the truth and the life. No man
cometh unto the Father but by me. Some of the sayings of the Lord
Jesus Christ are very exclusive sayings. sayings which if anybody
else were to have said them they would be a blasphemy or blasphemous. And this saying of the Lord Jesus
Christ, this I am of the Lord Jesus Christ, the way the truth
and the life and that no man comes to the Father but by me,
immediately by stating that fact he puts aside every other religion
that declares that it has a way to God. by saying that he is
the way, he is the truth, he is the life and that no one can
get to God except they go through him. He makes himself the only
way, the doorway by which one may have a way to communicate
with God the Father. And so it is a saying that puts
aside every other religion that says Christianity is the truth,
that every other religion is man-made, every other religion
is the thoughts of someone's mind, the creation of the human
mind, to put someone else or something else in the place of
the Lord Jesus Christ to say that there is another way to
God. where Jesus Christ states that he is the only way to God
and that there is no other way in which a person can have communications
with the creator of the universe. The Lord Jesus Christ says that
he is the way, not a way or one of the ways. He is the only way. if anybody wants to reach heaven,
if anybody wants to have salvation, if anybody wants to have their
sins forgiven they can only come through him because he is the
only way. And so it's offensive. People
like to think that there are many ways to heaven. King Charles believes that all
faiths are the same. They're just different thoughts
but each one points to the one God and each one is just a different
way to gain favour with the true and living God. But the Lord
Jesus Christ is against that idea. He says there's only one
way and that he is that one way. There is no other way. As we have been looking over
the last few weeks those different names that have been given to
the Lord Jesus they just add emphasis to that fact. He is the only one that can be
called Emmanuel. No other God, no other prophet
can be called Emmanuel. No other prophet had the angels
singing and declaring God with us. No other prophet could save people
from their sins. No other prophet was able to
lay down their lives as a sacrifice for sin. No other prophet was
able to be declared of by God. This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. There was no other one. No other
Emmanuel. There was no other child that
was given by God to be a saviour. There's no other wonderful. There's
no other miracle. There's no other counsellor.
There's no other mighty God. There's no other everlasting
father or prince of peace. There's no other prophet who
has an everlasting kingdom. And so all the names of Christ,
all the titles of Christ add emphasis to this statement that
he is the way, the only way. He is the only way in which a
person may have access to God, to bridge the chasm that sin
had created to bring about reconciliation. And so he says to Thomas, don't
understand. Although you have seen me or
you have been with me you do know the way but you don't
fully comprehend the way because I am the way. Thomas says unto him Lord we
know not where you are going how can we know the way? Jesus
says unto him, I am the way the truth and the life. We know that by our sinful nature
the way to God has been blocked. When Adam and Eve sinned against
God to stop them from eating of the tree of life The Lord
placed those two angels outside of the Garden of Eden to stop
man from entering and eating from the tree of life and that
relationship that was there in the Garden of Eden in that sinless
state was ruined for forever we could say until God made a
way. Man broke the law of God and
separated himself because of disobedience from his maker and
was punished with the punishment of death. A separation from God. And so the way was blocked and
that chasm made And yet God in his mercy did not leave man in
that separated condition but made a way in which he could be approached. And that
way was through sacrifice by the shedding of blood. We see
as they were chased from the Garden of Eden God made them
coats of skins. and the first blood was shed,
that covering given. We see it with Cain and Abel,
how that Abel's offering of a sacrifice was accepted by God. And we see
throughout the Old Testament how that was built upon and those
sacrifices had to be made for that ceremonial cleanness and
sinfulness to be removed. And we see in the New Testament
how Christ is that Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice for sin. Those other sacrifices could
never truly take away sin but this man, the Lord Jesus Christ,
his life, his that was shed upon the cross, his death that was
given, he was the one who was able to make the way. to open
up the access to God as we see the temple being torn, that way
that had to be made for sinners to approach God. And so the Lord
Jesus Christ is declaring that he is that way. He is the way. In Isaiah, He tells us there in the prophecy
that a way was going to be made. Isaiah 35. We notice that lots of the I
