JESUS - THE WAY, THE TRUTH, THE LIFE
JOHN 14
It seems like a long time since I have been preaching to you – three weeks in fact. We return again this morning to our series on the ‘I AM’ sayings of Christ Jesus. Turn with me to John 14, and to probably one of the most well known sayings of Christ Jesus. This is my personal favourite ‘I AM’ saying of Christ Jesus – read verse 6. That is the verse we are going to look at this morning but as I always say to you – ‘you must always set Scripture in its context.’ So let us do that now.
Context
Turn with me to chapter 13. Christ Jesus and his disciples are in the upper room. He has performed the must humble act of service for them in washing their feet and they have shared fellowship with one another in the breaking of bread and sharing the common cup of wine. Judas has been given one last opportunity to turn from the path of betrayal but he chooses to betray Christ and at the end of verse 30 we read ‘and it was night.’ Signifying the darkness not only of the hour but of the heart of Judas and the world into whose hands Christ was going to be betrayed. Christ then begins his final discourse with his disciples which will run into chapters 14-17. He speaks of his betrayal and then in verse 33 speaks of his departure from them and how they, at this time, will be unable to follow him. He sets forward then the great commandment that they should love one another because by this men will know that they belong to him. Then Peter, how I love Peter, asks where Christ is going (verse 36) and we have this short conversation between Christ and Peter in which Peter’s denial of Christ Jesus is predicted. I can understand Peter’s question (v36) – he has genuine love for Christ. These men had given up all to follow him for the last three years and now he says where he is going they cannot follow. Bewilderment and perhaps exasperation lead Peter to question Christ’s statement. Then we enter chapter 14 and this wonderful passage concerning Christ, salvation and eternal life.
John 14 verses 1-4 The Promised place for them.
Before we enter into these verses think for a moment what the disciples were about to encounter over the next few hours. They would leave this upper room and make their way through the darkness to Gethsemane. There they would witness the distress of their Master in prayer and then the betrayal of Christ by Judas with a kiss. They would desert him and Peter would deny him. Finally they would see him struggle through the streets with a cross on his shoulders to Golgotha and there at Calvary they would watch as he was crucified. Christ had spoke of his death on several occasions to them and now it was only a matter of hours away. Knowing the emotional turmoil that they were about to face Christ speaks these words – read verse1. The hour of their deepest distress was about to dawn upon them and Christ speaks the remedy for it to them. Christ looks at their faces and he sees the turmoil of their hearts and minds writ large. He knows that in their hearts a medley of emotions is being played out in their hearts. At present they are sad and depressed at the prospect of his departure. They were ashamed at their display of selfishness and pride in refusing to wash one another’s feet. They are perplexed that one of them is going to betray him and that Peter would deny him. Can’t you hear their hearts saying “If Peter cannot stand up, how will we?” Then their faith begins to waver – “How can he who is the Messiah be betrayed?” Yet each of them love Christ deeply and his love for them is now displayed in the words of verse 1 following. He speaks to them, not in our modern ‘it will be alright’ but he speaks with assurance that there is a solid foundation to his words and not mere wishfulness.
‘Do not let your hearts be troubled’ – literally ‘Let not your hearts any longer be troubled.’ Their hearts were troubled but Christ now speaks to reassure them and to give them solid ground on which to rest their hearts. That ground is found in the second part of verse 1 – read 1b. Their trust must remain in God and Christ. Even when the events unfolding before them seem to tell them the opposite the only sure foundation in time of trouble is belief, faith, trust in God and in Christ (who are one – verse 10). Please note will that Christ nowhere promises to take them out of the trouble. He nowhere promises that their hearts will not be troubled – but that when their hearts are troubled, as they surely will be, they are to trust in God and Him. Christ then goes on to assure them of future – which in a matter of hours will be darkened by the cloud of death and despair which will come upon them at the crucifixion – read verse 2.
