This is the first sermon in a series of messages designed to enlarge our concepts of what God has provided for us in and through Jesus Christ. He came to do something more than give us a ticket to heaven. The first thing that we must realize in order to experience this great salvation is that there is only one way to that salvation, and that one way is Jesus Christ.
For an audio recording click the YouTube link at the end of the manuscript
Scripture
John 14:1-14 NLT “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going.” “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!” Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of the work you have seen me do. “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!
We just finished the sermon series “The Centrality Of The Cross”. In that series we talked about The Cross being the most important thing in Christianity. Without it Christianity is just another religion. Because of the cross, Christianity is a way of life.
Satan never tried to convince Jesus that he wasn’t the Son of God or that he didn’t have “all power in heaven and in earth.” But he did try to persuade him to choose some route besides the cross.
Turn rocks into bread, jump off the Temple so the angels can catch you, bow down and worship him and get all the kingdoms of the earth.
As I said last Sunday, what happened on the cross and then three days later with Jesus’ was that our great salvation was made certain. That’s why I wanted to start this new series “Experiencing the Great Salvation of God”
This series is designed to enlarge our concepts of what God has provided for us in and through Jesus Christ. He came to do something more than just give us a ticket to heaven.
The first thing that we must realize in order to experience this great salvation is that there is only one way to that salvation.
So here’s our text for today:
John 14:6 NLT Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
Introduction
As the time of Jesus’ crucifixion approached and he told his disciples that he must die on a cross, their hearts were distressed. They couldn’t understand many of the things he told them; understanding came only as they looked back and, by the Holy Spirit’s aid, recalled what he had said.
For example;
When the women went to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away and they saw the two angels;
Luke 24:5-8 NLT The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.” Then they remembered that he had said this.
Then there was the first time that Jesus cleansed the Temple. We talked about that in our last series.
John 2:19-22 NLT “All right,” Jesus replied. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” “What!” they exclaimed. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can rebuild it in three days?” But when Jesus said “this temple,” he meant his own body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this, and they believed both the Scriptures and what Jesus had said.
The point is that the disciples didn’t really understand some things until after Jesus’ death burial and resurrection.
But as Jesus revealed the necessity for his death and departure from them, he also gave them some wonderful promises concerning the heavenly Father’s home and the possibility of a continuing and unending fellowship with God and one another.
John 13:33, 36 NLT Dear children, I will be with you only a little longer. And as I told the Jewish leaders, you will search for me, but you can’t come where I am going. Simon Peter asked, “Lord, where are you going?” And Jesus replied, “You can’t go with me now, but you will follow me later.”
In a way, Jesus knew that his disciples could not understand that his death on a cross was the only way to provide salvation for mankind. But today we do understand what Jesus meant when he said,
John 14:6 NLT Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
Today I want to talk about some things that Jesus is;
For an audio recording click the YouTube link at the end of the manuscript
Scripture
John 14:1-14 NLT “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going.” “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!” Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of the work you have seen me do. “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!
We just finished the sermon series “The Centrality Of The Cross”. In that series we talked about The Cross being the most important thing in Christianity. Without it Christianity is just another religion. Because of the cross, Christianity is a way of life.
Satan never tried to convince Jesus that he wasn’t the Son of God or that he didn’t have “all power in heaven and in earth.” But he did try to persuade him to choose some route besides the cross.
Turn rocks into bread, jump off the Temple so the angels can catch you, bow down and worship him and get all the kingdoms of the earth.
As I said last Sunday, what happened on the cross and then three days later with Jesus’ was that our great salvation was made certain. That’s why I wanted to start this new series “Experiencing the Great Salvation of God”
This series is designed to enlarge our concepts of what God has provided for us in and through Jesus Christ. He came to do something more than just give us a ticket to heaven.
The first thing that we must realize in order to experience this great salvation is that there is only one way to that salvation.
So here’s our text for today:
John 14:6 NLT Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
Introduction
As the time of Jesus’ crucifixion approached and he told his disciples that he must die on a cross, their hearts were distressed. They couldn’t understand many of the things he told them; understanding came only as they looked back and, by the Holy Spirit’s aid, recalled what he had said.
For example;
When the women went to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away and they saw the two angels;
Luke 24:5-8 NLT The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.” Then they remembered that he had said this.
Then there was the first time that Jesus cleansed the Temple. We talked about that in our last series.
John 2:19-22 NLT “All right,” Jesus replied. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” “What!” they exclaimed. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can rebuild it in three days?” But when Jesus said “this temple,” he meant his own body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this, and they believed both the Scriptures and what Jesus had said.
The point is that the disciples didn’t really understand some things until after Jesus’ death burial and resurrection.
But as Jesus revealed the necessity for his death and departure from them, he also gave them some wonderful promises concerning the heavenly Father’s home and the possibility of a continuing and unending fellowship with God and one another.