am's of Christ are taken from the Old Testament and fulfilled
in the Lord Jesus Christ himself and so as he declares himself
to be the way we go back to the Old Testament to see that there
was a way that was going to be made and this way was going to
be called the highway of holiness and it was going to be for the
weak and the feeble And the fearful, beginning at verse three, strengthen
ye the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees. Say unto them
that are of a fearful heart, be strong, fear not. Behold,
your God will come with vengeance. Even God with recompense, he
will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall
be opened and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then
the lame, then shall the lame man leap as a heart and the tongue
of the dumb sing. For in the wilderness shall waters
break out and streams in the desert and the parched ground
shall become a pool and the thirsty land springs of water. In the
inhabitation of the dragons where each lay shall be grass with
reeds and bushes and a highway shall be there and a way and
it shall be called the way of holiness. The unclean shall not
pass over it, but it shall be for those, the wayfaring men. Though fools shall not err therein,
no lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up upon
thereon. It shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there. And so the prophecy had been
granted that there would be this way that had to be made, a way
that would be made and it would be the highway of holiness. The unclean would not pass there,
but those who had been sanctified, those who had been cleansed from
all of their sin, they would walk on this highway, this elevated
highway of holiness. the weak and the feeble and the
fearful and the blind would see and the deaf would have their
ears unstopped, the dumb would sing and it all speaks of the
prophecy and the fulfilment of the work and the miracles of
the Lord Jesus Christ. how he came and he accomplished
all those things and he says to Thomas and to Philip he says
if you don't believe me for my word believe me for the work's
sake. Believe me that I am in the Father
and the Father in me or else believe me for the very work's
sake and the works that Christ did as we have seen were testimony
to the fact that he was speaking the truth and that he was who
he said he was. They were the stamp of authority
upon his ministry. The word was stamped with authority
by the visible miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we see
in fulfilment of those prophecies regarding the miracles that he
did but also his work was accomplishing a way. He was making a way by
which sinful people were able to walk on a highway to a holy
God. You think of the world as an
island in the middle of the ocean and God is on the mainland. and they're unable to cross this
vast ocean. But Christ comes. He comes from
the mainland. He comes to the island and he
begins to build a bridge across to God. He made a way. A way by which
sinners are able to be reconciled to God, are able to reach their
holy maker. He is the start of that way. We saw he says, I am the door.
By any man if he enters in he shall be saved. So he is at the
beginning of the way. Not only is he the beginning
of the way by which we must enter into, he is the way. He tells his people, take up
your cross and follow me. He has walked the way before.
He is the way maker. And he's at the end of the way. We read, don't we, running the
race that is set before you, looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. So he says to Thomas, I am the
way. I'm the start of the way. I am the way and I'm at the end
of the way. And I've gone before you. I'm
going before you to them. I'm going before you on this
way and I'm going to prepare a place for you that where I
am there you may be also. And so for the Lord's people
this is of a great comfort that Christ is the way. Not only that
he is the way, but he is at the end of the way. And he's there
waiting for his people. He's promised them that in the
mountains there shall be made a way. Often as we come maybe to the
end of this year and we look to the future and we see another
year looming ahead of us, we wonder how are we going to get
through this year. I've barely made it a day at
a time. And we look into the future and
we wonder, well, how am I going to do it? But the Lord says,
I've made a way. I've made a way. and those mountains shall be
made a plain. They will flow down at my presence. The storm
which you are imagining will be peace. And we were in Kenya, there was
no footpaths as we know them at the edge of roads. We'd walk on the cow tracks,
cow paths, and they were never straight. They would wander this way and
that way and we'd wonder why don't they just walk in a straight
line. But as you realize, when the
path goes like this, it's going around a very thorny bush. And you know, often they didn't
wear shoes, so they'd keep away from the thorny bushes because
the thorns may be an inch or so long. If they go into your
feet, they cause you great problems. And in the rainy season, you
would see, well, the reason why it goes over this way is because
in the rainy season, there's a puddle here. And so the path