There are a couple of images here concerning this description of ‘many rooms’ or if you were brought up on the King James version – ‘many mansions.’ There is the picture of the ANE household were many members of the same family lived under one roof, each having their own apartment within the Father’s house. There is also the imagery of the traveller on the way who sends someone ahead of him to prepare a resting place further along the road. A sort of wayside caravan or shelter. I want you also to note that there is no difference in the rooms – Christ simply says that there are many rooms. Note also that they are all His Father’s house – that is heaven. So in seeking to bring reassurance to their troubled hearts Christ speaks to them of a future which he is going to prepare for them. This future destiny is in the Father’s house and he is going to prepare a place for them. How? The crucifixion. How did Christ prepare His Father’s house for them, and us? By dying in our place. By shedding His blood to atone for our sins. By presenting the perfect sacrifice to God the Father and as we will see in verse 6 by being the Way, the Truth and the Life for us to gain access to the Father. The preparation of heaven for the disciples and for us necessitated the Cross.
Verses 3-4 – Christ then promises that He will come back to take the disciples to be with him. Here again is reassurance for their troubled hearts. He has spoken of going away but now he assures them that he will return for them. They are not going to be left as orphans. I want you to note in verse three that the return is personal – ‘I will come back…’ Christ promises them, and us, a personal return to take them, and us, to be with him for eternity. Here is personal concern for his disciples. He is not about to abandon them and to forget them. He is going via the Cross to prepare a place for them because his desire and the Father’s will is that they might share in his heavenly reward. Read verse 4 – it would appear that Christ assumes the disciples have after three years understood what he has now spoken of. But how slow of mind and heart they, and we, are when it comes to spiritual things.
Verse 5 – don’t you just love Thomas. He cannot contain himself any longer and blurts out this statement. You can hear the emotional turmoil in his words. The frustration, the confusion, the anxiety, the troubled heart is revealed in this verse. The troubled heart not just of Thomas but of each of them is here revealed. Let us be honest can all identify with those words of Thomas. We may not have said those exact words to Christ but how often in your heart and mind have you asked exactly what Thomas here asks? How often have you been anxious, frustrated and troubled in heart because of the confusion all around you and what appears to be the cloud obscuring your relationship with God? How often have circumstances encamped around you so that your heart is fearful and God appears silent? More times than you care to remember! But listen now to Christ Jesus’ reply to Thomas – read verse 6.
Verse 6 – I can imagine the look on Jesus’ face – not one of anger, not one of exasperation but one of compassion and love for Thomas. I can imagine him smiling at Thomas, that knowing smile which says “Thomas I understand. Thomas I understand the fear of your heart and I know the courage it took to ask that question in front of the others.” Thomas was not afraid to lose face before the rest of them, maybe, just maybe, he had learnt the lesson of humility from the washing of his feet episode. Jesus turns with compassion and love and speaks about a relationship and not a recipe to answer Thomas’ question. Here is a personal reply to Thomas and in it Christ claims to personally be the Way, the Truth and the Life. He says “Thomas the answer to your problem is a not to be found in rules and regulations, nor in a series of commands but in a relationship. It is to be found in a relationship with me. Only in me will your heart cease to be troubled. Only in me will you find meaning in life, answers to the problems of life and only in me will you find the Way to God the Father.” The answer is in a relationship.
The Way – he alone is the Way because he alone has intimate knowledge of God the Father which is not marred by sin. He came from the Father and is returning to the Father. He does not merely show the way – he is the Way. We are persons and the God from whom we are estranged and separate by sin is a personal God – therefore it should come as no surprise that the Way to reconciliation with God is through a person. Christ is the Way in that he is Way from God to man and from man to God. In the letter to the Hebrews the author tells us that Christ alone is the Way into the presence of God – Hebrews 9 verse 8 and 10 verse 20. In Hebrews 9 verse 7 we read that it is only through the blood of Christ that the Way has been opened. The blood of Christ shed on the Cross atoned for our sin and in so doing opened the Way to the Father which up till that point had been closed. Hence the veil across the Holy of Holies in the Temple is rent asunder when Christ says ‘It is finished’ or ‘it is accomplished.’
The Truth – in John 18 verse 38 Pilate will ask ‘What is truth?’ and many people today ask the very same question. The reality of the world in which we live is that for many people ‘truth’ no longer exists in the absolute sense. In answer to the question ‘what is truth?’ Jesus replies ‘I AM the truth.’ Christ is the Truth. He is the truth about God the Father because he and the Father are one (verse 10). He is the truth about man. He is the truth about sin and its consequences. He is the truth in that he alone has the power to make life coherent irrespective of its ups and downs. In essence Christ is saying to them that if they turn aside from him they will find only lies and deceit. If they feed on anything or anyone else spiritually they will not find nourishment for their souls. if they seek for another Way to God the Father other than him it will not be the truth and it will not lead to life but to death. Christ is God incarnate and in him alone is found the truth of God and the truth of eternal life.
