SERMON OUTLINE:
• Question #1: ‘If God is for real’ – Does God exist?
• Question #2: ‘How can I get to know him?’- Is God knowable?
• Claim #1: He is “The Way”
• Claim #2: He is “The Truth”.
• Claim #3: He is "The Life."
SERMON BODY:
Our subject this morning is really two topics in one:
• FIRST: ‘If God is for real’ – Does God exist?
• SECOND: ‘How can I get to know him?’ – Is God knowable?
The First part of the title ‘If God is for real’ has been debate many times.
• You can go on Google and watch debate after debate after debate,
• Christian apologists e.g. John Lennox, William Craig, Ravi Zacharias
• Debate that topic in Universities all around the world.
• So, in a few minutes I am not going to attempt to answer that question.
• Because the Bible does not try to answer that question!
• Have you realised that the Bible does not try to prove God,
• It starts with the words, “In the beginning God…” (Genesis chapter 1 verse 1).
• It expects you to take that truth by faith.
Ill:
• Faith is central to all of life.
• For example, you go to a doctor whose name you cannot pronounce;
• And whose degrees you have never verified.
• He gives you a prescription you cannot read.
• You take it to a pharmacist you have never seen before.
• He gives you a chemical compound you do not understand.
• Then you go home and take the pill according to the instructions on the bottle.
• All the time, trusting, having faith in others!
• TRANSITION: The Bible takes for granted that God exists,
• It never tries to prove his existence.
• It does say open your eyes and look at creation
• e.g. Creation screams that there is a creator.
• Quote: Psalm 19 verse 1
• “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims the work of His hands.”
In our limited time this morning:
• I am going to follow that line of thought.
• As I said many others and better qualified than me have done it many times before.
• Check out John Lennox, William Craig, Ravi Zacharias etc on YouTube.
• But let me share this true illustration with you.
Ill:
• David Watson, who died in 1984, was an Anglican priest, evangelist, and author,
• On one occasion he was invited to lecture at Cambridge university.
• During his talk, he was rudely interrupted by a student who shouted out.
• “Dr Watson, not only do I not believe in God, I know that there is no God!”
• David Watson was an experienced debater and simple replied:
• “What sum total of the knowledge of universe do you think you know?”
• There was a pause as the student was thinking,
• So, David Watson said, “Let me help you…”
• “…the famous scientist Albert Einstein said he knew 0.5%,
• Of the sum total knowledge of the universe!”
• The student replied,
• “I guess 0.5%”
• David Watson then said,
• “How do you know that God is not in the other 99.5% you don’t know,
• or even in the 5% you claim to know, but as yet is unrecognised?”
• TRANSITION: ‘If God is for real’ and as Christians we say he is!
• Then, ‘How can I know him!’
The Second part of the title ‘How can I get to know him?”
• The answer to that question is found in Jesus Christ!
• Who declared in John chapter 14 verse 6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life,
• No-one comes to the Father except through me!”
• He is the ‘way’ to God if we follow him.
• He is the ‘truth’ about God if we follow him.
• He is the ‘life’ of God if we want to experience him.
Note:
• With that statement Jesus took three of the great basic conceptions of Jewish religion.
• And made a tremendous claim,
• That all three things found their full realisation in him.
Claim #1: He is “The Way”
• To any Jew familiar with their Old Testament,
• They would be familiar with the idea of ‘The Way’.
Ill:
• God once said to Moses in (Deuteronomy chapter 5 verses 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.”
Ill: God said through Isaiah the prophet in (Isaiah chapter 30 verses 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."”
Ill:
• It was the Psalmist's prayer in Psalm 27 verse 11:
• “Teach me your way, O LORD; lead me in a straight path”.
• TRANSITION:
• The Jewish people knew much about the way of God in which a man must walk.
• And standing right before them is Jesus Christ, declaring himself to be that way.
Question: What did he mean by saying that he was “The Way”?