just meanders around obstacles. It's not straight because of
dangers, because of hindrances and the pathway of the Lord's
people is like that. It's not the straight path. It
is a mysterious path that meanders around obstacles sometimes we
can't see and do not know the reasons why but the Lord knows
the reasons why. He says go left or go right or
bend around this way and that way. And he knows the reason
why we have to walk in such peculiar ways. Our pathway is not straightforward
but he has greater purposes in his plans for his people. He is accomplishing multiple
things at the same time. And Christ has walked the pathway
before. and the believer is going to
him. He says, let not your heart be troubled. 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 so the end of this
meandering, mysterious pathway is the Lord Jesus Christ. And
he is there preparing something for his people. Death is not
the end for the Lord's people but the beginning. The beginning
of their eternal existence with the Lord Jesus Christ and he
is there waiting for them. He has walked the pathway, he
has made the way for them, he has cleared the way for them
and even death has lost its sting for them. I go to prepare a place for you. I am the way. And so Christ is
the way for the lost. But also he is the truth for
the deceived. Because of our sinful nature
we are deceived. Satan is the father of lies. We are spiritually blind. We
are unable to comprehend the truth. We love lies rather than
the truth. We have a retrograde mind. We
are ignorant to spiritual things. We like to believe and trust
in things that we can view and lay hold of. we don't want to
receive the truth of God's holy word the truth of God's beloved
son and we reject him as multitudes did in his day even though they
could see him as he declares I am the truth the truth God's word the scripture
tells us or Jesus says God's word thy word is truth And so the Lord Jesus Christ
we know is the Word of God. God cannot lie and the Lord Jesus
Christ is referred to as the Word of God. In the beginning
was the Word. And the Word was with God and
the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by him and without him was not
anything made that was made. In him was life and the life
was the light of men and the light shines in the darkness
and the darkness comprehended it not. And the Word was made flesh verse
14 and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Now this word Christ is the truth
God's word is truth God himself he cannot lie and when the gospel
of John when John writes the word he's using a word from the
greek meaning it which is called logos And in their time that
word meant something to two distinct peoples. The Jews understood
that God accomplished things by logos, by his word. By his word the word was framed,
was put together. God spoke his word and the world
was put together. By his word he accomplishes his
will And so as John writes and the Jews read they understood
that this word was going to be the way in which God accomplishes
his will. But to the Greeks it was the
way in which God communicated, the means by which he communicated
with the material world, the physical world, the spiritual,
communicating with the physical by the logos, his word. And so
as he writes about Christ being the Word of God, this logos,
he is drawing these two people together and presenting to us
what Christ is, the way in which he accomplishes his will, the
Word of God, the revealed Word of God. God communicating, God
manifest in the flesh. the spiritual, manifesting himself
in the physical, the true word of God, the embodied truth, the
embodied word of God. We have it here in our Bible. The spiritual being, God, moved
holy men of God to write down His will, his word, his testimony,
his law. The revealed will of God, the
word of God. And so Christ is God manifest
in the flesh. He is the truth, the embodiment
of truth. And so the words that he speaks,
they are spirit, they are truth, they are life. And he says to them, believe
in me. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in me, believe also in God. You believe in God, believe
also in me. If we know someone who only speaks
the truth, They may be able to take the words that they speak
very, very seriously. If they tell us of things that
are going to happen and that they only ever speak the truth
then we know that those things will happen. Jesus tells his
apostles, I'm telling you these things before so that when they
happen you may believe. You may be comforted. And so
the Lord Jesus speaks the truth. He tells things of what are going
to happen. And he says I'm preparing mansions
for my people or dwelling places in heaven. I'm going to my father
and your father. That I am in my father and my
father is in me and I am in you. And so he is the truth. The revealed truth. of God and
the words that he speaks are truth. There is no shadow, there
is no darkness. It is completely revealed. Everything about himself, everything
about what is going to happen, everything about what he is going
to accomplish and that he will one day come again. I am the way, the truth and the
life. And so he is a way for the lost.
