He Is The Way, The Truth, And The Life Series

Who Is This Jesus?

13. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life

John 14

Don Jaques

February 12/13, 2005

ANNOUNCE:

• Introduce Joel and Lindy Kortus at Sun AM

• Mention Military Ministry Board and Brian Brimeyer – fill out info for deployments.

• Mention financial statements available at info table.

BIG IDEA:

All people can go to heaven through having a relationship with Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life.

INTRO:

Two stories in last Wednesday’s Whidbey News Times caught my attention this week.

Coupeville Officer Fondly Remembered

In a full gymnasium late Monday afternoon, Island County Sheriff’s Deputy Chris Garden talked about a Coupeville police officer who died last week.

Garden placed his own badge on the flag-draped casket of Deputy Marshal William “Billy Ray” Hibbs.

“He was one of us,” Garden said of Hibbs during the funeral service held at Coupeville High School. At that, the crowd rose in a standing ovation.

It was one of the ways family, friends, students and law enforcement officers said their last farewell to the 37-year-old Hibbs.

Hibbs, father of three, died of a heart attack Feb. 2 while he was jogging to warm up for a class he was scheduled to teach at Woodward’s Tae Kwon Do Academy in Oak Harbor.

Accident Claims Coupeville Man

A failed bolt cost a 22-year-old Coupeville man his life Monday.

The accident occurred in Freeland at Nichols Brothers Boat Builders at approximately 2:30 p.m. Crews were attempting to lift a helicopter out of the hold of the X-Craft when a bolt snapped, sending the helo crashing onto William Dayton and two others.

Dayton was close enough to the skids of the unmanned drone when it fell from approximately eight feet in the air that he was crushed and killed, Island County Coroner Robert Bishop said.

“Will just happened to be underneath it enough that it struck his head,” Bishop said.

Dayton was working on the X-Craft Sea Fighter, an experimental craft the yard is building for the Navy. The helicopter was on the elevator inside the hold when crews were removing it to ready the ship for its scheduled launch today.

“They were attempting to extricate a drone helo through the hatch to the flight deck,” Island County Sheriff’s Spokeswoman Jan Smith said. “An eye bolt in the top of the rotor appears to have given way.”

An eye bolt that connected the craft to the cable of a crane gave way, sending the 2,800-pound helo crashing down, Bishop said.

Two stories with similar endings. People who woke up thinking it was going to be a day like any other day, and it ended up being their last. My heart goes out to the families of these two men, especially the children.

As I was talking with my friend Mike this week about these headlines, it struck me that human life is incredibly fragile. We think we’re the masters of our own destiny. But in reality our lives are held by a thread. For any one of us today may be the day that we draw our last breath on this earth.

I know we don’t like to think about it – and we do everything we can to push the thought of our own mortality from our minds – but we are all heading for a date with eternity one way or another. If today is the day for you, do you know what would happen to you?

We’re going through the gospel of John chapter by chapter and we’ve made our way to chapter 14, searching in each chapter for the answer to the question, “Who is this Jesus?”

In chapter 14 Jesus answers that question in a way that surprises his disciples, and continues to surprise people today. But in these words he also gives us hope that we might know what will happen to us after we die.

Before I read from John 14, let me give you some background. Last week we read the story of Jesus gathering with his disciples for what we’ve come to term “The Last Supper”. During the meal Jesus demonstrated his love to the disciples by washing their feet and then commanding them to do the same for each other. As the evening meal progressed, Jesus informs them that one of them will betray him, and that he is about to leave them to go where they cannot follow him. Peter asserts his willingness to go anywhere with his Master, even to the point of death. But in the last verse of John 13, Jesus replies, “Will you really lay down your life for me? I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!”

Having said this, he sees the looks of shock and disappointment in the faces of his disciples. They are trying to process all they’ve heard. 1 – someone will betray Jesus. 2 – Jesus is about to leave them. 3 – Peter will disown Jesus that very night. That’s a lot to process, so Jesus says to them…