THE REFORMED WITNESS HOUR
"I Am the Way”
Rev.
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prca.orgDear radio friends,
As we continue our series on the “I Am” sayings of Jesus recorded in the Gospel According to John, we come today to
John 14:6,
where we
read: “Jesus saith
unto him (that is,unto Philip), I am the way, the
truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
Now, again, it is important to understand the context in which
our Lord makes this wonderful statement about Himself: “I am the way.” He has been telling His disciples that He
will soon go away from them and return to the Father. It is spoken at a tender moment, the night of
His betrayal, after they had just celebrated, in the intimacy of the upper
room, the first Lord’s Supper. The
disciples seemed to be clinging to Him and sensing that something momentous is
about to happen, and that, through this, He was going to be taken away from
them.
He says to them in chapter 13:33, “Little children, yet a little
while I am with you. Ye shall seek
me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither
I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you.”
Peter asked Him immediately, “Where are you going?” And Jesus repeats (v. 36), “Whither I go,
thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow
me afterwards.” Peter responds and says
to Him, “Well, it doesn’t matter where you go.
I want to be with you. I’m never
going to forsake you. I’m going to lay
down my life for you. I’ll never forsake
you.” And Jesus responds with the
shocking and searching words of verse 38:
“Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice.”
Then we begin, in
John 14,
the words of wonderful comfort. Jesus knew the state of their hearts. He knew that they wanted to be with Him. He knew that they were afraid that He was
going to be taken from them. Jesus says,
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye
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 ye may be also.
And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.” Jesus says, “Don’t be troubled. No matter how dark is the way,
no matter how great is your fear. I am
going to the Father’s house through the cross.
And if I go there, I go to prepare a place for you. And I will return.”
And then He says, almost prompting them to bring a
question: “And where I go, ye know, and
the way ye know.” It is Thomas who
responds and says, “Lord, we know not where you are going. And how can we know the way?” Jesus responds: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. I am going to the Father. You know where I am going. I am the forerunner of your salvation. I am opening the path to life eternal, to the
presence of God. You know where I am
going. And you know the way. I am the way.” How beautiful and how precious!
So Jesus is the way. “I
am the way.” And we say, “the way
where?” The answer is plain: “Heaven.
Perfect fellowship with God.” Jesus is the way to the heart of God, to
home. And home is heaven, where we enjoy
perfect life and fellowship with God.
That is home. Not here. This world is not our home. Heaven is our home.
What is so desirable about that?
Why is it so desirable that Jesus is the way to heaven, to the
Father? Well, if you have been brought
by God’s grace to know God and been brought close to God’s heart; and if you
are made an heir of life eternal, then you can answer that. What is so desirable? Well, that is everything. And, without it, there is nothing but
darkness and sin and hell and despair.
Father’s house, the presence of God—why, it is the place of beauty and
splendor. You may read of it in the book
of God, the Bible. The book of
Revelation tells us that it has streets of gold and gates of pearl; it is a
city of light. And we come before the
throne of God, which is surrounded by a sea of crystal. It is a place of infinite, glorious
beauty. It is befitting God.
But if you ask, “What makes heaven so beautiful?” then I answer
you: “What is beautiful about heaven is
not so much the external, although that is breathtaking—something that eye hath
not seen and ear hath not heard, and that has not even entered into your
imagination to conceive of what it shall be, that is what the Bible says. But, my point right now is that it is not
just the external beauties of heaven that make heaven beautiful. But what makes heaven heaven
is God! The Father is there. We shall see Him as He is in Jesus.
Jesus says heaven is our home.
Jesus says that heaven is a beautiful home. What makes your home beautiful? How do you make your home
attractive? Your children are going to
leave your home soon. Have you made your
home warm and attractive for them? How
do you do that? You do not do that with
a new house. You do not do that with the
furnishings. You do not do that with the
square footage that you are able to afford.
That does not make the home beautiful.
What does make the home beautiful?
