Well, good morning. I'm going to be looking over there a lot. good to see you all this morning and we have opportunity to open the word of god together they will be in john chapter fourteen if you would turn in your bibles there i will have scriptures on the screen but there's always a great benefit to having the word of god open on your lap uh... before you so by by way of introduction how i want to begin is to talk about the world a little bit the world has its ways And if you want to explore the world's ways, all you have to do is search for things on the internet. I encourage great caution in searching for things on the internet. But if you've ever searched for a recipe on the internet, it's it's quite enlightening especially if you have some idea of how to cook and you search for recipes and you have a hundred different ways to prepare any given dish and every one is the best way according to the article that you find in the recipe that you find in some of the recipes are good summer bad summer legitimate Some recipes are a parody. Do you realize some people put them on there as a joke to see if people actually do them because the ingredients are so convoluted and the method so poor that you'll end up with nothing more than a mess and I guess it's someone's idea of good humor to do that. Some are just completely bogus. They only exist to get you to click on them and see their article and their ads and and that it's interesting all these articles they have in common this they all claim to be the way make the particular thing to do the particular act you know whatever it is expand your search to be the right way to maintain your vehicle to be the right way to decorate your house all these things claim some kind of truth some kind of way and it's true if you enter with great caution into your search engine, what is the way to God? And you'll find many different answers, and you'll find many so-called experts, and many personal experiences, and many different texts that are offered up. But the question comes to us, how do we know which way to go to get to God? Who has the right program? Who has the formula? Who has the right steps? Who has the right mindset? You'll find many that will say, it doesn't matter which way you go. Just any way. Just pick one and choose and be sincere about it. You'll be OK. Well, in that, the world is very confused. So we turn to John chapter 14, because when we turn to John chapter 14, we find disciples that were very confused. They had their ideas about Messiah. They had been following Jesus around, proclaiming him to be the Messiah. They saw his signs. They heard his teaching. They saw the great power that he had, power even to calm the storm, power even to feed the multitudes, power to heal the lame and the blind. They saw his great preaching, preaching that people commented things like, no one has ever spoken like this. He speaks with authority, and no one speaks like this guy does. But then there was the opposition. The opposition primarily from the leadership of Israel, from the people who were supposed to be the pastors of the people of Israel. They were denouncing Jesus. They were plotting against Jesus. They were trying to entrap him with their questions. They were coming to him, opposing him, and threatening those that were professing faith in him or were going to him for healing. And Jesus himself began to speak very plainly of the fact that he would die and be raised again. So admittedly, for the disciples, the ministry with Jesus Christ had its ups and downs. There were good times, there were bad times. There were the high points of the great celebration of the wondrous things he was doing and teaching, and then the low points of just despair and misery, thinking the whole world's against him. How's this ever possibly going to work? They're going to kill him. How's that going to work? Is this all over? And in just the chapters leading up to chapter 14 and John, we have chapter 11, which is a high point, the raising of his friend Lazarus from the dead. But at the same time, the hardening of the resolve of his opposition to get him and kill him, and even Lazarus. But then in chapter 12, another high point, the triumphal entry, where a large crowd is gathered and they're singing messianic psalms to Jesus as he rides in upon a donkey, fulfilling scripture. And yet Jesus is still speaking plainly to the disciples and in his last week, even to the crowds, about his coming death. And in the last minute there, in the last bit of that week, his message was saying that his message itself, his words that he spoke, would be the very deciding factor of life or death for all people. Then comes chapter 13, the Feast of the Passover, which we looked at last time, as we saw Jesus as a servant washing the feet of the disciples. But he says very plainly to them, one of you will betray me. And as you read further in chapter 13, Judas actually leaves, and it says Satan entered into him. And then look what else happens there. Now I'll bring it up on the board for you to see. John chapter 13, he gives a new commandment and he says, well this is, you know, interesting, this is a new commandment, but interestingly in verse 31 he says, now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and glorify him at once. Little children, he says to his disciples, he just has the 11 there at this point. From this point all the way through the end of chapter 17, he is with just the 11. Judas has left to go do what he was going to do in betraying Jesus. He says, little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, where I am going, you cannot come. Now he had said this before, and he'd said it in public. He said it to all the Jews. Where I'm going, you cannot come. Disciples are thinking, yeah, but we're with him, and we'll always be with him. And I'm sure he's talking about just them, that we'll be with him. But now he says, no, I'm saying it to you now. Where I'm going, you