeah, well, biologically speaking. Everybody knows that a mutation in the genetic code, the vast majority of the time, is deleterious, not beneficial.

And when you try to mutate Christianity into something else, it simply doesn't work. The exclusive nature of Jesus' words in John 14, 6, are at the very core of the Gospel message. Rip that out. And it's like saying, well, I think I'm going to try to remove the brain and spinal cord of somebody.

It doesn't work. There's nothing left. And it is the same thing with the Christian faith. And so, we have to think these things through. We have to consider what Jesus said and not be embarrassed by this text.

In fact, if someone were to say to me, and it had happened in various public forums and things like that, Do you believe Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and life? No one comes to the Father but by me.

I most certainly do. How can you look at Muslims and Jews and atheists and Hindus and Buddhists and say to them that you serve a loving God when that God condemns all of them by the exclusive nature of your proclamation, a proclamation that is not shared by all Christians?

How do you respond to that? My first tendency, and it's just the way I am, is to go right back to the text. And so, my first tendency would be to make sure the text is understood before I worry about what ancillary issues have been raised.

And I would say something along the lines of, I'm very glad that you quoted the text. Because I think those are beautiful words of life, and I wish you understood why they were. When Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and life, that means that God has communicated Himself, and He's communicated Himself with clarity.

He's not left us in darkness. Jesus claimed to be the very Son of God, and He proved His claims by rising again on the third day. And that one said, no one comes to the Father but by me, and that means there is a way by which we can know that we can have peace with God and access to the Father, and it's by Him.

And if you're offended by the fact that God has provided one way of salvation by Himself providing it, by Himself entering into His own creation, then I really have to ask, why are you offended by that?

He gave Himself. He came Himself and provided that way. It seems the only person who can be offended by that is if you think you've got a better way. And so, if you want to talk about Jews, and Muslims, and Buddhists, and Hindus, and Jains, and atheists, and everything else, the Bible wraps all that up into one phrase, all the world.

The Bible says all the world is under the condemnation of God. All the world is abiding under His wrath because we're sinners. And God Himself has provided the way to have perfect peace with Him in Jesus Christ, and that's why John 14, 6 is a beautiful verse.

I'm not going to apologize for it. I'm going to proclaim it. I think that's how we have to be. We have to think through these things because they're coming. If you haven't already encountered this, and I bet you a lot of you have, in various forms, you will.

It's going to be hitting you. And we have to think these things through, and we have to be prepared to give an answer for the hopeless within us. So, I love the text, but I see it as a summary statement.

I don't see it as something that's way off in the ozone someplace. This is perfectly consistent with everything Jesus said about Himself in the Synoptic Gospels and in John as well, and certainly how the apostles proclaimed Him in Acts and through the rest of the New Testament.

So, hopefully those are some useful words of encouragement to you. And who knows, maybe one of you will get to use some of that information this coming week. Let's hope and pray that many of us do. Let's close the Word of Prayer.

Our gracious Heavenly Father, we do thank You for preserving these words for us, and we are thankful that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and that there is no other way to come into Your presence but by His perfect work.

So, we thank You for this truth. We thank You that by grace You have set our feet upon this path in uniting us with Jesus Christ. And Lord, may we be used as instruments to introduce Him to many others, even this coming week, we pray in Christ's name.