Who Is This Jesus?
13. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life
John 14
Don Jaques
February 12/13, 2005
ANNOUNCE:
• Introduce Joel and Lindy Kortus at Sun AM
• Mention Military Ministry Board and Brian Brimeyer – fill out info for deployments.
• Mention financial statements available at info table.
BIG IDEA:
All people can go to heaven through having a relationship with Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life.
INTRO:
Two stories in last Wednesday’s Whidbey News Times caught my attention this week.
Coupeville Officer Fondly Remembered
In a full gymnasium late Monday afternoon, Island County Sheriff’s Deputy Chris Garden talked about a Coupeville police officer who died last week.
Garden placed his own badge on the flag-draped casket of Deputy Marshal William “Billy Ray” Hibbs.
“He was one of us,” Garden said of Hibbs during the funeral service held at Coupeville High School. At that, the crowd rose in a standing ovation.
It was one of the ways family, friends, students and law enforcement officers said their last farewell to the 37-year-old Hibbs.
Hibbs, father of three, died of a heart attack Feb. 2 while he was jogging to warm up for a class he was scheduled to teach at Woodward’s Tae Kwon Do Academy in Oak Harbor.
Accident Claims Coupeville Man
A failed bolt cost a 22-year-old Coupeville man his life Monday.
The accident occurred in Freeland at Nichols Brothers Boat Builders at approximately 2:30 p.m. Crews were attempting to lift a helicopter out of the hold of the X-Craft when a bolt snapped, sending the helo crashing onto William Dayton and two others.
Dayton was close enough to the skids of the unmanned drone when it fell from approximately eight feet in the air that he was crushed and killed, Island County Coroner Robert Bishop said.
“Will just happened to be underneath it enough that it struck his head,” Bishop said.
Dayton was working on the X-Craft Sea Fighter, an experimental craft the yard is building for the Navy. The helicopter was on the elevator inside the hold when crews were removing it to ready the ship for its scheduled launch today.
“They were attempting to extricate a drone helo through the hatch to the flight deck,” Island County Sheriff’s Spokeswoman Jan Smith said. “An eye bolt in the top of the rotor appears to have given way.”
An eye bolt that connected the craft to the cable of a crane gave way, sending the 2,800-pound helo crashing down, Bishop said.
Two stories with similar endings. People who woke up thinking it was going to be a day like any other day, and it ended up being their last. My heart goes out to the families of these two men, especially the children.
As I was talking with my friend Mike this week about these headlines, it struck me that human life is incredibly fragile. We think we’re the masters of our own destiny. But in reality our lives are held by a thread. For any one of us today may be the day that we draw our last breath on this earth.
I know we don’t like to think about it – and we do everything we can to push the thought of our own mortality from our minds – but we are all heading for a date with eternity one way or another. If today is the day for you, do you know what would happen to you?
We’re going through the gospel of John chapter by chapter and we’ve made our way to chapter 14, searching in each chapter for the answer to the question, “Who is this Jesus?”
In chapter 14 Jesus answers that question in a way that surprises his disciples, and continues to surprise people today. But in these words he also gives us hope that we might know what will happen to us after we die.
Before I read from John 14, let me give you some background. Last week we read the story of Jesus gathering with his disciples for what we’ve come to term “The Last Supper”. During the meal Jesus demonstrated his love to the disciples by washing their feet and then commanding them to do the same for each other. As the evening meal progressed, Jesus informs them that one of them will betray him, and that he is about to leave them to go where they cannot follow him. Peter asserts his willingness to go anywhere with his Master, even to the point of death. But in the last verse of John 13, Jesus replies, “Will you really lay down your life for me? I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!”
Having said this, he sees the looks of shock and disappointment in the faces of his disciples. They are trying to process all they’ve heard. 1 – someone will betray Jesus. 2 – Jesus is about to leave them. 3 – Peter will disown Jesus that very night. That’s a lot to process, so Jesus says to them…
John 14
Jesus Comforts His Disciples
1“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2In 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. 3And 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. 4You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Jesus the Way to the Father
5Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
“You know the way to where I’m going,” Jesus says, “because you know me. I am the way.” The way to the Father in Heaven. The only way.