cannot come. He goes on just a little bit here, verse 36. Look what he says. Simon Peter says to him, Lord, where are you going? Jesus answered him, where I'm going, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward. Peter said to him, Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you. Jesus answered, will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times. If he'd said this to anyone else, we might not be as surprised. But when you read the Gospels, Peter stands out among the disciples. He's clearly the most bold, the quickest one to speak, the one who openly said, you're the Christ, the Son of the living God. He often spoke on behalf of the disciples, a clear leader among them, certainly respected among them, perhaps a little annoyed among the others. But this is Peter, and Peter's even going to deny him. So not only is one going to betray him, but the biggest among them is going to deny him. And you can imagine, in that candle-lit room, having had the Passover meal together, and all these things being said, the heaviness in the air. Look what he says in John 14. it begins to turn this around. See, they were confused and Jesus knew it. And now he has to deliver words to the 11 that would carry them through the ordeal that's about to come. Jesus knows everything that's going to happen. His arrest, his crucifixion, the denials of Peter, then his death, and the three days in the grave. And not only that, he was giving them words. that would not only carry them through the few days until his resurrection, but would carry them through millennia ever since. And that's what chapters 14 through 17 are. Let's read this text together and see what we find. He says, let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going." Thomas said to him, "'Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?' Jesus said to him, "'I am the way and the truth. in the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him. Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father and it is enough for us. Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for these words of Jesus. We thank you for his teaching. We thank you, Lord, for his work upon the cross. And we thank you for the Holy Spirit that will guide us into all truth, that will illuminate the scriptures to us, that works in us to apply all that Jesus has done and all that we learn in the scriptures. to glorify your name we thank you jesus name amen well he is says he is the way the truth and the life there in verse six and this is indeed a a powerful and an important and heavy saying that he has. And of course, as you noticed, it is one of the I Am sayings of the Scriptures. One of the times when he uses that particular construction that made the elders and the chief priests and the Pharisees cringe when he said, I Am, and the way that God said it to Moses at the burning bush. And we're going to take these a word at a time, which is just a helpful way to take a look at it. try to get it on the screen for you. But basically what we're going to see is this. We're going to take these words one at a time. And the first one being this word way. And the wonderful thing about this word is that it has a nearly identical range of meaning. This Greek word hadas, as it's called, almost identical meaning to our word way. It has that broad range of things. It can mean a direction. It can mean a path. It can mean a traveled road. It can refer to a journey. It can be used metaphorically to speak of a manner of thinking, or feeling, or deciding, or a course of conduct. It was common in Jesus' day to talk about the way of God. In other words, following Him, and obeying Him, and everything else. Not a literal path, but a figurative one. And in the verse, this particular word has preeminence in the verse. Preeminence in such a way as it could actually be translated Let me get that back up there for you so you can see it. He says, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. It can also variously be translated as, I am the true and living way. Way is the preeminent idea. Truth, true, and living modify that. Now, they appear in the text as nouns because that was a trick the Greeks would do to put emphasis on it. That, in other words, he is not just a way. He is a way that is both true and is living. And so it is perfectly right for us to say he is the way, the truth, and the life. And you could do three separate sermons on the topic, on how he's the way, how he's the truth, how he's the life. And you'll not be wrong to see him as all those things, but I think these words are here to modify, and in the context they're modifying the way as the true and living way. Now this word way, all four Gospels feature the words, and in the beginning of each Gospel those words are applied to none other than John the Baptist. which it speaks of him as being the way. He's making straight the way. He said, I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord. Quoting from the prophet Isaiah. We see it also in Mark and in Matthew and in Luke. Here's how Mark puts it, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet, behold, I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. So it introduces John the Baptist and all the Gospels as this one who's making the way for the Lord. And then Jesus comes along and he says, I am that way. saying he is the way is reiterated by what he simply says in the last part of the verse that we looked at just a moment ago in John 14 6 no one comes to the father except through me so clearly in the context what he's saying is Jesus is claiming to be the way to the father and by implication then being the way to reconciliation with God to eternal life with God what Jesus says in the book of Matthew here. He says, enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. If you ever wanted an encouragement, it's simply this, that there is a way, that leads to destruction. And it is the majority way, according to these