John 13:33, 36 NLT Dear children, I will be with you only a little longer. And as I told the Jewish leaders, you will search for me, but you can’t come where I am going. Simon Peter asked, “Lord, where are you going?” And Jesus replied, “You can’t go with me now, but you will follow me later.”
In a way, Jesus knew that his disciples could not understand that his death on a cross was the only way to provide salvation for mankind. But today we do understand what Jesus meant when he said,
John 14:6 NLT Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
Today I want to talk about some things that Jesus is;
I. Jesus Christ is the way out.
A. Jesus is the way out of slavery to sin.
People can become slaves to sin without: realizing it. Sin can manifest itself in attitudes, actions, or ambitions.
Romans 6:16 NLT Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.
Sin not only enslaves; it also separates people from God, and other people. Jesus is the only one who can deliver a person from slavery to sin. All of us need pardon from past guilt and deliverance from the power and practice of evil.
Romans 6:6 NLT We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.
Romans 6:17-18 NLT Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.
Those who have not made Jesus Christ the Master of their lives remain servants or slaves of sin.
B. Jesus is the way out of failure and the waste of sin.
Mark 8:36 NLT And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?
Without salvation people are failures throughout eternity even if they led an international corporation, led a nation, or had millions even billions of dollars while living on earth.
Only Jesus can pay the price of our sin and deliver us from spiritual death and eternal torment.
Romans 6:22-23 NLT But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
And in his sermon of the Day of Pentecost Peter said;
Acts of the Apostles 4:11-12 NLT For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’ There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”
C. Jesus is the way out of the disappointment of sin.
Faithless living always disappoints. Nobody can be part of Satan’s team and be a winner. No one would want to go bankrupt, yet every person who goes through life without God follows a way that brings vast disappointment in the end.
But Jesus is the way out of the disappointment of sin.
Romans 9:33 AMP As it is written and forever remains written, “Behold I am laying in Zion a Stone of stumbling and a Rock of offense ; And he who believes in Him [whoever adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Him] will not be disappointed [in his expectations].”
Romans 10:11 AMP For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him [whoever adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Him] will not be disappointed [in his expectations].”
II. Jesus Christ is the way out He is also the way through.
A. Jesus is the way through an uncertain tomorrow.
No one knows what tomorrow has in store. The only thing certain about the future is its uncertainty. Only Jesus, who holds the future, can make us adequate for what the future holds.
Matthew 6:31-34 NLT “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
B. Jesus is the way through difficult times like the times we are going through right now.
Just as the children of Israel journeyed through the wilderness facing one difficulty after another and following the cloud by day and the light by night He is with us.
Exodus 13:21-22 NLT The Lord went ahead of them. He guided them during the day with a pillar of cloud, and he provided light at night with a pillar of fire. This allowed them to travel by day or by night. And the Lord did not remove the pillar of cloud or pillar of fire from its place in front of the people.
After 40 years in the wilderness here's what Moses said to them.
Deuteronomy 29:5-6 NLT For forty years I led you through the wilderness, yet your clothes and sandals did not wear out. You ate no bread and drank no wine or other alcoholic drink, but he provided for you so you would know that he is the Lord your God.
Nowhere are we promised that life will be easy and comfortable if we simply trust Christ and do what is right, but He made us a promise:
John 16:33 NLT I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
Then Paul wrote;
Philippians 4:6-7 NLT Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
So we can endure hardship as we follow Jesus closely.
God does not usually reward us by making life easy. However, he does promise to be with us,
Hebrews 13:5 NLT Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”
And he assures us that when things get really tough He will provide a way out.
1 Corinthians 10:13 NLT The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.
A. Jesus is the way out of slavery to sin.
People can become slaves to sin without: realizing it. Sin can manifest itself in attitudes, actions, or ambitions.
Romans 6:16 NLT Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.
Sin not only enslaves; it also separates people from God, and other people. Jesus is the only one who can deliver a person from slavery to sin. All of us need pardon from past guilt and deliverance from the power and practice of evil.
Romans 6:6 NLT We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.
Romans 6:17-18 NLT Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.
Those who have not made Jesus Christ the Master of their lives remain servants or slaves of sin.
B. Jesus is the way out of failure and the waste of sin.
Mark 8:36 NLT And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?
Without salvation people are failures throughout eternity even if they led an international corporation, led a nation, or had millions even billions of dollars while living on earth.
Only Jesus can pay the price of our sin and deliver us from spiritual death and eternal torment.
Romans 6:22-23 NLT But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
And in his sermon of the Day of Pentecost Peter said;
Acts of the Apostles 4:11-12 NLT For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’ There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”
C. Jesus is the way out of the disappointment of sin.
Faithless living always disappoints. Nobody can be part of Satan’s team and be a winner. No one would want to go bankrupt, yet every person who goes through life without God follows a way that brings vast disappointment in the end.
But Jesus is the way out of the disappointment of sin.
