is in Florida. Thank you for letting me be here. Your church has such a good name and the Hahn brothers have a good name across the state of Georgia and it's always a pleasure. We get to spend time with any of them or each of them and I'm glad to be here. I send greetings from southeast Georgia. And we're glad to be here. It's been over a hundred several times this year already. And so I like this little bit of a break. The weather's a little bit nicer on this side of the state than it is on ours. And they get to see one of our missionaries. And I believe that God has blessed our church, Liberty Baptist, Because years ago, God laid it on the former pastor's heart to have faith-promised missions. And by the grace of God, our church has been able to support missionaries and we're close to 100 missionaries. A little old church in southeast Georgia. Isn't that a wonderful thing? And I don't know what we'll be rewarded for most when we get to heaven, but I know missions is gonna be high on that list. And Paul said in the book of Philippians that it was a sweet-smelling Savior when that church gave that offering to him as a missionary. And that is a sweet-smelling Savior to the Lord. I hope you give to missions, amen? It's not what I'm preaching on, but I'm feeling an itch to do it tonight. But let's take our Bibles in John chapter 14. Do you believe like me, the Bible says about Jesus, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto myself. And I believe that the church of the Lord Jesus Christ ought to often and very forcefully preach Jesus Christ as the way, the truth and the life. That's a wonderful thing and a privilege of mine to be able to do on this Thursday night. So I want to begin reading in John chapter 14. And let's begin reading in verse number 1. John chapter 14 and verse number 1. If you have a red letter Bible, we're going to start and these words are in red. I like that, don't you? And these are words from the lips of our Lord Jesus Christ. I wish He could be here to speak them to us. I just want you to imagine as we read these that Christ is speaking these words into your ears. And just hear His inflection. Hear His voice as He speaks these words in the upper room to His disciples. The Bible says, Let not your hearts be troubled. You who believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And whither I go you know, and the way you know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way. the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me." And all God's people said, and I want to preach to you tonight on this simple subject, Jesus is the way, Jesus is the truth, and Jesus is the life. Let's bow in a word of prayer. Our Heavenly Father, I don't know of a greater privilege that any human being could ever have than to stand in the pulpit of a Bible-believing church and proclaim that you are the way, the truth, and the life. And Lord, tonight it's my privilege, not because I'm the best Christian here, not because I know more Bible or love you more, but God, you've put a calling on my life, and Lord, you've laid it on this pastor's heart to ask me to be here tonight. I don't know why, but Lord, you do. Someone needs to hear the truth that I'm going to preach. And Lord, I pray that when I'm finished, Lord, I genuinely pray that people won't remember me, but they'll remember the Word. They'll remember You. And Lord, I pray that You would just bless this church. May Your blessings be poured out on it. May your blessings be poured out on the missionary that spoke. Lord, may you use him and his children in a marvelous way. And Lord, be with the pastors as he's away. Refresh them. Give them strength to come back and win more souls and do more for you, we pray and ask. To that person here that's seeking, looking, hurting, discouraged, I pray that when they leave here, they'll say it's been good to be in God's house. And Lord, we need you in a special way. Give us safety as we travel home as well. Give my family back home. Bless my wife and my children. We pray and ask in Jesus' name. And all God's people said, I love that verse, John 14, 6. I love that little word, the. I am the way, the truth, and the life. Now, I don't know much about the English language, and when I get finished preaching, or get started preaching, you'll figure that out pretty quick. Some people graduate summa cum laude. I graduated summa cum lucky. It reminds me of the guy in our town, and he pulled up an old pickup truck with a gun rack on the back and blowing black smoke out of the tailpipe, but he had a bumper sticker that said, proud parent of a Harvard student. And when he pulled up, everybody just laughed at him. They said, Bubba, there's no way your son made it into Harvard. He said, he most certainly is. And they said, Bubba, what is he studying if he's at Harvard? He said, he ain't studying nothing. They're studying him. But I do know this much about that little word, the, it's the definite article. The definite article. And there's only one of them in the English language, the. He is the way, the truth, and the life. And God has given us a wonderful truth in this verse. I want you to imagine for a second what it was like to be one of the 12 apostles. Can you imagine that? Just put yourself back in the first century with Jesus Christ and you're one of the 12 apostles. Can you imagine the stories that they had? think about Matthew coming home and one of his family members said hey Matthew what did you do today and Matthew says well you won't believe this but we were all in a boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee and everything was just calm and it was just like a normal day and all of a sudden the biggest storm you've ever seen in your life brewed up in the The waves started coming over the sides of the ship. The wind was blowing harder than I've ever seen the wind blow. The lightning was flashing. The thunder was rolling. And we just knew we were going to die. And look, Jesus was asleep. Can you imagine that? Did y'all know Jesus was a sound sleeper? And Matthew says, and Jesus was asleep, and we finally got him awake. And when we awoke him, he went to the front of the boat, and he stood on the front of the boat, and he just said, peace, be still. And you won't believe it, but it was a miracle. The waves just laid down at his feet, and the Sea of Galilee got as calm