verses. Those who go that way are many, but those who go the narrow way of life are few. And this is why we should not expect that there would be this opportunity of being in the majority as the believers in Jesus Christ. And while at times, even in our nation, where they would do a poll, the majority of people would claim to be Christian, but it's always been true that only a minority of those are really seriously following. So this destroys any notions, what Jesus says here, of all paths leading to God. And it's such a strong claim that he makes to be the true and living way, and then to back it up by saying, no one comes to the Father, that it cannot be denied what Jesus is saying. He is saying, I am absolutely the only singular way to God. His claim here cannot be denied. And this was the teaching of the early church. The early church ran with the idea that he was the only way. Look what it says in Acts chapter 4. As they preach the gospel truth, Peter says, there is salvation in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. And interestingly, the early church, as you read in the Book of Acts, becomes known as the Way. In Acts chapter 9, verse 2, for instance, as it speaks of Saul and the beginning of his story here, he asked for letters to the synagogues at Damascus so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. And you'll see several more references in your notes to the early church being called the Way. It's not interest. But he's not just the way, he is the true way. He is what's known as the truth. So we get to our next phase of the outline here. And trying to get to it. All right. And he says, Let's go to John chapter 18 and look what happens here. Here we have a very interesting scene. And in this scene... we see pilot this is at the trials of jesus as he's being taken back and forth between the jewish leadership and between pilot and and between everything else i don't know what this is going to do to your screen but it's gotta go and he's been taken back and forth and pilots trying to deal with him and figure out what he's done why he was brought to him and everything else and this is the scene that unfolds pilot entered his headquarters again and called jesus and said to him, are you the king of the Jews? Because this was a charge the Jews set. He claims to be our king. Jesus answered this, do you say this of your own accord or did the others say it to you about me? Pilate answered, am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done? Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. Yeah, I did see that happen. OK, get this fixed up for you. We will persevere. All right, better. It's better for me, I can tell you that. Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world. And Pilate said to him, so you are a king. He's talking about his kingdom, and Pilate's trying to get him to say that he's a king. And so he says, so you are a king. Jesus answered, you say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born, and for this purpose I've come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who's of the truth listens to my voice. Pilate said to him, what is truth? So Pilate was being lied to and he knew it. This conversation proves Pilate knows these Jews are lying. He knows this isn't right. What's going on here? And so he asks cynically at the end of this conversation, as Jesus says, I came to bear witness about the truth, and everyone who's of the truth listens to my voice. Pilate said to him, what is truth? There's a lot of debate about Pilate and whether he really was guilty in all this or not. And I look at it and I say, well, he did ultimately approve of his crucifixion and order it. He was in a terrible position, but he ultimately listened to the voices of advisors, the voices of the Jewish elders, the leaders, and things like that concerning Jesus. He didn't have the full story, and Jesus was not helping him out. And there was a variety of opinions surrounding Jesus, and that was really Pilate's dilemma, because this wasn't the first that Pilate had heard of Jesus of Nazareth. There can be no doubt that he was already known to pilot. And he would have heard things like, oh, he's some kind of a scoundrel. He's from Nazareth of Galilee. He can't possibly know anything. He's unlearned and uneducated. And yeah, people are going to him. But yeah, it's not going to work out. And others saying, oh, he's the Messiah. And he's come to take over. And he's going to throw off Roman rule. He's starting a revolution. And he's a danger. And so he has all these mixed messages coming into him about who this Jesus is. but we learn in the gospel that Jesus is indeed the truth. John began his gospel by speaking to this point. He says in John chapter one, verse 14, he says, the word became flesh, and he's speaking of Jesus there, and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. He says a little further down in the context there in verse 17, he says, contrast him with Moses by saying, the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. So he is the truth. It is truth that came through him. He was the embodiment of all that is true from God. Then it brings us back to our verse that we're looking at here in John 14, where he says, I'm the way, the truth, the life. Why did he have to say that? Well, because there's many counterfeits. There's many varied interpretations of scripture. There were many varied opinions about who Jesus was. Well, why didn't something happen in the scripture that would make it so plainly obvious that Jesus was the truth that nobody would have had a mistake about it? couldn't couldn't even couldn't god have made jesus with a very particular kind of birthmark written about in detail in the old testament like as a describes the size of it the position of it the characteristics the shape of it and everything else maybe even jots down one of the scrolls an image so that when jesus would come along they would go well while