Romans 9:33 AMP As it is written and forever remains written, “Behold I am laying in Zion a Stone of stumbling and a Rock of offense ; And he who believes in Him [whoever adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Him] will not be disappointed [in his expectations].”
Romans 10:11 AMP For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him [whoever adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Him] will not be disappointed [in his expectations].”
II. Jesus Christ is the way out He is also the way through.
A. Jesus is the way through an uncertain tomorrow.
No one knows what tomorrow has in store. The only thing certain about the future is its uncertainty. Only Jesus, who holds the future, can make us adequate for what the future holds.
Matthew 6:31-34 NLT “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
B. Jesus is the way through difficult times like the times we are going through right now.
Just as the children of Israel journeyed through the wilderness facing one difficulty after another and following the cloud by day and the light by night He is with us.
Exodus 13:21-22 NLT The Lord went ahead of them. He guided them during the day with a pillar of cloud, and he provided light at night with a pillar of fire. This allowed them to travel by day or by night. And the Lord did not remove the pillar of cloud or pillar of fire from its place in front of the people.
After 40 years in the wilderness here's what Moses said to them.
Deuteronomy 29:5-6 NLT For forty years I led you through the wilderness, yet your clothes and sandals did not wear out. You ate no bread and drank no wine or other alcoholic drink, but he provided for you so you would know that he is the Lord your God.
Nowhere are we promised that life will be easy and comfortable if we simply trust Christ and do what is right, but He made us a promise:
John 16:33 NLT I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
Then Paul wrote;
Philippians 4:6-7 NLT Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
So we can endure hardship as we follow Jesus closely.
God does not usually reward us by making life easy. However, he does promise to be with us,
Hebrews 13:5 NLT Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”
And he assures us that when things get really tough He will provide a way out.
1 Corinthians 10:13 NLT The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.
III Jesus is the way out, He’s the way through, and Jesus Christ is the way in.
A. Jesus is the way into an abundant life.
John 10:10 NLT The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying (abundant) life.
Everyone wants an abundant life. Unfortunately, many confused people think the abundant life Jesus talked about is an affluent life. However It does not take much study to discover that an abundant life and an affluent life are not the same.
The abundant life that Jesus was talking about is a life that has a superabundance of joy and strength for mind, body, and soul. A life that is contrasted to feelings of lack, emptiness, and dissatisfaction.
Abundant life is eternal life, a life that begins the moment we come to Christ and receive Him as Savior, and goes on throughout all eternity.
Jesus is the way into forgiveness of sin. His forgiveness is full, free, and forever. Part of an abundant life is awareness of being pure and right with God, no longer slaves to sin.
Assurance of eternal life is also part of the abundant life that Jesus came to provide.
John 3:16 NLT “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
Eternal life is given to those who receive Jesus and permit him to occupy the throne of their lives.
Romans 10:9-13 NLT If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
B . Jesus is the way into unspeakable joy.
Jesus was eager for his disciples to experience fullness of joy.
John 15:9-11 NLT “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!
Joy is a condition of the heart that is much deeper and more permanent than happiness. Happiness is the result of circumstances, while joy is holy happiness from God that can fill a person’s heart even in the most adverse circumstances like this COVID-19 pandemic.
1 Peter 1:6-9 NLT So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.
C. Jesus is the way into triumphant, true success.
No one wants to be a failure. No one rejoices in losing. Everyone likes to be a winner. By faith in and obedience to the Savior, children of God are able to experience wonderful success in matters that really count, both now and throughout eternity.
Proverbs 16:3 NLT Commit your actions to the Lord , and your plans will succeed.
Philippians 4:13 NLT For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
IV Jesus is the way out, He's the way through, He's the way in, and finally Jesus Christ is the way up.
A. Jesus is the way up to our very best.
Humans were made to walk and talk with God. They were made to worship and serve God and live by the law of heaven, which is love, rather than by the law of the world, which is greed and hate. Jesus makes life complete. Until you come to know him, life at its best is but a fraction of what it can be. If you want to find the best way of living, you must go to Jesus Christ.
B. Jesus is the way up to God
Back to our text:
John 14:6 NLT Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
Through Jesus Christ, God, Himself, came down to dwell among people. He came to die on a cross to take away our sins. By his death he removed everything that separates sinners from God. Through faith in Jesus, we are forgiven and received by God as his own dear children.
Romans 8:15 NLT So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”
C. Jesus is the way up to God and the way to heaven.
Only Jesus can take a person to heaven when this life is over, because only Jesus was both willing and able to bear the penalty of our sin on the cross. Because he has paid the wages of our sin, he is able to offer us the gift of eternal life.
1 John 5:11 NLT And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
Conclusion
Jesus reveals the only way to God, the truth about God, and the kind of life that is received from God. Accept him by faith, and you can rejoice in being spiritually alive.
May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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