Sola Christus Series

Series Pt 4 – The Five Transcendent Truths

Sola Christus

John 14:6 “I am the way and the truth and the life”

In John 13:33, Jesus said, “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.” This prompted Peter to ask where He was going (verse 36). Peter and the others did not understand that Jesus was speaking of His death and ascension to heaven. Jesus’ response was, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.” Peter was still misunderstanding and declared that he would follow Jesus anywhere and even lay down His life if necessary. As Jesus patiently continued to teach His disciples, He began speaking more plainly about heaven, describing the place He was going to prepare for them (John 14:2–3). Then Jesus said, “You know the way to the place where I am going” (verse 4). Speaking for the others, Thomas said they did not know where He was going, so how could they know how to follow Him there? It was in answer to this question that Jesus uttered one of the seven famous “I am” statements found in John’s Gospel.

Today’s message is the fourth part of this “Sola Series.” So far we have look at Sola Gratia, Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide and today Sola Christus.

In this verse that we are considering this morning Jesus makes for claims or declarations help us to understand why He is Sola Christos or Christ only or Christ alone.

I. His Claim of Deity

ILL: The most distinctive name by which God was known in Israel is Yahweh (Jehovah), which comes from the same root as “I AM”…

In the Greek language, “I am” is a very intense way of referring to oneself. It would be comparable to saying, “I myself, and only I, am.” Several other times in the Gospels we find Jesus using these words. In Matthew 22:32 Jesus quotes Exodus 3:6, where God uses the same intensive form to say, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” In John 8:58, Jesus said, “Truly, truly I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am.” The Jews clearly understood Jesus to be calling Himself God because they took up stones to stone Him for committing blasphemy in equating Himself with God. In Matthew 28:20, as Jesus gave the Great Commission, He gave it emphasis by saying, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” When the soldiers came seeking Jesus in the garden the night before His crucifixion, He told them, “I am he,” and His words were so powerful that the soldiers fell to the ground (John 18:4–6). These words reflect the very name of God in Hebrew, Yahweh, which means “to be” or “the self-existing one.” It is the name of power and authority, and Jesus claimed it as His own.

ILL: “I Am’s” significant meaning in Exodus is that Moses credentials for being the one to lead Egypt out of bondage are found in him using the name “I AM.” He is the One giving permission to Moses to use His name to deliver the Israelites.

ILL: He is not the great I Was or the great I Am going to be, He is the great I AM.

Quote: “As the grave grows near, my theology is growing strangely simple, and it begins and ends with Christ as the only refuge for the lost.”—Bishop Whipple

II. His Claim to Be The Way

If Jesus is “the Way” then how can some say that all religions are equally true? Many people think so. This belief is referred to as religious pluralism. It is the idea that all religions are each, on their own terms, legitimate roads to God. Moreover, God has somehow ordained various paths for various people and cultures. Therefore, no one is within his rights to say that his religion is better than anyone else’s. All ways to God are equally valid. Jesus is the path for Christians, but others have legitimate paths of their own. Str.org

In our text Jesus used the definite article to distinguish Himself as “the only way.” A way is a path or route, and the disciples had expressed their confusion about where He was going and how they could follow. As He had told them from the beginning, Jesus was again telling them (and us) “follow me.” There is no other path to heaven, no other way to the Father. Peter reiterated this same truth years later to the rulers in Jerusalem, saying about Jesus, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). The exclusive nature of the only path to salvation is expressed in the words “I am the way.”