as glass. They said, wow. Somebody probably said, you need to write a book about that, Matthew. I said, I believe I will. I believe I will. And then you can imagine, you know, the other disciples as they tell the story. And Bartholomew comes home one day and they say, hey, Bartholomew, what did you do today? And Bartholomew says, hey, you won't believe this. Jesus asked if I'd like to go down to Jerusalem with him. And so me and some of the other disciples, we made our way down to Jerusalem. And when we got there, he said he wanted to go to the temple. So we thought this would be great. We get to go to the temple. with Jesus, but when we got there, they were not praying. And Jesus said, my father's house is supposed to be a house of prayer. We didn't hear any prayers. They weren't praising and they weren't preaching the gospel. He said instead they were selling and they were stealing and they were scheming and all you could hear was the bartering of prices back and forth and the bleeding of a sheep in the temple. And he said, I've never seen Jesus do this before. He said, all of a sudden he started gritting his jaw. Any of you have a daddy that ever gritted his jaw? I hate to bust your bubble about Jesus, but this is in the Bible. If you've got a King James, if you've got a Queen James, I don't know, but if you've got that King James, this is in there. He said, his jaw started gritting. He said his face turned red. The little hairs on the back of his neck stood up. And then he went over there and he reached down and he found some little pieces of rope and he began to braid them together. And we were watching wondering what Jesus was going to do next. And then all of a sudden he started kicking tables over and took that whip and started whipping animals. And the thing was it was so chaotic and animals were going one way and people were going the other way and money was all over the floor and people were screaming. And it was the most amazing thing. You wouldn't believe it. Can you imagine the stories those apostles had? Philip is like, what did you do today, Philip? We were in a meeting, and Jesus was so popular in that town. We got the biggest house we could find, and they filled that house up so much that the people were standing outside around the doors and windows, and right on the front row was a bunch of scribes and Pharisees, and in their heart they were doubting that Jesus was the Son of God. And they were sitting there, and all these other people, and all of a sudden, Jesus is preaching, and while he's preaching, little bits of ceiling started falling down on our Bibles. And then all of a sudden, their light started coming through. Y'all remember this story? And then four heads popped out, and we see four men looking at us. And they say, yeah, that's Jesus down there. And all of a sudden, a stretcher starts getting lowered down. And then all of a sudden Jesus sees the guy and he says to him, Thy sins be forgiven thee. And then these guys on the front row, the scribes and Pharisees said, Who can forgive sins but God alone? And then Jesus said, Well, is it easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or arise and take up thy bed and walk? But that thou mayest know that the Son of Man hath power to forgive sins. Take up your bed and walk. And that guy got up and ran out of the building. And they sat there like Gomer Powell and said, Shazam! Can you imagine the stories? Can you imagine the crowd that followed Jesus around? In that crowd. Now, listen, y'all are a good looking crowd. I mean, look at this crowd. Thursday, not even Wednesday night. I'm talking Thursday night in the middle of the summer to hear some guy from Vidalia, Georgia. That's pretty good. Y'all must be the crowd. But this, it was not always the cream of the crop that followed him around. In that crowd was a guy I called, they called the Gatorine demoniac. That's hard to say. I practiced all the way here. He was the guy that was living up in the graveyard. Y'all remember him? I call him the rude dude and the nude. He was running around. Not a stitch of clothes on, scaring the devil out of people. And Jesus preached to them and threw those devils out of them. And he's clothed in his right. He's following Jesus around. You got the woman at the well. Can you imagine what a testimony service was like? And Jesus says, before I preach, does anybody got a word of testimony? And the woman at the well just raised her hand and she says, I remember that day. I thought I wanted physical water, but I found spiritual water. And ever since I've drank that water, I've never thirsted again. And I discovered that God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And you don't have to be in Jerusalem and you don't have to be in Samaria, but anywhere two or three are gathered in His name. There the Spirit is in the midst of them, and I just want to thank you, Jesus. And man, she got tore up from the floor up. And Peter gets up there and says, I want to testify. And some of you are fearful, and some of you are afraid, and some of you are anxious, and some of you are worried, and some of you are in the midst of a storm. But I want to tell you, there was a day that I was in the midst of the storm. And walking on the water, I saw Jesus. And He bid me to come out to Him. And I stepped out by faith of that boat. And I walked to Jesus. And some of you needed it. Boy, I mean, it got on. And just about the time you thought it couldn't get any better. distinguished old man stands up in the crowd and he says, I'd like to say a word. Who are you? My name is Lazarus. And I was laying in a grave. I was four days dead. There was no hope. I couldn't fog a mirror for four days. And all of a sudden, out of death, I heard a name. It was my name. And he called my name. And I got up. And I'm alive. And I mean, it just, can you imagine the crowd? Can you imagine the sermons? Put yourself. There, beside the Sea of Galilee, when Jesus looks out the crowd and says, Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay. Listen to him as he's giving the invitation. Don't you love the Lord's invitations? And here's his invitation. Are you ready? He's just preached up a storm. And then here's his invitation. