The Way, the Truth, the Life (#1)

 

Jesus saith unto him.

1. The male person addressed here by our Lord Jesus is Thomas, also known as Didymus.
   1. He had responded to Jerusalem’s danger by suggesting dying with Jesus (Jn 11:16).
   2. He did not believe His resurrection without seeing but answered well (Jn 20:24-29).
   3. Often called, doubting Thomas, yet church tradition says he died in India for Jesus.
2. What a Master! He taught His apostles repeatedly and dealt kindly with their ignorance.
   1. We are on this side of Pentecost, so we have heard with understanding and can retain.
   2. But Paul by the Spirit expected the Hebrews to grow into teachers (Heb 5:13-14).
3. This is definitely a favorite verse of many Christians, and it should be very dear to them.
   1. The greatest need of inquiry for your future is to be with God in heaven for eternity.
   2. Jesus’ answer to Thomas, following His words above to the 11, are very comforting.
   3. Where else can you find such a concise, dogmatic declaration of salvation by Jesus?
4. The topic at hand here should be clearly identified to correctly interpret Jesus’ answer.
   1. Thomas had told Jesus that he did not where our Lord was going and the way there.
   2. It appears Thomas contradicted Jesus, but let us mercifully consider it only in degree.
   3. Jesus by death would return to God, which had confused them earlier (Jn 13:33-36).
   4. Jesus was going to His Father in heaven, which He had stated clearly (John 14:2-3).
   5. Our Lord’s answer is about men going to heaven by context and last half of the verse.
   6. Therefore, we want to see in our Lord’s answer to Thomas the way to get to heaven.
   7. The exchange began with Jesus going to heaven, but He turned it to be for any of us.
5. Jesus had asserted that they knew, though they were confused and in doubt about things.
   1. Though Jesus had just stated it (John 14:1-3), they did not see His return to heaven.
   2. They had a problem with Messiah as Savior, as they showed even later (Acts 1:6).
   3. They were waiting for Him to go to some place like Bethlehem to become their king.
   4. They did not fully comprehend or discern His divine mission that they would shortly.
   5. Though He had told them repeatedly, they were blind to the truth (Luke 18:31-34).
   6. It is a shame most are reluctant to give up natural interpretations for spiritual ones.
   7. The Dispensationalists and other Futurists are obsessed with literal, natural things.
6. Jesus poked them further by saying they should and would know the Father (John 14:7).
   1. Using Philip’s question next, He explained His relation and revelation of the Father.
   2. What a Man! The one Mediator between God and Men! Both God and Man! Glory!

 

I am the way.