Answer: by way of an illustration:
Ill:
• Suppose we are in a strange town and ask for directions.
• The person you asked says:
• "Take the first to the right, and the second to the left.
• Cross the square, go past the church, take the third on the right and.
• The road you want is the fourth on the left."
• The chances are that we will be lost before we get half-way.
• But suppose the person we ask says: "Come. I'll take you there."
• In that case the person to us is the way, and we cannot miss it.
• TRANSITION: That is of course what Jesus does for us.
• He does not only give advice and directions on how to connect to the Father.
• He himself takes us there!
• He does not tell us about the way, or point to the way,
• He himself is the Way.
Quote:
“The pathway to God is not found by following a creed, developing moral character, or attending Church. It is found by trusting Jesus Christ alone!”
Claim #2: He is “The Truth”.
Ill:
• A lady entered a butcher shop in a butcher is a small town in Hampshire,
• Just as it was closing, and most things had been packed away.
• She explained that she had just had a phone call,
• And as a result, she was going to have unplanned guests and so she needed some meat.
• She told the butcher she needed a "large chicken".
• He went out back to the refrigerators and came back with the shops only unfrozen chicken.
• When he put it on the scale?
• She stretched to see the weight and declared, "I need one larger than that!"
• So, he took it out back and a few moments later returned with the same chicken,
• This time when he weighed it, he added a hidden finger on the backside of the scale.
• When she eye-balled the scale,
• She confidently declared, "Excellent, I’ll take both chickens please!"
• TRANSITION: When you deal with the truth be careful!
• Sooner or later, like cream it rises to the top and can be seen by all.
Note: We live in what is called post-modern times:
• Post Modernism is a term applied to a number of trends in Modern Culture
• One of those trends tells us that there is no such thing as ‘fixed’ truth:
• "All truth is relative. There is no absolute truth."
• What you believe is truth for you & what someone else believes is truth for them!
• In our schools, colleges, and universities etc
• Students are taught; “All truth is relative”.
• ill: What Christians believe is true for them,
• ill: What Buddhists, Muslims, Sikhs believe is equally true for them
• All are right because; "All truth is relative. There is no absolute truth."
• That is the modern thought of the times in which we live.
Quote: Prime Minister. Winston Churchill once said,
"Truth is incontrovertible Panic may resent it; ignorance may deride it; malice may distort it; but there it is."
Now modern philosophers will always have a major problem with Jesus Christ and the Bible:
• The Bible is always consistent in its message, that there is a fixed truth.
• Jesus himself taught us (John chapter 17 verse 17); “God’s word is truth”.
• And the Bible teaches that there is a fixed constant, unchanging point of reference,
• God himself is often described as the ‘God of truth’ (Psalm 31 verse 5).
• And the Bible clearly teaches that Jesus who was (John 1: 14) ‘God in a human body’
• He was "full of grace and truth" (John chapter 1 verse 14).
Now once again to the Jews ‘truth’ was a familiar concept:
• You will not have to look too hard in your Old Testament:
• Before you find mention after mention after mention.
Ill:
• The Psalmist prayer was (Psalm 26 verse 3):
• “For your love is ever before me, and I walk continually in your truth.”
• Psalm 86 verse 11:
• “Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth”.
• Psalm 119 verse 30:
• “I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart on your laws.”
Throughout the Old Testament and throughout history:
• Many people have desired after the truth,
• Many have told us the truth,
• But only ONE person ever fully embodied it.
• That person being Jesus Christ!
Note:
• There is one all important thing about moral truth.
• By moral truth we mean; ‘Truth that is good, virtuous, ethical, honest, just.’
Ill:
• A person's character does not really affect his teaching of subjects like:
• Geography or physics or English etc.
• But if a person intends to teach moral truth,
• Then that person’s character makes all the difference in the world.
• ill: A practising adulterer who goes round teaching the necessity of purity,
• Will be wasting their time and their listener’s time.