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Can you imagine the sermons? The greatest, I think the greatest thing about being an apostle was the fact that you could ask Jesus any question that you wanted to ask him. Anything about life, anything about death, anything about heaven, anything about hell, anything about right, anything about wrong, and you could ask him And he had the answer. To me that had to be the most amazing thing. Now in our story, in John 14, Jesus has said, let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. In our text, Jesus has just made a statement. He's talking to his disciples about a place that he's been that they've never been. He's talking to them about heaven. I love what he calls heaven, the word he uses to describe heaven. Here's how Jesus describes heaven. My father's house. That's pretty good. And he's going to talk to him about a place he's been that they hadn't been. And he said, I want to talk to you about heaven. And he begins to describe it. He begins to describe it as a place where there's mansions. He describes it as his father's house. And as he's describing heaven and what it is and where it is, Thomas asks a question. How? How can we know the way? It's a good question, isn't it? I believe if we're honest, everybody in this room has asked that question at some point in their life. Now, thankfully, some of you have found the answer, and some of you may have not, and it's good to even be reminded about the answer, but I love the fact that Jesus has the opportunity to answer that question, don't you? And in answering that question, Thomas says, Lord, how can we know the way? Heaven is so far away, and Earth is so sinful, and Heaven is so holy, and Earth is so manly, and Heaven is so fatherly, and Lord, how are we gonna get there? And I love what Jesus says. Jesus says, I'm the way. Here's what that means. And by the way, that's point number one, Jesus is the way. Here's what that means. Jesus is the route. Jesus is the road. Jesus is the course. Jesus is the bridge. Jesus is the connection between you and heaven. It's like Thomas said, where is the road that leads to heaven? And Jesus said, I'm the road that leads to heaven. Where's the bridge that crosses galaxies and that crosses dimensions? And where's that bridge that goes from earth to heaven and from man to God? And Jesus said, I'm the bridge. And Thomas says, where's the self-help course that leads to heaven? Jesus said, I'm the self-help course. Where's the offering? Where's the ritual? Jesus said, I'm the offering. I'm the ritual. Tom said, I read in the Bible that Adam and Eve, when they sinned, you took an animal and you sacrificed and you made a covering of skins for them. And where's our covering? And Jesus said, I'm your covering. I'm your sacrifice. He said, but wait a minute, Noah, man sinned and the earth was filled with violence and you gave no instruction. And Noah built an ark to the saving of his family. And where's my ark? And Jesus said, I'm your ark. And he said, but what about Israel when they were in Egypt and you sent the death angel and they had the little Passover lamb and they were to slay that lamb and they were to put the blood on the doorpost and they were to roast that lamb and eat that lamb and nobody got out of Egypt unless they had the blood on them and the lamb in them. And Jesus said, I'm your lamb. And on and on. Jesus is the way. He's the way to heaven. A person may say, what if I act like a Christian? And Jesus said, those Israelites weren't saved because they acted like their little Passover lamb. They weren't saved because they were nice to their Passover lamb. They weren't saved because they fed their Passover lamb. They were saved because their Passover lamb died for them. Can I tell you something? You're not saved because you act like Jesus. You're not saved because you're nice to Jesus. You're not saved because you take a little offering and feed Jesus in the offering plate every Sunday. You're only saved because Jesus is the way. He died for you. His blood was shed for you. You say, what if I get baptized? Well, baptism is a wonderful thing, but baptism is just a picture of what Jesus has done for you. Baptism can't save you. Baptism can't wash away your sins. Jesus is the only way to be saved. You say, well, what if I don't cuss and I don't chew and I don't go with girls that do? Well, I don't think you should cuss and chew and go with girls that do. But you're not redeemed with corruptible things. Silver and gold from your vain conversation, but with the precious blood of Jesus. Hey, you got your Bible? How many of you are open to John 14? You open? Turn over to John 10. Look at this. In John 10 and verse number 1, Jesus has an amazing statement. He's made this statement in John 14, 6, our text, where he said, I am the way! And we're saying tonight that Jesus is the way. But look at what John 10, 1 says. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheephold, but climbeth up some other way. How many of you know that there are people that are always trying to find some other way? There are people that sit in churches that try to find some other way. There are people that are trusting in what they've done, and there are people that are trusting in what their grandparents have done, or what their mama did. Can I tell you something? God has no grandchildren, only children. You don't get to heaven on the faith of your parents. You get to heaven on your faith, on you believing that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. In my office, I have a big, shiny bubblegum machine. You know, the kind that you put the money in there, the quarter, and then you turn it and the bubble gum ball comes out. You know what I'm talking about? But the great thing about mine is the bubble gum's free. I mean, just turn that thing and the bubble gum comes out. And all the kids know that Pastor has a bubble gum machine in his office. So all the kids want to come get a piece of bubble gum. And we've got him, and there's this one kid, and his mom helps clean the church, and so they're up there sometimes during the day, and I see him get out of his car, and he's only like two years old, two and a half years old, but he already knows that Brother Plowman has bubblegum in his office. And when his mom's tires hit our church parking lot, a little antenna goes off, a little radar goes beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, and Gabriel is thinking one thing and one thing only, bubblegum! And