He is the truth for the deceived but also he is the life for the
dead. We saw when we looked at where
he said I am the resurrection and the life. as he spoke and Lazarus was restored
to life yet he was to die again. The Lord Jesus Christ says no
man takes my life I lay it down of myself I've power to lay it
down I've power to take it up again and he's the first fruit
of the resurrection and we see in him when he declares that
he is life We read in John, in him was life and the life was
the light of men. So in Christ is life. Jesus says, I am come that they
might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.
It doesn't mean that we have the mindset of the world where
their abundant life is to go and do everything that your heart's
desired. He's talking about spiritual
life. He is the one that raises up those who are dead in trespasses
and sins and gives them eternal life. That life what he gives
to them will never end. Yes their bodies will die but
they will live. So Christ has come to give his
life so that others may live. I'm the Good Shepherd. and I
lay down my life. So he laid down his life for
his friends. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. And so Jesus puts himself as
the only mediator, the only high priest, the only way, the only
truth, the only life between God and man. If anyone is going to get to
these mansions in the sky, these dwelling places in heaven, it
can only be done by passing through him. We cannot set up a ladder
on this earth and try and climb our way to heaven by our good
works we must lay aside all of self not of works lest any man should
boast and lay hold of this doorway the Lord Jesus Christ and walk
on this way that he has made this highway of holiness He is
the only one whose life is able to cleanse from sin. His blood
is that which cleanses from all sin. Our works can never eradicate
the sinfulness or the sins that we have committed. Our works
can never pay the debt that we owe to God. It is only through
his beloved Son the Lord Jesus Christ he is the doorkeeper of
this way. and any who would enter to God
must pass through him. When we pray, while we say for
Jesus Christ's sake, we don't claim to have the authority to
enter directly into the presence of God. We must close our prayers
with, not for good in me, Not for anything that I have done.
I acknowledge that I have sinned and fallen short of the glory
of God. And so I come to Thee, our Father, through our mediator,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Not for good in me, but for good
in the Lord Jesus. He is the way by which we approach
God in prayer. He is the way by which we are
able to come to heaven, to glory. For Jesus Christ's sake. And so the way in which we walk
it is a narrow way. A narrow way that leads to life. A mysterious way. A narrow way. But it leads to life. It leads to the Lord Jesus Christ. What way are we on this morning? we pass through the door. Are we walking on the narrow
way that leads to life or are we still on the broad road that
leads to destruction? As we walk on that narrow way
that leads to life as we look back over the past year and we
consider all the way the Lord has led us through this wilderness
how many twistings and turns there have been, how many upsets,
how many trials, how many difficulties, how many times of rejoicing we
have had. We don't know how long our pathway
may be but we know at the end by faith as we view by faith
the Lord Jesus Christ we know at the end of that pathway is
him. We are walking to him. And so
he says to his people this morning, let not your heart be troubled.
As you look at this coming year stretching out before you and
you're unsure how it's going to unfold or whether we will
even get to the end of that year. He says let not your heart 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. He speaks the truth. He is the truth. I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. I am the way. I've walked the
way. I am the truth. I've spoken the
truth and I've given my life so that you also may have eternal
life. there I will meet you at the
end of this road. I am the only way to God. Nobody comes to the Father but
by me. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen. Our final hymn is 112 from Hymns
for Worship to the tune 104. 112. In all my Lord's appointed ways,
my journey I'll pursue. Hinder me not, ye much-loved
saints, for I must go with you. 112. Hello, my love. Why do you wait? Why do you wait? for I must go with thee. Through founts and plains, if
Jesus be, Good day to you. Dear Lord and almighty God, we
pray that Thou help us to find that way that leads to eternal
life and we pray that thou help us to walk upon that way that
leads to eternal life looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ. We
thank thee for the truth of thy holy word and we pray that we
may have our faith increased that we may remember that he
is the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven, our dwelling place, and that
he will one day meet us at the heavenly shore. Do be with us,
we pray, as we depart from each other. Do return us here this
evening in peace and in safety. And now may the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father, with the fellowship
and the communion of the Holy Spirit, to be with us each now
and forevermore. Amen.