Jesus Is The Way To God Series

Jesus - The Way To God

TEXT: John 14:1-7

INTRODUCTION: Jesus is the only way. He is the only way to a better life both here and in the life to come. Jesus is the only way. He is the only way to find forgiveness for our sins and sinful past. By His death on the cross, Jesus made the forgiveness of our sins possible. With our sins forgiven, we are no longer the objects of God’s wrath - Ro 5:9 - "Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!" As wonderful as knowing there is such a better life now and throughout eternity through Jesus and also having complete assurance that our sins are forgiven, we need more...we need to return to the kind of close relationship that existed between God and Adam before the "Fall". However, for a close relationship to exist between God and ourselves, we need to have an understanding of God and learn to be comfortable in approaching Him just as we would our own father.

The basic truth is there are differences between God and man. We must grasp that fact first of all. After we come to recognize there truly are differences and we come to understand these differences then we come to a better understanding as to why we often have so much trouble approaching Him comfortably. It is the differences that bring about the discomfort. But, God desires a close, personal relationship with everyone of us. He showed that by bridging the gap through Jesus Christ. Let’s look at these differences and then let’s see what we can personally do to bring ourselves back into this close fellowship that God so desires and we so desperately need.

I. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOD AND MAN

A. CONSIDER THE DIFFERENCE...

1. When we consider the nature of God as revealed in the Bible and nature, we see:

a. One with unlimited power, unlimited wisdom, unlimited holiness

b. One who is the creator of all things, the sustainer of all things, the knower of all things

c. One who is eternal, immortal, and invisible

d. Indeed, this Supreme Being fills the entire universe with His presence - Je 23:23-24 - "Am I only a God nearby, declares the LORD, and not a God far away? Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? declares the LORD."

2. Whereas, man is...

a. Mortal, finite in knowledge and understanding

b. The created one, sustained by God who supplies all his needs - Ac 17:24-28 - "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, We are his offspring."

B. THE DIFFERENCE IS OVERWHELMING...

1. The difference between God and man is so great, it should overwhelm man with awe

2. Note the reflections of David in Ps 139:1-12 - "O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me, even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you."

3. In the Bible, whenever man even came close to approaching God in His Glory, it was a terrifying experience!