1. Love our glorious Jesus that dogmatically and exclusively claimed to get men to heaven.
   1. Jesus and the Bible are absolute in presenting truth, not relativistic like men today.
   2. Jesus and the Bible are exclusive about ways to heaven, not inclusive like many are.
   3. Jesus and the Bible are definite and final about the way, not conditional or potential.
   4. Use of the definite article the identifies each of three exclusive factors of salvation.
   5. There are not several or many ways to God – there is only one way – by Jesus alone.
   6. The rise of universalism (all saved) coincides with including other ways to heaven.
   7. There is another Jesus, a false one, who offers other ways to heaven (II Cor 11:3-4).
2. There is only one way to get to heaven – not many ways as most want to claim today.
   1. Any inclusive idea that other religions have good to get to heaven differently is false.
   2. Since torture and death failed, now the devil’s tool is compromise by inclusiveness.
   3. There are not different paths to heaven, one through Jesus, another through Buddha.
   4. There is no other mediator or mediatrix like Mary or the popes and priests of Rome.
   5. In this day of compromise – let’s get everyone to heaven – we must stand for truth.
   6. The only way a person can ever know the Father is by Jesus’ revelation (Matt 11:27).
   7. The only way a person can come to Christ by faith is God’s drawing (John 6:44,65).
3. Jews thought that birth lineage from Abraham would get them there. They were wrong.
   1. John, Jesus, and John had to deal with Jewish fables (Matt 3:9; John 8:33; John 1:13).
   2.   Not only did the Jews trust their birth certificates but they also trusted Moses’ Law.
   3. Paul spent much of his ministry combatting their heresies (Acts 15:1-2; Gal 5:1-4).
   4. The book of Hebrews has this one theme: Jesus is superior to any aspect of the O.T.
4. Samaritans thought that their aped religion in Mt. Gerizim would get them to heaven.
   1. Knowing their lineage from Abraham was tainted at best, they wanted Moses’ Law.
   2. The woman of Sychar did not have a clue, but He must needs go through Samaria!
   3. Jesus taught Spirit and Truth to Samaria … https://www.letgodbetrue.com/pdf/spirit-and-truth.pdf.
5. Religions today, from Islam to Mormonism to Catholicism to Masonry, have their way.
   1. We mock these heretics like Elijah did Baal’s prophets and Jesus did the Pharisees.
   2. There is no chance at all that any of their ideas can get even one follower to heaven.
   3. Millions flock to Mecca to kiss a meteorite under a crescent moon and stone Satan.
   4. Hindus bathe in the fecal matter and filth of the sacred Ganges to reincarnate later.
   5. Mormons have a polygamous stone peeper and invent their own apostles and priests.
   6. Billy Graham said John Paul II was there for sure, but we know far better than Billy.
   7. Initiates to freemasonry are blindfolded to swear they are in darkness seeking light.
   8. Catholicism is antichristian at best … https://www.letgodbetrue.com/pdf/is-catholicism-christian.pdf.
   9. Masonry is devil worship for light from east … https://www.letgodbetrue.com/pdf/masonry.pdf.
6. But there is only one way – the legal sacrifice and perpetual intercession of Jesus Christ.
   1. The substitutionary atonement of Jesus on the cross is absolutely and only essential.
   2. Jesus was far more than a good example or mere martyr, He was the sacrificial Lamb.
   3. Our sins and their debt had to be paid by Another for a holy and just God to justify.
   4. Included with His death is His resurrection and ascension to be accepted by Jehovah.
   5. While His death was incredibly glorious, His intercession is great (Rom 5:10; 8:34).
   6. The one way to God and heaven includes His perpetual intercession (Hebrews 7:25).
   7. Salvation and entrance into heaven is by the Lamb’s book of life (Rev 20:15; 17:8).
   8. A Lake, A Book, A Lamb … https://letgodbetrue.com/sermons/index/year-2021/a-lake-a-book-a-lamb/
   9. The Unsearchable Riches of Christ … https://www.letgodbetrue.com/pdf/unsearchable-riches.pdf.
7. The apostles declared this dogmatic, exclusive doctrine to the Jewish rulers (Acts 4:12).
   1. At Pentecost Peter powerfully declared the Lordship of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:14-40).
   2. The Council at Jerusalem concluded that salvation was in Jesus only (Acts 15:6-11).
8. The apostles declared this dogmatic, exclusive gospel doctrine to all men everywhere.
   1. Paul taught Timothy that there is only one Mediator for men with God (I Tim 2:5).
   2. The faithful saying and the incontrovertible mystery is Christ (I Timothy 1:5; 3:16).
   3. Paul told philosophers about Jesus against gods known or unknown (Acts 17:30-34).
9. Jesus intended our place in heaven, but He gives access now (Eph 2:18; Heb 10:19-22).
10. Jesus is also the means, or way, to our present standing in grace and hope (Romans 5:2).

 

The truth.

1. There is truth and error on every subject, but how to get men to heaven is ultimate truth.
   1. Many conflicting and contradicting ideas of eternal life and salvation exist by men, for they have used the fear of death to hold their followers in bondage (Heb 2:15).
   2. The vast majority of mankind lives and dies believing religious lies without truth.
   3. Our parents chose a lie in Eden, and that devil lies today (II Cor 11:1-4; John 8:44).
   4. Confusion on this point may not cost a man heaven, if he is in the unconditional election of grace, but it will cost him honest assurance and great joy in Christ Jesus.
   5. Jesus is the Light of the world; without Him there is no light, especially in Masonry.
   6. Manly P. Hall wrote in Lost Keys of Freemasonry, “The true Mason is not creed-bound. He realizes with the divine illumination of his lodge that as a Mason his religion must be universal: Christ, Buddha or Mohammed, the name means little, for he recognizes only the light and not the bearer. He worships at every shrine, bows before every altar, whether in temple, mosque or cathedral, realizing with his truer understanding the oneness of all spiritual truth.”
2. Jesus told the woman of Samaria God required worshippers in truth only (Jn 4:20-24).
   1. He prophesied a time near when worship in Gerizim and Jerusalem would be wrong.
   2. John and Jesus introduced this new truth about salvation (John 1:14,17; Heb 9:10).
   3. The Jews trusted far too much in their symbolic O.T. religion for truth (John 8:33).
   4. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the word of truth to be believed by His elect (Eph 1:13).
   5. We love the great mystery of godliness as truth for us to uphold (I Tim 3:15-16).
3. In a time of moral and religious relativism, we stand for old, exclusive paths in truth.
   1. Let us agree to disagree may work to elect presidents, but not for the will of God.
   2. As long as we all love Jesus may sound good, but which Jesus should we all love?
   3. God sees my heart may sound spiritual, but your heart is deceitful and must obey.
   4. I have peace about what I believe is not enough, but is God at peace to accept you?
   5. Our Leader and Commander was marvelous to Pilate’s, What is truth (John 18:38)?
   6. Paul was totally intolerant of doctrinal compromise of Christ truth (Galatians 1:6-9).
4. The God of truth gave us the manual of truth to be dogmatically exclusive for His truth.
   1. David had the glorious conviction to hate every contrary idea of men (Ps 119:128).
   2. He did not care who his opponents were or how highly esteemed (Ps 119:98-100).
   3. Isaiah wrote that disagreement with scripture proves total darkness (Isaiah 8:20).
   4. Paul wrote Timothy that ministers need only scripture for perfection (II Ti 3:16-17).
   5. Even before the glorious N.T., searching scripture for life showed Jesus (John 5:39).
5. But Jesus here claimed to be the truth Himself, for He was apostle and high priest of it!
   1. Jesus is not truth exactly, as a substitute, for one is a concept, and the other a Person.
   2. Jesus progressively revealed truth that the world, including the Jews, had not seen.
   3. The Jews only had shadows of truth, but Jesus was the real One of truth for salvation.
   4. Paul made this comparison and contrast with O.T. religion (Heb 8:2; 9:11,23-24).
   5. Gentiles had rejected even the truth of creation, but Jesus had much more than it.
   6. All the promises of God find their fulfillment in the Yea and Amen (II Cor 1:20).
   7. Jesus Is Yea and Amen … https://letgodbetrue.com/sermons/index/year-2020/jesus-is-our-yea-and-amen/.

