Opening illustration: In the marketplace of ideas, all vendors have an equal right to sell what they believe. But that doesn’t mean all their ideas are equally right.
Christians proclaim that Jesus is the only way to God not because they are bigots but because they believe it is true. They take at face value His claim that He alone is the true and living way to God.
Many people shrug off the claims of Jesus as the only Savior of the world by saying, “Well, that’s all fine and good, but you have your way to God and I have mine.” Jesus stood such thinking on its head when He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).
If Jesus’ claims are true, they are true for everyone. If they are false, the sooner we are proved wrong and put on the right road the better. As C. S. Lewis put it, “Christianity is a statement which, if false, is of no importance, and, if true, is of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important.”
There are no two ways about it. Jesus doesn’t ask for our vote as the most appealing candidate for Savior of the world. He simply states His lordship of the universe and demands our allegiance. Does He have yours? [Our Daily Bread, Haddon W. Robinson]
Introduction: Our Lord has been speaking of His departure, of its purpose, of His return as guaranteed by that purpose and of His servants’ eternal and perfect reunion with Him. But even these cheering and calming thoughts do not exhaust His consolations, as they did not satisfy all the disciples’ needs. They might still have said, ‘Yes; we believe that You will come back again, and we believe that we shall be together; but what about the parenthesis of absence?’ And here is the answer, or at least part of it: ‘where I go you know, and the way you know.’
When you say to a man, ‘You know the way,’ you mean ‘Come.’ And in these words there lay, as it seems to me, a veiled invitation to the disciples to come to Him before He came back for them, and the assurance that they, though separated, might still find and tread the road to the Father’s house, and so be with Him still. They are not left desolate. The Christ who is absent is present as the path to Himself. And so the parenthesis is bridged across. Now in these verses we have several large and important lessons which I think may best be drawn by simply seeking to follow their course.
What is the ONLY WAY to God?
1. Believing/Trusting Jesus Way (vs. 1-4)
(i) The Bible claims that God does exist. [Hebrews 11:6]
• To please God, what must we believe? (a) whatever our parents taught us, (b) whatever our preacher says, (c) that God exists and rewards those who diligently seek Him.
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1).
(ii) The Bible claims to be an infallible revelation of God's will. [2 Timothy 3:16,17]
• Where did the Scriptures come from? (a) they are inspired by God, (b) they express the opinions of men (c) they are ancient legends of unknown origin.
"...The things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord" (1 Corinthians 14:37). [See also Ephesians 3:3-5; 2 Peter 1:21; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; Galatians 1:11, 12]
(iii) The Bible claims that Jesus is God's Son. [John 20:26-31]
• What did Thomas call Jesus? (a) a great preacher and a good man, (b) Lord and God, (c) a fraud.
• What must we believe to have eternal life? (a) that Jesus is Christ, the Son of God,
(iv) His being “the” fulfillment of prophecy. The majority of the Bible, particularly the Old Testament is taken up with prophecies about the Messiah. Jesus is the fulfillment of all those prophecies, not just that He fulfilled prophecy, but He is the fulfillment of all of those prophecies.
• Believing means accepting all of Jesus' teaching
• Believing means conviction to obey
• Believing means resolving to be baptized
Jesus is describing that we must believe in what He says, does and will do. He is giving an imagery of the future heavenly eternity to His disciples, so why should it be hard for us to perceive what heaven is like and not embrace the promise that we will be with Christ in eternity there. He has gone before us to prepare a place for all believers in Christ. The way is Jesus alone.
2. Knowing Jesus Way (v. 5)
Many people have criticized Christianity and believers in Jesus Christ as being too narrow-minded because we preach that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation. They point to the numerous other religions of the world and say, "How can your way be the only way?"
I wanted to put the passage into the literary context of John's gospel. In this section of the Farewell Discourse, Jesus is offering the disciples reassurance for the impending time of separation and grief, telling them, "Do not let your hearts be troubled ... You know the way I am going." But Thomas' heart is troubled. So he asks the big question: "But how can we know the way?" And Jesus answers, "I am the Way …"
So what was Jesus’ way? The way to the cross - as He is addressing this just before His trial and death on the cross. Note that Thomas' question is not "Jesus, what about those non-Christians?" Jesus is not responding to a question about people of other faiths. His response is to Thomas and the others who were looking for comfort and reassurance for the days ahead.
In light of soon events, this declaration is a paradox. Jesus’ way would be the cross; He would be convicted by blatant liars; His body would soon lie lifeless in a tomb. Because He took that way, He is the way to God; because He did not contest the lies we can believe He is the truth; because He was willing to die He becomes the channel of resurrection - the life to us.