The Life – he alone is the life because he alone is not subject to death but made death subject to him. Christ is not here talking about life in the sense of breath or spirit which animates our body. He is the author of life (John 1 verses 3-5), the redeemer of life – so the Life of which he speaks here is the opposite of death. As death spells separation from God so Christ, as the Life, speaks of communion with God. Christ, in his person, is Life. He is the resurrection life, the firstborn from the dead and as such offers eternal life to all who come to him. This Life is not cheap – it came at the cost of his own life on the Cross.
The logical conclusion to this sentence is then found in the second part of the verse – ‘no one comes to the Father but by me.’ There are many today, even within the Christian church, who would want to reject or water down this exclusive claim of Christ. He is the way because he leads us to the Father. He is the truth and the life because in him alone we apprehend the Father. Since the disciples, and us, are dependent upon Christ for their knowledge of redemptive truth and also for the spark that causes that truth to live in their souls, (and for their souls to become alive to that truth). It follows that no one comes to the Father but through Christ. Without Christ there can be no redemptive truth, no everlasting life and hence no way to the Father. The two parts of verse 6 cannot be separated as they are the logical conclusion of each other.
Application
I am sure many of you could identify with the disciples in this situation. Many of you know what it is to have troubled hearts, anxious minds and fearful souls. Many of you could this morning tell of the distress and despair that assails your heart and mind to such an extent that it leaves you asking ‘Where is God? Which way is his way now?’ This morning there are some of you here who desperately need to hear these words of Christ Jesus – verses 1-3. This morning you need to hear these words afresh in your soul and by faith to lay hold of the promise of them. Christ Jesus did not abandon the disciples but went to the Cross to prepare a place for them in his Father’s house – so that one day He would come again to take them to be with him for eternity. This morning you need to hear that word to you in your situation of despair and distress. He did not remove the disciples from the situation but promised them that if they trusted in God Father and in him, the Son, they would have eternal hope.
Secondly there are some of you here this morning and you need to hear the words of verse 6. This morning you might be like Thomas – Lord I don’t know where you are going so how can I know the way? I think there are two groups of people here this morning who need to hear Christ’s answer. The first group are those of you who know Christ as Lord and Saviour and at this moment the signposts of his will are far apart of clouded over and you are left this morning asking the question of Thomas. This morning my only advice to you is the words of Christ – verse 6. Follow him who is the Way, the Truth, the Life and He will lead you to the Father. You may be tempted this morning to take a different way but it will lead not to truth nor to life – but to lies and death. There is no other way to God the Father. There is no other way to live which brings truth and life but Christ. Listen to me, many ways are offered by the world. Many ways seem right, proper and good but they lead away from Christ and away from the Father. John Bunyan in Pilgrim’s Progress paints a wonderful picture of all the attractions of the broad road to destruction – it is attractive, it is enticing, it offers all sorts of pleasures but it is the way of lies and leads only to death. Why would you travel it? Why would you who know the One who is the Way now decide to step on to another Way? Why would you who know the One who is the Truth now tune and turn your ears to Lies? Why would you who know the One who is the Life now follow that which leads to death?
The second group, maybe even the majority of you here this morning, need to hear the challenge and warning of verse 6 this morning, read verse 6. This morning you are on the way to eternity, as we all are. This morning you are following some ‘way’, you are listening to some ‘truth’ and I want to ask you this morning is it leading you to ‘eternal death’ or ‘eternal life.’ Christ said that in he alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life. In Him alone are we reconciled to God. This morning what way are you walking? What truth are you listening to? Death or Life- which do you chose? There is only one Way to God – Christ Jesus. There is only one Truth – Christ Jesus. There is only one Life – Christ Jesus. You cannot come to God but by Christ Jesus. The real heartbreak this morning is this – so many of you are sitting there is morning on the wrong way, listening to the lies of this age, destined for eternal death when – verse 1 – by faith it would be all so different. Come this morning to the One who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Come to the Father though the finished work of the Son. Come and see what He has prepared for you in His Father’s house.
Amen.