I can hear the moment the car door opens, I can hear Gabriel going, I want gum, I want gum, I want gum. I'm sitting in my office, I can hear Gabriel and I can hear his mama saying, that's not the way you get gum. That's difficult for a two and a half year old to understand that concept. I want gum, I want gum, I want gum. And the mama says, that's not the way you get gum. And Gabriel says, but I want gum, I want gum, I want gum. And his mom says, I'm not the way that you get gum. So Gabriel does what every brilliant two and a half year old will do. Gabriel starts crying. He goes, I want gum, I want gum. And his mom says, that's not the way you get gum either. I'm not the way. Crime's not the way, so Gabriel's got one more card up his sleeve. He looks at his older sister, Alyssa. And Gabriel says, Alyssa, Alyssa, I want gum. Alyssa, I want gum. And Alyssa loves her little brother, but she fears her mom more, and her mom gives her the evil eye. And Alyssa says, I'm not the way you get gum. So finally, merciful brother Plowman wants to save Gabriel. Because his mama believes in the book of Proverbs. So I go out there and I say, hey, Gabriel, what do you want? He says, I want gum, please. And I say, come with me, baby. I'm the way. And you know, you can cry all you want to in church. But that's not the way to heaven. You can know somebody that knows somebody that's going to heaven. And that's not the way to heaven. There's one way to heaven, and his name is Jesus. He's the way. It's an amazing thing. And so we know that Jesus is the way. I was riding on an airplane one time, and I had my Bible out, and I was reading my Bible, and there's a lady sitting beside me, and I said, I want to talk to this lady about the Lord. And so I looked over at her, and I said, ma'am, I said, I'm a Christian. Do you know for sure if you died, you'd go to heaven? And boy, she was ready. Because she immediately said, oh, I'm Catholic. And I said, praise the Lord. And I'm praying, how do I answer that? What does that mean? And I said, well, ma'am, there's two kinds of Catholics. Did you know that? She said, I know a lot about Catholics. I didn't know there were two kinds. I said, yeah, there's Catholics that know they're going to heaven, and there's Catholics that don't know they're going to heaven. Which one are you? And by the way, there's two kinds of Baptists. And there's two kinds of Methodists. There's two kinds of Presbyterian. And there's two kinds of, don't call me anything. There's two kinds of all of us. A couple years ago, there's a man, his name was John. And John came down, moved all the way from New York. Now, if you don't know our church, our church in New York are kind of like oil and water. I mean, we just don't get a lot of people from New York saying, I want to go to Liberty. Not that we don't love people from New York. It's just that we're just different. Sometimes when I go up north and people say, where are you from? I say, New York. No. But John moved down. John had a totally different lifestyle than you would imagine, but they had moved back and he was retired. He was in his 80s. And John had never been in a church like that. I mean, a church where when the preacher preaches, you get that quiver in your liver, that heat in your seat, that unrest in your chest. Do y'all know what I'm talking about? John got under conviction. John got saved. I never forget, the day he came to me, he said, Preacher, I want to get baptized. And he's one of several men in their 80s that I've been able to, been privileged to baptize. And so I said, John, you want to do that? He said, I want to do that. That particular day I was preaching from that great passage where Peter is denying the Lord. And the little maid said, I know you're one of them. And Peter denies. And I preached the message, I am one of them. When I baptized John, he came up out of the water so happy, because for over 80 years, he didn't have the assurance in his heart that he knew the way to heaven. But he got that settled, and before it was too late, and John came out of the water, and never forget, dignified New York John, and raised both hands and said, woo, I'm one of them! I mean, I don't know why God wanted me to preach this message. I know it's Thursday night. I know it's the middle of the summer. But I know there's people in churches all over America that struggle with knowing the way to heaven. I'll never forget a man named Jerry in our church, and Jerry, a great guy, he's in his 80s. I baptized him when he was in his 70s, a Vietnam vet. And Jerry had grown up Episcopalian and just never had gotten things settled up north, and then he came down to Lyons, Georgia, and Jerry was there in our church, and he'd been coming, and Jerry's a smart guy. He'd read any book I gave him. He ran a major corporation or part of our community. Very smart guy, very well respected. But Jerry didn't know in his heart that he was saved. And I'll never forget the day that finally I went to his house and there was nobody. His wife wasn't there. I mean, his grandchildren weren't there. It was just me and Jerry. And I went and I said, Jerry, I just want to talk to you. And Jerry said, I'm glad you came. And he had a big Bible that he'd been reading, a big giant print Bible. And I still remember when he took that Bible and he slammed it on the table. And I thought, oh, man, what are we going to do? This guy might have a little Vietnam still in him. Maybe he's coming for me. And Jerry said, you take that book right there and you show me how I can know for sure I'm going to go to heaven. My privilege, sir. Curtis Hudson used to give illustration. I'm gonna give you Curtis Hudson's illustration. Y'all ready? Curtis Hudson used to preach and he'd take his coat like this and he'd take it off, okay? Y'all with me? Alright, y'all with me? It feels good in July to take that thing off. And then he would take one arm and he'd put it in there and say, alright, we're gonna do a poll. I want everybody in this church that thinks my coat is on to raise their hand. And then he said, okay, now I want everybody in this church that thinks my coat is off to raise their hand. And he said, now I want everybody that's utterly confused to raise their hand. And some of you don't know if you're in, if you're out, if you're going, if you're not going, if you have it, If you don't have