Jesus says in Mark 10:21 “Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”
Most people believe in God, even Satan does. But to receive salvation, we must turn to God, form a personal relationship, turn away from our sins, and follow Him. Jesus is the only way of salvation because He is the only One who can pay our sin penalty (Romans 6:23). Jesus had to be God so that He could pay our debt. Jesus had to be man so He could die. Salvation is available only through faith in Jesus Christ! “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).
3. Going Jesus Way (v. 6)
But is Christianity bigoted? Certainly, there are some who claim to be Christians who are in fact bigots. But Biblical Christianity is the most pluralistic, tolerant, and embracing of other cultures religion on earth. In fact, Christianity is rather pluralistic - it is the one religion to embrace other cultures, and has the most urgency to translate the Scriptures into other languages. A Christian can keep their native language and culture, and follow Jesus in the midst of it. An early criticism of Christianity was the observation that they would take anybody! Slave or free; rich or poor; man or woman; Greek or Barbarian. All were accepted, but on the common ground of the truth as revealed in Jesus Christ. To leave that common ground is spiritual suicide, for both now and eternity.
What John is up to was made clear at the beginning of his book: "In the beginning was the Word ...." John understands Jesus as the primordial Word, the Logos. We might use names such as the Ground of our Being, the Cosmic Christ, the Tao. When we read the "I am" statements in John, we know that they're referring to the "I Am" of Exodus. For John, Jesus was the great "I Am." When we hear one of these "I am" statements in John, it is a signal for us to understand that we are to see Jesus as part of a bigger picture: Jesus embodies the larger reality of God. As the great interfaith scholar and theologian, Huston Smith, says: "God is defined by Jesus, not confined to Jesus."
Why should we be going Jesus way?
(i) 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.
(ii) The way – 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.”
(iii) The truth – Again Jesus used the definite article to emphasize Himself as “the only truth.” Psalm 119:142 says “Your law is the truth.” In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus reminded His listeners of several points of the Law, then said “but I say unto you...” (Matthew 5:22, 28, 32, 34, 39, 44), thereby equating Himself with the Law of God as the authoritative standard of righteousness. In fact, Jesus said that He came to fulfill the law and the prophets (Matthew 5:17). Jesus, as the incarnate Word of God (John 1:1) is the source of all truth.
(iv) The life – Jesus had just been telling His disciples about His impending death, and now He was claiming to be the source of all life. In John 10:17-18, Jesus declared that He was going to lay down His life for His sheep, and then take it back again. He spoke of His authority over life and death as being granted to Him by the Father. In John 14:19, He gave the promise that “because I live, you also will live.” The deliverance He was about to provide was not a political or social deliverance (which most of the Jews were seeking), but a true deliverance from a life of bondage to sin and death to a life of freedom in eternity.
In these words, Jesus was declaring Himself the great “I Am,” the only path to righteousness, the only true measure of righteousness, and the source of both physical and spiritual life. He was staking His claim as the very God of Creation, the Lord who blessed Abraham, and the Holy One who inhabits eternity. He did this so the disciples would be able to face the dark days ahead and carry on the mission of declaring the gospel to the world. Of course, we know from Scripture that they still didn't understand, and it took several visits from their risen Lord to shake them out of their disbelief. Once they understood the truth of His words, they became changed people, and the world has never been the same.
So how do we follow Him today? The same way the disciples did long ago. They heard the words of Jesus and believed them. They took His words and obeyed them. They confessed their sins to Jesus as their Lord and God. They believed that He died to take the punishment of their sins and rose from the dead to give them new life. They followed His example and command to tell others the truth about sin, righteousness, and judgment. When we follow Him in “the way,” we can be assured of following Him all the way to Heaven.
Illustration: DRIVING in England can be stressful for Americans. British drivers sit on the right side of the car and drive on the left side of the road. Intersections called roundabouts are particularly confusing. No stoplights or stop signs. Before turning into one of these traffic circles, you have to know which lane takes you where you want to go. You stay in the outer lane if you are taking the first turn, the middle lane if you go halfway around, and the inside lane if you go three-quarters of the way around. If you get in the wrong lane, you may end up going down the wrong road or in circles.
The Lord spoke to His people Israel as if they were about to enter a British roundabout (Jeremiah 6:16). He told them to consider where they were going. He encouraged them to follow the good way, trusting Him as they had done in the past. But Israel refused to ask where the good way is. The result? Disaster!
Millions of people today make the same mistake. When faced with the decision of whether to live for God or for themselves, they choose themselves. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). After receiving Him as Savior, we must travel through life with Him in the driver's seat. His way is the only way to get where we want to go.
Application: Christ is the only door into heaven. We have two ways – to follow Him or not! The choice is ours and our eternity is based on just that choice!