At this point Jesus’ words become a laser beam through all the haze of moral relativity in our culture. In a world where the majority of people just want to say “as long as you are sincere in your beliefs, God will accept you”, Jesus’ words penetrate deep.
And it is when Jesus says such things that we are forced to make a decision about him. Because he is either a madman, with delusions about his own place in the universe, or he is a liar simply trying to deceive people for personal gain, or he is telling the truth.
He is one of the three. He has not given us the option of saying he is a prophet, or a great teacher – because great teachers don’t claim to be the only way to achieve eternal life!
Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Do you want to know whether God will receive you into his presence after you die? It comes down to how you answer these questions. Are you following in his ways? Are you living your life according to the truth of his teachings? Are you allowing him to live his life through you?
There is no other way to know there will be a place for you in heaven.
Those words, which are unpopular; those words, which cause many to hate Christ, are still His words. They are not mine. And even if I want to wiggle out of them and somehow find an answer that is less “intolerant” of those from other faiths – they just don’t go away.
Honestly, I wish they would go away. I wish Jesus said, “You can either follow me and my ways or you can follow another religious path, just so long as you are sincere, and you will attain eternal life.” But he didn’t.
I don’t like to think of all the people who live and die without a knowledge of Jesus Christ. It makes me uncomfortable – and it seems unfair to me – I’m being honest now. But when such thoughts come I fall back upon the character of God – that he is gracious and compassionate. He is just – he is completely fair – in fact more than fair, he is generous. And that however he deals with people who have never heard of him or had a chance to make a decision about him will be in keeping with his character.
But if you’re here today you are in a different category completely. You’ve heard the truth that there is but one way into the Father’s presence – and that is through Jesus. And each of us has to make a choice whether we will follow the Way (that is, Jesus) in the ways he instructs us to or not. If we follow him and live for him, the promise of scripture is that his blood has been poured out as the payment for all our sins – and our slates are clean before God!
If we choose not to follow him and receive the gift of his forgiveness that he offers, then we will be held responsible for each and every sin we’ve committed in our entire lives.
So, how do we know whether we’re “in the way”, “following the truth”, “experiencing His life”? How do we know if we will attain eternal life after we die?
It needn’t be a mystery. It comes down to Jesus and your relationship with Him. Hear what Jesus says about this later in chapter 14:
John 14:15
“If you love me, you will obey what I command.
John 14:21
Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”
John 14:23
Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24He who does not love me will not obey my teaching.
Jesus never said “If you pray a prayer to receive me as Lord you will have eternal life.” He never said “all you have to do is have one moment of faith and you can come to heaven.”
He said he was going to prepare a place for his disciples – that is – those who show that they love him and believe in him and trust him – by obeying His word.
I’m not talking about earning your salvation, scripture makes it clear that our good works are never enough to cleanse us from our sins and earn God’s favor. I’m talking about whether we have a good relationship with Jesus.
We receive the gift of his forgiveness by faith in his word that says his death covers our penalty for our sins. And then we repent – we turn from that life of sin – and we confess Jesus as Lord. That is, we call him our Lord, and then we live as if he really is.
If I were to die of a heart attack before this service ended – I KNOW I will be ushered into God’s presence; not because I prayed a prayer as a young child to receive him as Lord, but because I’m living my life with a clean conscience before him. I’m not perfect – but I’m doing my best to live as a disciple and obeying His word the best I can.
That’s what it’s all about. Not perfection, or worrying that if I happen to sin and then die before I’ve repented of that sin that I’ll be sent to hell. But living a life where I’m walking in step with my Lord as best I can.
That’s why the early church, before they were even known as “Christians”, were called followers of “the Way”. It wasn’t called “the lightning flash” or “the moment in time”. It was called the Way, because those who were followers of Jesus had given themselves over to an entire way of life.
As I come to the end of my time, I’ve just got to put the question to you directly.
If you died on the way home today, do you know you’d be ushered into the presence of God for eternity?
If there is any doubt – you can change that by starting a real relationship with Jesus today.
Perhaps you want to be sure of your eternal destiny, but you’re not ready to jump into a life-changing decision without understanding what you’re doing. If so let me encourage you to check the box on the card to get more information. Don’t wait – get answers to your questions.
Because you just never know when your time will be up. You want to be ready.