looking at he's got this birthmark all it's just like that this is clearly that the messiah the son of god that's come to to redeem us Why didn't he do that? Well, Paul makes it very plain. As he opens his letters to the Corinthians, he says, look, we've got a message. Our message, the world says, is foolish. But our message is really the wisdom of God. And that message, at its core, is that it is Christ crucified. And look what he says about this message. He says, none of the rulers of this age understood this, that it's Christ crucified. None of them understood that the Messiah was going to be killed. Or if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. Do you understand Jesus would have been the safest person on the planet if it was very obvious that he was going to come and die? Because who is the ruler of this world but the one who drove him to the cross? Of course, it was the plan of God all along, and Jesus said, no one takes my life, but I lay it down. Look what he says about the scriptures and how he fulfills it. And in him being the truth, consider this. He says in the Sermon on the Mount, the most famous sermon of his condensed in the book of Matthew, he says, do not think that I've come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not a neota, not a dot will pass from the law until all is accomplished. So that means if he came to fulfill the law and the prophets, that means the Old Testament is incomplete revelation. It also means something else. It means that the New Testament is not replacement revelation, but the New Testament is fulfilling revelation of the Old Testament. It is the key to unlock the Old Testament. Without the New Testament, the Old Testament can't really rightly be understood. And it dare not be thrown out because it is the very thing that Jesus came to fulfill. In this way, then, Jesus is the truth. He is the only one that can unlock the scriptures and have any sense made of them. He's the only true fulfillment of all that is scripture, and because he's the fulfillment, and indeed even the author of scripture, we have a sure and steady guide in the Word of God. That's why true pastors bring forth the scriptures, center all their teaching on the scriptures. That's why I show you far more scripture on the screen than my outlines, because that's inspired. My outlines are a good guess. You might disagree, at least about the outlines. So he's the truth. And for that reason, the word of God must be preeminent in all that we do. Listen to this quote from Karl Truman that I'll attempt to put up on the screen for you. Oh, even that's gone. Let's fix this for you, too. All right. He says, Carl Truman, who wrote some recent and very helpful books, he says, if God's words determine reality, then all of the things a pastor does, speaking the words of God to the congregation, is the most important. The scriptures, however, require interpretation. How can we be sure that we'll do it right? And in the moment, as we live the moment in the confusion of this world, how can we be sure that we will apply it correctly? So as Jesus continues to speak to the disciples, he reveals a major component of his comfort that he's going to give them. Because remember, he said, don't let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. And a major topic over the next couple chapters is going to be the subject of the Holy Spirit. And this is how he can say he is the living way. This is profoundly important to us that we understand what he's saying here, because he is not only the true way, he is the living way. And by saying that he's the living way, or the life, he's not merely a direction, or an instruction, a formula, or a method, or anything like that. He's a person that will abide with you by his spirit and help you navigate life. He is alive, living, present in the moment. And we don't just have his instruction or his word, which is great. We have his actual presence. Look what he goes on to say here in John chapter 14 as we take a look at it. He says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper or comforter to be with you forever. even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you." This is the Spirit of God. This is the living Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, okay, is that the Spirit sent by the Father or the Son? You can find both in Scripture. And this is Him alive in you. So the way is not just merely instruction, or a recommendation, or a method. It's an actual person. And that actual person is going to come live and abide in you. And of all the verses that follow between chapters 14 and 17, there's more text devoted to the Holy Spirit than any other subject. So what ought we to do? Well, we ought to go back, then, to the verse we're looking at in John 14, 6, and really think about this, that He's the way, and He's the truth, and He's the life. He's the true way. He's the living way. What does that really mean to us? How's that going to help me live out my faith tomorrow? Well, I'm going to have a couple of encouragements for you here. The first is this, and simply a quote from Proverbs 16.25. It says, there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. Did you hear that? There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. And the way this is phrased, it does not say there is a way that seems right to mankind, but its end is the way to death. It says there is a way that seems right to a man. For any given human being, there is a way that seems right to them. But if it's not the true and living way, it is a way that leads to death. Jesus has clearly claimed to be the only way to life. He said, yeah, I am the resurrection and the life. Eternal life comes only through him. He says it over and over in the Gospel of John. But the world has many ways that seem right to it. And any given societal majority, or any particular collective, a way that seems right to their group, They have traditions, they have superstitions, they