it, and I'm just trying to tell you Jesus is the way I love John 3 16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life whosoever believeth in him and to believe in Someone is to believe in their ability to believe in their capability to believe that they are able and I want to tell you something We as Christians believe that Jesus is able we believe that he's capable. He's the only man that ever lived and died and by the power of God rose incorruptible with a body that'll never die. And God did that for his own son Jesus to prove that he has the keys of death and hell. He's the only man that can raise you up if you die and give you eternal life. We believe in him. We've heard the testimony of others. We know that Jesus can save. We see that He can dry up drunkards and we see that He can set drug addicts free. We see He can put homes together. We see He can raise people up for the glory of God. We see people that will give their lives for Him. We believe in Him. But then two verses later in John 3, 18, it says, He that believeth on Him is not condemned. It's one thing to believe in him. It's another thing to believe on him. I want you to imagine for a second I'm on a ship. All right, we're on a ship, we're in the ocean. 2,000 feet of water down below us. Y'all with me? We're on the ocean. We're pastoring St. Augustine. Gnarly. Everybody okay? Now watch me, boys and girls especially, y'all watch me. We're on the ship. All right, the ship, the announcement comes over. That's pretty good, that sounds about like it. Attention passengers, please find the lifeboats. I don't know how they'd say it, probably a little different than that. But the ship's going down. Lifeboats start going in the water. Y'all with me? People start leaving the sinking boat and getting on the lifeboats. I'm watching. I think to myself, all these people just like me are getting on that boat, and I start believing in those boats. I'm skeptical at first, but then I see they float. I see somebody that weighs more than me get on one, and it holds them up. And some of you sitting in this room, there's people worse sinners. I mean, when I say worse sinners, what I mean, I mean that they've been drug addicts, they've been, and that God saved them. Jesus is strong enough. He can save to the uttermost. And I say, man, those things holding those people up. Look at all that. All these people around me being saved. And I, man, I start, yeah, go, yes, yes. I believe in those lifeboats. Am I saved yet? And you can sit in church and cheer Jesus all you want to. You can believe in Him all you want to, but until you believe on Him. You're not saved. My father-in-law, we're having a vacation Bible school next week and y'all pray for us, but my father-in-law, he got saved the last year he was able to go to VBS. His mom and dad never went to church, and he had a grandma that invited him to their VBS, and he thought he was too old, but he said, I'll go because my grandma invited me. And he went, and he was the only kid saved that year at Vacation Bible School. He's been pastoring for over 50, we'll celebrate his 50th year, but praise God for that, right? Praise God, don't ever think that your labor is in vain. But my father-in-law said I was sitting there at Vacation Bible School, heard all week about Jesus saving people. Knew he could save people. Heard my grandma talk about it. He said the last night I was sitting there, and the preacher gave one last invitation, and I knew the whole week I was under conviction. And he said, Michael, I don't know how theologically correct this is, but let me tell you when I got saved. He said, I got saved when I did this. Right there. He believed on him. There's a missionary in India. And every night he watched these precious ladies go down to the bank of the river. And he watched them get on their knees and he watched them put little boats with candles in the river. And he watched as they just patiently prayed and watched that little boat with a little candle in it go across the river. And after they, they would begin weeping and go back. And he watched them several weeks and finally he went to them and said, can I ask you what you're doing? And they said, well, our religious man, our shaman, he tells us that if we put that candle in that little paper boat, if it makes it to the other side of the river before the candle goes out, our sins are forgiven. How many are thankful we're not trusting in a candle in a paper boat? But we've got a savior. And how many of you know that for 2,000 years, the devil and all of his demons have tried to prove Christianity wrong? And you young people listen to me. If they haven't done it in 2,000 years, the old ship of Zion is still floating strong. They're not going to do it. D.L. Moody told the story about preaching in Scotland. And D.L. Moody said, I was preaching in Scotland, couldn't believe that all these people wanted to come hear me, D.L. Moody. He said, it was amazing. The crowds were so big and the places were packed. We couldn't find buildings big enough. We would turn people away. And I just pray that God would do something like that again, don't you? But D.L. Moody was preaching. He said, I arrived in my carriage at a place to preach. And there was a poor little boy that had come from the slums to hear the famous preacher from America. He said, he didn't even know what I looked like, but he came to hear me, saw the crowd. But when he got to the door, the ushers turned him away and said, son, there's no more seating. You have to go home. So D.L. Moody arrives with his carriage and sees this little boy over there crying with tears in his eyes. And D.L. Moody, compassionate preacher, went to him and said, what's wrong with you, son? And he said, I want to see Mr. D.L. Moody. And those men at the door said, I couldn't go in. And D.L. Moody said, grab ahold to my coattails and follow me and don't let go. And he said, D.L. Moody said, I took him right in past those ushers, past all the crowds and took him right up to my seat and sat him down on the platform where I'm supposed to be sitting and I preached. Can I tell you something? Somebody greater than D.L. Moody is taking us to a place greater than the platform and it's because we know him and he is the way. I'd like to talk to you more. about that and remind you that he's not only the way, but he's the shepherd