Dad and Mom live there in love—that is what makes the home
beautiful. That is what makes the home
rich. That is what makes the home a
treasure. That brings the tears with
your memories. Dad and Mom are there and
they love each other. You see, it is
because of who is there and the love that they have. That is what makes a home a home.
That is true also of heaven.
What makes heaven heaven? The gold and the silver? No, this.
The Father of all mercies, the God of all grace and comfort, is
there. He is there, and that is what
makes heaven heaven.
In heaven we shall be with Him.
In heaven we shall have fellowship with God. Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would
have told you.” We will go there with
all the elect of God. And we shall stand
before God in His great mansion of glory and have perfect fellowship with
God.
Do not think that we shall have our separate room with keys—that
we shall all be separated. No, Jesus
means that there will be room for all of God’s people. There will be no division. There will be no strife, no gossip, no sin. But we shall
stand before the Father and we shall have fellowship near to God’s heart and
near to one another.
Jesus, now, says, “I am the way.
I am the way to heaven. I am the
way to God’s heart. I am the way to life
eternal.” In other words, you and I
cannot get there of ourselves. You and I
do not belong there of ourselves. You
and I do not want to go there of ourselves.
Jesus is the way.
Remember the context.
Jesus is saying, “I must go away from you. I must go the way of the cross. And it is exactly that I go the way of the
cross, the way of suffering and death upon a cross, and leave an empty tomb—the
resurrection. It is exactly in this way
that I am the way. I am the way because
I am the Savior, the One who opens the way for you. I open the way for you through the cross.
Jesus went away. He went
into heaven. And, as I said, we cannot
go there. We cannot go to heaven and we
have no right to go there. And, as I
said, we do not desire to go there. That
says a whole lot about us. When Jesus
says, “I am the way,” He is saying a whole lot about you and about me. He is saying, “By nature you do not belong in
my Father’s house. By nature, you are
not God’s children. By nature, you
cannot earn your way there. By nature,
you do not want to go there, but if you could, you would tear it down. By nature, you are darkness and I am
light. If you are to go there, you need Me. You need Me to make the way.
You need Me to put you on the way. You need Me to take
you on the way. You need Me to bring you there.
I am the way, the truth, and the life.
By Me,” He says. “No man cometh
unto the Father, but by Me.”
He is the way, first of all, because He is the “I am.” “I am the way.” And when Jesus says, “I am,” as we have seen
before, He unashamedly declares He is deity.
He unashamedly declares that He is God of God, God’s eternal Son,
blessed of the Father. And He is the way
to the Father because He is the Son of God.
He is the eternal Son, second person of the Trinity, who dwells within
the bosom of the Father and who declares the Father unto us.
Of course He is the way.
He knows the heart of God. He
dwells eternally with God as the second person of the Trinity. Of course He is the way. He is the One who of the Father’s mercy has
come down and has taken upon Himself our flesh in order that He might bring us
to the Father. He is the way because He
is the eternal Son of God who, through the incarnation and through the cross,
has brought us to the presence of God.
That is the Christian message.
When you go to heaven you do not pass through layers of cloud. You go to heaven because you have passed
through the blood of Jesus Christ, the One who came down from heaven in order
that we might be taken to heaven with Him.
But how is He the way? He
is the way because He is the truth and the life. I do not believe that these three are
parallel. No, I think that Jesus means,
“I am the way because I am the truth and the life.” Truth is reality. Truth is verity. Truth is that which is real. “I am the way because I am the truth. I am reality.
I have seen the Father. I have
come down from the Father. I know the
way of atonement. I know the truth. I know the justice of God. I know the reality of your sin. I am real and I am true. I know all the truth of God. And, therefore, as the truth I am the way.”
Do you want to know the truth?
Do you want to know the truth about what God thinks about you? Do you want to know the truth about what God
says about you? Do you want to know the
truth about how you stand before God?