have everything else. They even have alternative scriptures and books and things like that that they appeal to. But we have to understand that those ways of the world and those ways of individuals and everybody sitting there pondering what they think is the way, if it's not the living and true way of Jesus Christ, it's leading to death. All of it. Every single one of them. Look what Paul says to the church in Ephesus in Ephesians chapter 2. And he says this, and this is powerfully important for us to understand, because he says, you were dead. He says this to the church in Ephesus, to the believers in Jesus Christ. He says, you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience." You see, they were on a way. They were moving. They were walking through life, and they were walking in a way of the prince of the power of the air. That's a nice way to say Satan. They were the Christians. But he goes on. among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, so the ways of the world, the kind of accord and kind of pull on the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, see God intervenes, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, he made us live together with Christ, by grace you've been saved. He took him from the way to destruction and put him on the way to life. And that's how Jesus described it. He said there's this great big wide way that leads to destruction. There's this narrow way that leads to life. And it's a difficult way. It's easier to go the wide way of the world, at least in the short term. And you can see this in the headlines of the world as you look at the world news and things like this. You see murder, you see political arguing, you see wars, you see bad ideas that have proven themselves bad ideas in the past being done again and again and again. And even those ideas that are good ideas that occasionally people stumble upon and employ, they eventually get corrupted and mismanaged. And this is the way of men, and we keep trying. Why? Because utopia is in our hearts. We have in our hearts the knowledge that there ought to be something more, that there is something greater intended for us, that we weren't made for a world of crime and death and despair. that we were made for something greater, and so they grumble among themselves, they fight and organize, they vote, they look for a savior, occasionally one arises, occasionally one organizes and solves some kind of a problem, but then the power comes along, and the corruption with the power. Why? Because none of those ways that are developed by mankind, apart from the scripture, are neutral. There's an enemy at work in the heart of every unbeliever. And without Christ, everything comes to an end and eventually resists peace. It resists human flourishing and the joy that we can have as image bearers of God. In contrast, those who are free indeed, those who are in the Gospel, those believers have different stories. I want you to consider the headlines of the world, and I don't recommend it often, but maybe turn on the evening news and watch it. You get the body count from the local big city, whatever it is in your area. And you hear about all the terrible things going on, and all the politics and everything else, and you see what their value system are, and then turn your thoughts to the people of God. When I turn my thoughts to the people of God, you know what I see? I see healthy and happy families, not without trouble, not without their difficulties, but basically full of joy. I see people who have recovered from addiction that God has delivered them from any number of horrible things among them. I see relationships that have been healed. I've seen marriages that were in shambles and were broken up, brought back together. And the common thread among them all, no matter their difficulties, no matter the problems that they've had, is this hope, is this faith in what's going on in the long term, what God is doing in the world. Tune in next time to learn from John chapter 15 how to abide in the Lord Jesus Christ. So you can glorify God and flourish in this world with joy and peace that surpasses understanding. And those are our encouragements to you on this day. Close with a word of prayer. Father God, we thank you. We thank you for revealing the true and living way, the way to know you, the way to live with you and enjoy you forever. And Lord, none of us, considering this today, are worthy of it on our own merit. That is why you had to come and die. That is why you had to pay the price for our sins, because it was a price we could not afford. For we could not bring something clean out of what has been corrupted. Lord, we thank you for the gift of Jesus Christ. We thank you for the way that he reveals. We pray, Lord, that we will walk in it with great assurance and great victory. I pray, Lord, that you'll encourage each one of us to so try to understand it, to so follow Christ and to so accept his testimony, to repent of our sins and trust in the salvation that he brings, that we will be filled with your spirit. and that we will walk in your ways and glorify your name upon the earth. We pray, Lord, that you would fashion for yourself a people after your own heart that will do their best to walk in your ways and do their best to leverage the power of the spirit you give to bring you great glory and spread this gospel of truth so that many more people can enjoy. Lord, we pray that even the narrow way might become the wide way. And eventually we know that it will be the only way. But we know that from time to time and place to place you give great victory among your people and you give great clarity in the preaching of the Word. And we pray for that, Lord. We pray earnestly that our family members be saved, that our community be saved, that it be changed, that it be marked by the truth and living way of Jesus Christ. We thank you for the goodness of Christ and the enjoyment of it. In Jesus' name, amen.