that when we get out of the way, he finds us and puts us on his shoulders, carries us. Number two, he's the truth. It's a great theme in John, the truth. In John 1, the Bible says that he's full of grace and truth. If you want to know what grace and truth are, a good Bible definition, here's what they are. What Jesus was full of. You say, what's grace? What's truth? What Jesus was full of. When you poked him, what came out? Grace and truth. In John 8, I bet you never heard that before, have you? When you poked him. All right. In John 8, he said, you shall know the truth. The truth shall set you free. In John 16, he said, I'm going to send the comforter, and he will guide you into all truth. In John 18, he's before Pilate. And Pilate says, what is truth? And Jesus said, truth is what I came to speak. Thomas says, I want to be full of truth like you, Jesus. I want to know the truth and be set free like you, Jesus. I want to be guided into all truth and I want to speak the truth. But you just said you're going to go away in John 13 and 14. And Lord, how am I going to know the truth if you're not here to teach me the truth? And it's like Jesus is saying this. If you know me, you know the truth. There's so many answers in life, and can I tell you something? I've learned this. I used to think, I remember I had a preacher, I'd been pastoring about a year, and people had been coming to me for counseling. Now, that's a funny thought to me. I was 26 years old, never pastored before, and people would come and say, pastor, would you give me some counsel? And I'd say, yes, I'd be glad to see my secretary, and we'll set up an appointment. Dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life. And I was at a preacher's meeting one time, and this guy had a book. And it was something, the counseling book. And he had every topic you could ever have. And I bought that book and I said, boy, I'm gonna be ready for him. Whatever question they have, I'm gonna go in the other room and I'm gonna find it in the book and I'm gonna read up on it and go back in there. Can I tell you what? My people always ask questions that's not in the book. Now I mean that. And the truth of the matter is, some of you that have been saved and going to church 30 and 40 years and you've made it and you've went through some deep, dark valleys, it may be, I know Pastor Hans is a great preacher, but he may not always have a series on what you're going through. But can I tell you something about the Christian life? It's more just about knowing him. And when you know him, he helps you, he guides you, he feeds you, he speaks to your heart. He speaks comfort when you need comfort. Are y'all with me? My wife and I, we've been married over 20 years. I know a lot about my wife. I'm a little proud of this. I know her favorite color. I know her favorite restaurant. I know what she orders. I can order, how many of you have a Mexican restaurant around here and you can order for your spouse? Anybody like that? You know what they're gonna have. I know, I can order, I mean, special Monterey mixed. I know it. I know, ladies, y'all be proud of me, I know her favorite perfume. I wrote it down in the notes of my phone so I don't ever forget it. I mean, I'm pretty proud of myself. Do you know how I know all about my wife? I know when she's mad. I know when she's at church and smiling, but she's mad, really. I know that look. I know when it's time to be quiet. Some of y'all, you know what I'm talking about. You know how I know so much about Rachel? I went to a course. I went to a seminar. I read the book of Rachel. How do I know so much about Rachel? I spent 20 something years with her. How much time are you spending with it? If you wanna know the truth about life, some of you young people wanna know the will of God. Can I tell you I know the will of God? Some preacher's not gonna preach one day and the light bulbs, he's gonna spend time with Jesus. Some of you have questions about jobs, questions about your future, questions about the will of God, questions about the next step in your life, questions about gray areas and what's right and wrong and questions about convictions and questions about all these things and you have these questions. Can I tell you how to find the answer? Spend time with the truth. You say, I don't believe that. Acts 4.13 says that the apostles were unlearned and ignorant men, but they had been with Jesus. You say, well, Jesus isn't here. How do I spend time with him? Well, you know, there's several ways. One way, and he tells you in John, later on in John 17, this whole chapter, 14, 15, 16, 17, is about him going away and how we're to live the Christian life without him, with him in heaven. We're not without him, but he's in heaven and we're here. And one of the things he says is, while I was in the world, I kept them from evil, but now I'm going to you and I've given them thy word. Sanctify them through thy word. Thy word is truth. And can I tell you how you spend time with Jesus? That book in your lap. One preacher said you ought to have three talks every day. Number one, you ought to talk to God in prayer. Number two, you ought to let God talk to you through the Bible, reading the Bible. And number three, you ought to talk to somebody about Jesus. But when you open up that Bible, you're spending time with the Lord. Can I tell you something about that Bible? That Bible not only tells you what God is like, that Bible tells you what God likes. And people that just get in the Word every day, you don't have to read a thousand chapters, and you don't have to even understand everything you read, but as you read God's Word, you find out what God likes. It's an attitude adjuster. Man, I had my attitude adjusted today. Don't look at me like, well, I don't want you preaching, you're not spiritual enough to preach to me. Oh, man, he grabbed my collar and jacked me up, and I was just reading the Bible. Sorry, Jesus. Another way you spend time with Him is by doing what you're doing now. Do you realize there's something sanctifying about being with God's people, meeting, congregationally assembling together? And God didn't say that. God didn't do that because He's like, man, I think it would be a good idea if we just had this thing called church, and man, let's just try it out. No, this is part of the plan of God for you to walk with God, for