Well, you have to go to Jesus. He
is the truth. This is what Jesus says,
by grace, to all of the elect: “God says
eternally, I have loved you, unworthy sinner, and by grace I have made you
spotlessly righteous in the work of My Son Jesus Christ.” Look to Jesus. He is the truth. Do not listen to yourself. Listen to Jesus. He is the truth.
When I say, “Look to Jesus,” I do not mean physically. Do not look at a picture of Him. There is no picture of Him. I mean by faith, as He is seen in your Bible
and as He is preached to you in a faithful church. See Him by faith. See Him born in the flesh and wrapped in rags
and laid in a feedbox in the stench of a barn.
Why? Do you see what is going
on? He is telling you the truth about
yourself and your sin and your unworthiness.
See Him bear your iniquity and obliterate your sins upon the cross,
taking upon Himself the wrath of God that you deserve. He is the truth. He is showing you the truth. This is the way whereby your sins can be
removed. See Him do all of this
willingly for you, and you will see the truth about God. God is gracious. God is merciful. God has so loved us that He gave His Son, that we might go home with Jesus and be with Him.
“I am the way, because I am the truth. And I am the way because I am the life. I am the living way.” You see, we need much more than just to know
that Jesus is the way. We need more than
just being absolutely convinced that Jesus is the way. We need to be able to go on that way. And we can only go on that way because Jesus
is the life. I do not have that
life. I do not have that strength. I cannot walk. I cannot move. Of myself I am a dead sinner. But Jesus is the way because He is the
life. He gives life. By His grace He imparts strength. He makes us alive. He is life in us. Therefore, Jesus is the way, for He is true
and living and powerful God.
No man can come to the Father, but by Me,
said Jesus. Jesus said, “I am not a
way, a truth. I am not a
possibility. I am not a
life. No, I am the way, the
truth, the life. There is no
other way.” There are many ways to
hell. There is one way to heaven: Jesus.
Do not let anyone tell you that the gospel is not
offensive. It is offensive. You do not need to make it
offensive. You do not need to become
offensive. You must not hold the gospel
in your arrogant pride. You do not need
to be offensive. But the gospel itself is
offensive at the very heart of the matter.
It is offensive to our sinful pride, for Jesus says, “All other ways are
false.”
You will not be saved through sincerity in your religious
belief. You will not be saved simply
because you are sincere in what you believe.
You will go to hell if all you are is sincere in your religious
beliefs. You will not go to heaven
because you are a nice guy. You will not
go to heaven because you voted on the right side or you are part of the moral
majority or you are a good guy or a decent neighbor or anything like that. No, Jesus is the way, the only
way. He is the truth and the life. You cannot make it apart from Jesus, apart
from the wonderful gift of God’s grace whereby you are made to belong to Him in
time and eternity.
Jesus is the way. Hear
the gospel. Hear the very words of the
Son of God: “I am the way, the truth,
and the life: no man cometh unto the
Father, but by me.” By Him we may, we
can, and we do enter into the fellowship of God and are assured of life
eternal. Through Him we can and do draw
near to the heart of God and have fellowship with God and with one another.
So Jesus speaks to us, “Little children, come home. Come out of a weary world of sin and death
and confusion. Come, rest in the Father’s
love. Come,
feast your soul upon the prospect that one day we shall be in the mansions of
the Father.” Come, come by Jesus; come
through Jesus, and hear the most glorious words that you could ever hear: the words that Jesus speaks because He is the
way to the Father. He speaks these
words: “Welcome. Sit down.
You are Mine.
I have shed My blood for you. I have taken you into the embrace of God, the
eternal embrace of God. I will never
cast you out.”
Let us pray.
Father, we thank Thee for Thy Word. We pray again that it may enter into our
hearts with all of its beauty, all of its truth, all of its richness, and that
by faith, Thy gift, we may embrace Jesus as the way,
the truth, and the life—the way whereby we are brought unto the Father, through
Jesus, and whereby we have life eternal.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Last modified: 4-Apr-2007