Text: John 3:16 (NASB); John 14:6-7 (NASB)
Introduction: "The love of God is one of the great realities of the universe, a pillar upon which the hope of the world rests." (Albert M. Wells, Jr. Inspiring Quotations-Contemporary & Classical. p. 81). The Scripture teaches us that love is not merely of God, but that God is love!
1st John 4:7-8 (NASB)
Love is not merely an attribute of God, but it is His very essence! His love is absolute and unceasing being revealed to us by the death of His Son for our sins!
Jeremiah 31:3 (NASB)
John 15:13 (NASB)
Ephesians 2:4-5 (NASB)
In John 14:6-7, the only way to God is revealed and it is revealed unmistakably! Jesus Christ is the perfect revelation of God!
John 1:1, 14 (NASB)
If a person wishes to see God, to see exactly who God is and what God is like, all he must do is look at Jesus Christ!
A God of Love is bound to reveal the way, the truth, and the life in the most perfect picture possible. A God of love would never leave a man in the dark, ever seeking, and never able to find and to know. Thus God sent His Son into the world (John 3:16).
There are three ways that "God has proven His love!"
I. God has shown humanity the way to Himself.
A. John 14:6 (NASB)
B. The preferred way
1. When something is preferred it means that it is more desirable, given priority to, and chosen over something else.
2. Proverbs 14:12 (NASB)
3. Mankind teaches that there are many different ways to God.
4. But when it comes down to it there are only one of two ways a person can choose: their way or God’s way.
5. Matthew 7:13-14 (NASB)
6. The two ways refer to two types of life-style: the easy, comfortable, popular life, or the difficult way of self-denial.
7. These ways are entered by two gates: a narrow gate of surrender or a broad gate of self-sufficiency.
C. The perfect way.
1. God has laid the way for man to come to Himself, but man must follow God’s way or be lost!
2. Jesus Christ is the only way!
3. Acts 4:12 (KJV) 12Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
4. There is a great difference between pointing the way to a particular place and taking someone by the hand and leading them there.
5. The person who guides a person to their destination literally becomes the way himself.
6. Jesus Christ not only points out and tells a person how to walk through life and how to reach God.
7. He personally shows the person the way.
8. Therefore He Himself is the way!
9. Hebrews 10:19-22 (NASB)
10. Unless a person places his trust in Jesus Christ, they remain dead in their sins and will die that way except they repent!
11. Ezekiel 18:4 (NASB)
12. Ezekiel 18:30-31 (NASB)
D. Jesus is the way, the perfect way.
1. John 3:18 (NASB)
E. In Jesus, we see:
1. The way of Salvation
a) 1st Timothy 2:3-6 (NASB)
2. The way of Peace And Security
3. The way To Strength and Satisfaction.
F. God through His absolute love for mankind would never leave man in the dark, feeling about, and stumbling while trying to find the way.
G. Jesus Christ is the perfect picture of the way!
1. John 8:12 (NASB)
2. John 12:46 (NASB)
H. God has shown humanity the way to Himself through His Son Jesus Christ!
II. God has shown humanity the truth about Himself.
A. John 14:6 (NASB)
B. There is a great difference between telling the truth to someone and living the Truth before them.
1. The one who lives the truth literally becomes the truth!
C. John 1:17 (NASB)
D. John 8:31-32 (NASB)
E. Jesus is the Truth. Note with me:
F. Jesus Christ is the embodiment of Truth
1. John 14:6 (NASB)
a) He did not say that He was a truth but He said, “I AM THE TRUTH.”
2. When something is said to embody something it means “to put into visible or concrete form.” (Funk & Wagnall’s Standard Desk Dictionary. Volume 1, A-M. p. 207).
3. There is no truth apart from Jesus Christ.
G. Jesus is a perfect picture of the truth.
H. God not only talks to man about Himself, God shows man what He is like in the person of Jesus Christ!
1. Colossians 2:9 (KJV)
2. John 10:30, 37, 38 (NASB)
I. Jesus is our source of intimate knowledge of the Father.
1. His answers, teaching, and commands were right.
2. No shadow of dishonesty, falsehood, or lying was in his life.
3. He is the reality of all God promised.
4. Our response should be to believe in him and put into practice what he taught.
J. Jesus Christ is the communicator of the Truth.
1. He Himself- His person and His life-makes things perfectly clear!
2. He reveals the ultimate source, meaning and end of all things!
3. He reveals the truth of man himself and of the world around him.
4. He shows man the right way to the truth and enables man to choose the right way to the truth!
5. John 5:24 (NASB)
6. John 6:63 (NASB)
7. John 14:24 (NASB)
8. John 18:37 (NASB)
K. Jesus reveals God’s grace and God’s truth.
L. Jesus Christ reveals the truth that redeems.
M. If Christ did not speak the truth in all matters, the claims about himself vanish like the idle babbling of a lunatic bent on deceiving the world.