you to know the truth. And He said, where two or three gather together in my name, there will I be in the midst of them. And if you want to spend time with Jesus, God takes a... Now listen, I'm a hunter. I'm a fisher. I grew up not far from here in Meriwether County. And my dad had a 3,000-acre hunting club. I know what it's like to hunt. I know what it's like to go on West Point Lake and fish. And, hey, preacher, I tell you what, I can just hear from God, just like that mercury. It's like the choir singing and... They don't give me that. Like my preacher used to say, hogwash! good Bible word. You spend time with Jesus when you meet together. He's here. I was I've been studying this I hadn't figured this out some of you Bible scholars y'all help me out but in Ephesians 4 those Ephesians were Gentiles they had never heard Jesus in person but Paul said that you have heard him and you have been taught by him How did they get taught by Jesus? I'll tell you why. When they meet together and the man of God is preaching the word of God and the spirit of God is there, Jesus is talking to them. God's answered so many questions in my life that, I mean, the preacher would be preaching on the 10 toes of Daniel. And then God will speak to me. Do you know that when you go out witnessing for the Lord, he says, and lo, I'm with you. You know how to spend time with Jesus? Be a bold witness for him. And it doesn't always have to be organized soul winning. It can be when you're talking to your child, or you're talking to your brother, or you're talking to a family member, or you're talking to a coworker at work. And I'm just telling you that the people that witness boldly for God, they know the truth because they're spending time with Jesus. David said, oh, how I love thy law. It is my meditation night and day. Thou through thy commandments hath made me wiser than my enemies. I understand more than all my teachers. I claim that verse in Bible college. By the way, God did show me more than some of my teachers. Some of them were, nevermind. Jesus is the way. Jesus is the truth. Lastly, he's the life. In John one, we're in the book of John. The Bible says in the beginning was the word. The word was with God and the word was God. All things were made by him. Without him was not anything made that was made. Watch this. In him was life. And the life was the light of men. Evolution says light, the sun, made life. The Bible says life made light. He said, don't get too excited about that. Woo! All right? John 10, he said, the thief cometh not but for to kill and to steal and to destroy. But I am come that you might have life, that you might have it more abundant. Here's what I'm trying to say, listen to me, and I wanna speak to everybody, but especially the young people, listen to me. He's the life. If you want a life that counts, if you want a life that is full of joy, if you want a life full of excitement, if you want a life full of purpose, And the number one cause of death among young people is suicide. Why are so many young people taking their life? Because they don't think there's anything living for. There's nothing worth living for. There's no purpose in life. But Jesus says, oh no, I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life. Connect with me and you'll have a life. In Acts 20, Paul said, but none of these things move me. Neither count I my life. Dear unto myself. You know what Paul said? He said, there's a day where I put my life in his hands. He said, it's not my life anymore, it's your life. One of the things that's always motivated me, people say, Brother Plowman, you're a jumpy guy, you're a hyper guy, you make coffee nervous. Because I can't stand a preacher. that advertises that living for Jesus is anything but exciting and joyful and purposeful. If they can get excited about talking about football and talking about baseball, I can get excited about talking about Jesus. He's the life. Someone approached a great Christian one day and he was preaching. And when he preached, the spirit came across the room and many people came to the altar and the young preacher waited till everybody left and went to talk to the old preacher and said, sir, I would give anything to have the power of God like you have on your life. And the old preacher wisely said, son, it didn't cost me anything. It cost me everything. Have you put your life in his hands? Putting your life in His hands doesn't mean you're surrendering to be a preacher, although there may be someone in this room that needs to do that, or be a missionary. Could mean that, but it could just mean, God, whatever it is for me, I'm yours. I will listen to you. I'll follow you. I'm yours. There's some dads in this room. I spoke with a man this week in my church, and I wish pastoral confidentiality would let me just read the text that he wrote me, but his text was like this, Pastor, I've known you for over 10 years, and you've always said that the secret to not getting in trouble and not ruining your marriage and ruining your home and ruining your relationship with your kids is simply just being in the will of God, and I've blown it, and I know what I've done, and he's got a long road. But I wish he would have just put his life in God's hands. I mean, I'm just going to be very honest with you. I mean, I wish he would have instead of taking his kids to every ball game, he'd have had them at church. And instead of pursuing everything that his job threw in his face, he'd have put God first. Instead of missing church, I mean, do you understand that? Give him your life. There's no regrets. William Booth, the great founder of the Salvation Army said, the secret to his joy was never saying no to the Holy Spirit. You've got one person to please. That's one person, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. A brilliant young pianist was given a concert And all his friends came to hear him. And he played brilliantly, and when he got finished, the crowd gave him a standing ovation. And they went out to eat. His buddies took him out to eat after, and they were eating at a nice restaurant, and he just picked out his food. And his buddy said, man, what's wrong with you? The crowd was standing. They were cheering you. What's wrong? He said, did you see that one old man on the front row? No, what's wrong? He didn't even stand. He didn't even clap. They said, who