 

And the life.

1. Enjoying heaven with the Father depends on the gift of eternal life from everlasting hell.
2. Jesus is the source of all life, for He created all things for Himself (Col 1:16-17; Jn 1:3).
3. Jesus is the source of eternal life, for He alone must give it in regeneration (John 5:25).
   1. Without regeneration a man cannot see or enter the kingdom of God (John 3:3,5).
   2. Without regeneration a man cannot hear or believe the things of God (John 8:43,47).
   3. Without regeneration a man is dead in sins following Satan and world (Eph 2:1-3).
4. Before this exchange ends, Jesus will admit life to the Father (John 17:2-3; I John 5:20).
   1. He had taught it repeatedly before in verses that are very well known (Jn 3:14-18).
   2. He declared the truth of it to the seekers that wanted another free meal (Jn 6:37-40).
   3. He declared it to the Jews that wanted to kill Him by not being sheep (Jn 10:26-29).
   4. The gospel brings life and immortality by God in Christ to light (II Timothy 1:9-10).
   5. The book of life is the book of the Lamb slain, the means of life (Rev 13:8; 5:6).
   6. Eternal Life Is a Gift (Not an Offer) … https://www.letgodbetrue.com/pdf/eternal-life-is-a-gift.pdf.
5. If Jesus does not give the gift of eternal life, then you will not get it by any other means.
   1. There is no person or religion in heaven or hell to save you but Jesus of Nazareth, as John saw the hopeless situation in heaven until the Lamb appeared (Rev 5:1-7).
   2. The life He gives includes natural life, spiritual life, legal life, vital life, practical life, abundant life, resurrection life, eternal life, immortal life, final life, etc., etc.
   3. He is the resurrection and the life, as He kindly taught to two sisters (Jn 11:25-26).
   4. He is the Good Shepherd leading sheep following Him to abundant life (John 10:10).
   5. The Power of Life … https://letgodbetrue.com/sermons/index/year-2024/the-power-of-life-1/.
6. Eternal death, the opposite of eternal life, is exactly what you will get without Jesus.

 

No man cometh unto the Father.

1. God is an infinitely holy being that cannot stand the persons, presence, or sins of sinners.
   1. It is a terrible thing for men to pervert and twist Him to love and approve of all men.
   2. The Bible plainly declares that God hates all workers of iniquity (Ps 5:4-6; 11:4-6).
   3. Job and Isaiah would both deny God is a sugar daddy (Job 40:1-5; 42:1-6; Is 6:1-5).
   4. Distinguishing Love of God … https://letgodbetrue.com/sermons/index/year-2015/distinguishing-love-of-god/.
2. The God of the Bible is not to be altered from scripture by reasoning of depraved man.
   1. This God is so holy that Moses had to remove his shoes to approach (Exodus 3:5).
   2. Our God is so holy that when the prophet Isaiah saw him he cried out in fear (Is 6:5).
   3. This God condemned the human race to three deaths for breaking one command.
   4. This God drowned the earth with a flood and only Noah’s immediate family escaped.
   5. This God incinerated Sodom and its neighboring cities for their sexual perversions.
   6. This God killed all the firstborn in all of Egypt and drowned Pharaoh and his army.
   7. This God annihilated most Canaanites for their idolatry and sinful sex perversions.
   8. This God destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D. with the most horrific tribulation in history.
   9. This God will soon cast the wicked into eternal torment with the devil and his angels.
   10. This God will judge all angels and men in a great Day of Judgment that is coming.
3. Heaven is a holy place, and you are clearly described outside it and far from its refuge.
   1. If you will read the written manual of God carefully, you are doomed (Rev 21:8,27).
   2. If you are not convinced, then read the characteristics for in or out (Rev 22:14-15).
4. There is no man in heaven, earth, or under the earth that can approach to God (Rev 5:3).
   1. Lack of access to God was shown in the Law by the Day of Atonement (He 9:7-10).
   2. But Jesus opened a new and living way to God by legal cross work (Heb 10:19-22).
   3. And it is His perpetual intercession that guarantees them getting to God (Heb 7:25).
   4. Boldness to Enter the Holiest … https://www.letgodbetrue.com/pdf/boldness-to-enter-holiest.pdf.
   5. For an answer to questions about Jesus using “cometh” rather than “goeth” (John 3:13).

