JESUS SAID, “I AM THE WAY…!”
John 14:4-6
Int. One of the greatest things Jesus ever said was in response to a question of a doubting man.
Thomas, one of Jesus’ disciples, was a man who would never say that he understood when in reality, he did not understand. He was far too honest and far too much in earnest to be satisfied with something that was not too clear to him. Thomas had to be sure.
Jesus had said: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas responded by saying: “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
In Jesus’ answer, He took the three basic ideas of the Jewish religion, and made the amazing claim that in Him, all three found their full realization and their full expression,
Moses (Deut. 5:32-33) “So be careful to do what the LORD your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.”
Isaiah (Isa. 30:21) Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
David (Psalm 27:11) “Teach me your way, O LORD; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors.”
Jesus’ use of the word way is important because as everyone knows, the word way suggests two points, from and to. The way of which Christ spoke leads from sin to salvation, from death to life, from darkness to light, from earth to Heaven. We know from other Scriptural references that Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Author and the Finisher of our faith, the Yea and the Amen.
When someone asks for directions, it is because he does not know the way. If someone provides instructions, that may help, but if someone says “follow me and I will lead you there,” it is much better. This is what Jesus does for us. He does not only give us advice and directions and counsel, but He takes us by the hand and leads us; He walks with us; He strengthens us and guides us and directs us personally every day. He does not tell us about the way, He is the WAY!
An African-American preacher by the name of S. M. Lockridge, wrote one of the most beautiful tributes to Christ Jesus that I have ever read outside the Bible. He entitled it, “That’s My King.” Among other things that he said, were these words about Christ as the Way. He said, “Christ is the Doorway of Deliverance, the Roadway to Righteousness, the Highway to Holiness, the Pathway to Peace and the Gateway to Glory.” I would like to borrow this outline and follow it as we examine the Scriptures concerning CHRIST as the WAY.
I. CHRIST IS THE DOORWAY TO DELIVERANCE.
In John 4, We have the record of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well. Her life had been entangled in several marital affairs, which no doubt left her feeling helpless as far as a better life was concerned. Then Jesus introduced her to a way of joy that went beyond anything she had ever known.
Psalm 3:8 – “From the Lord comes deliverance.”
Luke 4: 18-19 -“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
2 Cor. 1:10 – “He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us,
2 Peter 2:9 – “The Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials.”
The Samaritan woman was given the Living Water from the well Jesus opened with His words. Her life was changed so much that the people of Samaria were led to conversion. As she lay down to sleep that night, perhaps tears of joy slipped from her cheeks to her pillow. And she kept saying, “thank you, thank you, thank you, Dear God, for loving an outcast.”
II. CHRIST IS THE ROADWAY TO RIGHTEOUSNESS.
In John 3, we have the record of Nicodemus coming to Jesus by night with a heart that was empty and a mind that was filled with questions. For years he had tried to be the best man that he could be, and had gained much by way of worldly status and religious respect, but there was something that was missing. Perhaps he thought by his experience that with all he had done, he possessed the fullness of a righteous life. In Jesus’ words to him, he learned that he was living under a delusion.
Jeremiah 23:5-6 – ““The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land…This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.”
Matt. 3:13-15 – “Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.”
Matt. 5:20 – “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
The delusion Nicodemus had lived under began to crack and crumble under the incisive words of Jesus, and through those cracks, the light of truth penetrated the darkness. The light must have broken through and led him to realize that it is not what we do that brings righteousness but is it by what God offers through Christ. After our Lord died on the Cross, it was Nicodemus who made sure His body received a right kind of burial.
III. CHRIST IS THE HIGHWAY TO HOLINESS.
In John 6, Jesus was faced with many of His disciples grumbling about His strong words with which He made clear that He is the Living Bread which came down from Heaven. He had stated that unless a person eats His flesh and drinks His blood, He has no life in himself. He said to them, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe.”
Leviticus 19:1-2 – “The LORD said:…‘Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.”
Isaiah 6:3 – “And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
Eph. 1:3-4 – “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.”
Eph. 4:22-24 – “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
After Jesus finished His dynamic words of the Spirit and Life,He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.” From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
IV. CHRIST IS THE PATHWAY TO PEACE.
In John 14, Jesus knew that His disciples were filled with discouragement and that because of at least three things; first, they were discouraged because of the terrible choice Judas had made, to betray the Lord whom they loved, second, because of the fact that they knew Jesus was preparing to depart from them, and they would be as sheep without a shepherd, third, because Peter had been told by Jesus that he would deny and reject Him three times. These men were filled with sorrow, grief and trouble. Jesus knew their need and He gave to them the most blessed and comforting words they had ever heard.
Isaiah 9:6 – “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Luke 2:13-14 – “Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
Isaiah 26:3 – “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.”
John 14:27 – “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
Eph. 2:14 – “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.”
Among other things Jesus said to His disciples at this very difficult time, was that He was going to ask the Father and that God would send a Counselor to be with the disciples after He left them. The word for Counselor is paraklete, which means one called alongside to help. This is the gift of the Holy Spirit who is promised to everyone who obeys the Gospel in simple faith. The Scripture informs us that one of the fruits of the Spirit in our lives is Peace. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness.” (Gal. 5:22) In addition, we also learn that “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:7)
V. CHRIST IS THE GATEWAY TO GLORY.
The glory of God is spoken of 296 times in Scripture, and of these, John mentions glory 18 times, more than in any other book in the New Testament. Six of John’s references to glory are in chapter 17, while the other chapters only have no more than two in any one chapter. John 17, the great prayer of our Lord before His death, is the Glory chapter of the New Testament! In this prayer our Lord displays His deep desire for His return to the Glory of His Father and for His disciples to see and to share in His Glory.
Psalm 24:1 “Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.”
John 1:14 – “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.’
2 Cor. 4:16-18 – “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
Conc: Because Jesus is the Doorway, the Roadway, the Highway, the Pathway and the Gateway, every soul has the opportunity to enter this Way, stay in it safely and arrive to where it leads.
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” Romans 8:18-21
Some of the material above was taken from Wm. Barclay’s Daily Study Bible on John, Just give me Jesus by Mrs. Ann Lotz and the outline from “That’s My King” by S. M. Lockridge. Scripture quotations from the NIV.