cares what that old man did? He said, I do, because that was my teacher. Can I tell you something? The world may applaud you. They may clap, but there's one person that you're supposed to please. That's the Lord. Okay. Give him your life. Years ago, there was a beggar. I'm done with this. Let me give you this story. The beggar sat by the road every day of his life. Beside him was a little pan, a little pot that people would come by and throw money in. But mostly the poor people that walked that street would just take a handful of rice, and they would throw some rice for them to have some food that night. And one day that beggar looked way off in the distance, and he saw the biggest cloud of dust he'd ever seen rising up. And he watched that cloud, and to his surprise, he began to realize that that was the ruler of his land. They called him the Raja. And he had heard stories about the Raja, that he was very benevolent, and that he was very charitable to beggars. So the beggar thought to himself, this is the opportunity of a lifetime. The Raja of my land, the most important person, the wealthiest man, he's passing by the street, where I beg. And sure enough, as the cloud got closer and the crowds began to gather in the street and they began to cheer the Raja, the ruler of the land, the beggar began to cry out, Raja, my Raja, give this beggar some rice. My Raja, give to a poor beggar. And the closer the Raja got, the louder the beggar got. His amazement. When the Raja got to his corner, the caravan stopped. And he, oh Raja, give this beggar some money, oh Raja. And the Raja stepped off of his animal. And the Raja proceeded to stand in front of the poor beggar. And to the beggar's amazement, the Raja said these words, give the Raja your rice. beggar grabbed his bowl. He thought, I can't believe this. You're the Raja. You're the wealthy one. This is my rice. This is all I have. And he grabbed his bowl. And with more force, the ruler of the land said, Give the Raja your rice. He reached in there and grabbed one grain of rice and placed it in the Raja's hand. The Raja looked and said, I said, Give the Raja Your rice. He reached back in there and grabbed two more pieces of rice and put it in his hand and grabbed them all. The Raja turned and whispered to his assistant. His assistant went to his animal and in the saddlebag grabbed the biggest pack of gold that beggar had ever seen, gold coins. And he took it over to the beggar. And he leaned down and he said, you are a fool. And he reached in there and grabbed three coins for the three pieces of rice and placed it in his bowl and walked away. He could have had it all, but he wanted to keep it. Now doesn't that remind you of what Jesus said? He that will keep his life shall lose it. What shall it profit a man if he gained the whole world? and loses his own soul? What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? He said that in Matthew 16. He answered in Matthew 19 when the rich young ruler turned and walked away. He found out what a person would give. I'm asking you, what are you throwing at Jesus instead of giving it all? Give him your life. Give it to Him. Say, it's yours God. Give Him your heart. Give your body a living sacrifice. Let's bow in a word of prayer together. Oh man, isn't God good? Jesus is the way. Jesus is the truth. Jesus is the life. As we bow in a word of prayer, we'll start an invitation in just a moment. But before we do, I wonder who in this room would say, Pastor Plowman, Brother Plowman, I know without a doubt 100% the way to heaven. I know I've trusted Jesus Christ for my salvation. There's no doubt about it. Would you raise your hand if that's you and you say, there's no doubt about it. Now keep your hand up. And you know what? It'd be good for some of us just to hold our hand up and just praise the Lord right now, wouldn't it? And just while our hands in the air say, thank you, Jesus, for being the way, the truth, and the life. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. You can put your hands down now. Some of you might not have been able to raise your hand. Some of you might've been hesitant. Remember the coat half on and half off? I wonder if there's someone here that would say, Brother Plowman, I don't know for sure. God had you preach this message for me. And Brother Plowman, I wanna get it settled tonight. If that's you, would you hold your hand up in the air and say, I just don't know for sure? Would you hold your hand up in the air and say, that's me, Brother Plowman, I don't know for sure. I don't know. Would you hold your hand up if you don't know? Okay, who else would hold their hand up? Okay, who else? Say, I just don't know, Brother Plowman. All right, if you've got your hand up, would you look at me? Would you look right at me? Look at me. Look at me if you're holding your hand up. Do you know that God loves you? You know that? Do you know that God loves you? And Jesus died for you? In just a moment, we're going to stand, and Christians are going to come and pray, and I want you to come, and I want you to come, and somebody's going to take a Bible and show you how to be saved, okay? Now, we're gonna do that in just a moment, and I want many of you Christians to come. Maybe some of you just need to come and say, God, I'm renewing, I want you to have my life. Maybe some of you are praying about the truth, and there's some question that you have, and say, Lord, God, you help me tonight, I wanna just spend time with you, and let you speak to my heart what I need. Could we stand together all over, and would our pianists begin to play? And the song is, I surrender all. I surrender all. All right, I want you to come. Let's come to the altar. Now those of you that raised your hand, would you come right down and let somebody take a Bible and show you how to be saved? I need a couple of soul winners right here on the front if you'll come find me. We got some young people here. Who else would like to come? Would you like to come? Come on. All to thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all. All to Jesus I surrender, humbly at his feet I bow. Worldly pleasures hold forsaken. Take me, Jesus. Take me now. I surrender all. I surrender all. All to thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all. All to Jesus I surrender. Make me Savior wholly Thine. Let me feel the Holy Spirit true.