 

But by me.

1. Paul’s terror of the Lord should leave us in desperate need of a Savior (II Cor 5:10-11).
   1. This God will judge all angels and men in a great Day of Judgment that is coming.
   2. What will you do in that day? How will you spend eternity with Him in heaven?
   3. How can you pray to Him today? He is far too holy to hear any words from you.
   4. How can you please such a perfect God? Your best is far too corrupted by sin.
   5. But there is a Mediator that fixes everything between this God and His children.
   6. This Man is gloriously wonderful in every respect, and we are complete in Him.
   7. He is absolutely and exclusively the only way to Almighty God and a holy heaven.
   8. He will judge all men, and He will separate saved and lost (Matt 7:21-23; 25:31-46).
2. Love the absolute dogmatism and exclusivism of the Head and Master of our religion.
   1. He opened this statement in the first person … I am the way, the truth, and the life.
   2. He then closed this gospel declaration with the first person as well … but by me.
   3. He is totally different from the compromising, inclusive, weak preachers of today.
   4. Ignoring accusations of arrogance, we will quote and preach Him exactly as written.
3. Regardless of the aspect of approaching God, you cannot do it without Jesus Christ.
   1. Repentance and faith are gifts by His Spirit and grace, so even they are by Him.
   2. In the presence of the infinitely holy God, you will need an Advocate or Mediator.
   3. Your leverage in the format and words of prayer is the name of Jesus (Jn 16:23-27).
   4. You Need a Lawyer … https://letgodbetrue.com/sermons/index/year-2010/you-need-a-lawyer/.
4. The five phases of salvation help summarize the Bible’s exaltation of Jesus as Saviour.
   1. Heaven depends on God’s eternal choice of men in Christ (Eph 1:3-6; Rev 17:8).
   2. Heaven depends on Christ’s legal payment for our sins (Romans 3:23-26; Rev 13:8).
   3. Heaven depends on Jesus Christ’s vital quickening of men (Jn 5:25; Eph 2:1-7).
   4. Heavenly assurance depends on faith in Jesus Christ (Heb 10:19-22; I John 5:1-13).
   5. Heaven depends on Jesus changing your body for heaven (I Co 15:45; Phil 3:20-21).
   6. For Five Phases … https://www.letgodbetrue.com/sermons/salvation/five-phases-of-salvation/sermon.php.
5. Paul took this dependence on Jesus to the ultimate level of exclusivity with two Adams.
   1. The doctrine of original sin, by imputation, is incredibly dogmatic and exclusive.
   2. The inspired argument of one affecting many, Adam for his descendants, is mighty.
   3. The first Adam condemned men to die, whether miscarried children or vile sinners.
   4. It does not matter if you never learn about Adam; you die because of him. Period.
   5. The second Adam, Jesus Christ, saved His own by His singular obedience for them.
   6. Understanding this doctrine is the way, the truth, and life in Christ to a high degree.
   7. For more glorious truth about Two Adams … https://www.letgodbetrue.com/pdf/two-adams.pdf.
6. The important matter is to make certain that Jesus Christ will get you to the Father.
   1. Salvation is a gift from God to His chosen elect, and it is obtained no other way.
   2. However, you can lay hold of eternal life for your own knowledge and assurance.
   3. You must first believe all concerning Him (Acts 8:37; 16:31; John 5:24; I John 5:13).
   4. You must then be baptized by immersion to identify with Him as Savior (Mk 16:16).
   5. You must then prove your faith real by obedience to God and His Son (Matt 7:21-23; I Thess 1:2-4; I Tim 6:12,17-19; James 2:14-26; II Pet 1:5-11).
   6. Eternal life is the gift of God to elect … https://www.letgodbetrue.com/pdf/eternal-life-is-a-gift.pdf.
   7. You may have full assurance in it … https://www.letgodbetrue.com/pdf/assurance-of-eternal-life.pdf.