1. Unlike Plato and Aristotle, he could not afford to be wrong-even once.
N. Jesus Christ is the liberator of the Truth.
1. John 8:32 (NASB)
2. John 15:3 (NASB)
3. He sets men free from the great gulf which exists between man and God, between man and this world, and between man and man.
4. He sets man free from frustrations which he constantly experiences.
5. He frees man from fears and weaknesses, and defects that plague him.
6. He is the only lasting liberator on earth!
7. John 8:36 (NASB)
O. God through His absolute love for mankind would never leave man in the dark, searching and grasping after TRUTH!
1. God has shown man THE TRUTH.
2. Now man must receive the TRUTH!
3. John 5:24 (NASB)
P. God has shown man the way to Himself, God has shown man the Truth about Himself and finally…
III. God has shown humanity the life of Himself.
A. John 14:6 (NASB)
B. There is a great difference between telling someone about life and actually living life!
1. Jesus Christ lived perfectly
2. 1st Peter 2:21-24 (NASB)
3. Thus He possesses life perfectly!
4. He is the life; the very embodiment, energy, force, and source of life itself!
C. In Jesus Christ and His Life:
1. MEN MAY HAVE THE LIGHT OF LIFE.
a) John 1:4 (NASB)
b) Apart from Jesus Christ, man walks in darkness and death, but in Jesus Christ men have the LIGHT of LIFE!
c) John 8:12 (NASB)
d) What is seen by the light of Jesus?
e) When Christ’s light shines, we see our sin and His glory.
f) We can refuse to see the light and remain in darkness.
g) But whoever responds will be enlightened by Christ.
h) He will fill our minds with God’s thoughts.
i) He will guide our path, give us God’s perspective, and drive out the darkness of sin.
2. MEN MAY HAVE A LIFE OF ABUNDANCE.
a) John 10:9-10 (NASB)
b) God has so much for us if we will just trust and follow Him!
c) Someone said, "What I have today I have because of His mercy. I did not earn it. I do not deserve it. I did not pay for it. I have not rights to it. I cannot keep it except for one thing-God’s Mercy." --David Crosby (Albert M. Wells, Jr. Inspiring Quotations-Contemporary & Classical. p. 80).
d) The abundant life of the Christian is all indebted to the Grace of God!
e) 1 Corinthians 15:10 (NASB)
3. MEN MAY HAVE A LIFE OF EXPECTANCY AND HOPE.
a) John 11:25-26 (NASB)
b) Because of His life, death, and resurrection, we have imparted to us a life filled with expectancy and hope!
c) 2nd Corinthians 5:1-2; 6-8 (NASB)
d) Our faith is not a blind trust.
e) Our confidence and expectations are based upon the unchangeable Word of God!
D. God would never leave man in the dark, wandering aimlessly and being hopeless in seeking after LIFE.
1. By His absolute love for mankind, God has revealed His Life.
2. Jesus Christ is the Life and through Him, and Him only, can we have life to its fullest!
3. 1st John 5:11-13 (NASB)
4. Only by faith in Jesus Christ, His Son, can we have this Life!
5. Revelation 22:17 (NASB)
E. When we accept Christ we enter into three new relationships.
1. We enter into a new relationship with God.
a) The Judge becomes the Father; the distant becomes the near; strangeness becomes intimacy.
b) And fear becomes love.
2. We enter into a new relationship with our fellowmen.
a) Hatred becomes love; Selfishness becomes service; and Bitterness becomes forgiveness.
3. We enter into a new relationship with ourselves.
a) Weakness becomes strength; Frustration becomes achievement; and Tension becomes peace. --William Barclay (Albert M. Wells, Jr. Inspiring Quotations-Contemporary & Classical. p. 50).
F. That is ABUNDANT LIFE!!
IV. Conclusion:
A. God, through His Son, Jesus Christ, has given us a perfect picture of the way to Himself, the truth of Himself and the life of Himself.
B. But it is only through Faith in Jesus Christ that a man can come to the Heavenly Father.
C. Jesus said, "No man comes unto the Father, but by Me."
D. God through His absolute love for the souls of men has made the revelation of Himself perfectly clear!
E. Man has only to place his trust in Jesus Christ, His Son, and he can have life and have it more abundantly!
F. John 6:40 (NASB)
G. GOD HAS PROVEN HIS LOVE!