• ill: A mean scrooge type person who teaches the value of generosity,
• Will once again be wasting their time with that particular message.
• ill: A domineering person who teaches the beauty of humility,
• ill: Or an embittered person who teaches the beauty of love, is bound to be ineffective.
Quote:
“Moral truth cannot be conveyed solely in words.
It must be conveyed in example”.
• And at this point even the greatest human teacher must fall down.
• No teacher has ever embodied the truth he taught-except Jesus Christ.
• Many a man could say: "I have taught you the truth."
• Only Jesus could say: "I am the Truth."
• Moral perfection not only finds its peak in Jesus Christ,
• It also finds its realization in him.
Claim #3: He is "The Life."
• The word "Life" is a favourite of John,
• In fact, he uses it thirty-six times in his Gospel:
• He tells us in his prologue of this Gospel (John chapter 20 verse 31).
• That it was motivation for writing the gospel in the first place.
“These things have been written…
that sinful people might trust Christ and move from death to life”
Quote: Book ‘Papillion’.
• Main character dreams he is on trial,
• As he stands before the judge, he is charged with….
• “The most terrible crime that a person can commit”
• When he asks the judge “What was that crime?”
• The judge replies:
• “The tragedy of a wasted life”
Now once again to the Jews ‘life’ was a familiar concept:
• You will not have to look too hard in your Old Testament:
• Before you find mention after mention after mention concerning it.
Ill: Genesis chapter 2 verse 7:
“Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”
Ill: Nehemiah chapter 9 verse 6:
“You alone are the Lord.
You have made the heavens,
The heaven of heavens with all their host,
The earth and all that is on it,
The seas and all that is in them.
You give life to all of them
And the heavenly host bows down before You.”
Ill:
• The Psalmist (Psalm 16 verse 11).
• “You have made known to me the path of life”.
When it comes down to the core:
• All of us are seeking for life and life in its fullness!
• And life in all its fullness is found in the God of life.
Ill:
• A man who constantly robbed banks robber was once asked why he robbed banks.
• His reply was simple and to the point, “Because that is where the money is!”
• TRANSITION:
• God gives not just physical life but eternal life!
Question: What do we mean by the term "eternal life"?
Answer:
• ‘Eternal life’ is certainly more than an extended life,
• That is simply living forever,
• Because even the lost will live forever, but sadly separated from God.
• Eternal life is not endless time,
• It has been described as
• ‘Not pie in the sky when you die, but steak on your plate while you wait’
• It is not a quantity of time, but a quality of experience.
• It is being reconnected spiritually to the God who made us.
Quote:
• The great British preacher Dr. G. Campbell Morgan has pointed out.
• That John in his gospel describes for his readers all the essentials for life.
(a).
• That there can be no life without light (John chapter 1 verse 4).
• "In Him [Christ] was life; and the life was the light of men"
(b).
• That there can be no life without birth (John chapter 3).
• Eternal life comes through what Jesus called "being born again".
(c). Nor can there be life without breath.
• "He breathed on them, and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit' "
• (John 20:22; and see also the Holy Spirit as "wind" in John 3:8).
(d). Water is another essential for life (John chapter 4 verse 14).
" . . . whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life"
(e).
• A fifth essential for life is food, (John chapter 6 verse 35).
• And Jesus said, "I am the bread of life. . . "
• So, John in his gospel describes for his readers all the essentials for eternal life.
• And all those essentials are all found in Jesus Christ the life-giver!
Just in case anyone should misinterpret the statement he has made.
• He clarifies it by saying:
• “No one comes to the Father except through me”.
Ill:
• As we come to a time of communion it is good to remember that,
• “We have access to the Father, though the Son”
• Christianity is the only religion in the world,
• Which rests on the person of its founder.
SERMON AUDIO:
https://surf.pxwave.com/wl/?id=IbP1Am1V1qVbBhHBNmXk1I759dLvcjCn
SERMON VIDEO:
https://youtu.be/iTr496G1QTc
